Love Is In The Fair

Love Is In The Fair from THE BITTER SOUTHERNER on Vimeo.

MLK Weekend Links

Like me, you probably don't get a three-day weekend, but you can still enjoy these stories:

The Dark Knight Unmasked - SB Nation

In Losing The Rams, St. Louis Wins - Joe Nocera NYT

Deontay Wilder Is Making Heavyweight Boxing Fun Again - New York Magazine 

Most U.S. Egg Producers Are Now Choosing Cage-Free Houses - The Salt.  I guess maybe the market has spoken.

Task force: Here’s how we fix Iowa’s water quality - Des Moines Register.  I'm shocked it involves paying farmers to try to get them to mitigate pollution.

This Bee-Killing Pesticide Is Terrible At Protecting Crops - Mother Jones.  I think the headline overstates the evidence, but it is interesting nonetheless.

Scientists move one step closer to turning water into hydrogen fuel, affordably - Christian Science Monitor

This is how toxic Flint's water really is - Washington Post

Hope Rekindled for Perplexing Proof - Quanta

How the Klan Got Its Hood - The New Republic

Local Control in Maine is a Luxury Few Towns Can Afford - New York Times

Bundyland - Willamette Week

New Navy Ships Have Trouble Surviving the High Seas - Bloomberg.  The Navy is so overrated.

Republican Deficit Hypocrisy - New York Times.  This cannot be said too many times.

Who's Winning the Presidential Campaign? - The Upshot.  God help us.

El Nino Has A Long Way To Go

Grist:

Frozen soap bubbles

Frozen soap bubbles from ZALUSKArt on Vimeo.

Another Reason To Dislike Jim Jordan

Dayton Daily News:

Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who made news last year for refusing to issue gay marriage licenses, is going to tonight’s State of the Union address and she got her ticket from a local lawmaker.
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana gave one of his tickets to the Family Research Council, the group then gave the ticket to Davis.
In a statement to reporter Jessica Wehrman, Jordan said, “Kim Davis used our ticket. Our staff heard from the Family Research Council that Ms. Davis and her family hoped to attend the State of the Union address and so we offered a ticket.”
According to the Associated Press, very lawmaker gets one guest ticket to the president’s annual speech, though congressional leaders get extras.
First lady Michelle Obama invited Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the case in which the Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage across the nation.

Hateful Christian bigots stick together.  Jim Jordan and Kim Davis: on the wrong side of history.  Also, they are both useless public employees who don't do their jobs.

NASA Photo of the Day

January 5:

The Lagoon Nebula in Hydrogen, Sulfur, and Oxygen
Image Credit & Copyright: John Nemcik Explanation: The majestic Lagoon Nebula is filled with hot gas and the home for many young stars. Spanning 100 light years across while lying only about 5000 light years distant, the Lagoon Nebula is so big and bright that it can be seen without a telescope toward the constellation of the Archer (Sagittarius). Many bright stars are visible from NGC 6530, an open cluster that formed in the nebula only several million years ago. The greater nebula, also known as M8 and NGC 6523, is named "Lagoon" for the band of dust seen to the right of the open cluster's center. The featured image was taken in the light emitted by Hydrogen (shown in brown), Sulfur (red), and Oxygen (blue) and displayed in enhanced color. The featured picture is a newly processed panorama of M8, capturing twice the diameter of the Full Moon. Star formation continues in the Lagoon Nebula as witnessed by the many globules that exist there.

The Latest Update to the TCF Bank Stadium Wikipedia Entry

TCF Bank Stadium is an outdoor stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and is the current location of Blair Walsh bawling his eyes out in tears after missing the game-winning FG in the wild-card round of the NFL Playoffs on January 10th, 2016.