Some Blog Site

I found some promotional material for Cedarville University.

These VHS tapes are still wrapped in their original plastic. I’m sure they’re in good shape.

I have one from while it was still called Cedarville College and one from after the name change to Cedarville University.

I recognize some of these people from when I was there:

I also recognize that computer from the mid 1990s.

If you know anyone who might be interested in Cedarville but is stuck somewhere with only a VCR, let me know and I’ll see about having these tapes shipped to him.

Subtitle: in which I improve the government’s records

Allow me to introduce to you the 2014 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 2014 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 was just Mother’s Day, so the SSA released the name rankings for 2014. Coming out of nowhere, Jackson is the most popular boy’s name in the US. The reigning champion for the last 8 years, Aiden, has been defeated. No controversy for the girls – it’s Sophia again.

Some Stats

• There was a lot of change at the top for the boys. Not only did the top name change, but 2 names left the top 5 and were replaced with different names.
• The top 9 names for the girls are the same as 2013, it’s just Emma and Olivia swapped spots
• Noah is once again the highest-ranked boy’s name that has no spelling variations.
• Girl names still have more spelling variations than boy names (291/1000 vs. 207/1000 alternates)
• The boys still have the name with the highest number of alternate spellings (Aiden with 9 vs. Madelyn/Liliana/Layla/Kaitlyn with 6 each)
• Sophia is still the runaway favorite for the girls, but the gap is closing. Sophia is on the decline

2014 Improved Baby Name List

Click on the link above and peruse to your heart’s content!

My wife does a fair bit of baking. So we have bags of flour sitting around. I happened to read the back of one of them, and this is what it says:

Did you see the fifth item on the list: “high gluten”? I was somewhat surprised to see that on there.

Maybe they didn’t get the memo that nobody is supposed to like gluten anymore.

Or maybe they figured that if they put gluten in the middle of a list of good things, people might skip over it.

Or maybe they figured that people who know how to make bread know that gluten helps it.

On a related note: any ideas where all the gluten goes that they take out of food to make it gluten-free?

• They’re both fruit.
• They’re both roundishly shaped.
• They both have seeds. But that’s kind of redundant given point #1.
• They both grow on trees.
• They’re a similar size.
• They both rot.
• They both make juice.
• They’re both delicious.

I don’t see why it’s a problem. Why can’t people do this?

Not that there’s much difference, but the intent was Modern Trials of Witches, not Trials of Modern Witches.

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In the last week, we had the announcement of the 2015 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.

2014 Summary

Last year, I predicted that

• Cleveland Browns = 4-12
• Detroit Lions = 10-6
• New York Giants = 5-11
• Pittsburgh Steelers = 10-6

How they actually did was

• Cleveland Browns = 7-9
• Detroit Lions = 11-5
• New York Giants = 6-10
• Pittsburgh Steelers = 11-5

Pretty good, except for the Browns.

Read the rest of this entry »

For some reason, I’ve been reading books when it’s not summer vacation. Rather than wait until my annual summer book review and write an interminably-long post, I decided to write about them now.

Here they are, approximately in the order that I read them.

• No Talking by Andrew Clements
  Story about kids in elementary school. I read this just because Alpha was. It was mildly amusing. Nothing objectionable that I remember.
• A Love that Multiplies by the Duggar Family
  This is not a sequel to 20 and Counting. It is about one-third rehash and two-thirds new stuff. The other book was more about their life stories and this one is more about how and why they do the things they do. Not necessarily for children to read. Most parts are fine, but some topics are geared more towards those familiar with, umm, childbirth-type topics.
• Boys Adrift by Leonard Sax
  I laughed, I cried, I worried.

  What is our transition event for manhood? What ritual must American boys complete in order to be considered a man? And I mean a good, positive cultural event. Killing his first antelope maybe?

  It’s a little reminiscent of the point of the movie Courageous.

  There are a lot of things working against males in the world today – that was the part that had me worried. Mainly the various chemicals. Don’t believe me – read the book.

  Not for kids, but I think parents – especially parents of young boys – should read this book. And his previous book Why Gender Matters. His religious and cultural views don’t always align with Christianity, but his conclusions are good.

• Good Pictures Bad Pictures by Kristen Jenson
  Preventative maintenance is recommended for a number of things – your car, your water heater, your furnace, etc. How about preventative maintenance for your child’s mind? Specifically your child and the internet. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, right? A few minutes here and there going through this book with your child and discussing expectations and preparing him to avoid bad things online will save him from bigger issues later in life.

  This book is for a parent to read to a child. Have it on hand and go over it with him before you hand him the keys to the internet.

• Your Legacy by James Dobson
  This reminded me a little of what Rob Rienow talks about. Interesting background into his family history. The stuff that’s not family history is stuff you probably already know but need to be reminded of anyway. It’s meant for parents, but if your upper elementary-aged child wanted to read it I wouldn’t see why he shouldn’t.
• The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi
  Good book. Interesting and imaginative world.

  This is the first book of a trilogy, but it stands on its own – the ending is satisfactory without any other books.

  I’d say 3rd or 4th grade on up. There is a bit of violence, but most of it is of the dissection-of-animals variety.

• A Hero for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi
  Second book of the series. It doesn’t stand on its own – the ending does not feel like an ending. There is one bad word – but it is not so bad that the FCC bans it.
• The Battle for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi
  Third book of the series. And the final book, as far as I can tell. A little more violent than the others, but nothing particularly gruesome unless your child is a vegetarian for humanitarian reasons.

  One of the characters does go into some vague musing about truth and it could possibly confuse young minds. Set those minds straight with the poem of the Blind Men and the Elephant. And evolution is mentioned in passing – more of a synonym of “change” than of a belief.

• Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
  Science fiction by a classic author not normally associated with stories of outer space. It was more interesting than I expected but, as it was written before people actually flew into space, it feels dated. I’d say high school on up.