Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 28, 2016

THE WORLD AROUND US

10

Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 28, 2016 


MARS AT CLOSEST APPROACH TO EARTH IN LAST TEN YEARS

During May 2016 the Earth and Mars get closer to 
each other than at any time in the last ten years. The 
NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has exploited 
this special configuration to catch a new image of our 
red neighbor, showing some of its famous surface 
features. This image supplements previous Hubble 
observations of Mars and allows astronomers to study 
large-scale changes on its surface.

 On May 22, Mars will be at opposition, the point at 
which the planet is located directly opposite the Sun in 
the sky. This means that the Sun, Earth and Mars are 
all lined up, with Earth sitting in between the Sun and 
the red planet.

 Opposition also marks the planet’s closest 
approach to Earth, so that Mars appears bigger and 
brighter in the sky than at any other time. This allows 
astronomers using telescopes in space and on the 
ground to see more details on the Martian surface. 
For observers using ground-based instruments the 
opposing planet is visible throughout the night and is 
also fully illuminated, making it a great opportunity 
for detailed studies.

 On May 12, the Hubble telescope took advantage of 
this favorable alignment and turned its gaze towards 
Mars to take an image of our rusty-hued neighbor, 
adding it to the collection of previous images. From 
this distance the telescope could see Martian features 
as small as 20 miles across.

 WATCH MARS LIVE ONLINE ON MEMORIAL 
DAY. On Monday, May 30th, at 6:00 p.m. PDT, the 
international astronomy-outreach organization 
Slooh will share brilliant live views of Mars at closest 
approach with the public, looking through a telescope 
at the Canary Island Observatory.

 Due to their respective orbits, Mars and Earth are 
locked in a dance that makes Mars’ apparent size 
and brightness change dramatically over 26-months. 
Mars’ distance from the Earth can vary between 
between 33.5 million and 249 million miles, meaning 
that its apparent size varies by sevenfold from Earth’s 
viewpoint. During the live show, Slooh Astronomers 
Paul Cox and Bob Berman will be on hand to take 
viewers on a live tour of the Red Planet, discussing 
everything from scientific study of the planet to its 
cultural significance in antiquity through to sci-fi 
movies, and even the possibility that it may have once 
harbored life.

 “The size of Mars varies more than any other planet, 
and we’ve waited a full decade for it to come this close 
and appear this large,” says Bob Berman. 

 Viewers are encouraged to make themselves a part 
of the show by sending their questions to @Slooh on 
Twitter, or by joining in on the live chat on Slooh.com.

 Event Timing:

Live Stream starts: 6:00 PM PDT | 9:00 PM EDT | 
01:00UTC

Live Stream ends: 7:00 PM PDT | 10:00 PM EDT | 
02:00UTC

To watch Slooh’s’s live coverage:

http://live.slooh.com/stadium/live/
the-red-planet-rules 

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

Image by: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), J. Bell (ASU), and M. Wolff (Space Science Institute)


OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

CHRISTOPHER Nyerges

ENJOYMENT OF COINS

IT WAS LIGHTS OUT AT THE 

OLD PARSONAGE

[Nyerges is the author 
of “How to Survive 
Anywhere,” “Extreme 
Simplicity,” and other 
books. He has led outdoor 
classes since 1974. He can 
be reached at www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com.]

 Not everyone will get this, but I have always 
enjoyed coins. Not necessarily collecting, but 
learning about them, admiring them, learning their 
history, taking time with them, getting to know 
them, cleaning them, caressing them, putting them 
into their right place in your collector’s book.

 Coins have rich intrinsic stories, and learning 
each clue excites real collectors.

 Yes, perhaps some people make money with 
coins, and that was part of my early interest in 
coin collecting as a hobby. You aren’t collecting 
buttons or bottle caps, but something that has a 
universally-acknowledged value. At the very least, 
coins are never worth nothing, and do not fall 
below their face value.

 Like most collectors, I started with pennies, 
because pennies were cheap and you could buy 
rolls for 50 cents, and search through them for 
ones to fill the spaces in your 
book. You learned real quick 
which ones were hard to get 
and rare: 1909SVDB, 1914D, 
1931S, and perhaps a few 
others. Zinc pennies from the 
war were always interesting, 
and it reminded you that wars 
affect the availability of metals. 

