Mountain Views News          Saturday, March 5, 2016

14

THE WORLD AROUND US

 Mountain Views News Saturday, March 5, 2016 


A POSSIBLE ANCIENT OCEAN ON PLUTO’S MOON CHARON; ASTROPOETRY CONTEST


Pluto’s largest moon may have gotten too big for its 
own skin.

Images from NASA’s New Horizons mission 
suggest that Pluto’s moon Charon once had a 
subsurface ocean that has long since frozen and 
expanded, pushing out on the moon’s surface and 
causing it to stretch and fracture on a massive scale.

 The side of Charon viewed by the passing New 
Horizons spacecraft in July 2015 is characterized by 
a system of “pull apart” tectonic faults, which are 
expressed as ridges, scarps and valleys—the latter 
sometimes reaching more than 4 miles deep.

 Charon’s outer layer is primarily water ice. When 
the moon was young this layer was warmed by the 
decay of radioactive elements, as well as Charon’s 
own internal heat of formation. Scientists say 
Charon could have been warm enough to cause the 
water ice to melt deep down, creating a subsurface 
ocean. But as Charon cooled over time, this ocean 
would have frozen and expanded (as happens when 
water freezes), pushing the surface outward and 
producing the massive chasms we see today.

 This image focuses on a section of the feature 
informally named Serenity Chasma, part of a 
vast equatorial belt of chasms on Charon. In fact, 
this system of chasms is one of the longest seen 
anywhere in the solar system, running at least 
1,100 miles long and reaching 4.5 miles deep. By 
comparison, the Grand Canyon is 277 miles long 
and just over a mile deep.

 This image was taken at a range of approximately 
48,900 miles from Charon, about an hour and 40 
minutes before New Horizons’ closest approach to 
Charon on July 14, 2015.

*******

DISCOVER THE ASTRO-POET IN YOU. Have 
you ever looked up at the Moon or stars and said, 
“That’s so beautiful, I wish I could write a poem 
about it”? Well, now may be the time for you—or 
your children—to do just that, and you could win 
an international award in the process. 

 The global organization devoted to astronomy 
education, Astronomers Without Borders (www.
astronomerswithoutborders.org), invites children 
and adults everywhere to submit poems to its 
annual AstroPoetry Contest. The contest, in three 
categories—children, young adults, and adults—is 
open for poetry submissions from now through 
April 30. Poems may be in any form, but should be 
related to astronomy, space, or the night sky. For 
details and the submission form, go to:

http://astronomerswithoutborders.org/gam2016-
programs/astroarts/3015-astropoetry-contest-for-
gam2016.html

 As an example, here’s a poem from one of the 
Young Adult winners in AWB’s 2014 contest:

PLUTO

by Rachel Pribble, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Pluto

Forgotten Planet

Isolated, neglected, frigid

Small but worthy rock

Planetoid

 Classroom teachers are especially encouraged 
to use this contest as a student project, which 
would promote an imaginative mix of both English 
writing skills and scientific thinking. Good luck!

Charon image:

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


OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

CHRISTOPHER Nyerges

WHY I WROTE MY BOOKS: 

EXTREME SIMPLICITY: 
HOMESTEADING IN THE CITY

TREAD LIGHTLY IN THAT SACRED AREA

Right up front let me say that in no way am I 
superstitious (knock-on-wood). I am the kind of 
person who believes in the practical side of life. One 
plus one equals two and that is the way I like to live 
my life. No common core math for me.

 I don’t like to propagate the idea that one place 
is more important than another. I think everything 
should be on equal standing. If it is good for one 
person, it may not be good for another person. There 
is the apple fritters side, then there is the broccoli 
side and the twain shall never meet.

 That being said, a certain issue has developed 
between the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage 
and Yours Truly. The area of the issue has to 
do with sacred areas within our house. She has 
rules and those rules need to be obeyed, not 
negotiated.

 How many times I have gotten into trouble 
thinking that her rules were simply approximations 
that could be negotiated under good terms. Wrong!

 Certain areas in our home are considered sacred, 
at least from her viewpoint. And may the heavens 
shutter in thunder if I violate one of her sacred areas.

 For the most part, it does not really affect me too 
much. I am glad to stay away from the dishwasher, 
the washing machine and the dryer.

 I’m okay with that.

