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O C T O B E R 1 9 9 8  Demographics 
October begins the busiest time of year for moving cargo by rail. The peak
results primarily from the distribution demands of the harvest season, the
autumn rolling-out of new models of cars, and the shipping of consumer goods
for the holiday shopping season. Trains are also busy transporting construction
materials to warehouses whose stock has been depleted by summer building.
Although the miles of track over which trains travel have declined to about
140,000 from more than 250,000 early in the century, trains are hauling more
cargo than ever, owing to increases in demand and efficiency. So-called global
positioning systems, which are now being tested, are likely to further advance
efficiency and to bolster safety. Potentially able to electronically pinpoint
trains' positions and automatically engage their brakes to avoid collisions,
these systems may enable more trains to run simultaneously on the same tracks,
and at faster average speeds.Government 
October 1: The National Directory of New Hires, a system mandated by the
sweeping 1996 federal welfare law, takes effect today. It calls for all
employers to submit the names and Social Security numbers of new employees to
law-enforcement agencies, who will use the information to track down those who
are delinquent in child-support payments. 25: Authorized wiretapping gets a
boost today, the deadline for telephone companies to ensure that their
equipment does not pose impediments to electronic surveillance. This is a
result of legislation passed in 1994 because the FBI feared that high-tech
phone systems would impede its ability to monitor phone conversations. Congress
has authorized $500 million to compensate phone companies for the cost of
modifications. Opponents of the act have ranged from phone companies, which
argue that their costs will exceed the allocated amount, to civil-liberties
groups, who contend that the new technology could let the Bureau more easily
listen in on calls without first securing warrants.Arts & Letters 
October 15: A major exhibit on the life and influence of Sigmund Freud opens
today at the Library of Congress, which holds the largest collection of Freud
artifacts in the world. The exhibit is opening two years later than planned: it
was canceled in its original form in part because of vigorous protests from
historians, psychologists, feminists, and Freud's granddaughter. These parties
argued, among other things, that the exhibit was too favorable toward Freud and
could validate practices that are now obsolete. Although budgetary reasons were
given for the postponement, in the meantime the exhibit has been modified to
address these concerns. The exhibit will contain approximately 170 items,
including the death mask of "Wolf Man," one of Freud's most famous patients,
and a 1935 letter in which the doctor allowed that homosexuality was "nothing
to be ashamed of." After closing in Washington in January, the exhibit will
travel to New York and Vienna.
Health & Safety Starting this month, according to a new Department of Transportation regulation, all airlines whose flights enter or leave the United States must keep a log containing each U.S. passenger's full name and emergency contact, and must provide this log to the State Department within three hours of a crash or other catastrophe. This system was devised in part by the DOT's Task Force on Assistance to Families of Aviation Disasters; it is meant to speed notification of victims' families. Airlines have often been reluctant to release manifests promptly after disasters, partly because of uncertainty about the accuracy of their lists. The DOT task force has also asked Congress to consider extending from 30 to 45 days the moratorium lawyers must observe before approaching victims' families about their interest in suing. Environment 
October 1: Today states and Native American tribes will issue reports to the
Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture on the health
of the watersheds -- the areas of land that feed streams or stream systems -- under
their jurisdiction, and must rank them in terms of restoration needs. The
reports represent a dramatic shift in the fight against water pollution, away
from the practice of concentrating on the largest sources and most obvious
sites of pollution and toward a focus on the health of aquatic ecosystems in
their entirety. They will help to determine the allocation of the funds
provided by the Clean Water and Watershed Restoration Budget Initiative.
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Related Link: Daily information on the skies posted by Michigan State University's Abrams Planetarium. |
The Skies
October 4: The Moon passes close to brilliant Jupiter. 5: Full Moon, also known
this month as the Hunter's Moon and the Dying Grass Moon. 6: The bright bluish
star Regulus, in the constellation Leo, lies very near Mars. 7: The gibbous
Moon passes close to Saturn. 21: The Orionid meteor shower peaks tonight;
viewing should be best after midnight. 25: At 2:00 A.M. Daylight Saving Time
ends; turn clocks back and enjoy an extra hour of sleep.125 Years Ago 
Charles Dawson Shanly, writing in the October, 1873, issue of The Atlantic
Monthly: "The notion that people must be happy because they have put off to
sea in a boat, is ... no more capable than a sieve of containing water. Let
us take a sail-boat.... If there is no wind, the idle flapping of the sails
against the mast is a sound exceedingly irritating.... Should there be a
breeze, a great deal of merriment is affected by the holiday people 'out in a
boat.' They shout; they sing.... The feminine element shrieks prettily, and
poses itself for protecting arms. Presently a sea is shipped; then another, and
another, and then everybody whose hat hasn't been blown off ... uses it
vigorously to bale out the boat. From that moment all is either affectation or
profanity. The salt water has ruined the lobster salad, and depression broods
over what really might have been a pleasure party if it hadn't been donkey
enough to go to sea in a boat."Illustrations by Lonni Sue Johnson Copyright © 1998 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved. The Atlantic Monthly; October 1998; The October Almanac; Volume 282, No. 4; page 16. |
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