Weekly Review

By Roger D. Hodge

The United States and parts of Canada suffered a massive blackout that left millions of people in 8 states without electricity; New York City, Detroit, Cleveland, and Toronto were all affected. Officials soon determined that the outage, the largest in American history, was caused by a failed line in Ohio. "We are a major superpower with a Third World electrical grid," said Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico.¹ "We'll have time to look at it and determine whether or not our grid needs to be modernized," said President George W. Bush, who has opposed legislation to improve the grid. "I happen to think it does, and have said so all along."² A toy airplane made of balsa wood and Mylar and weighing less than 5 kilograms flew across the Atlantic Ocean.³ It was reported that a Marine Corps lance corporal was convicted of using a military credit card to buy a car, a motorcycle, furniture, and a breast lift.⁴ In Iraq, saboteurs blew up a large oil pipeline to Turkey three days after it reopened,⁵ a water main was bombed in Baghdad, and U.S. soldiers "engaged" and killed a Reuters cameraman;⁶ the police chief of Mosul was shot and two other officers died in an ambush; a Danish soldier was killed, some American soldiers were shot as they left a restaurant, and a sewage plant was set on fire.⁷ "Every American needs to believe this," said General Ricardo Sanchez, the head of U.S. forces in Iraq, "that if we fail here in this environment, the next battlefield will be the streets of America."⁸ Wildlife workers in Hawaii asked for permission to exterminate up to 200 nonnative red-and-green parrots.⁹

Idi Amin, the former tyrant of Uganda, under whose rule more than 400,000 people perished, was said to be looking for a kidney donor to save his life. He was apparently unsuccessful.¹⁰ The Middle East peace process continued as Israeli forces conducted a raid in Nablus, killing at least two Hamas members; Hamas retaliated with a suicide bombing, killing an Israeli settler. The Al Aksa Martyrs brigade also carried out a bombing, killing one Israeli. Israel killed an Islamic Jihad commander, and the group promised revenge attacks.¹¹ An eight-year-old girl's thumb was recovered from the stomach of a pit bull in Romeoville, Illinois.¹² Sylvester Stallone's mother said that her dogs, which she believes to be psychic, have predicted a victory for Arnold Schwarzenegger in the California recall election, and an apocalyptic Christian preacher named Jack Van Impe claimed that he had been contacted by Condoleezza Rice, who he said asked him for an outline of what the end of the world will be like.¹³ Fox News sued Al Franken, the comedian, because his new book includes the words "fair and balanced" in the title; Fox claims to own the commonly used phrase, which it uses to great ironic effect in its advertisements.¹⁴ Two hundred U.S. Marines landed in Liberia,¹⁵ and government workers in Bristol, England, were told to stop calling people "dear" and "love."¹⁶

Scientists at the University of Massachusetts discovered a one-celled creature, which they called Strain 121, that can survive temperatures up to 121 degrees centigrade, the temperature used by medical sterilization equipment.¹⁷ The United States Army delayed the destruction of more than 1,200 tons of VX, a deadly nerve agent, at the Newport Chemical Depot, 30 miles north of Terre Haute, Indiana, because the plant has failed to meet environmental standards.¹⁸ A Greek oil tanker sank off a popular Pakistani beach and dumped at least 12,000 metric tons of oil into the water. People were complaining of dead fish and "pungent smells" as the oil washed ashore.¹⁹ Penthouse magazine's parent company filed for bankruptcy protection.²⁰ Up to 3,000 people were estimated to have died in the French heat wave.²¹ Opium production was up in Afghanistan; Donald Rumsfeld described the situation as "one whale of a tough problem."²² In Antarctica, researchers for the first time successfully photographed a whale passing gas.²³ Iceland resumed its "scientific" whaling program.²⁴ The Department of Defense was said to be developing new gamma-ray weapons that it says could "revolutionize all aspects of warfare."²⁵ The World Health Organization said that Asia needs about 24 billion condoms a year but that only 6 to 9 billion are being distributed.²⁶ Vaginal-enhancement surgery was all the rage in Britain; women in New York City, who are fond of narrow shoes, were said to be having their toes shortened.²⁷ Chinese scientists developed hybrid human-rabbit embryos.²⁸ A leading zoologist said that "homosexuals are at the pinnacle of human evolution."²⁹ A sniper was on the loose in West Virginia.³⁰