Ripped from the Headlines: April 2020: This Week In Culture: April 5–11, 2020

Major League Baseball is working on a plan for the upcoming season that involves having all 30 teams playing in empty Phoenix-area stadiums. The players and staff would stay in hotels, and strict isolation policies would be in effect. A lot of details remain to be worked out, including whether players would be willing to be separated from their families for the duration of the season. Health officials say that it could be workable, but reliable tests would need to be available for it to succeed.

Like so many other sporting events — meaning pretty much all of them — the 2020 Transcontinental bike race has been postponed. It's not particularly well-known, so it might be the most grueling race you've never heard of. Racers have to carry all their supplies, and can choose their own route along the 3,895km (2420 mile) course from Bulgaria to France. This profile of last year's winner, Austrian Fiona Kolbinger, gives a good idea of what endurance means.

Many chefs are posting recipes and videos about home cooking with limited ingredients. One of the breakout trends of quarantine cooking has been sourdough baking, because yeast has been hard to find and people have the time to grow a starter and use it to make bread, pancakes, and all the other carbs a body needs to survive weeks at home. Sourdough relies on wild yeast and bacteria, present everywhere, to turn a mixture of flour and water into a healthy, bubbling culinary multi-tool.

Toilet paper has become a source of much news lately, as people hoard it along with other supplies and groceries. It's an easy subject to joke about, but it reveals something about how people respond to disasters and what they consider to be necessities. Paper companies are now delivering the larger rolls used in institutional restrooms to supermarkets, where employees are tagging them like produce. Despite its comical use here, flush has a number of meanings that are worth exploring.

Quibi, A streaming video service featuring short-format content, launched this week. The company is clearly trying to capitalize on the popularity of videos on YouTube, Twitch, Vimeo, and more, but those platforms are all free. Will people pay $5–$8 a month (with or without ads) for more of the same, even if many of Quibi's shows feature celebrities? Gravitas is a Latin word, from the same root as gravity.

The remake of Final Fantasy VII is getting good reviews for doing justice to the original while updating the graphics and gameplay. The story has also been expanded, with lots more detail, and its central theme — a heroic individual versus a heartless corporation that's destroying the planet — resonates with many new fans. Gripe comes from the same Germanic root as grip.

This week marked the 30th anniversary of the premiere of Twin Peaks. Director David Lynch's bizarre murder mystery was a surprise hit and changed the course of television forever, despite only running for two seasons. Showtime released a sequel, Twin Peaks: The Return five years ago, which was also written and directed by Lynch. Shows like Lost, The OA, and True Detective wouldn't exist if Twin Peaks hadn't come before them.

As companies scramble to manufacture essential supplies to combat COVID-19, Apple has begun shipping plastic face shields to hospitals around the country. The company says it plans to ship a million a week until they're no longer needed. Face shields, masks, and gloves are part of the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) that helps keep doctors, nurses, and other health care workers safe from infection. Pivot is a French word for a hinge or a spindle.

John Prine, one of America's greatest and most influential songwriters, died of COVID-19 at the age of 73. Though he was not a superstar, and his records never sold particularly well, he was many musicians' favorite artist. He won a lifetime achievement Grammy in December. Poignant is a French word meaning "sharp," "pointed," or "stinging." Over time this meaning became figurative, as in something that moves you to tears.

All those old electronics in your house might be the key to a more sustainable future. As recycling technology improves, more and more of the precious metals and other materials used to make computers and smartphones can be reclaimed and used to make next-generation products. Metals especially can be reused over and over with no loss of quality. Tantalus is a character from Greek mythology who was tortured by being surrounded with water and food that he could never reach.