Watching the World
Pope’s Travels Questioned
● “I am a pilgrim-messenger who wants to travel the world to fulfill the mandate Christ gave to the Apostles when he sent them to evangelize all men and all nations,” Pope John Paul II is quoted as saying. Yet a growing number of clerics are beginning to question the wisdom of his travels abroad. “I personally think it’s a crazy trip,” said one Vatican churchman regarding the pope’s 17th trip in four years. Among the reasons given by Vatican officials are the following: Safety—two attempts have already been made on the pope’s life and one almost succeeded. Cost—sometimes exceeding $10 million (U.S.) per country, with the host churches paying most of the bill. African countries visited over a year ago are still paying for their hospitality. Political repercussions—public statements made by the pope often clash with the policies and actions of the governments visited. Then they are further compounded by consecutive visits to countries opposed to each other, as in the case of his trip to Britain and Argentina. Said one priest: “Even his best friends have begun to ask: ‘Is he making the trip because the world needs it or because he needs it?’”
Germany Reciprocates
● Grateful Germans, hearing of the plight of the recession- stricken city of Detroit, Michigan (U.S.A.), have been sending gifts of money and CARE packages to the poor there in return for the help they received at the end of World War II. “I can remember the pretty dresses, the milk powder and the chocolate we children got from the Americans after the war,” said a 39-year-old woman in West Germany. “We’re all children of the postwar years who are grateful to the Americans, and we’re sending back the CARE packages we got.” Detroit’s mayor recently declared a food and shelter emergency after the unemployment rate rose to almost twice the national level.
Money Talks
● “Outsiders don’t have a prayer of getting in to worship with the queen of England at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in San Diego,” reported The San Diego Union. Referring to Queen Elizabeth II’s attendance at a service there while on her recent visit to the United States, the paper continued: “In fact, several hundred members of the parish won’t be admitted either.” With only 580 seats available, and 800 members requesting admission along with others from British organizations, the decision was made to “give priority seating to regular worshipers who are also major contributors.” According to James Earle Carroll, rector of the church, “the idea was to have people on board who normally support the parish with their bodies and their pocketbooks.” Tickets, warning that “identification may be required,” were issued to those invited.
Military Governments Rising
● Some “38 governments worldwide are now formally headed by military men, and at least a dozen others came to power through the military or are under its effective control,” says an article in the The Galveston Daily News. “Military governments, a tradition in Latin America, today predominate in black Africa and are commonplace in much of the Middle East and Asia.” Who are those taking power? “In Africa, 20 governments are led by soldiers whose average age was 36 when they grabbed power from their elders,” says the paper. Developing nations have seen an estimated 190 military coups since 1958—two thirds of which have been successful. More are predicted as world economic problems continue.
UN Debate
● “The debate started innocently enough—when 34 nations asked the U.N. General Assembly to declare 1992 the ‘Year of the Fifth Centennial of the Discovery of America,’” stated Newsweek magazine. “But nothing seems to go simply at the United Nations, and soon that august body was enmeshed in another simmering international dispute.” Ireland’s ambassador objected to commemorating Columbus’ voyage, as certain Latin texts suggest a preseventh-century crossing by Irish monks. Iceland’s representative objected, as the resolution ignored Icelander Leif Ericson’s purported discovery of America in the year 1000, and threatened to issue a parallel proposal for it. “The debate was strictly academic to several African delegates,” says Newsweek, “who privately declared that they could not support a resolution celebrating colonialism in the Americas regardless of who began it.”
Save That Tooth!
● What should you do if one of your child’s permanent teeth is accidentally knocked out? The best thing is to replace the tooth immediately in its socket, says Dr. Frank Courts of the University of Florida. The next-best procedure that will aid in successfully implanting a loose tooth, says Courts, is to store the tooth in milk until a dentist can be seen. While it was previously recommended that the tooth be washed and placed in water or held in the mouth to be bathed in saliva while on the way to the dentist, the university’s researchers found that milk was “75 percent better than water and 50 percent better than saliva.”
