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

MVNews this week:  Page A:10

THE WORLD AROUND US

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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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