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J A N U A R Y 1 9 9 8
Demographics
January is the least matrimonial of months: fewer couples get married in
January than in any other month, and divorce lawyers typically have their
busiest month of the year. Lawyers attribute the surge in business in part to
couples who, for their children's sake or for financial reasons, wait until
after the holidays to implement a decision reached earlier. Others seeking
counsel in January are motivated by the hope for a fresh beginning that comes
with a new year, or are determined not to spend another holiday season with
their spouses or in-laws. In recent years divorce settlements have placed an
increasing number of ex-husbands on the receiving end of alimony payments, as
women have secured better, higher-paying jobs. (In 1979 the U.S. Supreme Court
declared that state laws requiring only men to pay alimony were
unconstitutional.) The number of ex-husbands awarded child custody is also on
the rise: families headed by single fathers are now the fastest-growing kind of
family.
Expiring Patent
No. 4,244,057. Nasal Drip Absorbing Device. "In combination with an article of
outer clothing, a nasal drip absorbing device ... comprising ... a
disposable absorbent pad formed of multiple layers of absorbent tissue ...
secured to the [user's sleeve]; whereby the user can absorb nasal drip in the
pad conveniently without reaching into a pocket for other absorbent
material." Health and Safety
This month two San Francisco clinics begin trials of a "morning-after" pill regimen aimed at preventing HIV infection among those who may have been exposed to the virus within the previous 72 hours through sex or syringes. The program, sponsored by private donors and the city and county of San Francisco, is an effort to extend to the public immediate-postexposure prevention -- commonly available to health-care workers accidentally exposed to HIV. Researchers will be evaluating such things as patient compliance (the treatment involves taking various drugs at precise intervals for 28 days) and side effects. Although the study will be limited to 500 patients, the regimen, along with counseling, will be offered to all applicants who believe they may have been exposed. Some worry that such a safety net could encourage unsafe sex and needle sharing. Wariness of sexually transmitted diseases seems to be waning: a nationwide study found that gonorrhea rates among gay men rose by 74 percent from 1993 to 1996.
Food
January 1: Starting today, according to a new Food and Drug
Administration rule, most enriched grain products, from bread to pasta to
grits, will be fortified with folic acid. The FDA action is aimed at ensuring
adequate folic-acid consumption among women of childbearing age. The nutrient
reduces the risk of neural-tube birth defects, especially spina bifida, which
affect some 2,500 newborns each year. Because these defects occur within a
month of conception, before many women know they are pregnant, even women whose
pregnancies were planned may not get enough folic acid at the critical time.
The FDA's ruling has been controversial. Some argue that fortification usurps
consumer control and freedom of choice, and that folic acid is readily
available in leafy green vegetables, citrus fruits, dried beans, and other
foods. Others contend that the risks of ingesting too much folic acid -- an
overabundance of which is thought, for example, to mask the symptoms of
pernicious anemia, which can lead to permanent nerve damage -- have not been
sufficiently explored.
Government
January 1: Feline rights get a boost in New York today, as a law takes
effect stipulating a $100 fine for any motorist who after hitting a cat fails
to try to find the owner or to get in touch with the police. New York has for
decades fined drivers who fled the scenes of accidents with horses, cows, and
dogs, all considered working or farm animals; today's "flat cat" law is thought
to be the first to give such protection to purely domestic pets. 19:
Today for the first time the nation's two biggest stock markets, the New York
Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, close for Martin Luther King's birthday; previously
they marked the day with a moment of silence. Also this month the U.S. Supreme
Court will hear arguments about who owns Ellis Island and its museum and
monuments: New York, New Jersey, or both. The island originally belonged to New
York; however, additional area created over the years by landfill covered
territory claimed by New Jersey.
Daily information on the skies posted by Michigan State University's Abrams Planetarium.
January 1: The waxing crescent Moon passes very close to Jupiter, low in
the southwestern sky after sundown. 3: The Quadrantid meteor shower
peaks today. Viewing will be best in the predawn hours; observers should look
to the northeast. 12: Full Moon, also known this month as the Wolf Moon
and the Moon of Frost in the Teepee. 20: Mars and Jupiter lie close
together, low in the southwest after sunset; the young crescent Moon joins them
on the 29th.100 Years Ago
John Muir, writing in the January, 1898, issue of The Atlantic Monthly:
"The tendency nowadays to wander in wildernesses is delightful to see.
Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find
out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity;
and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of
timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life. Awakening from the
stupefying effects of the vice of over-industry and the deadly apathy of
luxury, they are trying as best they can to mix and enrich their own little
ongoings with those of Nature, and to get rid of rust and disease. Briskly
venturing and roaming, some are ... jumping from rock to rock, feeling the
life of them, learning the songs of them, panting in whole-souled exercise and
rejoicing in deep, long-drawn breaths of pure wildness."
Illustrations by JoAnn Adinolfi
Copyright © 1998 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved.
The Atlantic Monthly; January 1998; The January Almanac; Volume 281, No. 1; page 14.
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