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Peter’s Pack of Pickled Pigskin Picks “15- Week 1
Well, fellow Wanderers. It’s time for another season of prognosticating the outcome of college football. Here you go with the first set of ten. Just a reminder of the rules:
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Predict the winner of the first 9 games, and the winner and final score of the last one. It is the tie breaker.
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Post your guesses on the blog before the first game, which this week is Thursday evening. So we’ll say before 5:00PM EDT (2:00PM Pacific)
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Anyone may participate. If you have relatives who are not a regular reader of this blog, you may post their guesses for them.
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Winner gets to pick the next week’s tie breaker game.
(The numbers refer to preseason rankings.)
Week 1
1 #2 Texas Christian @ Minnesota
2 #20 Wisconsin @ #3 Alabama
3 Lousville @ #6 Auburn
4 # 4 Baylor @ SMU
5 Louisiana-Monroe @ #9 Georgia
6 Virginia @ #13 UCLA
7 Texas @ #11 Notre Dame
8 Tennessee-Martin @ #17 Ole Miss
9 SE Missouri @ #24 Mizzou
10 Tie breaker– Texas San Antonio @ #22 Arizona (Winner and final score)
Prayer Requests 1-31-15
Anyone have something to share?
Psalm 46
¹God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
Prayer Requests 12-12-14
Today is Friday, so don’t forget to pray for Mumsee, Mike, and the young folks at the Nest.
Anyone else?
Psalm 5
¹Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation.
2 Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.
3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.
5 The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
7 But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.
8 Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.
9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.
10 Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.
11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
12 For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.
Prayer Requests 11-8-14
Anyone have a request or praise to share?
Psalm 126
¹When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.
3 The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.
4 Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south.
5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
Prayer Requests 10-31-14
It’s Friday, so please remember to pray for Mumsee, Mike, and the young folks at the Nest.
Anyone else have something to share?
Psalm 119:18-41
18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
19 I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.
20 My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.
21 Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.
22 Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.
23 Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.
24 Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.
25 My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.
26 I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.
27 Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
28 My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
29 Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.
30 I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.
31 I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O Lord, put me not to shame.
32 I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.
33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.
34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.
36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.
37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.
38 Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.
39 Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good.
40 Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.
41 Let thy mercies come also unto me, O Lord, even thy salvation, according to thy word.
Peter’s Pack of Pickled Pigskin Picks- Week 10
Ten games. Ten weeks into the season. But so far, no one has gotten all ten games correct. Several times someone got 9 of ten. Gotta love college football when it is difficult to be 100% accurate in predicting the outcome of ten games. So, without further ado, here are our ten choices. (Boise State doesn’t play this week, so Idaho is represented by the not-as-good Vandals.)
Get your guesses in by Saturday, Nov. 1 @ 11:30AM EDT.
1. Air Force @ Army – The battle for the Commander-in-Chief Trophy comes to West Point. Air Force can clinch it with a win, having beaten Navy already.
2. Purdue @ #17 Nebraska – B1G game? Not really.
3. #4 Auburn @ #7 Ole Miss – Big game? Yes, indeed.
4. Kentucky @ Mizzou – I suppose you could call this a border battle, even though the border is short (I am not even sure if there is anyway to get from MO to KY without going through IL or TN.)
5. #24 Duke @ Pittsburgh – The Demon Deacons are in the Top 25! (Yawn. They have a weak schedule.)
(EDITOR’S NOTE) (That’s Blue Devils Peter. The Demon Deacons are from Wake Forest. And don’t be hatin’)
6. Tennessee @ South Carolina – Chas might be pleased with the result of this one.
7. #14 Arizona @ #25 UCLA – Another test for the Wildcats. The PAC-12 South is on the line. 4 of 6 in the Top 25. 5 of 6 could claim the South title.
8. Arkansas State @ Idaho – How do these Sun Belt Conference teams pay their travel expenses?
9. Pillow Fight: Georgia State @ Appalachian State – The Sun Belt also has a lot of bad teams. These two are a combined 3-12. (And Idaho is 1-6.)
10. Tie Breaker (pick winner and score): #10 TCU @ #20 West Virginia – By Ricky’s request. A Big 12 showdown between #2 and #3 in the conference.
