{"id":5516,"date":"2017-02-25T11:17:06","date_gmt":"2017-02-25T16:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=5516"},"modified":"2017-02-25T11:17:06","modified_gmt":"2017-02-25T16:17:06","slug":"stick-to-baseball-22517","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/25\/stick-to-baseball-22517\/","title":{"rendered":"Stick to baseball, 2\/25\/17."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I wrote one Insider piece this week, on <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2mfCySS\" target=\"_blank\">how the Mets should handle their rotation<\/a>, with six capable major-league starters right now, but five of them coming off of some kind of injury last year, from Thor&#8217;s bone spurs to Harvey&#8217;s TOS repair surgery. I also held a <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2ld3T3S\" target=\"_blank\">Klawchat<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>My latest boardgame review for <em>Paste<\/em> covers <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2kUzZFy\" target=\"_blank\">the worker-placement game Ulm<\/a>, which works fine mechanically but has a theme that&#8217;s just so overdone for me.<\/p>\n<p>You can <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2dtXS3S\" target=\"_blank\">preorder my upcoming book, <em>Smart Baseball<\/em><\/a>, on amazon, or from other sites <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harpercollins.com\/9780062490223\/?utm_source=Keith+Law&#038;utm_medium=athremail&#038;utm_campaign=Smart+Baseball\" target=\"_blank\">via the Harper-Collins page for the book<\/a>. The book just got <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kirkusreviews.com\/book-reviews\/keith-law\/smart-baseball\/\" target=\"_blank\">its first official positive review<\/a>, from <em>Kirkus Reviews<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>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>An oral history of Homestar Runner? <a href=\"http:\/\/io9.gizmodo.com\/an-oral-history-of-homestar-runner-the-internets-favor-1791519879\" target=\"_blank\">An oral history of Homestar Runner<\/a>! Thanks to my longtime friend Pete for finding this Q&#038;A with the Brothers Chaps.<\/li>\n<li>NPR&#8217;s Linda Holmes disagrees with me, saying <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/monkeysee\/2017\/02\/23\/516824213\/top-chef-is-delivering-a-satisfying-season-right-on-time\" target=\"_blank\">this season of Top Chef has been especially satisfying<\/a>. Link doesn&#8217;t contain any spoilers for this most recent episode.<\/li>\n<li>Is <em>I Am Not Your Negro<\/em> the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/nbcblk\/critics-love-i-am-not-your-negro-are-internet-trolls-n721576\" target=\"_blank\">the target of racist vote brigading<\/a> on user-generated ratings sites like IMDB? I think the answer is pretty obvious given how hard it is to see that movie in theaters.<\/li>\n<li>This September 2015 article gives some background on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/entertainment\/movies\/stars-of-tanna-from-vanuatu-a-new-look-for-venice-film-festival-20150909-gji9oi.html\" target=\"_blank\">the making of the Oscar-nominated film <em>Tanna<\/em><\/a>, one of my top ten films of last year.<\/li>\n<li>My former home state of Arizona has decided the First Amendment rights to freedom of assembly and speech are no longer valid, as the state Senate has <a href=\"http:\/\/azcapitoltimes.com\/news\/2017\/02\/22\/arizona-senate-crackdown-on-protests\/\" target=\"_blank\">voted for a bill that criminalizes peaceful protests<\/a> if those protests eventually turn violent. It&#8217;s based on a false premise of paid protesters, but really, it&#8217;s a sign that the state is run by white-nationalist extremists, as it was when I lived there.<\/li>\n<li>A Muslim woman who worked for the National Security Council <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2017\/02\/rumana-ahmed-trump\/517521\/?utm_source=atltw\" target=\"_blank\">quit after eight days in the Trump White House<\/a>. A ten-year CIA analyst and NSC spokesman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/i-didnt-think-id-ever-leave-the-cia-but-because-of-trump-i-quit\/2017\/02\/20\/fd7aac3e-f456-11e6-b9c9-e83fce42fb61_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-d%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&#038;utm_term=.2755dc5a9093\" target=\"_blank\">quit after less than a month under the Trump Administration<\/a>. Neither could stand working for this anti-democratic regime.<\/li>\n<li>The &#8220;Blacks for Trump&#8221; guy behind the President at various rallies is <a href=\"http:\/\/littlegreenfootballs.com\/article\/46518_Blacks_for_Trump_Leader_Seen_Behind_Trump_at_Rallies_Is_a_Former_Member_of_a_Murderous_Cult\" target=\"_blank\">a former member of a murderous cult<\/a> with a  more recent history of gay-bashing commentary.