Regular readers know that I live in New Orleans. It's been nine months since Hurricane Katrina and the failings of our levee system laid waste to my home town. Even now, we're still dealing with the after effects. At least I'm one of the lucky ones. I get to live in my own house. Too many of my fellow citizens can't say the same.

The online version of the New Orleans Times-Picayune published an animated Flash map this week that show how the city was flooded during the course of August 29th. Now, this animation won't blow your socks off for its aesthetics (I could have done without the sound effects, especially in the continuous animation version) or its interactivity, but it might blow your mind when you see just how much of New Orleans took on water. Staff artist, Dan Swenson, did a great job using Flash to show the tragedy of events unfold over time. Sometimes I think we...I know I do personally...get caught up in the coolness factor of Flash. Swenson reminds us that you don't have to be flashy to use Flash as a great communication tool.