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Like many industries around the world, board game companies in particular are reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. While that may sound counter-intuitive given all the extra time people are spending at home, the issues many companies have stem from the supply chain interruptions that have come as the virus shuts down industries across the globe.

Kotaku’s Luke Plunkett had a particularly thorough explanation of the issues on Sunday, but the fact that many paper and plastic components of games come from China has severely limited the ability of some games to be released at all, and others are running low on copies as people look for distractions while they practice good social distancing and stay home. Online streaming games, like Jackbox and or Roll20-aided RPG campaigns have excelled in these moments, but traditional tabletop games have also tried their best to help people stay busy while they stay home.

Last week, Cards Against Humanity announced it was releasing a free-to-print “Family Edition” of the popular fill-in-the-blank card game known for its questionable humor.

The original CAH started as a print-at-home game well before its ubiquitous cards were available at big box stores, so this is a throwback of sorts. But the “Family Edition” is a printable beta that the company promises it’s safe for children and adults and has been thoroughly play-tested with kids in mind.

We’ve been working on it for over a year in consultation with child development experts and psychologists. Our plan was to surprise everyone with this in the fall, but we know a lot of families need something to do right now.

So today we’re posting a public beta of Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition for free, so you can print it at home and play it right now with your bored family. We’ll figure out how to make money on it later.

Other companies have also moved to release print-at-home versions of their games in an effort to keep gamers interested and trying new things. Asmodee, which makes games like Ticket To Ride, Settlers of Catan and Splendor, announced Monday that it would release six print-and-play versions of its games online as well.

Dixit in particular is a great play-at-home storytelling game for all ages, and the other Asmodee titles are a good mix of family and more advanced board games if you need something to keep kids occupied as well. It’s a great idea, and one that can keep interest in an entertainment industry that’s likely to experience some difficult periods as the effects of COVID-19 continue to impact industries around the world.

Dr. Sarfaraz Munshi, urgent care lead at Queen’s Hospital in London, has shared breathing exercises to help people struggling with COVID-19.

Doctor at Queens Hospital in the UK advises on potential lifesaving corona virus breathing technique

www.youtube.com

“Once you have an active infection you need to be getting a good amount of air into the base of your lungs,” the doctor says. “I want you guys to start doing this if you have the infection right from the beginning. If you want to do it before you have an infection, good idea.”

Here’s his simple, three-step technique.

1. Take five deep breaths in, each time holding the breath for five seconds.

2. On the sixth deep breath, take it in and do a big cough (cover your mouth, of course).

3. Do two cycles of the above and the lay flat on your front (on a bed, ideally) taking slightly deeper “normal” breaths for the next 10 minutes.

“You’ve got to understand the majority of your lung is on your back not on your front,” he adds. “So by laying on your back your closing off more of the smaller airways and this is not good during the period of infection.”

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Andrew Zimmern’s program What’s Eating America was filmed last summer, when the current COVID-19 pandemic would have been impossible to predict. And yet the subjects of his six-part series could not possibly be more timely.

“I feel like the issues that we documented back then have only become more critical,” says Zimmern from a self-imposed self-quarantine in Minnesota. “Our first five episodes were board survey pieces on topics like immigration and our healthcare system. These are stories that have tentacles that run deep into our daily lives, especially at this time.”

The palatable blend of vital information and Zimmern’s charismatic personality plus willingness for introspection makes What’s Eating America important and engaging viewing in this day and age. As a long-time television personality, Zimmern understands better than most the importance of balance in media consumption.

“There is certainly a lot of hard news that I think people should be making themselves aware of,” he says. “But you can only take in so much before it becomes overwhelming. That is why last night I watch Top Chef All-Stars and Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Zimmern’s favorite way to spend a night indoors is the classic “dinner and a movie” combo, one that he perfected during his early days teaching cooking classes at Cooks of Crocus Hill in Saint Paul. That practice has since become a welcome salve for the constant stress of the day.

“Dinner and a movie is one of the best ways to bring other cultures into our homes,” the chef says.