<\/li>\n<li>A good first-person longread from <em>Pacific Standard<\/em>&#8216;s Laurie Penny, who <a href=\"https:\/\/psmag.com\/on-the-milo-bus-with-the-lost-boys-of-americas-new-right-629a77e87986#.u58uxeqlg\" target=\"_blank\">spent time on the Milo Yiannopoulos tour bus<\/a> with the clueless alt-right kids who followed him.<\/li>\n<li>The House Judiciary Committee&#8217;s Republican majority plans to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2017\/02\/trump-conflicts-house-resolution-235288\" target=\"_blank\">bury the Democrats&#8217; resolution to force Trump to reveal his entanglements with Russia<\/a>, including any conflicts of interest. That Committee includes some of the worst humans in Congress, including outright racist Steve King of Iowa and anti-science Science Committee head Lamar Smith. Check and see if <a href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/subcommittee\/full-committee\/\" target=\"_blank\">your representative is on the committee<\/a> and perhaps make a call on Monday about this resolution.<\/li>\n<li>The vaccine-denial movement in Texas <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2017\/02\/20\/trump-energizes-anti-vaccine-movement-texas\/\" target=\"_blank\">has been energized by the election of Trump and other anti-science politicians<\/a>. Every day I hear political news out of that state, I&#8217;m glad I didn&#8217;t take a job I was offered there a few years ago.<\/li>\n<li>A math professor at Tufts is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chronicle.com\/article\/Meet-the-Math-Professor\/239260\/\" target=\"_blank\">trying to fight gerrymandering by arming mathematicians to testify against it<\/a>, using geometry as the alternative.<\/li>\n<li>I&#8217;ve mentioned Universal Basic Income here before, but Finland&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/society\/2017\/feb\/19\/basic-income-finland-low-wages-fewer-jobs\" target=\"_blank\">experiment with giving UBI to 2000 citizens<\/a> is the first I&#8217;ve seen of a real-world implementation.<\/li>\n<li>Most of you saw this, I assume, but I&#8217;ll pass it on just in case: Hall of Famer Mike Piazza <a href=\"https:\/\/mobile.nytimes.com\/2017\/02\/20\/sports\/soccer\/mike-piazza-italy-reggiana-owner.html?_r=0&#038;referer=https:\/\/t.co\/QzkzrVckrO\" target=\"_blank\">now owns a professional soccer team in Italy<\/a>, in the region where Parmiggiano-Reggiano is made.<\/li>\n<li><em>Fortune<\/em> looks at <a href=\"http:\/\/fortune.com\/2017\/02\/22\/sugar-stevia-low-calorie-sweetener\/?xid=soc_socialflow_twitter_FORTUNE\" target=\"_blank\">the search for the perfect sugar substitute<\/a>, and why artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohols, and stevia have all fallen short.<\/li>\n<li>Speaking of sweeteners, here&#8217;s Stella Parks of Serious Eats on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.seriouseats.com\/2017\/02\/what-is-blackstrap-molasses.html\" target=\"_blank\">why you shouldn&#8217;t buy blackstrap molasses<\/a> unless the recipe specifically calls for it.<\/li>\n<li>If you want a preview of what&#8217;s in store for us, Zimbabwe&#8217;s longtime dictator Robert Mugabe is now 92, and his wife said when he dies <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-39010667\" target=\"_blank\">his corpse would still win re-election<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>I can&#8217;t even do &#8220;tweet of the week&#8221; any more because there are too many good ones, but this was the one I saved to include here:<br \/>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I wish i could credit the artist on this. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ao2teFan1U\">pic.twitter.com\/Ao2teFan1U<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Greg Britton (@gmbritton) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gmbritton\/status\/833468155683028992\">February 20, 2017<\/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 one Insider piece this week, on how the Mets should handle their rotation, with six capable major-league starters right now, but five of them coming off of some kind of injury last year, from Thor&#8217;s bone spurs to Harvey&#8217;s TOS repair surgery. I also held a Klawchat on Thursday. My latest boardgame review [&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":[566,857,190,870,807],"class_list":["post-5516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-arizona","tag-cooking","tag-links","tag-stick-to-baseball","tag-vaccines","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5516","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=5516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5517,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5516\/revisions\/5517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}