Mountain Views News          Saturday, June 25, 2016

Mountain Views-News Saturday, June 25, 2016 10 THE WORLD AROUND US Mountain Views-News Saturday, June 25, 2016 10 THE WORLD AROUND US 
RESEARCH BOLSTERS CASE FOR A SUBSURFACE OCEAN—AND A HABITAT FOR LIFE—ON PLUTO 
When NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft buzzed 
by Pluto last year, it revealed tantalizing clues 
that the dwarf planet might have—or had at one 
time—a liquid ocean sloshing around under 
its icy crust. According to a new analysis led by 
Brown University, such an ocean likely still exists 
today.

The study, which used a thermal evolution modelfor Pluto updated with data from New Horizons,
found that if Pluto’s ocean had frozen into oblivion 
millions or billions of years ago, it would havecaused the entire planet to shrink. But there are nosigns of a global contraction to be found on Pluto’ssurface. On the contrary, New Horizons showedsigns that Pluto has been expanding.

“Thanks to the incredible data returned byNew Horizons, we were able to observe tectonic 
features on Pluto’s surface, update our thermal 

evolution model with new data and infer that 
Pluto most likely has a subsurface ocean today,”
said Noah Hammond, a graduate student inBrown’s Department of Earth, Environmental andPlanetary Sciences, and the study’s lead author.

The pictures New Horizons sent back from itsclose encounter with the Kuiper Belt’s most famousdenizen showed that Pluto was much more than a 
simple snowball in space. It has an exotic surfacemade from different types of ices—water, nitrogen,
and methane. It has mountains hundreds of meters 
high and a vast heart-shaped plain. It also hasgiant tectonic features—sinuous faults hundredsof kilometers long as deep as 4 kilometers. It wasthose tectonic features that got scientists thinkingthat a subsurface ocean was a real possibility forPluto. 

“What New Horizons showed was that there are 


CHRISTOPHER Nyerges 
GRID DOWN? 

Nyerges is the author of “How to Survive Anywhere” and other books. He has 
taught foraging and survival skills classes since 1974. He can be reached at 
www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com] 

Even 50 years ago, temporary blackouts were not all that disruptive to 

everyday life. Indeed, to children, they were exciting times when you got to 

use lanterns and candles at night. Phones still worked, since most phones 
were simple rotary style. 

In my household, we still had hand-cranked coffee grinders, wheat sifters, mixers (for batter), and 
can-openers. We had very few electric food processing devices, and we got by just fine. We had no 
electric yard tools then, all manual rakes, brooms, clippers, edgers, lawn-mowers. None of the insane 
blowers and weed-whackers. All our tools were manual too: hammers, saws, pliers, levels, etc. 

Today, you can get an electric model of just about anything, and computer chips are everywhere. 
The up-and-coming generation knows nothing else, which is perhaps one of our greatest dangers. 

Most folks, even if they grew up in the city, understands that there should be a backup for when 
the power goes out. But too many young folks know no other way of life but the all-electric driven 
lifestyle, controlled and powered by the all-powerful, all-seeing I-God (oops, meant I-pod), with 
all of its minions through it’s spider-like Web. There is even the chief high priest of this new world, 
ready and waiting to answer your every question: Rev. Google! 

If the grid goes down, for whatever reason, 
the world will be a very different place, maybe 
temporarily, maybe long-term. There really no 
way to predict what would happen, but there are 
various ways to prepare ourselves, mentally and 
physically. 

Just walk through your home and look at 
everything that is controlled by electricity. What 
would your day be like if there was no power? 
Some things would be hard, or impossible, to 
replace without electricity. But many other 
electrical functions could easily be handled with 
manual tools, or “old-fashioned” technology. 

Lights are easy. My mother always had a good 
supply of candles, lanterns, and flashlights, and 
whenever there was a blackout, the house was 
fully lit! 

You should never be unable to process your 
meals if the power goes out. Go to any kitchen 
supply shop and make sure you have manual can 
openers, juicers, coffee grinders, egg beaters (hey, 
a fork works fine!), grinders, slicers, etc. Whatever 
it is you do in your kitchen, you should be able to 
do without power. 


A refrigerator won’t work without electricity, so unless you have some solar panels on your roof,
you’ll want to store plenty of non-refrigerated food. This means pickled, dried, and canned. Thisis also one of the big pluses in having a backyard and neighborhood garden, as well as backyardchickens. Your food is fresh, and local, and not dependent on transportation systems. 

Home heating and cooling is a big topic, and if all houses were built with thicker, moreinsulated walls, and white heat-reflecting roofs, and big overhangs, etc., much of the cost ofheating and cooling would be unnecessary. I spent considerable time discussing this topic inmy “Extreme Simplicity” and “Self-Sufficient Home” books, both of which can be reasonablyobtained on Amazon. 

I spent a year and a half back in the late ‘70s as a squatter, and practiced a lot of the ecological-
living methods that are becoming very popular today. We recycled everything, cooked on a wood 
stove, grew a lot of our food, recycled all household water, and even used (for a part of the time) a 
compost toilet. Had the grid gone done during that time, it would have been just an inconvenience. 
I wrote a book about that experience, called “Squatter in Los Angeles,” which is available as a Kindle 
book, or download from the Store at www.Schoolofself-Reliance.com. 

Perhaps the biggest challenge for most people in a grid-down world will be that the infrastructure 
around them will not work, or will change rapidly into something that does work. There will be 
barter, and things will get very localized. How could you ever prepare for such an eventuality? You 
should learn pioneer and survival skills, and get to know any of the various groups who practice one 
or more of the many survival skills. Find them on-line, or at Meetup. And there is no shortage of 
Youtube videos and books to help you along this learning path. 

extensional tectonic features, which indicate that 
Pluto underwent a period of global expansion,”
Hammond said. “A subsurface ocean that was 
slowly freezing over would cause this kind ofexpansion.”

