Full Snow Moon Links

I'm not going to use the title supermoon, because that is a bunch of media hype, but here are some super links:

What happens to Loogootee water tower when Jack Butcher's wins record falls? and Doyel: State's winningest coach had no intentions of leaving home and J.R. Holmes will soon become second boys basketball coach in state to reach 800 wins – Indy Star.  80% of the decent stories I get from the Star are about high school basketball.  The rest are about stupid Indiana laws.

Should a Catholic priest be fighting in a boxing tournament? – America.  As a Bengal Bouts alum, I say hell yes.  (Career record 0-4. 0-5 counting the novice matches in the fall of freshman year)

‘It Will Cause a Scandal.’ The Pope and a Trusted U.S. Cardinal Clash Over Sex-Abuse Crisis – Wall Street Journal 

Massive Loss Of Thousands Of Hives Afflicts Orchard Growers And Beekeepers - The Salt

‘Food and the Wisconsin Idea’ talk discusses Wisconsin farming, solutions to dairy crisis – The Badger Herald  and Food Banks Are Overflowing With Milk - Weekend Edition Sunday

Private Mossad for Hire – The New Yorker  

In Need of Workers, the Midwest Recruits From Puerto Rico - Wall Street Journal (h/t cmoore)

Alabama newspaper editor calls for Klan return to 'clean out D.C.' - Montgomery Advertiser

Bolsonaro’s Brazil - London Review of Books

How the US has hidden its empire - The Guardian

Research, Extension, and Related Matters: Title VII - USDA ERS

Early February Links

Some of my favorite stories from the previous week:

After the abuse Jackie Robinson endured, Frank Robinson refused to take it - Chicago Tribune

Farmers nearing crisis push back on Trump trade policies – Politico and ‘This One Here Is Gonna Kick My Butt’—Farm Belt Bankruptcies Are Soaring – Wall Street Journal

Is Fear Driving Sales Of Monsanto's Dicamba-Proof Soybeans? - The Salt

Long, strange trip: How U.S. ethanol reaches China tariff-free - Reuters

A Water Crisis Is Growing In A Place You'd Least Expect It - NPR

In Era of Drought, Phoenix Prepares for a Future Without Colorado River Water - Yale Environment 360.  Part 4 in a series.

CNX reports suspected cause of Utica Shale well problem near Beaver Run Reservoir - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

How ‘Interior Landmarks’ Redeemed New York – The American Conservative and  Architectural history hidden by Detroit ceilings for years - Detroit Free Press

Fight the Ship - Death and valor on a warship doomed by its own Navy. – ProPublica

The Five Families of Feces – New York Magazine  

Abuse of Faith - Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News.  This is Spotlight-level investigative reporting.

A Tennessee clinic swindled the military out of $65M. This is how it got caught – The Tennessean

Simon Institute research shows state funding disparities benefit downstate - SIU News.  According to this, the suburbs, and to some extent Chicago, get hammered to benefit rural areas.





‘My whole town practically lived there’: From Costa Rica to New Jersey, a pipeline of illegal workers for Trump goes back years - Washington Post

The hypocrisy of Trump’s jobs claims, in one chart - Vox (chart from Aaron Sojourner)

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

Early January Links

It looks like the National Championship game might end up 54-52 or something.  Here are a few links for your reading pleasure:

The Ball Family Circus Comes To Ohio - Deadspin

Chicago Catholics struggle to build future with fewer priests as parishes shrink, cash dwindles – Chicago Tribune.  Not surprising, but kind of sad anyway.

St. Louis city and county: Divorced in 1876. Remarried in 2020? – St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  The massive number of municipalities in St. Louis County is crazy.  One only has 13 residents.

Wettest-Year Records for 2018, Take Two – Weather Underground.  So much rain.

Scientists Have 'Hacked Photosynthesis' In Search Of More Productive Crops - The Salt

Putin says Russia will supply soy beans, poultry meat to China – Reuters.  Probably just bullshit to rock the boat politically, but we really are shooting ourselves in the foot. 