Relief Thwarted
● “The people’s willingness to give and the generosity of public authorities” time and again “end up benefiting individuals or an unproductive bureaucracy.” So lamented two former Third World workers to the Swiss newspaper Weltwoche. Commenting about the lack of adequate controls over the collection activities of relief organizations, they continued: “Even the best of intentions do not prevent the relief organizations’ expanding bureaucracy from adversely affecting the balance of cost versus benefit.” They reported, for example, that of 290,013.25 Swiss francs collected by the Swiss organization “Enfants du Monde” to help children, 273,292.25 was spent on organizational expenses. Only a meager 6 percent was left for carrying out the actual purpose for which the money was collected.
Drugs Unchecked
● “The production and use of illegal drugs is growing throughout most of the world, breeding violent crime and threatening political stability,” says a report from a United Nations agency. “The vast sums earned from the traffic swamped the resources devoted to suppressing it,” and increased efforts at cooperation between governments to suppress the trade have merely inspired the smugglers to develop “more ingenious methods and new routes.”
These findings, reported in the International Herald Tribune, singled out the “uncontrolled production of cocaine, particularly in Peru and Bolivia, as a new source of serious concern” and a “major worry.” With marijuana “losing its appeal among the young,” cocaine abuse has seen a sharp increase in the United States. Time of April 11, 1983, states that cocaine users in the United States have risen from 15 to 20 million in the last two years. The war against illegal drugs has been named as the No. 1 priority of the FBI.
Going, Going—Gone?
● The Leaning Tower of Pisa increased its famous lean by five one-hundredths of an inch (1.27 mm) last year, and officials say it is doomed to fall unless something can be done to halt the advancing tilt. “It could take a hundred years,” said Giuseppe Toniolo, superintendent of Pisa’s monuments, “or it might be much sooner.” Experts fear that government efforts to stabilize the tower will fail. “The last major intervention in 1934 caused a very large increase in the lean,” Mr. Toniolo said. “Nobody can say what will happen this time.” Former measures included the pumping of over 90 tons of concrete under the low side of the tower and the closing of 15 artesian wells in the area in an effort to keep the water table from falling.
The tower, the construction of which began in the 12th century, is currently over 14 feet (4.7 m) off the perpendicular, and had already begun to lean after 35 feet (10.7 m) of it had been erected. When the last three stories and belfry were added in the 14th century, completing its present 180-foot (54.9-m) height, the tower was already 10 feet (3.1 m) off the perpendicular. The tower’s famous lean has attracted up to 7,000 tourists a day, who climb its nearly 300 spiral stairs to the top. “We don’t want to straighten it,” Mr. Toniolo said. “We just don’t want it to fall over.”
‘Unmanageable Debt’
● “For most developing countries, their debt has become unmanageable,” states Chandra S. Hardy, a World Bank economist. “Some of them are in the absurd position of borrowing to pay interest. Therefore, the risk of default is rising precipitously. Right now, 90 cents out of every dollar goes into servicing debt—and for some of them, it’s 100 cents.”
What brought about this situation? “For the first time in the post-World War II era, the volume of world trade has contracted, putting a major burden on the Third World, which must sell its wares to the richer nations in order to survive,” says the report in the International Herald Tribune. “As the exports of the Third World countries decline and the prices they get for their commodities plunge, more of them have been unable to meet their payments on a world debt estimated at $500 to $600 billion, or five times the level in 1973.”
Barrel Voyage
● Eric Peters, a 43-year-old Londoner, is claiming the record for sailing the smallest vessel to cross the Atlantic—a barrel six feet (1.8 m) long. The barrel, custom made with a keel, rudder and sail, made the 2,500-mile (4,000-km) journey in 46 days. He set out from the Canary Islands and lived on a diet of olive oil, nuts, bran and a pint of water a day, coming ashore on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. “I had a compass, but I wasn’t heading anywhere special,” said Peters. “I knew that if I kept heading West I’d hit land somewhere.”
Music to Buy By
● In a recent nine-week supermarket test, researchers discovered that the tempo of the music played has a significant effect on the amount of items purchased. Using easy-listening music, the researchers played selections with a slow tempo (about 60 beats a minute) on certain days, and those with a faster tempo (108 beats a minute) on others. The results? Sales increased by 38.2 percent on the days when the slower music was played! This was attributed to the fact that the shoppers also walked more slowly through the aisles then and presumably took more time to browse and select items. However, when shoppers, upon leaving the store, were asked whether music had been played inside, 33 percent were uncertain and 29 percent gave a definite “no.”