Disclaimer: There is no prize other than bragging rights and the opportunity to pick the next Tie Breaker game. Winner determined after all games are played.
News/Politics 10-2-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Remember the old days when they promised transparency and a “new” way of doing things? Good times…
From NationalReview “Even though Barack Obama rode into office in 2008 on a wave of media adulation, the Obama administration has exhibited a fiercely hostile attitude towards reporters. It has vigorously prosecuted low-level national-security leakers — while it ignores friendly leakers from the White House who puff up its image. This has led former Washington Post editor Leonard Downie to observe, “In the Obama administration’s Washington, government officials are increasingly afraid to talk to the press.” Last year, the Committee to Protect Journalists concluded that Obama “will surely pass President Richard Nixon as the worst president ever on issues of national security and press freedom.”
The White House’s contempt for the news-gathering process extends to the most petty incidents. On Monday, Michelle Obama came to Milwaukee to campaign for Democrat Mary Burke, who is challenging Governor Scott Walker. To the astonishment of reporter Meg Kissinger of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, aides to Obama and Burke told her she could not talk to the crowd at a Burke event in Milwaukee.”
“Reporters and photographers were cordoned off in a central area with chairs and tables. Several people in the crowd asked if they could have extra chairs reserved for the media — but reporters were initially forbidden from handing them over. Eventually, some of the Burke staff gave the extra chairs to attendees.”
President Obama himself has often demonstrated his thin skin when it comes to media coverage. In July, at a speech at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, he complained that the media is ignoring his economic successes: “Right now, there are more job openings in America than any time since 2007. That doesn’t always make headlines. It’s not sexy, so the news doesn’t report it, but it’s a big deal.” That’s only one of many complaints Obama has made about media coverage.”
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2. Not good, and not surprising.
From TheWashingtonTimes “Navy sailors harbor “widespread mistrust” in the admirals who command them, complaining of poor leadership and a disciplinary environment that tolerates absolutely no mistakes, says a survey of the fleet.
The disgruntlement runs deepest in the officer corps, where scores of commanders have been relieved of duty in recent years.
“Senior leadership should stop proactively highlighting the reliefs for cause of commanding officers, command master chiefs, and other senior enlisted advisors,” said the report “2014 Navy Retention Study.” “What was originally intended to demonstrate accountability to the public has, instead, resulted in a significant breach of trust with our sailors and resulting in an almost ‘reality TV’ mentality.”
The independent survey was released amid complaints by some aviators about excessive political correctness as the military seeks to stamp out sexual harassment and misconduct in an increasingly gender-integrated Navy.
“Most troubling is the perception sailors hold of senior leadership,” the report says under the heading “Widespread Distrust of Senior Leadership.”
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3. Given how they’ve lied about not spying on American citizens, and how police do illegal, warrantless searches of people’s phones at the drop of a hat, I have a hard time mustering much sympathy.
From Bloomberg “U.S. law enforcement officials are urging Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG) to give authorities access to smartphone data that the companies have decided to block, and are weighing whether to appeal to executives or seek congressional legislation.
The new privacy features, announced two weeks ago by the California-based companies, will stymie investigations into crimes ranging from drug dealing to terrorism, law enforcement officials said.
“This is a very bad idea,” said Cathy Lanier, chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, in an interview. Smartphone communication is “going to be the preferred method of the pedophile and the criminal. We are going to lose a lot of investigative opportunities.”
The dispute is the latest flare-up that pits the federal government against the nation’s leading technology companies since National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden disclosed last year the extent of U.S. snooping on phone and Internet communications — and how companies cooperated.
U.S. Justice Department and FBI officials are trying to understand how the new Apple and Google Android systems work and how the companies could change the encryption to make it accessible when court ordered. Their requests to the companies may include letters, personal appeals or congressional legislation, said a federal law official who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.”
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4. The debate about whether or not to raise the minimum wage continues. In some states folks are already feeling the pinch.
From TheDailySignal “As far as Rob Pluta is concerned, New Jersey lawmakers who say they want to help restaurant workers by raising the state’s minimum wage for tipped employees have it all wrong.