 There was that one time when she was away, I 
wanted to surprise her by doing all of the dirty dishes. 
I loaded up the dishwasher, dumped in some soap 
(How was I to know you were supposed to measure 
the dishwashing detergent?) and turn the thing on. 
I needed to run to the store to get something and 
when I returned the dishwasher was washing the 
kitchen floor. The kitchen floor was knee-deep in 
soapy water.

 You can imagine the trouble I was in. I had a life 
sentence adjudicated against me forbidding me to 
touch that dishwasher ever again. So far, I have been 
good to that judgment.

 Through the years, we have negotiated a little 
in one area and that is that my study and desk is 
off limits to her. This has been a great trial on her 
part. Several occasions she has tried to violate this 
agreement, but I have always come back with this, 
“You touch my things and I’ll touch your things!” It 
has worked so far.

 I can understand all of these “sacred areas” in our 
home. I do not question it in the least, an agreement 
is an agreement.

 I do, however, have some problems with one 
sacred area in our home. That area is the refrigerator. 
I have been warned time and time again that I am to 
“stay out of the refrigerator.”

 My defense is simply that I never, ever get “in” the 
refrigerator. So, technically, I am staying out of the 
refrigerator.

 Ha ha ha. The other occupant of our blissful 
domicile, however, does not find that in the least bit 
humorous. At least I try.

 It is not that I like the refrigerator so much as I 
like the items in the refrigerator. Now it is not my 
fault because if my wife would not put so many 
delicious things in the refrigerator there would 
be no temptation on my part. I am never tempted 
concerning things I do not like.

 For example, she has the silly idea that I should be 
on a diet. Of course, her idea of a diet is a little bit 
different from my idea of a diet.

 My idea of a diet is to watch what you eat.

 Her idea of a diet is not to eat certain things.

 I am not sure how this can come together because 
I never eat anything I do not look at first. I am 
extremely careful of what I put in my mouth. I would 
simply die if by mistake I put a piece of broccoli in 
my mouth. So, I watch what I eat.

 If my wife would not be such a great cook, I 
would not be attracted to the refrigerator. The best 
meals that we ever have are what some refer to as 
“leftovers.” Nothing is more delicious than these 
“leftovers” from some fantastic meal that has been 
prepared.

 Sometimes I do not wait for these “leftovers” to 
migrate from the refrigerator to the dining room 
table.

 Often I will hear, “What happened to that potato 
salad I had in the refrigerator?”

 Well, to be honest, it migrated from the refrigerator 
to my stomach and all I can say, “It was delicious.”

 “Don’t you know,” she will say, “that I was saving 
that potato salad for dinner tonight?”

 If I were not such a wimp, I would say to her, “I 
saved you the trouble and ate it before hand.” Then I 
really would be in trouble.

 However, sacred is sacred and I am trying to 
understand that her idea of sacred is what runs our 
household.

 The apostle Paul understood this idea of sacred. 
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple 
of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have 
of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 
6:19).

 The most sacred area is my body and if I am a 
Christian, belongs to God. Violating that sacred 
area, I am answerable to God.

 The Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of 
God Fellowship, Ocala, FL. Call him at 352-687-4240 
or e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. The church web site 
is www.whatafellowship.com.

[Nyerges is the author of 10 books, leads classes 
through the School of Self-reliance, and does a weekly 
podcast at Preparedness Radio Network. He can be 
reached at Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041, or www.
ChristopherNyerges.com.] 

 “Extreme Simplicity: Homesteading in the City” 
is perhaps my favorite of the books I have written 
because it is like a personal diary of how my wife 
Dolores and I worked towards our goal of “living 
lightly on the earth,” even though we had a small 
budget and lived in a small suburban Los Angeles 
home. 

 We were doing what our Appalachian friend used 
to describe as “living country in the city.” We pursued 
all aspects of self-reliance, and wrote about it. Starting 
as soon as we moved in to our new home in 1986, we 
began task by task with limited income. We used our 
front lawn to grow food, we recycled our wash water, 
collected rain water, had chickens, a duck, bees, and 
a pig, had solar water heating and solar electricity, 
a wood stove, and we planted fruit trees and food 
everywhere. 

 We describe our efforts to do “integral gardening” 
on every bit of usable land, to produce food (for 
people and wildlife), medicines, fragrance, shade, and 
useful tools. We describe the details of what it meant 
to raise earthworms, chickens, rabbits, bees, a goose, a 
pig, and our dogs in their typical suburban back yard. 

