Still more stuff to show from my time in New Orleans. The day Kevin toured me around to some of the areas hit by Katrina, we also stopped by a warehouse where they house and build some of the floats for Mardi Gras parades. There are a lot of things I didn't realize about Mardi Gras. For one thing, there are more than 50 parades on the days surrounding three different weekends. Groups called krewes put on the parades - and each parade is entirely by a single krewe. There are several float companies that krewes contract for floats - these happen to be for the Krewe of Bacchus which was started in 1968 to put spark back into Mardi Gras and broke with tradition by staging bigger, more elaborate floats and celebrity kings to lead its parades. I've never been to Mardi Gras - maybe someday. If you've ever thought about it, it could be a good time to go as crowds are still smaller than pre-Katrina. And remember, just by going and spending money, you're helping the city recover.