Roaming With Carl

Patch Work Nation

Warning!!!
Unless you have hours to waste stay away from this link to Patch Work Nation.  You may have seen this map used on various news shows since it came on-line as part of the Christian Science Monitor's tracking of the 2008 Presidential Election. 
The serious explanation from the home page follows

Patchwork Nation:
    * Divides the U.S. by county into 12 community types using demographic, political and socioeconomic data.
    * Tracks 24 representative communities to see how economic trends play out at the local level.
    * Analyzes national data by community type to give the big picture more context.

I am a map lover so maybe I'm a special case, but;  If you have a curiosity about things like  counties that have a Crackle Barrel restaurant overlayed with voters for Barack Obama or John Mclain then this  time waster is for you. 

Mama Bear & her Cub

Just another piece of clutter on the information highway.  But this is a fun video that will (or already has) shown up on one of the animal related cable TV channels.

Ask yourself the following questions as you watch this:

• Is the cub in the tree just trapped or getting away from a severe cuffing?
• Is the second cub a male or a female?  Or are the cubs of the same sex.
• Where was this clip shot?  Obviously in or near civilization.  But how about the sapling brace that clearly visible.