Super Bowl Sunday Links

Stories from the last week for your reading pleasure:

Rural Communities Struggle to Adapt to Life Without Football - The Atlantic  

Tom Brady's roots run deep into 19th century Boston - Boston Globe

How an Olympic Hopeful Robbed 26 Banks on His Bike - Chicago Magazine (h/t my former boss).  For what it is worth, a guy robbed a bank in Piqua, Ohio and rode away on a bike, and I don't think he was ever caught.

US academics feel the invisible hand of politicians and big agriculture - The Guardian

Inside the Apollo Guidance Computer's core memory - Ken Shirriff's blog

St. Brigid and the Coming of Spring - RTE 

Sears Once Sold Heroin - The Atlantic  

Can China Turn the Middle of Nowhere Into the Center of the World Economy? – New York Times (also from my boss)

Coal Country Is Dying. All Trump Has Are Lies. – Washington Monthly

Snake-Oil Economics – Greg Mankiw

EPA’s chemical decision worries Republicans – Politico and Republicans Are Loud on Water, Silent on Climate – The Atlantic  

Gone in a generation - Washington Post

End of January Links

More interesting stories from the previous week or so:

The Fight Over the Future of Football Has Become a Battle for California’s Soul - The Ringer

20 old Cleveland Rams photos to remind you L.A.'s Super Bowl-bound franchise began here - The Plain Dealer

Brianna Decker Will Get Her Prize Money After All, Just Not From The NHL [Update] - Deadspin

James Harden’s Transcendent Step-Back - The New Yorker 

Colorado a hotbed for North American yak ranching – Denver Post 

The 500-Year-Long Science Experiment - The Atlantic 

Particle physics may have reached the end of the line - Backreaction 

No One Is Prepared for Hagfish Slime - The Atlantic  

“Venture capital money kills more businesses than it helps,” says Basecamp CEO Jason Fried - Recode

How a retired couple found lottery odds in their favor - 60 Minutes.  Also featured here.

Chicago billionaire Ken Griffin just bought the most expensive U.S. home ever: A $238 million New York penthouse - Chicago Tribune and Daniel Snyder’s new $100 million purchase is the first superyacht with a certified Imax movie theater - Washington Post.  I don't think a higher top tax bracket would hurt anything.  It beats the guillotine.

Advances in weather prediction - Science.  "But, as the American Meteorological Society celebrates its 100th anniversary, the improvement in forecasting stands out. Modern 72-hour predictions of hurricane tracks are more accurate than 24-hour forecasts were 40 years ago (see the figure), giving sufficient time for evacuations and other preparations that save lives and property." It amazes me how accurate rainfall forecasts can be, with the timing of the beginning of the storm down to the hour.

End of Year Links and New Year's Resolutions

2018 was a pretty bad year, both for this blog and for the world.  2019 might be better, but I have my doubts.  Here are a bunch of links I've saved from the last part of the year:

My Dad's Friendship With Charles Barkley – NPR Only A Game.  This is a great read.

#CardCorner: 1958 Topps Wally Post - National Baseball Hall of Fame.  Local legend from St. Henry, Ohio.

Nebraska vs. Oklahoma State in an old-school battle in South Dakota? How did that happen? - Omaha World-Herald.  Here because of the gym.

The game of their lives was 25 years ago. They’re still replaying it in their minds. - Washington Post

How Christmas evolved from raucous carnival to domestic holiday - The Economist  

A Storm and a Strike Hit Blueberry Giant's Global Supply Plans – Bloomberg

TREADING WATER | Unfocused and underfunded, goal of cleaner water falters – Cedar Rapids Gazette

Uncertain fate awaits quirky Rochester landmark – Minnesota Public Radio

40 million Americans depend on the Colorado River. It’s drying up. - Grist

As oil and gas exports surge, West Texas becomes the world’s “extraction colony” - Texas Tribune

Oklahoma’s Future Rests in the Hands of Two Very Different Oil Billionaires - Bloomberg

Dr. Elon & Mr. Musk: Life Inside Tesla's Production Hell – Wired 

The Genius Neuroscientist Who Might Hold the Key to True AI – Wired

Bizarre ‘dark fluid’ with negative mass could dominate the universe – what my research suggests – The Conversation 

Indiana's 'broken arrow' — that time 5 nuclear bombs got caught fire – Indianapolis Star.  How we survived the Cold War I will never know.