 Coins are great conversation 
pieces, domestic or foreign. 
Everyone deals with coins 
all the time, so everyone is 
interested in at least a few 
coins. Buffalo nickels are 
universally admired, and have 
long been used to adorn hat 
bands and belts.

 Everyone likes the real silver dollars that were 
so long a part of American coinage, and visitors to 
Las Vegas back in the day would bring home silver 
dollars to give away or to collect. Today, though 
only 90% silver, they are still highly prized and 
only go up in value as silver rises.

 Some years ago, I operated a farmers market 
and would get change for the farmers each week 
at the bank. One farmer would consistently ask 
me to purchase rolls of half-dollar coins for him. 
More often than not, the bank didn’t have them, 
even though they are still produced. Because they 
are not commonly used, most banks simply don’t 
stock them.

 I asked the farmer why he wanted an “odd” 
size coin. He told me that the main reason is that 
people remember him from spending 50 cent 
pieces because they are not common. He told me 
that people would often smile seeing them, and 
somehow that exchange of a half-dollar cemented 
friendships. He also said that occasionally he still 
finds silver coins.

 I found that amazing, so I began to try it. When 
receiving a half-dollar coin, people will feel it, hold 
it, look at it, and often smile, even laugh. “I haven’t 
seen one of those for awhile,” they’d laugh. 

 I have had an occasion where someone thought 
they had received a dollar coin, and tried to give 
me change as if I’d paid double. In another case, as 
a joke, I told asked the person behind the counter 
if they would accept “Hawaiian money” as I placed 
the half-dollars on the counter. “Oh, no, we can’t 
accept that,” said the worried clerk. I didn’t think 
I’d have to explain that Hawaii was part of the U.S., 
and that I’d just made a joke, but the clerk was a 
new immigrant to the U.S. who had never seen a 
half-dollar, and didn’t know that Hawaii was part 
of the U.S. To my amazement, I had to take back 
the half-dollars and pay with other money.

 There was a coffee shop that I used to frequent, 
and I had begun paying with half-dollars.

 After a few days, I came again to the shop and the 
proprietor asked me, “You were here two nights 
ago, right?” ”Yes,” I said, “how did you know?” 
“Because I found half-dollars in the cash register,” 
the proprietor told me. 

 But another aspect that I found even more 
interesting is that because half-dollars are not 
commonly circulated, you occasionally may find 
silver coins in the rolls you get from the bank. One 
Christmas, I actually got several Franklin halfs 
and 1964 Kennedy halfs, which are 90% silver. 
I assumed that some boy stole his father’s coin 
collection and spent the 
money, and the merchant 
who received it just took 
it to the bank with all the 
other change.

 Though 1964 was the 
last year that there was a 
90% silver Kennedy half, 
there was 40% silver in the 
halfs from 1965 through 
1969. This meant they 
were worth more than 
face value. If you know 
the spot price of silver, 
you can simply do the 
math to see how much 
just the silver is worth in, 
say, a 1966 Kennedy half. 
Certainly more than 50 cents. But I’d collected so 
many of these 40% silver coins that when I needed 
money to pay for a trip to Mexico a few years ago, 
I sold them all for over 10 times what I paid for 
them, and paid for the trip. That wasn’t a bad 
investment.

 Coins (and paper currency too) tell the history 
of a country, its politics, its ebb and flow of culture. 
I once had a Nazi silver coin that I’d purchased at a 
coin show, but I found its “atmosphere” unpleasant 
and quickly got rid of it. I am still a bit amazed that 
Chinese currency retains the face of Mao, who was 
responsible for the deaths of perhaps 100 million 
Chinese. But he retains a bit of a mixed reputation 
among Chinese.

 Old Roman coins, ancient Greek coins, and 
others from the past are fascinating tangible 
objects that you can hold in your hand as you bring 
history alive. It’s no wonder they have continued 
to fascinate so many.

 Sure, you can say it’s only pieces of metal, but 
they are so much more. They are living pieces of 
history, bringing the past alive, and giving you 
great conversation pieces. And, equally important, 
if you’re ever broke, you can just sell your coins!

