{"id":6234,"date":"2017-12-16T22:21:23","date_gmt":"2017-12-17T03:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=6234"},"modified":"2017-12-17T17:44:39","modified_gmt":"2017-12-17T22:44:39","slug":"stick-to-baseball-12-16-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/16\/stick-to-baseball-12-16-17\/","title":{"rendered":"Stick to baseball, 12\/16\/17."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The MLB winter meetings were a bit slow this year, but I did have five new Insider pieces this week, covering:<\/p>\n<p>&bull; <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2kBRkA6\" target=\"_blank\">The Dodgers\/Atlanta salary swap and the Matt Moore trade<\/a><br \/>\n&bull; <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2AVZqyz\" target=\"_blank\">The Santana and Cozart signings, plus the Galvis trade<\/a><br \/>\n&bull; <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2CAggAu\" target=\"_blank\">The Piscotty and Kinsler trades, and the Shaw\/McGee signings<\/a><br \/>\n&bull; <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2C3LJcW\" target=\"_blank\">The Marcell Ozuna trade<\/a><br \/>\n&bull; <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2Cjhxvr\" target=\"_blank\">A quick take on a few interesting Rule 5 picks<\/a><br \/>\n&bull; <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2yWj8rl\" target=\"_blank\">The Giancarlo Stanton trade<\/a><\/p>\n<p>My ranking of <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2B1Zhto\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the top ten new board games of 2017<\/a> went up at <em>Paste<\/em> on Sunday evening. My latest game review for the site covers <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2BDscny\" target=\"_blank\">Ex Libris<\/a>, a fun, light strategy game that&#8217;s extremely well balanced, and made my top ten as well.<\/p>\n<p>The holidays are upon us! Stick a copy of <em><a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2foenM8\" target=\"_blank\">Smart Baseball<\/a><\/em> in every stocking. <\/p>\n<p>And now, the links\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Longreads: <em>WIRED<\/em> looks at the three Minecraft-playing entrepreneurs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/mirai-botnet-minecraft-scam-brought-down-the-internet\/\" target=\"_blank\">whose DDoS botnet caused the October 2016 Internet outage<\/a> in the eastern United States. <\/li>\n<li>ESPN&#8217;s Outside the Lines and <em>ESPN The Magazine<\/em>, an investigation of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/espn\/otl\/story\/_\/id\/21710106\/louisville-athletic-director-tom-jurich-leveraged-big-deals-build-university-sports-powerhouse-only-watch-burn-amid-charges-excess\" target=\"_blank\">how adidas money took over the University of Louisville<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>The <em>Boston Globe<\/em> Spotlight team <a href=\"http:\/\/apps.bostonglobe.com\/spotlight\/boston-racism-image-reality\/series\/image\/\" target=\"_blank\">looks at the evidence behind Boston&#8217;s reputation as a racist city<\/a> and finds that \u2026 yep, it&#8217;s racist. I lived in the Boston suburbs for about 18 years, including my time in college, and my personal experience was that the city was highly segregated: There was a large black population, but they all lived Somewhere Else. Diversity in whiter neighborhoods was limited to people from east or south Asia, but rarely included African- or Latino-Americans. <\/li>\n<li>Also from <em>WIRED<\/em>, a look at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/overwatch-videogame-league-aims-to-become-new-nfl\/\" target=\"_blank\">the big money effort to build a professional e-sports league<\/a> around the game <em>Overwatch<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>A former sharecropper in Lowndes County, Alabama, a majority-black county with a population just over 10,000, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.al.com\/news\/index.ssf\/2017\/12\/how_a_former_sharecropper_in_a.html\" target=\"_blank\">spends every Election Day encouraging and driving her neighbors to the polls<\/a>, one of the many great stories emerging after Doug Jones&#8217; surprise victory over the Ayatollah of Alabama on Tuesday. <\/li>\n<li>Slate argues that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/news_and_politics\/jurisprudence\/2017\/12\/the_gop_s_new_concealed_carry_law_is_as_unconstitutional_as_it_is_unprecedented.html\" target=\"_blank\">the new concealed-carry reciprocity law is unconstitutional<\/a>. It was also widely opposed by law-enforcement groups, and the inevitable lawsuits to stop it are going to waste a lot of everyone&#8217;s time and money. <\/li>\n<li>The Trump Administration told the Centers for Disease Control <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national\/health-science\/cdc-gets-list-of-forbidden-words-fetus-transgender-diversity\/2017\/12\/15\/f503837a-e1cf-11e7-89e8-edec16379010_story.html?utm_term=.2938d8ab3d8d\" target=\"_blank\">they can&#8217;t use the words fetus, diversity, transgender, evidence-based, or science-based<\/a> in upcoming budget request documents. That&#8217;s yet another reason to support efforts to elect scientists to public office, such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.314action.