I had two posts for subscribers to the Athletic this past week, my annual MLB season predictions post, which never fails to rile up people who don’t read the intro despite all the disclaimers I issue, and a draft scouting notebook that covered a slew of likely first-rounders, including Brooks Lee.
Over at Paste, I reviewed the trick-taking game Shamans, which is semi-cooperative, as at least one player in every round is a saboteur working against the others. I think it’s a better version of The Crew, a straight cooperative trick-taking game that won the Kennerspiel des Jahres award a few years ago.
I sent out a new edition of my free email newsletter this past week. You can find both of my books, Smart Baseball and The Inside Game, in paperback anywhere books are sold, including Bookshop.org. My podcast will return shortly – travel has made it difficult for me to find windows to record the last couple of weeks.
And now, the links…
- A former assistant attorney general in Arizona has spent decades helping that state craft some of the most punitive laws against people convicted of crimes, including drug offenses and other non-violent crimes, even though he’s never held elected office. Arizona’s population isn’t this conservative as a whole, but the far right has the state government in a stranglehold.
- Brett Favre used his name and influence to steer Mississippi state welfare funds to his pet projects, and may have profited from one.
- This New Yorker review of Fintan O’Toole’s new book We Don’t Know Ourselves looks at how Ireland freed itself from the pernicious influence of the Catholic Church. We could learn from them.
- Humans are one of the only species that menstruates, but there’s relatively little research and treatment for the pain and discomfort it causes. That may be changing, along with a new hypothesis on why we’re one of the very few species to experience it.
- The ivermectin grift has completely fallen apart after more studies showed it’s useless against COVID-19, although the grifters haven’t given up just yet.
- More idiots on the right keep falling for the myth of “furries” in schools.
- The Justice Department has finally told states that they shouldn’t deny gender-affirming medical care to trans kids. These hateful laws, pandering to the religious right, are just going to increase suicide attempts among kids who are already at higher risk for it.
- The Chief of Adolescent Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital estimated that Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law may lead to 4000 new suicide attempts per year in that state alone. Now more red states are pushing these bigoted bills. If you live in any of these states, have you called your state rep and senator, and the governor, to express your views on the bills?
- Abigail Disney wrote an editorial urging her grandfather’s company to stand up for love and acceptance.
- Entrepreneur Rhian Beulter shared a personal story of acceptance from her childhood.
- Sending social workers rather than cops to low-level mental health or intoxication-related 911 calls in Denver has kept police out of over 2000 such incidents. It saves money and it saves lives.
- The mass of the W boson may be higher than theory predicted, which would require changes to the standard model – although this new result isn’t final.
- 25th Century Games will publish a new (third?) edition of Reiner Knizia’s classic game Ra, launching on Gamefound in the next few weeks.