Watching the World
Numbers Game
● Leading evolutionist Richard Leakey has cut twelve million years from the origin of man. Last year he went on record as stating that man was at least fifteen million years old. Now an Associated Press report quotes him as saying that he was “probably wrong in a number of crucial areas” and that man’s ancestors go back only 3.75 million years. Playing fast and loose with the millions is common among evolutionists. And their disciples often accept the figures as gospel. But when considering such examples of obvious guesswork, might a thinking person not question the soundness of other evolutionary claims?
Thousands Just Disappear
● Worldwide, some twenty-one hundred persons disappeared in 1981, according to a report by a special UN panel. It was pointed out, however, that this is only a small fraction of the total number. Many abductions are not reported due to fear of reprisals. The panel reviewed cases in twenty-two countries and reported disappearances to the governments involved or sent telegrams in an effort to save lives. However, many nations do not respond to requests for information on the disappearances, which, the panel says, is “one of the most serious [violations] in the field of human rights.”
‘Practice What They Preach’?
● The adverse health effects of smoking are the “most important public-health issue of our time,” stated the new US surgeon general, Dr. C. Everett Koop. Yet, reportedly, the United States has put pressure on Japan to increase its import of American tobacco from less than 1 percent to 10 percent of the Japanese market. It is no wonder, then, that two national groups in Japan have protested to President Reagan over this pressure. According to the Daily Yomiuri, the groups state that it is not a “friendly” act to push a product that bears a warning in the US that it is “harmful to health,” and that, due to its health hazards, is not allowed to be advertised on radio and television.
Sweden’s Bygone Era
● “I do not think that the Church of Sweden can carry on like this much longer,” declared Ingmar Ström, a former bishop of the Church of Sweden. Noting the situation of the big churches in the large cities, he said: “If the priest, the organist and the vergers [attendants] were not paid with tax money and if the churches were not kept in repairs and heated by means of tax money, they could not continue.” His solution? “Let the big empty churches remain but sell them, make them into concert halls, church operas, . . . exhibition halls, swimming pools, whatever you want, only do not let them become depressing mausoleums of an era that is gone forever.” The bishop cites the example of a church “that at the Sunday morning service usually has a verger, two old men from the old people’s home and, at times, the priest’s wife in attendance.”
Handling Blood Dangerous
● It has long been known that hepatitis often results from blood transfusions. Now a report from New Zealand shows the extent of danger from merely handling blood. In a nine-month study, over 20 percent of the laboratory staff handling blood samples in Auckland hospitals were found to be infected with the hepatitis B virus. This is “significantly higher” than in laboratories that did not handle blood or even in new blood donors, said the report. The danger increased with age and the length of a person’s employment in the laboratory. Commenting on this, the Auckland Star newspaper states that “all blood samples” should be treated as “potentially infective.” Pointing to the “many opportunities for accidental contamination” by those handling blood, the Star said it would be difficult for laboratory technicians to “avoid infection unless exceptional high-cost precautions were taken.”
Livestock Live High
● According to a report in the International Herald Tribune, pigs, chickens and cows in the Ukraine have been feasting on bread and cereals meant for human consumption. Why? Because feed grain prices are high, while the government keeps the price of bread low. So villagers, who are allowed to keep some livestock on their small personal plots of land, have resorted to feeding them bread instead of animal feed. In an effort to stop this practice, Soviet authorities are said to have ordered a crackdown on those doing so; and severe penalties, including prison terms, have been imposed. In addition, they have limited individual purchases of bread to two kilograms (4.4 lbs.). The Soviet Union is expected to import a record forty-three million tons of grain this year, but this is not enough to cover the shortages caused by the third consecutive poor grain harvest.
Computer “Nightmare”
● Changing to computer operations is often difficult enough, but it became a “nightmare” for those working to computerize the banking operations for the Bank of Papua New Guinea. First, reports the Auckland Star, was the problem of language. Over seven hundred languages are spoken in New Guinea. What to use in programming the computer was solved when a survey revealed that most of the inhabitants had a “workable knowledge—speaking and writing—of pidgin-English-German.” Then there was the problem of the “one-talk culture,” where assets are shared by all those in a tribe that speak the same language. After that was solved came the problems caused by the custom of “changing your name whenever you feel like it.” The solution was found in controlling accounts by combinations of names and numbers, and giving the computer the capability to change names with account numbers.
