NFL Playoff Probability

The Eagles play the Dallas Cowboys at 4:30 this afternoon. Both teams have 8-3 records.

Since 2002 when the NFL expanded to 32 teams, six of the 144 playoff contestants reached the post season with but eight wins. As there have been  47 teams that finished the year 8-8 or 8-7-1 — that would be you Green Bay — the Birds would have about a 13 percent chance of making the playoffs if they don’t win another game.

If they just win another game that increases their chances to 42 percent as 16 of the 38 teams that wound up with nine regular season wins went to the playoffs in the last 11 years.

If they win 10 they have a 84 percent chance of making it  since 37 of 44 such teams did since the expansion.

It they win 11 it goes up to just under 97 percent chance. Only the 2008 New England Patriots, of the thirty 11-win teams failed to make the playoffs.

Every team with 12, 13, 14 or 15 wins made the playoffs as did obviously the regular-season undefeated 2007 New England Patriots.

The 2010 Seattle Seahawks made the post season with a 7-9 record. One could argue that that means there is a 2 percent chance of a seven-win team making it — there have been 39 seven-game winners since 2002– but as Seattle was the only  team in the league’s 93-year-history to reach the post-season with a losing record, we will suggest it is much less.

The NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1978. Five years later, it expanded from 28 to 30 teams then to 31 in 1999 before reaching its present status.

It began having a 12 team playoff in 1990.

NFL Playoff Probability

NFL Playoff Probability

Happy Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving 2014

The poem below, Landing Of The Pilgrim Fathers, was written by Felicia Hemans, an Englishwoman who lived from 1793 to 1835. Happy Thanksgiving 2014. 

Landing Of The Pilgrim Fathers

The breaking waves dashed high
On a stern and rock-bound coast,
And the woods against a stormy sky
Their giant branches tossed;

And the heavy night hung dark,
The hills and waters o’er,
When a band of exiles moored their bark
On the wild New England shore.

Not as the conqueror comes,
They, the true-hearted came;
Not with the roll of the stirring drums,
And the trumpet that sings of fame;

Not as the flying come,
In silence and in fear;
They shook the depths of the desert gloom
With their hymns of lofty cheer.

Amidst the storm they sang,
And the stars heard, and the sea;
And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang
To the anthem of the free.

The ocean eagle soared
From his nest by the white wave’s foam;
And the rocking pines of the forest roared–
This was their welcome home.

There were men with hoary hair
Amidst the pilgrim band:
Why had they come to wither there,
Away from their childhood’s land?

There was woman’s fearless eye,
Lit by her deep love’s truth;
There was manhood’s brow, serenely high,
And the fiery heart of youth.

What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?
They sought a faith’s pure shrine!

Ay, call it holy ground,
The soil where first they trod;
They have left unstained what there they found —
Freedom to worship God.

Happy Thanksgiving 2014

Small Business Saturday Is Nov. 29

Saturday, Nov. 29, is Small Business Saturday, an initiative by the U.S. Small Business Administration that encourages consumers to shop at local, small businesses during the Christmas retail season, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).

Keeping spending local encourages local economic development.

Cox said that the Pennsylvania House Republican Caucus continues to focus on ways to help small businesses by reducing regulatory burdens; eliminating the inheritance tax for small, family-owned establishments; and providing tax credits for small business start-ups.

For information on Small Business Saturday, click here.

Small Business Saturday Is Nov. 29
Small Business Saturday Is Nov. 29

Top Dem Rips Obamacare

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York,  the third-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership, just declared the “Affordable” Care Act —  that he twisted so many arms to get passed  — to be a big mistake.

He said it in a speech, yesterday, Nov. 25, at the National Press Club reports TheHill.com.

Schumer says the Ds  “blew the opportunity the American people gave them” in the 2008 elections,  a Democrat landslide.

“Americans were crying out for an end to the recession, for better wages and more jobs; not for changes in their healthcare,” he said.

Hey Chuck, when Republican leadership wants to turn the ship in a stupid direction members of the body have a reputation for seeing the iceberg ahead and starting a mutiny. Ask Mitch McConnell. What you did in 2009 and 2010 was meekly go along with a disaster. That you imply that you thought so at the time makes you look a whole lot worse.