Scientists think that there may have been enoughheat-producing radioactive elements within Pluto’srocky core to melt part of the planet’s ice shell. Overtime in the frigid Kuiper belt, that melted portionwould eventually start to refreeze. Ice is less densethan water, so when it freezes, it expands. If Plutohad on ocean that was frozen or in the processof freezing, extensional tectonics on the surfacewould result, and that’s what New Horizons saw. 

The thermal evolution model run by Hammondand his colleagues showed that because of the lowtemperatures and high pressure within Pluto,
an ocean that had completely frozen over would 

quickly convert from the normal ice we all knowto a different phase called ice II. Ice II has a morecompact crystalline structure than standard ice, soan ocean frozen to ice II would occupy a smallervolume and lead to a global contraction on Pluto,
rather than an expansion.

Taken together, the new model bolsters the casefor a liquid ocean environment—which could evenbe a habitat for living creatures—in the furthestreaches of the solar system.

“That’s amazing to me,” Hammond said. “Thepossibility that you could have vast liquid waterocean habitats so far from the Sun on Pluto—and 
that the same could also be possible on other Kuiperbelt objects as well—is absolutely incredible.” 

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


OUT TO PASTOR 


A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder 

NOT SMART ENOUGH TO BE AN IDIOT 


In my experience, everybody has a slice of “idiot” 
somewhere hiding inside them. The trick is not 
to let it show itself at the wrong time.

Since everybody is an idiot to some degree or 
other, maybe we should not be so hard on people. 
After all, not everybody is smart enough to be a 
full blown idiot. 

Throughout my life, I have attempted to 
utilize my “idiot slice” to my own advantage. 
So far I have had good progress on this aspect 
of my life, just ask the Gracious Mistress of the 
Parsonage. With a great deal of affection she will 
often say, “You are one of the best idiots I have 
ever known.” 

Isn’t love a wonderful thing?

Although I own up to my “idiot slice” many 
people for some reason, are not able to do that. 
After all, if everybody has a slice of idiocy, then 
what’s the problem?

This came to me recently when a small incident 
happened. I do not quite remember what brought 
this incident to be, it could be anything these 
days, but the outcome is what got me.

This guy looked at me with the meanest look, 
shook his fist at me and said, “Are you an idiot or 
something?”

Normally I take these things as they come and 
just move on with my life. But for some reason 
that “idiot slice” in me kicked into high gear. 
And I responded, “Which one do you think I 
am?” 

He blinked and said, “Wh-utt?” 

So I said, “Do you think I’m an ‘idiot’ or a 
‘something’?”

“After all,” I continued, “there is a vast 
difference between an ‘idiot’ and a ‘something.’ 
What am I?” 

That was last week some time and I think he 
is still trying to figure out what in the world I 
was talking about. Some people just aren’t smart 
enough to be a plain old idiot.

I believe there is a little bit of intelligence 
in every idiot. After all, most idiots are smart 
enough to get a driver’s license. And boy, do they 
drive like idiots. 

Just yesterday, I was trying to drive across 
town and I encountered so many idiots driving 
that I was tempted to run some of them over. 
Don’t those idiot drivers make you furious?

I know a few people who are simply nuts, 
but that is a different story altogether. Being an 
idiot takes a lot of hard work and practice. Not 
everybody is smart enough to be an idiot.

One driver I encountered, who at first glance 
I thought was an idiot but he turned out not 
smart enough to be an idiot. I was driving on 
my side of the road and going the speed limit. 
He was behind me and wanted to go faster than 

the speed limit. That’s okay if nobody’s in front of 
you, but I was in front of him and he couldn’t get 
around me. 

He honked his horn, hoping, I suppose, that I 
would get out of his way and let him go. However, 
I was more of an idiot, so I ignored him. One 
good thing about being an idiot is that you can 
ignore people who do not quite come up to the 
status of being an idiot themselves.

Finally, we got to a place where he could pass 
me. I just assumed he would pass and that would 
be the last I would see of him. When he got beside 
me, he began yelling and screaming and I could 
not understand anything he was saying.

I did figure out that he must have been a veryreligious man because he was pointing me toheaven. I guess he was encouraging me to goto heaven. I smiled and shook my head, whichonly made him a little angrier, for some reason.
I did notice though, that the finger he was usingto point to heaven was not the finger I wouldhave used. I guess it’s a matter of confusion.
This guy was not smart enough to be an idiot toknow which finger you use to point a person toheaven. 

One thing I have discovered about idiots 
is they are not confined to race, gender or age. 
You can find idiots anywhere there are people 
still breathing. An idiot is an equal opportunity 
engager.

Being an idiot does have its advantages. For 
example, when my wife sends me to the store to 
buy some items for the house and I come back 
with everything but what’s on the list I can say, 
“I just must be an idiot.” And, do not let this get 
back to her, it always works.

If you know who you are and what you are, 
you can begin using that information to your 
advantage. If you know you are an idiot then you 
can bank on that for the rest of your life.

The difference between an idiot and a fool is 
simply that an idiot is a little short of knowledge. 
Solomon understood this when he wrote, “The fear 
of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools 
despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). 
And, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: 
but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise” 
(Proverbs 12:15).

I suppose I can’t help being an idiot, but I 
certainly don’t have to be a fool as Solomon 
describes it. 

Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of 
God Fellowship Ocala, FL 34483 where he lives with 
the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Call him 
at 1-866-552-2543 or e-mail jamessnyder2@att.
net. His web site is www.jamessnyderministries. 
com. 

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