QUARANTINE BLOG # 337

March 2, 2021

We begin today with an apology from your friendly neighborhood blogger who forgot to post a link to the QB's index for 2021.

👉  Last June a quarter of Venice was submerged by a near-record high tide, a time of year when such flooding is rare.  The flood water was 3.5 feet high.  In December, a time when Venetians expect acqua alta, or high water, officials did not active the new flood barrier system in time and the city was flooded with water that was 5 feet deep.  The worst recent flooding was seen in 2019 as water levels hit the highest level in 50 years when it rose to 6.3 feet. 

Today, it’s a different story.  Low tides have left Venice’s canals dry, with water levels dropping 18 inches months after heavy flooding.  The tides of acqua bassa, or low water, show the city’s iconic gondolas beached highlighting the extent of the water loss.  

The Mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, maintains that the rapidly alternating water levels are linked to climate change.

👉  Always looking for good copy, our “Deep Thoughts Department” offers the following:

Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephone was absolutely useless until he made his second one.

When I was a kid, our parents taught us to not believe everything we saw on TV.  Now I have to teach our kids to not believe everything they see on Facebook.

Humans are really bad at recharging: it takes them about 8 hours to charge for 16 hours of use.

👉  As promised, here is the story of Nicodemus, Kansas.

It was called the “Colored Exodus;” thousands of African Americans left the post-Civil War South, looking for new roots.  In April 1877, the Nicodemus Town Company began advertising Nicodemus as “The Largest Colored Colony in America.”  The first wave of settlers, 350 persons strong, arrived on September 17, 1877.

Exodusters En Route to Kansas. Photo by Harper’s Weekly, 1879.

Like that of many small Kansas towns, the financial success of Nicodemus was tied to the agricultural economy.  Unfortunately, a reliance on the agricultural economy also made small communities indirectly dependent upon railroads.  When Nicodemus failed to attract the Missouri Pacific rail line in 1887 and the Union Pacific line in 1888, the economic growth lost momentum. The Union Pacific’s decision to bypass Nicodemus, coupled with the nationwide economic depression of the 1890s, sealed the town’s fate.  

Nicodemus, Kansas, 1885.

After that, the number of people living in Nicodemus dwindled over the years.  The 2019 census showed 11 residents still there.  The only business is the Nicodemus Historical Society Museum.  Nevertheless, every year on the last weekend in July, Emancipation Day, is celebrated and descendants of original town settlers fill the town.

If you want to learn more, a 108 page book can be downloaded for free from the National Parks website.

👉  Our continuing look at things you can do with Coca Cola besides drink it continues:

To speed up the toilet bowl cleaning process, pour a can of Coke into the bowl and let it stand for an hour.  The carbonation will lift the stains, and a simple scrub with the brush should finish the job.

If you’ve been blowing big bubbles (maybe with Bazooka, or Hubba Bubba – but not green because I have the Last Piece of Green Hubba Bubba), and you get it stuck in your hair, before you reach for the scissors, grab a bottle of Coca-Cola.  Soak the spot in Coke for several minutes, and the gum should come right out.  If this does not succeed, the QB has no other remedies.

Save this one for next winter when you walk out to your car and discover FOP (Frost On the Pumpkins).  Pour Coca-Cola directly onto your windshield, let it settle for a few minutes, and the ice should slide off or melt in far less time than it takes to scrape.  Disclaimer: this and all tips in this series were found on the Internet, so you know that they are absolutely 100% true.  Should you discover that a tip does not work, blame Al Gore for inventing the Internet.

👉  Before we close, here is a Sunday panel from Pickles:

👉  Lasting Promises

“Praise the Lord, all you who respect him.  All you descendants of Jacob, honor him; fear him, all you Israelites.  He does not ignore those in trouble.  He doesn’t hide from them but listens when they call out to him” (Psalm 22:23-24 NCV).

Over breakfast one morning, a woman said to her husband, “I bet you don’t know what day this is.”

“Of course I do,” he indignantly replied. He immediately stood, walked out of the house, slammed the door, and went to his office.

At 10 a.m., the doorbell rang. When the woman opened the door a delivery man handed her a box containing a dozen long-stemmed red roses. Two hours later, a second delivery service presented the woman with a box of her favorite chocolates. Still later, a boutique delivered a designer dress.

The woman couldn’t wait for her husband to come home. When he walked through the door, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. “Darling,” she said, “this is the best Ground Hog Day I’ve ever had!”

We have a wonderful capacity for forgetting. We not only forget our spouse’s birthday or our wedding anniversary, we forget each other’s names and faces, we forget addresses and telephone numbers, we forget appointments. The list is endless.

We also have a wonderful capacity for remembering. The human brain can absorb one word every second, continuously, for a million years. We have the capacity to absorb 10,000 thoughts each and every day. And this is true in spite of the fact that those of us over 35 are losing 100,000 brain neurons every day!

But the greatest memory feat of all is God’s forgetfulness.  “Wait a minute,” you say.  “The Psalmist is talking about God remembering: not ignoring those in trouble, not hiding from them, listening to them.”  

That’s right, but wrapped up in that promise is the word of God through the writer of Hebrews: “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins” (Hebrews 8:12 NLT).

You remember the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery and taken to Jesus.  Her accusers wanted her stoned.

“The one of you,” Jesus answered, “who has never sinned, and at this moment has no sin in his life, you throw the first stone at her.”

When all of the men had left Jesus said, “Is there no one left to condemn you?”

“No, Lord,” she replied.

“Neither do I condemn you,” Jesus said.

And then He added, “Go home and from this point onward, stop practicing sin.”

It is on that basis God forgives sin and then forgets the sin He has forgiven. How often have you said, “I don’t trust my own memory?” Well, why don’t you trust God’s forgetfulness? His are promises you can cling to!

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