Watching the World
Expensive Drug Habit
A U.S. government report estimates that Americans spent $57.3 billion on illegal drugs in 1995. Cocaine accounted for two thirds of the sales, while heroin, marijuana, and other illicit drugs made up the remainder. The director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Barry McCaffrey, noted that the amount of money spent on these drugs could have bought four-year college educations for a million people or 22 billion gallons of milk to feed undernourished babies, reports the Associated Press. Moreover, this figure does not take into account the social costs, such as increased crime, disruption in personal and family lives, and the spread of diseases like hepatitis and AIDS.
Forgotten Law
How many of the Bible’s Ten Commandments can you recite? A study in Rio de Janeiro found that more than 1 out of 4 Brazilians could not name any of them! Of those who knew at least one of the commandments, 42 percent mentioned “Do not kill” or “Do not steal.” Others recalled “Do not desire your neighbor’s wife” (38 percent), “Honor [your] father and mother” (22 percent), and “Do not bear false witness” (14 percent), reports Veja. Only 13 percent of the respondents remembered the third commandment: “Do not take God’s holy name in vain.”
Early IQ Tests for Children
Scientists studying human intelligence now believe that an infant’s brain undergoes its most critical stage of development between birth and three years of age. It is also thought that in response to mental stimulation, permanent connections are established in the brain during this phase. Thus, some parents have begun giving their children IQ tests long before they enter kindergarten, to help them gain a competitive edge, reports Modern Maturity. However, Dr. Barry Zuckerman, chairman of the department of pediatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine, expressed concern over parents who feel “pressured to ‘stimulate’ their baby every minute” in an attempt to produce a “super baby.” Richard Weinberg, professor of child psychology, adds: “Pushing children to compete too early often backfires. Let your kids enjoy their childhood.”
Careful Copyists
The texts making up the Greek Scriptures of the Bible have been meticulously copied and handed down with great care says Dr. Barbara Aland, head of the Institute for New Testament Research, in Münster, Germany. “Mistakes or even theologically motivated changes are rare,” reports the Westfälische Nachrichten. Since 1959 the institute has examined over 5,000 handwritten manuscripts, which date from the Middle Ages and classical antiquity. Some 90 percent of the manuscripts have been recorded on microfilm. Why did Bible copyists take such great care not to make mistakes? Because they “regarded themselves as ‘copyists’ and not authors,” says the newspaper.
Is It Really Decaf?
Those who are sensitive to caffeine often turn to a decaffeinated beverage as an alternative. But what are your chances of getting true decaffeinated coffee when you ask for it? According to a report in The New York Times, they are about 1 in 3. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration defines decaffeinated coffee as having two to five milligrams of caffeine. But samples from 18 coffee merchants in New York City revealed that the amount of caffeine in a five-ounce cup varied widely, from 2.3 milligrams of caffeine to 114 milligrams! According to the National Coffee Association, a standard cup of regular coffee contains between 60 and 180 milligrams of caffeine.
Worldwide Deforestation
“Two thirds of the planet’s forest cover has already been destroyed,” reports Jornal da Tarde. Of the earth’s 30 million square miles [80 million sq km] of original forest areas, only 10 million [30 million] remain. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has found that Asia is the most deforested continent, with 88 percent of its original vegetation destroyed. In Europe the figure is 62 percent, in Africa 45 percent, in Latin America 41 percent, and in North America 39 percent. Amazonia, home to the world’s largest tropical rain forest, has more than 85 percent of its original forest remaining. O Estado de S. Paulo quotes WWF’s Garo Batmanian as saying: “Brazil has the opportunity to avoid repeating the errors committed in other forests.”
Treasures Stolen
A recent news release from Canada announced that “international crime rings are targeting Mesopotamian treasures that have been left virtually defenseless in the wake of the 1991 Persian Gulf war,” reports World Press Review. In 1996, thieves broke into the Babylon Museum in broad daylight and seized cylinders and tablets that were inscribed with cuneiform writing. The rare antiquities, some dating back to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, were estimated to be worth more than $735,000 on international art markets. Another area targeted by thieves is the ancient city of Al-Hadhr. In an effort to protect the remaining treasures, the government has sealed off all the city’s doors and passageways with bricks and mortar, states the magazine.
Catholic Church Seeks Forgiveness
The Roman Catholic Church in France has issued a formal “Declaration of Repentance,” asking God and the Jewish people for forgiveness for the “indifference” the Catholic Church showed toward the persecution of Jews under France’s wartime Vichy government. From 1940 to 1944, more than 75,000 Jews were arrested and deported from France to Nazi death camps. In a statement read by Archbishop Olivier de Berranger, the church admitted that it had allowed its own interests “to obscure the biblical imperative of respect for every human being created in the image of God,” reports the French newspaper Le Monde. Although a handful of French clergy spoke out in favor of the Jews, the majority supported the Vichy government and its policies. The declaration stated in part: “The church must recognize that in regard to the persecution of the Jews, and especially in regard to manifold anti-Semitic measures decreed by the Vichy authorities, indifference by far prevailed over indignation. Silence was the rule, and words in favor of the victims the exception. . . . Today, we confess that this silence was a mistake. We also recognize that the church in France failed in its mission as the educator of people’s consciences.”
Destructive Weevils
Since the red palm weevil arrived on the Arabian Peninsula less than 20 years ago, this small insect has burrowed into thousands of date palms and caused untold damage. “There are even fears that dates—Arabia’s 5,000-year-old ‘fruit of life’—could be wiped out,” reports The Economist. The weevil, measuring just two inches [5 cm] in length, bores a series of tunnels inside the palm’s trunk and slowly kills the tree. Pesticides have had little effect on the insect, and it continues to multiply rapidly throughout the region.
Advantages of Older Employees
Workers over the age of 47 are more alert and more efficient in the morning than their younger colleagues, reports The Times of London. Since this pattern tends to reverse itself later in the day, Tom Reilly, of Liverpool’s John Moores University, suggests that employers schedule older employees for early shifts and younger ones for afternoons and evenings. Speakers at the British Medical Association’s conference on aging also revealed that supermarkets and do-it-yourself stores often prefer to employ older people. Why? Because they show more concern for customers and display knowledge regarding how to do things for which there are no written instructions. They also adhere to “ethical standards from which a company might have drifted,” reports the newspaper.