Watching the World
Dictating Doctrine
◆ The Soviet digest Sputnik recently asserted that there is freedom of religion in Russia, except that “demands for complete freedom from public control have been coming more and more frequently from the Jehovah’s Witnesses” and other suppressed groups. Explaining why some are “punished as criminal offenders,” the Soviet magazine declares that “there is a ban on fanatical rites and deceitful actions provoking superstitions (for instance, the rumours about the ‘end of the world’ . . . )” Hence, a Christian cannot believe in something spoken of scores of times in the Bible and still meet with the approval of the State. On the other hand, says Sputnik, “The bulk of the Soviet clergy makes no such statements.”
Who’s Got the Moon Rocks?
◆ What has happened to the 382,042 grams (842 pounds) of moon material brought back by U.S. astronauts? The curator of moon rocks, geochemist Michael G. Duke, says that 336,455 grams (742 pounds) are still in sealed containers at a Texas air base. The remaining 45,587 grams (101 pounds) are distributed among researchers in fifteen nations and hundreds of political figures world wide. However, space officials say that the astronauts who risked their lives to get the moon rocks are not among the recipients.
“March to Literacy”
◆ Nigeria has begun what it calls a “march to literacy” for its people, who are now estimated to be only about 25 percent literate. All six-year-olds gained the right to free education this semester. As they move to the next grade each year, free education is scheduled to cover that class until the entire primary system is free by the end of five years, when primary education will become compulsory. If all goes as planned, the number of children in the primary system will rise from 4.8 million last year to about 18 million at the end of the five-year development program. Meanwhile, the teaching program of Jehovah’s Witnesses has made almost 8,000 Nigerians literate during the past five years alone.
For the Boys
◆ In the family tradition, wrote a former Boy Scout to the Washington Post, he planned to have his eight-year-old son also join that organization. However, the bicentennial issue of the Scout magazine, Boys’ Life, changed his mind. “It is full of ads for firearms and air rifles,” he complained. “On page 35, it’s ‘the gun’ and ‘the son of the gun’ [large and small rifles], . . . The inside front cover is a full page ad for air rifles which says boys can learn ‘what a great friend a gun can be.’ . . . Page 52 offers the young boy an opportunity to spend $21.95 for a World War II helmet, apparently a real Nazi type, as well as ‘Uniforms, Bayonets, etc.’ . . . This entire magazine teaches boys to be exactly the sort of person we don’t need in a crowded world. We don’t need a lot of killing and swashbuckling attitudes in a world which needs builders rather than destroyers.”
Sodom and Gomorrah Revisited?
◆ Translation work continues on thousands of clay tablets from the ancient kingdom of Ebla found in what is now northern Syria. A surprising number of Bible names never before found in non-Biblical writings have appeared. Recently, an Eblaite business document was translated that records goods sold to Sodom and Gomorrah. Reference also is made to Ur and Haran, locations associated with Abraham. Scholars caution that there is no proof that these are the same places mentioned in the Bible, but the fact that such names are used during the Biblical period is significant. One scholar wisely noted that “the Tell Mardikh discoveries, to be sure, do not ‘prove the Bible.’ Nor can any archeological discovery.”
Stepping out of Depression
◆ A ten-week running program proved more beneficial to a group of abnormally depressed persons than traditional psychotherapy sessions were to another comparison group, according to a recent University of Wisconsin study. Most of the joggers were said to have recovered from their depression after three weeks and have remained stable in the months since.
Meanwhile, a U.S. Public Health Service official told the American College of Surgeons that “both health and the joy of living would be enhanced” if people spent a few hours daily going barefoot around the house or outside.
Gold Atoms Photographed
◆ Neatly aligned rows of doughnut-shaped objects appeared on a photograph recently presented to the Japan Society of Physical Science. Professor Hatsujiro Hashimoto of Osaka University claimed it to be the first photo ever to reveal the structure of gold atoms. The electron microscope picture, he said, shows the nucleus of the atoms as a black center in the doughnut-like objects, while the white surrounding material is the electrons.
Civilization Takes Toll
◆ A Brazilian Indian tribe has decided to die out rather than face the impact of modern “civilization,” according to anthropologist Paulo Lucena. The 2,000 Mayurunas Indians living in dense jungle along the Peru-Brazil border in 1972 are now reduced to about 400. “Civilized” illnesses, including venereal disease brought in by oil workers, quickly overwhelmed them. The Indians recently began killing newborn girls in an attempt to finish what civilization had started. Lucena says that the oil workers ‘aggravated the situation by luring the Indian women into adultery,’ considered by the Mayurunas to be the most serious of sins.
