pA:10, v10.50 — The World Around Us

The World Around Us

Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, December 10, 2016

MVNews this week: Page A:10

THE WORLD AROUND US

Mountain Views-News Saturday, December 10, 2016

CASSINI MAKES FIRST RING-GRAZING PLUNGE

NASA’s Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft has
made its first close dive past the outer edges of
Saturn’s rings since beginning its penultimate
mission phase on Nov. 30.

Cassini crossed through the plane of Saturn’s
rings on Dec. 4 at a distance of approximately
57,000 miles above Saturn’s cloud tops. This is
the approximate location of a faint, dusty ring
produced by the planet’s small moons Janus and
Epimetheus, and just 6,800 miles from the center
of Saturn’s F ring.

About an hour prior to the ring-plane crossing,
the spacecraft performed a short burn of its main
engine that lasted about six seconds. About 30
minutes later, as it approached the ring plane,
Cassini closed its canopy-like engine cover as a
protective measure.

“With this small adjustment to the spacecraft’s
trajectory, we’re in excellent shape to make the
most of this new phase of the mission,” said Earl
Maize, Cassini project manager at NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

A few hours after the ring-plane crossing, Cassini
began a complete scan across the rings with its
radio science experiment to study their structure
in great detail.

“It’s taken years of planning, but now that we’re
finally here, the whole Cassini team is excited to
begin studying the data that come from these ring-
grazing orbits,” said Linda Spilker, Cassini project
scientist at JPL. “This is a remarkable time in what’s
already been a thrilling journey.”

Cassini’s imaging cameras obtained views of
Saturn about two days before crossing through
the ring plane, but not near the time of closest
approach. The focus of this first close pass was the
engine maneuver and observations by Cassini’s
other science instruments. Future dives past the
rings will feature some of the mission’s best views
of the outer regions of the rings and small, nearby
moons.

Each of Cassini’s orbits for the remainder of
the mission will last one week. The next pass by
the rings’ outer edges is planned for Dec. 11. The
ring-grazing orbits—20 in all—will continue until
April 22, when the last close flyby of Saturn’s moon
Titan will reshape Cassini’s flight path. With that
encounter, Cassini will leap over the rings, making
the first of 22 plunges through the 1,500-mile-wide
gap between Saturn and its innermost ring on
April 26.

On Sept. 15, the mission will conclude with a
final plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere. During
the plunge, Cassini will transmit data on the
atmosphere’s composition until its signal is lost.

Launched in 1997, Cassini has been touring the
Saturn system since arriving there in 2004 for an
up-close study of the planet, its rings and moons.
During its journey, Cassini has made numerous
dramatic discoveries, including a global ocean
with indications of hydrothermal activity within
the moon Enceladus, and liquid methane seas on
another moon, Titan.

You can contact Bob Eklund at:

b.eklund@MtnViewsNews.com.

CHRISTOPHER Nyerges

OUT TO PASTOR

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

CHOCOLATE: FOOD OF THE GODS

THE MERRIFICATION OF CHRISTMAS

[Nyerges is the author of
“Guide to Wild Foods and
Useful plants,””Extreme
Simplicity,” and about
a dozen other books on
ethno-botany, survival,
and self-reliance. He can be
reached at HYPERLINK “http://www.SchoolofSelf-
Reliance.com” www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com, or
Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041.]

A woman I know saw me trying to select chocolate
at a store. “Chocolate?” she said to me. “Why are you
looking for chocolate? I thought you only ate health
foods. Chocolate is a junk food!” Was she right? Is
chocolate a worthless food, something to be avoided?

I made my first “authentic” chocolate drink by
steeping the coarsely ground beans of the chocolate
plant in warm water, adding a little honey. If
historians are correct, this was the type of beverage
-- called “xocoatl” -- that Cortez found Montezuma
drinking. The whole beans were oily. Once ground
and made into a beverage, the drink had the color of
weak coffee. It had a pleasant bitter-chocolate flavor.
To me, one cup seemed as stimulating as two to three
cups of coffee. It was good!

Montezuma believed chocolate to be a food of the
gods, which was brought to the Aztecs by a healer
or prophet who traveled over the waters, possibly
Quetzalcoatl. To this day, chocolate is known to
botanists as Theobroma, or “Food of the gods.” It
was widely regarded as an aphrodisiac, a food that
gave Montezuma the strength do deal with his many
wives!