The Farm Bureau: Big Oil’s Unnoticed Ally Fighting Climate Science and Policy – Inside Climate News

Fracking’s Secret Problem—Oil Wells Aren’t Producing as Much as Forecast – Wall Street Journal

Trump Has Promised to Bring Jobs Back. His Tariffs Threaten to Send Them Away. - New York Times.  The steel and aluminum tariffs just punish metal consuming manufacturers.  More foot-shooting.

How Mark Burnett Resurrected Donald Trump as an Icon of American Success – The New Yorker  

Donald Trump Was Never Vetted - New York Magazine.   When people are voting for him because The Apprentice convinced them that Trump is a genius businessman, I'm not sure more vetting was going to convince them he's a fuckup.

American Exceptionalism Is a Dangerous Myth – New York Magazine. 

The Businesspeople Who Have Helped Enable Steve King’s Rise - Iowa Informer.  Looks like a who's who of Iowa business.

This Map Shows Where in the World the U.S. Military Is Combatting Terrorism – Smithsonian.  It would almost be easier to show where the U.S. military isn't.

Mid-June Links, Part II

More stories for you, as I avoid working in the heat:

This ex-Detroit football player is vowing to become a nun - Detroit Free Press

Ashes of an industry: A Pennsylvania tradition is dying, one baseball bat at a time - Philadelphia Inquirer

No more cathode ray tubes from China, says Trump Administration - Asia Times

Philadelphia Shipyard Struggles to Survive on Order Drought - Wall Street Journal.  Calling Donald Trump....

Billions in U.S. solar projects shelved after Trump panel tariff - Reuters.  I guess if your goal is to bail out coal, this is a win.  If your goal is to have a sane energy policy, this is idiotic.

When North Dakota Farmers Blew up Partisan Politics - Zocalo Public Square.  Nonpartisan League.  I knew North Dakota has a State Bank.  I didn't realize they have an elevator and flour mill.

The Failed State of Franklin - ThoughtCo

The bishop and the brothels – Wellcome Collection

Farm Bill Targets Food Stamps -- But Not Handouts to Well-Off Farmers – Governing.  For Republicans, that is a feature, not a bug.

Lone Star Rising - Fortune.  Fracking in the Permian Basin.  The avoidance of Peak Oil means we will probably drill until the climate is completely wrecked.  It might be a good think I don't have kids.

T. Boone Pickens on Selling the Ranch - Texas Monthly

The preventable tragedy of D’ashon Morris – Dallas Morning News.  Think of this when you hear Republicans say they are pro-life.

How Anna Delvey Tricked New York's Party People - The Cut

These Harvard Kids Got The Lesson of Their Lives in the Heartland - New York Post.  A noble effort, but I don't know how much can be gleaned by these junkets.

The Strange Case of the Missing Joyce Scholar – New York Times.  The line between genius and madness is often blurry.

America’s Largest Private Company Reboots a 153-Year-Old Strategy – Bloomberg

Mid-June Links, Part I

That's right, I'm not dead yet.  I was just busy side dressing corn, baling hay, going to graduation parties, working at the town festival, celebrating my birthday and generally sitting around.  Here are a bunch of stories to try to make it up to you, with more to come tomorrow (or maybe the next few days):

Why Canadian milk infuriates Donald Trump - The Guardian.  After years of getting crushed, Canada's system probably sounds pretty appealing to U.S. dairymen.

Crisis on the High Plains: The Loss of America's Largest Aquifer - The Ogallala - University of  Denver Water Law Review.  U.S. agriculture creates so many of its own problems. 

Plants repeatedly got rid of their ability to obtain their own nitrogen - Ars Technica

New tariffs spark fears in WNY: 'It makes me a lot less competitive' - Buffalo News

A Senior White House Official Defines the Trump Doctrine: ‘We’re America, Bitch’ - The Atlantic.  I'm sure that'll work out well for us.

