Watching the World
Church Membership Declining
It is thought that in the United States, fewer than half of those raised in mainline Protestant churches over the past 30 years remain in their denomination as adults. An estimated 78 million people in the United States are “marginal” Protestants. This means that they identify themselves as Baptists, Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, or members of some other Protestant church, but they don’t belong to or attend a local church.
Bone Merchants
“Desperate residents of war-torn Kabul are digging up human bones to sell for use in chicken feed,” reports Reuters news service. Bone, which is rich in calcium, phosphate, and carbonate, is used to make animal feed, soap, and cooking oil. A skeleton weighing about 13 pounds [6 kg] can fetch up to 50 cents, which is a relatively large sum of money in that very poor city. “It’s good business,” says 14-year-old Faizdeen. “Though I often pick animal bones, the human ones are easier to find here.” Sadly, years of civil war in Afghanistan have made this mineral-rich commodity readily available.
Watches That Tell More Than Time
In Rio de Janeiro, 77 students were disqualified after being found with digital watches used to cheat on a university entrance exam, reports the newspaper O Globo. The watches worked much like a telephone pager; but instead of receiving telephone numbers, they provided the correct answers to test questions. The newspaper says that students paid as much as $14,000 each for the watches. Interestingly, as far back as 1987, school examining boards in England and Wales warned teachers to be on the lookout for cheaters using computerized wristwatches.
Distorted Vision
Most people who look into a mirror accept the reflected image that they see—themselves. But people suffering from a condition known as body dysmorphic disorder gaze into a mirror and see a distorted image of themselves. “It’s a condition in which people dwell on one feature, imagining it to be hideously ugly, when it is, in fact, normal,” states The Province, of British Columbia, Canada. New York psychiatrist Eric Hollander says that agony over imagined flaws can be so great that about 25 percent of those suffering from the disorder attempt suicide.
E-Mail Prayers
Pious Jews have long gathered at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem in order to cry and offer prayers. Oftentimes, worshipers write prayers on a small piece of paper and place them in the crevices of the wall. Now, however, Jews from around the world can send E-mail prayers via the Internet. According to Computerworld magazine, staff members from the Virtual Jerusalem Web site gather the prayers, print them out, and take them to the Wailing Wall, where, “according to Jewish tradition, God can retrieve them.”
Income Gap Widens
According to a recent United Nations social development report, 83 percent of the world’s income goes to the richest 20 percent of the population. To put it another way, the collective wealth of the world’s 358 billionaires equals the combined incomes of the poorest 2,400,000,000 people. In 1960 the average annual income of people living in industrial countries was $5,700 more than that of people living in developing countries. In 1993, however, the difference in the average annual per-capita income between industrial nations and developing nations had grown to $15,400.
Historic Harvest
“Machines have out-performed man in China’s wheat fields for the first time in the country’s history,” Reuters news service reported. It said that more than 800,000 mechanical harvesters were used. Wheat was first introduced to China sometime before 1300 B.C.E. and has been successfully cultivated on small family farms—mostly by hand—since that time. But with China representing more than 20 percent of the world’s population, yet possessing just 7 percent of the arable land, “agricultural officials are eager to boost mechanization in the nation’s fields,” said the report.
Clergy Insurance Difficulties
Most churches carry general liability insurance to protect them against personal-injury claims. However, some insurance companies in the United States have started withdrawing coverage for “sexual misconduct” of clergy, reports the National Underwriter. John Cleary, general counsel of Church Mutual Insurance Company, said: “Many . . . liability policies will exclude sexual misconduct because it’s an intentional act, it’s really a crime.” Moreover, Donald Clark, Jr., a lawyer who represents various religious groups, said that these insurance changes suggest that “the potential threat of adverse economic consequences for these types of man-made disasters are perhaps more devastating than the consequences from natural disasters.” Since 1984, Church Mutual, one of the leading church insurers in the United States, has had between 1,500 and 2,000 sexual misconduct claims, according to Mr. Cleary.
Singapore Students Excel
Over half a million students from 41 different countries took a 90-minute test to compare the standards of education around the world. The results? Test scores suggest that Singapore is producing the world’s best students in both math and science. Following Singapore, the remaining top ten countries in math scores were South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Slovenia. The best science scores were posted by Singapore, Czech Republic, Japan, South Korea, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, and England. How did a nation of only about 3,400,000 people apparently outsmart the rest of the world? Perhaps through hard work. Singapore’s students spend an average of 4.6 hours a day doing homework, while the international average is 2 to 3 hours, reports Asiaweek.
Money From Heaven?
Residents of Overtown, an impoverished neighborhood in Miami, Florida, were delighted when money appeared to fall out of the sky. As it turned out, however, it was not manna from heaven but part of a $3.7-million load of cash that fell onto the streets below when an armored truck crashed on an overpass above the neighborhood. Police estimate that at least 100 people rushed to scoop up money, but it is likely there were many more. According to The New York Times, “Miami police gave holders of the money 48 hours to turn it in without being charged with theft.” But by the time the amnesty expired, only three people had returned any money, and some $500,000 was still missing. One 18-year-old youth reportedly said: “It landed in people’s yards, man. What do you expect them to do?”
Patients Kept Warm During Surgery
Hospital operating rooms kept cold to retard the growth of airborne bacteria triple the risk of infection, claims a new study by University of California anesthesiologist Daniel Sessler. “What causes wound infection is not really bacteria floating around in the air,” says Dr. Sessler, “but the patient’s decreased resistance to bacteria on the skin or inside the body.” Cold operating rooms can drop a patient’s body temperature by as much as 4 degrees Fahrenheit. And low body temperature reduces the flow of oxygenated blood, which is essential in fighting infection. Sessler says that “the cells and enzymes responsible for immunity simply don’t work well when the body is cold.” Sessler and his colleagues found that in addition to a reduced rate of infection, patients whose body temperature was kept normal during surgery stayed in the hospital nearly three days less than unwarmed patients.
Not for the Public Good
In Japan, 49 percent of the people polled said that their government officials work mainly for themselves, reports Mainichi Daily News. Only 7 percent of the respondents thought that bureaucrats work for “the public good,” and just 3 percent said that they work for the country. Very few Japanese described their bureaucrats as diligent or sincere. The survey was conducted last December, following a year in which a number of scandals involving some of Japan’s highest-ranking civil servants came to light.