Austin Rising - Louisville Courier-Journal.  A series on Austin, Indiana, where an HIV outbreak in 2015 linked to IV drug use shocked the Midwest.

Losing the Farm - Belt Magazine 

The Corruption of the Republican Party – George Packer

The Plot Against America – The Atlantic.  Paul Manafort

A college kid running for 13th Ward alderman gets a lesson in the Chicago Way – Chicago Tribune

The godfather of fake news – BBC

King of the Low Road – The Weekly Standard

These charts show how Democrats represent the growing modern economy – and how Republicans are left behind - CNBC 

Finally, for the resolutions.  One, I'm going to have to start exercising.  I am not looking forward to that.  Two, I'm going to have to take on a lot of maintenance projects this year.  Finally, I'm going to try to get back into regular blogging, with at least two posts a week.  We'll see how that goes.

Thanksgiving Mini-Links: Sports Traditions Edition

Here are a couple sports stories for your Turkey Day, and an Onion sweetener:

St. Dot’s vs. St. Bernie’s: A Drexel Hill football tradition spanning six decades - Philadelphia Inquirer

Doyel: Students will run for miles to maintain this Indiana basketball tradition - Indianapolis Star

How Turkey Trots Became a Thanksgiving Tradition - New York Times

Does Thanksgiving Glorify The Historical Slaughter Of The Detroit Lions - The Onion - I'm pretty sure grandpa will mention at some time during the day that the Lions used to play the Bears every year on Thanksgiving Day (not true-the Packers have a better claim for that).

Late July Links

I've been pretty lazy lately when it comes to the blog, but I've got quite a few rapidly aging links I need to use, so here you go:

Family spat leads to two town ball teams in little Milroy, Minn. - Minneapolis Star-Tribune.  I sure would have loved to have town ball around western Ohio when I was young.

The Family Ownership Dramas That Roil the NFL - Sports Illustrated.  As far as I saw, no mention of the Brown family, who beat the IRS.

How the Braves came to Buffalo – and why they left - Buffalo News.  This is a couple of years old, but has a lot of interesting historical deal about college basketball in Buffalo and the NBA as a minor professional league.

Lake surfers say polluted waves are making them sick—but they love it too much to stop – Chicago Reader

Sinking land, poisoned water: the dark side of California's mega farms- The Guardian

I Was Wrong About the Rural–Urban Divide - YES! Magazine.  It was previously noted on the blog that diary farmers were more likely to skew Democratic than other farmers in Wisconsin.

We Have No Idea How Bad the US Tick Problem Is – Wired  

Catastrophic drought threatens Iraq as major dams in surrounding countries cut off water to its great rivers – The Independent  

The Entire History of Steel – Popular Mechanics 

An ICE Raid Leaves an Iowa Town Divided Along Faith Lines – New York Times.  Evangelical Trumpians vs. Christians.

American History for Truthdiggers: Whose Revolution? (1775-1783) – Truthdig 

The fallacy of obviousness – Aeon 

How to get away with financial fraud  - The Guardian

As churches close, a way of life fades – Minneapolis Star-Tribune.  The declines in baptisms are horrific.

Early April Weekend Links

Here are a few stories from the last few days:

Playing for Pop - San Antonio Express-News

The Broncos’ Futures program saved football in Denver Public Schools. But an even bigger impact of the feeder teams might still be seen- Denver Post

“The Clock Is Ticking”: Inside the Worst U.S. Maritime Disaster in Decades – Vanity Fair.  I highly recommend this article.

