fllO—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 12,1381
Is our society getting hooked on television to
the point where that 20-inch screen takes
technicolor control of our thoughts and minds?
If you'd ask my mother,- she’d give you an
emphatic “yes, indeed." This woman who has
been the wife of my father for 34 years, has
been sharing him with another ‘love’ the
T.V. set for about 33 and 7/Bths years.
I’m sure she’s not the only one who lives
with a T.V. addict someone who switches on
the electronic link to the outside world and sits
with a trance-like gaze fixed on the screen,
totally oblivious to doorbells, beckoning
telephones, and conversation-starved wives.
To some degree, most of us are tuned into
the ‘escape box’ that brings us news of far
away places, a glimpse at the lives of exciting
people, and occassionally an educational
insight into outer space or the undersea world.
It offers us a chance to just watch and listen as
our eyes and ears pick up the ’picture r with
hardly any effort or imagination required.
People who don't watch or even own a
television are undoubtedly in the minority
today. Perhaps they’re the lucky ones
tuning into their lives instead of the ‘tube.’
Just how strong a hold does television have
on our society? One cable-television advocate
has gone on record recently stating that there
no longer will be the need for newspapers
within the next ten years.
Imagine the brief, somewhat-biased news
reporting that this would provide. Public
information would be dissipated by 15-second
segments on two-hour news programs with
views and subject selections being made for
the people by two or.three networks..
Local, state, national, and even in
ternational news would be broadcast through
the air and through cable telephone wires.
There’d be no chance for ‘re-reading’ a
complicated report that is, not unless they
begin instant replays of the news, or’ unless
every home is equipped with a video recorder.
I guess that’s not as far-fetched as it sounds
today considering the electronic gadgetry
scientists are developing. Why, even now,
television telephones are being advertised.
(Just pick up your set and dial!) Don’t ask me
how, but now you can watch Laverne and
Shirley and talk to your mother-in-law afthe
same time.
With news being made available at the touch
of a button, people will be able to forget about
reading. In oiir fast paced society, a turn of the
dial will let people eat dinner, bake a pie, or.
NOW IS THE TIME
To Exercise Breeding Animals
Many farm animals are kept in
close quarters during the winter
months. This may work well with
animals being fattened for market,
but is not the best practice for
breeding animals. The flock of
breeding ewes should have access
to an exercise lot daily; there will
be less trouble with paralysis in the
ewe flock and stronger lambs born
if daily exercise is practiced.
When the ground becomes frozen
or snow covered, some shepherds
will feed hay on the ground out in
the exercise lot in order to force
the ewes to exercise. Dairy cows
need outside exercise to maintain
good feet and legs, and to provide
opportunity for heat detection.
Brood mares need the same daily
exercise, if they are to remain in
the best of health.
Off the
Somdimg
By Sheila Miller, Editor
T.V. turns on viewers to junk food
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
Phone 717-394-6851
To Consider Forage Testing
Are you using the Penn State
Forage Testing Service and the
feeding suggestions offered? Many
local dairymen and livestock
producers utilize this testing
service. The people that use the
service tell us that the results and
feeding recommendations they
receive, far out-weigh the $lB cost
of the testing kit. WeVe at the
beginning of the winter feeding
period and suggest that producers
get their hay and silage tested.
This is the best way to ieam the
true feeding value' of these forage
crops. With top quality hay and
silage, money can be saved by
using less commercial protein in
the mix. Details of this testing
service and the recommendations
are available at any Extension
Office in the state.
even drive a truck while listening to and
glancing at the 'tube.’
Because of the appetite the American public
has for television, some groups have ex
pressed concern over the T.V.-habit’s in
fluence on what people eat. A recent study
revealed that Americans spend more time
watching television than doing anything else
except sleeping.
During those hours in front of the T.V.,
people receive cues about eating and drinking
on an average of nine times per hour, the
report reveals. But that ‘food for thought’
generally suggests a snack (39 percent of all
eating/drinking episodes). It gets worse during
weekend daytime children’s programs as
these impressionable viewers are bombarded
with the message to snack in 45 percent of the
eating scenes with regular meals declining to
24 percent and other meals making up the
rest.
And what are these T.V. idols drinking
alcoholic beverages for the most part, with
coffee and tea coming in next. No wonder the
dairy producers are decrying milk’s un
derconsumption.
And commercials fall right in line with prime
time programs they sponsor sweets and
junk food make up almost half the food
•commercials, with nutritious foods being
advertised in only 9 percent.
This type of information, drummed into
people's relaxing minds 365 days a year, and
on the average about 5 hours per day, ob
viously has a brain-washing effect.
“You deserve a break today,” “Bet you can’t
eat just one," “Melts in your mouth, not in
your hand," “Good to the last drop,” and ‘Td
like to teach the world to sing in perfect
harmony" are jingles that have worked their
ways into our subconsious minds. All of them
promoting their junk food to the public in
picturesque scenes showing ‘beautiful people,
places, and things’. Who could refuse such an
inviting appeal?
Well, thanks to groups like the National
Dairy Council, the United Dairy Industry
Ass'ociation, the Pork Producers Council, and
the United Egg Board, this onslaught of snack
food propaganda is being countered with
messages about the nutritious qualities of
milk, eggs, and meat.