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">314 Action<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><em>Salon<\/em> calls the Republican Party <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2017\/12\/13\/american-taliban\/?page=1\" target=\"_blank\">the American Taleban<\/a> in response to the party&#8217;s massive rollback of policies of previous administrations, with the goal of keeping a portion of the population &#8220;undereducated.&#8221; <\/li>\n<li><em>New York<\/em>&#8216;s Jonathan Chait claims that <a href=\"http:\/\/nymag.com\/daily\/intelligencer\/2017\/12\/the-mueller-investigation-is-in-mortal-danger.html\" target=\"_blank\">the Mueller investigation is in great peril<\/a>; I&#8217;m just not informed enough to know if this is valid, melodramatic, or a bit of both. <\/li>\n<li><em>USA Today<\/em>&#8216;s editorial board, hardly a bastion of the left, called out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/opinion\/2017\/12\/12\/trump-lows-ever-hit-rock-bottom-editorials-debates\/945947001\/\" target=\"_blank\">Trump&#8217;s implication that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand would trade sex for campaign donations<\/a>, saying &#8220;A president who would all but call Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand a whore is not fit to clean the toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library or to shine the shoes of George W. Bush.&#8221; You&#8217;d think Republican women in Congress would be outraged, <a href=\"http:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/dc\/republicans-duck-questions-play-down-trumps-attack-on-gillibrand\" target=\"_blank\">but nah<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>The <em>New York Times<\/em> compared <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2017\/12\/14\/opinion\/sunday\/trump-lies-obama-who-is-worse.html\" target=\"_blank\">the blatant falsehoods told by Presidents Obama and Trump<\/a>, finding that Trump is offering lies at 60 times the rate of his predecessor, telling more lies in less than a year in office than Obama did in eight. (They list the specific falsehoods, if anyone wants to cry &#8220;fake news.&#8221;) <\/li>\n<li>The US Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.findlaw.com\/third_circuit\/2017\/12\/hospital-worker-cant-refuse-flu-vaccine-court-rules.html\" target=\"_blank\">a hospital worker fired for refusing a flu shot can&#8217;t claim religious discrimination<\/a>, as the court ruled that anti-vaccination beliefs are not religious in nature, and that the scientifically accepted view is that vaccines are not harmful. <\/li>\n<li>Celebrity chef &#038; Food Network icon Mario Batali <a href=\"https:\/\/ny.eater.com\/2017\/12\/11\/16759540\/mario-batali-sexual-misconduct-allegations\" target=\"_blank\">has now been outed as a sexual harasser &#038; groper<\/a>, and has been fired by <em>The Chew<\/em> as a result. He issued a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.avclub.com\/mario-batali-apparently-included-a-cinnamon-roll-recipe-1821345412\" target=\"_blank\">weak apology that ended with a cinnamon roll recipe<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Ken Friedman, the co-owner of West Village restaurant The Spotted Pig, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/12\/12\/dining\/ken-friedman-sexual-harassment.html?_r=2\" target=\"_blank\">has been accused by several former employees of harassment and assault<\/a>, another great piece of investigative work from the <em>New York Times<\/em>. The Spotted Pig is co-owned by chef April Bloomfield, who is accused of blowing off complaints from female employees about Friedman. <\/li>\n<li>Salma Hayek&#8217;s piece <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2017\/12\/13\/opinion\/contributors\/salma-hayek-harvey-weinstein.html?