Watching the World
City Living Costs
◆ According to Business International (based in Geneva, Switzerland), of 59 cities surveyed recently, the cost of living is the highest in Tokyo. Following it in the top-ten bracket are Osaka/Kobe, Zurich, Geneva, Stockholm, Vienna, Oslo, Lagos, Copenhagen and Frankfurt. New York city is in 18th place in the expense rating. Among the least expensive cities are Mexico City, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, São Paulo, Manila, Johannesburg, Bangkok and Montevideo, with Buenos Aires being rated the cheapest in living costs.
Blood “Substitutes” Excel
◆ Under the direction of the University of Munich’s Institute for Surgical Research, 31 clinics in southern Bavaria have made a three-year study comparing patients given blood transfusions with those receiving blood “substitutes.” The findings indicate that such “substitutes” result in far fewer complications than do transfusions. In the use of 200,000 units of blood “substitutes,” complications arose only in 0.033 percent of the cases. However, several dangers of blood transfusions were cited in the report. It was said that in some large cities every 10th transfusion patient was infected with hepatitis.
Dramatic Solar Eruption
◆ In certain ways, an eruption on the sun’s surface on July 11 was the strongest ever noted. Besides temporarily disrupting certain types of communication, it overpowered X-ray detectors on two earth-orbiting satellites. The flare also sent magnetic fields into space and, for a time, blocked cosmic rays that usually strike the earth from outside the solar system.
Bible Encyclopedia in Hungary
◆ During Hungary’s recent yearly book week, the state-operated publishing house released The Small Encyclopedia of the Bible. Before the week had ended, the 78,000 copies off the press had been sold, making the book a best seller. Its compilers said that their aim was to explain the Bible as “a human and literary creation.” According to Time magazine, the Communist Party newspaper Népszabadság stated that the encyclopedia had been published for three reasons. One purpose was to provide understanding of Scriptural expressions. Another object was to enrich “the dialogue with believers.” As a third point, the paper held that knowledge of the Scriptures “can in fact strengthen official ideology.” Time reports: “Like every other Communist regime, . . . Hungary’s propagates atheism; and while in practice it tolerates religious observance by its 5.8 million Catholics and 2.6 million Protestants, the Bible itself is available in only a single church bookstore in the country. It is frequently out of stock.”
Catholic Numbers
◆ There were over 724 million Roman Catholics world wide in 1976, according to the current statistical yearbook of the church. The number had risen from 705 million during 1974. But the yearbook reveals that whereas there were 409,000 Catholic priests throughout the world in that year, the 1976 tally was just 401,000. A Reuters dispatch from Rome says that the decrease is “attributed by many to the ban on married priests.”
Pollution Toll
◆ A recent issue of the magazine L’Europeo reported that 200,000,000,000 liras are spent in Italy each year “to repair some of the damage caused by pollution.” The journal also said that environmental pollution in that country results in the death of 30 persons an hour.
Preferred by Foreign Businessmen
◆ According to a recent survey by Touche Ross & Co., New York heads the foreign executives’ list when it comes to assignments in a foreign city. One reason is New York’s status as a principal business center of the world. San Francisco and Los Angeles are other United States cities favored by foreign businessmen.
Women in Crime
◆ During a study funded by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, Prof. Rita J. Simon of the University of Illinois found that in the United States during 1975 women were arrested for committing 16 percent of the crimes. The figure was up from 10.8 percent in 1953. According to the Associated Press, Prof. Simon contends: “As you have more and more women working outside the home, they are getting jobs that place them in a position to embezzle or steal. With this larger female working force, it is simply a question of the law of averages.”
Deadly Amoeba
◆ An amoeba known as Naegleria fowleri is baffling scientists. Although this microorganism generally is harmless, the New York Times reports that it can kill swimmers “by feasting on their brain cells.” This apparently drug-resistant amoeba lives in freshwater—at times in polluted places, but also in clean waters. Whereas people by the millions swim in waters where this organism is found, just 123 cases of infection have been reported world wide. However, all but three resulted in death. Since this amoeba can enter a person’s nose and travel up the olfactory nerve to his brain, one researcher recommends that swimmers either use nose clips or blow their noses after they have been swimming.
Are Smokers Nearby?
◆ Even if you do not smoke, just occupying a room with smokers can be detrimental to your health. This is the conclusion of cardiologist Wilbert Aronow after studies involving 10 men with angina pectoris, a condition resulting in chest pain when insufficient oxygen reaches the heart. In tests at the Long Beach Veterans Administration Hospital (in California, U.S.A.), Aronow had each of the subjects sit in a room with three individuals who smoked a total of 15 cigarettes in two hours. Normally, the subjects “could pedal exercise about four minutes before experiencing chest pains,” reports Time magazine, adding: “After sitting in a smoke-filled room, they were forced to stop after only 2-1/2 to 3 min., and their heart rates and blood pressures rose as they inhaled the nicotine-laden air.”
