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The Most Underrated College in Each State

While the term "safety school" may have a negative connotation, it's unquestionably a smart decision to apply to at least one college you'll likely be accepted to.

To make the most out of this strategy, we've partnered with Niche to bring you the top schools in the country with great academics and high acceptance rates. To compile this list, Niche used its data for highest academics rankings, acceptance rates, and in-state population.

Oftentimes, these schools' strong academic programs are overshadowed by the popular perception that a college is better if it's tough to get into. These colleges challenge that myth, and are smart — and potentially safe — options for student applicants.

We've included one school from each state in our list, as well as a bonus university from Washington, DC.

Facebook Data Creates Incredible MLB Fan Map That Proves That Yankees Fans Are Everywhere

Baseball is back but it seems that not everyone is ready to root, root, root for the home team. Many baseball fans are apparently choosing to support the New York Yankees regardless of their proximity to the Bronx.

To create a map of Major League Baseball fandom, the Facebook data team went to each MLB club's official page and checked the "likes" to see where supporters lived across the country. Each U.S. county was then given a color to correspond with the team that had the most fans among people who reside in that county.

#Baseball Yankees Sports

Interactive carbon footprint maps from the CoolClimate Calculator. Find out how you compare to local averages and create a personalized climate action plan for you or your community.

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Do You Believe in the Theory of Evolution?

My fave: I only believe in what’s written in the Holy Bible and peer-reviewed scientific journals.

The great American pizza map(s)

Pizza is a big business in America. The two largest pizza companies in the country, Pizza Hut and Domino’s, accounted for $20 billion in sales in 2013, according to Pizza Today magazine (yes, there’s a Pizza Today magazine).

The vast majority of Americans find themselves closer to a Pizza Hut or Domino’s than any other chain, but regional chains have their strong points. Papa John’s has a big presence along the Indiana-Kentucky border. Papa Murphy’s is strong along the Interstate 5 corridor on the West Coast. Little Caesar’s dominates Michigan. Cici’s owns pockets of Texas.

Here's Where To Find The Cheapest Weed In The U.S.

Marijuana prohibition costs a lot — not just to taxpayers, who have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to the Obama administration's war against medical marijuana and provide billions of dollars each year to cover the enforcement of marijuana possession laws. Consumers must buy weed from drug dealers in most states, paying a hefty risk premium whether they are buying for medical or recreational purposes.

Six Decades of the Most Popular Names for Boys, State-by-State

As a companion to "Six Decades of the Most Popular Names for Girls," the map above shows the most popular names for boys, by state, from 1960 to 2012. Once again, names that are the most popular nationwide for that year are colored, and all data come from the Social Security Administration. One note: For space reasons I shortened "Christopher" to "Chris," all other names are as they appear in the SSA rolls.

ilovecharts

How far away is Iowa?

via rachelliez

92 Years of Bigfoot Sightings in the US and Canada

Every now and then a dataset comes along that just has to be mapped. This is one of those times.

Bigfoot. Sasquatch. Skookum. Yahoo. Whatever you call it, the towering man-like ape is a folklore staple. From stories of Yeti in the Himalayas to Wildmen in the Pacific Northwest, people have been talking about and trying to find the creature for ages. Occasionally, some form of evidence – like Patterson’s famous 1967 film – emerges and either feeds our fascination or gets dismissed as a hoax. In either case, it’s easy to see why believers search for proof and skeptics remain doubtful.

Through archival work and reports submitted directly to their website, the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization has amassed a database of thousands of sasquatch sightings. Each report is geocoded and timestamped. Occasionally, even photos and videos of the alleged evidence are included. I’m not quite sure how I stumbled across this, but I’m glad I did.

The States Hurting Most From The Government Shutdown

Americans are being affected by the government shutdown in a number of very real ways. Some federal workers no longer have jobs to report to. Many small business owners are without some of their much-needed government loans. Others are federal contractorswhose projects have been on hold since October 1.

America's Most Irish Towns

On St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish. But what about the rest of the year? Twenty-two million Americans — 7.2% of the population – say their “primary ancestry” is Irish, according to the Census’s American Community Survey. Another 13.5 million Americans claim at least some Irish ancestry, bringing the total to 35.5 million Americans — 11.6% of the population — with at least partial Irish ancestry. If that sounds low, remember that Ireland’s population today is just 6.4 million – 4.6 million in the Republic of Ireland and 1.8 million in Northern Ireland. So there are more than 5 times as many Americans with at least partial Irish ancestry as there are people who live in Ireland.

Read more... http://www.forbes.com/sites/trulia/2013/03/15/americas-most-irish-towns/

A Booklover’s Map of Literary Geography circa 1933

Two of my great loves — maps and books — converged on my friend Wendy‘s wall, where I spotted this stunning vintage map of “literary geography.” Titled The Booklovers Map of America Showing Certain Landmarks of Literary Geography and created by pictorial cartographer Paul M. Paine in 1933, the map zooms in on the biggest literary cities and places “The Birthplace of American Literature” squarely in the Boston/Cambridge area.

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Diversity in the 113th Congress Plotted On a Map

The 113th Congress convened for the first time last week, and the freshman class has been billed as particularly diverse. But overall, the House of Representatives is still mostly white and mostly male.

As of the first day of the new Congress, there were 439 members of the House: 433 voting members and six non-voting delegates (two voting seats are currently empty: Illinois Democrat Jesse Jackson resigned after winning re-election in November and South Carolina Republican Tim Scott resigned on January 2 to step in to James DeMint's vacated Senate seat.) There are some stats that sound great without context — 81 are women, 42 are African-American, two are American Indian, 11 are Asian-American, and 35 are Hispanic, according to the House Press Gallery. Unfortunately that's just shy of a third of the entire House (as some members fall under more than one).

Climate-Proofing The Insurance Industry

The world’s largest reinsurer has examined the recent rise in the number and severity of natural disasters worldwide, and finds the trend bears the unmistakable fingerprints of climate change.

What’s more, America is bearing the brunt of that change.

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