HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1958-11-06, Page 2env Round. World
Blindfolded!
John W. Guth, a 41 -year-old
Californian whose sight is per-
/ectly normal, has; circled the
globe in seven clays without see-
ing a single place at which his
plane arrived.
He was blindfolded in accord-
ance with a forfeit he agreed to
pay when taking part in a recent
TV program and could only take
off his mask when asleep, when
blowing his nose and once when
he wrote a letter to his wife. He
has one or two memories of
Paris, however,
At Orly airport he actually
smelled a bottle of French per-
fume, touched a can -can dancer
doll and had a drink. But he did
not see a thing,
Strangely enough, he isn't the
first man to deprive himself of
his sight temporarily.
In 1822, James Hawkins Pack,
of Missouri, U.S.A., was appoint-
ed judge in the city of St. Louis,
and, although he sat on the bench
for 14 years, never saw any pee -
son he tried.
Whenever he sat in court he
wore a white bandage over his
eves until the session ended so
that he could never be influ-
enced by people's appearance,
All documents intended for
him were read aloud by the
clerk of the court, and ne even
remained blindfolded as he mov-
ed about the court in case he
saw someone connected with
the proceedings, An attendant
guided him wherever he moved.
Perhaps the nearest approach
to that was attained by Heinrich
Laufer, of Dusseldorf, Germany,
a few years ago. When he was
found guilty of spying on a
friend's house and wife' he was
at first sentenced to a term of
imprisonment.
Then a priest Intervened and
he was ordered to go about ter
three months with his Peeping
Tom eyes tightly shut, The ag-
grieved husband kept careful
watch over Laufer for the perio'l
of his one -eye blindness.
No less remarkable was the
case of Chretien LTrhan, who for
'J0 years was leader and solo
violinist in the Paris Opera or-
chestra. He was deeply religious
end, though not a priest, always
dressed like one and objected to
theatrical performances.
Because of his talents he teas
table to insist on a clause in his
agreement with the Opera al-
lowing him to sit with his back
to the stage so that he should
not see the godless peuple 'or
whom he played.
It was said that he took part
in more than 10,000 perform-
ences in this theatre and that he
never saw a single show!
Where Every
Mother Has Twins
Doctors in many parts of
France are puzzled by the birth
of so many bonny twins in the
tittle village of Escures, at the
foot of the Pyrenees. Only five
of the babies born there during
the past quarter of a century
have not been twins.
There are fewer than 30 houses
In the village. The mothers have
for a long time had a communal
twin cot and a twin pram which
is passed from family to family
r. twins arrive.
Since 1933 no fewer than 12
sets of twins have been born in
the village. Said the mayor
when, at the beginning of August
he performed a double marriage
ceremony for his 21 -year-old
twin nieces: "This twin business
is beyond rne. There are no
twins in any other near -by vil-
lage. Some people say our soil
must be radio -active. The melons
end pumpkins we grow in our
gardens are often twice as big
CE those of neighboring villages."
The world average is about
one pair of twins in every 93
... rising to the bait
... after the bath
Sermons in Stones . • .
Poems in the Trees...
Shakespeare spoke of tongues in trees, tongues that
speak not to the ear but to the eye. Nature often
sculptures fantastic figures with her tools of time and
weather, as these gnarled wood figures from a Colorado
forest testify. A marlin leaping from the waves ..
a forest nymph .. a gaping ogre or an owl , a
barking dog. What does your imagination see?
... watching and waiting
.. his master's guardian
WLFMN FRONT
kueraissett
Within a year the world's first
full-scale water research labora-
tory will be in operation along
a country road at the southeast
corner of Phoenix, Problems of
seepage, evaporation, transpor-
tation, erosion and water trans-
portation can then be attacked
with adequate scientific equip-
ment and ample facilities for
practical testing of laboratory
results on farms, irrigating sys-
tems, and ranges,
a :k •
"The opportunities are simply
unlimited and we're going to
have tools at the disposal of no
other researchers," says the di-
rector, Lloyd Myers, as he ob-
serves progress of a $374,000
group of six buildings close by
the University of Arizona's Cot-
ton Research Center, The site
was donated by the university
as part of its eampaign to get
the Southwestern Water Conser-
vation Laboratory located in
Arizona.
a a
By "we" he means himself and
a staff of 15 to 20 other natu-
births. It is calculated that the
chances are 20 to one against a
mother bearing twins twice.
