QUARANTINE BLOG # 193

October 9, 2020

Today is National Sneakers Day.  The name has been used at least since 1887, when the Boston Globe used it and said it was “the name boys give to tennis shoes.”  In 1917 Henry Nelson McKinney, an advertising agent, used the term “sneaker” because the rubber sole made the shoe stealthy and quiet, and much easier to sneak up on someone without them noticing.  Jogging shoes became a popular type of sneaker in the 1970's, and each type of sport had shoes made specifically for it.  Collectors of sneakers are known as sneakerheads.  A pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s sold for $560,000 in May and became the most expensive sneakers ever sold.  The sneakers were worn in a game by Jordan and autographed.

👉  As the cruise industry’s November 1 restart date approaches, companies are slowly painting a picture as to what cruising might look like when it returns.  One big change will be the transformation of the buffet, a beloved part of the cruise experience.  It will no longer be a free-for-all where you grab what you want yourself. It will no longer be self-service.  And there will be a cap on the number of passengers – 50% – allowed in the dining room itself at one time.  

👉  Let’s travel in the Way Back Machine for a while and take a look at the “normal” things that the youth did back in the 1960s, and how their parents didn’t bat an eye.

Shabby Safety Belts and Car Seats: Today strapping in is like second nature.  Our arms immediately reach for the seat belt and we buckle-in without a moment’s thought.  In fact, now, you could consider us well trained when it comes to car safety.  This wasn’t always the case.  Kids would be in the back seat without any protective means.  If you were an infant, you might have gotten a ride on mom’s lap.

Girl Toys and Boy Toys: Toys back then were very strictly defined by genders.  Everything blue or red that could shoot stuff, fight or move fast was for the boys and anything pink and soft was for the girls.  No boy would play with a doll, and a girl who played cowboys and Indians was a Tom Boy.

Walking To School:  Unless you live in an incredibly safe area, it’s unlikely that your kid walks to school in this day and age.  Of course, it was a different time then and it was far more normal to let the kids run free.  Back in Loch Lynn, Kyle and I walked to school every day from first through fifth grade – sixth grade was across the tracks in Mountain Lake Park, so we took a bus.  And back the 1930s my Dad said he carried his sister to school through the snow (up hill, both ways?).

Spanking: If you misbehaved as a kid, it was simple – out came the hand, or occasionally, the belt.  The kind of physical punishment that went on those days would cause some serious eyebrow-raising today.  In some cases, even a phone call to child services. Yep, things have changed.

More tomorrow.

👉  Local religious leaders and supporters held a prayer event Tuesday on Stone Mountain, calling for the removal of a Confederate flag and other reminders of the Civil War at the park boasting a massive carving of Confederate leaders.  The gathering included impassioned prayer and pleas for change at the park which features a huge mountainside carving of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

“In the 1950s and 60s, the state legislature and the governor at that time began transforming the mountain ... to demonstrate to Black people in Georgia that this was not a place” where they were welcome, said Ryan Gravel, one of several co-founders of the coalition.

👉  “Wonder Woman 1984” director Patty Jenkins is warning U.S. moviegoers that the theater experience is facing total extinction due to the coronavirus pandemic.  The director has seen the release date for the sequel to 2017's “Wonder Woman” delayed three times.  The next installment in the DC Comics franchise was originally supposed to kick off the summer in June but is now scheduled for Christmas of this year.  Other major films – “Black Widow,” the next in the Marvel Universe series; “No Time to Die,” Daniel Craig’s last appearance as James Bond; and “The Batman,” the latest re-re-reboot of the Caped Crusader series – have been pushed back into 2021.  “We could lose movie theater-going forever,” she said.

While the theater industry in other countries has regained some ground since most shut down in March due to the worldwide pandemic, the major markets in the U.S., such as New York City and Los Angeles, remain closed.  Meanwhile, theaters in parts of the country that are open again have seen waning ticket sales as customers seem wary to risk COVID-19 amid a dearth of new releases.  Studios are already looking at the possibility of shifting their marketing strategy away from movie theaters and more toward at-home streaming.

Jenkins added: “I don’t think any of us want to live in a world where the only option is to take your kids to watch a movie in your own living room and not have a place to go for a date.”

👉  Today’s close is by Adrian Rogers.

Do you carry a swim suit “just in case”?

“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:14 KJV).

One of my favorite stories is about a father who leaves his son at home one Saturday afternoon because his son wasn’t feeling well.  He tells his son, “Don’t go swimming with your buddies.” 

The son says, “Yes sir!”

The dad returns by way of the swimming hole and notices his son frolicking with the other boys.  He stops the car, calls his son over and says, “I told you not to go swimming.”

“But I didn’t intend to go swimming.  I just came down to watch, and I fell in,” the boy said.

The dad began feeling sorry for his son until he noticed he had his bathing suit on!  The son explained, “I brought that along … in case I was tempted.”

Friend, don’t make any provision for the flesh.

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