Mountain Views News          Saturday, March 12, 2016

THE WORLD AROUND US

B4

Mountain Views-News Saturday, March 12, 2016 


A PERFECTLY STILL LABORATORY IN SPACE


Following a long series of tests, ESA’s LISA 
Pathfinder has started its science mission to 
prove key technologies and techniques needed to 
observe gravitational waves from space. 

 Predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago, 
gravitational waves are fluctuations in spacetime 
produced by exotic astronomical events such 
as supernova explosions or the merging of two 
black holes. Recently, the first direct detection of 
these waves inaugurated the era of gravitational 
astronomy. 

 A future observatory in space, sensitive to 
gravitational waves with longer wavelengths 
than those detected on the ground, would be an 
essential tool to exploit this new field of study by 
probing some of the most massive and powerful 
objects in the Universe. 

 The LISA Pathfinder mission was launched 
in December, 2015, from Europe’s spaceport in 
French Guiana. This space-borne observatory, 
now operating at a “Lagrange Point” millions 
of miles from earth, is designed to achieve 
the purest-known “freefall,” the extremely 
challenging condition necessary to build such an 
observatory. To do so, the team released two test 
masses—a pair of identical 2 kg gold–platinum 
cubes measuring 46 mm—inside the spacecraft, 
and is now verifying that they are truly moving 
under the effect of gravity alone. 

 This is by no means trivial: Even in space, 
there are forces capable of disturbing the cubes—
including the radiation and “Solar wind” from 
the Sun—and the cubes need be isolated from 
all of these non-gravitational influences. To do 
so, LISA Pathfinder continually measures their 
positions and maneuvers around them with 
micro-thrusters to avoid ever touching them. 

 “As they fall freely through space, the two 
test masses should be extraordinarily still, since 
no other force is perturbing their gravitational 
motion—only a gravitational wave could 
jiggle them around,” explains Stefano Vitale of 
University of Trento and INFN, Italy, Principal 
Investigator of the LISA Technology Package, the 
mission’s core payload. 

 LISA Pathfinder, however, is not capable of 
detecting gravitational waves itself. For this crucial 
technology demonstration, the two freefalling 
cubes are only 38 cm apart—too close to record 
the minute wobbles in the fabric of spacetime. 

 The variation in distance caused by a passing 
gravitational wave is so small that a full-scale 
space observatory will need test masses separated 
by roughly a million kilometers, and be able to 
detect changes in that separation of about one 
millionth of a millionth of a meter. 

 “The precision we need to attain for future 
observations of gravitational waves from space 
is so high that it demands an unprecedented 
understanding of the physical forces at play on the 
test masses,” says Paul McNamara, ESA’s Project 
Scientist. 

 After having released the cubes from their 
locking mechanisms and having made sure they 
are in the most precise freefall ever obtained, the 
scientists will now spend the next six months 
running experiments, “poking” the masses to 
verify how still they really are. 

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


OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

CHRISTOPHER Nyerges

OPEN LETTER TO DONALD TRUMP

WILL THE FAT LADY PLEASE SING!

We find ourselves once again in another political 
cycle. I call it a political cycle because everything 
is going around in circles. Each cycle seems to get 
bigger and bigger.

 For instance. One day a politician will say one 
thing and the next day he will swing completely 
around and say something else. I would call 
it a merry-go-round, but there isn’t anything 
very merry about it. Rather, it is quite dizzy 
for me. What they really should call it is the 
“Dizzy-Go-Round.”

 Of course, the politicians are counting upon 
people getting “dizzy” so they do not really know 
what is going on and who they are voting for. It 
is almost like a Ponzi scheme, more goes in than 
comes out.

 The question that I pose is simply, am I voting 
for the Thursday edition politician or the Friday 
edition? They carry the same name but you would 
not know they were the same person or even 
related.

 I am not going to say I am quite frustrated 
with all of this political nonsense. I am but if I 
say it, it will make me even angrier. To watch a 
political “debate” (and I’m really stretching the 
meaning of that word) feels like you are watching 
a bunch of grade schoolers having a brawl on the 
playground.

 Actually, I probably would enjoy the 
playground brawl more than the political brawl. 
One has class and the other, well, doesn’t.

 It all came to a head last Tuesday. I was 
frustrated. I was mumbling under my breath. I 
was clenching my fist and roaming through our 
house.

