Watching the World

Un-Orthodox Conduct

A Greek Orthodox priest was arrested last fall in a U.S. federal government sting operation for bribing Internal Revenue agents a total of $500,000 “in return for eliminating $2.1 million in income, withholding, payroll, corporate income and unemployment taxes owed by [him] and 30 others,” reports Tax Analysts of Arlington, Virginia. Although the cleric initially agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation, U.S. District Judge Richard Owen sentenced him “immediately to jail after he learned . . . that the priest had violated his agreement with the government by not admitting to all the money he had made,” notes Tax Analysts. According to the report, the priest had bribed an undercover agent “in the sanctuary of St. Gerasimos Greek Orthodox Church” in New York while wearing his priestly garb.

AIDS Update

It is now estimated by researchers that “as many as one in every 5000 people who undergo major surgery in the U.S. may become infected with the AIDS virus from tainted blood that slips through the screening process,” reports the New York Post. The risk factor, however, increases dramatically in areas like New York where AIDS is particularly common. In such cases, “one out of every 500 people who require large amounts of donated blood,” notes the Post, runs the risk of contracting the AIDS virus. The reason, according to researcher Dr. Allan Salzberg, is the inability of current tests to detect all infected blood during the screening process. Antibodies to the virus often do not appear in the blood for several weeks after a person becomes infected, and the infected persons may donate blood during that period.

“Smokeless” Cigarette Ads

For years now, most magazine and newspaper advertisements encouraging smoking have shown no visible smoke ascending from lighted cigarettes. According to the Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald, antismoking groups see this as a deliberate case of deceptive advertising since seeing visible smoke now has a negative effect. Although dismissed as “anti-smoking propaganda” by tobacco-company representatives, printed advertisements clearly show a preference for the “healthy” smokeless image of a cigarette hanging from the lips of a rugged horseman or held between the fingers of handsome young couples gathered for Sunday brunch.

Homosexual Ministers

Last August, following months of debate, leaders of the United Church of Canada voted 205 to 160 in favor of ordaining homosexuals for the ministry. According to the New York Daily News, only “one-quarter of the church’s 4,000 ministers and 30,000 of its 860,000 members signed a declaration opposing the ordination of homosexuals.” The Church of Canada is said to be “Canada’s largest Protestant denomination.”

Sports Abortions

In their quest for greater physical performance during competition, women athletes in some countries are deliberately getting pregnant and then having abortions, reports the Sunday Mirror, a British newspaper. According to the paper, such actions are based on the discovery that during the first months of pregnancy, a woman’s muscle power greatly increases. The report claims that women athletes are even being encouraged by some track and field officials to become pregnant via artificial insemination. Dr. Risto Erkola, a Finnish expert in sports medicine, says that “pregnancy is becoming the favorite way of getting an edge on competitors,” reports the Mirror.

A Generation Lost

Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 are lost, geographically speaking. When asked to identify 16 geographic locations in a recent Gallup survey taken among nine industrialized nations, they came in last. The survey, sponsored by the National Geographic Society, revealed that one out of five Americans within that age group “can’t find the U.S. on a world map,” reports U.S.News & World Report. Of those surveyed, one in four could not locate the Pacific Ocean, one in five was unable to name a single European country, and one in two failed to locate New York State on a map.

Dismiss the Pastor!

What can a dissatisfied church parish do with its vicar? A Protestant monthly from West Berlin suggests they should vote the clergyman out of office, reports Nassauer Tageblatt, a German newspaper. “The parish must be able to get rid of an incapable pastor or one whose teachings are false,” states the article. This suggestion, if followed, could affect about 12,600 clergymen who serve the 10,600 parishes of the German Lutheran Church.

Sting Alert

Did you ever wonder why squashing an attacking yellow jacket brings out an armada of fellow yellow jackets that join in the attack? According to entomologist Peter Landolt, smashing a yellow jacket breaks its venom sac and releases an alarm pheromone into the air, alerting other yellow jackets to come to the rescue, reports Science Digest. To support their findings, Landolt and chemist Robert Heath tested a synthesized alarm pheromone near a nest of Florida yellow jackets. Landolt reported that as many as 500 attacking insects “came out of the nest and started stinging.” Landolt advises to avoid squashing a yellow jacket.

Bear-Tracking Satellite

Since 1974 the French Argos satellite system has helped, among other things, to locate navigators in distress and to keep an eye on volcanoes and icebergs. Now the system has received the unusual task of tracking U.S. grizzly bears. “Four grizzlies south of the [Glacier National] park now wear special radio collars, the frequencies monitored every 101 minutes as a French Argos satellite passes overhead,” reports the International Herald Tribune. “A French ground station plots the bears’ locations from the satellite data, and relays it to Montana.” The satellite can even detect the bear’s head movements, which indicate whether the animal is hibernating or dead.

Missing Children

Tracing missing children is complicated by the fact that as they grow up, their features change rapidly. After a few years, old photographs may bear little resemblance to a child’s present appearance. Now, however, scientists at the University of Illinois have developed a computer program that within ten minutes can produce an up-to-date picture based on 48 known facial features. Humans age according to predetermined genetic characteristics. Thus, by entering into the computer the sex, age, and race of the child, along with the date of an available photograph, a relatively accurate likeness can be determined, with the exception of hairstyle, reports The Sunday Times of London.

Produce With Taste

A loudspeaker manufacturer in Japan has developed a system for playing music to promote the growth of plants in a hothouse. A technician explains that music stimulates plants to open their stomata, minute openings on a leaf that allow a plant to breathe. Not just any music, however, will do. Citing a plant in India that withered when exposed to constant drumbeats, the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun reports that plants are believed to be vulnerable to quick-tempo music, particularly rock ‘n’ roll. “Music must be limited to classical numbers only,” claims an Osaka farm that utilizes music to accelerate growth of produce. At least their melons and tomatoes have good taste​—Mozart, Bach, and Vivaldi are their favorites.