Friday February 7th 2025

[Man From Ironbark]

Starting this because it is Friday 5:34PM in my part of the globe.
Also because Dave wanted someone to do so. In order that he can test the notifications.
We've been having storms passing lately. like 40˚C and storms. A lot of lightning and lots of fires.
Here's one that passed within a kilometre and never dropped any rain here.
It went from this.
 


To this, in 15 minutes.







An hour later it had finally passed far enough away for the wind to settle down here.



and finally was all gone.

[Dave]

Dramatic changes over a short time.

Thanks for starting a Daily.

I got no notification of the new thread, so it looks to me like a system-wide snafu that could probably be most efficiently corrected by a system-wide fix.

Here's a shot of part of a bouquet I got for my wife after some surgery in late January.

   

See? Not all my photos are extremely dark.

[Dave]

About 30 minutes after MFI posted this Daily I did get a notification of the new thread.

[Rich]

Peter, interesting cloud formations and colors! I did get notification at 2:36 AM this morning Central Time.

Beautiful flowers Dave!

Here is a Koi Pond in Oklahoma City, OK.

[Dave]

Thanks Rich.

You can't go wrong with a koi pond photo, and yours is a good one.

[Man From Ironbark]

Don't have an ID for your flower, Dave.

A Koi pond wouldn't last a summers day here.
The herons would get the fish if they didn't broil first.

[Rich]

A Koi pond wouldn't last a summers day here.
The herons would get the fish if they didn't broil first.

Yikes!

[Man From Ironbark]

   
Much of Australia's inland is a bit like Death Valley.
The dark brown bits are all above 45˚C = 113˚F.
The lighter brown bits are all above 42˚C = 107.6F.

Which is why 90% of Australians prefer to live within fifty miles of the coastline.

[Dave]

MFI, those temps are literally hellish

Raindrops on some unexciting plant, taken during a walk in the rain on Friday...

   

Super Bowl - random thoughts. Feel free to ignore all the rest if American football isn't your thing.

This a fascinating matchup.

KK is going for a record 3rd straight Super Bowl win.

Philly could end their string of post-season losses to KC with a win.

It will probably be a close game (the last odds I saw favor KC by 1 point.) But if it will be Philkly that wins big. Philly that wins.

KC's defense (which is better than most people realize) will have it's hand full to limit Philly running back Saquon Barkley. And they will have to limit the success of Philly's "tush push/"

In their playoff run Philly has been great at getting turnovers with 19 take-aways and 0 turnovers. I think turnovers could be a key,

KC's QB Mahomes excels at reading the defense. and he is even better in post-season than regular season than the regular season.

KC won a lot of close (one score) games this year. Some would call it luck, but I think it;s more about their determination and execution.

Assuming it's a close game it may come down to the kickers, and KC has the clear advantage here.

For KC I think TE Travis Kelce will be a key. He'll probably be double covered, which may limit his receptions (but he'll probably have a few catches, and watch out for his YAC - Yards After Catch) will open things up for KC's other talented receivers. Receiver Xavier Worthy may have a great game.

Will Mahomes continue to perform his late-game magic? I think so.

As for coaching:
The Philly coaching staff has done a remarkable job,

But KC's Andy Reid is a master at devising game plans, using motion to reveal the opponent's defensive scheme, and coming up with unexpected offensive plays. The success of the Reid/Mahomes combo is amazing.

KC wins if: they hold Barkley to under 150 yards and only 2 TDs forces at least one turnover, and commits nones.

Philly wins if Barkley gets over 250 yards and over 2 YDs, and commits no turnovers.

The game should be so close that I hesitate to make a prediction, but here goes...

I think KC will win a very close game with a combination of forcing a late Philly turnover followed by the usual Mahomes late-game magic. While I wouldn't be surprised if Philly wins by 10 or more, I'll say KC wins by 4.

[Man From Ironbark]

Your well composed wet plant looks like wormwood?