Bits and Pieces

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REMEMBER THE BIG COW DUNG DEAL we reported in MOTHER NO. 32's Bits & Pieces? The contract between RJB Sales Export of Sequim, Washington, and the sheikdoms of Dubai and Bahrain for 50,000 gallons of liquid manure per month at 5¢ a gallon? Well-according to Salem, Oregon's Capital Press-the "sheik" has turned out to be a taxicab driver, the valley in Bahrain that was supposed to receive the sludge doesn't exist, and a lot of folks at RJB and elsewhere have been left with (ah'em) egg on their faces.

"THIRD WORLD BABIES ARE DYING and many that do not die are drawn into a vicious cycle of malnutrition and disease that will leave them physically and intellectually stunted for life." So goes a disturbingly grim report by War on Want-an independent British agency on the aftermath of massive promotional campaigns launched in underdeveloped countries by U.S. and European manufacturers of "artificial milk" for infants. Ironically enough, the statement comes at a time when many modern women have finally come to see the truth: that breast milk is the best possible source of nutrition for newborn children.

A SUBTLE SIGN OF THE "ADVANTAGES" OF UNCHECKED GROWTH might be seen in the fact that, in Japan-where overcrowding, sardine-can housing, and stratospheric prices are a way of life-insects have suddenly become the country's most popular household pets. Most folks just can't afford the "luxury" of hungry, space-consuming birds, dogs, and cats. Will your grandson grow up with a beetle?

NO MATTER WHETHER YOU'RE A MAN OR A MOUSE the rat race takes its toll. A five-year study at Roosevelt University subjected a group of mice to the typical trappings of the American businessman: the equivalent of four martinis and an hour's worth of cigarette smoke-per day, a high carbohydrate diet, and no exercise. While the "executive mice" lived only two-thirds as long as "normal", the life span of another group of rodents-given high protein food, allowed to "work out" regularly, and provided with a convenient retreat to privacy jumped by 30 to 40%.

AIR AND NOISE POLLUTION, OZONE REDUCTION AND SKIN CANCER all hover dangerously over our heads once again as both England and France-desperately trying to break even on their economically and environmentally disastrous Concorde SST transports-await near-assured FAA permission to land their fuel-hungry craft at Dulles and JFK international airports. And it's all in the name of getting affluent businessmen across the ocean in three and one-half hours instead of seven.

HUH? WHAT WAS THAT PRICE AGAIN? A recent Associated Press report states that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planning to build two "four-holer" outhouses near a federally constructed dam at Hastings, Minnesota. That's no big deal or so it would seem-but the article goes on to say that the military unit expects the privies to cost (gasp!) $25,000 apiece!

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