Watching the World
‘Great Catastrophe’
“In the Third World, more than 11 million hectares [27 million a.] of tropical forest is cut down each year, an area almost three times the size of the Netherlands,” states the Dutch magazine Internationale Samenwerking. “Already 50 percent of all the rain forests have disappeared from the globe during the last half century.” It is feared that the disappearing forests will have a dramatic impact on weather earth wide, upsetting the balance of nature and world food production. Firewood is already scarce—some one hundred million people in the Third World spend a large part of their day searching for it. According to FAO (UN Food and Agriculture Organization), 1.9 billion hectares (4.7 billion a.) of tropical forest remain. But if no action is taken, 25 percent of that will be gone by the turn of the century, and all will have disappeared within 85 years. The loss, says FAO, will be “one of the greatest environmental catastrophies of our time.”
Unusual Hiring Methods
How does a company determine just who is best qualified to fill a job opening? “Employers seem to be turning more and more to recruiters for help,” says the trade journal Engineering Dimensions, “and recruiters seem to be trying a whole host of unorthodox methods.” About 70 percent of those in France rely on handwriting analysis, while some use a computer programmed to select the most suitable candidate. Other methods used analyze a person’s facial features, the shape and lines of the hands, and the supposed influence of stars and planets. “The Japanese have devised a way to pick out good engineers through blood types,” says the magazine.
Gutenberg Bible Reprinted
“For the Bible collector who has everything, a French publishing firm is reprinting the Gutenberg Bible,” reports The Orlando Sentinel. The firm has even gone to the trouble of matching the texture, weight, color, and grain of the paper used in the original paper version. It will be hand-bound in morocco goatskin, gilt-edged with 22-karat gold, and gold-stamped. The Gutenberg Bible, printed by Johann Gutenberg in 1455, was the first book to be printed from movable type. It was in two volumes, and only 180 copies were printed, of which 20 complete sets remain. In 1978 an original copy was sold for $2.4 million. The replicas will only cost $4,500 each.
Synod of Married Priests
In Ariccia, near Rome, about 150 delegates from 11 nations met for a “General Synod of Married Catholic Priests and Their Wives.” Their “peaceful presentation of theological arguments and the lack of aggressiveness reveals that this is not a case of rebels lining up against the church,” comments the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. They “rather made an impression of advice-seeking helplessness.” Official Catholic figures show an estimated 70,000 married priests worldwide who have been excluded from all church services. Since 1963 the Vatican has released 46,302 priests from their vows of celibacy. Pope John Paul II has been less willing to sign such petitions. “Financial considerations are involved,” says the newspaper. Repealing celibacy would oblige the church to provide financially for families of priests.
Unreported Crime
“Two thirds of America’s crime victims do not call the police, and people are more likely to report car thefts than rapes or other types of assault,” states the New York Daily News. The latest Justice Department report showed that only 35 percent of some 37.1 million crimes committed in 1983 were reported to the police. The number of reports went up if the crime was completed rather than attempted, if the victim suffered injury, and in proportion to the value of what was stolen or damaged. About half of the incidents of purse snatching, burglary, rapes, and robbery were reported. The highest rate of reports, 69 percent, was for motor-vehicle thefts; the lowest, 25 percent, for household larceny. Many said they refrained from reporting because “the incident was not important enough” or, in the case of violent crimes, because “it was a private or personal matter.”
Cremation Problem
Many persons in Japan now use pacemakers, reports the Asahi Evening News, and the number is growing by 2,000 to 3,000 a year. The devices, surgically implanted in the chest to regulate the heartbeat, are causing difficulties at crematoriums. In the intense heat the pacemakers explode. The blasts blow fire and debris out of observation holes, causing damage and injuries. Now funeral halls are questioning survivors about the pacemakers and asking to have them removed. “Cremation is mandatory in Japan where land for cemeteries is scarce,” says the paper. “Burying the dead is rare.”
