Mountain Views News          Saturday, April 25, 2015

THE WORLD AROUND US

14

Mountain Views-News Saturday, April 11, 2015 


EARTH-SIZE TELESCOPE EXPANDS TO SOUTH POLE TO SEE BLACK HOLES IN DETAIL

Astronomers building an Earth-size virtual 
telescope capable of photographing the event 
horizon of the black hole at the center of our 
Milky Way have extended their instrument to the 
bottom of the Earth—the South Pole—thanks to 
recent efforts by a team led by Dan Marrone of 
the University of Arizona.

 Marrone, an assistant professor in the 
UA’s Department of Astronomy and Steward 
Observatory, and several colleagues flew to the 
National Science Foundation’s Amundsen-Scott 
South Pole Station in December to bring the 
South Pole Telescope, or SPT, into the largest 
virtual telescope ever built—the Event Horizon 
Telescope, or EHT. By combining telescopes 
across the Earth, the EHT will take the first 
detailed pictures of black holes.

 The EHT is an array of radio telescopes 
connected using a technique known as very 
long baseline interferometry, or VLBI. Larger 
telescopes can make sharper observations, and 
interferometry allows multiple telescopes to act 
like a single telescope as large as the separation—
or “baseline”—between them.

 “Now that we’ve done VLBI with the SPT, the 
Event Horizon Telescope really does span the 
whole Earth, from the Submillimeter Telescope 
on Mount Graham in Arizona, to California, 
Hawaii, Chile, Mexico, Spain and the South 
Pole,” Marrone said. “The baselines to SPT give 
us two to three times more resolution than our 
past arrays, which is absolutely crucial to the 
goals of the EHT. To verify the existence of an 
event horizon, the ‘edge’ of a black hole, and 
more generally, to test Einstein’s theory of general 
relativity, we need a very detailed picture of a 
black hole. With the full EHT, we should be able 
to do this.”

 The prime EHT target is the Milky Way’s 
black hole, known as Sagittarius A* (pronounced 
“A-star”). Even though it is 4 million times more 
massive than the Sun, it is tiny to the eyes of 
astronomers. Because it is smaller than Mercury’s 
orbit around the Sun, yet almost 26,000 light-
years away, studying its event horizon in detail is 
equivalent to standing in California and reading 
the date on a penny in New York.

 With its unprecedented resolution, more 
than 1,000 times better than the Hubble Space 
Telescope, the EHT will see swirling gas on its 
final plunge over the event horizon, never to 
regain contact with the rest of the universe. If the 
theory of general relativity is correct, the black 
hole itself will be invisible because not even light 
can escape its immense gravity.

 First postulated by Albert Einstein’s general 
theory of relativity, the existence of black holes 
has since been supported by decades’ worth of 
astronomical observations. Most if not all galaxies 
are now believed to harbor a supermassive black 
hole at their center, and smaller ones formed from 
dying stars should be scattered among their stars. 
The Milky Way is known to be home to about 25 
smallish black holes ranging from five to 10 times 
the Sun’s mass. But never has it been possible to 
directly observe and image one of these cosmic 
oddities.

 Weighing 280 tons and standing 75 feet tall, the 
SPT sits at an elevation of 9,300 feet on the polar 
plateau at Amundsen-Scott, which is located at the 
geographic South Pole. The University of Chicago 
built SPT with funding and logistical support 
from the NSF’s Division of Polar Programs. The 
division manages the U.S. Antarctic Program, 
which coordinates all U.S. research on the 
southernmost continent.

 You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@
MtnViewsNews.com.


OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

 by Christopher Nyerges

 

[Nyerges is the former editor of Wilderness Way magazine, and the author of 14 books, including 
“Guide to Wild Foods,” “How to Survive Anywhere,” “Foraging California,” and others. He leads 
regular outdoor field trips to identify edible and medicinal wild plants. He can be reached at www.
SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com or Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041.]


WHY GRIN WHEN YOU CAN 
LAUGH OUT LOUD


I am of the opinion that standing in line is not a career although I have been so employed most 
of my life. If it is a career, I am not applying for any employment.

 I have searched colleges and universities and have yet to find any of them offering a PhD in 
Standing in Line. I believe there is no such thing, although I stood in line for so long now I 
probably have earned a PhD.

 This past week I had this brought to my attention in an interesting manner. I had ordered 
a printing job at Staples and went in to pick it up. Walking in the door I noticed that at the 
printing department there was a long line of people waiting. My heart sank.

 Nothing seems to be more of a waste of time then standing in line waiting for service or to 
pick up something. The woman behind the counter was doing the best she could, but the line 
did not seem to shrink very much. In fact, it seemed to grow.

 As I stood there, I noticed the people in line were getting a little grouchy. You could tell by 
the grimace on their face that they were not in one of their “happy moods.” At the time, most 
of the people in line were women. Nobody was talking to anybody, just staring or should I 
say glaring at the woman behind the counter trying to move the customers through as fast as 
possible.

 It is always true that when you are in a hurry, things go rather slow. I try to pretend I am 
not in a hurry and whistle, usually, “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.” If it is this time of year 
people look at me as though I am crazy. Looks can be deceiving, but not in my case.

 If you pretend that you have all the time in the world, things seem to go by quicker. It is like 
your computer. If you are in a hurry, the computer will run as slow as possible. On the other 
hand, if while you are waiting for the computer to get up and running you have many other 
things to do the computer is up and running before you know it.

 I was thinking all these things as I was standing in line because I was not really walking in 
line. I thought of Johnny Cash’s song, “I walk the line,” and was tempted to start singing it, but 
I did not think it would be appropriate.

 Then things began to take another turn. A woman came behind the counter, saw me and 
asked very loudly, “Are you here to pick up?”

