{"id":9861,"date":"2023-04-02T00:09:20","date_gmt":"2023-04-02T04:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=9861"},"modified":"2023-04-02T00:09:21","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T04:09:21","slug":"stick-to-baseball-4-1-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2023\/04\/02\/stick-to-baseball-4-1-23\/","title":{"rendered":"Stick to baseball, 4\/1\/23."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Since the last roundup, I\u2019ve written three new posts for subscribers to the Athletic \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/4355807\/2023\/03\/30\/mlb-season-projections-2023-keith-law\/\">my annual predictions post<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/4367417\/2023\/03\/31\/cactus-league-scouting-dodgers-cubs\/\">my first dispatch from spring training<\/a> (mostly Cactus League), my <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/4327769\/2023\/03\/21\/mlb-players-watch-keith-law-2023\/\">annual breakout player picks<\/a>, and a draft blog post on <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/4355384\/2023\/03\/28\/law-scouting-mlb-draft-wake-forest-miami\/\">three potential first-rounders from Wake Forest and Miami<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over at Paste, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pastemagazine.com\/games\/dont-lose-your-head-playing-the-surprisingly-hard-board-game-ipaint-the-rosesi\">I reviewed the cooperative game Paint the Roses<\/a>, which has simple rules but poses a difficult deductive challenge for players, working best with three or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I appeared on the streaming Scripps News Network to talk about <a href=\"https:\/\/scrippsnews.com\/stories\/why-are-mlb-salaries-rising\/\">why major-league salaries keep rising while minor leaguers\u2019 haven\u2019t<\/a>, although this was recorded and aired before the recent CBA announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My podcast will return now that my spring training travel is over, with David Grann lined up as my next guest. I did send out a new edition of <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyletter.com\/keithlaw\">my free email newsletter<\/a> about two weeks ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now, the links\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Longreads first: <em>The Chronicle of Higher Education<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chronicle.com\/article\/the-divider\">looks at Stanford Prof. Jo Boaler<\/a>, whose arguments and research are driving changes to high school math curricula in California and beyond \u2026 but who has a history of playing fast and loose in her own work and with interpretations of others\u2019 research as well. If her name is familiar, it might be for the time she implied she was calling the cops on Dr. Jelani Nelson after he criticized her in a tweet that pointed out that she charges schools up to $5000 <em>per hour<\/em> in consulting fees.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics honored three scientists for their work on quantum entanglement. <em>Scientific American <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/the-little-known-origin-story-behind-the-2022-nobel-prize-in-physics\/\">looks at the work of Chien-Shiung Wu<\/a>, a Chinese-born American scientist whose 1949 experiment on entanglement paved the way for the three men who won the award this year. The Nobel Committee did not mention her contributions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>With Twitter gradually losing steam, the <em>New York Times<\/em> compiled a ranking of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2023\/02\/10\/opinion\/twitter-all-time-tweets.html\">the 25 most important tweets in the site\u2019s history<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>TechCrunch took a more sober look at how the microblogging site is <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2023\/03\/28\/twitter-is-dying\/\">dying a slow death<\/a>. Elon Musk is killing the site\u2019s classic verification feature because he doesn\u2019t understand the value it conferred not on the verified users, but on the site itself.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Simon Hattenstone\u2019s mother sent hundreds of abusive tweets about the McCanns, the British family whose daughter Madeleine disappeared during their Portuguese vacation, taking her own life when she was outed as the troll behind those tweets by Sky News. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/society\/2023\/mar\/18\/my-mother-troll-of-madeleine-mccann-parents\">Hattenstone remembers his mother and how little he really knew about her<\/a> in a very thoughtful column in the <em>Guardian<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Vanity Fair says Ron DeSantis plans to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/news\/2023\/03\/desantis-antivax-florida-trump\">run for President on an anti-vaccine platform<\/a>. I imagine that\u2019ll also blend with a lot of railing against \u201cwokeness\u201d (see below), but will this stuff play outside of the states that the Republican candidate will win anyway? Or will it be <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/6264942\/political-battle-over-pandemic-memory\/\">about pretending the pandemic is over\/never happened<\/a>? Meanwhile, DeSantis\u2019s book tour <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/ron-desantis-book-tour-looks-like-amateur-hour\">has been a fiasco so far<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2023\/03\/20\/uvalde-shooting-police-ar-15\/\">Uvalde police were afraid of the Robb Elementary shooter because he had an AR-15<\/a>, the very gun the NRA is working so hard to keep legal and accessible across the country.