Down By The River

In case you haven't noticed I like maps, a lot.

Here are a couple that caught my attention this spring, hopefully you saw them already (actually scratch that, I hope this is the first time you see them and they blow your mind and you feel forever indebted to me for showing them to you) but if you haven't they're worth a gander.

Someone took the time to make a map of the US out of just rivers and streams and it's beautiful and fascinating.  You can also think about this as a map of all of the waterways in the US and nothing else, two sides of a coin if you will.



If you're interested in who you might run into by your local or regional river or stream you can check out this fairly meta map of the US broken down into geographic areas based on the circulation of dollar bills.

In order to figure out exactly what you're looking at head on over to the NPR story on the map and the researchers who put it together.

US - Canada Relations

Ever wonder why that line between the US and Canada is so straight out west?  Ever think that maybe it actually isn't as straight as it looks on most maps?  This video is for you...



This is just one of several gems from CGP Grey, they'll keep you amused while making sure that you learn at least a little something new.

(I can't remember how I got there, but these days it was probably Digg)

Ah Government

Our system of government is pretty muddled if you ask me; many, many common sense issues that need to be addressed just get bogged down and picked at and never even get voted on by our law makers (can you tell I'm frustrated with the way we do the business of governing here?).

The latest victim is shaping up to be immigration reform, and the GOP Congressmen looking to block the current efforts but out a letter about their complaints.  Former high school teacher and current Dem Congressman Mark Takano gave the letter some comments.  It would be funny if it wasn't so sad...

Also Takano's tumblr is called There Will Be Charts, I think I like this guy.  Has he been on the Daily Show yet?

Stamos!

Or maybe the title should be Fallon!  I couldn't tell you who else even has a late night show anymore, Jimmy Fallon is continuing to blow everyone else out of the water.  Here's the latest little gem that I've caught...



Maybe it's just me but Fallon has his audience nailed.  Or maybe we're all just in the same generational boat and the things he comes up with are the same things that the rest of us think would be goofy and great too.  Now if he could just get Cousin Balki to be a guest on the show...

TGIF!

(via Digg)

Old School Hacking

Hacking used to mostly mean making something work in new and unexpected ways that were normally an improvement or at least something that the hacker thought would be cool.  I think that we don't have as much of that as we should these days especially among kids.  When we do though, those toys and social constructs that do encourage hacking tend to be aimed at boys.

Girls can and should be hacking too...



On the current connotation of hacking if you put your mind to it you can play Donkey Kong and Zelda with the Princess as the hero and the dude needing to be rescued.