The Perfect Slice

The fresh mozzarella slice with spinach from Joe’s Pizza

RNA Tech Is Changing the World

First vaccine to fully immunize against malaria builds on pandemic-driven RNA tech - The Academic Times

Consistently ranked as one of the leading causes of death around the world, malaria doesn’t have an effective vaccine yet. But researchers have invented a promising new blueprint for one — with properties akin to the novel RNA-based vaccine for COVID-19.

This is unreal news, and the science around RNA vaccines is incredible. Reading this made me wonder though, how long ago would we have had a malaria vaccine if it was killing people in Western Europe and North America in big numbers every year?

Sage Advice From Your Local Coffee Shop

An Americano with just a little foam on top from Hugh Jackman’s own Laughing Man Coffee

Facebook vs. Democracy

Sheryl Sandberg and Top Facebook Execs Silenced an Enemy of Turkey to Prevent a Hit to the Company’s Business

Turkey was demanding the social media giant block Facebook posts from the People’s Protection Units, a mostly Kurdish militia group the Turkish government had targeted. Should Facebook ignore the request, as it has done elsewhere, and risk losing access to tens of millions of users in Turkey? Or should it silence the group, known as the YPG, even if doing so added to the perception that the company too often bends to the wishes of authoritarian governments?

It wasn’t a particularly close call for the company’s leadership, newly disclosed emails show.

No company or entity is a bigger friend to despots than Facebook.

2021 NHL Predictions

The strange sports year continues. The NHL is back, and this time with new divisions and a new playoff setup. Four divisions with the top 4 of each division moving into the playoffs. Then each division has their own little tournament with each winner advancing to the final 4. The 4 left will get seeded based on regular season and eventually we get a cup winner! So who will raise Lord Stanley’s Cup?

Regular Season

Eastern Division

1. Washington
2. Philadelphia
3. Boston
4. New York Rangers

North Division

1. Toronto
2. Calgary
3. Vancouver
4. Winnipeg

Central Division

1. Tampa Bay
2. Nashville
3. Carolina
4. Florida

Western Division

1. Colorado
2. Vegas
3. St. Louis
4. Minnesota

Final Four

1. Tampa Bay
2. Toronto
3. Vegas
4. Philadelphia

Stanley Cup Finals

Las Vegas Over Tampa Bay

NBA 2020-2021 Predictions

It’s the time of year that everyone waits for, where I tell tell you who will win the NBA championship.

Regular Season

Eastern Conference

1. Philadelphia
2. Milwaukee
3. Brooklyn
4. Miami
5. Boston
6. Toronto
7. Washington
8. Indiana
9. Atlanta
10. Orlando

Western Conference

1. Los Angeles Lakers
2. Denver
3. Los Angeles Clippers
4. Dallas
5. Utah
6. Portland
7. Houston
8. Golden State
9. Memphis
10. Phoenix

Post Season

Eastern Conference Final - Milwaukee Over Philadelphia

Western Conference Final - Lakers Over Clippers

Finals Lakers Over Milwaukee

The Misinformation Campaign

Hundreds of ‘pink slime’ local news outlets are distributing algorithmic stories and conservative talking points

An increasingly popular tactic challenges conventional wisdom on the spread of electoral disinformation: the creation of partisan outlets masquerading as local news organizations. An investigation by the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School has discovered at least 450 websites in a network of local and business news organizations, each distributing thousands of algorithmically generated articles and a smaller number of reported stories. Of the 450 sites we discovered, at least 189 were set up as local news networks across ten states within the last twelve months by an organization called Metric Media.

Sometimes it’s hard to imagine how people vote a certain way or just come up with the ideas they do. It’s time we all spend more time understanding that many people are just living in a faux reality, and that reality is much bigger than many can fathom.

Dan Le Batard on the NBA and Black Lives Matter

Dan Le Batard: How the NBA morphed from tape delay to prime time in the struggle for Black equality

It must feel unusually powerless for the powerful — silly and meaningless, even — to wear the words “How many more” or “Listen to us” on the back of your jersey while another Black man takes seven bullets to his own back. Police brutality isn’t worse than it has been; it is just televised more often. The system isn’t actually broken; it works as intended and a little too well (police forces didn’t even exist in the South until they were created to prevent slave revolt and chase down runaways). Black men are killed and incarcerated at a disproportionate rate in America, which is why Clippers coach Doc Rivers gives voice to the heartbreak when he wonders why the country Black people love can’t just love them back. What the hell is controversial about requesting equality?

There are certain sports columnists that just get it. So many including Dan have moved over to radio and tv and rarely pick up the pen anymore. When they do however you know it is must read.

Seen the Lights Go Down on Broadway

A Personality to Match the Music

Little Richard, Flamboyant Wild Man of Rock ’n’ Roll, Dies at 87

But Little Richard, delving deeply into the wellsprings of gospel music and the blues, pounding the piano furiously and screaming as if for his very life, raised the energy level several notches and created something not quite like any music that had been heard before — something new, thrilling and more than a little dangerous. As the rock historian Richie Unterberger put it, “He was crucial in upping the voltage from high-powered R&B into the similar, yet different, guise of rock ’n’ roll.”

RIP Little Richard