Sunday, October 28 marked the 50th anniversary of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s momentous announcement that his nation would withdraw nuclear-armed medium-range ballistic missiles from Cuba, just 90 miles from the United States. After weeks of tension and fear, the world breathed a collective sigh of relief, as nuclear cosmocide was averted. Or was it merely delayed?

The UN warns that “World grain reserves are so dangerously low that severe weather in the United States or other food-exporting countries could trigger a major hunger crisis next year” (The Observer, October 13, 2012).  While a billion people are hungry in the world, many still have plenty of food.

As the weather cools down and autumn leaves change, millions of people around the world will celebrate on October 31 a very strange and macabre phenomenon called “Halloween.” It is relatively easy to research the holiday’s beginnings and learn of its pagan roots, particularly the Celtic Samhain.

As the weather cools down and autumn leaves change, millions of people around the world will celebrate on October 31 a very strange and macabre phenomenon called “Halloween.” It is relatively easy to research the holiday’s beginnings and learn of its pagan roots, particularly the Celtic Samhain.

A growing number of nations want to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.  “Every time there is an international economic summit, it seems that some Chinese mandarin reiterates the now familiar complaint that the greenback needs to be replaced as the world’s de facto reserve currency” (Time, July 21, 2009).