Trump’s Got a Crazy New Plan to Save the Dying Coal Industry - Mother Jones.  There is never a shortage of terrible ideas in this administration.

Emails show cooperation among EPA, climate-change deniers - AP.  Also, corruption.

‘He Pretty Much Gave In to Whatever They Asked For’ - Politico.  Our Negotiator-in-Chief.  You have to read about The Art of the Deal and The Apprentice.

Catholic sister's retirement marks end of Sisters of Charity affiliation with Sacred Heart - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  There is a lot of this going on.

Trump’s Right-Hand Troll - The Atlantic. America's most famous Duke alum.

America’s Boxcar Pool Has a Leak in CSX - Wall Street Journal

The Engines of the Largest Container Ships in the World, and Challenges their Manufacturers Face - Wolf Street.  You have to click through to see the crankshaft photo.

What Unites and Divides Urban, Suburban and Rural Communities - Pew Research Center

US rivers drawn to show average annual flow - Map Porn (via Lynn Sosnoskie)

End of Planting Links

We had a number of setbacks that ate up a few perfectly fine days, but the weather was extremely cooperative, and everything is in the ground.  While we were working on it, I came across some stories I thought were interesting:

Who is basketball's GOAT - Lebron James or Michael Jordan - Boston Globe and Cavaliers are surviving in the playoffs despite the dilemma of LeBron James' rest - ESPN.  I'm extremely biased, but I think Lebron would be the best teammate to play alongside.

The Big Ten’s Big Business - Slate.  "Amateur."  What a crock.

The Art of Icon Writing - Baltimore Sun

Why We've Been Fighting About Milk for 10,000 Years - Time

Maple Syrup Cartel Has a Plan to Cover Shortfall - Bloomberg.  I can't get enough of the maple syrup cartel and their strategic maple syrup reserve.

The Colonel In The Kitchen: A Surprising History Of Sous Vide - The Salt

Alan Turing’s chemistry hypothesis turned into a desalination filter - Ars Technica

How the 50-mm Lens Became ‘Normal’ - The Atlantic 

The water war that will decide the fate of 1 in 8 Americans – Grist.  People who move to the desert southwest are insane.

Tech Envisions the Ultimate Start-Up: An Entire City – The Upshot.  Umm, no thanks.  I'm not sure how Beta versions of cities would work.

Kansas' Medicaid Data Is So Bad, Analysts Can't Even Tell If It's Working - Governing.  Kansas is pretty much Republican "governance" in its purest form.

Nonprofit Liberty University's "lucrative enterprise" - Marketplace.  Gaming regulations targeting for-profit colleges.

Trump is no longer the worst person in government - George Will.  On Mike Pence. Let's not get crazy, George.  Both suck in tremendously different ways.

Donald Trump declares trade war on China - Financial Times.  This will probably hit farmers hard.

Derby Day Links

More stories squeezed around planting, fixing the planter and working at the town job:

 Eating Dirt on Kentucky Derby Day - Bloomberg

The Gambler Who Cracked the Horse-Racing Code - Bloomberg

These Stories Of Horse Racing Gamblers Will Get You Psyched For The Kentucky Derby - Bloomberg.  It's a podcast, but as you can see, Bloomberg is all-in on the Derby.

Local Dallas Sportscaster Goes Viral For His 'Unplugged' Commentary - All Things Considered.  The part about his racist dad saying the one black family he knows is good and different from all the blacks he doesn't know is pure Midwestern bigotry.  I don't know if I could count how many times I've heard that. Sometimes it includes a statement that that black person or family agrees with that person about other blacks.

