Return to the Table of Contents.
A P R I L 1 9 9 8
Demographics
This month the U.S. Bureau of the Census begins a rehearsal for Census 2000,
which will include various new means of arriving at a count, in addition to the
traditional methods of collecting forms by mail and tracking down nonresponders
door to door. The new methods are intended to contain costs and improve
accuracy. The rehearsal will take place in Sacramento, California; the
Menominee Indian Reservation, in Wisconsin; and Columbia, South Carolina, and
11 surrounding counties. In California and Wisconsin census takers will for the
first time ever employ statistical sampling -- using data about part of a
population to estimate the number and characteristics of the rest -- instead of
door-to-door visits. This part of the rehearsal has been hotly contested,
especially by congressional Republicans, who argue that the Constitution calls
for an actual head count -- and are no doubt mindful that those likely to be
added by sampling are in low-income, generally Democratic neighborhoods.Arts & Letters
April 1: "Splendors of Versailles," an exhibit of more than 140 items
from the Château de Versailles, near Paris, opens today in the
Mississippi Arts Pavilion, in Jackson. This is the largest collection of
treasures from Versailles ever shown outside the palace itself. It joins a
growing number of exhibits organized by area businesses and state and local
governments in midsize U.S. cities that lack major art museums; the organizers
borrow art from foreign institutions and create elaborate installations for it,
generally in convention centers or buildings converted from other uses. Such
shows can be extremely lucrative -- a 1996 exhibit of art and artifacts from St.
Petersburg palaces brought some $61 million to Mississippi in ticket sales and
in tax and tourist dollars -- and some have gone on to tour established museums.
One critic has called them "a cross between an art museum and a theme-park";
organizers say they offer the closest thing to seeing art in its original
settings.The Skies
Daily information on the skies posted by Michigan State University's Abrams Planetarium.
April 1: The waxing crescent Moon lies near the reddish star Aldebaran
in the west at sunset. 5: At 2:00 A.M. Daylight Saving Time begins. Set
clocks ahead one hour. 11: Full Moon, also known this month as the
Sprouting Grass Moon and the Little Frogs Croak Moon. 23: Venus appears
practically on top of Jupiter in the eastern sky shortly before sunrise, with
the crescent Moon very close nearby. Such a tight grouping of these three
bodies has not been visible from the United States for decades.Food
This month three major U.S. food and agricultural associations begin a
public-awareness campaign designed to reassure consumers about the safety of
irradiated meat -- meat that has been exposed to tiny amounts of nuclear energy
in order to kill pathogens such as E. coli and salmonella. The Food and
Drug Administration approved the irradiation of red meat -- a process that does
not make it radioactive -- last year, because of the growing number of illnesses
and deaths from contaminants. Irradiation is not new: it was developed in the
1950s and has been approved for a variety of foods. However, because of the
public's wariness, it has rarely been used. The process has encountered stiff
opposition from consumer groups, who argue that it not only affects the taste
and appearance of food but destroys minerals and vitamins, and adds trace
amounts of benzene, a carcinogen. All irradiated foods, including meat, must be
labeled as such.Health & Safety
Women are more alarmed than they need to be about the chances that they will develop breast cancer. But they are also more confident than they should be that the advances medicine has made in treating the disease and prolonging life mean that it can be cured.
A number of studies of alternative therapies for breast cancer begin this month
in Canada. They will be funded by the Canadian Breast Cancer Research
Initiative, a partnership of several major health organizations. Therapies that
may be examined include relaxation exercises; Reiki, a Tibetan
energy-channeling healing technique; and substances thought to affect cancer
cells or the immune system, such as soy milk, vitamin A, C, and E supplements,
flaxseed, green tea, and Iscador, a kind of mistletoe. Researchers will be
evaluating such things as the safety and effectiveness of these therapies along
with their interactions with conventional treatments. Although alternative
therapies have been tried by large numbers of breast-cancer patients, the
Canadian studies constitute one of the first large-scale attempts to assess
their value.Government
This month the 29 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, along with five others, will ask their legislatures to ratify a treaty outlawing the bribing of foreign officials. This action marks a victory for the United States, which outlawed foreign bribery in 1978 but has up to now failed to persuade others to follow suit; until recently about half the nations in the OECD, including France, Germany, and Greece, even considered foreign bribes to be a tax-deductible business expense. U.S. companies have long complained that they lose billions of dollars annually in contracts to overseas rivals who engage in bribery.
50 Years Ago
Giles Playfair, writing in the April, 1948, issue of The Atlantic
Monthly: "The stage (or screen) aspirant whose ... zest to learn how to
act ... is slight ... may take heart.... For today, if one may judge
from the exquisitely natural performances that are the fashion, there is hardly
an emotion that cannot be portrayed ... by an appropriate use of tobacco.... "Concentration (especially after moment of creative inspiration): Put aside a lighted pipe absentmindedly....
"Acute distress or shock on receiving bad news: Crush out a half-smoked cigarette with awful finality. Stand quite still, keeping hand on butt of cigarette and head lowered, thus obviating need to reveal facial expression to audience....
"Courage: Light a cigarette at every moment of danger.... Male characters of the Tough American Hero school ... should take cigarette directly with mouth from a pack of cigarettes."
Illustrations by Chris Sharp
Copyright © 1998 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved.
The Atlantic Monthly; April 1998; The April Almanac; Volume 281, No. 4; page 14.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |