One of the amusing clips from the Pixar movie Onward had the sight of unicorns rummaging through garbage cans. Sometimes when I see how woodland creatures are portrayed in movies, especially animated movies, where they are whatever the opposite of villainized is – made to look cute and cuddly and harmless – I want to invite the writers over here.
Earlier this week I almost tripped over a muskrat because he ran across the driveway right in front of me. I had groundhogs chewing through my extension cords (no, they were not plugged in at the time) and rabbits eating flowers I planted in my flower bed (begone with you Peter Cottontail). And if a car sits for several days without being driven then the squirrels store walnuts in the engine bay and mice chew throgh wires.
It was amusing though one time when I started down the driveway and the now-disturbed mouse tried to escape by running for the nearest light, which happened to be the cowl so he ended up on the bottom of my windshield and didn’t know where to go next since he couldn’t scale the glass.
I’m not complaining though, I just make sure to plant things like daffodils and marigolds that rabbits and deer don’t like. And garlic and hot pepper on things I don’t want groundhogs and squirrels to touch. I leave the muskrats alone – they’re fun to watch. Deer and Canada geese on the other hand – I actively chase them away. My family doesn’t like it when I chase them while we’re in the car and I’m driving though.
For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race.
James 3:7
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In the last week or so, we had the announcement of the 2025 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.
2024 Summary
Last year, I predicted that
- Denver Broncos = 5-12
- Detroit Lions = 13-4
- New York Jets = 6-11
How they actually did was
- Denver Broncos = 10-7
- Detroit Lions = 15-2
- New York Jets = 5-12
Not bad on the Lions and Jets. Broncos was a ways off though.
(more…)
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Subtitle: in which I improve the government’s records
Allow me to introduce to you the 2024 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 2024. 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 and Oliver repeated as the top 3 and with large gains, whereas Jackson is 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 11 names for the boys, names 4 and 5 switched spots, and then 6-11 have a bunch of shakeup except name 11 stayed in place, and Lucas and Luca switched spots.
- The top 9 names for the girls are the same as 2023, and in the same order for the first 5. Then 6-9 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 (248/1000 vs. 176/1000 alternates)
- Kayson once again took the prize for the most spelling variations for the boys at 9.
- The girls finally don’t have a tie for most spelling variations – Kehlani gets top honor with 6 ways to spell it.
Click on the link above and peruse to your heart’s content!
and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a mouthful of that red stuff there, for I am exhausted.” Therefore he was called Edom by name.
Genesis 25:30
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Since I’ve been tracking them, the baby names have been released by the Social Security Administration on the Friday before Mother’s Day.
It is the Friday before Mother’s Day and the names have not been released. Note that it appears the SSA does have the list and let People magazine see it. Why not just let the rest of the world see it too? I’m hoping it will go live this weekend and I can have the baby names updated early next week.
I did not have another blog post planned for this week, and now I’m out of days for this week, so I’m posting this to say why there’s no blog post this week.
Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.
Genesis 25:26
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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.
