QUARANTINE BLOG # 213

October 29, 2020

New episodes of our favorite TV shows will be premiering next month.  There is one catch: there won’t be as many new episodes as we are used to.  Rather than air up to 24 episodes in the 2020-2021 season, CBS has set 16 for Blue Bloods, Bull, Magnum P.I., NCIS, NCIS: New Orleans, and SEAL Team and 18 for NCIS: Los Angeles.  Fewer episode are ordered because of the new protocols in effect to film due to the coronavirus pandemic, including testing and social distancing.  It’s more expensive and takes more time to produce an episode as a result.  Fingers crossed that they will be worth the wait.

👉  Forget water on the moon, as reported in QB 211, NASA has now struck gold.  NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a rare, heavy and immensely valuable asteroid called “16 Psyche” in the Solar System’s main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.  Asteroid Psyche is located roughly 230 million miles from Earth and is about the size of West Virginia.  What makes it special is that, unlike most asteroids that are either rocky or icy, Psyche is made almost entirely of metals.

“Psyche – the target of the NASA Discovery Mission Psyche, expected to launch in 2022 atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket –  could be unique in that it might be an asteroid that is totally made of iron and nickel,” said Tracy Becker, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.  Given the asteroid’s size, its metal content could be worth $10,000 quadrillion ($10,000,000,000,000,000,000), or about 10,000 times the global economy as of 2019.

👉  Europe’s second wave of coronavirus infections has struck well before flu season even started.  Spain this week declared a state of emergency for Madrid amid increasing tensions between local and national authorities over virus containment measures.  Germany sent soldiers to help with contact tracing in newly flaring hotspots.  Italy mandated masks outdoors and warned that for the first time since the country became the European epicenter of the pandemic, the health system was facing “significant critical issues” as hospitals fill up.

Protesters have clashed with police in northern Italy, as demonstrations erupted across the country over government restrictions aimed at quelling a second wave of Covid-19.  A group of “hooded men” smashed shop windows and looted luxury boutiques, including Gucci and Louis Vuitton stores.  Milan police said 28 people were taken in for questioning following the clashes.   Eighteen were Italians and 10 were foreigners [emphases mine].

👉  A couple who met at a Dunkin’ was married at that Dunkin.  John Thompson, 45, a recently retired Marine working as a car salesman, was a drive-thru regular at the Dunkin’ in Edmund, Oklahoma.  He arrived every morning at 7:15 to order the same thing: a large hot coffee (cream and sugar) and a sausage, egg, and cheese croissant.  And Dunkin’ employee Sugar Good, 49, was always the one to hand him his order.

Thompson looked for her name on the receipt, but thought “Sugar No. 7” was a reference to his order.  He never imagined it was her name.  Then one day, Good tucked her card in with Thompson’s order.  Three years later, Thompson proposed in the location’s parking lot while dropping off Good for her morning shift.  They were married October 13 in the same drive-thru.  The bride wore Dunkin’ uniform.  Sweet.

👉   This one is just too stupid – and selfish – for 26 letters to adequately describe, but since that’s all I have, here it is.  

The Dodgers won the World Series (after the Rays management made one of the most bone-headed moves in baseball history – removing their starting ace, Blake Snell, in the 6th inning, having thrown only 73 pitches, striking out 9, and giving up no runs, because some statistic showed that was the best move and then the pitcher who relieved him gave up the tying and winning runs – but that’s not the stupid move I’m talking about).  Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner tested positive for COVID-19 and, when the results came in, was removed from the game after the 7th inning and told to go into isolation.  After the Dodgers won, he came out maskless, and sat with his team.  

He removed his mask to pose for pictures with his wife, whom he kissed.  He planted himself on the ground as the team gathered for a photo to commemorate the Dodgers’ first championship in 32 years.  To his right sat Dave Roberts, the Dodgers’ manager, who 10 years ago was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, and to his left is the World Series trophy.  Turner ignored the protocol that calls for COVID-positive players to isolate.  Dodgers president of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman, defended Turner’s actions.

Many are wondering if Turner will receive any fines or suspensions for being so reckless.  As of this posting I have not read a word from baseball commissioner Rob Manfred about Turner’s selfish, self-aggrandizing, stupid behavior, other than to acknowledge Turner broke protocol.  Whoopee.  With Manfred’s history of ignoring egregious behavior (see Houston Astros, 2017), Turner will face nothing more serious than, “Bad boy.  Shame.  Shame.”

👉   A trio of comic strips before we close.

👉  Today’s close is by Meghan Kleppinger.

“But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God’” (Psalms 31:14 NKJV).

Whether it be financial, relational, spiritual, or physical troubles (and don’t they all seem to come at the same time?), it’s easy to find ourselves questioning God and His plan for our lives.

Babbie Mason’s song, “Trust His Heart,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQUw53AXlZ0 addresses these times of hardship.  I heard this song for the first time when I was a preteen, and its moving lyrics continue to encourage me now in my adult years.  I sing the chorus whenever I’m going through one of life’s rough patches.

    God is too wise to be mistaken

    God is too good to be unkind

    So when you don’t understand

    When you don’t see His plan

    When you can’t trace His hand

    Trust His heart

These aren’t just lyrics of a song, they’re descriptions of God’s character and reminders of His promises.  He is a God we can trust.

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