{"id":6538,"date":"2018-04-08T13:09:08","date_gmt":"2018-04-08T17:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=6538"},"modified":"2018-04-08T13:09:08","modified_gmt":"2018-04-08T17:09:08","slug":"stick-to-baseball-4-7-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/08\/stick-to-baseball-4-7-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Stick to baseball, 4\/7\/18."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Three new pieces for Insiders this week &#8211; looking at <a href=\"https:\/\/klaw.me\/2q8t9vW\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the most prospect-laden rosters in the minors<\/a>, and draft blog posts on <a href=\"https:\/\/klaw.me\/2GvB8ua\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the top prospects at the NHSI tournament<\/a> and on <a href=\"https:\/\/klaw.me\/2GFJ6Vv\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kentucky&#8217;s 6&#8217;11&#8221; RHP Sean Hjelle<\/a>. I also held a <a href=\"https:\/\/klaw.me\/2GBvPZX\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Klawchat<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p><em>Smart Baseball<\/em> is now out in paperback! You can buy it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harpercollins.com\/9780062490230\/smart-baseball\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">through HarperCollins<\/a> directly or at any bookseller. <\/p>\n<p>And now, the links&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Longread: Novelist Rana Dasgupta, writing in the <em>Guardian<\/em>, looks at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/news\/2018\/apr\/05\/demise-of-the-nation-state-rana-dasgupta\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the ongoing decline of the nation-state system<\/a> and the lack of a promising structure to replace it.<\/li>\n<li>The Useless Department of Agriculture ruled this week that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thesalt\/2018\/04\/04\/599550018\/usda-sides-with-big-organic-to-allow-emulsifier-to-keep-organic-label?utm_source=dlvr.it&#038;utm_medium=twitter\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">organic food producers can use the bogeyman emulsifier carrageenan<\/a>, derived from seaweed and blamed (without evidence) for lots of health ills. The real problem here is that the USDA shouldn\u2019t be ruling on what organic means; it\u2019s not clear any more that that term has any use, and one major reason is that the federal government has watered it down.<\/li>\n<li>ICE is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/checkpoint\/wp\/2018\/04\/04\/mattis-said-immigrant-veterans-should-not-be-deported-ice-is-trying-anyway\/?utm_term=.c0629d15da39\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">trying to deport a U.S. Army veteran<\/a>, contrary to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis&#8217; directive that they should not do that. I feel safer already!<\/li>\n<li>The Thai government <a href=\"https:\/\/munchies.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/paxadz\/the-surprising-reason-that-there-are-so-many-thai-restaurants-in-america\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">has had a long-running endeavor to open more Thai restaurants abroad<\/a>, reasoning that it would help drive tourism to the southeast Asian country (which has a not entirely undeserved reputation for unsavory tourist business). It\u2019s been successful enough, at least, that other countries are mimicking their strategy.<\/li>\n<li>This week\u2019s NPR Hidden Brain podcast, a repeat of an episode from about two years ago, covered <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2018\/04\/01\/598119170\/the-scarcity-trap-why-we-keep-digging-when-were-stuck-in-a-hole?utm_source=dlvr.it&#038;utm_medium=twitter\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the scarcity trap<\/a>, or how a lack of something leads us to focus inordinately on getting it. Among other things, it helps explain why people who live paycheck to paycheck (or with less) have a hard time spreading out the funds they do have until their next deposit.<\/li>\n<li>The Outline looks at <a href=\"https:\/\/theoutline.com\/post\/3952\/death-in-wilmington-gun-violence\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">why Wilmington, Delaware\u2019s ongoing problem with gun violence hasn\u2019t abated<\/a> even as the national homicide rate has declined. Three major reasons: Urban poverty, the effects of trauma, and bureaucratic infighting.<\/li>\n<li><em>JAMA<\/em> ran an anti-glyphosate editorial recently <a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jama\/fullarticle\/2677439\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">without disclosing the authors\u2019 substantial conflict of interest<\/a>. The authors are running what sounds like a scam site offering to test customers\u2019 urine for the presence of glyphosate for a significant fee.<\/li>\n<li>The Athletic has a subscriber-only piece that <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/293189\/2018\/04\/04\/on-minor-league-pay-mlbs-stance-doesnt-line-up-with-the-facts\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">includes a Q&#038;A with Rob Manfred on MLB\u2019s end run around the courts<\/a> to suppress minor league salaries, and why Manfred\u2019s answers don\u2019t add up.<\/li>\n<li>The Good Phight&#8217;s Paul Boy\u00e9 looks at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegoodphight.com\/2018\/4\/7\/17209722\/nick-pivetta-curveball-slider-find-new-depth-movement\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nick Pivetta&#8217;s new, sharper curveball<\/a>. Pivetta was a sinker\/slider guy in the Nats&#8217; system, and had no real weapon for left-handed batters back when I first saw him in 2015, when he had a wide platoon split. He had virtually no split in 2016, then had a huge reverse split in the majors in 2017. With two effective breaking pitches now, though, I&#8217;d absolutely expect him to show substantial improvement against right-handed batters.