{"id":5137,"date":"2016-09-24T10:50:11","date_gmt":"2016-09-24T14:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=5137"},"modified":"2016-09-24T10:53:52","modified_gmt":"2016-09-24T14:53:52","slug":"stick-to-baseball-92416","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/24\/stick-to-baseball-92416\/","title":{"rendered":"Stick to baseball, 9\/24\/16."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I named <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2cZoxlD\" target=\"_blank\">Houston&#8217;s Alex Bregman as our 2016 Prospect of the Year<\/a>, and listed a bunch of other worthy candidates and the 2016 draftees who had the top debuts as well, all for Insiders. I also held <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2cqTzoV\" target=\"_blank\">a Klawchat<\/a> on Thursday. <\/p>\n<p>My latest boardgame review for <em>Paste<\/em> covers <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2ddP8P1\" target=\"_blank\">the cute, fast-playing game New Bedford<\/a>, where players build the town and send ships out on whaling expeditions to rack up points. I really loved everything about that game \u2013 it looks great, the play is simple, Within that review is a paragraph on its two-player spinoff, Nantucket. <\/p>\n<p>You can <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2cOULn8\" target=\"_blank\">pre-order my book, <em>Smart Baseball<\/em><\/a>, on amazon already; it&#8217;s due out in April. Also, sign up for <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyletter.com\/keithlaw\" target=\"_blank\">my email newsletter<\/a> to stay up to date on all the stuff I write in various places.<\/p>\n<p>And now, the links&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Terry Jones, one of the original members of Monty Python&#8217;s Flying Circus, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/entertainment-arts-37451043\" target=\"_blank\">has been diagnosed with dementia at age 74<\/a>. He&#8217;s losing or has lost his ability to speak (aphasia), a shame for a great comic talent and the author of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2003\/jan\/26\/usa.iraq\" target=\"_blank\">this delightful letter to then-President George W. Bush<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Turmeric is being touted by all the woo-wielding nature-people for alleged health benefits \u2026 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/magazine-37408293\" target=\"_blank\">and that might be true, as long as you eat it<\/a> as opposed to taking supplements. My guess is that it requires the presence of fats to work. Its main benefits appear to be anti-inflammatory, although too much turmeric can also give you heartburn so don&#8217;t go too nuts. I add a teaspoon of it when making homemade granola; it alters the color but not the flavor.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/magazine-37383914\" target=\"_blank\">I&#8217;m a non-binary ten-year-old<\/a>,&#8221; writes a child for the BBC&#8217;s magazine site. What bathroom would you suggest this child (who prefers ze or they) use? How about those with ambiguous genitalia, known as intersex? Why is this a fucking government issue at all?<\/li>\n<li>Speaking of which, North Carolina&#8217;s Hate Bill 2 has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2016\/09\/guess-much-anti-lgbtq-law-costing-north-carolina\/\" target=\"_blank\">cost the state nearly $400 million already<\/a> in lost business, according to an estimate from <em>WIRED<\/em>, all in the name of discriminating against LGBTQ people. If you live there, you get to vote in November and let your representatives know how you feel about this&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>Truthout looks at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.truth-out.org\/opinion\/item\/37632-who-s-afraid-of-joe-paterno-s-defenders-exposing-the-penn-state-truthers\" target=\"_blank\">Penn State truthers<\/a> who try to whitewash the tattered legacy of Joe Paterno. Not mentioned is the sick role Paterno&#8217;s adult children play in this, using semantics to argue that their father somehow wasn&#8217;t culpable in covering up for a sexual predator.<\/li>\n<li>Two interesting posts on attempts to save dying languages, one on <a href=\"http:\/\/video.nationalgeographic.com\/video\/short-film-showcase\/meet-the-last-speaker-of-a-dying-language\" target=\"_blank\">a Native American woman trying to create the first Wukchumni dictionary<\/a>, as she&#8217;s its last fluent speaker, and the effort <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/can-an-app-save-an-ancient-language\/?WT.mc_id=SA_TW_ARTC_NEWS\" target=\"_blank\">to save the Chickasaw language with an app<\/a>, part of a broader piece on language loss.<\/li>\n<li>Following up on the Derrick Rose story I posted last week, Julie DiCaro wrote about <a href=\"http:\/\/chicago.cbslocal.com\/2016\/09\/21\/dicaro-the-derrick-rose-rape-case-the-importance-of-anonymity\/\" target=\"_blank\">the importance of anonymity in rape cases<\/a> after the judge in that civil suit ruled that Rose&#8217;s attorneys can name the victim (and smear her).