{"id":5206,"date":"2016-10-29T10:58:09","date_gmt":"2016-10-29T14:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=5206"},"modified":"2016-10-29T10:58:09","modified_gmt":"2016-10-29T14:58:09","slug":"stick-to-baseball-102916","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/29\/stick-to-baseball-102916\/","title":{"rendered":"Stick to baseball, 10\/29\/16."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I wrote one Insider piece this week, a <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2eO19rH\" target=\"_blank\">World Series preview<\/a>, although I also spent some time working on the upcoming free agents ranking. I also held my regular <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2faTp6A\" target=\"_blank\">Klawchat<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>For <em>Paste<\/em>, my latest boardgame review covers <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2e5PiGH\" target=\"_blank\">Arcane Academy<\/a>, a wizard-themed game that isn&#8217;t aimed at kids specifically but that I think is a much better game for young players than for adults.<\/p>\n<p>You can <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2dtXS3S\" target=\"_blank\">preorder my upcoming book, <em>Smart Baseball<\/em><\/a>, on amazon, which now shows the correct cover. 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>Let&#8217;s start with the longreads of the week. This Deadspin profile <a href=\"http:\/\/deadspin.com\/the-writer-who-was-too-strong-to-live-1785661187\" target=\"_blank\">of the late sportswriter Jennifer Frey<\/a>, a former wunderkind who died this February of long-term alcohol abuse, is on the very short list of the best things I&#8217;ve read all year.<\/li>\n<li>Annie Apple, a domestic abuse survivor and mother of a NY Giants player, wrote an emotional piece <a href=\"http:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/2016\/10\/23\/annie-apple-john-mara-giants-josh-brown\" target=\"_blank\">on why she couldn&#8217;t stay silent about Josh Brown<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><em>Harvard<\/em> magazine covers <a href=\"http:\/\/harvardmagazine.com\/2016\/11\/death-throes\" target=\"_blank\">the quiet fight to end the death penalty in the United States<\/a>. Californians will vote on whether to keep the death penalty next month.<\/li>\n<li>The <em>Washingtonian<\/em> looks at how Donald Trump&#8217;s comments on Mexicans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonian.com\/2016\/10\/23\/how-donald-trump-hotel-lost-his-dc-restaurants-jose-andres-geoffrey-zakarian\/\" target=\"_blank\">cost his new DC hotel its main two celebrity chef tenants<\/a>. <\/li>\n<li>Sid Meier&#8217;s Civilization was one of my favorite videogames ever; I spent a good chunk of the fall of 1992 playing it whenever I had time to spare and even when I didn&#8217;t. Author Kanishk Tharoor looks back <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.longreads.com\/2016\/10\/26\/what-sid-meiers-video-game-empire-got-right-and-wrong-about-civilization\/\" target=\"_blank\">at the game&#8217;s impact and its flaws<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Author Emily St. John, who wrote the wonderful, haunting novel <em><a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/1TsLgHb\" target=\"_blank\">Station Eleven<\/a><\/em>, wrote a piece for FiveThirtyEight on <a href=\"http:\/\/fivethirtyeight.com\/features\/the-gone-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-on-the-train\/\" target=\"_blank\">the rise of books with &#8220;girl&#8221; in the title<\/a>, which looks more generally at how books are named and marketed.<\/li>\n<li>The members of the hip-hop duo Black Sheep <a href=\"http:\/\/ambrosiaforheads.com\/2016\/10\/black-sheep-wolf-sheeps-clothing-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\">look back at the making of their debut album<\/a>, <em>A Wolf in Sheep&#8217;s Clothing<\/em>. Here they come, yo.<\/li>\n<li>The <em>NY Times<\/em>&#8216; op ed page looks at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/10\/28\/opinion\/the-problem-with-elizabeth-warren.html\" target=\"_blank\">Sen. Elizabeth Warren&#8217;s habit of overreaching on regulatory issues<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Drugmaker Purdue, which is coming under substantial scrutiny lately for its role in pushing oxycontin, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2016\/10\/26\/oxycontin-maker-thwarted-limits\/\" target=\"_blank\">helped stop regulations in West Virginia that would have limited prescriptions<\/a>. West Virginia has been hit particularly hard by the ongoing epidemic of opioid addictions and overdoses, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5pdPrQFjo2o\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Last Week Tonight<\/em> covered in a recent episode<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>ESPN ran a great piece by Sterling HolyWhiteMountain, a member of the Blackfeet Reservation, on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/17891581\/great-failure-indians-mascot-debate-thinking-only-racism\" target=\"_blank\">what the debate over the Cleveland baseball mascot misses<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Researchers at Harvard are <a href=\"http:\/\/harvardmagazine.com\/2016\/11\/super-drugs-for-super-bugs\" target=\"_blank\">a new method to search for new antibiotics<\/a>, building molecules called macrolides from the ground up and then testing them against a spectrum of bacteria to look for the most effective candidates.<\/li>\n<li>SCOTUS agreed to review a case from Virginia <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/politics\/articles\/2016-10-28\/transgender-bathroom-case-will-get-u-s-supreme-court-review?bpolANews=true\" target=\"_blank\">on a school that wants to prevent a transgender boy from using the boys&#8217; bathroom<\/a>. The school&#8217;s policy isn&#8217;t protecting anyone&#8217;s rights, only restricting the plaintiff&#8217;s. Also, as I&#8217;ve said before, these policies and laws that refer to someone&#8217;s sex at birth ignore the existence of intersex people.<\/li>\n<li>Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory believe they&#8217;ve found conditions <a href=\"http:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2016-10-posit-locally-circumvent-law-thermodynamics.html\" target=\"_blank\">where the Second Law of Thermodynamics may break down at a microscopic level<\/a> \u2013 that is, where entropy may temporarily decrease in violation of that law. I&#8217;m sure Lisa Simpson would be relieved to hear this.