So 2 Goats Were Stuck On A Beam Under A Bridge ... - Goats and Soda

Iowa producers say ethanol limits would be 'war' on rural U.S. - Des Moines Register 

The Great Lakes Are Filling Up With Giant Green Blobs - Mother Jones  

AP sources: EPA chief spent millions on security and travel - Associated Press.  Scott Pruitt is an asshat.

Humankind’s Most Important Material - The Atlantic 

How Congress Used the Post Office to Unite the Nation – Bloomberg 

The Future of America's Economy Looks a Lot Like Elkhart, Indiana - Wall Street Journal.  People are crazy, and this boom will end in tears.

Have we reached peak English in the world? - The Guardian and Brits are in denial about their diminishing importance – Handelsblatt

A Betrayal - ProPublica.  This is an awful mess.

There's no good reason to stop felons from voting - George Will (?!)

How One Man Got Rich Selling Machine Guns – Bloomberg.  Another terrible investment idea.

Selection Sunday Links

Here are the best stories I saw in the last part of the week: 

Suicides, Drug Addiction and High School Football - New York Times.  Madison, Indiana

America's Basketball Heaven - ESPN 

Country Star - Washington Post

Steve Francis: I Got a Story to Tell - The Players' Tribune 

Nun Involved In Katy Perry Convent Lawsuit Collapses And Dies In Court - NPR

Deep gas bands, shapely cyclones — NASA's Juno reveals more of Jupiter's secrets – LA Times 

What scientists found trapped in a diamond: a type of ice not known on Earth - LA Times

Salk, Sabin and the Race Against Polio - Smithsonian.  An old story, but one I was wondering about recently.  

Why Are New Hampshire's Tax-Free Liquor Stores Selling So Much Hennessy? - The Salt

For many factory towns, white collar job loss hurts the most – AP News

Magnesium May Save the Town of Asbestos – Bloomberg 

This Is What Happens When Bitcoin Miners Take Over Your Town – Politico 

A New Documentary Honors the Work and Life of Photojournalist Chris Hondros - The Atlantic.  I didn't know it until after he died, but he started his photojournalism career at the local small-town paper.

China's Staggering Demand for Commodities  - Visual Capitalist 

Super Bowl Sunday Links

Here are some stories for you to check out in between commercials:

Jump on the Bandwagon of a Winning Super Bowl Team? Not These Cleveland Browns Fans - New York Times

The search for Jackie Wallace - NOLA

From Minneapolis to Inglewood, the shifting politics of NFL stadium design - LA Times

Why NFL Ratings Are Plummeting: A Two-Part Theory - The Atlantic

New Falcon Heavy Rocket Represents a Major Bet for SpaceX - Wall Street Journal

Inside Oil Giant Shell's Race to Remake Itself For a Low-Price World - Fortune

What It’s Like Inside the Trump Administration’s Regulatory Rollback at the EPA - ProPublica

This country has a lot of rules, but they're all there for a reason — right? - Marketplace

A Kingdom from Dust - California Sunday Magazine.  This is a must-read on an agribusiness empire.

Turning Soybeans Into Diesel Fuel Is Costing Us Billions - The Salt

Farms with Biggest Financial Risk Get Least Government Support - Daily Yonder

Wheat 101: A Guide to Wheat - Big Sky FarmHer

via - BigSky FarmHer

Festivus Links

Happy Festivus!  Before I enter into the airing of grievances, I'll share some news stories with you:

The Trials of a Boxing Romantic - New York Times

'Thanks for saving my life': Dennis Rodman's heartfelt tribute to Craig Sager - Washington Post

This Is Without  A Doubt The Best Obituary I've Ever Read.  It's Not Even Close. Outstanding, Outstanding Obituary - Barstool Sports.  Via the sister.

How an Idaho football player became a bank robber - USAToday.  Via the old boss.

