1980, collections were up to $600 million, five percent of benefits. Success varies from state to state. In New York, administrative costs exceeded collections in 1980, while Michigan rounded up $3 for every $1 spent. Nationwide, the program recouped $1.34 for each $1 of expenses.
One-third of all AFDC families with an absent parent should now be receiving child support, but only one in seven of those families does so. If collections could be improved and new awards won from other miss- ing parents,...
Jeff Greenfield, in Channels of
Strike Out Communications (~une-~uly
1982), P.O.
Box 2001, Mahopac, N.Y. 10541.
The election of telegenic former actor Ronald Reagan in 1980 seemed to
" "
many observers to confirm the power of television in politics. Actually,
says Greenfield, a commentator for CBS News, the 1980 election proved
the opposite.
All of Ted Kennedy's charisma could not overcome his failure to
provide voters with an appealing political program. The "irresistible"...
Jeff Greenfield, in Channels of
Strike Out Communications (~une-~uly
1982), P.O.
Box 2001, Mahopac, N.Y. 10541.
The election of telegenic former actor Ronald Reagan in 1980 seemed to
" "
many observers to confirm the power of television in politics. Actually,
says Greenfield, a commentator for CBS News, the 1980 election proved
the opposite.
All of Ted Kennedy's charisma could not overcome his failure to
provide voters with an appealing political program. The "irresistible"...
contrast, traditional non-Western ideas of human rights have centered on "the small community based on groupings of extended families," where a network of social support serves the same protective function as institutionalized Western human rights.
When Western philosophers began discussing human rights in the 17th century, the modern state was just taking shape. According to Donnelly, needs for human rights in the Third World today are "essen- tially the same . . . as they were...
most other philosophers, he did force them to confront contemporary social questions they would have preferred to ignore. And many of his student followers in the '60s are now taking their places in the ranks of today's teachers of philosophy.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
"Micromemories" John Douglas, in Science 82 (July-Aug. 1982), P.O. Box
. -
10790, Des Moines, Iowa 50340,
The computer wizards who put a calculator in every pocket are now at work on Phase I1 of the "microelectronic revol...
burning tiny pits into them. Recently released Toshiba, the first commercial optical disks can store the equivalent of 33 books of 300 pages each; but they offer a "sluggardly" retrieval time of half a second. Optical disks have one other serious drawback: They cannot be amended or rerecorded.
The most promising micromemory technology, as Douglas sees it, involves making silicon chips "superconducting"~cuttingtheir resist- ance to the passage of electricity by bathing them in...
2015-would put the total population at 4.90 billion in 2000, an increase of only 2.1 percent, and a modest price to pay for a much healthier population.
At this point in the demographic transition, the biggest population changes are likely to come from drops in the fertility rate. The UN projections assume an annual decline of .07; a 50 percent greater de- cline would mean an 18.8 percent decrease in the projected population 2100. In fact, the most effective techniques for extending life expec-...
repeating the swing several times and gradually developing a return stroke that minimized drag, they could leap even further. Once natural selection refined their wings and increased their endurance, they left the ground behind.
"Science in the Old South: A Reap-Science and oraisal" bv Ronald L. Numbers and Janet in Journal of Southern His-
the Old South 5.~umb~rs, tory (May 1982), % Bennet H. Wall, Dept. of History, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. 30602.
"1850 the cotton kingdom...
many miles from fellow workers in their chosen fields." In the words of 19th-century geologist William Barton Rogers, "Solitude is, after all, no friend to Science."
RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT
The Last hk "Zoos: Endangered Species' Last Hope?" Joseph Wallace, in Museum (May-June 1982), Museum Circulation Services, P.O. Box 1300, Bergenfield, N.J. 07621.
Nowadays, zoos must be more than just showcases for exotic animals. As one zoo administrator puts it, "Zoos must...
the end of this century an estimated one million species of plants and animals will face extinction. The expense of main- taining even one animal in captivity is high, and often an entire herd is needed to ensure successful breeding. Better communication among zoos has helped spread the responsibility. But zoo experts now face the weighty task of choosing which of the earth's dwindling species will be saved and which will disappear.
"On or Off? Oil and Gas Survey" Roy Europe's Oil Eales,...