The innovation turning desert sand into farmland - BBC

Minnesota experiment upends notions about how plants will offset rising CO2 - Minn Post

On The Hunt For The Elusive Morel Mushroom In Ohio's Appalachian Country  - The Salt

Here's why Michigan Medicaid work requirements will kill people - Detroit Free Press.  Exemptions for rural counties, but not for poor urban areas.  That's the Republican party for you.

How Criminals Steal $37 Billion a Year from America’s Elderly - Bloomberg.  I would like to know what countries' GDP are smaller than the total economic activity generated in the US by crime and fraud.  I would guess it is the size of a medium-sized developed nation

Paul Ryan Just Got Trounced By a Priest - Charles Pierce and Ryan reverses, will keep House chaplain in place - Politico.  As if I needed to add anti-Catholic bigotry to my reasons to hate the GOP.  I did enjoy that more than one political commentator said that the moral of the story is that you don't fuck with a Jesuit (or The Society-God bless Catholic culture).

A Pruitt Aide's Attack on Zinke Angers the White House - The Atlantic.  So the cabinet secretary I hate the most had an underling try to undermine the cabinet secretary I hate the second-most.  That seems about like what I'd expect from the Trump administration.  Even they can understand who the assholes are.

This Map Shows Every State's Biggest Export - How Much (via Ritholtz).  Not too hard to figure out where Poet is based.

NCAA Championship Mini-Links

Notre Dame won the women's championship in dramatic fashion last night.  Villanova and Michigan battle for the men's title tonight.  Here are a few more interesting stories for your enjoyment:

How Loyola Chicago's Last Final Four Appearance Changed College Basketball – All Things Considered.  Interesting detail on the 1963 championship team.

Why Catholic Colleges Excel at Basketball – New York Times 

How a Baseball Revolution Happens - Real Clear Life 

Goodbye, Kansas Wheat? – Successful Farming.   Farmers may not think humans are to blame for climate change, but it still is going to wreak havoc on agriculture:

He owns land in southwestern Iowa near Glenwood, Red Oak, and Shenandoah where he grows corn and soybeans. The land is considerably more expensive, but he’s confident he can be profitable in Iowa vs. southwestern Kansas.
It’s not just an economics issue, he says. The area has become so arid and water is so scarce that it’s become a battle just to secure enough to grow even irrigated crops. 

A Dangerous Antibiotic-Resistant Gene Has Spread The World. We Now Know Where It Started - Science Alert

How this tiny Iowa town banded together save rural homes - Des Moines Register

 Robert Mercer’s Secret Adventure as a New Mexico Cop – Bloomberg  

“They Could Have Made a Different Decision”: Inside the Strange Odyssey of Hedge-Fund King Eddie Lampert - Vanity Fair  

Mobbed Up - Harper's.  On the US misadventures in Afghanistan.

How Overbuilt Levees Along the Upper Mississippi River Push Floods Onto Others - ProPublica (h/t my sister) 

Late March Weekend Links

Well, I forgot to make my NCAA hockey predictions (and saved myself from demonstrating my ignorance), but I did read a few interesting stories in the last few days (and I forgot a few links that I was planning on including in the last links):

How Charles Koch Turned Wichita State into a College-Basketball Powerhouse – The New Yorker

Sisters of Sister Jean Embrace Her Loyola Team and Marvel at Her Fame – New York Times.  The Times has been all over the Sister Jean story.  I guess I'm not the only one who thinks cultural Catholics love a good nun story.

 How $42K-a-year priest built mansion worth millions - Detroit News.  And this is one of the reasons there are so many cultural and not practicing Catholics.

Robots Are Trying To Pick Strawberries. So Far, They're Not Very Good At It - The Salt

Offutt's former SD farm goes all-organic for General Mills - Ag Week.  Even if farmers think it is garbage, the corporate titans are buying into organic.  In other words, the consumer is steering the ship.

The last whalers - Aeon

American History for Truthdiggers: Were the Colonists Patriots or Insurgents? - Truthdig.  This is a question.  I have considered similar thoughts when reading about the nation's birth. 

