Watching the World
Witnesses in Grenada
● Grenada, a tiny speck on a world map, became the focus of international attention last October. Since its recent problems, how have the 300 Jehovah’s Witnesses who live on that Caribbean island fared? All the Witnesses are well and continue active in their ministry. In the neighboring island of Barbados, Witnesses gathered more than one ton of food in less than two days for their Grenadian fellow Witnesses. Shortly after the Grenadian airport reopened, an airplane chartered by the Watchtower Society in Barbados brought in 1,400 pounds of the donated food for distribution among the Witnesses. Spiritual food was also provided. On that same day in Grenada, 274 attended a religious meeting conducted by representatives of the Witnesses from Barbados and the world headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses also provided financial aid to those in need.
Deadly Alcohol
● Alcohol is linked to fatal injuries, reports the United States Centers for Disease Control. Homicides, suicides and accidents are leading causes of death in the United States, and alcohol is identified as one of the contributory factors common to all of them. The Fulton County Medical Examiner of the state of Georgia reviewed all fatal injury deaths in that county for 1982. In examining the 95 percent of all those who died within six hours of injury, the following was observed: More than 51 percent of homicide victims were legally drunk. In 85 percent of the motor-vehicle accidents resulting in death, at least one driver was drunk. And 20 percent of suicide victims were drunk at the time of death.
Ghana’s “Mushroom Churches”
● In the Republic of Ghana, faith-healing churches are springing up so rapidly that Ghanaians call them “mushroom churches,” reports Bijeen, a Roman Catholic monthly published in the Netherlands. “There are about 500 of these Pentecostal-styled churches in Ghana alone,” says Jo Leferink, a priest and representative of Ghana’s Roman Catholic secretariat for ecumenism. Since these “mushroom churches” are drawing crowds away from the established churches, the Catholic Church in an effort to reverse the trend, has introduced their own “healing service, to meet the demand,” says Bijeen.
Germany’s Clergy-Politicians
● The Federal Republic of Germany’s Palatinate Lutheran Church wants no “election campaigns carried on from the pulpit” but does allow its clergymen to be politically active. The German weekly Christ in der Gegenwart reports that “the Church’s State Synod has passed a preliminary statute granting ministers who are striving for a political mandate a total or partial leave of absence during election campaigns.”
Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic Church in Germany allows none of its clergy to hold political office. According to the German magazine Westermanns Monatshefte, “accepting a mandate to serve in legislative bodies is only done under the threat of excommunication.” Why the different stand from the Lutherans? The magazine gives one reason: “The Reich’s Concordat of 1933—formed between the Vatican and the National Socialists—that forbade office holders in the Catholic Church from holding political power is still in effect. This agreement allowed Hitler to get rid of an undesirable and morally influential rival. During the Weimarian Republic priests had played a significant role as deputies in the Reichstag.”
“Factories of Death”
● Roman Catholics who work on military projects may be in a predicament. Pope John Paul II, in a strong statement alluding to nuclear weapons, urged scientists the world over to exercise their freedom of choice and forsake research work in “laboratories and factories of death” and, in its place, to focus on “laboratories of life.” The pope addressed some 115 scientists from at least 29 nations, including 20 Nobel prize winners, at a meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Science in the Vatican. He further stated: “It is an irreplaceable task of the scientific community to insure . . . that the discoveries of science are not placed at the service of war, tyranny and terror.”
A German Roman Catholic priest was even more direct in his views on nuclear weapons. The National Catholic Reporter says: “Father Karl Rahner had said Catholics should refuse to work on nuclear weapons in the same way and for the same reasons that they should refuse to ‘cooperate’ in abortions.” This may pose troublesome employment questions for some Catholics.
Gaelic Tongue
● The road signs in the Highlands of Scotland may soon be written in two languages—English and Gaelic—reports London’s Daily Telegraph. The Highlanders are also seeking to increase radio and television broadcasting in Gaelic, thereby hoping to preserve their native tongue. Although only 3 to 4 percent of Scotland’s 5 million inhabitants speak Gaelic, up to 60 percent of the Scots living in some of the Highland areas use the Gaelic tongue. Bruce Black, an administrator for the Highland Regional Council, said: “It’s very disappointing to find that while some departments distribute forms in Gujarati, Hindi or Welsh, they don’t provide them in Gaelic.”
