QUARANTINE BLOG # 123

July 31, 2020

A follow-up from QB 121: Kyle was not adopted.  We used to tell each other – more to aggravate Mom than anything – “Mama told me not to tell you, but you were adopted.”  And the response was, “Yes, but Mom and Dad chose me.  They were stuck with you!”  People have more fun than anybody.  Bros do for sure!

👉  Let’s take a look back at historical events from the month, picking and choosing.

July 1 – Canadian Independence Day

On this day in 1867 the autonomous Dominion of Canada was officially recognized by Great Britain with the passage of the British North America Act.  July 1 will later become known as Canada Day.

July 03 – Battle of Gettysburg ended

On this day in 1863, the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s last attempt at breaking the Union line ended in disastrous failure, bringing the most decisive battle of the American Civil War to an end.

July 4 – Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence

On this day in 1777, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed the independence of the United States of America from Great Britain and its king.

July 6 – Major League Baseball’s first All-Star Game was held

On this day in 1933, Major League Baseball’s first All-Star Game took place at Chicago’s Comiskey Park.  The event was designed to bolster the sport during the darkest years of the Great Depression.  It was originally billed as a one-time “Game of the Century.”

July 9 – Wimbledon tournament began

On this day in 1877, the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club began its first lawn tennis tournament.  Twenty-one amateurs showed up to compete in the Gentlemen’s Singles tournament, the only event at the first Wimbledon.

July 12 – Medal of Honor created

On this day in 1862,  President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a measure calling for the awarding of a U.S. Army Medal of Honor, “to noncommissioned officers and privates.”   In 1863, the Medal of Honor was made a permanent military decoration available to all members of the U.S. military, including commissioned officers.

July 17 – Disneyland opened

Disneyland, Walt Disney’s metropolis of nostalgia, fantasy and futurism, opened on this day in 1955.  The $17 million theme park was built on 160 acres of former orange groves in Anaheim, California.

July 18 – FDR nominated for unprecedented third term

On this day in 1940, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, America’s 32nd president, was nominated for an unprecedented third term. Roosevelt is the only U.S. president to serve more than two terms, dying before his fourth term could be completed.

July 25 – World’s first “test tube” baby born

On this day in 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the world’s first baby to be conceived via in vitro fertilization was born in Manchester, England, to parents Lesley and Peter Brown.  The healthy baby weighed in at five pounds, 12 ounces.

July 30 – President Johnson signed Medicare into law

On this day in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare, a health insurance program for elderly Americans, into law.

July 31 – Labor leader Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing

On this day in 1975, James Hoffa, one of the most influential labor leaders of the 20th century, was reported missing.  Though he is believed to have been a victim of the Mafia, conclusive evidence was never found and his fate remains a  mystery.

👉  From our “Unfinished Business Department,” a reader asked me why Charles Schulz was so irritated at the name Peanuts for his strip.  Schulz said it would be better if there were a character in the strip whose name was Peanuts, otherwise confusion would result.  A friend of his went to buy a paper the day Peanuts appeared and asked the vendor if he had a paper with Peanuts in it.  The vendor said, “No, and I don’t have one with Popcorn either.”  Schulz said that proved his point.

👉  Georgia Governor Brian Kemp withdrew his emergency request for a court to stop enforcement of Atlanta’s requirement that faces masks be worn in all public places.  In a statement, the governor’s office said that the motion was withdrawn, “to continue productive, good faith negotiations.”  Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said that she would continue to defy the governor’s orders, but hoped that the two sides could find a solution.

👉  Norwegian Cruise Line, Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises have extended their global sailing suspensions through October 31, going beyond the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s “no-sail” order, which is set to expire on September 30.  In an effort to deal with the coronavirus, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings launched the “Healthy Sail Panel” with Royal Caribbean Group, with the goal of looking at every facet of safety, from whether ultraviolet lights can effectively kill the virus to how to improve meal service.  There’s “not one silver bullet” when it comes to making a ship safer, said Frank Del Rio, CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. “This is layers on top of layers on top of layers.”

👉  Speaking of a “silver bullet” – a term referring to an action which provides an immediate solution to a problem – what is the origin of that phrase?  This figurative use derives from the use of actual silver bullets and the widespread folk belief that they were the only way of killing werewolves or other supernatural beings.

The most famous user of silver bullets was of course the Lone Ranger.  Silver bullets fitted well with the masked hero’s miraculous persona.  He typically arrived from nowhere, overcame evil and departed, leaving behind only a silver bullet and echoes of “who was that masked man?”


