QUARANTINE BLOG # 595

November 15, 2021

Yesterday, Google who did not do a special doodle to recognize and honor the 3,000 of us who died in the Islamic terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, saluted Fanny Mendelssohn, a pianist on her 216th birthday.  This celebrated pianist, praised for her piano technique, rarely gave public performances outside her family circle.  But she got a Google doodle.

👉  This state nickname is easy: The Peach State.  Oh, now let’s not always see the same hands.  Georgia is The Peach State.  Georgia designated the peach as the official state fruit in 1995, and the peach is featured on the Georgia quarter.  Georgia are is also called “The Goober State” (“goober” is an old word for peanut, which is also the official state crop of Georgia).

Because of its great abundance of unsettled land, Alaska earned the nickname “The Last Frontier.”  Its official motto is “North to the Future,” while the name “Alaska,” itself derives the Aleut word “aleyska,” meaning “great land.”

Delaware was designated “The First State” on May 23, 2002, following a request by Mrs. Anabelle O’Malley’s first grade class at Mt. Pleasant Elementary School.  Delaware was the first of the 13 original states to ratify the United States Constitution on December 7, 1787.  Delaware Day is celebrated each December 7 as a holiday in the state.

👉  I am prepared to take back one of the negative things I’ve said about social media because of a clip from TikTok.  A girl was reported missing from Asheville, N.C., and in distress in the passenger seat of a car traveling through Kentucky appeared to be waving through the window to passing cars on Thursday.  But one person in a nearby car recognized the signal from TikTok, and knew it was no ordinary wave.  The girl, 16, was using a new distress signal, tucking her thumb into her palm before closing her fingers over it.  The signal, created by the Canadian Women’s Foundation for people to indicate that they are at risk of abuse and need help, has spread largely through TikTok.

👉  Britannica has a new book out called Listified, subtitled “300 lists that will blow your mind.”  The pages of sources used total 8, and in small print.  The author says every list was fact checked.  Trusting the reliability, QB will share a list or two, from time to time.

This is your life!  The average human spends: 24 years sleeping, 15 years sitting down, 14 years working, 7 years using a smart phone, 4 years eating, 4 years walking, 18 months going to the bathroom, 9 months getting dressed, 6 months exercising, 6 months in the shower, and 3 months brushing their teeth.

Over your lifetime, your body will make about 4,000,000,000,000,000 (4 quadrillion) red blood cells, 9,000 gallons of urine, 7,000 gallons of saliva, 2,800 gallons of sweat, 2,500 pounds of poop (roughly the weight of two Asian elephants), 45 pounds of skin, and 40 feet of hair (unless you are Rapunzel).

👉  A couple Senior T-shirts:

👉  Today’s Blackout:

👉  This guy reminds me of someone I know:

👉  A new rocket designed to launch humans to the moon, Mars and beyond will launch next year from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  On board, will be a familiar fuzzy figure – Snoopy.  A 5-ounce plush toy version of the daydreaming beagle – wearing a space suit designed according to NASA’s strict specifications – has an important job for the Artemis I unmanned mission.

NASA uses stuffed animals on flights because when the little guys start to float, it indicates that the spacecraft has entered space’s zero gravity.  Since the toys are soft and light, they won’t break anything or accidentally strike a button.  Snoopy will be on board the Artemis I unmanned mission next February.  Also aboard will be two Lego figurines, part of an educational series.

The plush Snoopy’s gravity-monitoring task – it’s officially called the zero gravity indicator – will be far from the first stuffed toy used by astronauts.  Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, had a small doll when he launched on Vostok 1.  Since then, an owl doll and an Angry Birds toy have been on the International Space Station, a plush R2-D2 was used as the talisman on a Soyuz mission in 2015.   A plush Snoopy has also been on the space station.

Snoopy has a long history with NASA, starting when the Apollo X astronauts Thomas Stafford, John Young and Gene Cernan chose “Peanuts” characters as nicknames – the command module was called Charlie Brown, and the lunar module was Snoopy.

Charles Schulz, for his part, drew strips with Snoopy walking on the lunar surface.

👉  Today’s close by Susanna Foth Aughtman is from Mornings with Jesus.

“How many loaves do you have ?”Jesus asked. “Seven, ” they replied, “and a few small fish” (Matthew 1:34).

My husband, Scott, and I have been church planting in the San Francisco Bay area for seven years. It has not been the easiest thing we have ever done. But we have committed ourselves to doing what Jesus has so strongly laid upon our hearts to do. More than anything, we want people to come to know Jesus. But starting a church from scratch is not for the faint of heart, and sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the “have nots.”

When we are struggling, it is easy think, Well, we don’t have a lot of people. That’s why it’s so hard. Or, We don’t have a lot of money. Or, I’m an awkward worship leader. Or, People in the area where we live just don’t like Jesus so much. That’s why it’s so hard. But I don’t think that Jesus cares at all about those things.

In fact, He is at His best when the odds are at their worst. He once faced a crowd of four thousand hungry people with seven loaves of bread and a few fish. Not once did He say, “Oh man! We don’t have enough food. There’s nothing I can do.” He simply turned to the disciples and said, (paraphrase) “Okay, what have we got?”

Jesus is more interested in finding out if we are willing to offer Him what we have than worrying about what we don’t have. If we focus on all the things that we don’t have, there is not a whole lot He can do. But if we are willing – palms open, hands outstretched – to give Him what we do have, however paltry it may be, the sky is the limit.

Faith step: Write a list in your journal of all you have got to give to Jesus. Follow it with this simple prayer: Jesus, this is all I’ve got. Use it for Your glory. Amen.

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