Mountain Views News          Saturday, September 10, 2016

THE WORLD AROUND US

10

Mountain Views-News Saturday, September 10, 2016 


SEEKING PLANET NINE


In the race to discover a proposed ninth planet 
in our solar system, Scott Sheppard of Carnegie 
Institution for Science and Chadwick Trujillo of 
Northern Arizona University have observed several 
never-before-seen objects at extreme distances 
from the Sun in our solar system. Sheppard and 
Trujillo have now submitted their latest discoveries 
to the International Astronomical Union’s Minor 
Planet Center for official designations. A paper 
about the discoveries has also been accepted to The 
Astronomical Journal.

 The more objects that are found at extreme 
distances, the better the chance of constraining 
the location of the ninth planet that Sheppard and 
Trujillo first predicted to exist far beyond Pluto 
(itself no longer classified as a planet) in 2014. The 
placement and orbits of small, so-called extreme 
trans-Neptunian objects can help narrow down 
the size and distance from the Sun of the predicted 
ninth planet, because that planet’s gravity 
influences the movements of the smaller objects 
that are far beyond Neptune. The objects are called 
trans-Neptunian because their orbits around the 
Sun are greater than Neptune’s.

 In 2014, Sheppard and Trujillo announced the 
discovery of 2012 VP113, which has the most-
distant known orbit in our solar system. At this 
time, Sheppard and Trujillo also noticed that 
the handful of known extreme trans-Neptunian 
objects all cluster with similar orbital angles. This 
led them to predict that there is a planet at more 
than 200 times our distance from the Sun. Its 
mass, ranging in possibility from several Earths to 
a Neptune equivalent, is shepherding these smaller 
objects into similar types of orbits.

 Some have called this Planet X or Planet 9. 
Further work since 2014 showed that this massive 
ninth planet likely exists by further constraining 
its possible properties. Analysis of “neighboring” 
small body orbits suggest that it is several times 
more massive than the Earth, possibly as much 
as 15 times more so, and at the closest point of its 
extremely stretched, oblong orbit it is at least 200 
times farther away from the Sun than Earth. (This 
is over 5 times more distant than Pluto.)

 “Objects found far beyond Neptune hold the 
key to unlocking our solar system’s origins and 
evolution,” Sheppard explained. “Though we 
believe there are thousands of these small objects, 
we haven’t found very many of them yet, because 
they are so far away. The smaller objects can lead 
us to the much bigger planet we think exists out 
there. The more we discover, the better we will be 
able to understand what is going on in the outer 
solar system.”

 “Right now we are dealing with very low-
number statistics, so we don’t really understand 
what is happening in the outer solar system,” 
Sheppard said. “Greater numbers of extreme 
trans-Neptunian objects must be found to fully 
determine the structure of our outer solar system.”

 According to Sheppard, “We are now in a 
similar situation as in the mid-19th century when 
Alexis Bouvard noticed Uranus’ orbital motion 
was peculiar, which eventually led to the discovery 
of Neptune.”

 You can contact Bob Eklund at: 

b.eklund@MtnViewsNews.com

system 
by 
Robin 



OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

CHRISTOPHER Nyerges

GROWING AN INCONSPICUOUS 
SURVIVAL GARDEN

PARDON MY FRENCH, S'IL VOUS PLAÎT

PARDON MY FRENCH, S’IL VOUS PLAÎT

[Nyerges has been teaching 
survival and self-reliance 
skills since 1974. He is the 
author of “Guide to Wild 
Foods and Useful Plants,” 
“Extreme Simplicity: Homesteading in the City,” “Nuts 
and Berries of California,” and other books. For more 
information on his books and classes, go to www.
SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com, or Box 41834, Eagle Rock, 
CA 90041.]

 

LEARNING TO GARDEN

 In the very beginning, back when I was still living 
with my parents in suburban Pasadena, I began to 
learn how to garden, and learn (by doing) what works 
and what doesn’t.

 I already had the paranoid mindset that a comet 
could hit us any day, and any day the world (well, at 
least our city) could devolve into urban anarchy and 
mobs would be rushing in to my garden to steal all my 
swiss chard and tomatoes. 

 Well, that never happened, and I like to think that 
it was because it was really hard to tell that my garden 
patch was a food garden at all. There were no neat 
rows, barely any paths, and it was mostly a random 
hodge-podge of wild and domestic plants, though it all 
looked very wild and abandoned.

 I grew amaranth for seed and greens, and found it 
very easy to grow. I grew tomatoes, a very easy crop 
to grow. I grew potatoes by burying kitchen potatoes 
that had sprouted, and I was amazed how easy it was to 
produce a crop of potatoes. I planted Swiss chard, and 
had year-round greens, because I let the plants go wild 
and reseed themselves.

 I also learned that all manner of bugs like the plants 
you grow in your garden, and my first attempts at 
pest control involved making a mix of garlic and hot 
peppers which I sprayed onto the offending bugs – 
mostly aphids and earwhigs. My corn was a disaster, 
and the bugs seemed to love the corn.

 Through study (mostly through organic farming 
books, and reading Acres USA), and conversations 
with older farmers and gardeners, I learned that there 
was one traditional, tried and true way to always grow 
good crops that were not only bug resistant, but also 
drought resistant, and cold resistant. The solution was 
to build the soil. I began to make my own compost, 
which adds nutrients to the soil, but the biggest 
noticeable effect on my garden was when I began to 
layer the entire surface of the garden with mulch, in 
my case, grass clippings. Many substances can be used 
as a mulch, and wood chips are very popular today. 
Wood chips are great because they help to keep in the 
moisture and you won’t need to water too much, and it 
does give your yard a very natural, almost “wild” look 
so your food producing yard can be as inconspicuous 
as possible.

