Watching the World
Tobacco Tally
◆ A survey on the adult use of tobacco in the United States was published in June by the National Cancer Institute and the Center for Disease Control. Among other things, it revealed that 90 percent of those polled consider smoking harmful. Eight-four percent believe it to be so hazardous to health that something ought to be done about it. Eighty-two percent think that disease and death often result from smoking. But 57 percent of the smokers said they would never quit.
Smoking and Girls
◆ Today more girls 13 to 17 years of age and young women aged 18 to 34 are smoking than in the past. So indicates a study recently undertaken for the American Cancer Society. Ca—A Cancer Journal for Clinicians reports: “The number of smokers among the teenage girls alone has increased by 500,000, from 22 percent to 27 percent, since 1969.” While 30 percent of the teen-age boys are smokers, these girls smoke more heavily than do the boys. For young women the rise in smokers has been slight, though the proportion of heavy smokers among them has increased from 51 to 61 percent.
Profiling the Fatal Driver
◆ From studies of traffic deaths, the United States Department of Transportation has developed a “fatal driver profile.” It combines the traits constituting the greatest threat. Summarizing these factors, the journal Industry Week states: “You are a male, between the ages of 25 and 37. You are a high school graduate, single, separated, or divorced, and drive an older car. You talk expansively, have overly aggressive drinking habits, and prefer beer to hard liquor.”
Pacemakers and Electric Fences
◆ If a person has a pacemaker to stimulate his heartbeat, contact with an electric fence may be fatal to him. The implanted device is shut off by a high voltage shock. Since off time for most electric fences is three fourths of a second, compared to on time of not over one tenth of a second, a person who has a pacemaker should have sufficient time to release his grip. However, a pacemaker’s response to electric shock varies with different makes.
Sneezing Cause Heart Damage?
◆ Some hold the view that sneezing can harm the heart. However, writing in the magazine Family Health, Dr. Morris Fishbein states: “There is no scientific evidence to indicate that sneezing can damage the heart. Sneezing is a protective mechanism that clears the breathing passages.”
Energy Saving
◆ Compared with the United States, for every gross national product dollar Sweden is said to require just 60 percent as much energy. Science News reports that a study by the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory gives these reasons: Swedish buildings, including homes, are heated twice as efficiently; 25 percent less heat energy is used by industry for each ton of output; mass transit is utilized widely in cities, and Swedish automobiles average 24 miles per gallon of gasoline.
For Speedier Boiling
◆ The Federal Energy Administration says that energy can be saved and water can be brought to a boil more quickly if the kettle is kept on the pilot light of a gas stove while the stove is not being used. Besides warming water for tea and coffee more speedily in this way, the journal Industry Week says, “the FEA adds that you can melt butter or keep sauces hot by placing them on the pilot light.”
Buddha’s Remains
◆ Prince Siddhārtha, who became known as Gautama Buddha, spent his first twenty-nine years of life in the ancient city of Kapilavastu. He then renounced his possessions and parents. Today the village of Piprahwa, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, is thought to be the site of Kapilavastu, and government archaeologists recently reported finding there part of the remains of Buddhism’s founder. When the religious leader died in the sixth century B.C.E., portions of his cremated remains were furnished to eight communities linked with incidents in his life. But a casket unearthed in 1973 at Piprahwa (ancient Kapilavastu) bears an inscription stating that within it were remains of Prince Siddhārtha. Indian archaeologists now believe the inscription to be authentic.
Why Suicide?
◆ Fifty-three students at Sweden’s Lund University committed suicide last year. An additional 500 tried taking their own lives, but were unsuccessful. Psychiatric aid was sought by 2,000 students. Why such suicidal tendencies? Parade magazine says: “The principal motives were given as loneliness, failure in their studies and financial difficulties.”
Ants Stop Trains
◆ Japanese trains have been halted by ants. According to the Daily Yomiuri, on May 11 trains were stopped for as much as fifty minutes on the Dosan main line in central Shikoku. Why? Because the insects had entered a relay receiving box and tripped the contact, turning the signal red and halting trains. Last November, ants penetrated automatic crossing machinery, stopping rail traffic near Matsuyama, on the Yosan Line. Japan National Railways employees in Shikoku have been placing naphthalene in the crossing machinery to keep away the troublesome insects.
Diabetes in Third Place
◆ Dr. Oscar B. Crofford, chairman of the National Commission on Diabetes, reportedly holds that diabetes and complications associated with it are the third principal cause of death in the United States. Heart disease and cancer precede it. No fewer than 5 million Americans, and perhaps as many as 10 million, are said to suffer from diabetes. Last December the National Commission on Diabetes said that the disease is the direct cause of 38,000 deaths annually, but that it is also the underlying reason for over 250,000 heart and kidney deaths each year.
