Topical -- And My Solutions To Thorny Problems -- Resolutions -- June 21, 2023

Locator: 44995SUG.    

Mid-year resolutions, reading:

• spend more time reading The New Yorker, rather than just the cartoons and the crossword puzzle;
• spend even more time reading The Atlantic (that's easy)
• re-subscribe to The New York Review of Books (done; that was easy)
• discontinue subscription to Science; more woke than I care for in a science magazine; not enough science.

Mid-year resolutions, blogging:

• less on oil, more on investing (easy)
• try to maintain same level of reporting on the Bakken (hard)

College debt forgiveness: link here.

• update here, nothing new.
• apply the law; money should not be an issue.
• if the "new" law passed by Congress gave Biden the authority, Biden wins;
• if the law passed by Congress was unconstitutional --- whoa, Nellie -- or Katie -- bar the doors!
• I have no dog in this fight. If SCOTUS says "okay," it opens the door to a lot of presidential mischief
• and that's fine, if you like presidential mischief.
  

MLB: games are too long; the game is dying.

• really, really smart people decided to speed up the game
• really, really smart people: a clock on the pitcher
• stupid
• every pitch becomes controversial; every fan carrying a stopwatch
• better solution
• regular season games: 
• seven innings
• "seventh-inning stretch" during fifth inning
  
• exception: classic contests (e.g., Mets vs Yankees, Yankees vs Boston): nine innings
• if the game is still too long: five innings
• the TKO-5-run rule: game called if any team goes ahead by five runs 
• regular season: no extra innings; winner is the team that scored last
• two-pitchers max
  
• post-season: nine innings
• three-pitchers max
  
• TKO-5-run rule remains in effect
  
• this is not rocket-science.

More baseball:

• infield shift banned as of 2023;
• great call;
• link here.

More baseball:

• physical size of bases (not home plate) has been increased;
• to encourage base running;
• great call;
  
• link here.

More baseball:

• now San Diego Padres, was Boston Red Sox shortstop
• Xander Bogaerts
• 11-year, $280 million contract signed this past winter.

Southern surge:

• haven't heard a thing about this "problem" in months.
• a busload or two to sanctuary cities is not a solution.