Newspaper Page Text
— Griffin Daily News Thursday, December 28,1972
Page 4
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L M. BOYD
Dice Now Are
Left-handed
Lot of dice in ancient Egypt were right-handed, but all mod
ern dice are left-handed. A police detective told me that. Oppo
site sides of honest dice total seven, as you know. What few know
is that the counter-clockwise count of the numbered sides on
dice make them left-handed.
TOOK ABOUT 13,(XX) men to build 138 miles of railway be
tween Callao and Oroya in Peru. But that’s not the point. The
point is about 11,000 of them died on the project. That 12-year
engineering job, finally finished in 1893, was the deadliest in
modern history.
YES, A DRIVER in the Soviet Union is granted a license,
likewise. Three punches for various automotive infractions on
said license means automatic suspension of same for six months.
Already mentioned that driving a dirty car there is regarded as an
automotive infraction.
THE CRYING SCENE
Q. “What does an actress do when she is supposed to cry in
a scene but can’t?”
A. Breaks an ammonia capsule under her nose. Hidden in a
handkerchief maybe.
Q. “HOW OFTEN do you find a marriage in which the wife
is more than 10 years older than the husband?”
A. Figure about one marriage in every 100 around here.
NO STRUGGLING cartoonist should forget that even
Mickey Mouse was a failure at first. In 1927, when Walt Disney
introduced Mickey in the silent cartoons “Plane Crazy” and
“Galloping Gaucho," he Hopped. It wasn’t until the sound boys
put a voice to Mickey in "Steamboat Willie” that the mouse
started to roar, as it were.
BEST YEAR
Ask an elderly bachelor and spinster which was the happiest
year of their lives, and they'll name some time before age 25.
Put the same query to an elderly husband and wife, and they’ll
tell you some year between ages 25 and 45. The survey-takers
have proved this, repeatedly. Still, I don’t understand it. So far,
the happiest year of my life is this year. Little too personal, that
comment. But the notion seems out of joint that the best year of
life was some year a long time ago. If it doesn't get better, we’re
doing something wrong, no? Think so.
VOL I CAN Bl V a tarantula for $5. And train it. To run up
one sleeve, romp across your shoulders, and run down the other
sleeve. Playful little beast. Yes, it's true, you can teach a tar
antula to love you, although maybe not deeply.
Address mail to L. M. Boyd, P. O. Box 17076, Fort Worth, TX 76102.
Copyright 1972 L. M. Boyd
SIDE GLANCES by Gill Fox
SjM IjSI i JI i \
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** ™Sr NU. hr, TM U, US. S«. O«.
“When you insist that men call you “Me,” notice
how some of them make it sound faintly like
‘mess’?’’
Almanac
For
Today
By United Press International
Today is Thursday, Dec. 28,
the 363rd day of 1972 with three
to follow.
The moon is between its last
quarter and new phase.
The morning stars are
Mercury, Venus and Mars.
The evening stars are Jupiter
and Saturn.
Those born on this date are
under the sign of Capricorn.
Woodrow Wilson, 28th pres
ident of the United States, was
born Dec. 28, 1856.
On this day in history:
In 1832, John Calhoun, at
odds with President Andrew
Jackson, became the first vice
president to resign.
Iri 1846, lowa was admitted to
the Union as the 29th state.
In 1869, members of the
Knights of Labor held the first
Day observance in
American history. Also that
day, chewing gum was patented
by William Semple of Mount
Vernon, Ohio.
In 1945, Congress officially
recognized “the pledge of
allegiance” to the American
flag.
A thought for the day: Greek
biographer Plutarch said, “The
whole life of man is but a point
of time; let us enjoy it
therefore while it lasts, and not
spend it to no purpose.”
BARBS
By PHIL PASTORET
The turkey’s revenge: hash
left over from the festive
bird.
O « O
Husbands who must
take the check home to
the frau are merely reve
nue agents.
0 « $
Fellows who have
dream girls shouldn’t, if
married, talk in their
sleep.
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)
THOUGHTS
Your men shall fall by the
sword and your mighty men
in battle. And her gates shall
lament and mourn: ravaged,
she shall sit upon the
ground.—lsaiah 3:25, 26.
c. o $
There are no warlike peo
ples—just warlike leaders.
—Ralph Bunche, former
U.S. delegate to the United
Nations.
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Quimby Melton, Jr.
Editor
Telephone 227-4336
Thanks Fred, we needed that
Fred Omundson of Griffin whose
business requires him to do a lot of air
traveling passed along a story to his
Sunday School Class at First United
Methodist Church that says a lot for
Griffin.
In the spirit of the Holiday Season,
members of the class were relating some
of their personal experiences. Omundson
said the season to him was one of
thanksgiving.
