An Illustrated Account of the Great Maple Syrup Heist | Hacker News Reader

An Illustrated Account of the Great Maple Syrup Heist

modernfarmer.com

140 pointsDrScump59 comments

No wonder I'm paying through the nose for maple syrup. Did not know the full history behind it.

Another maple syrup fact I recently learned: there's no quality difference between Grade A and Grade B syrup. It's just based on color. I prefer the darker, stronger flavored Grade B.

At least in the US, the names Grade B and Grade C have already been phased out. Some states had done so earlier, but the USDA officially renamed them earlier this year to wordy variants of Grade A. So if you are looking for Grade B, you now want "GRADE A: DARK COLOR & ROBUST", and if you were so ahead of the game that you wanted Grade C, you now want the eloquently named "GRADE A: VERY DARK & STRONG".

[1] http://www.epicurious.com/ingredients/grade-b-maple-syrup-bu...

This is an accurate description of the legal US grading system as of March 2, 2015 (under 7 U.S.C. 1621-1627). For anyone interested, here's a link to the official USDA guidelines (grading is §52.5962 on page no. 2, which is actually page 4 of the PDF):

http://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/MapleSyrup...

It absolutely differs in quality. Not as in "degree of excellence" (second definition), but as in character or inherent features (first definition).

The early American colonists sought out grade A because it was a more suitable cooking substitute for cane sugar, which for a time was difficult to get. Grade B is more mapley in flavor and might be preferred today for its use on pancakes.

English is a funny language isn't it? From the context, it's obvious I meant "degree of excellence" though.

I also prefer the Grade B; I only wish it were cheaper too, but it's not, at least not where I live.

Grades correspond to during which period of the cycle the syrup was obtained; not to quality.

You used to be able to buy Grade C. That stuff was awesome. Super flavorful - went great with buckwheat pancakes.

Am I the only one in the world who enjoys reading on a phone? And who likes to zoom in to see pictures? Or, in this case, to read?

And am I the only one who despises sites that lock the scale so that users can't zoom in on mobile devices?

Please, content creators, setting initial-scale is fine, but for the love of pixels, don't lock the scaling to 1.0; let us mobile readers enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Most mobile browsers allow you to disregard the site's preference and enable zoom anyway. At least, Firefox and the stock browser on my device both have an option for that.

Chrome on mobile does too, it's under:

Settings > Accessibility > Force enable zoom

It's a legacy thing really from when people were first starting to experiment with mobile and some people still cut & paste old code.

That's one reason, but mobile zoom really does behave badly with a lot of website designs. Fixed headers in particular.

Content aside, what an excellent form of presentation. I normally would glance and skip. Instead, I went through each frame until the end. Wonder if there's something here. Kinda like blending the skim (http://www.theskimm.com/) with a comic layout.

Agreed! As to be constructive, I'd like to draw attention that the "rustic" and earthy subject matter seemed to be matched by the style. The parchment type background to simulate paper was a nice touch, and the color palette melded nicely with the subject matter. It might seem obvious in discussion, but I think most non-visual arts/verbal arts producers might just feel it works without drawing attention to itself.

Also, thanks for noting TheSkimm. It's exciting to see genuine passion for communication be able to carve out a niche on the web.

Yeah! Excellent points about those details. My not very artistic mind missed them altogether. But like you hint at, that could be a good thing when the art here serves more as a medium than the end product.

TheSkimm is solving a really interesting problem and taking a note from the Daily Show. Package the news into bite size segments and leverage comedy + everyday vernacular + cultural references to inform and hopefully educate people.

I don't use them (my girlfriend does). I wonder if they've explored a visual delivery mechanism like this article. Could be an interesting project either way.

Nice response and I genuinely feel like my outlook on things, as a writer and story teller, is to summarize in a way that either makes my audience think or smile or pushes a button that is uncomfortable!

The concept of TheSkimm reminds me of my buddy who does amateur political commentary on the US 2016 Presidential Election as WhoWinsIn2016 (YouTube) because he is adamant about not being on any side. He takes the "objective" outlook on the contest as just that - a game. He says the main influence was Hunter S. Thompson, who, when at his best, could be "the most truthful and least factual" guy in the room (quote: George McGovern).

There are a couple avenues using the visual plus verbal construction, and I'd give a hat-tip to the Uproxx contributor who does the NFL summaries with drawings. It's good stuff - funny, commentary, and quick to digest. A close second would be AV Club's "Block and Tackle" feature that uses video clips to great effect.

Long form journalism ain't what it used to be, but I love watching evolution happen!

You'll probably never see this, because it's a day late, but I can tell you that it's not simulated paper. The author frequently scans his comics and doesn't bother cleaning up the artifacts because he likes the way they look. See: cbcomic.com, "The Bins" - a series on the Rumpus, and "illustrated journals" - also on modern farmer.

I can't tell if it's a joke or if it's really being turned into a movie.

Regardless, I'd love to see a tv show that was a cross between this story and Breaking Bad. Just imagine Walter White, surrounded by loads and loads of barrels with his trademark blue color.

It's real and in 'development' http://www.imdb.com/news/ni56219676/

I have an uncle who used to be in the Vermont statehouse. According to him, there's a lot of maple syrup that moves back and forth across the border between Quebec and Vermont, and is bottled in different plants depending on demand for one or the other.

Completely unconfirmed, but interesting nonetheless.

Pretty much confirmed. The Quebec federation of maple syrup is hiring security guards in some regions close to the border to ensure the quota system is respected by everyone (and not exported "illegally")

Article here (in French) http://www.lapresse.ca/la-tribune/estrie-et-regions/201504/0...

Great read and awesome visual way to tell the story.

I assume the syrup that was "siphoned" off wasn't literally siphoned. Either that or Canada has some very patient thieves.

The part about the empty barrels and the ones that were filled with water would indicate that yes, a process of siphoning was involved. I'd reckon the crew came up with some pretty innovative techniques, but I'd also reckon the investigators would rather not make too much public. As in, the facility in West, Texas that exploded (and cost a lot of lives and damage) was frequently targeted by alleged methamphetamine producers for the regulated chemicals on site.

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