We asked Zimmern to show us his version of the perfect night in, with a little horticulture on the side.

THE DISH

Creamy Lemon Pasta

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4 people

This is a recipe was inspired by the seaside town of Rivello in Italy. I am really proud of it. It is one of the most downloaded recipes at Food & Wine’s website and I know it is on my website as well. It comes up quick if you just Google “Andrew Zimmern lemon pasta.”

It’s bright, citrusy, creamy, and delicious. It is tried and true. -AZ

THE MOVIE

The Big Night (buy on Amazon or watch free on Tubi)

This is one of my favorite food movies. – AZ

Synopsis: Chef Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and businessman Secondo (Stanley Tucci) are immigrant brothers from Italy who open their dream restaurant, Paradise, in New Jersey. However, Primo’s authentic food is too unfamiliar for the local tastes, and the restaurant struggles. When famous Italian-American bandleader Louis Prima is scheduled to appear at Paradise, the two brothers put all of their efforts into the important meal, which will likely decide the very fate of their restaurant.

For more food movies check out “The Best Food Movies on Netflix Right Now.”

THE ACTIVITY

Grow Your Own Cherry Tomatoes (find seeds here)

I still have my grand grandmother’s Victory Garden pin for growing so much food during World War II. Let’s get people growing food again if they have the space, and lose the absolutely dependence on the grocery store. I hope this can be a silver lining of the shutdown.

I have had a lot of friends asking me what they should be growing. I say right away, “Don’t grow watermelons.” What I mean by that is don’t pick a challenging vegetable or fruit to grow, pick something that will have a high yield no matter your skillset.

Cherry tomatoes are constantly growing, you could get two or three crops off of them. Pick them off and add them to a nice side salad with your lemon pasta, you can feel an extra sense of accomplishment with the meal. – AZ

Check out full episodes of What’s Eating America on the MSNBC website. Check out Andrew Zimmern’s recent interview on the Great Adventures podcast here.

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Legendary Detroit Tiger and Hall of Famer Al Kaline died Monday in his Michigan home. He was 85 years old. “Mr. Tiger,” as he was affectionately dubbed, spent his entire 22-year playing career with the Tigers, helping the team win its third World Series championship in 1968 and bring some joy to the city after the devastating riots of 1967.

Signed to the majors the day after he graduated from high school, Kaline entered the league as a baby-faced 18-year-old in June 1953 and went on to have a Hall of Fame-worthy career. At 20 years old and 280 days, Kaline became the youngest player in history to win the American League batting title averaging .340 — one day younger than another Tigers legend, Ty Cobb, when he won in 1907 — in just his second full season. The right-fielder won 10 Golden Glove awards and was selected as an All-Star 18 times in his career, according to Baseball Reference. Kaline grew a reputation as a clutch player when he averaged .379 against St. Louis in the 1968 World Series, helping Detroit rally from a 3-1 deficit to win in seven games.

Kaline played 2,834 games for the Tigers — the most in the team’s history — and hit a franchise record 399 home runs over the course of his career (his 400th homer doesn’t count because it came during a game that was eventually rained out). He also holds the team record for most career walks (1,277) and sacrifice flies (104). Along with those team records, Kaline finished his career with 3,007 hits and a .297 batting average.

“I owe everything to baseball,” Kaline is quoted as saying on the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s website. “Without it, I’d probably be a bum.”

Following his legendary playing career, the beloved outfielder joined the Tigers broadcasting crew from 1976 to 2002 and also served as a special assistant to the general manager.

In 1980, “Mr. Tiger” was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Later that year, his No. 6 became the first number to be retired by the Tigers organization.

“If there is one accomplishment for which I am particularly proud, it is that I’ve always served baseball to the best of my ability,” Kaline said in his Hall of Fame induction speech. “Never have I ever deliberately done anything to discredit the game, the Tigers or my family. By far, being inducted into the Hall of Fame is the proudest moment of my life. You can be sure that I will make every effort to live up to the obligation associated with this honor.”

