Page 8 Portland Observer Decem ber 13. 1979
Testimony due
Portland Meadows
The N atio na l Com m ission on
Social Security will hold a hearing at
the Portland H ilton Hotel in Port
land, Oregon on Wednesday,
January 16, 1980 at 9:00 a.m. The
purpose o f the hearing w ill be to
so licit a broad range o f p ublic
opinion on the old-age, survivors,
d is a b ility and health insurance
programs authorized by titles II and
X V III o f the Social Security Act in
order to aid the Commission in its
review and appraisal o f these
programs.
Providence M edical Center employees Alice Jarell,
LPN and Loyola B row n, enjoy a visit w ith Tiffany
Brane. 7, of V a n c o u v e r. W a s h in g to n , the U nited
W a y ’s 1979 P oster C hild T iffa n y w as the special
guest at the hospital's Thank Y ou /V icto ry luncheon
held last w e e k in a p p re c ia tio n of th e h o s p ita l’s
U nited W ay cam p ag in coordinators H osp ital e m
ployees donated nearly $11,000 to the United W ay.
Glass-Enclosed Comfort!
FREE GRANDSTAND ADMISSION
Bring this ad to Portland Meadows
For Free Admission on Fridays,
December 7 and 14,1979
-, Portland Meadows
If you or your organization would
be interested in testifying , please
n o tify M elanie W . M c C lin to c k ,
Public
In fo rm a tio n
O ffic e r,
N atio na l Com m ission on Social
Security, 440 G Street, N.W ., Room
126, W ashington, D.C. 20218 by
Monday, December 17. Requests to
testify should include: a) your name;
b) business address; c) business
phone; d) capacity in which presen
tation w ill be made, i.e., public o f
ficial, organization presentation, or
private citizen; e) summary o f prin
cipal issues to be discussed and
positions on them. A copy o f your
written testimony should be sent to
the Comission then (10) days before
the hearing.
POST TIMES:
Saturdays, Sundays & Holidays 1:30 pm
Fridays
Pm
□ o c o n / o tin n s
American State Bank
“ The Bank that integration b u ift”
2737 N .E . U n io n
The Christmas Star revisited
By Rita C. Bobowski
Smithsonian News Service
Nearly 2,(MX) years ago, the three
wise men saw a lighl in the heavens,
signaling to them an event o f the ut
most importance In the words o f the
book o f Matthew: "1 here came wise
men from the east to Jerusalem,
saying, where is he that is born King
ol the Jews? For we have seen his
star in the east, and have come to
worship him .’ *
I he briet mention ol the Star of
Bethlehem has intrigued scientists,
historicans and theologian for hun
dreds o f years because, other than
descriptions in the New Testament,
there are no other known accounts
documenting this apparently short
term celestial phenomenon.
Much speculation exists over
whether there really was such a star,
according to Von Del Chamberlain,
an astronomer at the Smithsonian
Institution’s National A ir and Space
Museum. In an annual public lec
ture, Chamberlain traces the various
theories advanced to explain the Star
ot Bethlehem.
“ Most o f us assume that the
(hristinas star was an extraordinary
sight to behold," he says. " I t may
not have been so spectacular. A c
tually, it may have been an event
which only professional star-ga/ers-
such as the Magi would even have
noticed. And. perhaps what the wise
men saw was not really a single star
at a ll.”
One theory holds that the Christ
mas star was a comet. Early records
kept by the Chinese mention a comet
without a tail visible in the spring o f
4 B.C., a date which fits the most
recent estimates o f the year in which
Jesus was born. (Scholars believe
that Jesus was born between 8 and 4
B.C. since our present calendar
system was not instituted until the
6th century A .D ., more than 500
years a fte r Ins b irth , errors in
calculation are possible.)
But comets move slow ly from
night to night through the starry sky.
Moreover, comets were believed by
the ancients to be omens o f impen
ding doom, not harbingers o f glad
tidings.
Another theory has it that the star
might have been an unusually bright
meteor, called a fireball. As fireballs
flash through the atmosphere, they
burn with an intense but fleeting
lig h t. But ancient records and
modern knowledge indicate that
fireballs are larily commonplace oc
curences lasting only a few seconds.
