So, the first part of the top 100 prospects package is up: the top 100 ranking itself, ten prospects who just missed, and the ranking of all 30 farm systems. My team by team top tens and reports will go up Tuesday and Wednesday. I also held a Klawchat here on Thursday to discuss the top 100.
My latest review for Paste covers Barony, the new game from the designer of Splendor.
I intend to be somewhat scarce over the weekend, and will be visiting Toyfair on Monday to chat with boardgame publishers about their 2016 releases. I’ll post pics of anything interesting on my Instagram account.
And now, the links…
- I tweeted this last Saturday, but it bears repeating: A rape victim tells how Baylor University failed her repeatedly and gave undue consideration to her rapist.
- Peyton Manning is a creep, and Shaun King goes all in on this longread on Manning committing sexual assault while at the University of Tennessee (yep, same one with the rape problem now), and then spending years blaming the victim.
- An “accomplished writer” took James Patterson’s online “MasterClass” in writing novels and was a bit surprised at what she learned.
- Ah, Ted Cruz is still dog-whistling anti-Semitism, as if the accusations of unethical behavior in Iowa weren’t enough.
- Speaking of Cruzie, a Jezebel writer tried to track down a rumor about him from college and found no end of people who told her they hated Cruz. But I wonder, couldn’t you do this for a lot of candidates? Hillary, sure – an assertive woman in college in the 1970s would have made her share of enemies and detractors. Rubio? Maybe people would say he was more of a dope than a jerk, but still, for almost any politician who’s had some success in life, you’ll find people from that person’s past ready to slam him or her.
- Speaking of Hillary, The Nation had a scathing editorial on why she does not “deserve” the black vote. My one discomfort here: To what extent should the policy decisions of her husband work corruption of matrimony and stick to her? She’s not Bill any more than he was Hillary as President.
- Journal article warning, but researchers in Canada examining a very large sample found increased suicide risk in people who’d suffered concussions.
- There’s a cop in Miami who doxxed a woman who chased and filmed another cop who was driving dangerously fast and then posted her personal info on Facebook, leading to a barrage of harassment. How is this man still employed as a protector of the people?
- OK Go’s new video, shot in a plane that uses parabolic flights to simulate zero g, is incredibly clever and fun to watch; you can watch it and see a brief explanation along with links to more info. I also happen to think it’s one of their best songs since Oh No.
- At some point I’ll try to update my Arizona dining guide for spring training, but in the meantime, there’s a highly-rated new sandwich place in downtown Mesa, close to the A’s park and not far from the Cubs’ new boondoggle.
- Lots of good stuff this week on gravitational waves; I enjoyed this summary and analysis by Sir Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal since 1996.
- I discovered two top 100 books lists from the Guardian and editor/writer Robert McCrum, one on the top 100 novels written in English, of which I think I’ve read 72, and an ongoing countdown of the top 100 non-fiction books ever written, where McCrum has only listed two so far, including Elizabeth Kolbert’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Sixth Extinction.
- A too-short piece in the New Yorker on Spain’s acclaimed chefs the Roca brothers visiting New York to receive an honor from the UN.
- School of Seven Bells’ final album comes out on February 26th, and the early singles have been some of their best work ever. Alehandra Deheza, the lone surviving member after bandmate Ben Curtis died of cancer in 2013, discussed the album on NPR last weekend.