shapes of the world

World Box
Originally uploaded by oschene.

The Guardian offers five different projections, with their whys and wherefores, for modern maps.

And now I want to learn to fold this paper one.

beer geography quiz

Beer Bottle Cap Assortment
Originally uploaded by lopolis.

Beer geography?

(Aside from the odd foray into Belgian beers, which are their own special wonder, I almost always come back to Californian microbrews.)

Fee-free days coming up in the national parks

Yosemite Valley
Originally uploaded by marymactavish.

Many of the US National Parks charge some sort of fee to get in, either a nominal day-use fee, or in the case of big, popular, and over-used parks like Yosemite, a hefty $20 per car entry fee.

Just as California's state parks are on the verge of closing (and our governor is talking about "selling state property" including San Quentin, which makes me wonder a bit about other state land), the National Park Service is instituting a series of fee-free days in our national parks.

Now's the time to get out and visit.

When I was young, I thought Yosemite was overrated, by the way. Then I saw it, and can't imagine not having it.

For a listing of upcoming fee-free days, please check the NPS page about it.

(Pictures below are of Lassen and Yosemite, two of my favorite parks.)

where?

where?
Originally uploaded by iammikeb.

SilverFox at where in the west leads me to ponder doing a regular a "where in the world?" or "where in California?" (or something else geographic, maybe not photolocation-based) but I'm not quite sure whether I have enough readers, or whether it would be at all fun. I shall continue pondering.

Sequoia Sempervirens in Humboldt Redwoods State Park

Poison oak up a redwood trunk
Originally uploaded by marymactavish.

I hadn't heard this one, but it makes sense:

FACT: For every dollar that funds the parks, $2.35 is returned to the state’s General Fund through economic activities in the communities surrounding the parks.

That means eliminating all funding for state parks could actually result in the state losing over $350 million dollars in revenue

I picked it up on Help4Wildlife, but that links back to (and credits) the California State Park Foundation for the information.

I, for one, welcome our robotic rescuers

Japan's nifty rescue robot might be able to crawl around in buildings looking for folks who are trapped: