Watching the World
China Quake Described
◆ Recently, the Chinese acknowledged that the July 28, 1976, earthquakes at Tangshan, some 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Peking, were the most death dealing in over four centuries. While not denying the estimates of at least 655,000 deaths, the Chinese have not revealed the actual toll. According to the New York Times, officials in China have said that the quakes “threw some residents of Tangshan City six feet [2 meters] in the air and carved a swath of devastation four miles wide and five miles long [6 x 8 kilometers] through the heart of that heavily populated metropolis.” Just prior to the first quake, multicolored lights lit up the sky over the city “like daylight.” The Times also reports: “Half a mile from the fault line . . . one field of corn the size of an airport was knocked over, in the same direction, as though by some giant wind. Leaves on many nearby trees were burned to a crisp and growing vegetables were scorched on one side as if by a fireball.” Moreover, it is said that “people clinging to trees or posts were swung around by the swaying earth.”
Noses at Work
◆ When 2,840 complaints about poor air quality were lodged with environmental officers in Japan, the government appointed six persons to put their noses to work. “Their job,” says Parade magazine, “is to poke their noses into the air and judge the degree of air pollution in areas near industrial plants.”
Soviet Union and Religion
◆ A new draft constitution was published recently in the Soviet Union. In Article 52 it states: “Freedom of conscience, that is, the right to profess any religion and perform religious rites or not to profess any religion, and to conduct atheistic propaganda, shall be recognized by all citizens. Incitement of hostility and hatred on religious grounds shall be prohibited.” The recently published draft constitution was scheduled for consideration by the Supreme Soviet this autumn.
Expense of Driving
◆ The American Automobile Association recently reported that in the United States the cost of driving an automobile is 10.3 percent higher in 1977 than it was in 1975. This is true even though many new cars get better gas mileage. Driving an eight-cylinder American auto of intermediate size 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) now costs an average of 20.2 cents per mile, compared with 18.3 cents a mile two years ago. Stated otherwise, the cost has risen from $1,831 to $2,019 a year.
Car-Moose Collisions
◆ This year the Swedish Commission for Road Safety intends to spend $230,000 to save the lives of people and moose. During 1976, 18 persons and 2,500 moose met death as a result of auto accidents involving these animals. The car-moose accident tally had risen because of a greater moose population, reports United Press International.
Auto-Crash Survival
◆ Driving speed is directly related to auto-accident survival. According to the National Safety Council, one’s chances of surviving an accident are just 50-50 if driving 71 miles (114 kilometers) per hour or more. They are 7 to 1 when going 61 to 70 mph. (98 to 112 kph.), 31 to 1 if traveling between 51 to 60 (82 to 96) and 88 to 1 when driving 41 to 50 (66 to 80).
Tire Inflation
◆ The Tire Industry Safety Council suggests that before going on a trip a car driver should increase the tire air pressure to four pounds above the auto maker’s recommendation. “That will lessen heat build-up and cut stretching of the tire, yielding longer tread life and better gas mileage,” says U.S. News & World Report. But one should be careful not to exceed the maximum air pressure indicated on the sidewalls of the tires.
Sibling Strife
◆ According to a study undertaken by the University of Delaware and the University of Rhode Island, 38 percent of the children surveyed during a recent year had kicked, bitten or punched a sister or brother. Moreover, the researchers found that 14 percent “had beaten up a sibling,” reports the Medical Tribune.
World’s Smallest Diesel Engine
◆ A West German firm is producing the world’s smallest diesel engine for industrial uses. Although it weighs just three kilograms (6.6 pounds), the engine has sufficient power to operate “rollers, concrete mixers, pumps, generators, lifts and small refrigeration units for delivery vehicles,” reports the journal To the Point International.
Fighting the Fruit Fly
◆ Mexico and the United States, in cooperation with Guatemala, are waging a battle against the Mediterranean fruit fly, which came from North Africa and has been spreading northward from South America. This insect attacks over 200 types of vegetables and fruits. The larvae hatching from its eggs feed on these crops. If the Mediterranean fruit fly continues moving to the north, Mexico’s chief vegetable- and fruit-growing regions of Sinaloa and Sonora will be imperiled, and the fly may reach the U.S. The program of eradication calls for establishment of a “sterile barrier” across Guatemala and for insecticide spraying north of the barrier. Setting up this strip would be accomplished by sterilizing flies by the thousands and then releasing them in the affected area, where they would mate with fertile insects. Since sterile eggs thus would result, the fruit fly population would drop steadily.
