Watching the World
Spiritual Goals Declining
“A record proportion of more than three-quarters of college freshmen surveyed around the [United States] feel that being financially well off is an ‘essential’ or ‘very important’ goal,” states The New York Times. “At the same time, the lowest proportion of freshmen in 20 years, only 39 percent, put great emphasis on developing a meaningful philosophy of life.” A new high of 71 percent of the freshmen said that their reason for attending college was “to make more money.” The findings were compiled from questionnaires completed by over 200,000 freshmen at 390 institutions. Said survey director Dr. Alexander W. Astin: “We are seeing something very profound in the society.”
Leap Second
You may not have noticed it, but 1987 was longer than the usual 365-day year. While an ordinary year has 31,536,000 seconds, 1987 had 31,536,001. Why? “By international agreement, the world’s timekeepers, in order to keep their official atomic clocks in step with the earth’s irregular but gradually slowing rotation, have decreed that a ‘Leap Second’ be inserted between 1987 and 1988,” notes The New York Times. On the average, the earth’s rotation has been slowing at the rate of about one thousandth of a second a day, requiring the addition of an extra second every few years to bring the clocks back in line with it. “A second,” says Dr. Dennis McCarthy, an astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory, “is a relatively long amount of time. If you’re flying a plane by instruments and you’re off by one second, you’re going to miss the runway by nearly one-fifth of a mile [320 m].”
Animal Tom-Toms
It has long been known that mammals communicate with each other by their calls and also by their scent glands. However, the language of foot-stamping used by certain animals has only been understood recently. Pierre Bridelance, researcher for the Paris Natural History Museum, explained in the French newspaper Le Figaro that desert rodents stamp their feet rhythmically, with periodic interruptions, in order to indicate that a burrow is occupied. In desert regions where the rodents are scattered over very wide areas, such low-frequency acoustic communication is very efficient.
AIDS: Alarming Facts
A statewide test of all babies born in New York during a monthlong period has revealed an alarming fact: One out of every 61 infants born in New York City is carrying AIDS antibodies, indicating that their mothers were infected. It is estimated that some 40 percent of the babies who tested positive for the antibodies have become infected themselves, either at birth or in the womb, and may come down with the disease. Some develop the symptoms as late as nine years of age. “This is quite significant numerically,” said Dr. Lloyd F. Novick, an assistant to the state health commissioner. “You’re talking about a sizable number of children being born positive. It would certainly be one of the leading congenital health problems we have.”
“AIDS does not limit itself to the destruction of its victims’ bodies. It often consumes their minds as well,” says U.S.News & World Report. “AIDS patients call it the most terrifying thing they can imagine,” seeing the virus attack the central nervous system and affect “the victim’s ability to think, feel, talk and move.” Postmortem brain studies of AIDS patients show that 50 percent had damage to the central nervous system directly attributable to the virus, and 25 percent more showed damage due to strokes, infections, or cancer. Dementia symptoms are not limited to adults. Children with AIDS have the problems as well.
Traffic Turmoil
“If a worker is tied up in traffic 20 minutes each working day—10 minutes to and 10 minutes from work—and stays on the job for 45 years,” says U.S.News & World Report, “he or she will spend nearly two working years tied up in traffic.” Traffic tie-ups already affect many millions of people worldwide, and the situation is getting worse. Commuting, smaller family units with more members working, households with two or more vehicles, resistance to car pooling, today’s life-styles, the desire for personal mobility, and lags in highway planning all add to the problem. Some motorists make use of the time by reading, listening to tapes, or even such things as shaving. Even so, the stress produced often leads to physical ailments such as ulcers, neck pains, and higher blood pressure. It is also causing more and more driver hostility—and even violence—toward other drivers.
Smoking and Accidents
A study comparing a thousand drivers involved in nonfatal accidents with a thousand drivers who had not had accidents concluded that “cigaret smokers have a 50 per cent increased risk over non-smokers of being involved in an accident.” The report in The Globe and Mail of Toronto notes that distractions from lighting up, coughing spells, dropped cigarettes, irritated eyes, and poor visibility because of smoke clinging to the windshield, as well as high levels of carbon monoxide in the blood, are possible causes for the increased accident rate. Not only can judgment and response time be impaired by smoking, says the article, but “smokers also are more inclined to take greater risks than non-smokers by not using seat belts, and by driving in the fast lane.”
Play Safe With Bark
Researchers in West Berlin suggest using bark trimmings instead of sand for children’s playgrounds. They claim that the trimmings, a by-product of woodworking, are more able to absorb the impact of a falling body than sand, which is simply displaced upon impact. Tests have revealed that “a 10-centimeter [4-in.] layer of bark absorbs impact more gently than the 20-centimeter [8-in.] layer of sand that is stipulated by law for children’s playgrounds,” reports the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Bible in Verse
“When it comes to the publishing business, Bibles are a tough market to crack,” says The Wall Street Journal. “After all, with more than 100 million copies printed yearly, producing a version that stands out from the pack is a bit of a challenge.” To meet the challenge, George N. Kayatta decided to write the entire Bible in verse. It took him 11 years to finish it. Early in Genesis we find: “Serpent: I live here in Eden too./Eve: You do?/Serpent: Please relax. I am here to tell you facts.” Now Kayatta is facing an even greater challenge: finding a publisher who will print it.
Foolproof?
In an effort to outwit phone-booth thieves, Telecom, Australia’s government-owned telephone company, has fitted the susceptible booths with Kirk safes. Named after the worker who invented them, the safe has so far proved 100-percent effective. As mentioned in The Sydney Morning Herald, it has withstood “oxy torches, Ramset guns, angle-grinders, hydraulic jacks, pulley clamps, centre-punches and bricks.” Ironically, the new safes appear to have led to an increase in vandalism, as thieves frustrated by the tough safes vent their anger on the booths. Telecom reports that the current rate of smashed glass and ruined handsets and cords is at a new high of 3,000 cases per month.
Knuckle-Cracking
While the cracking of knuckles is common, understanding of what makes the noise is not. “When you pull on your fingers or knuckles, you create a suction in the joint—just as pulling on a plunger creates suction in a clogged pipe,” explains Hippocrates magazine. “The suction causes dissolved gases in the joint’s cushioning fluid to bubble out of solution. The cracking is not the sound of bone or cartilage snapping, but the popping of these gaseous bubbles.” If knuckle-cracking is done too vigorously, the danger exists of dislocating the joint. Putting it back is best done by a doctor.