Watching the World
Origin of Christmas
◆ “It may not be technically correct to celebrate Christmas on December 25,” says Alumni Review of Temple University, Philadelphia. It states: “Recent research places the true birthday of Jesus in October,” and asks: “Where does that leave those of us who celebrate Christmas on December 25? With the old Roman Saturnalia and the Feast of Mithras, says Dr. Martha A. Davis, a Temple assistant professor of Classics.” Mithras was a god in the Persian Zoroastrian religion, and the Feast of Mithras was celebrated on the god’s supposed birthday, December 25. The Roman Saturnalia, a feast named for the Roman god Saturn, absorbed the Feast of Mithras and lasted for days.
During that period, Dr. Davis notes, all restrictions went “by the board.” Gambling, outlawed at other times, was legalized. Wine flowed like water. Schools, most places of business and law courts were closed. In addition, she states: “Homes were lavishly decorated with evergreens. Family celebrations were in order. Men discarded their cumbersome togas for more colorful holiday garments. Families and friends exchanged gifts, candles and clay figures.”
Thus, Christmas is the modern-day version of festivals held to worship the false pagan gods Mithras and Saturn.
Britain’s Oil Bonanza
◆ Britain’s production of oil from its North Sea fields is nearing 2,000,000 barrels a day, about the same volume that the nation consumes. By next year, Britain expects to be self-sufficient in oil, with daily production rising to nearly 3,000,000 barrels in five years. However, the oil income is also creating problems. Newsweek explains: “The bitter truth is that the oil bonanza has so strengthened the pound sterling that the nation’s already weak exporting industries are finding it increasingly difficult to compete in world markets.” Economists say that unless oil revenues are pumped into a massive effort to modernize all of British industry to make it more competitive, “the vast potential of the North Sea may prove to be an illusion.”
A Building in 38 Hours
◆ The Tulsa, Oklahoma, World reports that a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses was built in less than 38 hours over a weekend. The newspaper relates: “The sun yawned in the east as dozens of folks—soon to be hundreds—converged on a dusty spit of land marked by a fresh concrete slab. They came in pickups, vans, motorhomes and cars from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, Louisiana, Florida and New York. All Jehovah’s Witnesses, they shared a common goal: To build a [Kingdom Hall] for the local, 36-member congregation [of Purcell] in a single weekend. And they did. The last brick was tucked into place exactly 37 hours and 20 minutes after the men, women and children had rolled up their sleeves.”
The World noted that “not a dime has been paid for their labor of love.” One passerby declared: “This is the most unbelievable thing I have seen in my life. Yesterday there was nothing. Today there is this. It’s the most beautiful dedication to God I have ever seen.”
Baby “Junk Food”
◆ Two researchers at the University of Southern California claim that infant formulas are “junk food” and should be sold by prescription only. Dr. Paul Fleiss and Dr. Jay Gordon say that the formula foods should be reserved for mothers with medical problems or those separated from their babies. They state that the formulas are the child’s first introduction to “junk food,” and that the list of ingredients on the label is “not much different from a candy label.”
Truman’s A-Bomb Comment
◆ Historians now say that former president Harry S. Truman expressed deeper concern about the atomic bomb than they previously thought. Among some of his recently discovered personal notes is one written on July 25, 1945, which states: “We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire destruction prophesied.” He emphasized: “It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered.” A few days later, on August 6, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, killing tens of thousands of men, women and children. On August 9, a second was dropped on Nagasaki. But in spite of the awesome destructive power of nuclear weapons, the nations now have tens of thousands of them and could annihilate most life on earth within hours.
Nuclear Plant “Incidents”
◆ Last year more than 2,300 “incidents” were reported at nuclear power plants in the United States. These included mechanical failures and operational errors. While industry spokesmen confirm these, they downplay their significance. However, many people are not reassured, as they remember the near catastrophe at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in March of 1979. An accident there contaminated the plant with dangerous radioactivity, causing its shutdown. Only recently have technicians begun decontamination. A power company in Virginia reported 130 incidents at one facility, the highest recorded. The average number of reported incidents at the nation’s 68 nuclear power plants was 34, with only five reactors reporting fewer than 10.
‘Wrong Priorities’
◆ In recent years some scientists concluded that aerosol propellants in spray cans were damaging the earth’s ozone layer, which protects us from much of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. As a result, the United States, Canada, Sweden and some other countries imposed bans on the use of propellants such as the chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) compounds. However, after reviewing the evidence, Britain’s New Scientist says: “We conclude, then, that the amount of damage CFCs may inflict on the ozone layer is far from certain, and that the biological effects of increased penetration by [ultraviolet] radiation may be less severe than has been supposed.” The publication also observes: “While we squabble over the supposed harm spray cans may be doing to pale-skinned sunbathers—no one else would be injured—species are being driven to extinction, millions of our fellow humans are starving, and the world is teetering in the direction of war. Could it be that something is wrong with our sense of priorities?”