Chocolate pods are produced on a smallish tree;
they are about a foot long, and contain white beans.
Once picked, these beans are allowed to ferment for
a few days or longer, whereupon they take on their
characteristic chocolate aroma and brown color.
Once dried, the beans are then exported and typically
processed with modern machinery. However, it is
certainly possible to process your own, as it’s often
done today in Mexico.

During the normal manufacturing process, the
beans are first “conched,” which means that heat
and grinding pressure are applied to produce a thick
liquid called chocolate liquor. When this chocolate
liquor hardens, bitter -- or baker’s -- chocolate
results. This is indeed bitter – and most people don’t
care for it since it has no sweetness. When this
baker’s chocolate is then subjected to great pressure,
both a liquid and solid result. The liquid is cocoa
butter, and the solid is cocoa. Cocoa butter added
back to baker’s chocolate in greater amounts results
in bitter-sweet, semi-sweet, or sweet chocolate, three
more grades or types of chocolate. The addition
of milk creates milk chocolate. Sugar, vanilla, and
various other ingredients are often also be added.

PHARMACEUTICALLY ACTIVE COMPOUNDS
IN CHOCOLATE

[Source: Los Angeles Times science writer Usha Lee
McFarling, Feb. 16, 2000]

Serotonin A neurotransmitter which plays a role
in regulating mood. Though found in chocolate,
it’s found in much higher amounts in other
carbohydrates. Caffeine This stimulant is found
in very small amounts in chocolate. Theobromine
Cocoa beans are about 2% theobromine, a central
nervous system stimulator, which stimulates and
dilates the blood vessels of the heart and brain, and
dilates the bronchii of the lungs. Phenylethlamine
An amphetamine-like substance, also found in the
brains of people “in love.” Though found in chocolate,
it’s found in much higher amounts in meats, such as
salami. Polyphenols These antioxidants (also found
in green tea and red wine) may prevent heart disease
by preventing the clogging or arteries, and lowering
cholesterol levels. Cannabinoids These chemical,
which are the active ingredients in marijuana, are
found in very small amounts in chocolate, and may
influence the brain’s own production of painkilling
compounds. By “very small amounts,” you’d have
to eat about 22,000 pounds of chocolate to have any
drug-like response.

Certainly, chocolate is fattening if you consume a
lot and are sedentary. A small 12 ounce candy bar
typically contains about 220 calories.

The raw bean does contain high amounts of
theobromine and caffeine, but these oil-soluble
stimulating alkaloids are largely lost during the
processing. An average ounce of bittersweet
chocolate contains from five to 10 mg. of caffeine,
compared with 100 to 150 mg. of caffeine in an
average cup of coffee.

Although it is commonly believed that eating
chocolate causes an increase the incidence of acne,
there is no scientific data to support this belief.

As for cavities, at least three separate research
centers have revealed that the cocoa powder within
chocolate contains a substance that actually inhibits
cavities.

THE BAD

The culprit in this case is not chocolate, but sugar.
Sugar is clearly is a cause of cavities. Milk chocolate,
for example, contains 55% sugar by weight. And
most often, chocolate is made with “white sugar,”
which is the cocaine of the food industry. White
sugar is a foodless “food.” In most cases, the worst
thing about chocolate is that it contains so much
white sugar. Most commercial chocolate products
list white sugar (in any of its various guises) as the
primary ingredient.

One way to sidestep the detrimental effects of
so much white sugar in chocolate is to make your
own chocolate products by mixing cocoa (or bitter
or baker’s chocolate) with honey, or other natural
sweeteners. There are a few commercial chocolate
bars which contain no white sugar, but these are not
yet common, and cost up to three times as much as
others with white sugar.

THE GOOD

Ninety percent of the cocoa bean is digestible,
comprising 40% carbohydrates, 22% fat, and 18%
protein. Chocolate contains substantial amounts
of vitamins A, D, B2, as well as vitamin E and K,
calcium, thiamine, riboflavin, iron, phosphorus,
linoleic acids, and phenylethylamine. For a food that
is often regarded as a junk food or pleasure food, it’s
really pretty good for you!

