QUARANTINE BLOG # 484

July 27, 2021

A photographer was on a whale-watching trip when he unexpectedly captured incredible photos of a large humpback whale exploding out of the water right next to an unsuspecting fisherman on his boat.  Salmon season coincides with the time when humpbacks are returning to Monterey Bay to feed for the summer and there were hundreds of boats on the bay fishing. 

“This whale had breached a couple of times before this and many times they’ll just keep doing it,” the photographer Douglas Croft stated.  “That the breach was directly behind the fishing boat makes really shows the size.  Since the boat is closer, it should look bigger, but the whale is huge!  If I’d been the fisherman, I’d probably need some new underwear.”  Another whale watcher was able to capture a great video of this breach from a different perspective.

👉  Oliver Daemen, the 18-year-old physics student who flew on the first crewed launch of New Shepard, told Jeff Bezos he had never made a purchase from Amazon.  “I told Jeff, like, I’ve actually never bought something from Amazon,” Daemen told Reuters in an interview last Friday at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. “And he was like, ‘Oh, wow, it’s a long time ago I heard someone say that.’”

It was interesting to hear a non-American teenager use “like” and “he was like” every other sentence.  Increase your vocabulary kids!

👉  Health officials and politicians have tried to stay positive in recent months as vaccination rates plummet, turning to ad campaigns touting giveaways and lottery drawings.  And then the ultra-contagious delta variant arrived.  Now health officials say the nation’s lagging vaccine rates are creating a spiraling public health crisis as the unvaccinated rapidly get sick.  A growing chorus of voices say people who resist vaccinations should face pressure – and consequences.

Some hospital administrators agree, and healthcare workers who refused to get vaccinated have been fired or quit in New Jersey and Texas. A spokesperson for Houston Methodist Hospital said on June 23, 153 employees either resign or were fired for refusing to be vaccinated. 

“Getting the vaccine should be the easy choice,” Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and public professor at George Washington University and a proponent of vaccine mandates, said. “Opting out has to be the hard choice.”  Multiple experts have stated that high numbers of unvaccinated increase the chance that even worse variants of the virus will arise.  Wen is among experts who say vaccine requirements should be seen as akin to laws against drunk driving and other reckless behavior. 

👉  If you are looking for something to celebrate today, there are two good foods you can consume, eulogize, make merry, and beat the drum for: hamburgers and milk chocolate.

Today is National Hamburger Day which takes place twice a year.  Why more than one day for burgers?  Probably because so many people claim to have invented the burger.  Some sources say that Louis Lassen did it, at Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, on July 27, 1900.  This is the reason why July 27 is one of the National Hamburger Days.  The choosing of December 21 for a day devoted to hamburgers seems to be arbitrary and doesn’t appear to be connected to anything in particular.  No matter who came up with the hamburger, it was created sometime around the turn of the nineteenth century, and its popularity was boosted at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis.  Fire up the grill and get the fixins ready.

Cheeseburger (with onions and tomatoes) at Louis’ Lunch, New Haven, Connecticut

And today is also National Milk Chocolate Day.  The proportion of each of cocoa, sugar, and milk in the chocolate varies by brand and country of origin.  Milk chocolate is the most popular kind of chocolate in many countries.  Most of it is sold in the United States and Europe.  Milk chocolate was first made in 1875 when Daniel Peter, a Swiss chocolatier, added his chocolate to the newly-discovered sweetened condensed milk of Henri Nestlé.  It soon became popular in America and Europe.

Milton S. Hershey, who had been in the candy business since the age of fourteen, was enamored by the chocolate-making he saw at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  The first milk chocolate Hershey bar was produced in 1900.  With Hershey’s support, a company town sprang up around the factory, and milk from nearby farms was used in making the milk chocolate.  Milton Hershey invented the Hershey’s kiss in 1907, and its trademark foil wrapper was added in 1924.  Hershey provided troops in World War II with chocolate bars.

👉  For all of you sports fans out there, today is the day to celebrate the birthdays of Leo Durocher (1906) and Paul Michael Levesque (1969).

Durocher, a baseball player and manager, was a controversial and outspoken character, his career was dogged by clashes with authority, umpires, and the press.  His 95 career ejections ranks fourth on the all-time list.  He has 2,009 career victories as a manager, which ranks tenth. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.

Levesque, also known “Triple H,” is recognized as one of the best professional wrestlers of all-time who has moved on to becoming a successful business executive in the wrestling industry.  Among his ring accomplishments are 14 world titles; 5 Intercontinental Championships; a Triple Crown; Grand Slam; 2 Royal Rumble titles; and a King of the Ring tournament success.  In 2003 he married Stephanie McMahon, the boss’s daughter.

👉  A couple of smile, gone to the dogs, before we close.

👉  Today’s close concludes our studies in Psalm 119 with a meditation from Praying with the Psalms, by Eugene H. Peterson.

“I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek out your servant, for I do not forget your commandments”   (Psalm 119:176).

We do not merely admire God’s word – we need it: it is that which saves us.  It is this same word that “became flesh” in Jesus (John 1:14-18).  It is not a word to revere in church; it is a word by which we are rescued from daily sin.

Prayer: Father, I love your word and cannot do without it.  I have wandering feet and require much watching.  Lead me and guide me in the name of Jesus “the great shepherd of the sheep” (Hebrews 13:20).  Amen.

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