<\/li>\n<li>Tim Grierson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/movies\/features\/you-were-never-really-here-joaquin-phoenix-lynne-ramsay-interview-w518613\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">discussed the new film <em>You Were Never Really Here<\/em><\/a> with director Lynne Ramsey and star Joaquin Phoenix, who won Best Actor at Cannes for this performance.<\/li>\n<li>A pair of stories around my alma mater: I saw folks claiming on Twitter that Harvard had somehow suspended its largest evangelical students\u2019 group; the truth is that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecrimson.com\/article\/2018\/3\/20\/uc-bars-hcfa-funding\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Undergraduate Council suspended funding<\/a> for an evangelical group that violated the Council\u2019s rules on non-discrimination by expelling an officer who came out as LGBT. The UC is a student-run organization, not the university proper.<\/li>\n<li>There\u2019s also a stalking-horse lawsuit against Harvard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/04\/04\/us\/harvard-asian-admission.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">alleging that the university discriminates against Asian-American applicants<\/a>; the truth is that the lawsuit is arranged and funded by a white conservative who opposes affirmative action.<\/li>\n<li>The headline here is terribly misleading, but there was a flurry of stories this week like this one, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/health\/archive\/2018\/03\/the-diet-that-might-cure-depression\/556742\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">about a new study arguing that diet affects mental health<\/a>, particularly depression. The quick-and-dirty: eat more fiber in your diet from vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. As a whole, the prescription doesn&#8217;t sound that different from the so-called Mediterranean diet.<\/li>\n<li>James Beard award-winning chef Sean Brock went public with his alcoholism last year, and in a new piece for <em>Bon Appetit<\/em> he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/story\/sean-brock-sobriety\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">describes his new diet and self-care regime<\/a>, a combination of good nutrition, mindfulness, and pseudoscience.<\/li>\n<li>Serious Eats has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriouseats.com\/2018\/02\/amari-101-your-guide-to-italys-essential-bittersweet-liqueurs.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">guide to Italian amari<\/a>, potable bitters that include Campari and Montenegro. The guide includes comments from Sother Teague, owner of tiny Manhattan bar Amor y Amargo, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.liquor.com\/articles\/amor-y-amargo\/#gs.klfO_tM\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">profiled this week on Liquor.com<\/a>. I&#8217;ve been to Amor y Amargo and it&#8217;s superb; Teague uses only bitters, no sodas or fruit juices, in his drinks, creating clever flavor combinations with some serious alcohol kick.<\/li>\n<li>George Will writes that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/theres-no-good-reason-to-stop-felons-from-voting\/2018\/04\/06\/88484076-3905-11e8-8fd2-49fe3c675a89_story.html?utm_term=.b608a2b8e6ec\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">there&#8217;s no good reason to prevent felons from voting<\/a>; there&#8217;s a reason states like Florida do it, of course, but it&#8217;s not a good one.<\/li>\n<li>Board game news: The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/restorationgames\/fireball-island-80s-board-game-reignited-and-resto\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fireball Island Kickstarter<\/a> was fully funded in an hour and crossed the $1 million funding mark inside of a week.<\/li>\n<li>Z-Man Games announced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zmangames.com\/en\/news\/2018\/4\/4\/announcing-taj-mahal\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Taj Mahal, the upcoming game from Reiner Knizia<\/a>, due out later this year.<\/li>\n<li>Asmodee Digital announced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TerraformingMarsDigital\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the imminent release of the Terraforming Mars app<\/a>, with Steam coming first and iOS\/Android soon after.<\/li>\n<li>In what appears to be an April Fools&#8217; Day tradition, Berkeley Breathed released <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/berkeleybreathed\/photos\/a.114529165244512.10815.108793262484769\/1918814398149304\/?type=3&#038;theater\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a new &#8220;Calvin County&#8221; crossover comic<\/a>, bringing Calvin back to the meadow of Bloom County.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three new pieces for Insiders this week &#8211; looking at the most prospect-laden rosters in the minors, and draft blog posts on the top prospects at the NHSI tournament and on Kentucky&#8217;s 6&#8217;11&#8221; RHP Sean Hjelle. I also held a Klawchat on Thursday. Smart Baseball is now out in paperback! You can buy it through [&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":[60,190,870],"class_list":["post-6538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-boardgames","tag-links","tag-stick-to-baseball","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6538","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=6538"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6542,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6538\/revisions\/6542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}