“Most Multilingual Money”
◆ The Swiss are issuing new paper money to replace their old currency. The new bills “will be the world’s most multilingual money,” reports the Associated Press. Not only is it printed in all four national languages—German, French, Italian and Romansh—but it is also embossed so that blind persons can determine the note’s value.
Bad “Marriage”
◆ The first same-sex couple to get a marriage license in the state of Colorado did not make it to their first “wedding” anniversary. One of the pair petitioned Colorado Springs District Court for an annulment. His attorney says that he “just wants to straighten up his life.” Colorado courts have not yet ruled on the legal status of homosexual “marriages.”
“Close” Call
◆ An asteroid about .4 kilometers (1/4 mile) across passed within 1.2 million kilometers (750,000 miles) of earth on October 20. The distance, only three times as far as the moon, is considered close. Since 1932, when the first such object was detected, only 20 others have been observed whose orbits around the sun take them inside earth’s orbit. The only asteroid known to have come closer is Hermes, which passed earth at about 800,000 kilometers (500,000 miles) in 1937.
Paying the Price
◆ Those who engage in immoral sexual activity are paying an increasing higher price for their pleasure.
● A rare form of throat VD, “pharyngeal gonorrhea is on the rise and it is coming from increased oral contact,” says the head of the infectious diseases department at New York’s Columbia University. “It’s a particular problem in the gay [homosexual] community,” notes a New York Health Department official. The rare gonorrhea is also resistant to drugs normally used to treat VD.
● The new strain of gonorrhea recently reported as actually being able to deactivate penicillin is spreading in the U.S. A researcher at the Atlanta, Georgia, national Center for Disease Control says that the cost of treating it “could go from about 50 cents for a shot of penicillin to 3 to 5 dollars and as much as $10” for treatment with other antibiotics.
● The World Health Organization reports that a wide section of sub-Sahara Africa is now suffering from a tragic wave of infertility, causing one tribe’s numbers to decline by more than a third. Tribe members have taken to raiding nearby tribes for fertile wives. The organization cites gonorrhea in both sexes as a major cause of the infertility problem.
Moving Around
◆ Where do families change residences most often? The Irish, on an average, move only about four times during their lifetime; the Taiwanese, six; the Japanese, seven; the British, eight; Australians, Canadians and Americans, twelve each. The U.S. Census Bureau study suggests that the “high mobility” of the latter countries may be due to “an immigrant background” and the very large land areas in which to move around.
Hair Dye Danger?
◆ Modern Medicine magazine reports that “a review of 100 women with breast cancer showed that 87% were longtime users of hair coloring agents, while a study of women in the same age bracket who did not have breast cancer showed that only 25% were regular users of hair dyes.” The report also notes that hair dyes are derived “from the same compounds as are many potent proved carcinogens [cancer-causing agents].” These compounds are not listed on the labels.
Unemployment $ to Prostitutes
◆ “Prostitutes are entitled to compensation for income lost because of a temporary inability to work,” according to a ruling by the German Federal Court of Justice, as reported in Süddeutsche Zeitung of Munich. However, “for moral reasons [they] cannot receive full compensation,” said the court. The compensation should “be limited to around the wage level of the average worker,” rather than the $109 per day that the prostitute usually took in, as awarded previously by the Munich Provincial Court.
Space-Age Door Lock
◆ Doors that open to voice command—once seen only in science-fiction stories—are now reportedly a reality. A U.S. Air Force development center in Rome, New York, has been testing such a system. A computer compares the person’s recorded voice with words he utters when he wants entrance to a protected area. “If the first comparison doesn’t suit the computer,” reports the Detroit News, “it will ask for another phrase, saying the words it wants to hear.” The test device gave entrance with 99.7 percent accuracy, even among persons with colds and laryngitis.
Upside-Down World
◆ A fifteen-year-old American girl recently asked a syndicated advice columnist: “What kind of a crazy, mixed-up country are we living in anyway?” It seems that a doctor had refused to pierce her ears without parental permission, yet “the Supreme Court has ruled that a minor girl can have an abortion without getting permission from her parents.”
Paperwork versus Research
◆ “We have one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical research organizations, and we spend more man hours filling out government forms or reports than we do on research for cancer and heart disease combined,” declared the chairman of a giant U.S. drug company to the President’s Commission on Federal Paperwork. He estimated that the total cost of government-required paperwork added an average of about 50 cents to the price of each prescription for his company’s medicines in the U.S.A.
Immune from Punishment
◆ The FBI reports that serious crime rose 10 percent in the United States during 1975. An official noted that “the biggest volume of crime is in the mass of middle America, the average sized towns and cities.” With all their efforts, “law enforcement agencies do not clear or solve most crimes,” said the report. “Only one-fifth of the serious crimes committed during 1975 were solved by arrest.” Of this one fifth, few are punished.