 I finally sat down in my easy chair to calm down 
and drink a hot cup of coffee. It was then that the 
Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage queried me as 
to what I was all upset about.

 I wish she would not have asked me because 
then I exploded and gave her several leftover 
pieces of my mind.

 “It’s all these idiotic politicians trying to 
impress me with how idiotic they really are and 
then wanting me to vote for them.”

 I sighed very deeply and concluded my tirade 
by saying, “When will all of this nonsense be 
over?”

 For a moment, she just stared at me. You 
know. One of those “wife” stares that wives often 
give their husbands.

 Finally, she stood up, looked at me with both 
hands on her hips and said, “Well, it ain’t over 
till the fat lady sings.” Then she walked out of the 
room into the kitchen.

 I have not heard that phrase for, I cannot 
remember how long. Why it came to her mind 
at this particular time I am not quite sure. Then it 
got me to thinking.

 Everything, good or bad, does end sometime. I 
may not like the end, but that is beside the point.

 I am not sure where this phrase, “It ain’t over 
until the fat lady sings,” comes from and I am not 
quite sure if it is politically correct today. After 
all, is it PC to say the words “fat” and “lady” in the 
same sentence let alone the same phrase?

 I just am glad I did not say it.

 However, it got me thinking along this line. If 
it ain’t over until the fat lady sings, where in the 
world and who in the world is this fat lady? Does 
she have a name?

 I think we need to pool our resources together 
as a nation, find who this lady really is and then 
get her to sing. I don’t care what she sings. If it 
ain’t over until she sings, then for goodness sake, 
let her sing whatever she wants to sing.

 No matter what she sings, everybody ought to 
come together and not only nominate, but elect 
her for the next five Grammy awards in a row. She 
can sing off key if she wants to. She can screw up 
the lyrics as much as she wants. She can screech 
and holler for all I care. But if by her singing all 
of this nonsense comes to an end, it will be well 
worth it, I assure you.

 I wish the phrase went, “It ain’t over until the 
fat man sings.” Then I would volunteer, for I 
believe I would fully qualify and even though I 
can’t carry a tune, I would gladly volunteer my 
voice for such a patriotic act.

 As we were watching some political program 
on TV, my wife sighed very deeply and sadly 
said, “These are the people who want to run our 
country?”

 I had to agree with her and the thought that 
came to me was, let’s not let the fat lady sing 
until we have somebody that can actually run 
our country. Let that “fat lady” stand in silence 
until someone comes along that can actually do 
something in our country and then have her sing 
to high heaven. I am not the first one 
to think in this direction. Solomon, that wise old 
man in the Old Testament had some things to say 
along this line. “Better is the end of a thing than 
the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is 
better than the proud in spirit” (Ecclesiastes 7:8).

 To have what Solomon calls a patient spirit, 
is an admirable goal, and I work on it as hard 
as I can but I know that my hope is not in the 
“political cycle” but in the Lord Jesus Christ 
alone.

 

 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.

Dear Mr. Trump: 

I have been thinking of 
writing to you for some 
time, and I’ve finally gotten around to it. 

 I didn’t know much about you in the past, 
though your name was occasionally in the news. I 
watched and like your Apprentice show, because it 
forced people to quickly make a plan, and quickly 
implement a plan to get some business going. In 
general, I liked the show because I saw young 
entrepreneurs working creatively to make a buck. 
I kept a lot of my ideas to myself as I watched 
the show, such as “it seems that it doesn’t really 
matter HOW you make a buck, as long as you 
make the most.” I mean, sometimes the “winner” 
wasn’t really a winner in my eyes, but they always 
made the most money, which was the tangible and 
measurable factor by which you gauged “success.” 

Sometimes I agreed with your reasons for 
“firing” one of the contestants, especially when 
you thought they used less than ideal or socially 
acceptable means to earn their day’s money. 

 Overall, the show seemed like an aggressive 
business boot camp where you do or die, make 
money or go home. 

 It was very entertaining, and it made me 
realize that American business and creativity are 
not dead. (Though, to be honest, I much prefer 
the recent “Shark Tank,” where existing small 
business people vy for investment money.) 

