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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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colour-coded crims
Police in Vietnam have devised a new way to fight crime. Instead of using conventional methods to stop and impound criminals, they’re using paint-ball guns. So instead of incapacitating the villain with capsicum spray or killing them with a bullet, they use indelible dyes to mark thieves for later “processing.”
permanent 20/20
A contact lens, which can be surgically fitted into the eyes, has just become available. The treatment involves implanting a thin lens between the eye’s natural lens and the iris to permanently correct sight problems such as severe long- and short-sightedness. Amazingly, the procedure takes only 30 minutes and costs just $2500.
the winner is . . .
Six convicts in Russia have won pardons by competing in a national song contest. The six, including two women, were among 23 finalists chosen from more than 800 creative inmates.
vodka battery
An enzyme-catalysed battery has been created that could one day power cell phones and laptop computers—on vodka. A new polymer protects a catalyst that allows the ethanol in vodka to be broken down into hydrogen, which is then used in a tiny fuel cell to create electricity.
big-bang theory
With the demise of the Concorde, there are no supersonic jets in commercial service—and none on the drawing board. It was the presence of supersonic booms that prevented Concorde overflying populated areas, limiting its usefulness, as about 60 per cent of air traffic is over land. Engineers experimented with a “nose glove,” a bill-shaped device attached to a plane’s prow, designed to soften the bang.
hell for others
Although 81 per cent of Americans believe in some kind of an afterlife, the numbers are fairly evenly distributed between heaven (76%)—where 64 per cent expect to go when they die, and hell (71%), where just 1 per cent expect to wind up. Almost a quarter have “no idea” where they’re going.
early science
What is claimed to be the world’s oldest solar observatory has been discovered in a field in Germany. Consisting of four concentric rings, the largest 75 m across, its gates marked the winter solstice, and allegedly date from 4900 BC.
young thoughts
The majority of young adults (20-29) believe that “enjoying life” is a most important value in life. This stands in marked contrast to retired people, of whom only a quarter subscribe to the notion.
frock shock
for the flock
Only half of Protestant pastors in the US hold a biblical world view, say the Barna Research Group (BRG). Surprisingly just 51 per cent of ministers have a biblical view on six core beliefs polled—accuracy of the Bible, sinlessness of Jesus, a literal Satan, omnipotent, omniscient God, salvation by grace, and personal responsibility to evangelise. “In some denominations, the vast majority of clergy do not have a biblical world view,” says Barna, “and it shows up clearly in the data related to the theological views and moral choices of people who attend those churches.” Southern Baptist pastors polled highest (71%), while Methodists were lowest (27%). Another BRG survey of the general population found that only 7 per cent of congregations agreed on all six anyway.
the whoop-dee-doo slider
Melbourne-based Kristen Bower (right) hopes to claim a place in the Guinness Book of Records with this camel-backed, wakeboarding rail—a whoop-dee-doo slider in board-land parlance—that he’s constructed in a farm dam east of Melbourne. The 50-metre-long construction rises from the water like the Loch Ness monster, standing up to three metres high. “I, too, have had my ups and downs during the building and riding process,” says Kristen, who spent nine months planning and building the monster.
Sources: www.ananova.com
www.newscientist.com www.theage.com.au, New Scientist, Pointers, Vibrant Life.
“The evidences that the Sabbath was given to man long before the existence of the Jews, as a people, is increasing from year to year,” said the Signs of November 1886, its first year of publication—it was then called the Bible Echo—adding that the word appears in scores of other languages, many predating the Jewish nation. ”Wherever man went, into whatever portion of the world he migrated, the Sabbath idea went also,” reported Signs, which takes up the theme of the Sabbath once again here.
Extract from Signs of the Times, March 2004.
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