As long as I can remember, and at my age that 
does not go back very far, I have always been 
an early riser. I do not like to stay in bed any 
longer than I have to. So much I want to do 
and so little time I need an early start every 
day.

 I have always used Benjamin Franklin’s 
motto for myself, “Early to bed and early to 
rise makes one healthy, wealthy and wise.” 
Unfortunately, my early to bed and early to 
rise maybe has made me healthy, but certainly 
not wealthy or wise.

 This past week an event happened that 
challenged my “early to rise” regimen.

 As usual, I rose early and headed for the 
kitchen for my cup of coffee. There is no way 
I can start a day without first indulging in my 
early morning cup of Joe. Nothing starts the 
day off better than a hot cup of coffee.

 I am not sure who invented coffee, but I 
sure would like to buy them a cup of coffee 
and shake their hand. People, who do not 
really know any better, complain that coffee 
is bad for your health. Believe me when I say 
the absence of my coffee is bad for everybody’s 
health around me.

 I go to bed early dreaming of that first cup of 
coffee when I rise.

 Stumbling to the kitchen, I stubbed my toe 
twice walking down the hallway and then tried 
to turn on the kitchen lights. I am very careful 
to be quiet so as to not awaken the other 
resident in the house. She is the sort of person 
that needs her rest. I am the kind of person 
that wants her to have all the rest she can get. 
Therefore, I tried to quietly go to the kitchen 
and turn on the coffee pot.

 When I flipped the light switch, nothing 
happened. I mumbled to myself that the 
light bulb probably burnt out. Have you ever 
noticed that that happens when you need the 
light the most? How many times does a light 
bulb go out during the day?

 I tried several light switches in the kitchen 
and the dining room and none worked. “Well,” 
I thought to myself, “I will start the coffee.” I 
fumbled my way to where the coffee pot was 
and turned the switch on. Nothing happened.

 I then went to turn on the TV to catch some 
early news and nothing happened.

 There was no electricity at all in the house. 
My challenge was to make sure the electricity 
works before my wife got up. I could not let 
her know that we had no electricity.

 Nothing I did restored any kind of electricity 
in our house.

 Then it happened.

 My wife came stumbling down the hallway 
and the first thing out of her mouth was, “Turn 
the lights on.”

 I explained to her that there was no electricity 
and nothing was working in the house.

 The next thing out of her mouth was, “Did 
you pay the electric bill?”

 That did occur to me and there was a good 
probability that I had not paid the electric bill.

 Fortunately, I had my cell phone and was 
able to call the electric company only to find 
out that the electricity in our neighborhood was 
out and the restoration in our neighborhood 
was estimated to be at around 10 o’clock.

 How in the world can I survive without my 
cup of coffee until 10 o’clock in the morning? 
The whole world is in danger!

 I never realized how important electricity 
was. I just took it for granted, paid the bill 
every month and just enjoyed the appliances 
and the lights and most important of all, the 
coffee pot.

 As much as I love my coffee pot, it does not 
work without the electricity. I had a few words 
with the coffee pot, but it did not do any good. 
It wanted electricity and would not work until 
it had electricity. How legalistic!

 Standing around in the darkness of the early 
morning my wife and I stared at each other, 
at least I think we were staring at each other, 
and wondering what in the world we could 
do. I was so afraid she would come up with 
a solution. She always does, you know. No 
matter what I break, she can fix. Now we had 
this problem before us.

 Then she said those terrible anticipated 
words, “Why don’t we go out for breakfast this 
morning?”

 Being married as long as I have been, I 
realized this was not a question requiring 
an answer, but rather it was something she 
wanted us to do. And so, off to the restaurant 
we went for our early morning coffee.

 What I want to know is, will the electric 
company reimburse me for my early morning 
breakfast? After all, it is their fault that we 
had to go out. If I ever miss paying my bill, 
they always charge me late fees. Turnabout, I 
believe, is fair play.

 I appreciate what David said, “For the 
LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD 
will give grace and glory: no good thing will 
he withhold from them that walk uprightly” 
(Psalms 84:11).

 Many times, we never miss something until 
it is no longer available. I do not want that 
to happen to me concerning God’s grace and 
mercy in my life.

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


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