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Raquel Evita Saraswati became a major figure in Philadelphia\u2019s advocacy community, especially for LGBTQ+ rights, as a queer, Muslim woman of color. Her colleagues at the American Friends Service Committee revealed last month that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/news\/raquel-evita-saraswati-ethnicity-lgbtq-racial-identity-philadelphia-community-harm-20230320.html\">she\u2019s not a person of color at all<\/a>, assuming various ethnic identities to keep up the fiction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Anti-gay activist and attorney Jared Woodfill, who was also previously the chair of the Harris County, Texas, Republican Party, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2023\/03\/27\/houston-jared-woodfill-gop-paul-pressler-southern-baptist\/\">maintained ties for over 15 years with a man he knew had sexually abused a child<\/a>. Woodfill remains a major figure in Texas politics despite his lengthy personal, professional, and financial ties to Paul Pressler, his former law partner who has been accused by several people of sexual abuse and statutory rape over the last forty-five years.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Billy Ball\u2019s six-year-old son died from a horrible accident that caused cerebral swelling that killed him. Vaccine deniers mocked and attacked Ball online, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/archive\/2023\/03\/covid-vaccine-misinformation-social-media-harassment\/673537\/\">claiming the COVID-19 vaccine was the cause and Ball was culpable<\/a>. Twitter, Facebook, etc. did little or nothing about the harassment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2023\/03\/texas-abortion-law-doctors-nurses-care-supreme-court.html\">Texas\u2019s abortion ban is leading to a shortage of doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel<\/a>. Why would you work there when there\u2019s plenty of demand in states that let you practice medicine?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8212;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A girl in California gave her goat to the Shasta County Fair, then wanted it back because she found out they were going to kill and eat it. When her family refused to hand it over, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2023-03-30\/goat-slaughter-shasta-county-fair\">the police came and seized the animal<\/a>. Fair organizers said they intended to teach kids a lesson. I hope they learn something themselves.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A <em>Washington Post<\/em>-Kaiser Family Foundation poll of trans Americans found the majority were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/dc-md-va\/2023\/03\/23\/transgender-adults-transitioning-poll\/\">more satisfied in their lives after transitioning<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In Wyoming, Republicans\u2019 attempts to ban abortion in just about every form and case <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/wyoming-gop-abortion-ban-obamacare\/\">ran afoul of Republicans\u2019 attempts to circumvent the Affordable Care Act<\/a>. Heh.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Austin police arrested a 71-year-old deaf woman at the airport after she missed her flight, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.austinchronicle.com\/news\/2023-03-24\/austin-jailer-breaks-elderly-deaf-womans-arm-after-misunderstanding-at-airport\/\">a jailer twisted her arm enough to break it while handcuffing her<\/a>. The city charged her with criminal trespass, even though she had a ticket and was trying to change it to a different flight.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/iowastartingline.com\/2023\/03\/22\/reynolds-signs-anti-lgbtq-bills-after-saying-she-doesnt-like-doing-it\/\">Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R ) signed multiple anti-LGBTQ+ bills<\/a>, including one banning gender-affirming care for trans kids, and then said she \u201cdidn\u2019t like\u201d doing it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In neighboring South Dakota, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/m7bjvq\/south-dakota-forced-detransitioning\">some trans kids are being forced to detransition<\/a> by that state\u2019s anti-trans law. Who exactly is this helping?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Missouri\u2019s Attorney General is ready to spend a bunch of taxpayer money attacking trans kids, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stltoday.com\/lifestyles\/health-med-fit\/health\/world-s-leading-transgender-health-experts-attack-regulations-planned-by-missouri-ag\/article_7f20a565-9bab-562a-97be-b6565de6c5d9.html?utm_source=pocket_saves\">medical experts are saying his ideas are extremely harmful<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>And in Uganda, which is just following the lead of various red states, there\u2019s a new law that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/03\/21\/africa\/uganda-lgbtq-law-passes-intl\/index.html\">makes it a crime to be LGBTQ+ at all<\/a>. Its proponents invoked the same language as Republicans here \u2013 they want to \u201cprotect traditional family values\u201d and uphold the Church\u2019s teachings.