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.662
(answer elsewhere on this page,
ral scientists from the Agricul-
tural Research Service, Depart-
ment of Agriculture,
So far the only ones assign-
ed are the director, an irrigation
engineer sent from Fort Collins,
Colo,; Dr, Cornelius Van Bavell,
soil physicist transferred from
Raleigh, N. C,; and Marvin Jen-
sen, agricultural engineer due to
arrive in December from Bush -
land, Texas.
b
* a
To this trio has been dele-
gated the task of planning the
institution's initial activities,
which they expect to see under
way by July 1, 1959.
Mr. Myers admits that his ap-
pointment was no accident. "I
deliberately applied for this post
because I think it affords the
greatest opportunities yet open-
ed for achievement in the field
of water conservation," he says.
"I helped to plan the laboratory,
and the further the plans de-
veloped the more enthusiastic I
became."
The building and equipment
planning was done at the West-
ern Soil and Water Management
Branch of the Agriculture Re-
search Service in Fort Collins,
where Mr. Myers was a section
head under Dr. Omer Kelly.
d a „
"We had dreamed that some-
thing like this would come along
but hardly dared to hope that
it would become a reality," he
recalls. "Why, there isn't any-
thing in the whole world like
this is to be. I won't say that It
is giving us everything we lack,
but almost. Why, I can remem-
ber when I was sent out on a
Nevada assignment with practi-
cally no equipment except
orange crates and chicken wire."
• :, a
The Southwestern Water La-
boratory is designed especially
to serve Arizona, Nevada, and
New Mexico, and all its experi-
ments will be conducted in
these states, "But it will be our
fault if we don't come up with
findings valuable to all the 17
reclamation states and possibly
to all the arid regions," asserts
the enthusiastic director while
Dr. Van Bevel' nods assent.
Congress appropriated $450,-
000 for construction and pre-
opening expenses, Another $100,-
000 Is pledged for furniture and
equipment, which will probably
be In the deficiency appropria-
tion bill Congress is expected to
pass In January, If it is, the la-
boratory can be ready to go by
the first clay of fiscal 1960.
• * *
Mr. Myers announces that he
intends to carry an much re-
search personally, "and not
spend all my time on. adminis-
tration." His specialty is to be
seepage and water conveyance
- the flow of water from well
or stream or reservoir to the
farm with minimum loss. This
involves the lining or treatment
of ditches to seal them against
seepage and tunneling gophers,
possibly by means less expen-
sive than concrete,
♦ 8 ,}
Dr. Van Bavell is widely
reco 'sized as an authority on
wate? use by plants, and efforts
Of moisture deficiency on their
physiological processes, This, of
course, will be his line of in-
vestigation here.
4 a 1
Mr. Jensen is to work on eva-
poration and seepage from
bodies of still water especially
from stock ponds on cattle
ranges. It is in this department,
Mr. Myers says, that the first
definite findings may be made.
a 4' a
Hexadecanol will be of course
be tried the alcohol that
forms a film over water and
reduces evaporation 20 to 30
per cent. But a still greater sav-
ing can be effected, it is be-
lieved, by actually covering wit
ter with a sheet of thin plastic
on the polyethylene order.
"We've actually done it and
with encouraging results," My-
ers says, "By covering only a
portion of the surface we can
save as much water as with
hexadecanol. New it remains to
work out practical techniques."
Tapped Insults '
To His Neighbor
As he listened to the "tap, tap,
tap" from the radiator in his
flat, the old man's . face went
red with anger. A former French
Army officer, he could decode
Morse and realized that his
neighbor was tapping out rude
messages on the central -heating
system.
Finally, he complained to the
-police and the messages were
stopped. It had all started, ap-
parently, when the old soldiex
and his neighbor quarrelled cues
politics.
