The old coaches will tell you to ignore the measurements and the scores from the Draft Combine, just look at the guy play. But sometimes there are details you should take note of. Like the 6-7 guy having a seven-foot wingspan. Or getting the highest overall score at the Draft Combine. EVER.

Similar in some ways to the 007, the SKX031 is smaller and lighter. It gives up 100 meters to the 007, but I rarely dive below 100 meters in any case, and I much prefer the 031’s dial and bezel. And to my eyes its restrained aesthetic is more gentlemanly, without effete decoration, inviting comparison with the $10,000 Rolex Submariner:

Found at a library book sale.

Still, pundits figured, Steph Curry is an MVP-level talent, and Draymond Green is pretty good. They’ve got a good coach and a bunch of promising young players to put around the stars. How bad could it be?

Oh my goodness.

That’s how it rolls: if the characters are poor, it’s “social realism.” If their lives are described and their hardships revealed, it’s “merely real.” And if the writer of these books has not experienced every ounce of it himself, “he did not exactly live it.”

That long downtrend has been accompanied by a long uptrend in what might be called neoliberal influence, loosely, the sense that central government authority should defer to markets where possible. This may take the form of near-Libertarianism (as with Thatcher and Reagan) or just pragmatic system-patching, a la Obama.

This podcast by Extra Klein explores the topic, imperfectly (as he notes at the top), but very worthwhile nonetheless.

John Oliver comments, quite substantively, on the complex relationship between the NBA, China, Hong Kong, and Houston Rockets’ General Manager Daryl Morey.

Last night the Stanford Theater offered a double bill of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, James Whale’s twin masterpieces. I had not seen them together in a theater since I was sixteen, and I’m so glad I went. Here are some observations…

And let me tell you: the only thing that happens in those movies is that John Wick kills people. There’s no break. There’s no, like, John Wick goes on a date with a love interest. He just kills people the entire move. So that’s it, I’ve spoiled it for you.

Poole, cartoonish and underrated, turns out to have a three-point shot, a variety of bank shots, an effective floater, and a heart of stone, cold murder.

James Earl Carter, aged 95, working on a Habitat for Humanity home.

Just hours after suffering injuries from a fall in his home Sunday morning, Carter traveled to Nashville to kick off a week of volunteer work. - CNN

With the passing of Ginger Baker, here are three glimpses of him along the way.

I found a raft of studies that showed how technological inventors increased their creative impact by accumulating experience in different domains, compared to peers who drilled more deeply into one; they actually benefited by proactively sacrificing a modicum of depth for breadth as their careers progressed. There was a nearly identical finding in a study of artistic creators.

If you disagree with someone — if you find what they think appalling — is there any value in talking to them?

Did Seattle ever have a chance?

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I am tiptoeing into the late Charles Causley, the least modern of modern poets. He strikes me as the anti-Wallace Stevens, his language plain instead of elaborate and his metaphysics traditional rather than modern. He is similar to Stevens, however, in that it often takes a while (if ever) to fully figure out exactly what is going on.

The series is credited with reinvigorating interest in baking throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, with shops in the UK reporting sharp rises in sales of baking ingredients and accessories. Many of its participants, including winners, having gone on to start a career based on bakery, while the BAFTA award-winning programme has spawned a number of specials and spin-off shows…

Life in Overtime (Owatta hito) follows a Japanese banker who has retired and must work out how to live the rest of his life. Hiroshi Tachi won Best Actor at the Toronto Film Festival for his performance in the lead role.