He said he was at the Chicago airport the
other night when two planes collided on a
runway in a fog. The accident stopped air
traffic there. It was during the Christmas
season but Omundson said you would
never have known it by looking at the faces
of the people in the airport terminal.
Hardly any smiled. Most were grumpy and
upset because their plans had been
disrupted. Some people apparently from a
church came through the building singing
carols and for a moment some people
stopped and smiled as they listened. But
when the music stopped, the smiles
disappeared from their faces.
Other guy should watch out
A total of 592 people died on the nation’s
highways during the Christmas holiday
weekend.
We bet most of them read somewhere in
a newspaper that the National Safety
Council had warned that a high death toll
on the highways was expected during the
heavy travel weekend.
Win, lose and keep some
A total of 110 municipalities in Georgia
have disappeared from the map during the
last 50 years. But 139 new towns have
sprung up.
This was included in the data gathered
by Dr. James D. Tarver and Dr. John W.
Nixon at the University of Georgia. The
two professors were making a study of
population trends in the state.
We haven’t lost any towns in Spalding
Speaking of the future, the U.S.
Department of Labor estimates that at
least 48,000 new engineering graduates
will be needed each year during the
remainder of the decade.
Only 43,000 bachelor’s degrees in
engineering were awarded in 1972, and
whether due* to “the backlash of
disillusionment of young people with
technology," as the Wall Street Journal
calls it, or poor guidance counseling in
high schools or exaggerated publicity
about pockets of unemployment in
Faith in Christ
has equal opportunity
My stomach turns over when I hear the
rich say, “How the Lord has blessed us.”
Actually, some Inherited greater brain
power, and had better educational op
portunities. It’s not a question of the Lord’s
blessing at all. What about His faithful
servants who don’t have it in the “smarts
department?” W.J.
I like the statement — “the ground is
level at the foot of the cross.” It’s a happy
indication that in matters of faith in Christ,
we all have equal opportunity. Nobody in
God’s kingdom has special advantage. The
disciples were rebuked, you remember,
when they were bargaining for special
position.
Now, whether you have it or not in the
“smarts department” is quite unrelated to
whether you get the true blessings of God.
They are such things as peace, the friend
diip of Christ, hope beyond the grave, etc.
Passengers were fussing at ticket
agents. The agents were trying to keep
cool but their tempers were frayed, too.
You had to stand in a long line for what
seemed like hours to get to a telephone.
Omundson finally decided he would be
unable to get out of the city that night and
would have to stay over. He went outside to
get a taxi and found the lines there long,
too. There still were no smiles amid all the
mass of humanity before him.
The Griffin resident said it made him
realize how fortunate he was to live in a
town where he could walk the streets, see
smiling faces, be greeted by friends who
called him by name as he walked along,
and in general live in a friendly
atmosphere. The atmosphere in Griffin is
quite in contrast to that in which he found
himself at that Chicago airport.
“Thank God for Griffin and towns like
it,” Omundson told his class.
He seemed to be singing that old song
from years gone by: “Stay as sweet as you
are...”
Thanks for the story, Fred.
We bet most of the 592 thought it would
happen to the other guy, not them.
The National Safety Council estimates
from 430 to 530 people will die in traffic
over the New Year’s weekend just ahead.
And a lot of people, right now as they are
reading this, are saying, “It won’t happen
to me.”
County during the last 50 years but some
new settlements have sprung up in the
area. Three that come to mind are
Talmadge Lake in neighboring Henry
County and planned city of Shenandoah in
neighboring Coweta, and Peachtree City in
nearby Fayette County. There’ll be others,
too.
You win some, you lose some, and you
keep some.
Engineers
engineering, there has been a 21.5 per cent
drop in engineering enrollment since 1967.
As one engineer, Dr. Vincent S.
Haneman, dean of Auburn University’s
School of Engineering, emphasizes, it is
man—individuals, societies and govern
ments—who determine technological
priorities.
The goals of improving the quality of the
environment, safer and more efficient
transportation, better’ housing and more
food for the hungry will all require
engineers for their realization.
When the Bible uses the term “blessing”,
it represents the benefits coming to a
believer from God the Father, through
faith in Christ His Son. All qualify for this,
and what’s more, God loves to give His
children good gifts.
I’m glad that the successful and intelli
gent people you know did give God the
credit for their blessings. They should
have.
The dictionary definition of “blessing”
says it is “approval”, or a thing “con
ducive to happiness.” Whatever a person’s
finances, he can be happy spiritually, and
that’s where blessings are born.
Since the Lord said His kingdom was not
of this world, we do wrong to see God’s
blessing only in terms of cash, clothing,
and country houses. From the level ground
of Calvary, we all see mountains of
blessings. Look for them; you’ll find more
than you can count.
