QUARANTINE BLOG # 36

May 5, 2020

First of all, the family birthdays for the month of May continue (just getting a good start, actually).

Happy Birthday Rachel Marie!  

👉  The Google image today salutes Teacher appreciation week 2020, and I would like to add in all of those home-school teachers who stepped up during these difficult times and gave instruction to their own children.

👉 Fifty-nine years ago today, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was launched into space aboard Freedom 7, becoming the first American astronaut to travel into space. The suborbital flight, which lasted 15 minutes and reached a height of 116 miles into the atmosphere.

On April 12, 1961, the Soviet space program won the race when cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched into space, put in orbit around the planet, and safely returned to Earth. Alan Shepard was actually scheduled to launch March 24, 1961, but NASA’s and Wernher von Braun’s insistence on more testing cost America, and Shepherd, the claim to being first.

On February 5, 1971, Alan Shepard became the fifth astronaut to walk on the moon as part of the Apollo 14 lunar mission. He was promoted to rear admiral on August 25, 1971, the first astronaut to reach that rank. He died July 21, 1998.

👉 And on May 5, 2002, Spider-Man, staring Tobey Maguire was released, and quickly became the fastest movie ever to earn more than $100 million at the box office.  Interestingly, a teaser trailer for the movie had Spider-Man web-slinging between the Twin Towers.  After they were destroyed by Islamic terrorists on September 11, 2001, Columbia Pictures deleted that part of the film.

👉 As of this posting, 252,000 people have died worldwide and 69,680 people in the United States have died from the coronavirus.

👉 In a recent blog, I wrote about scams associated with the coronavirus.  Bonnie received a robo-text which told her she needed to respond so her stimulus check could be deposited.  I repeat, the people who perpetrate these scams should be put under the jail.

👉 There has been a lot of talk about things returning to normal, and about what a “new normal” might be.  If the changes after 9/11 are any indication, the world we knew in February, 2020 may never return.  After the Islamic terrorist attacks, we created a whole new normal.  The government took far reaching steps to bring security to the United States, and it affected everything – there was no way it could not.  There are many buildings we cannot enter without showing ID and walking through a metal detector.  We will never again board airplanes the way we did the morning of September 11, 2001.  We may be seeing a new version of normal marked by social distancing and the wearing of masks.  It is not a pretty normal, it is not an optimistic normal, but it may become normal.

👉 After that Debbie Downer paragraph (one of my offspring gave me that expression) how about this one for a positive thought?  Yesterday we celebrated “Star Wars Day.”  May the 4th.  As in May the 4th be with you – obviously from the oft repeated line in the saga, “May the Force be with you.”  I wish I had this video for yesterday’s blog. https://youtu.be/up3Y_yQIma8 Whether you are a “Star Wars” fan or not, give yourself over to a one minute, thirty-nine seconds smile.

👉 In an email I received from Carnival Cruise Lines yesterday, the company announced that all North American sailings are canceled through July 31.  Beginning on August 1, the company plans to resume cruises on 8 ships which sail from Galveston, Miami, and Port Canaveral.  No other North American sailings will begin before September 1.  The announcement said, “We are taking a measured approach, focusing our return to service on a select number of home ports where we have more significant operations that are easily accessible by car for the majority of our guests.”

Over the weekend 18 ships met in the Bahamas.  7,000 team members were transferred between ships to start their journey home.  Nine ships are sailing and other team members are waiting for flights to them home. Carnival continues to work on plans to get everyone home.

👉 I like the study of word and phrase origins.  We did “Cup of Joe” in QB 30.  How about this one: “turn a blind eye.”  It refers to a willful refusal to acknowledge a particular reality.  As the story goes, it actually dates back to the early 19th century and the career of British naval hero Horatio Nelson.  During 1801's Battle of Copenhagen, Nelson was ordered by semaphore – flag signals – to withdraw.  When told of the signal, the one-eyed Nelson supposedly brought the telescope up to his bad eye and said, “I really do not see the signal,” and won the victory.

👉  My thanks to Linda Birchall, pastor of St. Mark UMC for the link to an incredible anthem, “The Majesty and Glory of Your Name.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5eODnAg-YQ&feature=youtu.be It is based on Psalm 8 which asks, “What is man that thou art mindful of him?”  Usually, as I’ve written before, those words are ended with a question mark, but watching that video, seeing the beautiful photographs, and listening to the words of the psalm, I am even more convinced that it should end with an exclamation mark.  “What is man that thou art mindful of him!”  God loved humanity so much that He sent His only Son “that whosoever believes Him will not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

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