Archive for 2024

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Baby Names 2023

May

10

2024

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.

2023 Improved Baby Name List

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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Third Tree

May

1

2024

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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Made in His Image

Apr

24

2024

Many years ago, thanks to a book by Watchman Nee, I came to the understanding of what the phrase “made in His image” in Genesis means.

I will give the disclaimer that could be applied to a lot of theological topics: that my understanding or interpretation of it is by no means the right or only one. But I do think it is the best one, or at least the one that makes the most sense to me.

When the Bible says that God made man in His own image, there are a lot of different explanations out there. Just for fun, I looked up what the internet had to say, and to me they were either too deep or too shallow. The shallow answers just glossed over the concept and said something like “it means we represent God”. And the deep answers talked about a lot of things but didn’t give a definitive answer.

That’s why I’ve gravitated toward the Watchman Nee school of thought on this topic – because it’s a concrete answer and it makes sense.

God is a Trinity, and what He said is “make man in Our image”. Not images, but image. And likeness. So it has to be representative of the multiple persons of God.

What are those? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And what attributes do we give to those parts of the Trinity?

I’ll answer that by referring to another verse, where we are instructed to love God with “all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Based on that, and some other verses, we see that the Trinity can be thought of as the mind, the body, and the soul. More or less correlating with the jobs of the three parts of the Trinity.

So humans reflect God’s image by having a triune nature.

And I would also argue that’s what makes people different from other animals – they have mind and body, but they are not made in God’s image so they do not have the soul.

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 1:27

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Not Wish

Apr

17

2024

It seems that using the name of Wish on anything will from now indicate low quality.

At first there was wish.com, and it has become synonymous with cheap things. For example, when people wanted to mock the new gateway sign to Detroit along I-94, they wondered if the city bought it on Wish.

But then last week my son wanted to watch a movie and we saw that the Wish movie was on Disney+ so we decided to watch “the new Disney movie”.

It was the wish.com version of a Disney movie.

The plot and characters were boring, there was no princess, the songs were extremely forgettable, etc.

Spoiler Alert
And the main premise of the movie is a re-hashing of the theologically-incorrect assertions of Carl Sagan that we’re all connected to each other through the stars.

Although I suppose I wouldn’t recommend Disney movies in general for theology.
End Spoiler Alert

Long story short: don’t bother watching the Wish movie. So many other better options.

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living person.

Genesis 2:7

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Movie Plot Quiz

Apr

10

2024

I’m sure there are many varieties of movie plots you could do this with, but I recently watched one of these movies for the first time so I just personally made the connection.

Here is the movie plot:

An idealist, assisted by a ragtag group of misfits, takes on a German officer who is leading his troops to harness the power of a super weapon in order to turn the world war in his favor.

Please choose which movie the plot describes:
A. Wonder Woman (2017)
B. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
C. [Indiana Jones and the] Raiders of the Lost Ark (1984)

And if you’re ever tasked with making a movie and need a plot, consider this one as a generally successful plot.

There were more than forty who formed this plot.

Acts 23:13

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Mind the Bananas

Apr

3

2024

I had some spare sheet metal, so I thought I’d make some driveway decorations.

craft banana made out of sheet metal

In theory, you could make these out of cardboard or plastic sheeting or whatever.

I made a set of 3, because that’s how many Mario Kart gives you at a time. Here is what they look like in progress – one finished, one mostly painted, and one not painted.

set of 3 craft bananas made out of sheet metal

Please ignore the ugly welds.

The goal was to make them “life-size” if you were to have Mario Kart items in real life. They could be a little larger, but I went with this size because the 10-inch width of each strip was what a bunch of my sections of sheet metal were.

Here is the end result:

set of craft bananas next to a car

I have not tried it, but I doubt they would make you spin out like they do in the game. At best they would scratch the paint or scuff the tire.

In case you do want to try this at home, here is how I made them.

instructions for making a cart-sized banana

So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the ground.

Genesis 4:3

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Check In Absentia

Mar

27

2024

What is the point of checking in online before you get to the airport? The point of checking in, in general, is to confirm you are there. It shouldn’t be possible to check in, in absentia.

Maybe if they’d have picked a different term for it, it would make more sense to me. Use RSVP or something.

The companies that are getting it right are the grocery stores, when you order for pickup. When they send us the notice that the order is ready, we can click a button to let them know we are on our way. Then, once we are there, we can click a button to check in and let them know we are physically there.

We tried once to check-in as we were getting close to the store. But it actually declined us, because they noticed the pickup spots were empty. They must have had some cameras.

And most of the stores nowadays make you indicate which parking spot you are in. You can’t check in without being there, because you don’t know which spots are going to be open.

Anyway, I dislike the airlines use the term “check-in” for “let us know you’re still planning on flying with us soon”. Maybe RSVP isn’t a good term either, because it really is just “print your boarding pass now” or if you’re going with Southwest it’s “is your trigger finger faster than the rest of the people on this flight”.

For even though I am absent in body, I am nevertheless with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your orderly manner and the stability of your faith in Christ.

Colossians 2:5

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