QUARANTINE BLOG # 81

June 19, 2020

To follow up the piece yesterday about The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin and Dr. Donald Mallard on NCIS:  In Season 2 Episode 13's “The Meat Puzzle,” NCIS Special Agent Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander) asks Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), “What did Ducky look like when he was younger?” and Gibbs replies, “Illya Kuryakin.”

👉  In one of the very early Quarantine Blogs I wrote about a series of novels that I enjoy – the Commissario Guido Brunetti mysteries by Donna Leon.  I have decided to go back and read them in order, since the first time through I just read them as I could find a copy.  The first Brunetti story is entitled Death at La Fenice about a famous opera conductor who was murdered in Venice’s most famous opera house (one Bonnie and I chanced upon last fall).

Side Bar your Honor: I purchased a used copy, the description of which said all the right things, and left out one atrocity committed on the book.  The former owner, when he or she finished at a particular point, instead of putting in a bookmark, simply dog-eared the page.  Unforgivable.

But back to the matter at hand.  Chapter 19 begins with a great look into a human being in the morning:

“Early the next morning, Brunetti padded into the kitchen well before Paola [his wife] was awake and, not fully conscious of his actions, started the coffee.  He wandered back to the bathroom, splashed water on his face, and toweled it dry, avoiding the eyes of the man in the mirror.  Before coffee, he didn’t trust anyone.”

And with that, I pause in my typing and reach for my second cup of Green Mountain Breakfast Blend.

👉  On this day in 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War was over and slavery in the United States was abolished.  The day is now known as “Juneteenth,” a mix of June and 19th.  President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was issued more than two years earlier on January 1, 1863, but it was only enforceable in the North.  Forty-seven states today recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday.

👉  On this day in 1905, 450 people attended the opening day of the world’s first nickelodeon, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The storefront theater boasted 96 seats and charged each patron five cents.  Nickelodeons (named for a combination of the admission cost and the Greek word for “theater”) soon spread across the country.  Their usual offerings included live vaudeville acts as well as short films.

👉  Deaths resulting from a pandemic and soldiers killed in war are two very different types of loss.  But a consideration of both does help convey the sheer magnitude of the coronavirus and its devastating effect on U.S. lives.  Fortune reports the coronavirus has infected nearly 2.1 million Americans and claimed 116,567 lives.   The number of Americans killed by COVID-19 as of Tuesday is higher than the 116,516 killed during World War I – and that was war waged from 1914 to 1918.

👉  In case you missed the story, a group of friends went to a recently reopened Florida bar and contracted the coronavirus.  Differing reports give the numbers between 12 and 15, plus up to 7 employees at Lynch’s Irish Pub in Jacksonville Beach.  “It’s not ready.  We’re not ready,” one of the revelers, Kat Layton said.  “I do regret going out that night.  I’m the walking example of a person that was just fighting this thing like ‘Ah c’mon, it’s not that serious,’ and I got it.”

👉  Did you know that Chinese takeout boxes are more than just a container for that great food?  When we order Chinese food, most of us bring it home and dump it onto our own plates, or simply eat it straight out of the carton.  But Chinese takeout boxes are actually designed to be their own plates.  While the food is still in the container, carefully pull the sides apart and set it flat on the table.  I didn’t know that.

👉  Did you know that the horizontal lines on the ubiquitous red cups are not just for decoration?  Well, they have a purpose; they’re there to tell us how much of a particular beverage to put in the cup.  At the bottom, the first line measures one ounce, which is one shot of hard liquor.  The next line is five ounces, a perfect amount for a glass alone, while the last line denotes 12 ounces, which is the size of soft drink.  I didn’t know that.

👉  Did you know that quarters and dimes have rough edges, but pennies and nickels don’t.  On American coins today, this is merely a design feature, but historically, coins were stamped in different weights to reflect the coin’s true value.  To avoid people shaving the edges of the coins and melting them into new ones, ridges were put to make it easy to tell if the edges have been tampered with.  I knew that.

👉 Several news outlets are reporting that Major League Baseball and the players union are moving towards an agreement on a 60-game season starting July 19 with the players receiving their full-pro-rated salaries.  The two sides were expected to re-engage in serious discussions yesterday in hopes of reaching a formal deal today.   The players earlier  requested an 89-game season.  This is the first time the owners have agree to pay full prorated salaries, a stance the union never wavered during negotiations.  In return, the players would consent to the post-season expanded from 10 to 16 teams and agree not to file a grievance.

Extra: Yesterday the players offered 70 games, the owners said, “Not a chance!”

👉  Edward Kimball was a Sunday school teacher in the 1800s, an ordinary working man, an ordinary family man.  But he told Dwight L. Moody about Jesus and His love.  Dwight L. Moody became a Christian as a result of Kimball’s witness.  Moody went on to become a mighty, worldwide evangelist.  Through his ministry, Wilbur Chapman was changed.  Chapman went on to preach the Gospel and was used to reach Billy Sunday.  Billy Sunday became a powerful evangelist and was used to reach Mordecai Ham, and Mordecai Ham was the preacher God used to bring Billy Graham to Christ.  What a chain reaction!  And it all started with an ordinary person  named Edward Kimball.  There is just no telling what an “ordinary” Christian can do.

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