If Trenton wants to help these workers, says Pluta, who owns and operates Leonardo’s II, an Italian eatery in Lawrenceville, it needs to promote the state, not enact even more mandates.”
“Pluta wasn’t wild about the constitutional amendment New Jersey voters approved last year that raised the state’s overall minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 and linked annual increases to the Consumer Price Index.
But he’s even more concerned about legislation introduced by Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter, D-Paterson. Sumter’s bill, A857, which passed in the Assembly’s Labor Committee on a party-line vote last March, calls for an increase in the minimum wage for tipped workers. It would increase the federal minimum of $2.13 per hour to $3.39 by the end of this year and $5.93 by 2016.
For restaurant owners, that’s even worse than it sounds, Pluta says. Under current law, if employees don’t make $8.25 counting tips and base, the employer makes up the rest. Pluta says he’s never had to pay—his employees routinely make $15 to $20 per hour or more.”
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5. This could get really bad if they are this clueless with just one case.
From TheNYTimes “The man who has become the first Ebola patient to develop symptoms in the United States told officials at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital last Friday that he had just arrived from West Africa but was not admitted that day because that information was not passed along at the hospital, officials acknowledged Wednesday.
The man, Thomas E. Duncan, was sent home under the mistaken belief that he had only a mild fever, a hospital administrator said; the information that he had traveled from Liberia, one of the nations at the heart of the Ebola epidemic, was overlooked.
Mr. Duncan came back to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday and was admitted for treatment, but in those two days in between, his contacts with a number of people — including five schoolchildren and the medics who helped transport him to the hospital — potentially exposed them to Ebola, forcing officials to monitor and isolate them in their homes and to begin a thorough cleaning of the schools the students attended. Mr. Duncan is now in serious but stable condition.”
“Officials said Wednesday that they believed Mr. Duncan came into contact with 12 to 18 people when he was experiencing active symptoms and when the disease was contagious, and that the daily monitoring of those people had not yet shown them to be infected.”
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Our Daily Thread 8-26-14
Good Morning!
The picture below is from Cheryl. For some reason I can’t get it to upload into the header, so I’m posting it this way. It’s a good one. 🙂
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On this day in 55 B.C. Britain was invaded by Roman forces under Julius Caesar.
In 1842 the first fiscal year was established by Congress to start on July 1st.
In 1945 Japanese officials were given surrender instructions on the U.S. battleship Missouri at the end of World War II.
And in 1961 the International Hockey Hall of Fame opened in Toronto.
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Quote of the Day
“To place a man in a multi-stage rocket and project him into the controlling gravitational field of the moon where the passengers can make scientific observations, perhaps land alive, and then return to earth—all that constitutes a wild dream worthy of Jules Verne. I am bold enough to say that such a man-made voyage will never occur regardless of all future advances.” – 1957
Lee de Forest 🙂
That’s not the only quote he totally blew it on. Here’s another…. 🙂
“So I repeat that while theoretically and technically television may be feasible, yet commercially and financially, I consider it an impossibility; a development of which we need not waste little time in dreaming.” – 1926
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Today is Cliff Young’s birthday, so Caedmon’s Call covering Rich Mullins. 🙂
And on this day in 1964 this song was released in the US.
I have no idea what happened there at the end. Television was weird in the old days. 🙂
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Anyone have a QoD?
Here’s one… Do you have a favorite TV show?
Our Daily Thread 8-25-14
Good Morning!
Today’s header photo is from Peter.
Oh, and 2000!
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On this day in 1718 hundreds of colonists from France arrived in Louisiana.
In 1814 the U.S. Library of Congress was destroyed by British forces.
In 1875 Captain Matthew Webb swam from Dover, England, to Calais, France making him the first person to swim the English Channel. The feat took about 22 hours.
In 1920 the first airplane to fly from New York to Alaska arrived in Nome.
And in 1944 Paris, France, was liberated by Allied forces ending four years of German occupation.
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Quote of the Day
“Is that your final answer?”
Regis Philbin
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Today is Leonard Bernstein’s birthday. This will wake you up. 🙂
Today is also Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus’. AKA, the other Elvis. And since I like weird stuff, with Diana Krall, and Willie Nelson, singing a song Patsy Cline made famous that was written by Willie.
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