QUARANTINE BLOG # 319

February 12, 2021

Abraham Lincoln, born on February 12, 1809, served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination April 15, 1865.  Lincoln led the nation through the Civil War, the country’s greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis – until now.  He succeeded in preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.

👉  Sales of Barbie jumped 19 percent last quarter, driving a 10 percent revenue increase for toy giant Mattel Inc.  The jump came as toy sales soared generally thanks to the pandemic and helped Mattel snag its highest growth rate in 15 years.  Sales of Hot Wheels, the company’s second largest brand, were up 13 percent in the quarter.  More about Barbie next week.

👉  Tomorrow we wrap up the story of “Potatoes: Famine, French Fries, and the Final Frontier,” but just a little teaser today.  In a New York Times report about French fries, Eric Rimm, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health, suggested eating a smaller amount of fries, paired with a leafy green vegetable. “I think it would be nice if your meal came with a side salad and six French fries,” Rimm told the Times.

You’re not alone if you think that eating just six fries is a little ridiculous.  And McDonald’s would agree with you.  They are the number one selling item on the menu – the company purchases 3.4 billion pounds of potatoes each year.  Your favorite bloggers think Micky D’s fries are so good that this past Sunday, on the way home from church, we went through one of their drive-thrus and purchased fries, and then went to Wendy’s for sandwiches.  True story.  Cub Scout’s honor.  And check out this video to see McDonald's secret to great French fries.

👉  Speaking of food, located in Salerno, Italy is one of the world’s most expensive dishes – the Louis XIII Pizza.  The pizza is topped with some of the most decadent ingredients including buffalo mozzarella, lobster, and caviar.  Invented by Chef Renato Viola, this masterpiece will only set you back $12,000.

👉  Here are a few more entries from our “Strange, But True Facts Department.”

The letter ‘E’ is the most common letter in the English language.  It appears in roughly 11% of all words used in the English language, and is used 12 times in this very sentence alone!  Pat, I’d like to buy a vowel.

In China, the police use geese as sentries.  In many parts of rural China, police have opted to use geese as police animals as they are highly alert and capable of making lots of noise.  Now if they had just used them in Wuhan City, Hubei Province!

Belgium once tried using cats to deliver mail.  In the 1870s, the town of Liège came up with the idea of employing felines as their new mail couriers.  The mail was loaded into waterproof bags that were tied around the kitties’ little collars and they were sent to their destination.  However, this was quickly dropped as the cats proved slower and more unreliable than human post couriers.  Well, duh!

👉  Some good news today in the ongoing drive to sign up for a “Fauci Ouchi.”  Starting today, Walgreens will be distributing coronavirus vaccines in 12 states and Puerto Rico, as the beginning of the Federal Pharmacy Partnership.  CVS, Walmart, and other nationwide pharmacies will be added to the list of places where people can be vaccinated.  Companies are determined that no doses will go to waste, and are compiling waiting lists and putting their own workers on standby in case extra shots become available.   Appointments are based on state requirements and guidelines.

👉  Mary Wilson, one of the original members of the Supremes, the 1960s group that helped define the Motown sound and style and propelled Diana Ross to superstardom, died yesterday.  She was 76.  A native of Greenville, Mississippi, Wilson had lived in St. Louis and Chicago before settling in Detroit and befriending Florence Ballard, the other original member of the trio, when both were in middle school.  There was some kind of magic in that neighborhood because Mary’s childhood friends included several future members of the Temptations and Smokey Robinson.

The Supremes, from left, Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Diana Ross.

We can’t talk about the Supremes without going to the Jukebox and spinning a couple of their records.  Between 1961 and 1963, the Supremes released six singles, none of which charted in the Top 40 positions of the Billboard Hot 100.  The group attempted to compensate for their lack of hits by taking on any work available at the studio, including providing hand claps and singing backup for Motown artists such as Marvin Gaye and the Temptations.  During these years, all three members took turns singing lead: Wilson favored soft ballads, Ballard favored soulful, hard-driving songs, and Ross favored mainstream pop songs.

“Where Did Our Love Go,” was their first Number 1 hit, which spent 14 weeks on the charts.  

Two of my personal favorites are “I Hear A Symphony” and “Stop! In the Name of Love.”

👉  Today’s close is from Streams in the Desert, by L.B. Cowman.

“As soon as the soles of the feet of the priests... shall rest in the waters… the waters shall be cut off” (Joshua 3:13).

The people were not to wait in their camps until the way was opened, they were to walk by faith.  They were to break camp, pack up their goods, form in line to march, and move down to the very banks before the river would be opened.

If they had come down to the edge of the river and then had stopped for the stream to divide before they stepped into it, they would have waited in vain.  They must take one step into the water before the river would be cut off.

We must learn to take God at His Word, and go straight on in duty, although we see no way in which we can go forward.  The reason we are so often balked by difficulties is that we expect to see them removed before we try to pass through them.

If we would move straight on in faith, the path would be opened for us.  We stand still, waiting for the obstacle to be removed, when we ought to go forward as if there were no obstacles.

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