BY HARRY RING
Thought for the week - "Experts fear the crippling currency
and debt problems engulfing much of East Asia could affect the
economies of many more nations, igniting political instability
and possibly even a retreat from capitalism. Foreign woes could
also damage relatively strong U.S. and European
economies." - Los Angeles Times, August.
Competing with Kevorkian? - The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Dept. said a study indicates that 10 percent of those killed by deputies had goaded the shooters because they wanted to die. Officials were reluctant to provide evidence of how this was determined, but noted glumly that suicide-by-cop leaves cops with a lasting emotional trauma.
Skip the crack - Los Angeles area police said a masked gunman walked into a gift shop and, at gunpoint, took 40 Beannie Babies with a street value of $5,000.
`And be proud' - "Keep a low profile. Avoid luggage tags that may identify you as an American.... Drive with your car windows closed on crowded streets; bombs can be thrown through an open window.... Keep a mental note of safe areas, such as police stations, hotels, and hospitals." - A State Dept. "Worldwide Caution" to U.S. travelers.
Somebody's paranoid - "With fewer than 500 days left before the year 2000, law enforcement officials are increasingly concerned that widespread paranoia about the millenium could touch off a clash between the government and domestic terrorists. `I worry every day that something could happen somewhere,' said Robert Bliutzer, section chief of the FBI's domestic terrorism unit." - News item.
Mad money - Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, the biggest corporation in cyberspace, plans to sell 700,000 shares of his common stock for an expected $73.3 million.
A few weeks earlier he filed to sell 7.9 million shares valued at $834.3 million. A spokesperson explained: "Mr. Allen regularly sells small portions of his Microsift stake."
Chapter in imperialist history - Between 1850 and 1967, successive British governments permitted more than 100,000 children to be shipped abroad, without parental consent, to repopulate various parts of the empire.
Ranging in age from three to 17, the youngsters were taken from children's homes and sent to counterparts, mainly in Australia and New Zealand. An official said, "It beggars belief."
Hope she doesn't owe for crutches - "A German dentist snatched the dentures from the mouth of a former patient in a restaurant in Weisbaden after she ignored requests for payment." -News item.
The `Homeland' - An August 5 AP dispatch from Jerusalem says hundreds of Holocaust survivors "live in bleak conditions in Israeli mental hospitals - while millions of dollars in German reparations accumulate in accounts controlled by the government.
Doctors say government trustees refuse to allow the money to be used to improve the survivors' lives, turning down requests for televisions, air conditioners, and holiday parties."
Sort of equal - Women in England are just about as likely as men to win job promotions. However, male promotions are accompanied, on average, by a 20 percent pay increase. For women, the gain is less than ten percent.