In the last week or so, we had the announcement of the 2024 NFL schedule. Now that we know who will play whom and when, we can start predicting wins and losses.
I keep my predictions over at Some Fun Site. View results of previous football seasons.
2023 Summary
Last year, I predicted that
- Los Angeles Chargers = 13-4
- Miami Dolphins = 8-9
- Tennessee Titans= 4-13
- Washington Commanders = 7-10
How they actually did was
- Los Angeles Chargers = 5-12
- Miami Dolphins = 11-6
- Tennessee Titans= 6-11
- Washington Commanders = 4-13
Those predictions were kind of all over the place.
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Here is a very poor resolution timelapse of a robin’s nest.
April 16:
April 16:
May 2:
May 8:
May 14:
For those who are keeping track, this is very similar to the post I wrote 9 years ago about a robin who made a nest over our front door.
And now I have a sample size of two for how long it takes robin eggs to hatch and the birds to grow up – still 2 weeks from hatching to flying away.
Meanwhile, the dove who made a nest in our gutter has been sitting on her eggs for this whole time, about 5 weeks now. I might have to break the news to her that her eggs are bad and will never hatch. The gutter was a bad choice, because every time it rained, the eggs were sitting in cold water, which I’m sure was the reason for their demise.
If you happen to come upon a bird’s nest along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs in it, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young;
Deuteronomy 22:6
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We have a variety of wildlife in our yard, mainly squirrels and chipmunks and a lot of birds. My favorite are the wild turkeys, then cranes and herons (can’t tell them apart), ducks, then cardinals and woodpeckers, then robins and others. Not so favorite are bluejays (I like their coloring but they are not friendly to the other birds) and Canada geese (messy and noisy and mean, no redeeming qualities).
I’ve noticed that birds have 3 main ways of walking. They either waddle or hop or strut. And by strut I mean they can’t walk without moving their head fore and aft.
Good examples of these categories of bird walking are these:
Waddle – duck
Strut – chicken
Hop – any of those little birds that hang around the food court at the amusement park
I pointed this out to my son, that birds have 3 ways of walking. And as we paid attention to birds walking for the next day or two, oddly enough we found one bird that seemed to walk like any other biped. Except he didn’t swing his arms when walking. But his gait was just one step in front of the other.
We didn’t figure out what kind of bird it was – it was a smallish bird, which I was expecting to hop everywhere, but it just walked. Since then, I looked up other birds, and a good example of a bird that walks normally is a flamingo.
I haven’t figured out what goes into making a bird need to walk one way versus the others. If a biology major needs a research topic, feel free to use this.
The strutting rooster or the male goat, And a king when his army is with him.
Proverbs 30:31
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Subtitle: in which I improve the government’s records
Allow me to introduce to you the 2023 SFS List of Baby Names that Combine Similar Pronunciations. That baby name list is the place to go in case you are wondering what are the most popular baby names in 2023 regardless of how they are spelled. The Social Security baby name list does not adjust the rankings based on alternate spellings (like Catherine/Katherine), but SFS does.
It is almost Mother’s Day, so the SSA released the name rankings for 2023. Last year’s champion, Liam has repeated as the most popular boy’s name in the US, for the second year, so the trend is official. Liam and Noah are still heading upwards, but Oliver and Jackson are on the decline.
No controversy for the girls – it’s Sophia again, and by a similar margin as last year.
Some Stats
- In the top 9 names for the boys, names 3 and 4 switched spots, and then 5-10 have a bunch of shakeup except names 6 and 9 stayed in place.
- The top 11 names for the girls are the same as 2022, and in the same order for the first 4. Then 5-11 get all mixed up.
- Again, Liam has the title of the highest-ranked boy’s name that has no spelling variations, at number 1.
- Again, Emma is the highest-ranked girl’s name that has no spelling variations, at number 4.
- Girl names still have more spelling variations than boy names (238/1000 vs. 167/1000 alternates)
- Kayson once again took the prize for the most spelling variations for the boys at 9.
- For the girls, there is a 7-way tie for most spelling variations. Madelyn, Layla, Kehlani, Charlie, Aria, Adeline, and Aaliyah all have 5 variations.
Click on the link above and peruse to your heart’s content!
Now the first came out red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau.
Genesis 25:25
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As we discussed last week, the phrase “made in His image” refers to our having a body, soul, and mind.
There are numerous example in the Bible how things apply to all three parts of body, soul, and mind. I won’t go into those here, but I’ll go into something that should apply but doesn’t.
First of all, a reminder that God has favorite numbers, like 3 and 7 and some others.
A number that is not a main number in the Bible is 2. It’s not an uncomon number in general, so it does appear in the Bible, but I wouldn’t classify it as significant.
Today’s topic is the trees in the garden of Eden. Everyone knows the “bad” tree – the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. There was also a “good” tree – the Tree of Life. And those were the two specific trees.
Why only two trees?
That bothered me at first, because there should be three trees. We have the Tree of Life – affecting the body. And we have the Tree of Knowledge – affecting the mind. Where is the tree affecting the soul?
What I think is going on is that the soul just is. The body can be improved – it grows, it changes, it withers. The mind can be improved – it grows, it changes, it withers. But this is how God shows us that the soul isn’t like that. I don’t have a good answer for what the soul can do, but I did think it was interesting that the soul was left out of the tree test.
Out of the ground the Lord God caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:9
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This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