 Somewhere in there, I recall seeing on TV how 
you sold Merv Griffin an old apartment building. 
Merv was happy, and you got the price you wanted, 
but in talking about it, I was a bit perplexed that 
you had to call Merv Griffin names and belittle his 
character, because you wanted it known that you 
won and he lost. I recall wondering, why couldn’t 
you both have “won”? You got rid of something 
you didn’t want, and Merv got something he 
wanted. Win-win. But no, you had to demean 
Merv, for reasons I never knew. Surely a “big 
businessman” doesn’t resort to such tactics. 

 Now we see you more often than during the 
Apprentice in your bid for the presidency. Let me 
explain why I am ashamed at what I now see you 
doing. 

 Yes, you say you want to make America great 
again. That’s all fine and dandy. 

 I was brought up in the world of William 
Buckley’s Firing Line on Sunday afternoons, 
where he would debate complex matters with 
people he disagreed with, always with a smile, 
always sticking to the issues, never ever stooping 
to such puerility as calling each other names, as 
boys do in the bathroom or out on the school 
yard. 

 I do not understand why you stoop to 3rd grade 
bully tactics when talking to and with people who 
should be, at least on a certain level of abstraction, 
your colleagues and potential partners. To 
bring up Carly Fiorone’s face and to suggest 
that she is not good looking was a low blow, and 
unnecessary. Come on, Donald, have you ever 
looked in a mirror lately? Everyone ages and 
beauty is fleeting. The presidency is not a beauty 
contest. You have nit-picked every other running 
mate, in one way or another, in personal attacks 
that are not worthy of a presidential candidate, 
and definitely unbecoming and undesirable in an 
actual president, and nearly always in ways that 
have nothing at all to do with their ability to run 
the country. 

 I cannot remember another President in 
my lifetime who ever publicly stooped to such 
personal attacks. Probably the closest thing was 
Ronald Reagan saying he was going to whip Jimmy 
Carter’s ass. But he never again, to my knowledge, 
stooped to a gutter level in his interactions with, 
or his speaking about, Carter or others. 

 The fact that you continue to do so means that 
this is a very natural state of mind for you. It is 
also painfully obvious that you have no one in 
your inner circle (that you listen to) who tells you 
the great harm you are doing by this continued 
childish name-calling. You hurt yourself, at least 
it seems so. You hurt the Republican party, which 
to date, has been used to a campaign with at least 
outward civility. And you hurt the office of the 
presidency. 

 Believe me, I am no fan of Hillary in this 
extraordinary campaign year. She has out-
Nixoned Nixon already, and amazingly, her 
supporters are legion, who seem not to care about 
her deep character. 

 Nevertheless, Mr. Trump, don’t you understand 
that civility and yes, even politeness and 
tactfulness, are the hallmarks of a real leader? I 
fear that all your money is going to your head, 
and you believe that you have so much money, 
that you can say whatever you want. Yes, you 
can, but you bring down our revered institutions 
each time you belittle another candidate in your 
childish tirades. Can’t you stick to the real issues 
upon which a presidency will be involved? 

 Your quick and ridiculing and belittling 
comments are unworthy of a chief of state who 
will also need to interact other world leaders, 
whose co-operation is better than their anger. You 
will not be able to “fire” other world leaders who 
do not see things your way. 

 Yes, I know there are the frustrated masses who 
like you because you are not politically-correct 
and because you “speak your mind.” These are 
good things, to a point. Being candid and honest 
is generally a good thing. But your “letting it all 
hang out” is not a good thing. It is the political 
version of the Oregon Bhagwan’s free-for-all 
orgies where anything could and did happen, and 
eventually the towns organized to eliminate the 
Bhagwan guru and his followers. Some people 
like your style now, and I tremble to say that they 
like the style which has no substance, and they are 
swayed by the apparent free-style which has gone 
out of the bounds of presidential decency. 

 Perhaps someone will arise who can be a real 
uniter, someone who Democrats and Republicans 
and Independents can unite behind for the good 
of the country. Perhaps it is time for the rise of 
a meaningful third party, since the available 
options are looking increasingly bleak. 

 It would be better for the country, and the 
presidency, Mr. Trump, if you dropped out of 
the race and went back to your very entertaining 
Apprentice show, and your many business 
enterprises which you enjoy so much. You have 
not demonstrated the ability to negotiate on a 
political level, and to bring people together in 
a common win-win agreement. At least if you 
go back to the Apprentice and to your business 
enterprises, you will be able to call those 
under your control whatever you wish without 
international consequences.

We’d like to hear from you! 

What’s on YOUR Mind?

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