Tom and Jerry – why they’re a cat and mouse double act for the ages - The Conversation

The Intellectual We Deserve - Current Affairs.  I've generally avoided the Jordan Peterson hype, but this seems like an epic takedown.

Dearborn mayor backs Ford expansion to Michigan Central Station - Detroit Free Press.  It would be amazing if this comes to fruition.

How One Houston Suburb Ended Up in a Reservoir – New York Times.  Mainly it is that the Corps didn't buy all the ground they should have, and nobody had the balls to tell developers to GTFO.

Radar images show large swath of West Texas oil patch is heaving and sinking at alarming rates - SMU Research.  This may be nothing, or it may end up being very significant.


The Democrats’ Rural Voter Problem (and How to Fix It) - The New Republic.  The argument is interesting, if flawed, but it gets at the central issue with the Democratic party: how have they ceded economically populist voters to the party of Oligarchs (it is because they have become the party of socially progressive Oligarchs)?

Everyone Tries To Dodge The Tax Man, And It Keeps Getting Easier - FiveThirtyEight.  The perfect chart for the week of National Ag Day.

Spring Snowstorm Links

Sure, it was only 4 or 5 inches of snow, but I think that was the most we've gotten in any storm this winter, and it is no longer winter.  Anyway, I was busy imbibing on St. Patrick's Day, so it took a few extra days to find enough good stories.  Here you go:

Exploring great Indiana high school gyms - Indianapolis Star.  I hate the state of Indiana, but I do think they have some very cool basketball gyms.

For St. Patrick's Day, A True Tale Of 8 Sailors Saved By Guinness – The Salt

Catholic group offers alternative to payday lenders – Columbus Dispatch.  This is something I wanted to start up.

Attack of the extreme floods – Nature

This Father-Daughter Team Says It Has a Cheaper, Safer Way to Bury Nuclear Waste – Bloomberg 

Meet the world's deadliest female sniper who terrorized Hitler's Nazi army – The Independent 

Opinion: FCC Set to Waste Billions on the Wrong Rural Broadband Providers – Daily Yonder 

The Asset – Buzzfeed News

The Last Temptation – The Atlantic

Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, A Memo to the Publisher of the New York Times – TomDispatch.  From the 15th anniversary of the Iraq war.

The biggest Republican megadonor you’ve never heard of - Politico.  At least the Schlitz heir's governor candidate lost.

The Population Slowdown in the Outer Suburbs of the East and Midwest – NYT

Pi Day Mini-Links

I hope you had a great Pi Day.  I figured I would throw a few links up, especially since the first one involves a high seed that might not be in the tournament very long:

The Nun in Loyola-Chicago’s Huddle Has a Few Things to Say – New York Times 

Why No. 1 Virginia’s Plodding Pace Makes It Ripe for an Upset – Wall Street Journal

The EU Is Going After the U.S. Cranberry Industry – Bloomberg.  Targeting Paul Ryan's home state.

The Number of Monarch Butterflies Wintering in Mexico Is Down Again – Modern Farmer. For what it's worth, I've been avoiding the milkweed when mowing waterways and scrubland.  I've noticed more Monarchs the last couple years than I saw in previous years.

When Twenty-Six Thousand Stinkbugs Invade Your Home - The New Yorker 

Stephen Hawking Is Still Underrated – The Atlantic  

Pi Day 2018: the math of pi explained, as simply as possible - Vox

Trump's mining giveaway – Politico.  There is no better example of the ineptitude and corruption of Congress than the fact that a law as shitty as the General Mining Act of 1872 is still the law of the land after 146 years.

