QUARANTINE BLOG # 108

July 16, 2020

July 16 has been a busy day as a trip in the Way Back Machine past shows.

On July 16, 1790, Congress declared that a swampy, humid, muddy and mosquito-infested site on the Potomac River between Maryland and Virginia would be the nation’s permanent capital. “Washington,” in the newly designated federal “District of Columbia.” 

The capital area was originally set at 100 square miles, but in 1837, Virginia’s 31 square miles was retroceded because of voting rights issues in the District.  Since 1803, attempts to retrocede Maryland’s portion has been voted down, mainly because of tax issues.

The world’s first parking meter, known as Park-O-Meter No. 1, was installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on July 16, 1935.  Invented by Carl Magee, it was intended to overcome the problem of insufficient downtown parking caused by increasing numbers of automobiles (pay the toll or move your car).  The charge of 5 cents an hour soon sparked debate over the pros and cons of coin-regulated parking.  Opponents said paying for parking was a tax on cars, depriving citizens of their money without due process of law.

On July 16, 1945, at 5:29:45 a.m., the Manhattan Project successfully exploded the first atom bomb at the test site in Alamogordo, New Mexico.  The scientists and a few dignitaries watched from 10,000 yards away as the first atomic mushroom cloud stretched 40,000 feet into the air and generated the destructive power of 15,000 to 20,000 tons of TNT.

At 9:32 a.m. EDT, Apollo 11, July 16, 1969, the first U.S. lunar landing mission, was launched on its journey to the surface of the moon. After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered into a lunar orbit on July 19.  The next day the lunar lander, Eagle, touched down on the Sea of Tranquility, and Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the surface of the moon.

On July 16, 1995, Amazon officially opened for business as an online bookseller.  Within a month, they had shipped books to all 50 U.S. states and to 45 countries.  Founder Jeff Bezos’s motto was “get big fast.”  He initially dubbed the business Cadabra (as in abracadabra) but after someone misheard the name as “cadaver,” Bezos decided to call his startup Amazon, after the South American river, a name he believed wouldn’t box him into offering just one type of product or service.

👉  Some of the best moments from Calvin and Hobbes, feature Calvin’s alter-egos: Spaceman Spiff, Tracer Bullet, and Stupendous Man.

“Spaceman Spiff” is a heroic spacefarer who narrates his adventures in the third person.  As Spiff, Calvin battles aliens – typically his parents or teacher – with a ray gun known variously as a “zorcher,” “frap-ray blaster,” “death ray blaster” or “atomic napalm neutralizer.”  He travels to distant planets – his house, school or neighborhood – often crashing unhurt on a strange, alien planet.  Spiff travels through the galaxy in a red flying saucer with a bubble canopy.  The saucer is tiny, with just enough room for Spiff, but incredibly, the craft is equipped with an array of weapons, detectors and propulsion devices.  Clad in a spacesuit that looks like something Flash Gordon might have worn, Spiff’s eyes are protected by a visor that changes shape according to the emotion expressed by our hero.

Spaceman Spiff and the Hideous Blob

Spaceman Spiff and the Great Escape

Using different voices, and pan and scan animation, this clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWY0yhh-8P4 by Jeremy Adams, is a clever fan video of Spaceman Spiff.

“Tracer Bullet” is a hard-boiled private eye, drawn in elaborate, shadowy black-and-white that evokes film noir.  He made his debut when Calvin donned a fedora in order to hide a terrible haircut Hobbes had given him.

Tracer Bullet and the Case of the Pushy Dame (Tracer’s first adventure)

“Stupendous Man” is a superhero who wears a mask and a cape (made by Calvin's mother).  Stupendous Man almost always suffers defeat at the hands of his opponent. When Hobbes asks if Stupendous Man has ever won any battles, Calvin says all his battles are “moral victories.”  Stupendous Man’s nemeses include “Mom-Lady”  (Calvin’s mom), and “Baby-Sitter Girl” (Rosalyn).

👉  This closing piece is from Clovis Gillham Chappell (1882-1972) an ordained Methodist minister who held pastorates in Washington, Memphis, Houston, Birmingham, and Charlotte, North Carolina for over forty years.  He received doctorate degrees from Duke, Centenary College of Louisiana, and Birmingham Southern College.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9 New Revised Standard Version)

Those who can be confident that God is their Father are those who are engaged in  the business of peacemaking.  We need to be careful to hear the language here.  Jesus does not talk about truce-makers.  A truce-maker can be just a negotiator who is very skilled at  balancing opposition, so that a kind of truce prevails because neither can inflict too much pain on the other.

Jesus is not saying that peace enthusiasts will be called children of God.  There are people who march, sing, talk, and write about peace because they are enthusiastic that peace should happen.  They feel very strongly about it, but they can’t do anything to make it happen.

James, Jesus’ brother, asked this question: “What causes fights and quarrels among you?  Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?”  In the long run, what causes quarrels and anger, warfare, or lack of peace always begins in the heart of the human individual.  It is the reason brothers hate one another, husbands and wives fight, neighbors can’t get along, political parties sling mud at each other, ethnic groups can’t stand each other, and nations war.  It all goes back to the fact that there is a lack of peace in the human heart.

A peacemaker is someone who knows the answer to the turmoil inside the individual.  He has a message of love from God that can grant real freedom, real change and renewal, and peace on the inside, so that for the first time the individual doesn’t have to fight back.  In just the same way that war and turmoil spread, blessing and hope can spread.  As individuals are changed, so are communities, and by the grace of God the world is changed.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

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