Watching the World
AIDS Prevention Machines
An Australian government panel on AIDS was directed to make recommendations for slowing down the spread of the disease. The Courier-Mail of Brisbane stated that it was strongly recommended that young people receive better access to methods of AIDS prevention since, as the chairman, Dr. Charles Watson, explained, most senior high school students are sexually active. Among the recommendations is the making of condoms available by vending machines in high schools. Dr. Watson does not believe such use of condom-vending machines will encourage younger students to have sex earlier. No recommendations for moral restraint were included in the report.
Personal Helicopters?
Have you ever been frustrated waiting in city traffic for hours? Have you thought about how nice it would be to lift up into the sky and drop back down at your destination? How about a personal helicopter? The development of the first ultralightweight helicopter is the latest innovation in the field of aviation, reports the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero. It weighs only 500 pounds [230 kg] and has a maximum speed of 95 miles [150 km] per hour. It will cost you $60,000 to buy one and about $1 per mile to fly it. Though smaller than its “big brothers,” it can still cruise at an altitude of 13,000 feet [4,000 m] and has a range of 200 miles [320 km].
Military Rape
During World War II, thousands of girls and young women were captured from East Asian countries by the Japanese military in order to service the troops on battlefronts. Euphemistically called “comfort women,” those who did not die of venereal disease were abandoned to die when the armies retreated. Fifty years later one man has come forward to admit his involvement publicly and apologize. Seiji Yoshida, 78, “cannot erase memories of kicking away clinging, wailing Korean children as his men herded their young mothers into trucks to become sex slaves for the Japanese Imperial Army” says Mainichi Daily News. Asked how he felt at the time, the newspaper reported Yoshida as replying: “We just carried out orders. We were at point zero psychologically. It was just business. A different ideology wasn’t possible. I felt nothing. I was busy, I was desperate, I was possessed.” Military officials of many nations have seen to it that their troops were provided with women, either by capture or as paid prostitutes.
The Good Earth—Vanishing
According to a report in the journal Science, the world’s arable soil is dwindling, “rapidly washing away or becoming dust in the wind.” In March, WRI (World Resources Institute) of Washington, D.C., released the results of a three-year study in which hundreds of experts reviewed how soil conditions have changed worldwide since World War II. The results? Because of mankind’s misuse of the land—mostly through deforestation, overgrazing, and harmful agricultural practices—once fertile land with a total area the size of China and India combined is now seriously degraded. This trend bodes ill, since, as WRI president Gus Speth estimates, the world will have to triple its food production in the next half century to keep up with the growing population.
“We Preyed on You Kids”
Child abuse? Not in the ordinary sense. The above are the words of David Goerlitz, an actor who posed in Winston cigarette ads as a rock climber who would light up while hanging from a cliff. The Boston Globe reports that Goerlitz and Wayne McLaren (who portrayed the Marlboro man) are appearing before groups of schoolchildren to convince them not to smoke. “We made you believe if you boys smoke, you’ll be macho,” Goerlitz explained. “My life has been shortened a whole lot because I chose to smoke,” McLaren sadly confessed, after having lost one lung to cancer.
First Aid for Dislodged Teeth
“Teeth that have been knocked out can be reimplanted even several days after the accident, provided they are properly stored,” reports the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. A first-aid box has been developed in which a dislodged tooth can be placed. The box contains sterile water, plus a mixture of nutrients and antibiotics, which is kept separately. These two components can then be mixed together at the press of a button. The equipment is not expensive and can be kept uncooled for about three years. Such a first-aid box could be of particular benefit in places where accidents involving teeth occur relatively often, such as at swimming pools, sports fields, and in schools.
Vacation Stress
Changing certain habits may benefit a stressed person more than going on vacation. Dr. Sérgio Tufik, professor of the School of Medicine of São Paulo, Brazil, was quoted in Veja as saying: “Our biological rhythm is programmed to run like a clock. Any change, even a week in luxury in the Caribbean, can be wearing on the organism.” Whether a job is challenging or not, to avoid harmful stress, he recommends: “Be content with what [you] are doing.” Rather than always trying to do something else that may be more stressful than the daily routine, the doctor suggests: “Perhaps the secret is ‘to go on vacation’ daily. That is, besides the job, share in various activities that promote satisfaction.”
Tragic Blood Donations
More than a thousand people in France have contracted AIDS from blood transfusions. Why would they have a rate that is from five to ten times as high as that of most other Western European countries? Le Monde explains that prison authorities continued receiving blood donations from prisoners until 1985, three years after neighboring countries had stopped the practice. The report further stated that blood donations “were a longstanding practice widely regarded as facilitating prisoners’ rehabilitation. Giving blood has overtones of redemption, and in addition gave inmates a chance . . . to drink a glass of wine, and in the case of drug addicts to get a kick out of being given a jab.” A blood donation could also help prisoners win reductions in their prison sentence.
Fashion Show in Cathedral
“To the sound of Gregorian singing, thunderclaps and bells, in an atmosphere of nearly complete darkness, the silhouettes of seven nuns appear, with long mantles hiding their faces. Suddenly the lights are turned on, the nuns take off the mantles, [and] they become models.” With these words the Jornal da Tarde describes the fashion show held in the crypt of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Pôrto Alegre, Brazil. In attendance, the archbishop is quoted as saying: “I have always thought that this place ought to be a hall for festive and social events.” Although the exhibition collected funds to help drug addicts, the bishop of Novo Hamburgo disagrees with the whole idea. He said: “The ends do not justify the means.”
Modern Piracy
“In contrast with 17th- and 18th-century pirates, they use neither eye patches nor swords. Today, they have speedy launches and potent arms,” says the Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo. No fewer than 185 pirate attacks were recorded in Rio de Janeiro during the last three years. Recently, ten pirates with machine guns assaulted an oil tanker, killed two crew members, and injured two others before robbing money and goods. Such organized gangs operating in overtaxed ports, such as Santos and Rio de Janeiro, learn about the ships’ cargo and security arrangements from the local prostitutes. As the newspaper concludes, the increased piracy and the stealing of containers “cause financial loss also to Brazil’s foreign trade.”
Hijack Epidemic
Hijacking of motor vehicles may be an international problem, but in South Africa “car hijackings have reached epidemic proportions,” according to the Financial Mail of South Africa. How can you reduce the risk of having your car hijacked if you live where this is a problem? Try varying your daily travel routine. Take different routes, or leave a little earlier or later. Keep doors locked and windows closed. Don’t offer rides to hitchhikers, and don’t travel alone, if possible. Before stopping at a roadblock, ask yourself if it seems genuine. Look for flags and municipal lights, and take note of the dress of roadworkers. A police colonel advises a driver who finds himself in a dangerous situation: “Hand over the vehicle if your life is in danger. There’s no point in being a dead hero.”
Physical Abuse of Parents
What has been described as the “hidden horror of teenage fury” inflicted on parents is escalating in Australia. Police and welfare groups report that the number of teenagers who beat their parents is rapidly increasing in this country. And although victims are usually mothers, even fathers and grandparents have been viciously attacked. The Sydney Sunday Telegraph newspaper quotes the director of a welfare organization as saying: “People are surprised to hear that children as young as 10 are capable of physical violence—intimidating their mother and other siblings.” One community welfare service has been so inundated with calls from abused parents that it is planning a special program for victims and offenders.