When people are really an-
noyed, they often think up novel
ways of expressing their irri-
tation.
A Parisian taxi-driver once
decided to punish the lawyer
who had won a rent case against
him. So, in two years, he made
900 telephone calls to his enemy
-but never said a word. All the
lawyer could hear was heavy
breathing.
In the end, the taxi-driver
was charged with impeding the
free flow of telephonic.communi-
eations, but he went unpunished,
The court decided that the law
didn't cover such a case.
Tempera often rise On a bueet
road when one motorist decides
that another has been driving
atrociously. One man recently
fitted an illuminated sign on his
ear's rear window so that he
could flash the word "SWINE" at
any driver who aggravated him.
It might be unwise to emulate
hien, however. He was fined for
u ng insulting language.
An Austrian archduke once
spent a small fortune on a special
one-man band, so that he could
play it to annoy his court. Called
the "Panomonico", it incorporat-
ed hundreds of instruments, in-
cluding three large drums,
History doesn't relate how the
court retaliated! But noise -
haters often take drastic meas-
ures when goaded beyond en-
durance.
A Florida resident complained
about being kept awake at night
by the barking of a neighbor's
clog. Nothing was done to stop
it, but the sleepless man got
his revenge by howling like a
dog himself and banging a dust-
bin lid outside his neighbor's
house. Eventually, police had to
arrest him.
Traffic noise once made life
a misery for a Viennese poet. He
simply couldn't concentrate.
In the end he charged out
into the street with a heavy
axe and attacked the cars.
His last victim was a police
car, however, and the occupants
arrested him.
!: SON
By Rev, 18, Isarelay Warren
B.A., B.D.
Becoming Fishers of hien
Mark 1:14.22
Memory Selection: The time
is fulfilled, and the kingdom of
God Is at hand; repent ye, and
believe the gospel. Mark 1:15.
In the second chapter of John
we have the account of the first
meeting of Andrew, Simon and
John with Jesus. This was in
Judea where John was preach»
ing and baptizing. After John
the Baptist was put_ in prison
Jesus came into Galilee preach-
ing the Gospel of the Kingdom
of God. One day as he walked
by the Sea of Galilee he came
upon the two pairs of brother's
as they were fishing and said,
"Come ye after me, and I' will
make you to become fishers Of
men." And immediately they
forsook their nets, end followed
him.
It is interesting that one-third
of those whom Jesus chose to
be with him and who later be-
came apostles, were fishermen,
Certain qualities developed by
fishermen are as asset for those
who become fishers of men. We
are thinking, of course, not of
those who fish for sport but
those who fish for a living. For
example, fishermen require pa-
tience. Think of them toiling all
night and taking nothing. John
21:3. The Sport wouldn't do it
but when one has a family to
feed as Simon Peter did. one
must toil on in patience. So it
is, in fishing for men, Some mis-
sionaries, as Adoniram Judson,
laboured for years with no ap-
parent success. Then finally, the
Gospel won its way into the
hearts of the heathen.
One rule for fishermen is,
"Keep out of sight." So in catch-
ing men, we must present Jesus,
not ourselves. People are still
saying as did the Greeks to
Philip, "Sir, we would see Jes-
us." John 12:21. If we are proud
we will hinder the people from
seeing Jesus.
Fishing calls for hope and
faith. Even the most amateur
fisherman wouldn't bother go-
ing fishing if he had absolutely
no hope of catching fish, Hope
spurs him on. So in catching
men for Jesus Christ, The Chris-
tian is an optimist. He will
keep tolling through the night
that he may catch some for
Jesus Christ.
Q. How can I banish he odor
when cooking smelly vegetables,
to keep it from going through
the house?
A. Place a small pan of vine-
gar on the back of the stove.
Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking
YOUNG RAILROADER, OLD ENGINE - Young Bryan Pavicic
uses a bit of spit and shine on the headlight of this model of an
1865 steam locomotive. Model was exhibited in Pittsburgh.
Push-button railroading equipment abounded bui Bryan pass-
ed it all up for the old -tinter, Exhibit was sponsored 'by a local
unit • of the Eastern Railroad Presidents Conference.