👉   Psalm 48:1-2 NKJV

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised
In the city of our God,
In His holy mountain.
Beautiful in elevation,
The joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,
The city of the great King.”

We need to be as familiar with the city of God – the place of God’s rule – as with the town in which we live, so that we can point out familiar landmarks to newcomers, and provide clear directions for any who ask about “the way, the truth, and the life.”

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QUARANTINE BLOG # 122

July 30, 2020

This first section was changed before posting because of the best headline I’ve seen from the TODAY Show in I don’t know when – maybe longer than that!  “Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune resume production with new safety measures.”

Jeopardy! will start filming its 38th season with five episodes a day, two days a week starting this week.  Wheel hopes to restart filming its 37th season in early August.  A Sony Pictures studio spokesperson said, “The productions have protocols in place in accordance with current government guidelines to protect contestants, staff, crew and talent from the spread of COVID-19.”

The sets will look different.  The big wheel on Wheel has been redesigned to allow for contestants to stand the proper social distance apart, while on Jeopardy! the podiums where the contestants stand have also been spread out.  Contestants will stand a safe distance from the hosts as well.

The answer is: New shows!

👉  And now as promised, comic strips and panels, with a devotional, as always,  as the close.

👉  © Leslie F. Brandt, Psalms Now
St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2003


The Lord is my constant companion.

There is no need that He cannot fulfill.
Whether His course for me points
to the mountaintops of glorious joy
or to the valleys of human suffering,
He is by my side.
He is ever present with me.

He is close beside me
when I tread the dark streets of danger,
and even when I flirt with death itself,

He will not leave me.
When the pain is severe,
He is near to comfort.

When the burden is heavy,
He is there to lean upon.

When depression darkens my soul,
He touches me with eternal joy.

When I feel empty and alone,
He fills the aching vacuum with His power.

My security is in His promise
to be near me always
and in the knowledge
that He will never let me go.

(Psalm 23 )

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QUARANTINE BLOG # 121

July 29, 2020

Two Sislers share a birthday today.

My brother, Kyle William Sisler, came to live with us four years after I was born.  The Bro was born in Garrett County Memorial Hospital, and I was born in a house on Seneca Avenue in Loch Lynn (Mom and Dad always did like him best).

People sometimes don’t believe us when we tell them that we never fought, but we never fought.  I did – occasionally – get him into trouble.  Like the time we came home late after curfew, and Dad said, “I knew I couldn’t depend on David, but Kyle, I thought I could count on you.”  Kyle looked at Dad and said, “But I can’t even drive!”  Not my fault!

Unless I am out of the country, I am betting that there hasn’t been a week gone by in the last 20 years, maybe longer, that Kyle and I haven’t talked, texted, emailed, or communicated via PowWow (an early online conversation site where we said, “Can you hear me now?” long before the guy in the Verizon commercials did).

He has been, and always shall be, my best friend.  Happy Birthday Bro!

Thomas David Sisler was also born on this day in 2014 to Michael and Ivy.

Thomas was ours for 9 days.   He was born on July 29, and died on August 7, held in the arms of his family, and received into the loving arms of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  We grieve, but not as those who have no hope.  Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we will see Thomas again, and we will know him, and he will know us.

“Your memory is my keepsake
   with which I’ll never part
God has you in His keeping,
   I have you in my heart.”

👉  The heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, and Lady Diana Spencer were married on July 29, 1981 at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.  Frequently called “the wedding of the century,” the glamorous ceremony was attended by 3,500 guests and watched on television by 750 million people.  The couple separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996 after fifteen years of marriage.

👉  After the Soviet space program’s launch of the world’s first artificial satellite – Sputnik 1 – on October 4, 1957, the attention of the United States turned toward its own small, struggling space efforts.  Congress, alarmed by the perceived threat to national security and technological leadership, urged immediate and swift action.  President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the legislation on this day in 1958 that created NASA.  Since its establishment, most U.S. space exploration efforts have been led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle.  NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System, and Commercial Crew vehicles.

👉  Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are doubling down on requirements that passengers wear masks on flights, adding teeth to the rules and working to close loopholes some passengers have exploited.

United announced that it was cracking down on non-compliant passengers who falsely claim that they can not wear a mask due to a medical condition.  Passengers with medical exemptions must now contact the airline before their flight, or speak with a customer service agent at the airport before boarding, to document the exemption.  “The most important thing any of us can do to slow the spread of the coronavirus is to simply wear a mask when we’re around other people,” United CEO Scott Kirby said.

