Watching the World
Wisdom from the Past
◆ To illustrate how times change, Atlantic magazine recently published the “essence of a statute passed in 1660 in the Massachusetts Colony,” as follows: “PUBLICK NOTICE - The Observation of CHRISTMAS having been deemed a Sacrilege, the exchanging of Gifts and Greetings, dressing in Fine Clothing, Feasting and similar Satanical practices are hereby FORBIDDEN with the Offender liable to a Fine of FIVE SHILLINGS.” Thus even America’s forebears refused to attach Christ’s name to a holiday that they knew was unchristian in origin.
Food Predictions
◆ The Paddock brothers’ well-known 1967 book Famine—1975! based its predictions on population growth and similar factors. Interestingly, a letter in Science magazine now reports that the former director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Astrophysical Observatory published a prediction in 1938 pointing to 1975 for different reasons. Based on sunspot cycles and water levels of the North American Great Lakes, he said that “there is much reason to expect a . . . drought beginning about 1975.” In 1963 he added: “I predicted about 1938 [drought] recurrence in the decade of 1950-1960. It proved very severe in [the] Southwest United States.” He then repeated his 1938 prediction of a ‘great drought’ that he said would “probably begin about 1975.”
Poisoned Pet Foods
◆ The many U.S. poor and elderly who have turned to canned pet-food meat for protein may now have to make a choice between starvation and lead poisoning. The lead content of some pet foods tested by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station ranged up to four times the danger level for children. The probable source, according to expert opinion, is lead buildup in animal organs from consumption of grass or grain contaminated by auto exhaust fumes.
Armageddon on Their Minds
◆ “Increasingly, responsible and knowledgeable men in Europe are talking of what could be described as the coming Armageddon. Or better, the oil Armageddon,” reports a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times–Washington Post Service. “Governments are clinging to the hope that the trends pushing the world toward a 1980s judgement day just cannot continue.”
In his recent gloomy assessment of the world’s condition, outgoing chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee J. W. Fulbright asserted that the situation in the Middle East could explode into international acts, the “consequences therefrom ranging from another great depression to Armageddon itself.”
Italian Impressions
◆ Reporting on the recent Synod of Bishops in Rome, the Italian newspaper Paese Sera published its impressions. It notes that the “never solved problem of ‘evangelical poverty’ came up again,” to which “a cardinal reacted: ‘Can you tell me what is going to happen to our reputation before the faithful, if we give up our “Mercedes”?’ ‘You don’t want us to end up asking for alms at the street corner, do you?’ echoed another.”
Not for Women Only
◆ Is breast cancer a strictly feminine hazard? Not according to Philadelphia radiation therapy expert Dr. Paul A. DeMare, who says the disease will kill about 250 men in 1974. “It never crosses the mind of a man who finds a lump in his chest,” he says. “In fact, he may not even know there is such a thing.” About 700 new cases of male breast cancer occur in the U.S. each year, as compared with the female death rate of 32,750. Symptoms and treatment are said to be similar for both sexes.
Current Marital Theories
◆ All kinds of theories and experiments are afoot in the rapidly decaying field of marital relations. Did you know that:
• A consultant to England’s National Marriage Guidance Council claims that adultery can actually help certain couples to strengthen their marriage and serve as a “refreshment”?
• An Ohio Unitarian minister has a ‘year-at-a-time’ marriage contract with his wife. “There is beauty in impermanence,” he says. Such theories could provide business for . . .
• A California Methodist minister who performs divorces. “I have never performed a divorce ceremony without tears,” he says. “It is a very moving, very emotional time.”
Cheering for a Thief
◆ Apathetic city dwellers are often reproached for looking the other way when a crime is being committed. Now a report from Omaha, Nebraska, police tells of the next step: A crowd of people near one City Auditorium refreshment stand watched an armed thief rob the concessionaire and cheered as he escaped.
Modernizing Surgery
◆ A growing number of hospitals are getting up-to-date on the benefits of surgery without blood transfusions. The Massachusetts General Hospital’s MGH News reports on the hospital’s “pioneering in substitutes” for donated blood. It notes that “by restricting the patient’s exposure to donor blood,” their techniques lower the “risk of transmitting hepatitis and often present other surgical advantages.” The techniques, “originally adapted . . . to conform to the tenets of the Jehovah’s Witnesses,” have been so successful that they “may entirely replace donor transfusions” in certain types of surgery, it reports.
Braggarts at the Top
◆ With politicians collapsing in scandal all around them, many who voted for them wonder how it could happen in a democratic system. Answers a recent Wall Street Journal editorial: “The dirty little secret of democratic politics is that it runs on sheer ego.” As a result, “the politician who is good at bragging rises in the world.” But, asks the editorial, “what man of character and integrity would go around nailing up posters bragging about his character and integrity?” Thus it observes: “Anyone attracted to this line of work must be slightly tetched in the first place.”
