1914 Year

The Jehovah's Witnesses have quietly abandoned a prediction that people alive in 1914 would live to see Christ's kingdom on earth--a major doctrine that lent urgency to the sect's door-to-door warnings that a bloody end of the world is imminent. Some ex-Witnesses predict the change will hurt the "sky-is-falling preaching" of the 4.

The Jehovah's Witnesses have quietly abandoned a prediction that people alive in 1914 would live to see Christ's kingdom on earth--a major doctrine that lent urgency to the sect's door-to-door warnings that a bloody end of the world is imminent. Some ex-Witnesses predict the change will hurt the "sky-is-falling preaching" of the 4.

The Jehovah's Witnesses have quietly abandoned a prediction that people alive in 1914 would live to see Christ's kingdom on Earth--a major doctrine that lent urgency to the sect's door-to-door warnings that a bloody end of the world is imminent. Some ex-Witnesses predict the change will hurt the "sky-is-falling preaching" of the 4.

The Jehovah's Witnesses have quietly abandoned a prediction that people alive in 1914 would live to see Christ's kingdom on Earth--a major doctrine that lent urgency to the sect's door-to-door warnings that a bloody end of the world is imminent. Some ex-Witnesses predict the change will hurt the "sky-is-falling preaching" of the 4.

The University of San Diego football team, which has played well on the road so far this season, plays at home for the first time at 7:30 tonight against La Verne. Last season, the Toreros won only one home game en route to a 4-6 record. This season, USD has defeated Redlands, 28-0, and it tied Occidental, 13-13, two weeks ago in its season opener. The La Verne game begins a stretch of four straight home games for the Toreros. La Verne is 0-1 after losing last Saturday to Occidental, 19-14.

It happened in the day's final race at Del Mar. On a forgettable horse, Esquimal, Bill Shoemaker reached an unforgettable milestone. Before 18,992, Shoemaker was ahead at every pole and when he crossed the finish line 3 1/2 lengths ahead of the pack, he had won his 6,032nd race, tying him with John Longden for most races won. Shoemaker had done in 21 years what took Longden 40.

Lest we forget, composer William Kraft was for a quarter-century a percussionist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In his compositional capacity, Kraft has long been kind toward the poor percussionist, who is too often relegated to a background position--literally and functionally--in the musical hierarchy.

A young man's anxiety resolved by an older man's hard-won wisdom framed the Los Angeles Philharmonic program led by Esa-Pekka Salonen on Thursday in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Between the two points, Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter made a luminous Los Angeles debut in works by Ravel and four Scandinavian composers. Salonen introduced Berg's Three Pieces for Orchestra, which opened the program, with engaging, insightful remarks from the stage.

Everyone remembers some wonderful beloved toy that gave countless pleasurable hours. The crooked-nose bunny whose furry bottom went bald from stroking, the sleek Lionel assembled with Dad, or the red Radio Flyer that tore down the driveway--all conjure up joyful memories, according to Traditional Home magazine. Even now, children can unwrap fresh experiences with many of these toys, because they're still being made today.

Last year, the Grand Canyon. Last week, the Marianas Trench. Next week, who knows? Quarterback Leon Blunt is calling a spade a spade when he says that there's no shovel big enough to consistently dig San Fernando High out of all these holes. "We're in the same situation every time," Blunt said. "We've got to get on that game plan from the beginning." Keeping completely in character, San Fernando fell behind Wednesday, mounted a frenetic rally and made it a nail-biter.

Janos Szasz's "The Witman Boys," which is Hungary's official Oscar entry, is as impeccable as it is glum. As a cautionary tale on the devastating effects of the absence of love in a society of the utmost severity, it is faultless in style and psychological validity.

Robert Skotheim was at first amused when he was invited to become president of Occidental College, even for just 18 months. "I thought it was the most ridiculous thing I ever heard of," he recalled. After all, the former professor of American history had been in happy retirement for six years in the Seattle area after heading the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino and, before that, Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash.