Here are a few links of late that I thought were worth a read.

Table for one: how eating alone is radically changing our diets

As someone who currently lives alone and is a bit introverted, I do tend to eat alone often. In fact I tend to exhibit many of the qualities of solo-eaters that are mentioned in this article, such as eating in front of the TV. Another thing about eating solo is that your inhibitions come out more, particularly if you are inclined to eat unhealthy, junk food. Unfortunately all this seems to go hand-in-hand with a cultural lifestyle shift away from group-centric activities such as eating in.

9 Reasons You Should Host a Dinner Party This Weekend

Kind of relating to the previous link, I am not a natural entertainer, oftentimes going to other people’s events rather than planning my own. I would love to start hosting people more often, but I share many of the qualms and fears that are commonly expressed in this article. Brett McKay outlines great reasons for hosting a dinner party, and stresses that a dinner party is, first and foremost, an opportunately for social gathering moreso than a dinner. Dinner parties are becoming a bit of a lost cultural activity, especially as millenials are increasingly hesitant to host their own, and he would love to see a resurgance.

Is the .300 hitter a thing of the past?

This lengthy article on ESPN explores one of the aspects in what makes a good player that is going by the wayside as the game is evolving. As pitchers throw with increasing velocity each year, they have gained an edge over even the best batters. The .300 batting average, often a benchmark on what makes a contact hitter a great hitter, is getting increasingly harder to obtain, especially as a career average (which may potentially be an ultra-rare feat). Legendary hitter Albert Pujols is used as an example.. he was very much a .300+ hitter during his tenure with the St. Louis Cardinals. However, as pitching has gotten harder to hit, his time with the Los Angeles Angels has seen his career average slowly dip to where he will most likely retire with a sub-.300 career average. Players and fans of sabermetrics are now using different benchmarks and dfferent metrics now to define what makes a “good” or “great” hitter. While veterans, such as Pujols, are too ingrained in their habits to improve against the modern pitching game, teams are employing new technologies and approaches for newer, younger players to help them counter the higher-velocity pitching game.