The draft blog is live again, with my first post on Jacob Nix’s outing on Thursday and UC-SB’s mishandling of Dillon Tate; I’ll have another post up this evening on Kyle Funkhouser. I had a quick post earlier in the week on the James Shields signing. My chat with Colin Cowherd today on what WAR is and why we need it is available in mp3 form.
My review of the very good Days of Wonder boardgame Five Tribes
This week’s links:
- It’s time to stop using the r-word. A stunning piece on a word that should have died long ago, written by former NFL offensive guard Kasey Studdard, himself the target of that word when he was a kid due to a learning disability.
- What Would Jesus Do About Measles? He’d tell you to vaccinate your children already, that’s what he’d do.
- Via Kelly Oxford – one of my favorite follows on Twitter because I think she’s a riot – a piece from last year from Mother Jones that argues that you can’t change an anti-vaxxer’s mind. That piece makes vaccine deniers’ situations seem like a mental illness – a delusion from which they can’t escape.
- Quantum equations say the universe has no beginning. Or no end, which is theoretically good news, except that all the stars will eventually wink out of existence. Anyway, the whole hypothesis depends on the existence of gravitons, massless quantum particles that may just be fictional. I just want to know when I get my jetpack.
- The BBC’s World Book Club this month discussed William Gibson’s seminal debut novel Neuromancer
, featuring a 55-minute Q&A with the author himself.
- I tweeted this link earlier in the week, but now that I’ve posted my review of The Handmaid’s Tale it’s worth reposting – Salon‘s excellent story of Margaret Atwood’s visit to West Point, where she had lunch with first-year students and took many of their questions about the book.
As a UCSB alum that is a depressing read.
I’d imagine as a scout it would be nice to see him on a Friday night and extend your stay through the weekend–if there’s anything better than a Cantina breakfast burrito I’d like to know about it.
It made zero sense. It didn’t make the team better, and it would have screwed the best prospect they’ve had in nearly forty years.
Has anyone come up with an “Anti-Vax Bingo Game” yet? If not, someone should. Their answers at this point are tired and predictable. They usually involve “Big Pharma”, “Conspiracy”, “Mercury”, etc.
About the Mother Jones article, I remember a study done a few years ago about the psychology of being wrong when you think you’re right. Even after being presented with all the evidence, people dug their heels in even more and simply brushed off all the evidence against them as part of a conspiracy.` I’ve kind of come to this conclusion after seeing all the anti-vaxxers discuss the issue. The issue is such a central part of who they are that they have to maintain that part of themselves and can’t give it up, almost that the issue defines who they are.
Just finished my second read-through of THE PERIPHERAL, the latest Gibson book. While I loved Burning Chrome and the Sprawl books, most of his stuff since then has been just OK — until now. I *loved* The Peripheral and can’t recommend it highly enough. Gibson’s back hitting on all cylinders, and the book is fun and inventive and totally crazy and awesome.