QUARANTINE BLOG # 597

November 17, 2021

Some catchup from earlier Blogs.

One reader asked me about the quote at the beginning of the amethyst ring piece: “One Ring to Cure Them All.”  I borrowed that from J. R. R. Tolkien’s great trilogy, The Lord of the Rings.  The One Ring (One Ring to Rule Them All – there were 9 rings in total), is a central plot element in the stories.  It first appeared in the earlier story The Hobbit as a magic ring that grants the wearer invisibility.  Tolkien changed it into a malevolent Ring of Power and re-wrote parts of The Hobbit to fit in with the expanded narrative.  The Lord of the Rings describes the Hobbit Frodo Baggins’s quest to destroy the Ring.

Amy pointed out to me that Georgia, The Peach State, is not the nation’s largest producer of peaches.  In fact, it is third with 33,400 tons produced in 2020.  South Carolina is second with 76,500 tons, and California is first with 468,000 tons produced (California is The Golden State – maybe they could change it to The Peach Colored State?).

With the Reese’s Thanksgiving Pie sold out (and a whopping $44.95 at that) I googled recipes so you might create your own.  Pillsbury has one.  And a website called The Slow Roasted Italian has another.  These two do not appear to be exact copies, so does almost also count in Reese’s Thanksgiving Pies – like it does in horse shoes, quoits, hand grenades, and atomic bombs?

Oh, and I did find a picture of Bacon Seeds:

👉  Let’s start some new stuff with some APF, amusing panels of fun:

👉  Two from our “Ooh You’re Gold” collection:

👉  Jennifer sent me the following.  It features Anakin Skywalker, a.k.a. Darth Vader, and Senator Padmé Amidala, mother of Luke and Leia Skywalker.

👉  The season for online shopping is approaching (for some of us, it’s year round, for others it is at Christmas time).  And it is also the season for scammers to shop for your credit cards and personal information.  QB offers a few tips to help keep yourself, and your money, secure.

1.  Look for the lock.  Always use a secure internet connection when making a purchase.  Reputable websites use technologies such as SSL (Secure Socket Layer) that encrypt data during transmission.  You will see a little lock icon on your browser (and usually “https” at the front of your address bar) to confirm it’s a secure connection.

2.  Pay securely.  Only shop on sites that take secure payment methods, such as credit cards and PayPal, which is electronically linked to your credit card or bank account.  Never send cash or a cheque.

3.  Update your software.  Whether you shop on a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop, always keep the operating system up to date to avoid cybercriminals exploiting a weakness.

4.  Do your homework.  When on auction sites like eBay, check the seller’s reputation and read comments before buying a product to see what the experience was like for past customers.  Also, don’t forget about the No. 1 tip about shopping: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.  You won’t find a Google Pixel 6 or an iPhone 13 for $300.

5.  Use good passwords.  A good password is at least eight characters long and includes letters, numbers and symbols.  Use a free password generator site like Last Pass (lastpass.com) or Bitwarden (bitwarden.com).

👉  Today’s close, “God’s Signature Makes You Special” is by Max Lucado.

With God in your world, you aren’t an accident or an incident: you are a gift to the world, a divine work of art, signed by God.

One of the finest gifts I ever received is a football signed by thirty former professional quarterbacks.  There is nothing unique about this ball.  For all I know it was bought at discount sports store.  What makes it unique is the signatures.

The same is true with us.  In the scheme of our nature Homo sapiens are not unique.  We aren’t the only creatures with flesh and hair and blood and hearts.  What makes us special is not only our body but the signature of God on our lives.  We are his works of art.  We are created in his image to do good deeds.  We are significant, not because of what we do, but because of whose we are.

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