By Upworthy Michael Wyatt.  Read More

I’m sure the flying robots who use these are totally benevolent and don’t illegally assassinate American citizens or anything.

Turns out these bizarre runes painted on the Earth are “aerial photo calibration targets” used to test the resolution on airborne cameras, according to the Center for Land Use Interpretation.

Initially developed in the 1950s for use by Cold War-era spy planes, the Center estimates these “curious land-based two-dimensional optical artifacts” are still in use by other “flying cameras” — namely drones, which, as we all know, now also carry devices that have much less passive functions than taking cute li’l photos. To say the very least.

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