_r=1\" target=\"_blank\">on how Harvey Weinstein harassed her and nearly derailed her career in retaliation<\/a> is just brutal to read. Director Peter Jackson revealed that Weinstein <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stuff.co.nz\/entertainment\/99921399\/sir-peter-jackson-harvey-weinstein-made-me-blacklist-stars\" target=\"_blank\">forced him to drop Mira Sorvino and Ashley Judd from the <em>Lord of the Rings<\/em> movies<\/a> in further retaliation against the women for rejecting his advances. <\/li>\n<li>Thrillist&#8217;s Dan Gentile listed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thrillist.com\/drink\/nation\/the-21-best-coffee-roasters-in-the-country?ref=twitter-869\" target=\"_blank\">the 21 best coffee roasters in the country<\/a>, and based on my experience it&#8217;s quite a credible list. I&#8217;ve tried nine of these, and would probably not have included La Colombe of those on the list, but would vouch for the rest. I&#8217;d also add Archetype (Omaha), Cartel (Phoenix), and Bird Rock (San Diego\/La Jolla). <\/li>\n<li>In July, the podcast Startup interviewed <a href=\"https:\/\/gimletmedia.com\/episode\/building-perfect-cup-coffee\/\" target=\"_blank\">the Yemeni-American behind the $16 cup of coffee<\/a> that made headlines in 2016. His story is remarkable, as he&#8217;s had to educate Yemeni farmers and then process and ship the beans out of an active war zone. <\/li>\n<li>In the wake of the Keaton Jones story (and the milkshake duck epilogue), <em>Teen Vogue<\/em> looks at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teenvogue.com\/story\/keaton-jones-black-girls-trauma\" target=\"_blank\">how the traumas of young black girls don&#8217;t get the same kind of public empathy<\/a>. She also argues for greater mental health treatment for traumatized young kids, which is a core tenet of the book I reviewed yesterday, <em><a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2Bghd0w\" target=\"_blank\">The Body Keeps the Score<\/a><\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Yet another former Facebook exec <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2017\/12\/11\/16761016\/former-facebook-exec-ripping-apart-society\" target=\"_blank\">has come out against the power and effects of his old employer<\/a> and social media in general, saying it&#8217;s &#8220;ripping apart society.&#8221; I agree social media is showing some rather pernicious effects, but I also feel like this talking point is a very good way to make money on the speakers&#8217; circuit when you used to work there. <\/li>\n<li>This <em>New York Times<\/em> story on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/12\/11\/technology\/alt-right-internet.html?_r=0\" target=\"_blank\">the alt-right&#8217;s attempts to build a parallel social media world<\/a> is mostly funny but a bit scary that they could even find funding for all of these failed efforts. <\/li>\n<li><em>Paste<\/em> posted its ranking of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pastemagazine.com\/articles\/2017\/12\/the-30-best-videogames-of-2017.html\" target=\"_blank\">top 30 video games of 2017<\/a>. I&#8217;ve heard of maybe five. I did just buy a new laptop that&#8217;s supposed to be quite good for gaming, so maybe I&#8217;ll dive in this year.<\/li>\n<li>Thames and Kosmos has two new titles out just in time for the holiday with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thamesandkosmos.com\/index.php\/kosmosgames\/legends-of-andor-the-last-hope\" target=\"_blank\">Legends of Andor: The Last Hope<\/a> and the Ken Follett-inspired <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thamesandkosmos.com\/index.php\/kosmosgames\/a-column-of-fire\" target=\"_blank\">A Column of Fire<\/a>. I probably won&#8217;t be reviewing these, but do have a stack of games to review to take me well into February; that should include <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2zh9SOH\" target=\"_blank\">Majesty: For the Realm<\/a>, the brand-new title from the developer of Splendor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The MLB winter meetings were a bit slow this year, but I did have five new Insider pieces this week, covering: &bull; The Dodgers\/Atlanta salary swap and the Matt Moore trade &bull; The Santana and Cozart signings, plus the Galvis trade &bull; The Piscotty and Kinsler trades, and the Shaw\/McGee signings &bull; The Marcell Ozuna [&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":[60,84,190,969,855,870,940,807,707],"class_list":["post-6234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-boardgames","tag-coffee","tag-links","tag-mental-health","tag-sports","tag-stick-to-baseball","tag-the-swamp","tag-vaccines","tag-video-games","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6234","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=6234"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6238,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6234\/revisions\/6238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}