Delta formalized a new policy to examine medical exemption claims.  The airline will no longer simply ask passengers to provide advance notice that they will claim such an exemption – early arrival to complete the process during check-in is required.  The airline has already banned more than 100 people for refusing to comply with the mask requirement.  “If you board the plane and you insist on not wearing your mask, we will insist you don’t fly Delta,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said.

👉  Major League Baseball postponed Miami Marlins games through August 2 because of a coronavirus outbreak.  Miami had completed a series in Philadelphia.  An outbreak spread throughout their clubhouse and brought the first count of total cases to 13.  Reports yesterday raised that number to 17.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said there are factors that would force MLB to alter plans: “A team losing a number of players that rendered it completely noncompetitive would be an issue that we would have to address and have to think about making a change.  Whether that was shutting down a part of the season, the whole season, that depends on the circumstances . . . You [could] get to a certain point league-wide where it does become a health threat, and we certainly would shut down at that point.”

👉  Peanuts had its origin in Li’l Folks, a weekly panel cartoon that appeared in Schulz’s hometown newspaper, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, from 1947 to 1950.  In 1950 Schulz submitted his Li’l Folks cartoons to United Features Syndicate (UFS), who responded with interest.  However, the name’s similarity to a strip called Little Folks was declared a copyright infringement, so Schulz was forced to accept a name change.  The production manager of UFS noted the popularity of the children’s program Howdy Doody.  The show featured an audience of children who were seated in the “Peanut Gallery,” and were referred to as “Peanuts.”  This inspired the title Peanuts, which remained a source of irritation to him throughout his life.

Schulz was asked if, in his final Peanuts strip, Charlie Brown would finally get to kick the football after so many decades of Lucy was holding it, only to pull it back at the last moment, causing him to fall on his back.  His response, “Oh, no.  Definitely not.  I couldn’t have Charlie Brown kick that football; that would be a terrible disservice to him after nearly half a century.”

Schulz died at his home on February 12, 2000, at the age of 77, of colon cancer.  The last original Peanuts strip was published the next day.  As part of his contract with the syndicate, Schulz requested that no other artist be allowed to draw Peanuts, and United Features followed his wishes.

Schulz was honored on May 27, 2000, by cartoonists of more than 100 comic strips, who paid homage to him and Peanuts by incorporating his characters into their strips that day.

Tomorrow, a whole blog of comic strips and panels.

👉  Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30 NRSV).

Jesus’ command rouses us from sleep and promises a day filled with possibilities.  He doesn’t tell us to go out into the world and conquer it.  He calls us into a yoked companionship with Himself.  If He asks us to do anything, He promises to do it with us.  We are not so much sent out as invited along.

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QUARANTINE BLOG # 120

July 28, 2020

Olivia de Havilland, the actress beloved to millions as the sainted Melanie Wilkes of “Gone With the Wind” died Sunday at her home in Paris. At 104, she the last surviving lead from GWTW.  Playing Melanie, de Havilland remembered the movie as “one of the happiest experiences I’ve ever had in my life.  It was doing something I wanted to do, playing a character I loved and liked.”

She was Errol Flynn’s co-star in a series of dramas, Westerns and period pieces, most memorably as Maid Marian in “The Adventures of Robin Hood.”  After seeing Kevin Costner star as “Robin Hood Prince of Thieves,” one movie goer remembered Errol Flynn as the real Robin Hood, not the newcomer.

De Havilland earned her first Academy Award in 1946 for her performance in “To Each His Own,” a melodrama about out-of-wedlock birth.  A second Oscar came three years later for “The Heiress,” in which she portrayed a plain young homebody (as plain as it was possible to make de Havilland).

👉  Regis Francis Xavier Philbin, known as “the hardest working man in show business,” died at his home Friday.  He was 88.  He got his first network TV exposure in 1967 as Joey Bishop’s sidekick on The Joey Bishop Show.  He was most widely known as the co-host of the New York City-based nationally syndicated talk show “Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee,” starting in 1988, which became “Live! with Regis and Kelly in 2001.”  Philbin debuted and hosted the US version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” “Million Dollar Password,” and the first season of “America’s Got Talent.”  He holds the Guinness World Record for the most hours on U.S. television.