 There are times when something happens inside my head that makes me say things that I 
have not really prepared. I do not know what it is, maybe it is my upbringing but I am still not 
all the way up

. Without hardly a thought, I said in my outdoor voice, “No, I’m married, but thanks for the 
offer. It’s not often an old geezer like me get such an invitation.”

 Then the whole atmosphere changed. Most of the people in line broke out in hilarious 
laughter. They never heard such a line in all their life. One woman looked at me and said, 
“Thanks, I needed that.” Another said, “You’ve made my day.”

 Everybody was laughing and talking and the time seemed to go by very quickly and soon I 
was on my way out.

 My observation is that most people are too serious, but too serious about the wrong things. 
Everybody seems to be uptight particularly when they are in the store standing in line.

 One rule I have in life and that is, I do not take myself very seriously. After all, I do own a 
mirror! If what I see in the mirror is what other people see when they encounter me, I better 
start laughing now and join the crowd.

 There are things that we need to take seriously. Most people do not take the serious things 
seriously, but they take instead, the hilarious things seriously. We live in an upside down 
world.

 A time comes when you have to really laugh out loud. I have noticed that when one person 
starts laughing pretty soon everybody in the surrounding area will join in the laughing. 
Laughing seems to be rather contagious.

 If you get up in the morning and listen to the news, you are going to be down in the dumps 
all day. So much on television and radio for that matter, contribute to the degree of sadness 
infecting our country today.

 I think occasionally everybody needs to have what I call “Laughter Therapy.” The way to 
begin this “Laughter Therapy,” is to begin laughing at yourself. After all, everybody else is 
laughing at you; why not join in the hilarity?

 Of course, some things are not funny. The wise person knows the difference between what 
is funny and what is not funny. To laugh at the wrong thing can be disastrous.

 Solomon understood this quite well when he wrote, “A merry heart doeth 
good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones” (Proverbs 17:22). 
I refuse to go through life with a strained grin on my face. I choose to laugh out loud and 
invite the whole world to laugh with me.

 Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, PO Box 831313, Ocala, FL 
34483. He lives with his wife, Martha, in Silver Springs Shores. Call him at 1-866-552-2543 or 
e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net or website www.jamessnyderministries.com.

BEING PREPARED

It seems that there is a lot in 
Sierra Madre, and the world 
at large, to fear these days – 
terrorism, GMOs, inflation, 
deflation, right-wingers, left-wingers, war, hurricanes, 
comets….

 It is worth reminding ourselves of the famous 
Presidential quote, “There is nothing to fear but fear 
itself.” 

 What is the cause of fear, that irrational reaction 
to known and unknown events? Though this is 
obviously complex, the overpowering emotion of fear 
fills the void where there is no thinking, no physical 
preparedness, no systems that have been worked out to 
deal with challenges, and no love. Fear fills the void in 
our modern computer and ipod age where neighbors 
no longer no neighbors.

 But, as always, we can choose our destiny. We can 
get to know our neighbors. We can learn together how 
to prepare for earthquakes by storing food and water, 
and learning first aid. We can learn with students and 
neighbors how to grow trees and vegetables, especially 
in the cities where we have allowed ourselves to become 
so dependent on everyone and everything else.

 And, as my associates and I have attempted to for 
several decades, we also find solutions in looking to 
the past. It is amazing how many children “couldn’t 
function” (so they say) without a cell phone or 
computer. But just a few hundred years ago, here in 
California’s rich coastal plains, generations of Native 
Americans fed and housed themselves, took care of 
their own politics and crime, and created a high social 
system with no electronics, no K-Marts, no piped 
water, and no e-bay. 

 Of course, things were different then, but human 
nature is largely the same. Did they have things to fear 
then? Of course! Their guaranteed income was zero, 
there were no guaranteed health plans, no pensions, 
no automobile insurance, no welfare, no WIC, no EBT 
cards, and no FEMA or Homeland Security. There 
were simply the people and their resolve to do what it 
took to provide for themselves. As we have grown in 
numbers, we have specialized ourselves into stupidity, 
and we find that we now have much to fear….

 Let us look at how native peoples of the past 
provided food. Every fall, when the acorns fell from 
the oak trees, the acorns were collected, shelled, and 
then leached. Leaching means that they were ground 
into flour and “washed” by pouring water over the 
meal until the bitter tannic acid was removed. I still 
do this today, except I do it in my kitchen, soaking the 
shelled acorns in a pan rather than in a rock hollow 
by the stream. By my estimate, 99% of this quality 
food rots and decays on the forest floor or is raked to 
the curb to be picked up by the city’s street-sweepers. 
Yet, to collect your own acorns, and to make your own 
bread and pancakes, is a wonderful feeling It is living 
history. And each such simple act of doing something 
for yourself make you more independent, more self-
reliant, more confident that “the way” is out there, 
available. 

 Additionally in the fall, we have the cactus fruits 
ripening, as well as the manzanita berries, and toyon 
berries. All of these are good foods that we could all 
use today. Though Homeland Security hasn’t (yet) told 
us what to do to become self-reliant, these are just a few 
of the ways to look to the past to eliminate fear, and to 
be self-reliant. 

 The late Paul Campbell wrote an excellent book 
called Survival Skills of Native California which 
describes how California Indians provided for all their 
needs from the land. This and other books can be seen 
at www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com.

 The School of Self-reliance also conducts weekend 
classes in plant identification and survival skills. 
Check the web site for details, or write to Box 41834, 
Eagle Rock, CA 90041. 

 But whatever you do, don’t let fear take over. Take 
action. Some action, and learn at least one new thing 
each day to become more self-reliant. If we all look to 
the past for some of our solutions, the future will be 
bright indeed.