Watching the World
Religious Contrast
◆ Italy’s largest Catholic magazine, Famiglia Mese, recently reported on the activity of Jehovah’s witnesses: “There are in Italy about 45 thousand persons who follow the Bible precepts literally, do not smoke, refuse to serve in the army, do not take blood transfusions, and pay taxes scrupulously . . . Today the sect has real magazines, which are nice and even interesting (they are rich with news and articles from all over the world), prints small books which are up to date and also answer the most expert Catholic Bible scholars, distributes Bibles translated directly from Hebrew . . . With these methods, the Witnesses have had even enormous success . . . where the habitual Catholicism of the people actually hides a good quantity of religious ignorance.”—February 1975, pp. 24-31.
Eliminating Jealousy
◆ Some have argued that the practices of “living together” without marriage and “open marriage,” wherein mates allow each other sexual freedom, eliminate jealousy. Do they? A well-known family sociologist asserted that “open marriage has increased the number of persons coping with the experience of jealousy.” Writer Norman Lobsenz says in Redbook magazine that his research revealed similarly that unmarried couples living together “were deeply troubled by their unexpected jealous reactions.” Good results never come from setting aside the Bible’s high standard of morality.
Vatican Frugality
◆ Financial austerity has suddenly become the order of the day in the Vatican. Pope Paul vetoed the Vatican’s 1975 budget, and demanded the preparation of a new, lower one. Proposed austerity measures reportedly include dropping lavish special services at St. Peter’s Basilica, along with cars and chauffeurs. “Maybe we’ll start to use car pools,” said one cleric. Prices went up for meat, pasta, cigarettes and gasoline at the Vatican employee’s special tax-free supermarket and gas station.
Military Waste
◆ It is often said that military spending boosts a nation’s economy. A new book, American Capitalism in Decline, asserts just the opposite. The author shows that military spending since World War II has drained more unproductive capital funds ($1,500 billion) from the economy than industry has invested in machinery and plants. Secondly, he notes that the average manufacturing firm has 35 backup “overhead” employees for every 100 production workers. Yet defense contractors average almost twice as many (69.7) non-producing employees. Thus the New York Times Book Review observes: “It is hard to fault [the author’s] statement” that military waste “elevates inefficiency into a national purpose, . . . disables the market system.”
To Catch a Thief
◆ Museums and libraries world wide are experiencing a rash of thefts of often high-priced works of art and other items. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is no exception. Its director recently told of one case where a South American Indian arrow was missing. Where did he look for it? “This thing had curare (poison) on the tip—and when I notified the leader of a visiting church group of what it was, the arrow was back in two hours.”
To Be Safe
◆ People who feel unsafe in our violent world can now purchase custom-made bulletproof vests, sports jackets and three-piece suits for about $155 to $295. A synthetic fabric, commonly used for radial-tire belting, is said to protect one from a high-powered pistol fired at close range. Bulletproof courtroom benches are the answer of some U.S. judges in Ohio to a recent wave of courtroom violence. Other judges say they feel safer with their own guns handy: “You can never tell when someone might try to take a shot at you.”
Jobless Ph.D’s
◆ Once upon a time having a Ph.D was a sure ticket to success in the academic world. But now the U.S. seems to be abounding with Ph.D’s—there were 33,000 produced last year, compared with 10,000 in 1960. “Still the Ph.D.s come,” notes The Wall Street Journal, “with nowhere to go.” Thus the Modern Language Association lists 202 possible job openings in its latest booklet. Every listed job, it is reported, draws at least 100 responses, and some get 700.
Leaders Ignore Warnings
◆ In spite of all the talk, are world leaders really going to solve the population and food problems? No, says columnist H. Peter Metzger in the Rocky Mountain News: “The world leaders have ignored the warnings and presumably will continue to do so until the most devastating catastrophe in human history is upon mankind—when it will be long past the time when anything can be done about it. Already launched are trial balloons of public acceptance of the tragedy. Consider the words of the president of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Philip Handler. ‘From time to time,’ he said, ‘it is necessary that pestilence, famine and war prune the luxuriant growth of the human race.’”
‘Largest Known Object’
◆ Canadian and Dutch astronomers report discovering what they claim to be the largest known object in the universe. It is a cloud of highly energetic particles surrounding a galaxy. The particles are said to stretch across more than 18 million light-years (one light-year is almost 6 trillion miles). This is about 180 times the size of our own Milky Way galaxy and 6 times as large as any previously known radio source.
