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I've been working as a substitute teacher when I've had the chance lately (it's an unpleasant job, but we need the money), and I've noticed something that the rest of you probably already know - people today are giving their kids some weird, freaky names.

That's probably what people said about the rising generation twenty, forty, and sixty years ago, but I'm going to stand by my accusation. I'll list eight of the strangest names, and see if you can determine the gender of any of them. (Yes, I purposely chose the most gender-neutral of the batch, but that doesn't excuse the rest of them.)

Cayman
Crayton
Deni
Kyrston
Macay
Tasmmy
Tayson
Tylan

Maybe it's just me, and you can make immediate sense of these names, but I found them all strange. Someday, I could have a president named "Tasmmy." Worse yet, that candidate could be opposed by one named "Kyrston." Yikes, America. Just yikes.

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The wife and I started watching Diamonds Are Forever (hint: so is the movie) around 6:00 tonight. Around 6:30, we saw flashing lights outside our window and saw that a police car was parked blocking off our street. Within 15 minutes or so, a second car had appeared, as well as a tow truck a block away. The second policeman started placing cones across our intersection. When the movie finally ended (seriously friends, don't bother watching this one), we looked out our front door to see the two police cars, the tow truck, the cones, a fire truck, and an ambulance. After about ten more minutes, they started jackhammering on our street.

You're not going to believe this, but I can hear helicopters, too. No idea about what's happening here, but if it's not a rescue mission or something, I'm going to be seriously disappointed.

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Not that most of you are nearly as into pro basketball as I am, but the NBA All-Star Weekend is going on right now, and one of the events is the Slam Dunk competition. A couple of guys were worried that the contest would lack the flair and style of years past, so they bought a five-foot rim, set it up outside the arena, and got passers-by to dunk the ball and try to show up the stars.

Even if you aren't a basketball fan, there's just something awesome about seeing a five-year old pulling off a 360 windmill dunk. Check it out.



TBJ AZ 03: The People's Dunk Contest from The Basketball Jones on Vimeo.

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Coming March 2.



(http://toc.mybb3.org)

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Slate Magazine is undertaking a project to find the person responsible for the "25 things" craze on Facebook. Someone had to have posted their list first, and they intend to find them. They're asking participants to tell them when they first saw a "25 things" note appear on Facebook.

I responded, but I'm not nearly as deeply connected in Facebook as I imagine some of you readers are, so I'm posting the link (yes, that was it, that blue underlined text there) so you can all help. The first time I saw a "25 things" note was January 14, but I imagine a few of you can go back further than that.

Feel free to share thoughts on the "25 things" craze here. I don't have any problems with it, really, but it seems frivolous to me, so I haven't bothered to make one. I rarely read the ones people send me, anyway. (ATTENTION THOSE WHO HAVE TAGGED ME IN THEIR "25 THINGS NOTES". YOU ARE STILL VALUED FRIENDS, EVEN IF I DON'T READ 25 RANDOM THINGS ABOUT YOU IN THEIR ENTIRETY.)

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In the midst of all of my worrying about unemployment, finances, and the future, I came across this passage yesterday:

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.

In short, relax. Do what you're supposed to do, and leave the rest up to Him. Peaceful words for troubling times, I feel.