{"id":5172,"date":"2016-10-08T10:48:12","date_gmt":"2016-10-08T14:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=5172"},"modified":"2016-10-08T10:48:12","modified_gmt":"2016-10-08T14:48:12","slug":"stick-to-baseball-10816","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/08\/stick-to-baseball-10816\/","title":{"rendered":"Stick to baseball, 10\/8\/16."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I wrote short preview pieces for all four Division Series:<br \/>\n&bull; <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2dhmIPM\" target=\"_blank\">Red Sox\/Cleveland<\/a><br \/>\n&bull; <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2d5SFg9\" target=\"_blank\">Blue Jays\/Rangers<\/a><br \/>\n&bull; <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2cZCWMi\" target=\"_blank\">Dodgers\/Nationals<\/a><br \/>\n&bull; <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2dENCCo\" target=\"_blank\">Cubs\/Giants<\/a><\/p>\n<p>My predictions are all terrible. But I did hold a <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2dV6zQS\" target=\"_blank\">Klawchat<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>My latest boardgame review for <em>Paste<\/em> covers <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2cYX06n\" target=\"_blank\">the game Aquarium<\/a>, which I found unbalanced and rather spiteful.<\/p>\n<p>You can also <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2dtXS3S\" target=\"_blank\">preorder my upcoming book, <em>Smart Baseball<\/em><\/a>, on amazon. Also, please sign up for <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyletter.com\/keithlaw\" target=\"_blank\">my more-or-less weekly email newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And now, the links&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Voter suppression laws in the guise of fighting voter fraud have been struck down repeatedly by courts, but <a href=\"http:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/dc\/voter-restrictions-state-court-orders-undermined\" target=\"_blank\">Republican-led states are dragging their feet in complying<\/a> with those court rulings. <\/li>\n<li>I was quoted in this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2016\/10\/03\/496406869\/for-literary-world-unmasking-elena-ferrantes-not-a-scoop-its-a-disgrace\" target=\"_blank\">NPR story on reactions to the original story<\/a>. The author of the article that outed Ferrante did <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cjr.org\/q_and_a\/elena_ferrante_claudio_gatti_identity.php\" target=\"_blank\">a Q&#038;A with the <em>Columbia Journalism Review<\/em><\/a>, in which he arrogantly claims he &#8220;enhanced the work of art&#8221; that her books are. The <em>New York Times<\/em> also <a href=\"http:\/\/mobile.nytimes.com\/2016\/10\/05\/books\/who-is-elena-ferrante-supporters-say-noyb.html?smid=tw-nytbooks&#038;smtyp=cur&#038;referer=\" target=\"_blank\">rounded up some reactions<\/a>, focusing on the feminist aspects of the case. Lindsey Adler, who first turned me on to Ferrante&#8217;s work, <a href=\"http:\/\/theconcourse.deadspin.com\/i-dont-want-to-know-who-elena-ferrante-is-1787411405?rev=1475612474137#\" target=\"_blank\">explained why she didn&#8217;t and doesn&#8217;t want to know who Ferrante is<\/a>. <\/li>\n<li>Unrelated to this week&#8217;s story, the <em>Atlantic<\/em> published an article in July on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/entertainment\/archive\/2016\/07\/elena-ferrante-covers-bad-no-good\/488732\/\" target=\"_blank\">why Ferrante&#8217;s book covers aren&#8217;t as bad as they look<\/a>, a link passed along by one of you.<\/li>\n<li>Speaking of reading, one study with over 3600 participants found <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/brain\/regularly-reading-books-prolongs-life-two-years\/\" target=\"_blank\">people who read books regularly lived about 23 months longer<\/a> than non-readers. <\/li>\n<li>Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey hasn&#8217;t been able to turn the company&#8217;s fortunes around, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/features\/2016-twitter-dorsey-strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\">he may be losing control of it entirely<\/a>. My employer, Disney, is listed among potential suitors.<\/li>\n<li>Julie DiCaro appears here again, this time with a spot-on piece <a href=\"http:\/\/chicago.cbslocal.com\/2016\/10\/04\/dicaro-hey-mlb-stop-hazing-men-by-dressing-them-up-as-women\/\" target=\"_blank\">about why hazing rookies by making them dress as women is fucking wrong<\/a>. (My words, not quite hers.) <\/li>\n<li>Of all the stuff released about Donald Trump this week, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/10\/09\/opinion\/sunday\/donald-trump-groper-in-chief.html?smid=tw-share&#038;_r=0\" target=\"_blank\">this victim&#8217;s story of him sexually assaulting her<\/a> is the most damning. The BBC&#8217;s Katty Kay, who wrote a piece last week attacking Hillary&#8217;s role in attacking her husband&#8217;s accusers in the 1990s, asks <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/election-us-2016-37596896\" target=\"_blank\">if this is the tipping point for Trump<\/a>. <\/li>\n<li>The patent troll firm Intellectual Ventures, led by Microsoft billionaire turned cookbook author Nathan Myrhvold, lost an appeal in a software patent infringement lawsuit against Symantec last week, <a href=\"http:\/\/fortune.com\/2016\/10\/03\/software-patents\/\" target=\"_blank\">possibly heralding the end of software patents<\/a>. This would be great news as software patents have long been a joke, where &#8216;inventors&#8217; merely took advantage of the US Patent Office&#8217;s inability to adjudge their novelty or merit. You&#8217;re not supposed to be able to patent an idea, and maybe now, about twenty years late, we&#8217;ll get back to that standard.<\/li>\n<li>My colleague Mina Kimes, our best business of sports writer, wrote a wonderful piece on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/espn\/feature\/story\/_\/id\/17668845\/korean-bat-flip\" target=\"_blank\">the history and etiquette of the bat flip in Korean baseball<\/a>. They do it right, with style and ease, without pitchers getting all mad about it.