Despite Khabib Nurmagomedov’s insistence that he’d travel wherever the UFC told him to in order to keep his main event slot for UFC 249, the organization is officially moving on without him. UFC president Dana White announced on Monday, less than two weeks before the event, that Nurmagomedov will be replaced by Justin Gaethje in an interim lightweight title fight against Tony Ferguson.

According to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, the UFC is currently targeting a location on the west coast for the championship bout.

After the original location of Brooklyn was scrapped due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Nurmagomedov left the United States to travel to the UAE, where it was assumed the event would take place. He was eventually re-routed to Russia due to travel restrictions and acknowledged he is under quarantine in an Instagram post. Later, while White claimed “everyone knew” Nurmagomedov would not fight, the unbeaten champ pushed back and said he’s “100 percent” willing to fight if White gives him a location. Instead, the UFC is going with Gaethje, who is on a three-fight win streak after consecutive losses at the hands of former champion Eddie Alvarez and top contender Dustin Poirier.

While he was rumored to be the replacement competitor against Ferguson, Gaethje was apparently originally in talks to fight Conor McGregor later this summer. Regardless of what happens between Ferguson and Gaethje, the last-minute title bout does nothing but push McGregor even further down the pecking order, with the winner next in line for Nurmagomedov likely sometime after August.

Tiger King has proven itself top shelf pandemic distraction, its tale of zookeeper-turned-prisoner Joe Exotic a wild way to kill time while quarantining. It’s given viewers many leftfield things to obsess over, from the songs Joe didn’t actually write or even sing to the matter of Don Lewis, the missing husband of Joe’s nemesis Carole Baskin. The majority of episode 2 delves into theories, floated by Joe and others, that she may have played a role in her husband’s disappearance. Whether that’s true or not remains a great unknown.

But we may have an answer — or simply more unsolvable questions. As per Entertainment Weekly, a spin-off doc series, from Investigation Discovery, is in the works, which, despite being called Investigating the Strange World of Joe Exotic, will focus on what happened to Lewis. Here’s what ID’s said:

“Love her or hate her, Carole is now in the center ring of the big cat circus … Is she a selfless crusader and protector of animals, who found unimaginable strength despite the mysterious disappearance of her husband? Or are we witnessing Carole Baskin’s master plan finally take effect? Despite her claims of innocence, did she orchestrate the disappearance of Don Lewis to seize control of his fortune, consolidate power and lay waste to her foes? No one seems to be talking – except for one man – and that man is the center of ID’s upcoming investigative series.”

The show also promises to show us “the investigation you didn’t get to see, revealing the secrets only Joe knows and the exclusive footage that has never been shown.”

Since the show’s release on Netflix a couple weeks back, Baskin has denied any involvement in Lewis’ disappearance, and has condemned the show as “salacious and sensational.” But based on how much longer America suffers from Tiger King fever, she may have to continue protesting her innocence.

(Via EW)

Tonight, in the final With Spandex WWE Raw After WrestleMania (but not like usually) open discussion thread:

It took him 19 years, but Drew McIntyre is finally WWE Champion, having defeated Brock Lesnar to fulfill the original “prophecy” Mr. McMahon laid forth upon his arrival in WWE. With the title in his hands, McIntyre faces the grueling challenge of keeping it. Where does one go once they achieve their destiny? We’re about to find out.

Tune in to Monday Night Raw at 8/7 C on USA Network. (via WWE.com)

The Raw after WrestleMania with no fans to turn it into “bizarro land” and “get themselves over” seems even weirder than a two-night WrestleMania without fans, doesn’t it? Anyway, make sure you read all the Best and Worst of Mania columns before you watch Raw tonight. Here are handy links to part one, part two, and the Firefly Funhouse special where I write 4,000 words about an avant garde short film, but wrestling.

As always, +1 your favorite comments from tonight’s open thread and give them a thumbs up and we’ll include 10 of the best in tomorrow’s Best and Worst of Raw column. Make sure to flip your comments to “newest” in the drop down menu under “discussion,” and enjoy the show!