{"id":8324,"date":"2020-03-21T10:26:07","date_gmt":"2020-03-21T14:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=8324"},"modified":"2020-03-21T10:26:08","modified_gmt":"2020-03-21T14:26:08","slug":"stick-to-baseball-3-21-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2020\/03\/21\/stick-to-baseball-3-21-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Stick to baseball, 3\/21\/20."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>My one new piece at The Athletic this week <a href=\"https:\/\/klaw.me\/2we0ooF\">looked at the top 30 prospects<\/a> for this\nyear&#8217;s MLB draft, which is itself up in the air, although I am inclined to\ndoubt that the draft would be completely cancelled because I think there&#8217;d be a\nflurry of lawsuits from players (and their advisors). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In response to many reader requests, I posted a ranking of <a href=\"https:\/\/klaw.me\/2xEh4WK\">my favorite board games for two players<\/a> \u2013\nsome are just two-player games, some play more but work quite well for two. I\nhave more board game content in the works for Paste, Vulture, and Ars Technica\nin the next few weeks as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My second book, <em>The Inside Game: Bad Calls, Strange Moves,\nand What Baseball Behavior Teaches Us About Ourselves<\/em>, is due out on April\n21<sup>st<\/sup> from Harper Collins, and you can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harpercollins.com\/9780062942722\/the-inside-game\/\">pre-order\nit now<\/a> via their site or wherever fine books are sold. Also, check\nout <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyletter.com\/keithlaw\">my free email newsletter<\/a>, which I\nsay I&#8217;ll write more often than I actually write it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now, the links\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Coronavirus stories first \u2026 Here&#8217;s the most\naggravating thing you&#8217;ll read this week: <em>Texas Monthly <\/em>looks at\nanti-vaxxers so deranged they&#8217;re <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasmonthly.com\/news\/texas-anti-vaxxers-fear-mandatory-coronavirus-vaccines\/\">already\ntrying to avoid a COVID-19 vaccine<\/a>, even with mortality rates thousands of\ntimes higher for the virus than for any vaccine we have.<\/li><li>Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2020\/03\/17\/coronavirus-stimulus-bill-andy-biggs\/\">voted\nagainst the coronavirus relief bill<\/a> because it provided sick leave to same-sex\ndomestic partners.<\/li><li>The <em>Washington Post<\/em> details how the\nfederal government <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2020\/03\/16\/cdc-who-coronavirus-tests\/\">fouled\nup the coronavirus testing situation<\/a> so badly, allowing the virus to spread\nmuch faster than it might have otherwise. The <em>Post<\/em>&#8216;s Jennifer Rubin calls\nTrump&#8217;s response to the pandemic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2020\/03\/18\/trumps-lie-is-worse-than-truth\/\">the\nbiggest blunder in Presidential history<\/a>.<\/li><li>Trump said this week he didn&#8217;t know about the\nWhite House Pandemic Response Team but there&#8217;s video of him <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/coronavirus-video-trump-pandemic-team-cut-2018-a9405191.html\">bragging\nabout dismantling it<\/a>.<\/li><li>The BBC&#8217;s The Inquiry podcast looked at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sounds\/play\/w3csythj\">how the USA failed in our\ninitial response<\/a> to the virus. The short answer: Incompetence.<\/li><li>STAT looks at how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2020\/03\/20\/understanding-what-works-how-some-countries-are-beating-back-the-coronavirus\/\">some\nother countries have been successful<\/a> at beating back the pandemic.<\/li><li>At least five Senators appear to have dumped\nstocks after a confidential hearing about how unprepared the U.S. was for the COVID-19\npandemic. Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr (R-NC) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/senator-dumped-up-to-1-7-million-of-stock-after-reassuring-public-about-coronavirus-preparedness\">sold\nup to $1.7 million in stock<\/a> even as he reassured the public we were prepared.\nSenator Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/sen-kelly-loeffler-dumped-millions-in-stock-after-coronavirus-briefing?ref=wrap\">sold\nhundreds of thousands of dollars of shares as well<\/a>, and bought shares in\nCitrix, which makes software used by employees working from home.