QUARANTINE BLOG # 569

October 20, 2021

Here are some pictures from our Great Smokey Mountain Train ride.  Great day.  Super fun.  Two thumbs way up.

👉  Just in time for Christmas.  Procter & Gamble Co. is raising prices on a host of household staples as costs for freight and raw materials are rising faster than the consumer-product giant anticipated.  The price increases come in addition to earlier moves to start charging more for staples from diapers to toilet paper.

U.S. inflation is at its highest level in a decade as price increases from pandemic-related labor and materials shortages ripple through the economy.  “We do not anticipate any easing of costs,” P&G Finance Chief Andre Schulten said.  “We continue to see increases week after week, though at a slower pace.”

Mr. Schulten said the company’s higher spending is wide ranging, particularly as it works to ensure it has products in stock as consumers increasingly encounter sparse shelves at stores.  He said P&G is enlisting backup suppliers, changing up shipping routes to get around bottlenecks, reformulating products and, in some cases, limiting how much any one retailer can buy at a time to avoid stockpiling.

👉  Some Blackouts for your Wednesday:

👉  The Food and Drug Administration is moving to soon allow people to receive booster shots that are different from their first Covid-19 vaccine doses.  The FDA won’t recommend any booster over the others but will permit people to get a booster shot that is different from the shot they first received.  Mixing and matching vaccines has emerged as an issue, as the U.S. has begun a booster campaign to shore up the immune protection generated by vaccines, especially against the contagious Delta variant.  Some doctors and health authorities have pressed for mixing and matching to simplify logistics of the booster rollout and to ensure that people who want boosters have access to them regardless of their initial vaccine.  Preliminary data also shows that mixing and matching could provide more protection than sticking with the same vaccine.

👉  From Non Sequitor about vaccinations:

👉  Some more wise words from Mac:

They found a dead bird in the garage, and Mac wanted to put him in a box, “and do the thing Pappy does when people die.”

“Pappy is going to be my best man when I get married.”

Mac had a dentist appointment to check the bottom teeth and how they were growing in.  He had some wiggly ones.  “Mama, maybe the dentist has some butter he can rub on my wiggly teeth and it will make them fall out, like if you get your leg caught in a chair and you rub butter in it to free it.  One time my leg got caught in a chair at Granny’s but she didn’t have to use butter.  She just pulled it out.”

👉  In case you missed it, Matt Amodio, a Ph.D. student from New Haven, CT, after winning 38 consecutive games and earning over $1.5 million, lost his 39th Jeopardy! game and officially ended his record-shattering streak – the second-longest one in the show’s history.  Several hours after his loss, Matt tweeted, in classy fashion, “Congrats to today’s two brilliant challengers for making it an exciting game of Jeopardy today!  Let’s celebrate a match well played by Jonathan and Jessica!

Greatest Of All Time champion Ken Jennings said, “What a run!”

Brad Rutter added, “Congrats on a fantastic run!  Most impressive, and I look forward to seeing what you do on Jeopardy! in the future.  Much respect!” 

Buzzy Cohen also sent Matt an encouraging message, “Congrats to on your amazing run.  It’s no surprise what a following you’ve built being such a kind and gracious champion.  Welcome to being a Jeopardy! loser with the rest of us!” 

Matt wrote back, “Is this what that feels like?  Huh.  Not so bad.”

👉  Some funnies from Pickles:

👉  And the beat goes on.  Now the news is Bill Gates sent inappropriate emails.  Folks, when is this slimy digging up the past going to stop?  Have you ever said anything inappropriate?  I have.  In an email?  I have.  In social media medium?  I’ve said ugly things about social media, but I don’t have an account, so I’m safe on that one.  We have all said and done things of which we are not proud.  Why is it so important to drag up this stuff and smear people?  I am so glad that when God forgives us, he forgets it!  “I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25).

👉  Today’s close is from Praying with the Psalms, by Eugene H. Peterson.

“As far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).

The experience of forgiveness provokes the activity of praise, in forgiveness our sins are personally confronted, not impersonally condemned.  We experience God’s severity, but even more his grace.

Prayer: Merciful Father, I used to try to hide my true self from you, assuming that if you knew all about me you would necessarily condemn me.  Now I know that your knowledge is gracious and that deception is futile.  Come to me with just the right mixture of severity and kindness.  Judge me and save me, both at the same time, in Jesus Christ.  Amen.

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