 We took the reader along their journey to installing 
a wood fireplace, solar water heating, and a solar 
electric system. 

 Though there is much “how to” in this book, it is 
full of personal stories and rich reading of the learning 
they experienced along the way. There is a section on 
recycling, and a unique section about the economics 
of self-reliance. 

 It’s worth noting that this is not a book we planned 
on writing. In 2000, we were called by the Mother 
Earth News magazine to write an article about our 
meaning of “alternate health” methods, and we wrote 
about the methods that were as ancient as Hypocrates. 
We were on the cover, and a book publisher contacted 
us to see if we could turn that health article into a book. 
We said yes. But when we submitted the manuscript 
to the publisher, they said, hmm, not exactly what we 
were looking for. [That book, Integral Health, will be 
published eventually]. So they asked us if we could 
just write about how we live, which we did, and it 
became Extreme Simplicity. 

Extreme Simplicity, first published in October of 
2002, will be re-released from another publisher in 
August of 2013. It will be available wherever books 
are sold, from Amazon, and from the School of Self-
Reliance, Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041; or www.
ChristopherNyerges.com. 

HERE ARE SOME SELECTED EXCERPTS 

WOOD FIREPLACE 

 Our freestanding fireplace has completely 
transformed our home. We would strongly encourage 
anyone without one already to seriously consider 
installing one. On very cold nights, we had been using 
those small electric heaters that really drive up your 
electric bill. The fireplace made the house really feel 
like a home, and we now are uncertain how we got 
along without it. 

 In our case, the transition to wood heating was 
fairly easy, because we had plenty of firewood readily 
available. We were actually doing a neighbor a favor 
by cleaning up and carting off large amounts of dead 
and fallen wood from his property. Our first season of 
firewood came entirely from our weekly cleaning of 
his yard, just for the cost of our labor. How’s that for a 
win-win situation? 

TIME AND THE QUALITY OF LIFE 

 Many people today believe that they’re spending 
all their time working, yet with very little in return. 
Unfortunately, such realizations may come too late to 
be remedied. 

 We think that the Amish people have the right idea 
when they keep their schools and work close to home. 
They don’t have to go a long way to a job, thereby 
avoiding wasted time and energy, unnecessary 
expenses, and disconnection from their community. 
They can protect their families from undesirable 
influence, and there is the added bonus of having 
youngsters nearby where they can learn a trade 
from an early age. The Amish are firmly committed 
to valuing “quality of life” over all the stuff that our 
modern society deems important or indispensable - 
car, home entertainment system, fancy clothes, foods 
bought for “convenience” and prestige rather than 
fresh garden flavor and nutritional value. 

4 MAGIC WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR 
FINANCIAL SITUATION 

 Once, during a period of homelessness before we 
were married, Christopher was engulfed in thoughts 
of “poor me” and “I’m destitute,” and he could scarcely 
see a way out of the darkness. Dolores provided him 
with a simple set of practical tools that anyone can use 
if only they choose to do so. Here are four “magic” 
ways to improve your financial situation: 

 1. Never waste anything. 

 2. Continually improve your personal honesty. 

 3. Leave every situation or circumstance better than 
you found it. 

 4. Tithe to the church (or organization) of your 
choice. 

 We know that these are genuine practical solutions. 
We have heard people say that they cannot make these 
efforts - such as tithing, or improving an environment 
- because “we are poor.” Our perspective is that 
they have their reasoning backwards. They are poor 
because they do not engage themselves in the world 
in these ways. Logical thinking leads to erroneous 
conclusions when the premise is false. 

3 STEPS TO HOUSEHOLD ENERGY EFFICIENCY 

 1. You can do without some electrical devices. 

This will probably involve changing your behavior, 
for instance, thinking twice before switching on 
an electrical tool or appliance when a non-electric 
alternative will work just as well or better. 

 2. You can learn to use your existing devices more 
efficiently. 

 This step, too, requires changes in habit, but once 
you’ve understood the extra expenses caused by 
inefficiency and waste, you’ll feel good about it - plus 
you’ll save money by practicing efficiency. 

 3. You can purchase new appliances that render 
your household inherently more energy efficient. 

This step requires initial outlays of money, and in 
some cases higher short-term expenses, but with 
certain especially wasteful appliances, the best way to 
save energy and money is to immediately replace the 
old, wasteful model.

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com