Watching the World
Children’s Plight
● The UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) annual report, called The State of the World’s Children 1984, was chilling—40,000 children under age five die worldwide each day! The grim report says: “For every child who has died, another has been left blind or deaf or crippled or retarded.” The report recalls the 1974 World Food Conference prediction “that within a decade no child will go to bed hungry, that no family will fear for its next day’s bread, and that no human being’s future and capacities will be stunted by malnutrition.” The reality, continues the report, is “that tonight, more children will go to bed hungry, their capacities stunted, than on the night those words were spoken.”
Costly El Niño
● The cost of damage caused by the massive weather system called El Niño (The Child) in 1982-83 has been calculated—a staggering $8.65 billion! El Niño, a thick slab of warm Pacific Ocean water that shattered normal weather patterns, crippled continents from Asia and Australia to North and South America and Africa. No one can put a price on the terrible loss of human life by floods, fires and starvation left in its savage wake. National Geographic labels El Niño as “one of the most destructive climatic events in modern history.”
Cholesterol Findings
● Medical researchers said they have produced “the first study to demonstrate conclusively” that a reduction in blood cholesterol levels lowers the risk of heart attacks. The ten-year, $150 million (U.S.) study of 3,806 men, aged 35 to 59 who had high levels of cholesterol in their blood but were otherwise healthy, was sponsored by the U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. In the study, a drug and a diet were used to lower blood cholesterol levels, but, according to the researchers, diet is the preferred way. By this means, some people may experience a reduction of 10 to 15 percent in their cholesterol. The report recommends a diet low in animal fat.
Finally Convinced
● “The evidence that linked smoking to heart disease appeared equivocal to me last month,” writes Dr. Frank A. Oski in an article in The New York Times. “Now the same data appear overwhelmingly convincing.” What changed his mind and made him give up smoking, which he had formerly promoted? At 51 years of age he had a heart attack. Giving up smoking would greatly increase his chance of living longer. But was it easy to stop? “Sure,” says Dr. Oski. “Here is all you have to do. First, experience a severe crushing pain under your breastbone as you finish a cigarette. Next, have yourself admitted to a coronary-care unit and stripped of your clothing and other belongings. Finally, remain in the unit at absolute bed rest for four days while smoking is prohibited. This broke my habit. See if it works for you.”
Biblically Illiterate
● President Reagan pronounced 1983 the “Year of the Bible,” but recent Gallup surveys have shown that only 15 percent of the people in the United States read the Bible daily, while 24 percent never read it at all. Gallup polls have also found that 30 percent did not know Jesus’ birthplace, 35 percent did not know how many apostles he had and 45 percent knew fewer than five of the ten commandments.
Rifle “Metamorphosis”
● “In the past two years or so, a substantial proportion of America’s rifles and shotguns have been undergoing a metamorphosis into combat-oriented weapons,” writes J. H. Williams, professor of history at Indiana State University, in The Christian Century magazine. Dr. Williams claims that weapons once designed specifically for hunting are being transformed into weapons “manufactured for killing human beings,” and that most of these weapons and gear “are readily available to all but the obviously insane, and much of it can be purchased by mail.” He sees this as an ominous trend and comments: “The potential for political or social havoc inherent in the availability of these weapons is staggering.”
More Time on TV
● Television viewing occupies about one third of the year for an average American household, according to the latest survey done by A. C. Nielsen. The average family sat in front of the TV for seven hours and two minutes each day in 1983. This is a 14-minute increase over the previous year’s record. Cable television and videocassette recorders are identified as main factors contributing to the increase. Back in the early 1950’s the average household watched TV for four and a half hours a day.
Religion on TV
● “Religious programming has proliferated enormously in the past decade,” reports The Plain Dealer. A two-week survey in 40 U.S. cities turned up 18,845 religious programs broadcast during that period. “These included everything from worship services to game shows, cartoons, variety shows and even soap operas with a religious theme,” says the paper. “Analysis of the programs found that characters were disproportionately male, white and middle-class. Characters who worked for the church were overwhelmingly male; so were the wealthy and the powerful.” Solicitations for money were also common. “During an average hour, viewers are asked to donate or buy products valued at $189.52,” the article states. “Programs featuring a preacher or a revival meeting plead the most; they ask for an average of $328.78 an hour.”