It’s about time we let everybody know that
these are the ‘real things'. Since T.V. seems to
be here to stay, let's use it to our advantage.
There are a number of ad
vantages to setting-up farm
partnerships, but an annual review
of the agreement and its
meaingfulness in relation to
current needs is essential.
Once a farm partnership is
established, the agreement should
be reviewed at least once a year.
This should be done for two
reasons. First, to see how well
each of the partners is meeting
their obligations...and secondly, to
carefully evaluate the agreement
to see if it is doing its intended job.
Then, too, farming is a rapidly
changing business. So don’t be
surprised if the agreement you set
up just a couple of years ago isn’t
Board
To Review Partnership
Agreements
(Turn to Page Al 2)
HUMAN-PLUS
December 13,1981
Background Scripture:
Matthew 8; 18-22; 9:l-d;
Mark 8:31-33; 14:61-65
Devotional Reading:
Matthew 3; 1-12.
We’ve noted some of the titles by
which Christians refer to Jesus.
But have you ever stopped to think
about the one title Jesus almost
always used in reference, to
himself?
Although Jesus permitted his
disciples to call him Christ, the
Messiah, even the Son of God, he
never once said "I am...” any of
these. Neither did he say “I am the
Son of man,” but, according to the
Gospel accounts, there are many
tunes when he refers to himself in
the third person with that title. For
example, in Matthew 9:1-8, when
the scribes have rebuked him for
forgiving the paralytic, Jesus
says: “...that you may know that
the Son of man has authority on
earth to forgive sms,” and
proceeded to heal the man. Later,
when the high priest asks him:
“Are you the Christ, the Son of the
Blessed?”, Jesus replies: “I am;
and you will see the Son of man
sitting at the right hand of
Power...” (Mark 14:61,82).
The Son of Man
So, “the Son of man” was the one
title that Jesus used in referring to
himself. Why this title and what
does it mean?
Once again, it is a title that
Farm Calendar
Today, Dec. 12
_ York bounty 4-H winter dance,
7:38-10:30 p.m. 4-H Center.
Tuesday, Dec. 15
Bradford County, Sayre
Hospitality House meeting on
“Nutritious Gating for the
Holidays’’ 12:30 p.m.. Canton
Hospitality House. Continues
Wednesday.
Franklin County Conservation
District, 7:30 p.m.. County
Administration Bldg., Cham
bersburg.
Wednesday, Dec. 16
South Central Dairy Goat
meeting, 7 p.m., Adams County
Extension Office.
York Pruning meeting tor
Commercial Fruit Growers,
1:30 p.m., Goodhngs Fruit
Farm, Loganville.
Red Rose Alliance, 7:30 p.m.,
New Holland Fire Hall.
Hunterdon County Ag
HAVHAWS
V
‘‘l liked the good old days when we could keep ‘
by just playing a little music.
defies a clear definition. Essen
tially it was a term that meant “a
man," a “human being.” It seems
then, that at least one reason Jesus
used it was to emphasize his
humanity.”
This is evident in Matthew 8:18-
22 when Jesus says, “Foxes have
holes, and birds of the air have
nests; but the Son of man'has
nowhere to lay his head.” His use
of the term here indicates not only
his humanity, but his humility.
Later/ at Caesarea Philippi after
Peter has confessed him as “the
Christ,” Mark tells us: “he began
to teach them that the Son of man
must suffer many things, and be
rejected by the elders and the chief
priests and the scribes, and be
killed...” (8:31j. This is another
indication of his vulnerability as a
human being. Jesus as the Son of
man shares our humanity and
knows our feelings of frustration,
powerlessness, and inadequacy.
When he referred to himself as the
Son of man, he said, in effect, “1
am one with you.”
The Right Hand of Power
There was also,
another meaning that came to be
attached to the term "Son of man,”
In the literature of the times the
“Son of man” was anticipated as
one who would be elevated to
become the judge of all humanity.
A human being, it was believed,
would become or be something
more than human or perhaps
would lift humanity to a new level.
Thus Jesus could say to the high
priest, “You will see the Son of
man sitting at the right hand of
Power, and coming with the clouds
of heaven” (Mark 14:62). The
humble human being would be
glorified by the power of God.
Someone .has said, "Jesus
became what we are so that we
might be what he is.” In Jesus the
Son of man we see what God in
tends tor humanity to be.
Development Board, 8 p.m.,
County Library.
Centre County DHJLA annual
meeting, Logan Grange Hall,
Pleasant Gap.
Thursday, Dec. 17
Cellulose Conversion Seminar,
alcohol luel workshop, Wilson
College, Chambersburg, con
tinues through Saturday.
Lebanon ASCS, 10 a.m.,
Heisey’s Diner, Rt. 72,
Lebanon.
Classification barn meeting,
Chester County Holstein Club,
7:30 p.m., Don Hostetlers farm.
Manor Young Farmers, 7:30
p.m., Glenn Burkholder .farm,
Prospect Rd., north of Rt. 999.
Pa. Seedmen’s Assoc, annual
meeting, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.,
Treadway Inn, Lancaster.
Seed, fertilizer dealers’
meeting, 6:45 p.m., Union
Hotel, Hunterdon County, N.J.
im contented
W
E
$5