Not ‘Persecuted’?
● In a recent statement mainland Chinese Catholics have denounced Pope John Paul II for claiming that Catholics in China are being persecuted. Calling it “vicious slander based on false testimonies,” they threatened to “launch a counterattack” if the pope does not stop “his false testimonies and accusations.” According to the New York Times, the pope had “compared the situation of Chinese Catholics to the persecution of the early Christians,” and asked that prayers be said for them. The Chinese statement, issued on behalf of three Catholic organizations recognized by the Chinese government, claims to represent the views of all Chinese Catholics. It pointed to the freedom they have enjoyed in recent years allowing them to restore over two hundred churches and worship more freely. “Chinese Catholics are nervous that this could be jeopardized if the Vatican presses too hard,” said the Times. Much of this freedom has resulted from backing the government’s policies and refusing to submit to the Vatican.
Orient Express Revived
● The famed Orient Express, closed in 1977 as a victim of cheap air travel, is being revived. According to the New York Times report, two separate trains will be used for the three-times-a-week service between London, Paris and Venice. For a one-way fare of $550, passengers can begin their twenty-four-hour journey across Europe in one of some thirty-five original cars, meticulously restored to their former splendor. Full booking is expected for this train ride, which offers one the opportunity to travel in old-world elegance. It was in Orient Express car No. 2419 that the German high command surrendered in 1918. Hitler sought revenge in 1940 by having the defeated generals of France surrender in the same car and location.
Paris Plundered
● Your chances of being a victim of burglary are higher in Paris than in any other world capital, says London’s Sunday Telegraph. Twenty-five out of every thousand Parisians were victims of burglary in 1980, compared with twenty-two in New York, seventeen in London and four in Tokyo. However, countrywide the figures are different. France then places seventh with five victims per thousand, compared with eleven for Britain, twelve for Germany and the United States topping the list with fifteen.
“Unfocused Christianity”
● Most Canadians “no longer look to religion for answers to the meaning of life,” says Professor Reginald Bibby of the University of Lethbridge. Yet 90 percent “claim Christian affiliation to a census-taker.” His recent study of religious trends in Canada, according to the Toronto Star, shows that the majority of the population have their “day-to-day focus on survival issues such as jobs, family, health, and money.” Calling it “unfocused Christianity,” Bibby says it has left most Canadians “without answers to the meaning of life and death.” On the other hand, his study revealed that the majority of Canadians “are intrigued by, or believe in ‘supranatural’ phenomena such as astrology, extrasensory perception, mental telepathy, precognition and premonition.”
Back to Sails?
● The Shin Aitoku Maru was the first modern cargo ship to use sails in addition to an engine. Now, after a year’s operation, her owners claim to have achieved a 10 percent saving of fuel costs due to the use of the two computer-operated sails alone. In addition, the ship is reported to have performed very well, even in rough seas. As stated in London’s Financial Times, when the idea was first introduced “the reaction of the industries concerned was generally not to pursue it too far.” Now, it reports, there have been inquiries from many shipowners about sail-equipped ships of all types.
Crime Goes to Dogs
● Dog bites are not a crime, but they are an indicator of the growing crime rate in the United States. How so? “With the rising crime rate,” explains American Medical News, “more people are buying or renting large—and sometimes vicious—dogs to protect their families or property from crime.” The problem is that children are the most frequent victims of dog bites—often by the family’s own dog. And pediatric investigators found that “90% of the children under age four were bitten at home while their parents were present.”
“X-Rated” Music
● A Pasadena, California, radio station commonly plays music by groups that specialize in suggestive lyrics. But it was picketed recently for broadcasting a song about a young man’s homosexual leanings. The Associated Press reported that the station’s regular listeners were amused that it should be picketed for a song they considered relatively mild, when other music regularly played is far more suggestive. “What’s new in the field of controversial music is not so much that it exists,” said the news service, “but that in the last year or two it appears to be gaining more acceptance by major record companies . . . Rock music lyrics are virtually immune to obscenity complaints because they are considered by the Federal Communications Commission as artistic expression and thereby protected by the First Amendment.”