👉  In case you missed it, the Washington football team will call itself the “Washington Football Team,” effective immediately.  This is not a final renaming and rebranding for the team – this is the name it will use until the adoption of a new name, so that FedEx, Nike, Amazon et al will continue to give them millions of dollars.  The team hopes to be entirely rid of the old name on physical and digital spaces by the September 13 regular-season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles.  Somehow the new almost-name doesn’t fit into the old fight song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQln1qbLnes

👉   And now we return to one of the best comic strips of all time, Peanuts, and Charles Schulz’s alter ego, Charlie Brown, the Round Headed Kid.

Warning!  Rabbit hole!  “Alter ego” is a person’s secondary or alternative personality. “Altar ego” is a book by Craig Groeschel, which is about becoming who God says you are.  We return you now to our regularly scheduled comic strip.

Charlie Brown is one of the great American archetypes and a popular and widely recognized cartoon character.  He is the only Peanuts character to have been a part of the strip throughout its 50-year run.  Charlie Brown is easily recognized by his trademark zigzag patterned shirt.  Notice the colors – gold and black, like a Pittsburgh Pirates fan.  Maybe that explains why he frequently suffers, and as a result is usually nervous and lacks self-confidence (like blowing a 4 run lead in the top of the 9th at the home opener).

Charlie Brown’s name was first used on May 30, 1948, in an early Schulz comic strip called Lil’ Folks, in which one boy has buried another in a sandbox and then denies that he has seen the other boy – Charlie Brown – when asked. He made his official debut in the first Peanuts comic strip on October 2, 1950.

This strip from November 1, 1950, may be why Shermy hates Charlie Brown:

The first time we Charlie Brown played baseball was in the March 6, 1951 strip.  He was warming up before telling Shermy that they can start the game.  However, he was the catcher, not yet the pitcher.

The first time Charlie Brown was called “blockhead” was by Violet Gray on August 16, 1951:

The November 16, 1952 strip is the first strip in which Charlie Brown was prevented by Lucy van Pelt from kicking a football.

Charlie Brown first began flying a kite on April 25, 1952 strip – no tree was involved:

In early 1959, Charlie Brown (along with other Peanuts characters) made his first animated appearances after the gang was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company in commercials for its automobiles, as well as for intros to The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show.

While the Tennessee Ernie Ford Show ended in 1961, the deal between Charles Schulz and the Ford Motor Company lasted another three years.  Schulz and animator Bill Meléndez became friends, and in 1963, Coca-cola asked producer Lee Mendelson if he had a Christmas television special.  Mendelson said “yes,” and he next day he called Schulz and said they were making a Christmas special featuring Charlie Brown and the Peanuts characters.

Titled A Charlie Brown Christmas, it was first aired on the CBS network on December 9, 1965.  The special’s primary goal is showing “the true meaning of Christmas.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cKakTjnQMg Before its broadcast, the people involved in the special’s creation were worried because of the explicit religious message.  It was, however, a huge success, with almost half of the people who were watching television tuned in to the special.

👉   Another closing piece from The Gospel According to Peanuts, by Robert L. Short (and Matthew 7:24-27 CEB).

“Everybody who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise builder who built a house on bedrock.  The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It didn’t fall because it was firmly set on bedrock.

“But everybody who hears these words of mine and doesn’t put them into practice will be like a fool who built a house on sand.  The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It fell and was completely destroyed.”

Message, Linus?  Trust the Word, Jesus Christ, the Son of God!

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QUARANTINE BLOG # 119

July 27, 2020

I have decided to be a curmudgeon for the opening of today’s blog.  Actually, I decided it on Saturday when I started writing it.  I had fun with this, hope you do, too.

Because this is Monday’s blog, I asked Google to find songs about Monday that would express my current mood (actually, Saturday’s mood).  And one of the songs Larry Page’s and Sergey Brin’s search engine came up with was a 1968 single by the “Mamas and the Papas” which only got to # 81 on the Billboard chart (maybe one of their worst releases).  But it’s not about Monday, not one single mention of the day named for Máni, the Norse personification of the moon.  Regardless, I include a link because I can think of at least one blog reader who would take it to # 1 on all the charts.  The song is For the Love of Ivy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-2q5c_9jAg

Google did recommend two appropriate selections.  First was “Monday, Monday,” but none of the listings were by the Mamas and the Papas who released it first.  It gave cover versions by Fleetwood Mac, Matthew Sweet, and Mrs. Miller (google that one yourself – oh my goodness!), but it took a separate search to get the original (there have been at least 20 covers) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h81Ojd3d2rY