For Cash-Strapped Monks, Selling Fruitcakes Is A Saving Grace - The Salt

Inside Quebec's Great Multi-Million-Dollar Maple Syrup Heist - Vanity Fair.  I can't get enough stories about the Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve, or the the heist from it.

The Inside Story of Apple's $14 Billion Tax Bill - Bloomberg

All-American Huckster: The Untold Story of Napoleon Hill, the Greatest Self-Help Scammer of All Time - Gizmodo

Columbus-Chicago passenger rail moves ahead, slowly - Columbus Dispatch

Teachers in Wealthy Districts Get Bulk of Indiana's Performance Payouts - Education Week.  Stupid Republican policy.

'It Makes You Human Again' - Politico.  Interesting piece on Albequerque's homeless program.

The U.S. is no stranger to interfering in the elections of other countries - Washington Post. What's good for the goose...

How Trump's White House Could Mess With Government Data - Fivethirtyeight

Trump's Pick for Interior Secretary Was Caught In "Pattern of Fraud" at SEAL Team 6 - The Intercept

Why the Nazis studied American race laws for inspiration - Aeon 

How the Obama Coalition Crumbled, Leaving an Opening for Trump - The Upshot

It's That Time Again

Time for Bob Wojnowski's Michigan-Ohio State column.  There are a couple of good OSU jokes in there.  Hopefully it is a good game, and hopefully, the team that doesn't go to the Big Ten championship game doesn't go to the college football playoff.

End of August Mini-links

Here are a handful of stories I've seen recently:

This College Football Team Doesn't Want To Join The Big Leagues - Bloomberg.  North Dakota State.  I wouldn't if I were them.

After 75 years, baseball in Bakersfield has struck out - LA Times

The Rise and Fall of Gerd Bonk, the World Champion of Doping - Vice Sports

The Start-up That Watches Corn Grow, From Orbit - The Atlantic

Minnesota Farmers Turn To Bankruptcy As Low Prices Continue - AgWeb

America's Real Mountain Of Cheese Is On Our Plates - The Salt

The Biggest Distillery You've Never Heard of is in Lawrenceburg, Indiana - Cincinnati Magazine

The Feudal Origins of America's Most Hated Tax - The Atlantic

Where the Confederacy is Rising Again - Politico

Trouble Signs for Donald Trump: Ambivalence in Exurbs - Wall Street Journal.  I'd be embarrassed if rural areas showed up on this chart.

Another Set of Rain Break Links

I spent a good portion of the weekend sowing beans, but I did manage to catch the Derby.  Here are some links I came across in my winding-down time (a few Derby-linked):

The $100 Million Superhorse Powering This Year's Kentucky Derby - Bloomberg and Nyquist's Win is a Boost for Uncle Mo - Wall Street Journal

Churchill Downer: The Forgotten Racial History of Kentucky's State Song - NPR and The Forgotten History of African-American Jockeys - NPR

Voters approve nation's most-expensive high school football stadium - USA Today (h/t the Reporter).  Texas, always with the right priorities:

At $62.8 million,  the total would be more than the $60 million that Allen spent for Eagle Stadium, which is an 18,000-seat stadium. It also would be more than the $62.5 million that Katy is spending for its stadium scheduled to open in 2017. Construction is ongoing.
The bond was approved with 63% of the vote.

U.S. Corn Production Set to Rise, Boosting Supplies - Wall Street Journal.  It is going to get ugly here in the midwest.

Under Attack, Commodity Promotion Programs Try To Hide Their Emails - The Salt

How Breakfast Became a Thing - Priceonomics. Or, breakfresh, as my grandma used to pronounce it.

Exploring America's Largest Collection of Early Tavern Signs - Atlas Obscura

The Road To The Chicken Ranch - Texas Monthly.  I didn't realize the origin of the name came out of the Great Depression.

'You want a description of Hell?' Oxycontin's 12-Hour Problem - Los Angeles Times.  America's drug epidemic has many very dark and interweaving themes, and big business is one of them.

Private schools, painful secrets - Boston Globe.  Spotlight focuses on another decades-long institutional sex abuse coverup.