You should write a book. Call it Profiles in Cravenness.

You note that 85 percent of all Americans get their healthcare from either the government, through Medicare or Medicaid, or through an employer. How is that any different that company housing in a company town? How is that any different than a company store? You think employers/government should be responsible for the food choices of 85 percent of the population? We suspect you do. Your crony-captialists puppet masters certainly do.

You want effective health care reform? End all employer health-care mandates. Actually go further: End all incentives for employers to provide health care for employees. Let workers treat health care just as they do food, clothing, shelter and transportation.

For those that fall through the cracks create a clinic-based system and bring back public free-service facilities like the old Philadelphia General Hospital.

You would end up with an efficient, just health care system in which the practitioners are fairly compensated — hence being professions  that attract quality people — and puts the crony capitalist insurance companies at a disadvantage.

And the poor would get better treatment than they would under Obamacare or the previous standard of free emergency room service.

And Chuck, regarding “better wages and more jobs”, when are you going to end your War on Energy?

Top Dem Rips Obamacare

Top Dem Rips Obamacare

William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 11-25-14

William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 11-25-14

The loudest sound ever reported on Earth happened on Aug. 27, 1883 when the idland of Krakatoa erupted. The noise was heard four hours later on the island of Rodriques, 2,968 miles away where the natives reported hearing the roars of heavy guns.

Terry Beatley Describes Pro Life Journey

Terry Beatley was a home-schooling stay-at-home mom when, while studying about the abolition of slavery with her children, she became an advocate for the unborn, says Father Frank Pavone of PriestsForLife.org.

“America overcame slavery only to dehumanize another category of people – preborn babies,” said Terry, who will join Janet Morana six o’clock this evening, Nov. 25   on Radio Maria’s “Gospel of Life” where she will discuss the journey that led her to found the Hosea Initiative, a grass-roots project dedicated to educating and empowering women with the truth about abortion.

Janet and Terry will also discuss a mutual acquaintance, Dr. Bernard Nathanson, an architect of the abortion movement who later in life realized the truth about the brutal nature of the procedure and the harm it caused women. Dr. Nathanson spent the remainder of his life working to spread the truth about what “a woman’s right to choose” really means.

Listeners are invited to call in during the show to ask a question or make a comment on the air. The toll free number to call is 866-333-6279. Those who would prefer to ask a question by email can write to info@gospeloflife.com before air time.

For a list of Radio Maria stations or to tune in to “Gospel of Life” on the Internet, go to http://radiomaria.us/the-gospel-of-life/.  Tablet and smart phone users also can download a free Radio Maria app so they can listen to the show wherever they go.

The show will be rebroadcast at 2 a.m. Thursday and midnight  on Sunday. All the shows are archived at priestsforlife.org/radiomaria.

Terry Beatley Describes Pro Life Journey

Terry Beatley Describes Pro Life Journey

3 Billion Internet Users In 2015

eMarketer.com reports that the number of internet users will surpass 3 billion in 2015. As the world’s population is expected to reach 7.2 billion next year this would mean that two out of every five people are online.

It is believed that by the end of this year Brazil will supplant Japan as the world’s four-largest internet user population while Mexico will pass Germany as the eighth largest next year.

India, which is the second-largest English speaking county, is expected to pass the United States as having the second largest internet population in 2016.

China is the largest and expected to stay such.

3 Billion Internet Users In 2015

3 Billion Internet Users In 2015

Hitler Painting Bought By Rich Mideasterner

A watercolor purportedly by Adolph Hitler was sold at an  auction in Nuremberg, Germany on Nov. 22 for 130,000 euros. This equals $161,000.

The panting is entitled “Standesamt und Altes Rathaus Muenchen” or “Civil Registry Office and Old Town Hall of Munich” and was done in 1914.

The sellers were two unidentified German sisters in their 70s, and included the  original handwritten bill of sale.  Amazing how it was kept for all this years. It’s like the original buyer knew the guy would become famous.

It should be noted that this causes suspicion for some.

The latest buyer was identified as a private person from the Middle East. May he be the subject of a con.

Here is what he bought.

Hitler Painting Bought By Rich Mideasterner

Not bad but no Churchill.

Hitler Painting Bought By Rich Mideasterner