Japanese Reading Habits
● Japanese employees spend an average of about an hour a day reading, and that time is divided almost evenly between books and magazines, reveals a Japanese labor union survey. Male workers read 3.4 magazines and 2.2 books per month, while female workers read 2.6 magazines and 2.1 books. And employees spend an average of ¥2,500 ($10.66, U.S.) a month on reading material, reports The Daily Yomiuri. The Japanese are among the most avid readers in today’s world.
Counting Injuries
● Player-injury reports have been appearing in the sports pages of some U.S. newspapers during the football season in the last six or seven years. For any given week, says The New York Times, “there may be more than 300 players, catalogued with more than 400 injuries” among the 28 teams of the National Football League. But why is such information provided? “Its primary function, it seems, is to be fair to gamblers.” Evidently it is vitally important for those who engage in betting on the games to know who are playing and who are injured. “Before the reports were in the papers . . . there were guys making money by selling the information that they somehow obtained,” says a regular bettor. “The N.F.L. doesn’t like it if some gamblers have an advantage over others. So they give us all an equal shot,” he says.
Who Works Least?
● The statistics office of the EEC (European Economic Community) studied working hours of industrial employees in its member nations and found that Belgians have the shortest workweek, averaging 35.6 hours. “Next were Italy (38.1), Luxembourg (38.9), France (39), the Netherlands (40.6), West Germany (40.8), Britain (41.3) and Ireland (41.4),” reports Deutsches Allgemeines Sonntagsblatt. However, the picture changes when time off for holidays is subtracted from average hours worked per year. For example, the workers with the most holidays are the Germans, with 29.4 days off a year. The British average 22 days and the Swiss 21. American workers have only 15 days off a year, less than anybody in the EEC.
Suicide Payment
● A suicide attempt in 1977 has paid off for a New York man who threw himself in front of an incoming subway train. The man, with a long history of emotional problems, lost an arm and a leg when one of the cars ran over him before the train stopped. Sued for negligence, the New York City Transit Authority offered a $650,000 settlement rather than go to trial. Why? Because the man’s lawyer contended that the motorman had shown a degree of negligence by not stopping sooner. Under current law, juries can award damages according to the percentage of fault on each side. Fearing a large award similar to other recent cases, the Transit Authority opted for what they considered “fair” and “favorable” from their point of view. The man again managed to hurl himself in front of a moving train in 1982, but no suit resulted as he was not seriously injured.
Police Escort
● Unable to clear their city of prostitutes by arresting them, police in San Jose, California, have hit upon another tactic—escort them. “It’s really hard for them to make a date while we’re standing there listening,” officer Denise Pereira of the Street Crimes Unit said. As reported in New York’s Daily News, the strategy has reduced the downtown prostitute population from 30 to 5. The streetwalkers have tried to evade their police escorts by jogging, climbing over fences and hopping into cabs for a ride around the block—even skipping so as not to appear to be running from the police. But the police have kept up, following prostitutes at times for up to six hours, trying to “starve” them out of town by keeping them from making money at their “profession.”
Calendar Fad
● One of the hottest selling calendars this year featured beefcake—photographic displays of muscular male bodies in skimpy clothing. Who are buying these provocative calendars? All types of women are, from teenagers to grandmothers, Family Weekly magazine reports. Why? Dr. Arlene Kagle, a psychologist, explains: “Seen in the best possible light, beefcake calendars are letting women show as much interest in men and their bodies as men have always shown in women and their bodies.” But she adds that in the worst possible light “women are starting to see men purely as sex objects in some cases.”
Bizarre Animal
● Called “one of God’s oddest-looking creatures,” the naked mole rat of North Africa amazes scientists because it has “one of the most bizarre social behavior patterns of any mammal in the animal kingdom,” reports The New York Times. It behaves like an insect! This seldom-seen hairless rodent lives its entire life in underground burrows that are connected by extensive tunnels, and has a social life that is similar to that of bees, wasps, ants and termites. The unique creature, shaped like a three-inch-long (7.5 cm) sausage with legs, tail and protruding walruslike front teeth, has won the affection of those scientists who study its bizarre behavior.