Canadian Amateurs Discovered a New Type of Aurora.  It’s named Steve. - The Atlantic  

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 

First Fish Fry Links

The Church League Softball team was serving up fish tonight, but I'm still getting out some good links:

Tough Job: Norway’s Ski Wax Chief Is Only Noticed When He Fails - New York Times

What Canola Can Tell Us About Crops And Climate Change – The Salt

The Price-Fixing Scandal Rocking Big Chicken – Mother Jones

Slow Fade of the Pennsylvania Irish – American Conservative

The Magnetic Field Is Shifting. The Poles May Flip. This Could Get Bad -Undark.  This is low on my list of things to worry about.

How Humans Sank New Orleans – The Atlantic

Useful Only for Scrap Paper – LRB

Delaware’s Opioid Crisis - The Outline

How $225,000 Can Help Secure a Pollution Loophole at Trump’s E.P.A. - NYT.  This is bullshit.

Are White Evangelicals Sacrificing The Future In Search Of The Past? - FiveThirtyEight. Yes:

Mid-November Links

 I have a bunch more stories than this, but if I don't publish some I probably won't publish any.

Greetings From Palau, The Micronesian Archipelago That Baseball Built - Deadspin

The war against Pope Francis - The Guardian
\
The Saintliness of Undecayed Corpses - The Atlantic 

The Adaptable Cattle Saving Ranchers From Drought - The Atlantic

A Crimson Fracture in the Sky - Topic

Becoming a Steelworker Liberated Her. Then Her Job Moved to Mexico. - New York Times.  Rexnord.  They are one of our suppliers at work, and the transition to Mexico has been difficult, to say the least.

The Decline of the Midwest's Public Universities Threatens to Wreck Its Most Vibrant Economies - The Atlantic

 The Great College Loan Swindle - Rolling Stone.   Taibbi in fine form.

The Mythical Whiteness of Trump Country - Boston Review  

Here's What Happens When Republicans Have No One To Fight - Buzzfeed

Chart of the Day - Religious Demographics Edition

Fivethirtyeight:

Bad news for (white) conservative Christians. Just a tip: It might pay off to be inclusive.  Like that Jesus guy seemed to be.

Townball in Minnesota

This is something I wish we had here:

The uniqueness of the Stearns County League is that it dates to 1950 in what is basically its present form. Regal was an early member, as was Freeport. Meire Grove and Greenwald were Green-Grove until separate teams were formed in 1959.

For nearly six decades, it has been those two, plus Farming, Lake Henry, St. Martin, New Munich, Richmond and Roscoe. Of course, 1983 saw the admission of Elrosa and Spring Hill.

“Those teams had to come up with the expansion fee,” Schleper said. “They each had to buy a case of beer for the league’s board of directors.”

The 10-team Stearns County League forms a family, both in spirit and in reality. Herman Lensing is a reporter from Star Publications, the publisher of weekly newspapers such as the Melrose Beacon, Sauk Centre Herald and Albany Enterprise.

Herman is among the 222 residents of Greenwald. He’s famous for having his camera always at the ready. He has been chronicling the exploits of this league and other area townball teams (29 total in Stearns County) for decades....

There are generations of names associated with every team in the league. That’s a tribute to the large Catholic families of farmers. The farms are fewer and the families are smaller in current times. Still ...

“To be a true Stearns County town, you need a Catholic church, two bars and a ballfield,” Schleper said....

What astounds is standing at a ballpark in Farming, Spring Hill or Elrosa, looking across the prairie, and trying to figure out how Stearns County League teams renew themselves. Richmond is near Cold Spring and close to 1,500 in population, but the rest of these little places are a Catholic church, two bars (or one) and a ballfield.

The basic radius rule for player eligibility is 6 miles. The old saying was, “You should play where you go to church.”

The four 15-mile exceptions to the radius rule are still low by state amateur standards.
Most important, the SCL runs Little Dipper (Little League age) and Big Dipper (Base Ruth and Legion age) programs as a feeder system. Parents pay no fee, and the kids swing with wood bats to get ready for the town team.

Many of the bills are paid through pulltab sales at local bars, where the ballclub is the charity. There are also offseason fundraisers.

That is awesome.