But whenever Monday comes – but whenever Monday comes
You can find me crying all of the time.
Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day;
Monday, Monday, it just turns out that way.
Oh, Monday, Monday, won’t go away;
Monday, Monday, it’s here to stay.
Oh Monday, Monday
Oh Monday, Monday

And there’s “Rainy Days and Mondays” by the Carpenters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjFoQxjgbrs

Talkin’ to myself and feelin’ old
Sometimes I’d like to quit
Nothin’ ever seems to fit
Hangin’ around
Nothin’ to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

Well, after that long introduction, what was it that made me so grumpy on Saturday that I wanted to share it with you on Monday?

Two things: Charmin Bath Tissue and Windows.

You have to have been born before Richard Nixon won the presidency for the first time, or have been browsing old commercials on YouTube, to remember Mr. Whipple and Charmin Bath Tissue.  Promoting its softness, Mr. Whipple would stop customers squeezing the packages with the warning, “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin.”  Here is an early version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUGroVDEVfQ

Well, you wouldn’t want to squeeze it today, or at least the stuff that’s come out since toilet paper hoarding stopped.

Be careful! That looks awfully like you know what!

My bride found it a week or so ago, and after we opened the last of the supply which was  stocked in, back before the quarantine, when we were expecting visitors from north of here, we opened the new supply.  I am glad we have TP.  What we have is better than tree leaves or bark, but not by much.  I think that to get new supplies out to the stores, they changed the formula.  Proctor & Gamble, you can do better!

The second thing that got me into grouchy pants was my computer – specifically the latest Windows update (I know I’ll hear from one of those aforementioned north-living would-be visitors who is a devotee of Apple and Mac).

I have my computer set to look for updates early Saturday mornings while I am still asleep, so that it will be restarted and ready to go when I sit down at the keyboard.  Imagine my surprise when I moved the mouse to wake up the machine and all I saw on the desktop was my icons and a black background.  Where was the Christmas picture, taken last year, that has the whole family sitting close to the Christmas tree, waiting to plunge into an over-abundance of presents?  Windows decided all that mattered was that black background.

“Oh no you don’t!” says I, and right clicked on the black abyss knowing an option would come up to personalize my desktop.  It did, but in a new fashion – I did tell you this was an update – and I had to hunt for the option to put a picture over the BB.  Well, I persevered, and the family is back.

Windows wasn’t through changing things (Reminds me of a scene from Star Trek: The Motion Picture with Doctor McCoy complaining about the new sickbay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c_8FgzqZpU).  I have/had/have my computer set to open files the way I wanted.  To open a photograph I use the old fashioned Windows Photo Viewer.  It’s faster than the new app, but no, the update changed it and I had to undo the change.  And I open audio and video files with VLC media player, an incredible app I’ve been using for years, and it does more than just play songs and movies (but that’s a story for another time).  The update had changed that  too, but my computer is now back in its proper configuration.

And that’s why I was looking for songs about Monday!

👉  Two more pieces, both from our “Good News Department.”  First, we have a budding artist in the family, Matt’s and Carey’s daughter, Emma.  Here are two water colors – the colors flow, they blend, they enhance:

But she’ll never make any money on her paintings, because her palm trees look like palm trees.  To be famous they have to look like something else, a la Pablo Picasso in this painting “The Kitchen.”

There is always hope the art world will recover.  Don’t stop!  Keep painting, Emma!

👉  Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) was a genius: an intellectual, a linguist who spoke no less than seven languages fluently, a great pianist, composer, and prime minister of Poland in 1919.

A fascinating story is told about Paderewski organizing a meeting to raise money for the Polish Relief Fund.  The event took place during World War II (some say the story is made up, some say it really happened – I’m not sure it matters which opinion is true).

Before the great musician could seat himself at the grand piano, a small boy crept on stage and began to play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”  Paderewski walked on stage, sat beside the boy and whispered, “Don’t stop.  Keep playing,” as he filled in the bass part with his left hand.  The duo accomplished what the soloist could not, a mesmerizing performance with the help of the master pianist.

All of us play wrong notes no matter how hard we concentrate.  Our hands grow tired.  Our minds get distracted.  Our hearts become discouraged.  But in spite of our inexperience, our ignorance, and our weakness, Jesus Christ places His sovereign fingers beside ours and whispers, “Don’t stop.  Keep playing.”

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