<\/li>\n<li>A rare Hawai&#8217;ian crow <a href=\"http:\/\/mentalfloss.com\/article\/86330\/tool-using-hawaiian-crows-join-bird-version-mensa\" target=\"_blank\">showed the ability and knowledge to use &#8220;tools&#8221; to retrieve food placed out of their reach<\/a> in a test run by the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program. <\/li>\n<li>Vox <a href=\"http:\/\/digg.com\/video\/rap-music-understanding-explainer-analysis-flow\" target=\"_blank\">breaks down how rap lyrics and meter work with or against their underlying beats<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>A reader sent over this fantastic <a href=\"https:\/\/betterhumans.coach.me\/cognitive-bias-cheat-sheet-55a472476b18#.3gffteoa5\" target=\"_blank\">cognitive bias cheat sheet<\/a>, that takes the 175 biases listed on Wikipedia&#8217;s page on the topic and organizes them into a much more manageable tree of major archetypes. <\/li>\n<li>The great J. Kenji Lopez-Alt made <a href=\"http:\/\/www.seriouseats.com\/2014\/09\/lighter-fettuccine-alfredo-recipe.html\" target=\"_blank\">a lighter take on fettucine alfredo<\/a>, although I think his version couldn&#8217;t properly be called &#8220;alfredo&#8221; given the modifications he makes. True pasta alfredo contains just pasta water, Parmiggiano-Reggiano, and butter, but of course the result is a rather stomach-unfriendly pile of carbs and fat, and many American restaurants compound the problem by adding cream. Lopez-Alt&#8217;s version uses science (of course) to lighten things up and give the dish more flavor.<\/li>\n<li>Another piece on Rob Daviau and <a href=\"http:\/\/geekandsundry.com\/how-one-man-created-a-new-genre-and-a-legacy-in-tabletop-gaming\/\" target=\"_blank\">how his idea of Legacy games has changed boardgaming<\/a>. These games involve storylines and permanent alterations to the board and components as you follow the story across multiple plays. Daviau&#8217;s latest title, <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2cuCP04\" target=\"_blank\">Seafall<\/a>, is the first standalone Legacy title after Risk and Pandemic got the treatment.<\/li>\n<li>This week the United Nations <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/superbug-explosion-triggers-u-n-general-assembly-meeting\/\" target=\"_blank\">held a summit to discuss antibiotic resistance<\/a>, only its fourth summit ever to discuss a health-related topic.<\/li>\n<li>Growing vegetables instead of grass <a href=\"http:\/\/mentalfloss.com\/article\/86194\/trade-your-lawn-vegetable-garden-cut-down-greenhouse-gases\" target=\"_blank\">can help reduce greenhouse gases in the air<\/a>. Also, you can&#8217;t eat grass, so there&#8217;s another benefit to switching to produce.<\/li>\n<li>Yet another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/pharmalot\/2016\/09\/23\/drug-price-skin-gel\/\" target=\"_blank\">massive price hike for an obscure pharmaceutical<\/a>, although in this case, it&#8217;s not even clear how effective the skin gel is.<\/li>\n<li>The shift to the far right isn&#8217;t just happening here \u2013 it&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/4504010\/europe-politics-swing-right\/?xid=tcoshare\" target=\"_blank\">as bad or worse in Europe<\/a>, with Austria set to elect a far-right  President, and Islamophobia and xenophobia becoming major tenets in party platforms. <\/li>\n<li>Courage House, an organization that houses victims of sex trafficking, <a href=\"https:\/\/broadly.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/non-profit-accused-of-exploiting-sex-trafficking-victims-it-was-meant-to-help?utm_source=broadlytwitterus\" target=\"_blank\">is being accused of violating the girls&#8217; privacy rights and forcing them to attend Christian masses<\/a>. I don&#8217;t agree with the article&#8217;s use of &#8220;exploiting&#8221; here \u2013 in this context, it sounds like they&#8217;re allowing the girls to be sexually violated again \u2013 but the allegations themselves are disturbing.<\/li>\n<li>The <em>Guardian<\/em>&#8216;s superb writer Jessica Valenti argues that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2016\/sep\/22\/hillary-clinton-women-trust?CMP=edit_2221\" target=\"_blank\">distrust of Hillary Clinton is a function of our distrust of women in general<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Gary Johnson said in 2011 that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/onpolitics\/2016\/09\/23\/gary-johnson-libertarian-presidential-candidate-climate-change-sun-encompass-earth\/90898928\/\" target=\"_blank\">fighting climate change is futile because the sun will eventually expand and swallow the earth<\/a>. This is true, although there&#8217;s probably a 3 billion year gap that he might wish to consider. This goes along with an article I tweeted earlier this week, <em>Slate<\/em>&#8216;s piece <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/news_and_politics\/politics\/2016\/09\/gary_johnson_is_not_worth_any_liberal_s_protest_vote.html\" target=\"_blank\">arguing that Johnson is not in any sense a &#8220;liberal&#8221; candidate<\/a>, and liberals shouldn&#8217;t vote for him as a protest vote. I thought the article failed to fully make its case about young voters, but it is correct about Johnson, whose fiscal and regulatory policies would favor higher-income earners and large corporations at the expense of the lower-income strata, especially those with chronic illnesses, as well as the environment. <\/li>\n<li>Charles M. Blow writes in a <em>NY Times<\/em> op ed that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/09\/22\/opinion\/the-folly-of-the-protest-vote.html?smid=tw-share&#038;_r=1\" target=\"_blank\">Clinton and Trump are not equal and protest votes are folly<\/a>. He articulates my own opinion on the subject better than I could.