A study conducted at the Harvard School of
Public Health indicated that people who eat from
one to three chocolate bars a month live almost a
year longer than those who do not eat chocolate.
Hooray!

One word defines Christmas.
It is the word “merry.” I
never tire of wishing people
a Merry Christmas. Although, for some, it may
not be politically correct, but for the rest of us who
have at least two gray cells working, it is wonderful.

I was relaxing one afternoon this past week
when the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage
approached me with a request. It is very difficult
for me to deny her request, even though it goes
against my current energy status.

“Would you,” she said so very sweetly, “go to the
mall and pick up a gift that I had ordered?”

Being married to GMP for more years than I
can remember, is very difficult for me to say no.
Actually, even when I do say no, someone on the
other end of the conversation is not listening.

I should be rather grateful, because of all of the
husbands she has, I am the only one she asks to
do favors. Through the years, I have gathered that
I must be her favorite husband. So, in a really
grateful frame of mind, not to mention merry, I
headed for the mall to get her purchase.

I am not sure if there is another place in the whole
world that I hate worse than going to a shopping
mall. If there is, I haven’t got there yet. Every time
I walk into a shopping mall, I get nervous because
everybody is looking at me, especially at my wallet.
Even my wallet shivers when we walk through the
opening door.

Just getting inside the shopping mall is a drain
on my “merry” attitude. I figured before I really
get started I should grab a cup of coffee and go sit
down in a lounge chair.

There was a coffee shop in the mall and I got
a $0.79 cup of coffee for $7.90. I guess where you
put the decimal is really important. Personally, I
would have enjoyed a $0.79 cup of coffee more.

I got my coffee, sat down in one of the lounge
chairs, took a deep breath, a nice gentle sip of hot
coffee and started to relax. Christmas music was
being played in the background, which contributed
to my relaxing attitude.

The mall was rather crowded, people were
hurrying here and there, in the background Merry
Christmas music was being played and I thought I
would just take the time and enjoy the moment.

After I got through about half of my coffee, I
happened to look around carefully watching the
people coming and going. There was such a rat
race going on that I could hardly believe it. I looked
around trying to find some Merry Christmas faces.
Unfortunately, there was not any in the direction I
was looking.

“I hope they don’t run out of this before I get
there,” I heard someone complaining.

“I hope I have enough money to cover this,”
someone else complained.

“I hope I can get it in time to get to the party
tonight,” complained another person.

I listen to all of this and was simply amazed.
Where in the world was this merry spirit that
Christmas is most noted for? Everybody was
hoping for something, but their hope did not seem
too realistic from my point of view.

At the merriest time of the year sitting in a place
where people were buying Christmas presents, it
was very disconcerting to realize there were not
that many merry people in the mall. Everyone
seemed to be under some kind of pressure and
aggravation.

A thought began to jingle in my mind. What
would it take for some people to really experience a
Merry Christmas? What would make them merry?

Taking another sip of this expensive “Merry
Christmas” coffee, I began to think about life in
general. Am I really living a merry life? Or, am I all
caught up with the holiday season?

Just because someone says, “Merry Christmas”
does not mean in fact that they are experiencing
anything quite near to merry.

Watching people scramble here and there in the
shopping mall, I realized that merry had nothing
to do with Christmas. For so many people,
Christmas is a time when you are so busy trying to
get things to make other people “merry” that the
whole spirit escapes.

What we really need during this particular
holiday season is what I call, The Merrification of
Christmas. Christmas is what it is, but there is the
possibility of really having a Merry Christmas if
you understand what the attitude of merry is all
about.

It is not about gifts, or parties, or traveling. It is
something more substantial than that. In order for
me to Merrificate my life, I need something more
than just the holiday spirit.

Weaving through the crowd at the mall, I picked
up the item my wife sent me to pick up and headed
for the parking lot. As I was going, I realized why
I really did not like the mall, especially during the
holiday season. Too many people are struggling
with anxiety and frustration in trying to keep up
with the Christmas Joneses.

I thought of what Jesus said, “Come unto me, all
ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

The key ingredient of “Merry” is rest and only
Jesus can give the rest that creates a merry spirit.

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.
E-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. Website is www.
jamessnyderministries.com.

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