Why is simpler better? - Aeon

Warren Buffett's mobile home empire preys on the poor - Center for Public Integrity.  Sure, a lot of his folksiness is just marketing, but this really does look bad.

A Portrait of Coal Town on the Brink of Death - VICE

I Know Why Poor Whites Chant Trump, Trump, Trump - STIR

Donald Trump Is Campaigning on the New Deal - New York Magazine

Ted Cruz Backers Seek to Control Convention Platform - New York Times.  As if the GOP convention wasn't going to be a big enough fiasco already.  This party needs destroyed.

Graphs Showing Agricultural Trends - Big Picture Agriculture.  Thankfully, Big Picture Agriculture is back.  Nothing especially surprising about this milk production chart, but I need some kind of graphic for my links post, and this one will work.

NCAA Tournament Opening Weekend Links

In between basketball games, you can check out these stories:

Are the 2016 Browns the Least Talented Team in Modern History? - Bleacher Report

The Complicated Politics of Hating Duke - Wall Street Journal.  Not complicated for me.

The Farm Bill Drove Me Insane - Politico  

Low oil prices drying up ethanol producers’ profits - Des Moines Register 

Who’s watching the chickens?- Politico

Gigi The Cow Broke The Milk Production Record. Is That Bad For Cows? - The Salt  

These artisans specialize in the dwindling craft of saintly repairs - Washington Post  

Inside the Billion-Dollar Dig to America’s Biggest Copper Deposit - Bloomberg. Crazy. 

A sinking jail: The environmental disaster that is Rikers Island - Grist

Story of cities #4: Beijing and the earliest planning document in history - Guardian

  

The Hoaxster Who Revealed Sad Truths About America - Priceonomics

How We Learned (Almost) Everything That's Wrong With U.S. Census Data - Harvard Business Review

Crowdfunding for the Public Good is Evil - Wired

Free Lunch - Texas Observer 

The Role of Highways in American Poverty - The Atlantic  

The Huge Cultural Shift That's Helping Trump Win Evangelicals - Politico

The great unsettling - Washington Post

Extraordinary Raw Materials in a Tesla Model S - Visual Capitalist

Presidents' Day Weekend Links

If you work at a bank, a school or a government office, you've got a three day weekend.  For the rest of us, there are two days to take in these stories:

The Gyms of Holmes County - SB Nation.  Even though this story generally follows girls basketball, Perry Reese, Jr. gets a shout out.  If you've never read the remembrance of Reese in Sports Illustrated, I highly recommend it.

The Wow Factor - ESPN the Magazine

Buy Crop Insurance, Double Your Money and The Shocking Truth About America's Ethanol Law: It Doesn't Matter (For Now) - A government subsidy for farmers twofer from The Salt.  And yes, the crop insurance article is pretty accurate.  We seem to get about 7 to 10 years' premiums back most times we have a major claim on crop insurance.

For $100 and Some Beer, This Student Spent Three Months Camping on a Dairy Farm - Modern Farmer

Organic honey is a sweet success for Cuba as other bee populations struggle - The Guardian

What Americans Used To Eat - Priceonomics

The Tragedy of the Woolly Mammoth: Does An Economic Problem Explain Their Extinction - Pacific Standard 

The chips are down for Moore's Law - Nature

In Aftermath of Terror Attacks, Tensions Rise in Idaho Over Refugee Workers - Wall Street Journal

Watch 1,400 Workers Lose Their Jobs At Once-Because Their Jobs Are Going To Mexico - Fast Company


Poverty in Charlotte: 'It Was Never OK' - Charlotte Magazine

How America Is Putting Itself Back Together - James Fallows.  Fallows is one of my favorites, and the American Futures series has been excellent.  This is the summary article.

New Hampshire is a fraud - Washington Post

Why Today's GOP Crackup Is the Final Unraveling of Nixon's 'Southern Strategy' - The Nation.  America would be a better place if it was.

