Our next stop for California Friday is actually many locations.  July 4th will be here soon and that means Fireworks!  The fireworks app I have used for the past few years has been updated once again.  This year I added Riverside County.  If you love fireworks and want to find out where you can legally buy and shoot them off in SoCal, check out the app!

You can view cities in LA, Orange, Ventura, and Riverside County that allow the sale and discharge of fireworks.  Included are days and times when fireworks will be sold and when you can light them up, as well as links to city web sites and telephone numbers.  Data was collected from municipal codes, web sites, and/or contacting each city.  Enjoy!

For a list of 296 communities permitting state-approved fireworks in California, check out the California Fireworks Newswire website.

Check out this article about Tom Harrison, a Californian cartographer who started his own mapmaking business in the 1970’s.  His maps are made for hiking, backpacking, and mountain biking in the parks and wilderness of California.  He explains what goes into a good map and why making one can take nearly two years.

You can order his maps from here.

Fantastic flowchart by xkcd showing how you can determine the age of an undated world map … or sometimes not!

At the close of the Second World War, the United States government embarked on an enormous artistic enterprise. It is estimated to have cost nearly $3 billion and, at its height, employed more than 2,000 people. I am talking about the topographic mapping program of the United States Geological Survey.

Read more on the New York Times Magazine website by clicking below.