A th ird and more tenable ex
planation is that the Star o f
Bethlehem was a "n o v a ,” which
means literally "new star." Actually,
novas are not new but old stars that
have reached the end o f their
evolution and have become unstable.
These exploding stars abruptly rise to
great brilliance, then lose their lumi
nance slowly over a period o f weeks.
“ This theory has p o te n tia l,”
Chamberlain says. " A nova could be
bright enough and last long enough
to lead the wise men on a long jo u r
ney to Bethlehem.”
“ In addition,” he continues, “ a
nova would certainly be the most
dramatic explanation. What could be
more exciting than to have a ‘ new
star’ appear on the night that Christ
was born;”
One recent study o f ancient
Chinese and Korean records in
dicates that a nova may have ap
peared in 5 B.C., but there is no
definitive account that such an event
took place.
The theory most widely accepted
by astronomers today was put forth
in the 1600s by German astronomer
Johannes Kepler. Kepler suggested
that the Christmas star was really a
"co nju nctio n" o f planets.
A conjunction occurs when two or
more planets appear to pass by each
other in the sky. Using ancient sky
records, astronomers have verified
that the planets Jupiter and Saturn
appeared in conjunction not once
but three times between 7 and 6
B.C.--a relatively rare phenomenon.
A conjunction would explain the
lack o f other records, since it most
Poinsettias can be year-long house plants
Poinsettias can be more than just
Christmas holiday plants. They can
be kept through the year and made to
bloom again in December.
"T h e booming interest in indoor
plants has brought an increase in the
number o f people who keep their
( hristinas poinsettias growing all
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M ilw a u k io
year lo n g ,” says Ray M cN eilan,
Oregon State University Extension
home gardening coordinator.
In a natural o u td o o r setting,
flowers begin to form on poinsettias
when the nights get longer in the fall,
the days shorter. However, w ith
lights inside the home, a poinsettia
may not receive a long enough period
o f darkness to start the blooming
process. Even a small amount of ar
tificial light will inhibit the plant from
producing (lowers.
Io overcome the problem o f in
door light, poinsettias need to be
given at least 14 hours o f uninterrup
ted darkness each day until redness
starts to develop on the top leaves or
bracts.
The follow ing is a general time
schedule for forcing poinsettias to
bloom indoors by Christmas.
Early Octobei: bring the plant in
side and place in a draft-free area
where the temperature does not drop
below 60 degrees F. Begin giving the
plant long nights (darkness from 5
p.m. to 8 a.tn.).
Mid-November: Color should be
showing in the bracts.
Early December: Bract color
should be almost complete; plant can
be brought into ordinary light.
During this bloom-forcing period,
keep the daytime temperature at 68
degrees F or higher. Nighttime tem
peratures should stay between 50 to
65 degrees F. Night temperatures
above 65 degrees F may prevent the
plant from setting flower buds.
The plant should receive at least
four hours o f direct sunlight during
the day.
Reduce fe rtiliz e r applications
during this tune. The plant will be
m aking less grow th w hile in the
house If possible, avoid spraying the
plant with chemicals after the bracts
begin to develop color.
likely would have gone unnoticed ex
cept by those, like the Magi, who
were trained to watch the sky.
A conjunction takes on even more
significance when viewed from an
astrological standpoint. The ancient
astrologers would have considered
conjunctions to be highly symbolic
events. To them, conjunctions o f
Jupiter and Saturn held special
significance-Jupiter, symbolic o f the
king o f the gods, and Saturn, said to
be the protector o f the peoples o f the
eastern Mediterranean.
In 6 B.C., the planet Mars joined
Jupiter and Saturn fo llo w in g the
third conjunction, according to the
records. A ll three planets appeared
in the constellation o f Pices (the
fishes), which signified to the
astrologers the House o f the
Hebrews.
W hile the triple conjunction is the
most widely accepted theory, it is
unlikely that we w ill ever know for
certain what produced the Christmas
“ sta r.” But whether the star was
supernatural or part o f the natural
order o f things, the story o f the Star
o f Bethlehem has endured as a sym
bol o f Christinas.
r
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