Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, November 5, 2016

THE WORLD AROUND US

10

Mountain Views-News Saturday, November 5, 2016 


NASA MISSIONS HARVEST A PASSEL OF ‘PUMPKIN’ STARS


Astronomers using observations from NASA’s Kepler 
and Swift missions have discovered a batch of rapidly 
spinning stars that produce X-rays at more than 100 
times the peak levels ever seen from the Sun. The 
stars, which spin so fast they’ve been squashed into 
pumpkin-like shapes, are thought to be the result of 
close binary systems where two Sun-like stars merge.

 “These 18 stars rotate in just a few days on average, 
while the Sun takes nearly a month,” said Steve 
Howell, a senior research scientist at NASA’s Ames 
Research Center in Moffett Field, California, and 
leader of the team. “The rapid rotation amplifies 
the same kind of activity we see on the Sun, such as 
sunspots and solar flares, and essentially sends it into 
overdrive.”

 The most extreme member of the group, a K-type 
orange giant dubbed KSw 71, is more than 10 times 
larger than the Sun, rotates in just 5.5 days, and 
produces X-ray emission 4,000 times greater than the 
Sun does at solar maximum.

 These rare stars were found as part of an X-ray 
survey of the original Kepler field of view, a patch 
of the sky comprising parts of the constellations 
Cygnus and Lyra. From May 2009 to May 2013, 
Kepler measured the brightness of more than 150,000 
stars in this region to detect the regular dimming 
from planets passing in front of their host stars. The 
mission was immensely successful, netting more 
than 2,300 confirmed exoplanets and nearly 5,000 
candidates to date. An ongoing extended mission, 
called K2, continues this work in areas of the sky 
located along the ecliptic, the plane of Earth’s orbit 
around the Sun.

 “A side benefit of the Kepler mission is that its 
initial field of view is now one of the best-studied 
parts of the sky,” said team member Padi Boyd, a 
researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center 
in Greenbelt, Maryland, who designed the Swift 
survey. For example, the entire area was observed 
in infrared light by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared 
Survey Explorer, and NASA’s Galaxy Evolution 
Explorer observed many parts of it in the ultraviolet. 
“Our group was looking for variable X-ray sources 
with optical counterparts seen by Kepler, especially 
active galaxies, where a central black hole drives the 
emissions,” she explained.

 Using the X-ray and ultraviolet/optical telescopes 
aboard Swift, the researchers conducted the Kepler-
Swift Active Galaxies and Stars Survey (KSwAGS), 
imaging about six square degrees, or 12 times the 
apparent size of a full Moon, in the Kepler field.

 “With KSwAGS we found 93 new X-ray sources, 
about evenly split between active galaxies and various 
types of X-ray stars,” said team member Krista 
Lynne Smith, a graduate student at the University 
of Maryland, College Park, who led the analysis of 
Swift data. “Many of these sources have never been 
observed before in X-rays or ultraviolet light.”

 For the brightest sources, the team obtained 
spectra using the 200-inch telescope at Palomar 
Observatory in California. These spectra provide 
detailed chemical portraits of the stars and show clear 
evidence of enhanced stellar activity, particularly 
strong diagnostic lines of calcium and hydrogen.

 The researchers used Kepler measurements to 
determine the rotation periods and sizes for 10 of 
the stars, which range from 2.9 to 10.5 times larger 
than the Sun. Their surface temperatures range from 
somewhat hotter to slightly cooler than the Sun.

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


CHRISTOPHER Nyerges

OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

THE ROOTS OF THANKSGIVING

 [Nyerges is the author of 
“How to Survive Anywhere,” 
“Foraging California,” 
“Enter the Forest” and other 
books. He leads courses in 
the native uses of plants. 
He can be reached at Box 
41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041, or www.SchoolofSelf-
Reliance.com]

 Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday 
of the year. It is our uniquely American holiday where 
the family gathers, shares a meal, and gives thanks 
for whatever it is we feel thankful for. Yet everyone 
complains that it’s become too commercialized, 
some even calling it “turkey day,” and focusing 
instead on the great deals in the following day’s Black 
Friday sales. How do we get back to the roots of this 
holiday?

 Growing up, I was as ignorant as the next guy 
as to the origin of all our modern Thanksgiving 
traditions. In 3rd grade, we would do little skits, 
where Indians and Pilgrims met. The Pilgrims 
were all dressed up in black and white, and clean, 
with black powder guns, and the Indians wore loin 
cloths and feathers, and carried bows. Somewhere 
in the back of my 10-year-old mind I knew that a 
lot of killing went on between the new Pilgrims 
and the Indians, but this was a moment of peace 
where all came together for some giant feast with 
turkey and cranberry, in the middle of the forest, 
on one Thursday in November a very long time 
ago, presumably, Indians and Pilgrims alike giving 
thanks to God for their many blessings. It was a very 
comfortable and pleasant image. 

