QUARANTINE BLOG # 392

April 26, 2021

Let’s start with the stories behind some popular phrases.

The Whole 9 Yards: To do everything that is possible or available.  During World War II, pilots would have a 9-yard chain of ammunition.  When a fighter pilot used all of their ammunition on one target, they would give “The whole 9 yards.”

Spill The Beans: To reveal secret information unintentionally or indiscreetly.  This saying comes from Ancient Greece, where voting was done using beans.  Citizens would put a white bean into the jar of a candidate they support, and a black one for a candidate that they do not approve of.  However, on a few occasions clumsy people would spill the jars, revealing classified information.

Pull Out All The Stops: To make a very great effort to achieve something.  Organ consoles have knobs that are called ‘stops.’  Without them the organist can play at a much higher volume, so ‘pulling out all the stops’ would let the organist squeeze the maximum volume out of the instrument.

👉  And some wise sayings:

A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.

“I was worried that my mechanic might try to rip me off.  I was relieved when he told me all I needed was turn signal fluid.”

A bulldog can whip a skunk, but sometimes it’s not worth it.

Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in his shoes.  That way if he gets angry, he’ll be a mile away and barefoot.

Eat a live toad the first thing in the morning and nothing worse can happen to you for the rest of the day.

Eat well, stay fit, die anyway. 

👉  Today’s girl’s name song is the last one I’ll do for now (but over the next couple days I’ll do a couple of “girlie” tunes, but not a specific name, to wrap it up).  

“Michelle” was written by Paul McCartney, with a bridge by John Lennon, for the Beatles 1965 album “Rubber Soul.”  Paul said – and here I am going to tell you more than I know – “it written in Chet Atkins’ finger-picking style.  There is a song he did called ‘Trambone’ with a repetitive top line, and he played a bass line while playing a melody.  This was an innovation for us; no rock 'n' roll guitarists had played it . . . Based on Atkins’ ‘Trambone,’ I wanted to write something with a melody and a bass line in it, so I did.”

After seeing some French performers, McCartney asked a friend to come up with a French name and a phrase that rhymed with it.  That was “Michelle, ma belle.”  With that introduction, there follows, “these are words that go together well.”  Paul asked for a French translation and that was, “sont les mots qui vont très bien ensemble.”  John Lennon came up with the bridge, “I love you, I love you, I love you,” and “Michelle” became the most popular track on the “Rubber Soul” album.

Here is a cover of Chet Atkins’ “Trambone.”

And a music video version of “Michelle” by the Beatles.

👉  What a way to debut as a pitcher in the Major Leagues.  Kent Emanuel had just sat down in the bullpen during the first inning on Saturday when the phone rang.  Emanuel had pitched in the minors for seven seasons before the Houston Astros pitcher was thrown into his major league debut at a moment’s notice.  Emanuel worked 8 2/3 innings in relief, saving Houston’s bullpen after Jake Odorizzi left early with an injury, and the Astros routed the Los Angeles Angels 16-2.  Emanuel (1-0) allowed five hits and two runs.  The 28-year-old lefty became the fourth pitcher in the modern era to have a relief outing of 8 2/3 innings or more in his debut.

👉  Reading about Emanuel’s pitching performance I thought about a pitcher who threw a perfect game and lost.  The opposing team had no hits, no walks, and the defense committed no errors, but Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates got the loss.  Facing the Milwaukee Braves on May 26, 1959, the “Kitten” pitched amazing 12 perfect innings, still the all-time record.  The Bucs had plenty of chances, pounding out 12 hits in all, but they left eight men on base, unable to come through in a big spot.  In the bottom of the 13th Pirates third baseman Don Hoak booted a routine grounder, and the perfect game was up in smoke.  After a sacrifice bunt, an intentional walk, and a base hit Haddix and the Pirates lost 1-0.

👉  The Tamper-proof Seal

Maybe we lost our national innocence much earlier. If we had not lost it before, we certainly did during three terror-filled days in 1982. Between September 29 and October 1, 1982, Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide killed seven people in Illinois, and a resulting torrent of panic deluged consumer companies.

Following the Tylenol murders all kinds of twisted people seemed to be waiting for that particular door to swing open so they could rush through. Since the days when the ancient Egyptians melted wax over their papyrus, humans have searched for ways to reveal if a container has been opened. In 1989, the Food and Drug Administration established a uniform national requirement for tamper-resistant packaging of over- the-counter products. If a product is accessible to the public its package must have “one or more indicators or barriers to entry which, if breached or missing, can reasonably be expected to provide visible evidence to consumers that tampering has occurred.”

Tylenol, and every other bottle of pills I’ve opened in the last 3+ decades, is now double-sealed with plastic film around the cap, and underneath those layers, the capsules and pills are protected against tampering by a layer of foil. 

Physicist Roger Johnston and his company, Temtec, Inc., test tamper proof seals to see if they really are tamper proof.  If they defeat one of the seals, they suggest ways to make it more secure. When asked if there was such a thing as a foolproof seal, Mr. Johnston answered, “I don’t think such a thing can exist, even theoretically.”

Not so says a traveling tent maker from Tarsus: “You were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.”

God’s Son said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”

The impenetrable, unbreakable seal. Free for the asking.

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