MY
ANSWER
BERRY’S WORLD
I |i
NEA,
"Between you and me, the fun has gone out of being a
TV network executive, since Spiro stopped attacking us!"
BRUCE BIOSSAT
Social Security,
Efficiency No. 1
By BRUCE BIOSSAT
WASHINGTON (NEA)
While President Nixon sets a federal job freeze and
talks of spreading power more effectively to the states,
the Social Security Administration—a huge element in
the U.S. bureaucracy—takes on bigger and bigger bur
dens.
Today 28.1 million Americans are on Social Security
rolls, but the number grows constantly and will have
doubled to 55 million half a century from now. In 1950,
beneficiaries totaled just 3.5 million.
To be sure, Social Security’s work is in some ways high
ly decentralized, with 900 district offices handling many
details. The great avalanche of benefit checks, amounting
now to upwards of S4O billion, spews out through seven
regional Treasury offices.
But Social Security’s core operation at Baltimore is
key. There is just no way of making anything small out
of an activity that must keep trace of Social Security tax
payments and other data for 96 million U.S. workers, and
must dispense benefits to nearly 15 per cent of our grow
ing population.
As if its Social Security operations were not enough,
the agency of course also manages Medicare. In the year
ended June 30, Medicare oversaw payments of $8.4 bil
lion to 4.6 million people covered under hospital insur
ance, and 10.9 million (much duplication here) covered
by supplementary medical insurance affecting mostly
doctor bills.
Fortunately for the country, Social Security happens to
be just about the most efficient activity in the federal
government. No outfit with so many “constituents” and
with some 54,000 employes could be expected to be per
fect. The agency has its sad tales of lost files, terrible
delays, confusion, irritating conflicts between its people
and some of the people who get or need help.
Yet there is no inefficiency even remotely touching that
of the Postal Service or the welfare program. With one
of the largest computer complexes in the world, and with
constant attention to better manpower use, Social Security
has no “mess.”
The best testimony to its general usefulness is the fact
that Congress, as I noted in some earlier reports, has sad
dled it with new responsibility. Starting in 1974, it will
manage on a completely federalized basis the so-called
“adult categories” under the now scattered welfare pro
gram. As many as five million people (a lot of them al
ready on Social Security or Medicare rolls) will be
affected.
As good as it is, Social Security’s tasks are made im
measurably more difficult with each revision of the law,
and this has to be a drag this year. Two Social Security
enactments occurred, and the second was an incredibly
complex piece of business.
One has to wonder whether the members of Congress
ever visit Baltimore to see what happens when that
agency has to translate their handiwork into effective
action understandable by potential beneficiaries.
The refining details found embedded in the law by
wrangling House and Senate committees are almost over
powering to the layman. The experts in Baltimore spend
days and weeks trying to figure out how to tell Americans
what the new law provides for them.
It is hard enough to get a simple message across to
some of the prospective beneficiaries who may be tucked
away in cheap, lonely apartments or whiling away their
days on park benches. What Congress does “for them”
reads in many parts like a wartime code.
So if Social Security endures as a good example of big
ness largely working, it would seem to be in spite of the
men in Washington who are supposed to be closest to the
people who need help.
QUICK QUIZ
V —Who was the youngest
fighter to win the heavy
weight championship?
A—Floyd Patterson, in
1956 at 21.
Q —What is the fatal na
ture of the tsetse fly?
A —lt carries the parasites
that cause sleeping sickness.
It is found only in Africa.
Q —How did the clock Big
Ben in London get its name?
A—From Sir B e n j a m i n
Hall, commissioner of works,
who was tall and stout. Par
liament decided to name the
clock for him.
Q —When were the Olym
pic Games inaugurated?
A—ln 1896, in Athens.
Q —Why is the touch-me
not thus named?
A—lts flowers pop open
at the slightest touch.
Q —Was there ever an
English pope?
A —Yes. Adrian IV in 1154.
UAILY NEWS
Quimby Melton.
Publisher
Cary Reeves. General Manager
Bill Knight. Executive Editor
Fan leased Wat Sennet UM. Fan UH.
(Subscriptions Oran|e al Address tana 3SU) to P.O. Bu 135
E. Solomon St.. Gritfln. Ga
WORLD ALMANAC
The World Council of
Churches is a fellowship of
252 Protestant, Anglican,
Orthodox and Old Catholic
Churches from 90 countries
and territories throughout
the world. It was founded
in 1948 to promote Christian
unity and to facilitate co
operation in mission work,
doctrinal study and service
projects such as aid to ref
ugees, The World Almanac
says.
Copyright © 1972
Newspaper Enterprise Assn.
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Smile Cop, 10 Cents.
Quimby Melton, Jr.,
Editor