Swords or Beer Cans?
◆ U.S. military aircraft builders indignantly charge aluminum manufacturers with diverting sheeting needed for weapons to consumer goods—“particularly beer cans,” reports Newsweek magazine.
Wine “Mystique” Gone
◆ The air of mystery associated with French wines was largely dispelled as facts came to light at a recent trial in Bordeaux. Seventeen wine merchants were accused of misrepresenting their products. Expert testimony disputed the value of both taste tests and chemical analysis in determining the source of two similar wines. One defendant was said to admit that it is impossible to tell doctored wine from the real thing. Another said: “I am guilty, but so are thousands of others. In 30 years in the trade, I have seen fraud practiced everywhere” in the wine trade. Mourns the president of the Bordeaux Wine Merchants Association: “A certain mystique has gone.”—See Awake! August 22, 1971, page 25.
New Eyes on the Sky
◆ Though many of what are viewed as the most important celestial objects are in southern skies, most of the world’s largest telescopes are in the northern hemisphere, where most astronomers live. But now a new 158-inch reflector, located in the Chilean Andes mountains, has taken its first photograph. The 200-inch instrument on California’s Mount Palomar still remains the world’s largest operational telescope, but the Soviets are soon to complete one with a 237-inch mirror to gain that distinction.
Second Time Around
◆ Remember those “conquered” diseases? Well, they are returning to India with renewed vigor to add to her mounting woes. The Indian Council of Medical Research reveals that malaria—virtually eliminated in the 60’s—jumped to a million cases in 1972 and an estimated 2 million this year. Malaria-carrying mosquitoes are increasingly resistant to DDT. Cholera vaccine is proving ineffective too. Cases have risen from 10,000 five years ago to 35,000 last year. The Council asserts that TB, leprosy and some new virus fevers are rampant and not responding to existing drugs.
Tennis over Forty
◆ Noted heart surgeon Denton A. Cooley tells of his first bout with tennis at 48 years of age. His words are a warning to the wise: “Unaccustomed to any strenuous activity involving running and twisting,” he “charged the net to return a drop shot and felt a ‘snap’ in the back” of his leg, which later “developed a beautiful blood tumor.” His forearm “swelled enormously” and pain in his right elbow was “unbelievable.” The lesson? “Before getting on the court again at my age I should start a physical conditioning program.”
Evidence or Emotion?
◆ The recent find of some old jaw fragments in Ethiopia has turned evolution’s world upside down again. “All previous theories of the origin of man must now be totally revised,” say the expedition’s leaders. Noting that anthropologist Richard Leakey “says they’re definitely not Australopithecus,” prominent anthropologist David Brose observes that “what they are will probably consume us in debate for years. And that may depend more on individual philosophies than on the actual evidence.”
Baptist Book Backfires
◆ When a handbook designed to combat pornography was recently mailed by the Baptist Christian Life Commission to 4,200 Texas pastors, many of them complained that its vivid descriptions and language were themselves pornographic.
Modern Flogging
◆ Flogging or caning is a leftover of past British rule in Singapore, where it is still practiced. Prisons director Quek Shi Lei says that those convicted of violent crimes are flogged “in such a way that criminals will get a taste of the violence they inflicted on their victims.” Up to 24 strokes with a flexible rattan cane may be administered at the discretion of the judge. “Those who receive more than three strokes will be in a state of shock” after the caning, says Quek. The punishment is intended to scar criminals permanently.
Porcupine Plague
◆ A pair of Himalayan porcupines that escaped from a Devon, England, zoo in 1969 started a porcupine population explosion that is worrying agricultural officials. Trees and crops in the area have suffered thousands of dollars in damage from the hungry creatures. Now two larger, more destructive African crested porcupines have broken out of a Staffordshire wildlife park. “They may both be of the same sex,” said a hopeful official.
“Sea of Grog”
◆ “Australians are drowning in a sea of grog,” asserts Melbourne’s Dr. George Milner. The average resident over the legal drinking age, 18, consumes the equivalent of 100 gallons of beer yearly. That, he says, is very “near the threshold of inevitable medical problems.” In a recent year Australians spent $150 million more for tobacco and alcohol than they did for clothing.
“Natural” Fertilizers
◆ Farmers and gardeners who have relied on petroleum-base fertilizers now find these in short supply. Some are turning to so-called packaged “natural fertilizers.” Are these better? Well, balance is needed in considering such a question. Thus a recent issue of Organic Gardening and Farming admits: “There’s little agreement among soils experts on the comparative merits of natural fertilizers (nor on chemical fertilizers either, if the truth be known). Natural fertilizer makers call university agronomists lackeys of the petrochemical industry . . . University scientists retaliate by labeling soil-conditioner salesmen as hucksters selling bags full of magic and hot air. There is no doubt some truth in both criticisms . . . Honest men stand on both sides of the fence.”