Egg “Talk”
◆ Researchers have identified 11 different sounds, or calls, by which a hen and her chick embryo communicate. This interaction takes place during the two days before the chick hatches. As an example, a “distress call” from the embryo elicits a “cluck” from the hen, apparently reassuring the embryo. It was found that such interaction made a significant difference after the chick was hatched, because chicks that had been incubated in a mechanical brooder were more confused and did not respond as well to their new environment.
Homemaker’s Value
◆ In an American divorce case, a lawyer detailed the wife’s duties and claimed that payment for her services would be worth $41,277 (U.S.) a year. The court agreed, awarding her alimony payments of $40,000 yearly. Jobs performed by the wife were listed as follows: food buyer, nurse, tutor, waitress, seamstress, laundress, chauffeur, gardener, family counselor, maintenance, child care, cleaning woman, housekeeper, cook, errand runner, budget manager, decorator, caterer, dishwasher, dietician, secretary, maid, hostess.
Ice Cube Relief?
◆ In Canada, McGill University psychologist Ronald Melzack says that toothache sufferers who cannot get to a dentist right away can get relief from an ice cube. He states that the idea is not to hold the ice on the tooth, but to massage it on the back of the hand on the same side of the body as the bad tooth. Melzack claims that 80 percent of those involved in a recent study had dental pain reduced by 50 percent or more after ice was applied to the area between the thumb and forefinger. He notes that this area has long been recognized as an acupuncture point by the Chinese. The relief, he says, can last for a few minutes or for several hours.
Electronic Abacus
◆ In tests between an abacus and electronic calculators, it has been found that for multiplication and division the calculator is faster. But for addition and subtraction the abacus is faster. In the People’s Republic of China, members of the Chinese Abacus Association have incorporated the strong points of both into an “electronic abacus.” It consists of an integrated microcircuit in the upper part, with an abacus below. The instrument is small, light and easy to operate. It is now being mass-produced in the cities of Beijing and Hangzhou.
Public Debt Soars
◆ Because of huge deficit spending by the United States government, the public debt will be nearly one trillion dollars in fiscal 1981. Interest payments on the debt are expected to be $83,000,000,000 a year. History shows that such huge debts are never paid back.
Bull Run Buries Two
◆ A bull gored two men to death during Spain’s traditional yearly running of the bulls through the streets of Pamplona. This was the first double death since 1947, and raised to 12 the total killed since the beginning of the century. One of the young men had promised his fiancée that this bull run would be his last. It was.
More “Muggable”
◆ Many people may indicate to criminals that they are easier targets for muggings. How? By the way they walk. That is the conclusion of two New York psychologists based on “muggability” ratings from those most likely to know—prison inmates who were in jail for assault. The prisoners viewed films of people and indicated the types that they were more likely to mug. Among the ones considered more likely targets were those who walked with some uncertainty, as if in conflict with themselves or unaware of their surroundings. Psychology Today says: “According to the common-sense opinion offered by the Crime Prevention Section of the New York City Police Department, crime victims typically walk around in a daze, oblivious to what goes on around them. That dreaminess, the study confirms, is expressed in body movements that criminals read as a clear signal to move in.”
Another Space Nation
◆ When India put a 77-pound (35-kg) satellite into space this summer she became the sixth nation to do so. The five others are: China, France, Japan, the Soviet Union and the United States. India’s 70-foot (21-m), four-stage solid-fuel rocket cost $25 million (U.S.).
Modern “Art”
◆ A recent editorial in the Toronto (Canada) Sun on abstract art brought the following comment from a reader: “Picasso, remarking about his role in modern art, said: ‘I am only a public entertainer who has understood his times, and has exhausted as best he could the imbecility, the vanity, the cupidity of his contemporaries. Mine is a bitter confession, more painful than it may appear, but it has the merit of being sincere.’ (Life, Dec. 27, 1968, Pg. 134)” The reader went on to suggest that Picasso apparently viewed his own work as a “bunch of nonsense,” produced primarily for the thousands of dollars he made from it. Often the public may be unaware of the attitude of the world’s “greats” toward those who idolize them.
Highest Fever
◆ Doctors at an Atlanta, Georgia, hospital say that the 116.7-degree (F.) fever a patient had may be the highest anyone has ever survived. During a severe heat wave, the 51-year-old man was found in a closed-up apartment, near death. He was rushed to the hospital and packed in ice. It was about 15 minutes after the ice was applied that a higher-range temperature probe recorded the 116.7-degree temperature.