QUARANTINE BLOG # 478

July 21, 2021

Let’s start with a feel-good moment.  The following video was produced by The Liberators International whose mission is “To involve people in participatory acts of freedom that allow us to see that beyond our differences there is love and humanity.”

The train ride took place in Australia, and with Liberators on board, passengers were invited to sing-along to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

👉  In news from space, Blue Origin’s New Shepard successfully flew its 16th flight yesterday, launching Wally Funk, a member of the Mercury 13 and the oldest person to fly into space, Oliver Daemen the first paying customer and the youngest person to fly into space, Jeff Bezos founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, and his brother, Mark Bezos.  The flight lasted 11 minutes, Alan Shepard’s flight in Freedom 7 lasted 15 minutes.  Freedom 7 reached an altitude of 116 statute miles; New Shepard’s apogee was 66 statute miles.

I recorded the following pictures by screen capture as I watched the flight of New Shepard.

Liftoff

Landing of the rocket and capsule, within minutes of each other

Touch down and the main parachutes (in Blue Origin blue)

Jeff Bezos and Wally Funk

👉  Scrolling through the comments on Jeff Bezos’ Twitter account, I found this cartoon:

Amen!

👎  And from our You Knew this Was Coming Department, critics railed at Jeff Bezos when he thanked Amazon workers and customers for making the spaceflight possible.  Among the nay-sayers was Robert Reich, former secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton, who criticized Bezos for being anti-union, saying Amazon workers should be paid “what they deserve.”  And Oregon Democrat Earl Blumenauer, who is on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, proposed on Tuesday legislation that would tax space travel for non-scientific research purposes. 

👉  And now, back to ordinary things.  Here is the completion of the series we started on Monday of the pre-Google internet search engines.

Yahoo was founded in 1994 with its site going live in 1995.  It is the most well-known of all the pre-Google search engines.  Despite several rocky periods, including multiple buyouts, poor visitor numbers, and questionable product decisions, it is still a tech giant.  It is still the 11th most-visited site in the world as of 2021.

Dogpile went live in November 1996. It has a terrible brand name, but maybe that’s what made it memorable.  The creator, Aaron Flin, was frustrated with the lack of consistency in results from other providers.  It pulled queries from other search engines, and was one of the most comprehensive search tools on the web at the time. 

Maybe the name "Dogpile" came from this Bugs Bunny cartoon. 

Ask Jeeves started in 1996 and immediately found popularity thanks to its unique question-and-answer format (not question-and-clue).  The vision was to create a search engine that allowed users to get answers using natural language as well as keyword searching – something that Google made commonplace.  The site rebranded to Ask.com and went back to a simple question-and-answer format, an approach it still uses to this day.

Often considered to be the first “modern search engine,” JumpStation went live in December 1993.  Hosted at the University of Sterling in Scotland the site used document titles and headings to index web pages and did not provide any form of ranking, meaning it could be an arduous task to find the exact result that you were looking for.

👉  The Olympics open on Friday a year late and during a COVID-19 state of emergency in Tokyo.  At least eight athletes who have traveled to Japan for the Games and dozens of others connected to the Olympics have tested positive for the virus.  Many players of the South African men’s soccer team has been put into isolation after close contacts of two of its members tested positive.  Infections have been reported among almost every group of people involved in the Games, from athletes to coaches to IOC officials, as well as contractors and the media.  In the Olympic Village, which athletes can only enter after a series of tests before and after their arrival in Japan, the first cases of infection have surfaced.  Like this beach volley ball stadium, no venues will admit spectators.

👉  A young friend of mine says she will not get the COVID-19 vaccine because she has read on the internet that the vaccine could affect fertility, and affect her ability to get pregnant.  That outrageous sounding claim caused me to do some research.  

Myth: I won’t be able to get or stay pregnant if I take a COVID-19 vaccine.

Fact: This myth has been going around on social media. It claims that antibodies made from the COVID-19 vaccines will bind to proteins in the placenta (the organ that gives an unborn baby food and oxygen) and stop pregnancy.  Scientific studies have found no evidence linking COVID-19 to infertility.  If you want a detailed explanation of what the studies do say, click on this link.  It is complicated, but well worth reading the three paragraphs, or watch the video.

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccines are unsafe because drug companies created them quickly.

Fact: Because we’re in a global pandemic, drug companies spent lots of time and money quickly making the COVID-19 vaccines.  But that doesn’t mean they’re unsafe.  All vaccines in the U.S. go through strict studies to make sure they’re safe and will work.  The FDA, which regulates vaccines, must also approve them.

Myth: The vaccines will make me sick with COVID-19.

Fact: None of the approved COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S., or that other companies are currently developing, have the live virus that causes COVID-19.  The bottom line: A COVID-19 vaccine can’t make you sick with the disease.

Myth: Vaccines were created to kill off old people (a corollary to the one immediately above).

Fact: 85% of “old people” are vaccinated and death rates among them have dropped dramatically – they are among the least number of deaths.  The death rates are up dramatically among 20-40 somethings who refuse to be vaccinated.

More myth busters tomorrow.

👉  Let’s smile a bit:

👉  We close today with another meditation in Psalm 119 from Praying with the Psalms, by Eugene H. Peterson.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”  (Psalm 119:105).

Christians know no more of the future than anyone else.  But we do have clear illumination for each step taken in faith and hope – the daily steps of discipline.  For this reason Christians stride into each day with confident joy.

Prayer: “O grant us light, that we may know the wisdom Thou alone canst give; that truth may guide where’er we go, and virtue bless where’er we live.  O Grant us light, that we may see where error lurks in human lore, and turn our seeking minds to Thee, and love Thy holy Word the more” (Lawrence Tuttiett, “O Grant Us Light”).  Amen.

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