 So did it actually happen this way? Let’s try to 
explore the roots of this day, and try to be honest 
with ourselves as we attempt to give thanks where it 
is due. 

First, the players. There were three main players 
among the Indians: Massasoit, the leader of the 
Wampanoag, the coalition of which controlled 
southeastern Massachusetts; Samoset, the leader of 
a group to the north; and Tisquantum (whom history 
knows as “Sqanto”), who was there as an interpreter, 
and who also had plans of his own. Tisquantum had 
been taken to Britain and had lived there for a year 
and a half where he learned English. He was not 
trusted by Massasoit because it was feared he might 
side with the pilgrims, but Tisquantum was needed 
as an interpreter. 

 The colonists were residing on what had been a 
Wampanoag village site, but the native inhabitants 
were wiped out five years earlier by a disease. On 
March 21 of 1621, before there was any such thing as 
the United States of America, the three native men 
walked into the pilgrim village (actually, more of a 
hovel by most accounts) to make a deal.

 Massasoit was worried that with so many 
members of his coalition killed off by disease that 
he’d be vulnerable to attacks by the Narragansett 
alliance to the west. His bargain to the European 
settlers was that they could stay there as long as they 
aligned with him, against possible battles with the 
Narraganset. It had been over a hundred years since 
Columbus “opened” the Americas to Europe, and up 
to that point, settlers were treated friendly as long as 
they eventually moved along. Various colonies had 
in fact moved on, or been killed off, before then. The 
leaders of what was then called the Plimouth Colony 
agreed to the bargain, and Massasoit enjoyed relative 
peace with his neighbors for the next 50 years.

 Later that year, in October of 1621, the pilgrims 
had had a good harvest, and they held a thanksgiving 
feast to which Massasoit showed up with 90 of his 
fellows, mostly men. The 3 day feast that followed 
was said to be a somewhat tense celebration, with 
much firing of blackpowder guns and firing of 
arrows, probably more of a show of bravado and 
daring than any sort of mutual sportsmanship. 

 The Indians were more skilled at hunting and 
fishing in their native land, and they brought 
fowl, deer, duck, goose, and fish. Corn bread, wild 
greens, plums, leeks, and many other vegetables 
(wild and domestic) were shared in this celebration. 
Interestingly, there is no evidence that wild turkey 
or wild cranberries (totally unpalatable without 
cooking and adding sweeteners) were part of the 
menu.

 The impetus for this so-called “first Thanksgiving” 
was for Massasoit to cement this tentative political 
alliance against another tribe. The gathering was 
really more of a treaty gathering than it was any sort 
religious event. The peace lasted about 50 years, until 
Massasoit died. Tisquantum, who is credited with 
helping the colony with many of its survival skills, 
only lived another year. 

 Interesting side note: school children are taught 
that Tisquantum taught the pilgrims how to fertilize 
their crops with an old fish, supposedly a Native 
custom in the Northeast. Historians, however, have 
found little evidence that native people ever fertilized 
that way, and it is more likely that Tisquantum 
learned that technique during his time in Britain.

 Massasoit’s short term bargain opened the 
floodgates for the tens of thousands of Europeans 
who continued to pour into North America in 
general and New England in particular. And the 
settlers of Plimouth certainly didn’t see the October 
meal as “the first Thanksgiving.” It was normal 
for them to have various thanksgiving and harvest 
festivals, usually held mid-week to differentiate from 
the religious Sabbaths. And it wasn’t another 200 
years or so before this became formalized as part of 
the mythosis of America, as the American Day of 
Giving Thanks.

 Giving thanks is a good thing. Among other 
things, it helps so we do not lose sight of our spiritual 
heritage, which is the real bounty. But what should 
we focus upon, and who should we be thanking, on 
this Thanksgiving day?

 With all the talk about the blessings and bounty 
from God, perhaps it’s time for Americans to realize 
that had it not been for that small group of indigenous 
people, that first colony might have not survived and 
might have been wiped out. Though not entirely for 
altruistic purposes, Plymouth people were aided by 
the native population. 

 Perhaps sharing our bounty with the needy would 
be a better Thanksgiving activity than eating lots of 
good food. More to the point, perhaps we should use 
Thanksgiving to give thanks where it is due -- to the 
American Indians who have become the “forgotten 
minority.” Yes, there are some who have become 
enriched by casinos, but there are still many more 
who are struggling.

 Americans have created a culture and a society 
that has become the focal point of nearly everyone 
else on the globe. Despite all our unresolved 
problems, it is a fact that vast numbers of people 
all over the world aspire to come to the U.S. In the 
U.S. role as a world leader, we should not forget our 
national roots. 