<\/li><li>Italian author Igiaba Scebo writes from Rome\n&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/lithub.com\/letter-from-rome-dear-americans-please-stay-inside\/\">Dear\nAmericans, Please Stay Inside<\/a>.&#8221;<\/li><li>As the Administration discusses bailing out\nairlines and cruise ship operators, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grubstreet.com\/2020\/03\/is-anyone-listening-to-restaurants-help.html\">the\nrestaurant industry has received no response<\/a> to its own pleas for financial\nassistance, despite employing more people and lacking the airlines&#8217; history of\nmassive stock buybacks and seven-figure CEO salaries.<\/li><li>J. Kenji L\u00f3pez-Alt posted a lengthy guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriouseats.com\/2020\/03\/food-safety-and-coronavirus-a-comprehensive-guide.html\">food\nsafety and coronavirus<\/a>.<\/li><li>Longreads: This <em>New York Times <\/em>story\nabout <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/18\/magazine\/title-ix-sexual-harassment-accusations.html\">fabricated\nsexual harassment claims<\/a> against a professor at Arizona State is both\nfascinating and infuriating. The worst part is that the author, one of the targets\nof the scheme, can&#8217;t name the perpetrator, who is now free to do this again to\nsomeone else.<\/li><li>The BBC has the story of a reporter who worked with\nan English man to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/extra\/7x3juxqu5s\/Girl_taken_from_the_Calais_Jungle\">try\nto reunite an Afghan mother with the daughter<\/a> taken from her by the father\nwhen he fled to the UK as a migrant.<\/li><li>An editorial in <em>Scientific American<\/em>\ndiscusses the growing problem of <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.scientificamerican.com\/observations\/when-promoting-knowledge-makes-you-a-target\/\">harassment\nof scientists and others<\/a> who promote knowledge on social media, on topics\nas diverse as vaccines, climate change, evolution, and mental health treatment.<\/li><li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.revealnews.org\/article\/epa-scientists-found-a-toxic-chemical-damages-fetal-hearts-the-trump-white-house-rewrote-their-assessment\/\">Trump\nAdministration overruled the EPA and other scientists<\/a> who used evidence to\nshow that the widely-used chemical trichloroethylene is linked to fetal heart\ndefects.<\/li><li>ChefsFeed offers six tips on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chefsfeed.com\/stories\/1241-what-you-can-do-to-support-the-restaurant-industry\">how\nyou can help local restaurants<\/a> try to survive the shutdown. Many are\nopening fundraising pages to help employees who need emergency assistance, like\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/5amp10-employee-emergency-fund\">the\nwonderful 5&amp;10<\/a> in Athens, Georgia, has.<\/li><li>A member of the far-right hate group the Proud\nBoys ended up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2020\/mar\/21\/proud-boys-michigan-hispanic-majority-city\">appointed\nto the city commission in Latinx-majority Fennville, Michigan<\/a>, because he\ndidn&#8217;t disclose his affiliation and the commissioners didn&#8217;t do their due\ndiligence on his social media accounts.<\/li><li>Board game news: Two Kickstarters of note this\nweek. The first is for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/floodgategames\/holi-festival-of-colors\">Holi<\/a>,\nan area control game coming soon from Floodgate games.<\/li><li>The second is for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/skyport\/ark-awakening?ref=1xhk06\">Ark:\nAwakening<\/a>, an engine-builder with a modular board where each player has a\nunique faction (which sounds a bit like Root).<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My one new piece at The Athletic this week looked at the top 30 prospects for this year&#8217;s MLB draft, which is itself up in the air, although I am inclined to doubt that the draft would be completely cancelled because I think there&#8217;d be a flurry of lawsuits from players (and their advisors). In [&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":[1083,1162,113,190,961,870,940],"class_list":["post-8324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-board-game-news","tag-coronavirus","tag-environment","tag-links","tag-longreads","tag-stick-to-baseball","tag-the-swamp","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8324","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=8324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8325,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8324\/revisions\/8325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}