Grains were downright murderous this week, plunging for most of the week before ripping back higher on Friday’s USDA report. Bridgewater bigwig Ray Dalio topped the list of hedge fund earners, the cattle markets were slaughtered (pun intended), and US politics took a temporary break from scrutinizing the Republican presidential nominees to instead over-analyze every comment coming out of the Supreme Court hearing on the Affordable Care Act. Plenty to see this week, but here’s what we’re reading headed into the weekend:

• Barry Ritholtz goes long-form on the causes of the financial crisis (The Browser)
• New undersea cable will connect New York and London at light speed (Businessweek)
• The biggest brokerage firms are losing their wealthier clients (Reuters)
• Former MF Global assistant treasurer Edith O’Brien takes the fifth (NPR)

And just for fun…

• Interactive illustration of the scale of the universe (Htwins)