 Don’t just give lip-service thanks to the Native 
Americans whose land was taken. Rather, find 
those organizations that are actually providing real 
assistance to Native Americans in poverty, such as 
many of those living in the third world conditions so 
prevalent on some of today’s reservations. Support 
farming and self-sufficiency projects on reservations.

This would be at least one way to give back to the 
people who “lost everything” as the United Stated 
came into being. During this Thanksgiving time, the 
right thing to do is to find ways to uplift and support 
the native people, where it is needed. 

APART FROM THAT, I’M DOING FINE! 

I know I am not correct on many things, just ask the Gracious 
Mistress of the Parsonage. If I could be right as many times 
as I am wrong, I would be a genius. The problem is, I am 
more wrong than I am right, which puts me a little bit out 
of balance.

 People always say things they really do not mean. I guess 
they are just trying to be nice and courteous.

 For instance. My wife will say as I leave the door to go 
somewhere, “Drive safely.”

 I do not know what that means. Does she think I am 
going to drive like an idiot? Well, maybe that is not a good 
illustration.

 Another one is, if you are going to a party someone will 
say, “Have fun.”

 Does that mean they are under the impression that you are 
not going to have fun unless you are enticed? Why do people 
always say things like that?

 We always say things that we do not mean.

 Of course, I am always a little guarded about certain things 
my wife may say to me. The most infamous one would be, 
“Does this dress make me look fat?” I am not sure who came 
up with that one, but their head was not spinning in the right 
direction.

 After thinking about that for a little bit I am under the 
impression that if anyone asks me that question, particularly 
if it is my wife, they are not looking for the right answer. They 
are looking for a compliment.

 Is it more important to tell the truth or to encourage 
someone? That has always been my dilemma.

 One question has bugged me for a long time. I must confess 
that I have done it myself, but it still bugs me. It is when we 
meet somebody and say, “Hello, how are you doing?”

 Why do we say something like that? Whenever I asked 
somebody how they are doing, I really do not want them to 
tell me how they are doing. I am trying to be courteous and 
friendly. I do not want to know the details of their life.

 As I said, I find myself saying the very same thing. I am 
trying to get over this phrase-addiction and probably need 
several months in some rehabilitation center. It would be 
worth it to get this out of my conversation.

 I do not know if I was just having a bad day or if I was just 
fed up with this question. Not long ago I was coming out of 
the grocery store and somebody greeted me and said, “Hello, 
how are you doing today?”

 Something came over me. To this day I cannot explain 
what in the world made me do what I did. But I did it and 
there it is.

 I could tell the person who asked the question was in a 
hurry to get into the grocery store but I did it anyway. He 
asked me how I was and so I stopped him and told him how I 
was.

 “I’m glad you asked,” I started, “because I’m not feeling 
very well today.” I noticed he was trying to get beyond me, but 
I was going to have my say no matter what.

 “I hurt my big toe this morning, I think I broke a toenail. 
I’ve been limping all day long and I’m getting rather tired of 
it.”

 He looked at me and then glanced at the grocery store, but 
I pretended as if I did not see.

 “I got up this morning,” I continued as though I had 
nothing else in the world to do, “with my back hurting so 
much I could hardly get out of bed. I’m not so sure what 
happened, but boy does it really hurt.”

 He looked at his watch and then looked at the grocery store 
entrance again, but I continued to pretend I did not see it.

 “My day hasn’t gone very well,” I complained to him, “I just 
seem to be late for everything. I missed my appointment at 
the doctor this morning and I’m not sure when I’m going to 
get back to see that doctor.”

 I could see he was getting very nervous and borderline 
agitated. He tried to interrupt me, but I pretended I did not 
notice.

 “I don’t know what I’m gonna do with my car. There’s a big 
noise rattling in the engine and I’m not sure if I should take it 
in or what I should do with it.”

 “Well,” he said rather anxiously, “I gotta get into the store.” 
With that, he briskly walked away muttering.

 I am sure he talked about that all they long to his friends. 
He probably thought I was crazy. Sometimes it is good to be 
crazy. After all, he is the one that asked me how I was. If he did 
not want to know how I was, why did he ask me how I was?

 I chuckled to myself and then I got thinking about my 
prayer life. I wonder how many times I do that in my prayer 
life. I pray about something, but I really am not that interested 
in it.

 I wonder if Jesus had this in mind when he said, “And all 
things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall 
receive” (Matthew 21:22).

 Prayer is not meaningless gibberish, but faith-focused 
asking.

 

 Dr. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God 
Fellowship, Ocala, FL 34483, where he lives with the 
Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone 1-866-
552-2543, e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. Website is www.
jamessnyderministries.com.


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