#SharkNado?

Twitter was all abuzz yesterday with the debut airing of a made-for-TV movie called "SharkNado".


Yes, this is a flick about a tornado filled with sharks!!! And no, this is not an article from "The Onion".

It seems the hashtag for the SyFy network movie was the hottest discussion on Twitter as it garnered more interest than the ongoing Zimmerman trial. But all this interest making it a social network sensation is being generated for all the wrong reasons. There were folks deriding it many different angles.

The following is a sampling:

Jesse Ventura told us the government was secretly developing the ability to make a #sharknado & we didn't believe him
— Justin Stangel (@Justin_Stangel) July 12, 2013

If Spielberg could go back in time and stop Jaws from happening to prevent 2013's #SharkNado, I believe he would.
— Josh Gad (@joshgad) July 12, 2013

America: The Empire gave you tea, civilisation and the English language - and you responded with #Sharknado.
— The Dowager Countess (@theLadyGrantham) July 12, 2013

@weatherchannel It's a little embarrassing that I have to learn about sharknados from @Syfy
— Schuyler Patterson© (@TillOwlglass) July 12, 2013

According to NBC Universal, SharkNado generated up to 5000 tweets a minute for a brief time yesterday afternoon. If SyFy's goal was to generate publicity, then they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

Some Interesting Maps

I just love maps! While indiscriminately surfing the net last night, I came across a site called Rich Blocks, Poor Blocks. It's a site that can generate color-coded maps of every neighborhood in every city in America based on income and rental prices. Since I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, I thought I'd produce a map of my old stomping ground based on income.




Really no surprises here! I'm quite aware of the wide disparity of income in the St. Louis area. One can find some of poshest mansions just mere miles from some of the most blighted slums in the United States. Actually this map, in my opinion, doesn't quite do this huge gap justice. But you can get the idea from it.

Since my current residence is Terre Haute, Indiana, I thought I'd add an income map of it as well. (Hey, it's my blog! lol)


Terre Haute also has an income gap, but not quite on the level that one sees in St. Louis. For the record, I live in an orange shaded area.

In another visualization project involving mapping, so to speak, I found an intriguing 'YouTube' video that mapped New Yorkers' bus usage in a randomly selected day. The video is called, 'New York transit (MTA): one day of activity'.



Finally, I leave you with some information about the border between the United States and Canada that I bet you weren't previously aware.



I love maps! What can i say?