Weekend Reads 8/22/15

Is 2015 The Year Baseball’s Projections Failed?

Although KC won 89 games and went to the World Series in 2014, a consensus average of betting over/unders and other statistical systems would have pegged the Royals for 76 wins this year, a number that will likely end up at least 15 games low. Any projection system tied to the Royals’ comparatively weak preseason forecast would have been similarly bearish on their future record.

No, There Won’t Be Two Moons in the Sky on Aug. 27. Or Ever. Ever Ever Ever. Ever.

A real note got spread around in 2003 saying that through a telescope at 75X, Mars would look as big as the Moon does by eye. That part is correct, but it got changed by someone to the current “Mars as big as the Moon” silliness, and now I think some goofball or goofballs spread it around every year, knowing people will continue to spread it without checking.

How a Letter Becomes a Scripture

I also mentioned an idea I had for a canon-making card-game (yes, inspired by Gen Con). It could have cards representing books which you and your community use. You need to make the case for their inclusion. Other players have different cards. You need to try to get as many of the texts represented by the cards in your own hand into the canon.

The Point of No Return: Climate Change Nightmares Are Already Here

Marine life is moving north, adapting in real time to the warming ocean. Great white sharks have been sighted breeding near Monterey Bay, California, the farthest north that's ever been known to occur. A blue marlin was caught last summer near Catalina Island — 1,000 miles north of its typical range. Across California, there have been sightings of non-native animals moving north, such as Mexican red crabs.

...This year, officials in California are bringing salmon downstream in convoys of trucks, because river levels are too low and the temperatures too warm for them to have a reasonable chance of surviving. One species, the winter-run Chinook salmon, is at a particularly increased risk of decline in the next few years, should the warm water persist offshore.