TV Tally
◆ In the United States, 97 percent of the households have at least one television set. According to TV Guide, 31.9 million of the 71.2 million households had more than one TV set in 1976 and 54.9 million owned color sets.
Real Estate in Greece
◆ A British Broadcasting Company study recently revealed that real-estate costs in Greece were the highest in Europe. For instance, a house priced at 35,000 pounds in England sells for 130,000 pounds in Switzerland, but costs 200,000 pounds in Greece. Concluding a report on the study, the Athens News states: “A building at Constitution Square in Athens costs more money than a similar one in Piccadilly Circus!”
Watch That Back
◆ Leonard Ring, a specialist in New Zealand, says that a person should lift things by using thigh-muscle strength, not that of the back. To be more specific, the feet should be placed apart at about the width of the shoulders. One foot ought to be a little ahead of the other one. When taking hold of the object, one’s back should be kept as straight as one can keep it, and the knees should be bent. The person should straighten the legs, lifting the article gradually, not quickly. The journal Industry Week cites this advice after mentioning “an estimated 6.5 million Americans suffering daily from back injuries.”
Hints for Air Travelers
◆ Among business travel hints, Exec*time newsletter recommends avoiding the bustling “hub” airports and holiday periods. It also suggests that the air traveler avoid busy times of the day and week (4 to 7 p.m., as well as Monday morning and Friday afternoon). Besides carrying heavy work, a person might take along light material to read, for instance, while in waiting rooms and during the homeward flight.
Indian Tribe Found
◆ A Brazilian explorer has discovered a hitherto unknown tribe of Indians living in an area along the Simões River near the Brazil-Colombia border. He believes that they are descendants of the Central American Mayas. The tribesmen use blowguns that are over nine feet (3 meters) in length.
China’s Populace
◆ The People’s Republic of China has some 900 million inhabitants. Of these, about 80 percent are less than 35 years of age. So reports Parade magazine, citing information provided by a Chinese liaison-office spokesman in Washington, D.C.
Airline Records
◆ During 1977 an all-time yearly record of 240 million passengers were carried on United States airlines. Profits ran to $754 million (U.S.), notably higher than the $564 million of 1976.
Pet Owners
◆ In the United States, half the cat owners also have a dog. So reports the Pet Food Institute. It is estimated that there are 23 million cats in the homes of Americans.
Smoke-Detector Hazard?
◆ According to some, up to 70 percent of the smoke detectors now on the market in the United States contain the radioactive isotope americium-241. It is said that this type of detector could cause physical harm, including cancer. Leakage is possible if detectors containing this poisonous isotope are damaged. Parade reports that representative Ted Weiss introduced a bill in Congress that would prohibit the sale of such radioactive detectors. Weiss suggests, says the magazine, “that consumers buy photoelectric smoke detectors, which are effective in fire-warning without constituting a health hazard.”
Thin or Fat?
◆ Citing the Executive Fitness Newsletter as a source, the journal Industry Week reports that, according to one study, “as family income increases, men get fatter and women get thinner.” Also, for some reason, women with better schooling have 20 percent less fat than their less-educated counterparts. Among men, those who have not finished high school have a fat layer 10 percent thinner than that of those having completed a 12-year education.
How Much Do You Sleep?
◆ On an average, United States residents are sleeping 1-1/2 hours less each day than they did six decades ago. This is the conclusion drawn from 20 years of research by Wilse Webb, a psychologist associated with the University of Florida. Whereas the average American adult sleeps 7-1/2 hours daily, 15 percent are said to sleep for over 8-1/2 hours and another 15 percent reportedly get along on under 6-1/2 hours of slumber a day. Webb contends: “We’ve ripped away the cocoon of darkness with electric light.”
Money-making “Teddy Bear”
◆ The “Teddy Bear,” so popular with children, earns some $60 million annually for the company making it. This well-known stuffed “animal” got its start 75 years ago in Giengen, about midway between Stuttgart and Munich, Federal Republic of Germany. According to the journal To the Point International, the “bear” made its first appearance at the Leipzig Fair of 1903 and “would have disappeared if an American buyer had not, ‘on the spur of the moment’, ordered 3,000, a few ending up on US president ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt’s banquet table as decorations.” Soon thereafter, the “Teddy Bear” became world famous.
Do You Own a Skateboard?
◆ In 1973, skateboard injuries cared for in emergency rooms numbered only 3,682 in the United States. However, during 1977 the toll reached 140,070. So reports the National Injury Information Clearinghouse of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.