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When I was a kid, the Republicans used buzzwords like \u201csocialism\u201d to try to scare voters into supporting them, painting Democrats like Mike Dukakis as \u201ccard-carrying\u201d liberals. That buzzword <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/archive\/2023\/03\/wokeness-socialism-liberal-threat-public-discourse\/673430\/\">has now been replaced by \u201cwokeness,\u201d<\/a> and the thing the two terms have in common is that people who use them can never define them.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>President Biden issued his first veto, striking down <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/2023\/3\/20\/23643243\/joe-biden-veto-esg-republicans-woke-capitalism\">a Republican resolution that sought to block retirement fund managers from considering environmental, social, and corporate governance issues<\/a>, although this was all performative and is part of that whole \u201cwokeness\u201d thing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A student at Eastern Florida State College said a lecture on civil rights in a U.S. history class made him uncomfortable, so <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wesh.com\/article\/civil-rights-class-canceled-florida\/43403119\">the professor cancelled the class<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/oberlinreview.org\/29690\/opinions\/opinions_commentary\/new-ohio-senate-bill-restricts-curriculum-diversity-in-higher-education-institutions\/\">Ohio Republicans are trying to pass a law<\/a> mirroring the Florida law that limits what can be discussed in public education, including banning discussions of so-called \u201ccontroversial beliefs\u201d like systemic racism and climate change.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Undercover agents (!) went to a drag show in Orlando in December and found nothing \u201clewd\u201d or indecent, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/politics-government\/state-politics\/article273247175.html\">Florida is going after the venue\u2019s liquor license anyway<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The President of West Texas A&amp;M University cancelled a student-run drag show, claiming it demeaned women and comparing drag to blackface. The students <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefire.org\/news\/lawsuit-fire-sues-texas-university-president-illegally-blocking-charity-drag-show\">are suing on First Amendment grounds<\/a>, while they\u2019ve also rescheduled the event off-campus, so they might win twice.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Spotify puffed out its chest a year with the announcement of a $100 million \u201ccreator equity fund\u201d that was supposed to boost voices from diverse backgrounds. One year on, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2023-03-22\/spotify-has-spent-less-than-10-of-its-100-million-diversity-fund\">they\u2019ve spent less than 10% of it<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-65027557\">Infections with the fungus <em>Candida auris<\/em> are spreading at an \u201calarming\u201d rate<\/a> throughout the United States. It affects people who already have weakened or compromised immune systems, and the current wave of infections is largely resistant to anti-fungals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>With so much evidence of journalistic malfeasance at Fox News \u2013 and this was written before the recent summary judgment in the Dominion lawsuit \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.niemanlab.org\/2023\/03\/why-journalism-schools-wont-quit-fox-news\/\">why won\u2019t journalism schools ostracize the network from campuses<\/a>? Stop inviting their people to speak. Limit their ability to recruit students through official channels. Anything to acknowledge that this isn\u2019t journalism.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Board game news: Let\u2019s Go to Japan, the new game from the designer of Santa Monica and Cat Lady, is probably going <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/alderac\/lets-go-to-japan-from-aeg\">to clear half a million in funding on Kickstarter<\/a>. The concept is pretty cool \u2013 Wood had saved for years for a trip to Japan, where he\u2019d wanted to go since he was a kid, only to have his plans cancelled by COVID-19. So he made this game about it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backerkit.com\/c\/rose-gauntlet-entertainment\/wild-gardens\">medium-heavy strategy game Wild Gardens<\/a> is more than 200% funded on Backerkit with 18 days to go.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since the last roundup, I\u2019ve written three new posts for subscribers to the Athletic \u2013 my annual predictions post, my first dispatch from spring training (mostly Cactus League), my annual breakout player picks, and a draft blog post on three potential first-rounders from Wake Forest and Miami. Over at Paste, I reviewed the cooperative game [&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":[1083,1054,959,128,160,1004,1112,190,961,1105,1211,776,1197,907,1013,870,477,1239],"class_list":["post-9861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-board-game-news","tag-education","tag-first-amendment","tag-florida","tag-health","tag-iowa","tag-lgbt-rights","tag-links","tag-longreads","tag-missouri","tag-ohio","tag-physics","tag-police","tag-social-media","tag-south-dakota","tag-stick-to-baseball","tag-texas","tag-trans-rights","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9861","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=9861"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9862,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9861\/revisions\/9862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}