New Energy Sources
● Brazil has been using gasohol to run cars, but the engines required adaptation. Now, reports South magazine, researchers in Brazil have successfully run 13-ton lorries, without engine modification, using vegetable oil. “Palm oil, and oil from soyabeans, peanuts, rape and sunflower seeds are equally efficient as substitutes or supplements to diesel,” says South, and require simpler technology to produce. Meanwhile, spurred by Brazil’s success, Iraq has been experimenting with a fuel utilizing alcohol produced from dates. A variety called Zuhdi was found to be best because of its high sugar content. Dates are Iraq’s second largest export. And in the United States, farmers are using cow manure to produce electricity. A “digester,” fueled by manure, turns out electricity that is sold to power companies. Useful by-products are methane gas, liquid fertilizer and solids.
Doll Mania
● Cabbage Patch Kids dolls have been the toy hit of the Christmas season in North America. Stores, swamped with buyers, could not keep up with the demand. Parents, willing to pay more than double their suggested retail selling price, have kept the manufacturer busy churning out 200,000 dolls per week. About 3,000,000 were estimated to have been sold in Canada and the United States by the end of last year. The dolls have no electronic gadgetry. Their faces are not beautiful but homely, yet winsome. Why the demand? Because each doll’s face is different from that of any other, due to computer design. Hence, each is a one-of-a-kind doll. In addition, they come with “adoption papers,” making children feel the dolls are really theirs. Psychologist Joyce Brothers, writing in the New York Post, gives another reason for the doll mania: “Most children’s toys today are 90 percent battery-operated and 10 percent kid-operated. It was time for a return to a toy that doesn’t do anything.”
“Silent” Marriages
● The longer a couple is married, the less they talk to one another, says German scientist professor H. W. Jürgens after a six-year-long study of the “communication behaviors” of German couples. According to the Allgemeine Zeitung, published in Mainz, Germany, Jürgens says that after two years of marriage, mates spend about 30 minutes a day talking to each other. One explanation is that older couples already know exactly what their mate thinks and what they would most likely say on any given issue. But the newspaper adds: “Many older couples who still have a great deal to say to each other show that this doesn’t have to be the case. But it is usually the wife who takes the initiative.”
Painful Credit
● Doctors in Britain were puzzled at the incidence of sciatica in men. Eventually, after a long hot summer, the answer became clear. In the heat, businessmen leave off their jackets and transfer the ubiquitous wallet, packed with credit cards, from their jackets to the back pocket of their trousers. All the time that they sit at the desk or in the car, the wad of cards applies pressure to the sciatic nerve, causing excruciating pain down the leg. Having discovered the cause, the treatment suggested for “credit card sciatica” was, of course, very simple—remove the wallet.
Two Heads Better?
● A two-headed water snake has become a major attraction at the Miami Serpentarium. Named Hatfield and McCoy after the infamous feuding clans of West Virginia, the snake is now about three feet (1 m) long. Both heads are active, and if one is covered the other can see. However, the snake seems confused as to whether two heads are better than one. “They have a problem sometimes,” says the Serpentarium’s director, Bill Haast, “because they might want to go different ways. You can see a kind of vibration being set up, as if there’s a tug of war going on.”
Traffic-Jam Bliss
● Traffic jams—a motorist’s nightmare? If you think so, spare the thought for the befuddled traffic experts in Munich, Germany. Trying to find out why so many motorists completely ignore radio warnings telling of traffic congestion, they report that drivers actually “love to boast about the length of the traffic jams they have been trapped in,” according to the Sunday Express of London. The survey continues: “For some reason a traffic jam seems to give the average Bavarian car driver the feeling that he is really someone. . . . It seems to be a form of swankiness, . . . as if they welcome a chance to show off.” The experts say that they are at a complete loss to understand their findings.
Deep Divers
● The Arctic bird guillemot surprised Soviet biologists doing deep-sea exploration in a bathyscaphe, reports Sputnik magazine. As they peered through the portholes of their submerged ship, the researchers spotted the guillemot plunging for fish at a depth of 262 feet (80 m). Prior to this sighting, it was believed that this denizen of the northern hemisphere could dive no more than 33 feet (10 m). As amazing as the guillemot’s diving skill is, it is eclipsed by its southern-hemisphere cousins, the Antarctic emperor penguins. They are known for diving to depths of more than 656 feet (200 m).