Chronic Migraine Relief
“The best way to treat chronic headache sufferers may be to wean them off their pain killers,” says The Medical Post of Canada. Reporting on studies presented at the Second International Headache Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, it added: “Excessive use of analgesics, such as ASA and acetaminophen, may perpetuate and intensify head pain in chronic headache patients and may interfere with otherwise effective pharmacologic therapy.” The two studies showed that, using other treatment, from 75 to 82 percent of the patients showed “a significant reduction in headache frequency and intensity after three months without analgesics” and suffered few withdrawal difficulties. For the “pure migraine sufferer,” painkiller “weaning is positive,” the report concluded.
Adopt-a-Cow
To combat the slaughter of millions of cows each year, dedicated Hindus in the United States are being asked to join the Adopt-a-Cow cow-protection program, reports India Observer. A Hare Krishna farm community in Pennsylvania has been selected as the site for the pilot program. This will provide the way “for all Hindus to show their commitment to one of the basic pious religious principles, cow protection.” Three plans—$30 a month, $100 a month, and a one-time donation of $3,000 or more that will protect the cow for her whole life—are being offered. Participants get a color photograph of their adopted cow, reports of the cow’s progress, and a free weekend at the farm community to visit their “go-mata,” or sacred mother. Hindus revere “the cow as the mother of human society, because she provides one of nature’s most nourishing foods,” says the Observer.
China’s School Fees
Some schools are exploiting the Chinese government’s policy that allows them to raise funds locally to make up for the shortage of central government funds, reports London’s Guardian. Authorities have received a deluge of complaints from parents because of the exorbitant fees. One worker in Shandong province complained that it was costing him 100 yuan (about $33, U.S.) for his child to be enrolled in primary school this term, while it was only 35 yuan last term. In Hubei province a parent said that 80 yuan was being charged for primary school students and 300 yuan for those in secondary school. In some cases parents were asked for duplicating machines, coal, or other items in short supply so that their children could be enrolled. The average income of rural workers in China is about $115 a year.
Israel’s Immigration Problem
“Immigration to Israel last year fell to its lowest point since the country was founded in 1948,” reports The New York Times. “Only 11,298 immigrants arrived in Israel in 1985, a 41 percent drop from 1984, when 19,230 immigrants arrived.” Officials blame the difficult economic situation the country has been facing for the drop. Why is the matter so disturbing? One reason is that, due to higher birth rates, the Arab population in Israel is growing at a rate that is twice as high as that of the Jewish population. It is feared that the Arabs may eventually become the majority. “The slowdown in immigration is all the more painful for Israel,” says the Times, “because it undermines the nation’s self-image as a country where all Jews would eventually choose to live.” Some 3.5 million Jews—27 percent of Jews worldwide—live in Israel.
TV Indulgences
Catholics who tuned in to the pope’s annual Christmas message in St. Peter’s Square on either TV or radio were granted the same plenary indulgence that heretofore was granted only to those physically present. The Vatican’s single-page decree, signed by Luigi Cardinal Dadaglio, authorized the change because of improvements in electronic technology. It also applies to local bishops, who are allowed to impart the “apostolic blessing” three times a year in their own dioceses. According to Catholic doctrine, a plenary indulgence “represents a total release from the temporal punishment still due from sin after the guilt has been forgiven,” says The New York Times. The practice of granting indulgences was the root cause of the Protestant Reformation. “Reformation leaders such as Martin Luther objected strenuously to the widespread practice of granting indulgences in exchange for money contributions,” says the Times. “Much of the money used to build St. Peter’s Basilica was collected in this way.”
No Defense
Increasing violence has caused thousands of adults and children to enroll in self-defense classes in hope of being able to protect themselves under attack. But the time and money spent may all be in vain. “High prices don’t guarantee that students will be able to defend themselves,” states The Wall Street Journal. “Many students spend large amounts of time and money learning intricate moves that look impressive in a well-lighted classroom—but that prove useless during a moment of panic on a dark street.” Moreover, there are no national standards on qualifications for those who teach self-defense. Among the misconceptions and pitfalls pointed out by experts are these: feeling that martial-arts knowledge will magically ensure your safety and allow you to walk away unscathed; paying ten times more for lessons than you would hand over to the mugger; underestimating how long and hard you will have to work to master the techniques; and that young children may be influenced to become bullies.