Watching the World
1914 Assassin Dies
◆ One member of the revolutionaries who assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria in 1914 now remains living after another member, Cvetko Popovic, recently died at age 85. The assassination at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, triggered World War I. The survivor, historian Vasa Cubrilovic, is 83 years old. This is further evidence that the “generation” of persons that saw those events continues, though nearing its end.—See Matthew 24:3, 7, 34.
Cuban Witness
◆ The Boston Globe recently reported on interviews with some Cuban refugees housed in the camp at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. One family of four who had suffered religious persecution was interviewed: “The couple said their church had been closed for five years, but that they continued to practice their religion within their home. ‘In Cuba, if you don’t work with the government, if you don’t do volunteer work and you are a Jehovah’s Witness, you can’t get a good job,’ said [Luis Ernesto] Fuerte, who was a taxi driver.
“When he applied for jobs he was asked if he had a religion. Fuerte would respond yes and would not be considered, he said. Asked why he did not lie about his religion, Fuerte looked surprised. ‘That would be a lie and the Bible says you can’t lie,’ he said.”
Fuel Price Puzzle
◆ European fuel consumption patterns are violating the conventional wisdom that higher prices will cut auto usage. For example, 22 percent more autos travel France’s roads now than before the oil embargo of 1973, and each car averages 600 miles (960 km) more per year than in 1973. Between 1976 and 1979, gasoline and diesel-fuel consumption rose 16 percent in the Federal Republic of Germany and 10 percent in Great Britain. Yet prices have risen sharply. Analysts say the reason that there has been some reduction in American consumption is that U.S. drivers have been burning three or four times as much fuel as Europeans all along, hence, have many more opportunities for conservation. But where conservation is already pushing the limits, as in France, a poll found that gasoline would have to cost from six to 10 francs a liter, or $5.25 to $8.70 (U.S.) a gallon, to cause lower consumption.
Swiss Youth Uprising
◆ Switzerland is finally feeling the youth rebellion, more than 10 years after it swept the rest of Europe. In just six weeks, rampaging youths reportedly caused $2 million (U.S.) in damages and injured 36 policemen as they arrested hundreds of the rebels. In Zurich, 300 unkempt protesters threw tomatoes, eggs and paint bombs at formally dressed opera-goers. When driven off by tear gas, they moved to nearby fashionable shops and shattered their windows, tearing up fur coats and smashing expensive watches. Other youths ran naked through the streets with a red “A” painted on their buttocks. It stood for the anarchy they espouse.
But theirs is not a political protest so much as a demand for “autonomous youth centers” with no grown-ups, where rock music and dope have free rein. “We’re sick of being told what to do,” said one school dropout. “We want to be left alone.” Zurich officials resignedly turned over a group of abandoned buildings to the rebels, and other Swiss cities may do likewise if they think the experiment is “successful.” It is all part of the current rejection of authority—manifest in certain ways by youths, and in other ways by many adults.
“Smart” Salmon
◆ The gigantic eruptions of Washington’s Mount St. Helens poured mud and debris into some streams normally used by migrating fish when they return to their spawning grounds. Game officials feared losses of the famous Chinook salmon as a result. But “it seems that these fish are a lot smarter than we gave them credit for,” said a state fisheries officer. “Before this everyone assumed that salmon were suicidal and returned to the river of origin no matter what.” Instead the salmon were found to be going up a safer nearby river. “I’ve talked to a lot of people in the department and this has never happened on a large scale before,” marveled the officer.
Patients with Pencils
◆ British Columbia’s Vancouver Sun recently reviewed a new book titled “The Canadian Patient’s Book of Rights” by the chairman of the Canadian Bar Committee on Health Law. Says the review: “If you don’t want to run the risk of an after-operation surprise, [the author] says, don’t sign a consent form until you have read it carefully and crossed out or changed any phrases you don’t agree with.”
The book states that “there’s nothing to prevent the patient from altering the form or adding restrictions.” And, continues the Sun: “Women undergoing breast surgery often write ‘no mastectomy’ and Jehovah’s Witnesses add the words ‘no blood transfusions.’”
War’s Animal Aftermath
◆ During the last three years of the Zimbabwe war, thousands of explosive land mines were planted along the border with Mozambique to discourage guerrilla attacks. But though the war has ended, “the wildlife of Africa is still paying the supreme price for human folly,” says London’s Daily Mail. “The animals are now finding [the mines] on the old game trails and tracks they have followed by instinct for centuries.” The resulting slaughter has attracted vultures, who become fat on the abundant food. “Occasionally the vultures meet the same fate as their victims,” reports the article. “Too bloated to fly, they walk from the meal, touch off a mine and explode in a cloud of crimson feathers.” Game warden Mike Bromwich says of the mines: “They will go on killing for years and years.”