Tobacco Perils
◆ An Israeli study reported in the British medical journal Lancet finds that babies of smoking mothers are admitted to hospitals 20 percent more often than those of nonsmokers. Their chances of bronchitis and pneumonia were 38 percent higher. Carbon monoxide’s effects on the motor and sensory functions of smokers’ children may be indicated by a 150-percent-higher admission rate for accidents to these children. Also, a new U.S. study has found that strokes can be added to the cancer and heart attack risk from smoking. Pack-a-day smokers from 45 to 54 years old, the study indicates, have six times the risk of strokes that nonsmokers do.
Deadly Hands
◆ After a month-long coma, a four-year-old New Jersey boy recently died, allegedly from the demonstration of a karate “training” blow. The karate instructor charged with the assault said he wanted to make the child “the world’s youngest karate champion.”
Resource Appetites
◆ The average American reportedly uses about twelve and a half tons of metallic and nonmetallic resources and over nine tons of fossil fuels each year. His energy consumption is almost double that of an average European, “the equivalent,” says Smithsonian magazine, “of each citizen having 300 slaves working 24 hours per day.”
“Saintly” Performances
◆ There are at least nine “saints” in Naples whose blood “liquefies” yearly, asserts the Italian magazine Epoca. “To what extent should one believe in . . . the supernaturality of these liquefactions?” asks the writer. He cites another fifteenth-century “Saint,” Bernardine, who spoke at that time of “‘too many drops of milk of the Madonna,’ preserved . . . a little everywhere.” Bernardine reportedly said, “So much milk, our Blessed Madonna couldn’t have had it, not even if she were a cow.”
Travel advertisements warn potential pilgrims to Goa on India’s west coast that “this year may be the last” to see remains of the sixteenth-century “saint” Francis Xavier. The body—displayed only once every ten years—was alleged to be decomposing rapidly. However, “it seemed likely,” reports Newsweek, “that a decade hence” the remains “would again be displayed for the spiritual benefit of the faithful—and for the incidental profit of the Indian tourist industry.”
Water Prospectors
◆ Rather than using geological—or “divining”—methods, prospectors for water under the deserts of Soviet Kazakhstan are now putting the talents of desert ants to use. They merely find colonies of the insects and start digging. Desert ants live only where there is underground water, and tunnel as much as 100 feet down to get it.
Impartial Judging?
◆ Attractive plaintiffs can sway jurors in court, concludes a University of Michigan study. Simulated auto negligence trials used both attractive and unattractive plaintiffs. Nearly three times as many student jurors judged in favor of the attractive plaintiffs, and the average damage awards were nearly double. True justice will come only when the judging is not done ‘by any mere appearance to the eyes.’ That is what God’s kingdom in the hands of Christ will bring.—Isa. 11:3.
Greater Blood Risk
◆ There has always been risk associated with blood transfusions. But now the dangers are compounding. Why? Because about 10 to 15 percent of the persons who receive transfusions produce an antibody; cross matching then becomes more difficult. This new antibody limits the number of future compatible donors. In some cases, Dr. Thomas Cunningham, head of hematology at University Hospital in Saskatoon, Canada, says, more than one hundred units of blood may have to be tested before a suitable match is found.
Russian Baptists
◆ Sometimes Baptist Church members boast about how well their organization thrives in Communist Russia. But if they do better than some religious groups, why? One answer is supplied in a New York Times article discussion of Moscow’s Central Evangelical Christian Baptist Church: “The immaculate church, with its wooden walls and pillars painted to resemble marble, is the showpiece of the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians and Baptists, whose more than half a million baptized members carry out their witness under the scrutiny of Soviet authorities. The Baptists within the council enjoy the state’s tolerance—if not its blessing.”
Surplus Churches
◆ Since April 1969, a total of 154 churches have been declared “redundant” or surplus by the Church of England; at least another 150 are being considered for the same classification. The number of redundant churches, it is estimated, may eventually reach somewhere between 500 and 3,000. Certain of the buildings are given away or rented at nominal cost to ‘good causes.’ And some are sold. The Church of England is said to have received 1,485,000 pounds (over $3,400,000) from the sale of unwanted churches in the last two and a half years.
“Music” Can Hurt
◆ A study of Munich’s three best orchestras revealed that 60 percent of the musicians suffered adverse reaction from playing avant-garde music. The loud, unexpected electronic sounds were linked to diarrhea, stomach ulcers, heart problems and insomnia in the musicians.
Is It Worth It?
◆ Football (not to be confused with soccer) is America’s most hazardous sport, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Each year it is estimated that hospital emergency rooms treat 300,000 injured players, 40 percent of them aged 15 to 19. About 20 die.
Soviet Women
◆ Well over two thirds of the doctors in the Soviet Union are women, and in science “women scientists account for 39 per cent of the country’s total,” says Soviet Life magazine.