Trump questions Cruz's faith - The Hill.  If Ted Cruz is an exemplary Christian: A. I don't want to be a Christian, and B. I may be a black man.

Don't Worry, the Porn Star Ted Cruz Used in an Ad Only Did Softcore Stuff - Esquire

The Facebook Primary - FiveThirtyEight. If Carson is #1, it is kind of meaningless, but interesting nonetheless.

Bleacher Report: The World's Greatest Gatecrasher

Bleacher Report: The World's Greatest Gatecrasher from oliver sin on Vimeo.

Super Bowl Weekend Links

I hear there's a game tomorrow, but since it doesn't start until late, you'll have time to read some of these stories:

Higher and Higher - SB Nation

Farm Subsidies Persist and Grow, Despite Talk of Reform - The Salt

What Happens To Farmers' Interests After Everybody Packs Up and Leaves Iowa? - Charles Pierce

Cover Crops, a Farming Revolution With Deep Roots in the Past - New York Times (h/t the Nurse)

U.S. Security Concerns Could Stand in the Way of ChemChina's Syngenta Bid - Bloomberg.  It would seem like something of an overstep for the U.S. to tell a Swiss company it can't be bought by a Chinese company.

Ground Shifts Under Wheat Export Market - Wall Street Journal

Changes ahead in 2016, Cupich tells priests - Chicago Sun-Times.  Fewer priests and fewer parishioners means fewer parishes, in Chicago and other northern dioceses.

One of Africa's Biggest Dams Is Falling Apart - The New Yorker

Stealing White: How a corporate spy swiped plans for DuPont's billion dollar color formula - Bloomberg

The Unique Language of Newfoundland - Hakai Magazine

Hoosier Hall of Fame: Hoosier Innovations - Indianapolis Monthly.  Yes, I hate Indiana, but there are a few interesting things on this list.  I didn't know Chuck Taylor was from Hoosierland.

What Went Wrong in Flint - FiveThirtyEight

The rise of the Sagebrush Sheriffs - High Country News

The West Is Traveling the Road to Economic Ruin - Paul Craig Roberts

To Tell The Truth - Texas Monthly

Gerry Adams's Baffling Book of Tweets - The New Yorker

White America's Broken Heart - New York Times

Should You Literally Pick The Low-Hanging Fruit? - Priceonomics,  This is a favorite term in ITW 80/20.  That and, "screw the little guy."

End of January Weekend Links

It's unseasonably warm here, but you won't hear me complain.  Here are some good stories to sit out in the sun and enjoy:

Buffalo  and Wide Right, Broken Hearts and No Illusions - SB Nation

A Guy Like Me - The Players' Tribune

How Prince Sammons Came To America - Cincinnati Magazine  

The world's first robot-run farm will harvest 30,000 heads of lettuce daily - Tech Insider

Legal Beef - Texas Monthly

Scientists Are Building a Case For How Food Ads Make Us Overeat - The Salt.  Food ads are about the only commercials that work on me.  That's probably why I am very poorly dressed but also fat.

Math whizzes of ancient Babylon figured out forerunner of calculus - Science Magazine

The Man Who Tried to Kill Math in America - The Atlantic

The Crusade Against Multiple Regression Analysis - Edge

The Great Migration: The African American Exodus from the South - Priceonomics

Theranos Is Running Out of Time - Bloomberg

Who Poisoned Flint, Michigan? - Rolling Stone.  Who are Republican policymakers, Alex.

The Buddy System - The New Yorker

Long Before Helping Flint, Michigan Officials Were Shipping Clean Water to Their Own Workers - Mother Jones

New Koch - The New Yorker  

Big Agriculture Gets Its Sh*t Together - Fortune.  Fair Oak Farms.  Interesting anecdote from Wayne Pacelle to open the story.  Farmers who hate Pacelle are totally over-matched.

 

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.

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.

Get Browns 2016 Season Tickets While You Still Can

This is awesome: