Mountain Views News          Saturday, August 6, 2016

Mountain Views-News Saturday, August 6, 2016 10 THE WORLD AROUND US Mountain Views-News Saturday, August 6, 2016 10 THE WORLD AROUND US 
IS EARTHLY LIFE PREMATURE FROM A COSMIC PERSPECTIVE?; 
AUGUST MOON STAR PARTY IN WESTCHESTER 
The universe is 13.8 billion years old, while ourplanet formed just 4.5 billion years ago. Somescientists think this time gap means that life onother planets could be billions of years older thanours. However, new theoretical work suggests thatpresent-day life on Earth is actually prematurefrom a cosmic perspective.

“If you ask, ‘When is life most likely to emerge?’
you might naively say, ‘Now,’” says lead authorAvi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for 
Astrophysics. “But we find that the chance of lifegrows much higher in the distant future.”

Life as we know it first became possible about 30million years after the Big Bang, when the first starsseeded the cosmos with the necessary elements likecarbon and oxygen. Life will end 10 trillion yearsfrom now when the last stars fade away and die.
Loeb and his colleagues considered the relativelikelihood of life between those two boundaries. 

The dominant factor proved to be the lifetimesof stars. The higher a star’s mass, the shorter itslifetime. Stars larger than about three times theSun’s mass will expire before life has a chance toevolve. 

Conversely, the smallest stars weigh less than 10percent as much as the Sun. They will glow for 10trillion years, giving life ample time to emerge onany planets they host. As a result, the probabilityof life grows over time. In fact, chances of life are1,000 times higher in the distant future than now.

“So then you may ask, why aren’t we living in thefuture next to a low-mass star?” says Loeb.

“One possibility is we’re premature. Anotherpossibility is that the environment around a low-
mass star is hazardous to life.” 

Although low-mass, red dwarf stars live for a longtime, they also pose unique threats. In their youththey emit strong flares and ultraviolet radiationthat could strip the atmosphere from any rockyworld in the habitable zone. 

To determine which possibility is correct—our 
premature existence or the hazard of low-mass 
stars—Loeb recommends studying nearby reddwarf stars and their planets for signs of habitability. 


Future space missions like the Transiting ExoplanetSurvey Satellite and James Webb Space Telescopeshould help to answer these questions. 

******* 

AUGUST MOON STAR PARTY. On Saturday,
August 13, 7-10 p.m., Westchester Amateur 
Astronomers will provide telescopes for publicviewing of the August Moon and planets Saturn,
Mars, and Venus—plus stars and nebulae. 

Location: In the Christian Science church 
parking lot at 7855 Alverstone Ave., Westchester(One block west of Sepulveda, at 79th St.). Childrenare welcome—bring them and learn astronomybasics together. The event is free and all are welcometo look through the telescopes, but you may bringyour own telescope if you wish.

This is a good time to view much of our SolarSystem lined up across southern sky: yellowSaturn with its bright moon Titan; red Mars, nowin gibbous phase; our own August Moon, also in 

gibbous phase; and Venus, returning to the eveningsky in the west just above the sunset glow.

For information about the star party—or if youare interested in helping form a local astronomyclub—call star party host Bob Eklund at (310) 2165947 
or email Bob at at beklund@sprynet.com.

“All moons beautiful, but August moon mostbeautiful.” (from the movie “Teahouse of theAugust Moon”)

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


CHRISTOPHER Nyerges 

FREE FERTILIZER FROM WHAT YOU 
NORMALLY THROW AWAY 


[Nyerges is the author of “Extreme Simplicity,” “How to Survive Anywhere,”
“Foraging California,” and other books. You can learn about his classes and booksat www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com, or Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041]. 

We always gardened because we can produce better quality food and a lowcost, without participating in using any of the destructive chemicals which ruin the fertility of the soil.
And there are at least two very common household discards which are ideal for many of your gardenplants. 

You’ve heard of liming the garden and lawn, right? Many gardeners buy a bag of lime (calciumcarbonate) every few years and sprinkle it throughout the garden. Were you aware that eggshells are93% calcium carbonate? 

Calcium is an essential plant nutrient that plays a fundamental part in cell manufacture and growth.
Most roots must have some calcium at the growing tips. Plant growth removes large quantities ofcalcium from the soil, and so calcium must be replenished. In addition to calcium, eggshells containabout 1 percent nitrogen, about 0.5 percent phosphoric acid, and other trace elements that make thema practical fertilizer. 

We saved all our eggshells in a pan in our oven, including shells from the eggs from the farmersmarket, as well as the shells from our own chicken eggs. The pilot light temperature of the oven wassufficient to dry out the shells. Then, when the pan was full, we either crushed them by hand, orreduced them to a fine powder in the blender. Then we placed the crushed eggshells around fruit trees,
roses, and potted plants, and also just broadcast them throughout the garden. 

We learned that snail problems could be reduced with the helped of recycled eggshells. Using thehand-crushed shells, with plenty of their rough edges, we’d scatter these around those plants thatthe snails were eating. Snails did not usually cross the barriers made with these rough eggshells,
presumably because they cause discomfort to the snails. 

Another common kitchen discard is coffee grounds. Used coffee grounds contain about 2 percentnitrogen, about a third of a percent of phosphoric acid, and varying amounts of potash, generally lessthan one percent. Analysis of coffee grounds shows that they contain many minerals, including traceminerals, carbohydrates, sugars, some vitamins, and some caffeine. They are particularly useful onthose plants for which you would apply “acid food,” such as blueberries, avocados, roses, camellias,
and certain fruit trees. 

Sometimes we use scatter the used coffee grounds in the garden, and sometimes we dry them first. Wescatter them as a light mulch around those plants that we feel would benefit the most. We don’t scatterthem too thickly, however, especially in wet weather, because the coffee grounds will have a tendencyto get moldy. 

Because most plants need calcium for root growth, most can be beneficially stimulated by addingboth ground up eggshells (lime) and dried coffee grounds. 

Smile the next time you drink your morning cup of coffee, and eat those breakfast eggs, becausethe by-products of that meal are ideal for your urban garden and no longer need to be thought of as“waste.” 

I sought to include many of these low-tech, low-cost ideas in my “Extreme Simplicity” book, whichrecorded all the methods that my wife and I actually practiced. We always figured that if we could doall that we did with low-income, anyone anywhere could practice these same methods to become self-
reliant. You can get “Extreme Simplicity” from Amazon.com, or from the Store at www.SchoolofSelfReliance.
com. 

OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder 

WHERE IS PORKY PIG WHEN YOU 



NEED HIM? 


Growing up we did not have a TV in our home.
My father was just too cheap to spend the moneyfor something as frivolous as TV, so he boughtcomic books to read. Books, he often said to us, 
are better than watching some silly TV program.
They were also cheaper.

Then one day something happened that changedeverything. On November 22, 1963, the presidentof the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, wasassassinated. The next day my father went out andbought our first TV set.

Then everything changed in our home.

`Our father stayed on top of all the storiesconnected with the president’s assassination. Itwas a sad time for our country.

My siblings and I were introduced to aphenomenon called cartoons. Now, I had a largecollection of comic books which, if I had todayand I could sell them and become a very rich man.
However, a TV cartoon was something altogetherdifferent. It took us a long time to realize thosecartoon characters were just that and not realpeople. To us, they were as real as real got.

When we got home from school, my siblingsand I headed for the TV set and were mesmerized 
by these cartoons. We loved them all.

I say we loved them all but there was oneexception. That one exception was Porky Pig.
We hated to see Porky Pig on the TV because healways said, ”That’s all, folks!” And that was theend of the cartoons. 

The first time we saw him say that we cried. 

”What do you mean that’s all?”

We just could not believe our eyes and ears, butthat was the end of the cartoons for the day andwe would have to wait until tomorrow to see them 
again. It is not like today when you can watchanything you want, anytime you want to watch it.
That was when I was young, but as I got older Ibegan to see that Porky Pig could serve a situationright well.

For example, when I was in school and theteacher went on and on and I was getting so boredthat I would have liked to have brought Porky Piginto the classroom to say, That’s all, folks! Then wewould head to the outside playground where thereal fun was. 

Porky Pig would have been a great blessing inmost of my classes. Not that the teachers were 
boring, mind you. Just that what they were sayingwas boring. Nothing is more boring than whensomebody is talking about something you haveno interest in whatsoever. That is when we need, 
”That’s all, folks!” 

Don’t let this get around or I will deny it, butas a teenager sitting in church I often wished thatPorky Pig would walk down the aisle while our 

pastor was preaching and say, ”That’s all, folks!”
(I wonder how many people think that while I’mpreaching?)

Sometimes you have enough of something andjust want it to stop and just don’t know how to doit. 

I imagine, I just am not going to ask, but at thedinner table there are times when the Gracious 
Mistress of the Parsonage would like to bringPorky Pig into the dining room to say to me,
”That’s all, folks!” 

Of course, because Porky Pig is a pig she mightbe afraid that I would eat him by mistake. She maybe right about that.

Lately, I have been thinking of Porky Pig andwhat he could do today. I am not sure if thecartoons are still on television I have long agogiven up watching them. Of course, if you watchany political program on TV it does resemble acartoon, at least a bad cartoon. 

Porky Pig could come in handy, particularlyconcerning politics. If I see one more politicaldebate or whatever they call it on TV, I think I amgoing to scream. Here is exactly where Porky Pigcould come in for the rescue. 

Just as they begin some political program, PorkyPig comes on the set and says, ”That’s all, folks!”.
And we move on to something less boring. Thatwould be a great help today.

I think what makes politics so boring andobnoxious are the politicians themselves. Thereshould be a rule somewhere that says that anybodyrunning for any kind of political office needs tohire Porky Pig in order to know when enough isenough. If anybody is interested, I’m willing tohire myself out to be someone’s Porky Pig, I cansay ”That’s all, folks” in a variety of sarcastic tones.
Porky Pig could give the American public a wellneeded rest and break from all the nonsense we 
see on TV. 

I know in Washington there’s a lot of pork thatgoes around, but the kind of pork I’m talkingabout is Porky Pig who can stand up and speak forthe American public, That’s all, folks!” We needsomebody to be America’s voice today and as faras I am concerned, Porky Pig fits the job.
Everything should have an end in sight somewhere.
I like what the apostle Peter said. ”But the end ofall things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, andwatch unto prayer” (1 Peter 4:7).

Could someone in the political arena, pleasestand up and say ”That’s all, folks!”

Dr. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family ofGod Fellowship Ocala, FL where he lives with theGracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Call him at1-866-552-2543 or e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net.
His web site is www.jamessnyderministries.com. 


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