Six things you may not know about the U.S. government shutdown

Parks are closed. Vacations have been ruined. And Wall Street, on the third day of the shutdown, is starting to get a little skittish.

For goodness sakes — even the National Zoo's "panda cams" are offline. And yet Congresspeople are still getting paid despite the fact tens of thousands of federal employees have been furloughed. Is there no end to this budget insanity?

Apparently not. Because the U.S. government shut down — effectively meaning all non-critical and essential services are closed or shuttered until a time when government funding can be secured — many services are unavailable to the wider public and federal employees alike.