PicoBlog

With MLB’s many rule changes taking up all of the attention going into the 2023 season, it was easy for another structural tweak — the introduction of a more balanced schedule — to fly under the radar. That was understandable; adding a pitch clock, banning the shift and changing the size of the bases are pretty dramatic changes to a sport known for resisting that kind of thing. And the new rules are practically all working, to some extent or another, with a demonstrable impact on how the game is played.

This article is written by Matej Lancaric & Joseph Kim. Originally written onlancaric UA consultant blog! At face value, Scopely’s Monopoly GO mobile game seems to be the breakout success of 2023. The game, heading towards the end of 2023, was regularly a top 3-ranked mobile game by worldwide revenue. Since its launch in March of 2023, the game has amass… ncG1vNJzZmikkaOwor7InGWsrZKowaKvymeaqKVfpXyqv4ympqenoKS5unnGqGSrnZGhubp5z6umn6Gklq%2BtsZ6uq6aXnZqxqsHMdpymmZmhc6Kv06Kmp3Wjna6zsQ%3D%3D

NPR has been accused of being biased, a charge rebutted by two groups of people: 1) those within public radio who don’t want to hear it and 2) listeners to NPR who share the particular bias being alleged. This is an often overlapping coalition. But now, here comes the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to settle the question. But I’m worried that they might not be the fair arbiter we’ve been searching for.

The racial reckoning of the past several years has altered the way we think about and use language, often for better but occasionally for worse. And sometimes, as John explains in this episode, what we tend to believe is at odds with what is most likely true. ncG1vNJzZmikla22pLvNr5ilpJWue7TBwayrmpubY7CwuY6pZqKrXaOyqL7OZphmq5yqv2670WahrqukYq6vwMiqrJqslZk%3D

I’ve been in the news business long enough to spot a meaningless listicle that will be the talk of the town in a matter of days. Last week, one such list slid into my inbox that claimed Oklahoma City was America’s second-best city for BBQ. Second best? I run an Oklahoma BBQ blog, but even I’m skeptical of that claim, especially since the top 10 list omitted cities such as Kansas City, Memphis, or anywhere in Texas.

Jennifer Couture is a Florida woman who gained attention on TikTok following a viral video that showed her involved in an assault outside a local Dunkin Donuts. The video was posted by a TikTok user named Danesh Noshirvan, who specializes in “cancel culture” content. Noshirvan goes beyond public shaming and engages in a practice called “doxxing,” which is the act of publicly revealing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the Internet and without their consent to do so.

In the last few months, I’ve become slightly obsessed with American folklore. I’ve been telling myself it’s for a project I want to write - and maybe it is - but it’s also partly because I just enjoy reading about the subject regardless of any ulterior creative agenda. America is a relatively young country and so much of its folklore and myths - unlike the European variety - can be clearly traced to specific origin source points.

I often hear people arguing that ‘porn is shaping men’s expectations of what women like in bed’ - and usually this means rough stuff, like ejaculating on her face or calling people sluts or whatever. So I decided to check. What if we ask men to predict what they think women would like in bed, and then asked women what they would actually like, to see how far off men are in their guesses?

Few people forwarded me an article in Foreign Affairs and asked what I thought. The article was on Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries. I had mixed feelings. In my opinion, the authors based their argument on hypotheses and facts that might look plausible, but, in opinion, are not. I would not bother, but I see these arguments based on the same “fact base” over and over, and I am afraid that they might start to be taken for granted and recognized as a basic truth.