 [I recorded a lot of these lessons in my “Extreme 
Simplicity” and “Self-Sufficient Home” books, both of 
which are readily available from Amazon.]

 

A SQUATTER’S GARDEN

 I was also a squatter for a year and a half in a ruralish 
part of Los Angeles. While living there, I had a local 
tree pruner dump a full truckload of wood chips in 
a fenced area of my yard. I watered that wood chip 
patch, and in time I had rich soil ready for planting. In 
that patch, I grew the traditional “three sisters” garden 
popular with indigenous people of the American 
Southwest.

 I first planted blue corn, which eventually produced 
stalks about 6 feet tall that looked like a scruffy grass 
from a distance. I planted beans at the base of each 
corn, and let them twirl up onto the corn stalks, while 
their roots “fixed” nitrogen in the soil, meaning, the 
beans were natural fertilizer for the corn. I also planted 
a native gourd, which sprawled all over the place 
producing a ground cover that kept water loss to a 
minimum. Eventually, I got some ducks, who loved to 
go into the corn patch and eat all the bugs, all the while 
also fertilizing that garden.

 [I wrote a Kindle book called “Squatter in Los 
Angeles” where I describe my experiences, for those of 
you who wish to read more.]

When I was young, a saying went around, “Sticks 
and stones may break my bones but words/names 
will never hurt me.” Supposedly it was to make me 
ignore people saying nasty things about me.

 For the most part, I am not too impressed by the 
words/names people throw my direction, but I do 
duck when they throw sticks and stones at me. I 
ducked most of them. It is not the sticks and stones 
that I duck that I worry about; it is the ones that I 
don’t duck.

 I know we live in a PC culture and it is a culture 
that I cannot keep up with. I am not sure anybody 
really keeps up with this kind of thing. Every day 
there is a new word you are not allowed to use or 
you might offend somebody. I try my best not to 
offend anybody but I must confess that it is almost 
impossible.

 Some people just do not have anything bouncing 
between their ears. Like last week, for example. I 
was minding my own business and I am not quite 
sure what started the whole situation and I do not 
know who was responsible for it. If it was me, I 
really did not know what I did.

 Suddenly, the man next to me started to scream 
all kinds of foul language. Believe me; I think foul 
language is for the birds. When this man realized 
what he had done, he said the inevitable, “Pardon 
my French.” And he smiled a greasy, slinky smile.

 I was not very much impressed with this turkey’s 
gobbling. If I had an egg or two on me, I would have 
thrown it at him with all the strength I had.

 I was supposed to forget all that foul language he 
used because he said the magic phrase, “Pardon my 
French.”

 In high school, we had to take a foreign language 
and so I took three years of first year French. I 
must say I flunked each year, but that is beside the 
point. Even though I was not very good at French, I 
knew that what this man was saying was not in any 
French dictionary I had ever looked at.

 I was tempted to look up my French teacher and 
ask her what these “French words” meant. But, I’m 
not a turkey.

 If I was French, and I am not, I certainly would 
have been offended by him referring to this 
foul language that he used as part of the French 
language. It’s people like this that I would like to 
give them a little bit of their own medicine.

 Here is how I would do it. I’m not French, but 
I am Pennsylvania Dutch. Therefore, I would like 
to go up to this “French-speaking” person and 
slap him soundly on the right cheek and then say, 
“Pardon my Pennsylvania Dutch.”

 I am not too sure I could get away with it, but 
there have been many incidences when I certainly 
was tempted to try it.

 I must confess I lean towards being offended 
when people around me use coarse and foul 
language. However, in our culture it is okay to use 
foul language whenever you want to. Just as long as 
you do not use other very sensitive and offensive 
words.

 Every day this word list grows longer and I am 
not sure who is in charge of policing politically 
incorrect words. I found some I thought were a 
little bit silly.

 The word “Alive” for example is, “temporarily 
metabolically abled.” I do not know who came 
up with that but I am still trying to process that 
definition.

 Then there is one word I am a little concerned 
about and that is “Bald,” which, according to the 
dictionary here means, “follicularly challenged.” 
And I thought I was just losing hair!

 Then there is a list of other words.

 “Body Odor” is “non discretionary fragrance.” 
How many fragrances are there?

 “Criminal” is “behaviorally challenged.” Of 
course I think you would have to get a good 
definition of the word “behaviorally” because I 
have no idea what that means.

 Here is one that really grabbed me. “Dead” which 
is simply “living impaired.” Seriously?

 I did like the word “Dishonest,” which is defined 
as “ethically disoriented.” Somebody is disoriented, 
that’s for sure.

 Then the one that really from my point of view 
makes no sense at all. “Drunk,” which is defined, 
“chemically inconvenienced.”

 Whoever can keep up with this list of words is 
simply “willy-nilly challenged.” Do not ask me 
what that means because I have no idea.

 Talking to some people, it is like talking in a 
foreign language of some sort. You have to be 
careful what word you use or you do not use. For all 
of these I would like to say, “Pardon my politically 
correct challenged brain.”

 Whoever says that words cannot hurt you is 
certainly not “temporarily metabolically abled.”

 One of my passions is to find the right word for 
what I am trying to say. Just when I get it down, 
someone comes along and changes the whole 
meaning of it to the point where I have no idea 
what I am saying.

 King David understood the importance of words 
when he wrote, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, 
that I might not sin against thee” (Psalms 119:11).

 Having the right word and understanding it is 
the glory of living.

 Dr. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God 
Fellowship, PO Box 831313, Ocala, FL 34483, where 
he lives with his wife. Call him at 1-866-552-2543 or 
e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. His web site is www.
jamessnyderministries.com.


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