Where is Friday night?
What happened to Saturday?
When the world stopped

Sorry in advance but I am all over the place this morning.

In the once famous Scopes Trial in Tennessee, over the teaching of evolution in Tennessee schools, Clarence Darrow (for the defense) asked William Jennings Bryan (for the prosecution), ” have you ever pondered what would have happened to the earth if it had stood still?”

Darrow was asking about the verses, Joshua 11:13-14, “The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 14 There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!”

Darrow’s point was that had the earth stopped it would have been burnt to a crisp in seconds.

I like Mr. Darrow.

I like Mr. Darrow a lot for a lot of reasons.

But I do come away from reading his stuff with a feeling that he was searching, hoping for answers that were in front of his face.

And I believe and accept as fact that at the battle in the Valley of Aijalon, the Sun and the Moon stopped.

But I digress.

And to digress some more (it is my blog after all)

In the classic science fiction movie, the The Day the Earth Stood Still, aliens from other planets grow concerned over the way Earth is being run. To get the world’s attention, all electrical power is shut off for 30 minutes around the world.

And the Earth stands still.

To digress further.

In an episode of Sponge Bob, Square Pants, the evil Plankton concocts a spray that makes all the people of Bikini Bottom as dumb as Patrick.

And that is pretty dumb.

Once everyone has been sprayed, they all gather in the center of town, staring at the STOP sign.

Where am I going with this?

I feel like the world HAS stopped.

I feel like the power is off.

I feel like we are all staring at a stop sign.

My Friday night was the night for take out pizza and eating with the family as the realization sunk in the I had the weekend.

I was going to sleep in.

I wasn’t going to drive to Downtown Atlanta.

Some Saturday afternoon adventure with my wife, driving somewhere in North Georgia, was possible.

We still got pizza last night.

I still slept in this morning.

Tomorrow is Sunday.

We won’t be going to Church.

Why have a big Sunday noon meal if we can’t come home from Church and open the door to the wonderful smell of baking chicken or roasting beef?

When will my Sunday night anxiety about the Monday morning commute kick in?

Where did Friday night, Saturday and Sunday go?

I have been working from home.

And I just got notified to plan on working from home through April 11.

I admit I am grateful I have a job that isn’t suspended by the flu.

I am grateful that I can work from home.

Still, we have stopped.

What happens when we start up?

Part of my job is managing clusters of video transcoding machines at a server farms in Dallas and Dulles.

(Yes I have got them mixed up. Once with near disastrous results.)

These machines are getting older and should have their systems updated.

But my boss is afraid that they have been running so long that if we turn them off to update them, they might not come back online.

So we don’t turn them off.

But the world has stopped.

What will and what won’t work when we start up again?

A puzzle to ponder.

A worry to worry about.

For that, we will just have to wait and see.

In the meantime?

Some reassurance would be nice and I found it in nature.

I was pleased to run across this in the Guardian this morning.

“The water is blue and clear,” in the Canals of Venice.

For a interesting side perspective on the social distancing, please see Nature is taking back Venice’: wildlife returns to tourist-free city.

The article starts, “

Look down into the waters of the Venice canals today and there is a surprising sight – not just a clear view of the sandy bed, but shoals of tiny fish, scuttling crabs and multicoloured plant-life.

“The water is blue and clear,” said Gloria Beggiato, who owns the celebrated Metropole Hotel a few steps from St Mark’s square and has a view over the Venice lagoon. “It is calm like a pond, because there are no more waves caused by motorised boats transporting day-tripper tourists. And of course, the giant cruise ships have disappeared.”

Under Venice’s strict rules of self-confinement to prevent the spread of the coronavirus – all journeys but a trip to walk the dog or buy food are forbidden – the ancient city has been transformed almost overnight.”

For me, there is a dark side that enjoy’s seeing the power of Nature.

Everyone talks about the weather but no one CAN do anything about it.

Nature’s storms, snow, rain, hurricanes, earthquakes and viruses can stop us dead in our tracks.

And once we stop, the Earth bounces back.

I find comfort in the story about the canals in Venice.

The God that built that much reserve power in the Earth is in charge.

We can all stare at the stop sign for awhile but the spray will wear off.

The power will come back on.

And when Joshua asked God to stop the Earth, it was the God who made the Earth and all of the natural laws that we have to abide by.

So the Earth did not get burnt to a crisp.

I wouldn’t be here writing this if it had.

change in attitudes
all our running and cunning
laugh or go insane

I am not a parrot head.

Not by a long shot.

But I do enjoy Jimmy Buffett.

When I look at his list of songs, like many artists from Anita Baker to Sam and Dave, I am surprised at how many songs I have scratched on my memory plate.

I like many of his songs.

But for me, Mr. Buffett is like KFC.

I enjoy if its not too often.

For all those who just screamed, DID HE COMPARE JIMMY BUFFETT to KFC, you can just leave the room.

Gee whiz.

It wasn’t a comment aside from I like Jimmy Buffett in small doses.

Regardless, anyone and everyone has to admit that Mr. Buffett has a way with the words.