Biggest Auto Manufacturer
◆ Japanese manufacturers produced one million more automobiles during the first six months of 1980 than did declining American auto producers. The 5.5 million autos produced during the first half of 1980 make Japan the largest manufacturer of automobiles in the world. Success has been credited to a steady growth of exports.
Coal Miners’ Lung Disease
◆ Three University of West Virginia Medical Center researchers believe that lung disease in coal miners is caused mainly by smoking. The main author of the study, W. Keith C. Morgan, now at the University Hospital in London, Ontario, estimated back in 1975 that more than 80 percent of the respiratory ailments found in coal miners are related to cigarette smoking. In the recent study of 200 miners who have asked for disability benefits, all were smokers. There were some objections to the findings, such as: “It would be a mistake to conclude that coal miners face no respiratory problem from coal mine dust.” However, Dr. Morgan explained: “We’re not saying pneumoconiosis isn’t a disease or coal miners don’t develop it. But the common cause we found among miners complaining of lung problems wasn’t coal dust, it was smoking.” The Journal of the American Medical Association, which published the report, made an editorial comment: “The taxpayer will be penalized twice; first in subsidizing those who grow tobacco and then in compensating coal miners who smoke tobacco.”
China’s Multitudinous Bicycles
◆ China teems with bicycles, so many that some 77 million were said to be in use last year, most of them being made domestically. Beijing (Peking) may have more bicycles than any other city in the world—about three million! There two out of every five persons own a bike. During rush hours, some 500 bicycles a minute throng across major crossroads. And at the Beijing Leather Products factory, 1,100 of the 2,100 workers bicycle to work. Said the magazine China Reconstructs: “Bikes are not primarily used in China to save energy or to avoid pollution. China is a developing country, motor vehicles, compared to her vast population, are still few, and all are publicly owned.”
Pistol-packing Preacher
◆ The Italian newspaper L’Occhio reports that a priest in the province of Cagliari (Sardinia) “pulled out a pistol and showed it to the congregation at mass a few days ago, saying, ‘I don’t want any thieves at my door. Only people calling during the daytime and who knock at the door will be admitted. I must defend myself and if anyone tries to get in at night I shall shoot!’”
Those Revealing Medicine Chests
◆ In their fight against terrorism, German police have gleaned valuable information from the contents of medicine chests found in apartments abandoned by terrorists. According to the magazine Ärztliche Praxis, police have found medication that would indicate that some of the terrorists are suffering from gastritis, asthma and inflammation of the kidneys and bladder. Cannulas, rubber tubing, saline solutions and blood plasma suggest they may have access to hospital facilities. “Emergency suitcases” have been found that contain not only weapons and money, but also a first-aid kit designed for helping them treat injuries and master situations of severe stress. A manual for city guerrillas offers medical advice and tips on how to deal with acute loss of blood.
Tooth Tip
◆ Dentists say that all is not lost if a person’s tooth is accidentally knocked out. In fact, if reimplanted within half an hour, tooth survival can be as high as 90 percent. A report in Clinical Pediatrics describes how to react if a tooth is knocked out. It says to pick the tooth up carefully by the crown, not touching the roots, and rinse it in cold tap water without scrubbing. If it is possible, the tooth should then be put back into its socket. If not, it can be put under the tongue of the victim or of someone else, as the roots need to be protected with fresh saliva. Then get to a dentist as fast as possible, since the failure rate of reimplants after two or more hours goes up to about 95 percent.
Why Dolphins Leap
◆ Frightened dolphins often travel in repeated leaps above water. Two marine biologists studied the matter to learn why. By measuring water friction and other factors, they learned that leaping actually saves energy. “As dolphins swim close to the surface in order to breathe, they waste energy by making waves,” says the report in Newsweek magazine. “The faster they swim, the more they waste.” So when traveling at speeds over 10 knots, it becomes more energy-efficient to take to the air.
Starting Young
◆ The state of morals among some of today’s youth was illustrated recently when a seven-year-old boy was diagnosed at the Lincoln Hospital in New York’s South Bronx as having venereal disease. Doctors said that he apparently got the disease from a 10-year-old girl. “It is absolutely shocking,” the hospital director declared. “We see a lot of young pregnancies in this community starting at about age 13, but children having sex at this age is very unusual.”
Beer for Arabia?
◆ All forms of alcohol for drinking are forbidden in Saudi Arabia. But last year Saudis were drinking thousands of gallons of what they thought was nonalcoholic beer until a government investigator found traces of alcohol during a careful analysis. The “near beer” was banned immediately. A small English brewery said it has solved the problem by eliminating fermentation entirely. The previous product was genuine beer with alcohol removed by distillation. “The company is in preliminary discussions,” reports World Business Weekly, “to produce the kingdom’s first acceptable malt-based drink.”