Tiny Bible
◆ The entire King James Version of the Bible has been reproduced on a small glass square only five eighths of an inch (1.6 centimeters) on each side. Micrometrology Laboratories of Dallas, Texas, recently presented the tiny Bible to the Smithsonian Institution. “The project was undertaken as an attempt to see how far the limits of photo-optical technology could be pushed,” reported Science Digest. “The work took more than six years at a $65,000 cost.” To read this Bible, a 300-power microscope is required.
Cocaine Dangers
◆ Cocaine is a substance derived from coca leaves, and it is used by many as a narcotic. While opinions of researchers vary, Dr. David Smith of the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic in San Francisco, California, holds that use of up to 2,000 milligrams daily “can cause depression and paranoid delusions,” reports Newsweek magazine. Snorting cocaine, as some do, may inflame nasal tissue, destroy it, or even result in perforation of the septum dividing the user’s nostrils. The journal also points out: “Researchers agree that a massive dose can paralyze the respiratory centers of the brain, causing death. Injection of the drug—more common among heavy users—may also lead to hepatitis and other infections from a contaminated syringe.”
Unemployed Youths
◆ The International Labor Organization (ILO) recently reported that over seven million youths now lack employment in the 23 industrialized lands of the West belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. However, Parade magazine says that this figure is too low because many youths “have become fed up with job-hunting and are no longer counted as unemployed.” It also states: “The reasons for youth unemployment, says the ILO, are the failure of the educational system to adequately prepare young people for the job market, the hesitation of employers to give them a chance, and the indifference of society.”
A Rabies First
◆ Dr. Jerome Androulis, a U.S. bacteriologist, is thought to be the first individual to have contracted rabies after being completely immunized. He underwent immunization some eight years ago and has received boosters regularly. Dr. Androulis was doing research in an effort to produce an oral vaccine against rabies. Since he had no scratches or cuts and wore protective garments while handling the dangerous virus, the journal New Scientist suggests that “he may have been infected by airborne rabies virus, adding yet another riddle to his case.”
Panda Pair Mate at Last
◆ After normalizing relations in 1972, China gave Japan two giant pandas, Kang Kang and his “lady friend” Lan Lan. Although being coaxed for years, however, they did not mate. Finally the pandas mated recently at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo, and Lan Lan could bear offspring this October. The prospective young one would be the very first giant panda to be born in captivity outside China itself. The Chinese had given pandas to the U.S., but there had been no success in mating them.
Smoking Tally
◆ The National Clearinghouse for Smoking and Health has reported that the percentage of smoking adults has dropped from 42 to 34 percent since the U.S. Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health was issued in the mid-1960’s. But due to the population growth since then, the number of adult smokers has risen somewhat and now stands at nearly 54,000,000 in the U.S.
Church Attendance
◆ A Gallup Poll has indicated a slight rise in the percentage of persons attending churches and synagogues in the United States. Whereas attendance had been decreasing since 1958 and the figure stood at 40 percent for the years 1972 to 1975, it rose to 42 percent during a typical week in 1976. In a report on the Gallup findings, the magazine Changing Times also states: “The proportion of persons who believe religion is increasing its influence on American life jumped from 14% in 1970 to 44% in 1976.”
Pregnant Women and Alcohol
◆ Women who are pregnant or who expect to be should not have over two drinks of liquor, wine or beer in one day. This is the advice of Dr. Ernest P. Noble, who is the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Abnormalities may develop in the baby if the woman is a heavy user of alcoholic beverages. For example, the child may be born with brain damage or an undersized head. In its report on the matter, the Medical Tribune quotes Dr. Noble as cautioning against “binge drinking” and saying: “A mother-to-be taking just one big, big slug of alcohol early in pregnancy could also risk serious fetal abnormality.”
Pests Versus Pest Researchers
◆ Britain’s Centre for Overseas Pest Research (COPR) has had experience with Indian beetles, Nigerian grasshoppers and the like. But when the Centre’s offices in London were besieged by common domestic mice, what was done? To get rid of the infestation, it was necessary for COPR to engage the services of a commercial pest-control agency.
Insulation Danger
◆ Various kinds of insulation material are on the market, but not all are safe. Citing an example, The U.S. News Washington Letter mentions a type “made of shredded paper, treated with formaldehyde,” and warns: “It could be a fire hazard in five years or so, as the retardant leaches away.”
“They Drink Too Much”
◆ According to a United Press International dispatch, Max Cleland, who heads the Veterans Administration in the United States, says that a fourth of that agency’s hospital patients “are there because they drink too much.” Reportedly, from 1970 to 1973, the ratio of problem drinkers and alcoholics to other V. A. hospital patients rose from 1 in 5 to 1 in 4. Of the estimated 10 million alcoholics in the U.S., Cleland says that veterans number 3 million. He is quoted as stating: “Alcohol is the No. 1 drug abuse problem in our society. It is a major priority for this management.”