<\/li>\n<li>Joss Whedon&#8217;s celebrity-filled <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ew.com\/article\/2016\/09\/21\/joss-whedon-video-vote-save-the-day\" target=\"_blank\">anti-Trump, get-out-the-vote ad<\/a> was probably more funny than effective, but since I agree with the stance on Trump, I laughed quite a bit. <\/li>\n<li>Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/trump-used-258000-from-his-charity-to-settle-legal-problems\/2016\/09\/20\/adc88f9c-7d11-11e6-ac8e-cf8e0dd91dc7_story.html\" target=\"_blank\">used $258,000 from his charity to settle his own legal problems<\/a>. The <em>Washington Post<\/em>&#8216;s David Fahrentold has been all over Trump&#8217;s phony charity, calling hundreds of alleged beneficiaries to verify donations (with many saying they&#8217;d never received a dime). The <em>New Yorker<\/em> claims <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/john-cassidy\/trump-and-the-truth-his-charitable-giving?mbid=social_twitter\" target=\"_blank\">Trump&#8217;s charity duplicity has become a campaign issue<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Trump may be looking at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2016\/09\/forrest-lucas-trump-interior-secretary-228364\" target=\"_blank\">oil exec and anti-environmentalist Forrest Lucas for Secretary of the Interior<\/a>. The article has quotes from leaders of the Sierra Club, the Oil Change USA, and the Humane Society. Trump&#8217;s ties to oil and gas industry people may mean he fills Cabinet posts typically aimed at balancing corporate needs with the public good of environmental stewardship.<\/li>\n<li>Speaking of which, Trump is a climate-change denier, which <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/politics\/la-na-pol-trump-climate-miami-20160918-snap-story.html\" target=\"_blank\">doesn&#8217;t jibe with rising sea levels on the east coast<\/a>. The damning quote: &#8220;Donald Trump lives in a parallel universe where the facts established by the scientific community to him don\u2019t exist.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence officials <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/u-s-intel-officials-probe-ties-between-trump-adviser-and-kremlin-175046002.html?soc_src=mail&#038;soc_trk=ma\" target=\"_blank\">continue to investigate ties between Trump&#8217;s camp and the Kremlin<\/a>. I can&#8217;t believe this hasn&#8217;t become a bigger issue. Russia is a dictatorship where dissent is quashed and journalists are killed for their work, and as their economy continues to shrink they&#8217;ll become more of a threat to global stability. Cozying up to Putin should be an automatic disqualifier.<\/li>\n<li>The Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police endorsed Trump, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.phillytrib.com\/news\/trump-support-splits-fop-black-cops\/article_7d0bee70-5484-5cfb-9671-d08555b5ffe4.html\" target=\"_blank\">but black cops in Philly say the endorsement ignores their views<\/a>. I have no idea if such endorsements matter at all, but it would seem that any group with a mixed membership will have a minority that feels marginalized by a single endorsement like this.<\/li>\n<li>Talking Points Memo describes <a href=\"http:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/edblog\/the-fever-inside\" target=\"_blank\">the &#8220;fever inside&#8221; Donald Trump<\/a>, his arbitrary, impulsive nature and outsized reactions to perceived slights.<\/li>\n<li>Drew Magary wants to say <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gq.com\/story\/a-word-for-donald-trump-voters\" target=\"_blank\">fuck you to Trump voters<\/a>. Who am I to argue?<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theonion.com\/blogpost\/i-just-wish-nfl-players-could-find-a-way-to-protes-53971\" target=\"_blank\">I Just Wish NFL Players Could Find A Way To Protest Without Starting A National Dialogue<\/a>. Yes, it&#8217;s from The Onion. Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody&#8217;s face but their own.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I named Houston&#8217;s Alex Bregman as our 2016 Prospect of the Year, and listed a bunch of other worthy candidates and the 2016 draftees who had the top debuts as well, all for Insiders. I also held a Klawchat on Thursday. My latest boardgame review for Paste covers the cute, fast-playing game New Bedford, where [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[828,849,190,228,233,261,262,870],"class_list":["post-5137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-climate-change","tag-languages","tag-links","tag-nutrition","tag-pasta","tag-rap","tag-recipes","tag-stick-to-baseball","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5137"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5140,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5137\/revisions\/5140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}