“If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me”

The start of the song “Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes” is one of my favorite bits of writing PERIOD.

Cute? Maybe.

Dr. Suessish? Nahhhhh.

Clever? Without a doubt.

Fun? Beyond beyond words.

I took off for a weekend last month
Just to try and recall the whole year.

Right now, its the chorus that resonates.

With all of our running and all of our cunning,
If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.

I have more to say but if Mr. Buffett’s music does anything for me it makes me stop whatever I am doing and sit down and stare.

If I recommended music for anyone during this time of sanctioned introspection, I don’t know that you could go wrong with these songs of sun sea and beach.

“Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes”

I took off for a weekend last month
Just to try and recall the whole year.
All of the faces and all of the places,
wonderin’ where they all disappeared.
I didn’t ponder the question too long;
I was hungry and went out for a bite.
Ran into a chum with a bottle of rum,
and we wound up drinkin’ all night.

It’s those changes in latitudes,
changes in attitudes nothing remains quite the same.
With all of our running and all of our cunning,
If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.

Reading departure signs in some big airport
Reminds me of the places I’ve been.
Visions of good times that brought so much pleasure
Makes me want to go back again.
If it suddenly ended tomorrow,
I could somehow adjust to the fall.
Good times and riches and son of a bitches,
I’ve seen more than I can recall

These changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes,
Nothing remains quite the same.
Through all of the islands and all of the highlands,
If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane

I think about Paris when I’m high on red wine,
I wish I could jump on a plane.
And so many nights I just dream of the ocean.
God, I wish I was sailin’ again.
Oh, yesterdays are over my shoulder,
So I can’t look back for too long.
There’s just too much to see waiting in front of me,
and I know that I just can’t go wrong
with these…

These changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes,
Nothing remains quite the same.
Through all of the islands and all of the highlands,
If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane

should remember that
not unhealthy as they fear
healthy as they feel

“How would you like to feel the way she looks?” says Groucho Marx in the movie, “Night at the Opera” as he watches Auzcena the gypsy singing.

I was reminded of that line when I read one the better articles on Coronavirus and what it feels like to come down with and go through the illiness.

The article, What does the coronavirus do to your body? Everything to know about the infection process, by Javier Zarracina, and Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY, in a well written and nicely presented fashion recounts how you get the virus, how you feel when you start to come down with the virus and what you go through as the virus works though you.

The authors interviews a Dr. Raphael Viscidi, infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Dr. Viscidi says, “So it’s basically a war between the host response and the virus,” Hirsch said. “Depending who wins this war we have either good outcomes where patients recover or bad outcomes where they don’t.

Restricting oxygen to the bloodstream deprives other major organs of oxygen including the liver, kidney and brain.

In a small number of severe cases that can develop into acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which requires a patient be placed on a ventilator to supply oxygen.

However, if too much of the lung is damaged and not enough oxygen is supplied to the rest of the body, respiratory failure could lead to organ failure and death.”

For me, the most important words are, “In a small number of severe cases.”

On 2nd thought those aren’t the most important words from Dr. Viscidi.

The most important words come at the very end of the article.

“People should remember that they’re as healthy as they feel,” Dr. Viscidi said. “And shouldn’t go around feeling as unhealthy as they fear.”

The article says, “Viscidi urges to public to think of the coronavirus like the flu because it goes through the same process within the body. Many people contract the flu and recover with no complications.”

In Night at the Opera, just before Grouch says, “How would you like to feel the way she looks,” he has another great line that more or less sums up my take on all this.

“Boogie, boogie, boogie”

coronavirus
said backward, needle reversed
turn me on dead man

If you say CORONAVIRUS backwards, you can hear the phrase, “turn me on deadman.”

Honest!

This haiku is a test.

This is only a test.

This is only a test for the people who know.

How many themes can you find hidden in this Haiku?

Records.

Not Olympic records but music, long playing albums and 45’s.

Record played with a diamond needles.

Hidden messages in records.

Playing records backwards by spinning the turntable manually.

If you could, place the tone arm, as it was called, so the needle was reversed OR just leave it and hope you didn’t wreck the needle.

Possibly the most famous ‘hidden message’ was in the Beatle’s White Album.

In the song, Revolution 9, the words, “number 9, number 9, number 9”, are repeated over and over.

If played backwards in the manner described above, you heard the secret message, “Turn Me on Deadman, Turn me on Deadman.”

You heard about this as a rumor at school.

You tried it home.

It worked!

It was thrilling and hilarious.

You tried it all your other albums to find hidden messages.

You wrecked the needle on your record player.

You bragged at school that you heard the message but it wrecked your needle.

If you were REALLY cool you said “stylus” instead of “needle”.

Sermons in churches were based on these hidden messages.

Paul was dead.

Paul wasn’t dead just facing backwards on Sgt. Pepper.

I have never been to England, but I kinda like the Beatles.

My sister Mary screaming “THERE HE IS”, when Paul walked on stage with John Lennon to accept a Grammy.

And people think iPhones are cool.

Go figure.

Help me out, what did I miss?