Sea Breezes and Infection
◆ Coastal residents along the Gulf of Mexico and from Virginia to Florida are said to be especially vulnerable to lung infections by mycobacteria. The consequences sometimes are fatal. Howard Gruft, who is associated with the New York State Department of Health, has found that these microorganisms are capable of living for some time in ocean water and of being released into the air by means of droplets. In turn, these droplets can be brought inland by sea breezes and are tiny enough to penetrate the lung’s minutest airways. Hence, Gruft has suggested that seawater and breezes may be responsible for mycobacterial lung infections.
Bible Distribution
◆ The 1975 world report of the United Bible Societies reveals that, for the 57 national societies it represents in over 100 lands, South Africa had become the biggest distributor of complete Bibles. A total of 719,290 had been provided by the Bible Society of South Africa. Of these, 22,929 copies of the entire Bible had been distributed in Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. As reported in the South African Digest, that national Bible society provided 1,975,440 “Bibles, New Testaments and selections in 82 languages of which 32 were Bantu languages or dialects.”
TV in the U.S.
◆ Approximately 97 percent of the households in the United States have television sets, reports Parade magazine. Of these, 75 percent are said to be color TV sets.
Fever Linked to Mouse Virus
◆ Last year some 800 South Koreans and thousands of other Asians are said to have been afflicted with hemorrhagic fever. Similarly, twenty-five years ago, during the Korean War, hundreds of soldiers were stricken by a disease that resulted in fever, as well as bleeding from the nose, mouth and internal organs. But the cause remained unknown. After detailed study, Dr. Lee Ho Wang and fellow researchers have attributed the malady to a mouse virus. “Because hemorrhagic fever peaks in May and October, the dry seasons in South Korea,” reports Time magazine, “Lee suspects the virus lives in the droppings of Apodemus agrarius [a mouse subspecies common in Korea] and attacks humans when they stir up dust and inhale virus-laden particles.”
Abortion Record
◆ A record one million women had legal abortions in the United States during 1975. That was 11 percent more than for the year before. But many women who wanted abortions could not get them legally due to limited facilities in certain areas. So it is thought that the actual number was much higher. Since there were somewhat over three million births in 1975, it means that now there is at least one abortion for every three births in the country. The slaughter of unborn children picks up speed.
Windmill Power
◆ Farmers in the United States seem to be taking another look at an old source of water-pumping power. According to Frank Shideler of South Dakota State University, in recent years there has been an upswing in windmill sales. Farm Journal reports: “Some firms get numerous requests for parts to restore old windmills. Prices today range from about $1,300 for a model with a 6ʹ wheel to around $4,200 for a mill with a 14ʹ wheel, a spokesman for one firm says.”
Fighting Headaches
◆ In the Executive Fitness newsletter, Dr. M. J. Martin says that most headaches can be ended or prevented. Relief may come by such means as applying moist heat to the back of one’s neck or massaging the neck muscles in a circular manner. Or, a person may get relief by closing the eyes and slowly rotating the head while seated. On the other hand, if an individual has been seated, it may be beneficial to get out of the room and away from possible stress by taking a brisk walk.
Old Clothes International
◆ “Importers of foreign clothes are rushing buyers to the US, Britain and Australia, ordering them to buy whatever used workmen’s clothes they can lay their hands on,” reports Tokyo’s Daily Yomiuri. At shops that feature worn clothing, the Japanese may pay 4,800 Yen ($16) and more for used or even tattered jeans and shirts. “Such stores are mushrooming along Tokyo’s Aoyama-dori street that runs through one of the capital’s most exclusive residential areas,” notes the newspaper.
On the other hand, teen-age Russians tried to buy used jeans directly from English student tourists, according to a report in the Eton College Chronicle. The Russian youths were said to have offered up to $70 or two gold watches for faded denims. Observed the students: “Snobbery seems to consist of having the tightest pair of jeans, flaunting Western cigarets, conspicuously chewing gum or owning pop records not available in the Soviet Union.”
Schoolhouse Anarchy
◆ Last year, American schoolchildren committed 100 murders, 12,000 armed robberies, 9,000 rapes and 204,000 aggravated assaults against teachers and fellow students. They were also responsible for 270,000 school burglaries, and vandalized more than 600 million dollars’ worth of school property. Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana said that because of the growing anarchy, “the primary concern in many American schools today is no longer education but preservation.”
Lost and Found
◆ During 1975 the lost-and-found bureau of the Japan National Railways reportedly had daily cash finds amounting to an average of $76,777. Heading the list of lost property were 179,000 umbrellas. The items found also included 20,000 wristwatches, 3,700 cameras, many pairs of eyeglasses, as well as false teeth and even some gold bars. Of no little consequence among the finds were ten living poisonous snakes.