QUARANTINE BLOG # 382

April 16, 2021

Today, three roller coasters to wrap up this series, one wooden, one metal, and one just insane.

Goliath is a wooden roller coaster located at Six Flags Great America in Illinois.  It opened to the public on June 19, 2014. Goliath set three world records for wooden coasters, having the longest drop at 180 feet, the steepest angle of 85 degrees, and the fastest speed of 72 mph. It still holds the record for the longest drop.  In addition, the ride also features two inversions and a maximum descent that reaches 15 feet below ground level.

Goliath’s lift hill has a modified an all-steel structure as opposed to the traditional wood design.  The 3/5 mile of track is made of six layers of laminated wood, with a steel square tube as the topmost layer of track.  This track style is designed to reduce the maintenance typically required for a wooden roller coaster and to provide a smoother ride experience.  Well, okay – let’s ride let's ride!

Back to Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh (actually West Mifflin) for Phantom’s Revenge.  When it opened as Steel Phantom in 1991, it featured the fastest speed and longest drop of any roller coaster in the world.  It now features a unique characteristic of having a second drop that is longer than its first – and that second drop goes through another roller coaster, the Thunderbolt.  This first clip shows parts of the ride, and then does a POV.

The ride has been ranked in the top 50 of the annual Golden Ticket Awards every year since 2000, spending a considerable amount of that time in the top 10.  In addition, it has been ranked consistently in the top 5 of the National Amusement Park Historical Association Favorite Steel Roller Coaster poll.  In this clip, the camera is mounted facing the riders.  Watch the girl in pink – she wants to be a pro, with her arms in the air, but the Phantom has its Revenge.

Now for the insane, Iron Gwazi, Bush Gardens, Tampa, Florida.  Hang on!

👉  Neil Diamond wrote today’s girl’s name song.  In a 2007 interview, Diamond stated the inspiration for his song was John F. Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline, who was eleven years old at the time it was released.  Diamond sang the song to her at her 50th birthday celebration in 2007.  In December 2011, Diamond said that a magazine cover photo of Caroline Kennedy as a young child on a horse with her parents created an image in his mind, and the rest of the song came together about five years after seeing the picture.  However, in 2014 he said the song was about his then-wife Marcia, but he needed a three-syllable name to fit the melody.  So, you pick the version of the story you like, and listen to it (without the annoying “So good, so good, so good” that audiences insert into it).  Here is “Sweet Caroline.”

👉  For your amusement, QB presents 3 panels of humor:

👉  Nine lives notwithstanding, killing a cat in a hit-and-run soon could become illegal in New Hampshire.  The new legislation was inspired by the death of Arrow, a feline pet of State Representative Daryl Abbas (and sponsor of the bill).  40 years ago NH passed a bill requiring drivers who injure or kill dogs to notify police or the animals’ owners, or else face a $1,000 fine. 

“It’s a cataclysmic bill.  To not pass this would be catastrophic,” Sen. Tom Sherman,  said Tuesday, drawing chuckles from fellow members of a Senate committee.

👉  Bonnie looked out the kitchen window yesterday morning and whispered, “Come look!”  As you can see from the picture, we had two visitors.  There is a very large wooded plot beside of our house.  This is not the first time we’ve seen deer in the back yard, but the first time I got a decent picture (and you can tell it is taken through the screen window).  Well, I sent the pix to the JAMM kids, and Michael sent back a link to an appropriate YouTube video.  Oh, I forgot to tell you: Bonnie said if they eat her flowers the menu for Family Night dinner may include fresh venison.  

👉  I’m not planning on going any time soon, but I have made preparations.  I just wish I could get Ross Hall, who runs a business in Auckland, New Zealand, called Dying Art, to build my coffin.  I like the one standing up against the wall, to Hall’s right.  My second choice is the one directly behind Hall.

Hall begins with special-made blank coffins and uses fiberboard and plywood to add details. A latex digital printer is used for the designs. Some orders are particularly complex, like a sailboat, which included a keel and rudder, cabin, sails, even metal railings and pulleys.  Depending on the design, the coffins retail for between about 3,000 and 7,500 New Zealand dollars ($2,100 and $5,400).

Click on the link and check out more of his designs. 

👉  Today’s close, “How God Feels about Us,” is by Greg Laurie.

“May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace” (Numbers 6:24-26 NLT).

Sometimes we might wonder whether God is really paying attention. Does He know what we’re going through? Has this caught Him by surprise? Absolutely not. He knows all about it.

I wonder if Joseph ever felt as though the Lord had forgotten about him. His brothers sold him into slavery. Then he was brought to Egypt, where a man named Potiphar  bought him and took Joseph into his house. His crazy wife tried to seduce Joseph, and then falsely accused him of rape. So Joseph went to prison. As he sat there, how easily he could have thought that God had surely forgotten about him. The reality was that God was preparing Joseph for a great work that was yet in his future. He would elevate Joseph into a place of great influence.

The verses from Numbers 6 show us who God is and how He feels toward us. The Lord is watching us. We have His full attention. He’s attentive to us. He’s aware of what we’re going through. 

God knows what you’re experiencing today. He’s in control of your life right now. And even though it may seem as though He isn’t watching, He really is.

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