<\/li>\n<li>Fellow Trader Joes fans may enjoy this BBC video on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/election-us-2016-37721795\" target=\"_blank\">the Canadian store Pirate Joes and the mild-manner man who runs it<\/a> by smuggling Trader Joes items he purchases in Washington back across the border to sell at huge markups.<\/li>\n<li>The emails, the emails, what what the emails \u2026 Kurt Eichenwald <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/hillary-clinton-emails-fbi-comey-donald-trump-anthony-weiner-huma-abedin-514918\" target=\"_blank\">provides some clarity on what a non-issue yesterday&#8217;s FBI letter was<\/a>, while Benjamin Wittes of the Brookings Institution offers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lawfareblog.com\/memo-press-what-comeys-letter-does-and-doesnt-mean\" target=\"_blank\">a memo to the press on what the letter does and doesn&#8217;t mean<\/a>, including the most reasonable defense of FBI director Comey&#8217;s actions I&#8217;ve seen.<\/li>\n<li>If you want to know what Trump&#8217;s economic proposals might do to the U.S. economy, look no further than Kansas, where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/view\/articles\/2016-10-24\/kansas-ends-bad-economic-news-by-not-reporting-it\" target=\"_blank\">the economic news is so bad the state isn&#8217;t reporting it<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>More video from the BBC, this time on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/magazine-37650992\" target=\"_blank\">Trump&#8217;s appeal in Ohio<\/a>, straight from his supporters&#8217; mouths.<\/li>\n<li>The BBC has also been running a series on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/magazine-37735368\" target=\"_blank\">online blackmail using sexual images<\/a> in conservative parts of the world from the Middle East to south Asia, including a video that reenacts the story of a woman jailed in Tunisia <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/video_and_audio\/features\/magazine-37683927\/37683927\" target=\"_blank\">for killing the man who raped her repeatedly<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2016\/10\/chris-christie-is-over\/505241\/\" target=\"_blank\">implosion of Chris Christie<\/a> has gone largely unnoticed during the Presidential campaign, but for a one-time rising star within the Republican party, it&#8217;s been a swift and ugly fall from grace.<\/li>\n<li>Why are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/10\/26\/dining\/funfetti-cake-rainbow-sprinkles.html?_r=0\" target=\"_blank\">rainbow sprinkles suddenly everywhere<\/a>? I think it&#8217;s an odd thing to feel nostalgic over, since they don&#8217;t exactly have any taste.<\/li>\n<li>Is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/scientists-wonder-if-the-common-cold-may-at-last-be-beatable\/?WT.mc_id=SA_TW_HLTH_NEWS\" target=\"_blank\">vaccine for the common cold<\/a> finally within reach? I hate being sick like everyone, but I feel like this is a real First World Problem. There are illnesses that kill people in the developing world that should take priority over the sniffles.<\/li>\n<li>The Saudi Arabian attack on Yemen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2016\/oct\/28\/emily-thornberry-labour-mps-blood-hands-yemen-conflict-saudi-arabia\" target=\"_blank\">has caused an enormous humanitarian disaster<\/a>, including mass starvation. Those are our &#8220;friends&#8221; the Saudis, you know.<\/li>\n<li>Canada has been holding a 23-year-old native Canadian man <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/opinion\/editorials\/ontarios-sickening-mistreatment-of-adam-capay\/article32498319\/?click=sf_globefb\" target=\"_blank\">without trial, in solitary confinement, for over four years<\/a>. Under UN definitions, he has been tortured. He was finally <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/national\/ontario-knew-about-plight-of-capay-in-solitary-confinement-for-months\/article32561816\/\" target=\"_blank\">moved to a new cell<\/a> this week after public criticism, but how did this happen in the first place?<\/li>\n<li>NPR looks at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2016\/10\/17\/497677367\/is-20-something-too-late-for-a-guy-to-get-the-hpv-vaccine\" target=\"_blank\">whether a 20-something male should still consider getting the HPV vaccine<\/a>. The short answer is yes.<\/li>\n<li>NPR also has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thesalt\/2015\/11\/25\/457398031\/dont-squander-that-squash-like-fine-wine-it-might-improve-with-age\" target=\"_blank\">a useful guide to buying and using winter squash<\/a>. I didn&#8217;t know that certain types are better at different points in the winter.<\/li>\n<li>Brazil and Colombia are releasing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/health-37773274\" target=\"_blank\">populations of mosquitos infected with a bacterium that may slow the spread of Zika and dengue<\/a>. <\/li>\n<li><em>Paste<\/em> has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pastemagazine.com\/articles\/2016\/10\/volos-guide-to-monsters.html\" target=\"_blank\">a review of a new D&#038;D manual<\/a>, which I include here because the book is written as if it&#8217;s from the perspective of the character Volo. Fellow Baldur&#8217;s Gate fans may remember Volo as a sort of amusing ass who kept showing up and telling you stuff you already knew, or just making shit up as he went along.<\/li>\n<li>Finally, Funny or Die has a message for <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/funnyordie\/status\/791022052274679808\/video\/1\" target=\"_blank\">would-be protest voters<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I wrote one Insider piece this week, a World Series preview, although I also spent some time working on the upcoming free agents ranking. I also held my regular Klawchat on Thursday. For Paste, my latest boardgame review covers Arcane Academy, a wizard-themed game that isn&#8217;t aimed at kids specifically but that I think is [&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":[898,190,261,708,870,807,707],"class_list":["post-5206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-death-penalty","tag-links","tag-rap","tag-rpgs","tag-stick-to-baseball","tag-vaccines","tag-video-games","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5206","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=5206"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5209,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5206\/revisions\/5209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}