<\/li>\n<li>I read an ad for Blue Apron one day while guest-hosting the BBTN podcast, but I&#8217;m not a customer of theirs and have no real interest in their product. Buzzfeed investigated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeed.com\/carolineodonovan\/the-not-so-wholesome-reality-behind-the-making-of-your-meal\" target=\"_blank\">some questionable labor and health practices<\/a> in their business that served to confirm my resolution not to try them. <\/li>\n<li>The Blue Apron founders are in the backdrop of a picture on this <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.ruhlman.com\/2016\/09\/nytimes-food-conference\/\" target=\"_blank\">great Michael Ruhlman post on the <em>NY Times<\/em> food conference<\/a>, which included a talk by future of food guru Chef Dan Barber.<\/li>\n<li>The Organic Center released a 16-page white paper (PDF link) on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.organic-center.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/TOC_Report_AntibioticResistance_FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">reducing antibiotic resistance through improved animal husbandry<\/a>. <\/li>\n<li>Daniel Vaughn wrote a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.texasmonthly.com\/food\/meet-legendary-snows-bbq-pitmaster-tootsie-tomanetz\/\" target=\"_blank\">wonderful profile of Lexington, Texas, BBQ pitmaster &#8220;Tootsie&#8221; Tomanetz<\/a>, who&#8217;s been running her pit for fifty years.<\/li>\n<li>NPR looks at a young scientist who&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thesalt\/2016\/10\/04\/496560373\/this-scientist-is-trying-to-unravel-what-sugar-does-to-the-brain\" target=\"_blank\">trying to decipher sugar&#8217;s effect on the brain<\/a>. Why is it so hard for us to cut it out of our diets?<\/li>\n<li>People with Crohn&#8217;s disease <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/gut-fungus-suspected-in-crohn-s-disease\/?WT.mc_id=SA_TW_HLTH_NEWS\" target=\"_blank\">have higher levels of a specific fungus<\/a> in their guts, as well as of two species of bacteria, which may lead to new treatments for the debilitating, incurable disease.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Paul Offit, immunologist and developer of the rotavirus vaccine, discussed <a href=\"http:\/\/acsh.org\/news\/2016\/10\/07\/debunking-vaccine-myths-dr-paul-offit-10269\" target=\"_blank\">his new role combating and debunking myths about vaccines<\/a>. <\/li>\n<li>A harrowing first-person account of <a href=\"http:\/\/qz.com\/688447\/my-boyfriend-insisted-a-gun-would-keep-us-safer-up-until-the-day-he-shot-me-in-the-face\/\" target=\"_blank\">a woman who survived being shot in the face by her boyfriend<\/a> with the very gun he insisted she buy for her own safety. It&#8217;s also a story of abuse and control.<\/li>\n<li>Why has Sweden, especially the city of Gothenburg, become <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/magazine-37578919\" target=\"_blank\">a major exporter of young jihadis<\/a>? What can we learn from their failures at assimilating migrants from Muslim countries?<\/li>\n<li>Buzzfeed&#8217;s Monica Mark tracked down <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeed.com\/monicamark\/what-do-you-do-with-your-life-after-youve-already-been-the-w?utm_term=.unagb50NE#.gver6aWLB\" target=\"_blank\">former Sierra Leone dictator Valentine Strasser<\/a>, who took power at age 22, ruled for four years, and ended up destitute in London before returning home to a hermit&#8217;s life in his own country.<\/li>\n<li>The <em>Boston Globe<\/em>&#8216;s Spotlight team has been going hard after private schools that pass around teachers or faculty members accused of sexually assaulting students, and in their latest piece <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/metro\/2016\/10\/01\/how-educators-find-new-jobs-after-alleged-sexual-misconduct\/TpwwzQkFmRNbrENTmzfluJ\/story.html\" target=\"_blank\">looks at the actual breakdown in the process of giving and getting references<\/a> that allows these predators to continue to work with children.<\/li>\n<li>Riace, a small village in southern Italy, was slowly losing its population to migration to the north, when its mayor decided <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/in-pictures-37289713\" target=\"_blank\">to welcome African migrants to live in the abandoned houses<\/a>. The decision has saved the town and provided real economic opportunities to people who might otherwise have had none.<\/li>\n<li>Adult Swim has come under fire for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.polygon.com\/2016\/10\/4\/13156398\/adult-swim-female-writers\" target=\"_blank\">a lack of woman writers on its shows<\/a> and sexist comments made by some of the men in charge.<\/li>\n<li>Another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/inspired-life\/wp\/2016\/09\/30\/teen-who-walked-two-hours-to-work-surprised-by-cop-who-buys-him-bike\/?postshare=431475377717564&#038;tid=ss_fb\" target=\"_blank\">story about a few good cops<\/a>, or, really, just good human beings, using the power of the uniform to do something good across the race divide. <\/li>\n<li>Tweet of the week, or, really, quotation of the week that I found on Twitter:<br \/>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">From the wonderful mind of David Sedaris. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Dz1E68g663\">pic.twitter.com\/Dz1E68g663<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Grady Booch (@Grady_Booch) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Grady_Booch\/status\/782715386412146688\">October 2, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I wrote short preview pieces for all four Division Series: &bull; Red Sox\/Cleveland &bull; Blue Jays\/Rangers &bull; Dodgers\/Nationals &bull; Cubs\/Giants My predictions are all terrible. But I did hold a Klawchat on Thursday. My latest boardgame review for Paste covers the game Aquarium, which I found unbalanced and rather spiteful. You can also preorder my [&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":[131,132,883,807],"class_list":["post-5172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-food-safety","tag-food-science","tag-rape-culture","tag-vaccines","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5172","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=5172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5173,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5172\/revisions\/5173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}