Some Blog Site

Subtitle: in which I improve the government’s records

Allow me to introduce to you the 2011 SFS Baby Name List. Some of you may recall that I like to take the Social Security baby name list and reorganize it so that a name is counted only once even if it is spelled different ways. It is that time again, this time it’s the names from 2011.

For yet another year, Jacob is NOT the most popular boy’s name in the US – Aiden is. Rather, the name that is pronounced the same as Aiden is the most popular boy’s name in 2011.

Some Stats

• The top 4 names for the boys are the same as 2010 (the government got the top two names wrong).
• The top 3 names for the girls are the same as 2010 (the government got the top two names right).
• William went up in popularity, as I predicted last year.
• Same thing with Catherine/Katherine. More people spell it with a ‘K’, but the Duchess of Cambridge spells hers with a ‘C’. Both variations increased by about the same amount.
• William is the highest-ranked boy’s name that has no spelling variations.
• Girl names still have more spelling variations than boy names (319/1000 vs. 229/1000 alternates)
• The boys still have the name with the highest number of alternate spellings (Jayden/Aiden with 9 vs. Hailey/Carly with 8)
• The girls had more new variations added this year. For example: Braelyn/Braelynn, Samiya/Samiyah, and Sloan/Sloane for the girls. Also for example: Bentlee was new, as was Johan/Johann for the boys.

2011 Improved Baby Name List

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

No, the title is not a typo.

This week’s installment of my attempts at puns:

You will probably agree that Fum of these puns were a little weak.

I am disappointed with the editors at the marketing department of Colgate. Here is their current toothpaste. What is wrong with it?

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Round-up of random utterances that I heard lately. Enjoy!

Wife: Okay, who put socks in the fridge?
The funny part was that Beta came running to claim his socks, which he apparently wanted to be cold.

Gamma: When the poison ivy is gone, what time is it?
I: Umm…4 o’clock
Gamma: 5 o’clock!
Well, at least I was close. His questioning reminded me of those annoying Netflix commercials.

Gamma: I’m washing my hair like a cat.
Wife: What?! Stop licking your hands!
Gamma: But Nanoo said that’s what cats do…
Wife: Yes, but you’re not a cat.

Regarding the current series of Titans movies, the first one was Clash of the Titans:

Then came Wrath of the Titans:

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My brother is annoyed by reporters who interview people and use the phrase “Talk about …” instead of asking questions.

For example, if the Lions were to win the Super Bowl, the reporter would find Matthew Stafford and say to him, “talk about this win”.

In the past, reporters would conduct interviews with questions. The previous example would have been “What does this win mean to you?”

They mean approximately the same thing. They get approximately the same result.

After hearing yet another post-game interview, I thought about it for a few minutes. I wonder if the shift to “talk about” came because people were saying what they wanted to say regardless of the question.

Maybe reporters got tired of people ignoring the question and giving whatever spiel they had, so they stopped bothering to think up questions.

It seems to me that both sides need a refresher course on expectations: interviewers are to ask questions and interviewees are to answer the questions that are asked.

There are too many people already analyzing the 2012 NFL draft, so I won’t go into too many details. I just have 3 observations.

1. The NFL did a great job marketing the draft this year.
   I don’t remember caring much about the draft in prior years. In fact, most of the time I couldn’t tell you which weekend the draft was. But this year I knew.

   Maybe it was the switch to prime time. Maybe it was the breaking up of the draft over 3 days. Whatever it was, it worked. I paid attention.

   Or maybe it was the fact that the Red Wings were out of the playoffs. My sports focus did not have a particular target, so it settled on the NFL draft.

2. The Lions’ 2nd-round choice reveals careful planning.
   A lot of people are either criticizing the Detroit Lions’ 2nd-round pick of Ryan Broyles or they are simply scratching their heads at it.

   I have an explanation. Whether it is the actual reason the Lions went with him has yet to be determined.

   The Lions know one of their draft picks will get injured, so they are getting the injury out of the way.

   Think about the Lions’ draft picks over the last couple years:
   – Mikel Leshoure – missed his entire rookie season last year
   – Matthew Stafford – missed several games due to injury in his first two seasons

   With that kind of record, the Lions should assume that their draft picks will be injured at some point. Better to get the injury out of the way by drafting players who are currently injured. Maybe they’ll be ready to play at the start of the season, or maybe they’ll have to miss a few games. Either way, the Lions are ahead of the game.

3. The grades are generous.
   I read a review of the draft, and that review gave each team a letter grade on its draft performance. Most teams got As and Bs. Some got Cs, and only 2 got Ds (Seattle and Jacksonville).

   At first I thought “Wait a minute – the draft isn’t a zero-sum game. There are only so many good picks, so not every team can be above the curve.” But then I thought that every team can be above the curve, because each team has different needs.

   In the end, I suppose I agree with Coach Schwartz: “Is your draft grade a tiebreaker for the playoffs next year? When it is, let me know, and I’ll worry about what our draft grade is.”

The only problem now is waiting for football season to start.