A Chart for Sunday

From one of my favorite Vox map features:

More beer tweets here.

Masters Weekend Links

Hopefully your Sunday afternoon was less of a letdown than Jordan Speith's.  Here are some stories I thought were interesting:

How Canada Was Shut Out of the NHL Playoffs - VICE Sports

Sacramento Shakedown - The Baffler

The Unbearable Whiteness of Baseball - New York Times

Big Seed: How The Industry Turned From Small-Town Firms To Global Giants  - The Salt

Cargill’s New Place in the Food Chain - Wall Streeet Journal

Agriculture on the brink - Truthout

The sugar conspiracy - The Guardian

A key ingredient for life on Earth may have crash landed here from space - Washington Post

How Catholic Are We? and Sister Blandina and the Road to Sainthood - Cincinnati Magazine.  A Catholic twofer.

The Enduring Mystery of 'Jawn', Philadelphia's All-Purpose - Atlas Obscura (h/t C Moore)

City of Water - The New Yorker.  From 2003, but gives good information on the New York water system, and the Sandhogs who built it.

Something Uneasy in the Los Angeles Air - Curbed Los Angeles.  On the history and effect of the Santa Ana winds.

The Secret Movement to Draft General James Mattis for President - Daily Caller

Virgins, Booze and American Elections - New York Times

Don't Dismantle Government - Fix It - American Prospect

Why is the U.S. unwilling to pay for good public transportation? - The Conversation

10 Demographic Trends that are Shaping the United States and the World - Pew Research Center

The Brainbelt Awakening - Foreign Policy

100-Year-Old Frost Maps Show How Climate Change Has Shifted the Growing Season in the United States - Slate and Length of Growing Season - US EPA

Final Four / Opening Day Weekend Links

It's time for a sporting change of seasons.  Here are some entertaining stories for your enjoyment:

Fight - New York Times.  A tragic story about a slowly-dying sport in a slowly-dying region.

Adrien Broner Is A Dick - Deadspin.  More from the slowly-dying sport.

A Modest Proposal For Replacing the USMNT With The Women's National Team - VICE Sports

Survey: Iowa farmland values decline nearly 9% - Des Moines Register.  Expect much more to come.

New Study Finds "Ag Gag" Laws Erode Trust In Farmers - Modern Farmer.  Um, no shit?

Pabst New Owner Digs Into Old Recipes as It Looks to the Future - New York Times.  I've always loved me some downscale beer brands.

Hitler Couldn't Defeat Chrurchill, But Champagne Almost Did - The Salt. "The taxman may have proved intractable, but others were more amenable. Rich friends bailed him out, and at one point, the government settled his liquor bills"

The heroes hidden in the archive - Irish Independent.  Very good piece on the Easter Rising.

Mother Angelica, EWTN Founder, had roots and early fame in Northeast Ohio - Cleveland Plain Dealer (h/t the nurse).  I didn't know she sold fishing lures back in the day.

Can an Outsider Ever Truly Become Amish? - Atlas Obscura

How New York Gets Its Water - New York Times.  Delivered entirely by gravity.  Wow.
 
Is India facing its worst ever water crisis? - BBC

Why didn't Flint treat its water? An answer, at last - Detroit Free Press.  No surprise there.  I didn't understand why a city would even have a treatment plant when it was buying treated water.  This makes the decision to switch to the Flint River all the more criminal.

Has BART's cutting-edge 1972 technology design come back to haunt it? - San Jose Mercury-News
 
Pain in the Permian - Petroleum Economist and The big bust in the oil fields - Washington Post

The Downside of Durham's Rebirth - The Atlantic

 Unaoil: The Company That Bribed the World - Fairfax Media / Huffington Post

Public and Private Sector Payroll Jobs: Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama - Calculated Risk.  I'd love for somebody who thinks Obama has increased government jobs and hurt the private sector economy compared to Bush to explain these numbers.