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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