Re: Make some meaning

1

That doesn't seem right, astronomy-wise.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 6:43 AM
horizontal rule
2

YOU don't seem right, astronomy-wise.


Posted by: Thorn | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 6:52 AM
horizontal rule
3

I haven't been the same since somebody explained the Redshift to me.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 6:53 AM
horizontal rule
4

It doesn't seem wise. Right, Astronomy?


Posted by: Bonsaisue | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 6:54 AM
horizontal rule
5

It is right. Draw yourself a picture.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 6:57 AM
horizontal rule
6

The full moon does rise at sunset. Huh. I knew the moon rose well before or after sunset, but I didn't know the full moon was always up at sunset.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 6:58 AM
horizontal rule
7

5: I went to wikipedia instead.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 6:58 AM
horizontal rule
8

Only full moons get eclipsed. That should be an aphorism for something as well.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 6:59 AM
horizontal rule
9

Somebody should have an aphorism using the word 'gibbious.'


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:01 AM
horizontal rule
10

Anyway, I learned something today. Don't nobody let that happen again.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:04 AM
horizontal rule
11

8: Only new moons eclipse the sun.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:15 AM
horizontal rule
12

The Wikipedia entry for lunar phases has a gorgeous animation of the moon. I hadn't realized it noticeably changes shape and size over its cycle.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:17 AM
horizontal rule
13

"A full moon rises at sunset" : "it's always darkest before the dawn" :: "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" : "don't count your chickens before they've hatched".

Easy-peasy.


Posted by: Awl | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:18 AM
horizontal rule
14

"The full moon rises at sunset" is on-air code for "the drug shipment has arrived." Everybody knows that. (It's not a very secure code.)


Posted by: Lord Castock | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:19 AM
horizontal rule
15

(In fact these days only Edmontonian drug runners use it... 'nuff said.)


Posted by: Lord Castock | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:20 AM
horizontal rule
16

Anyone with an adage to coin should be sure to use the word cockshut.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:25 AM
horizontal rule
17

"The owl of Minerva flies at dusk by the light of the full moon except when it's darkest before the dawn."


Posted by: AcademicLurker | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:48 AM
horizontal rule
18

The full moon sets at sunrise. It is not darkest before the dawn.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:59 AM
horizontal rule
19

I hadn't realized it noticeably changes shape and size over its cycle.

The whole crescent/circle thing passed you by?

Somebody should have an aphorism using the word 'gibbious.'

Or indeed 'hibbious-gibbious'.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 8:00 AM
horizontal rule
20

Weird. "shape" s/b "viewing angle".


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 8:15 AM
horizontal rule
21

Gibbous was I ere I saw Suobbig.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 8:32 AM
horizontal rule
22

"I see a big moon rising", Tom waxed gibbously.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 8:36 AM
horizontal rule
23

The darkest hour *is* just before the dawn when you've got a waxing gibbous. It's been a long time coming . . .


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 8:43 AM
horizontal rule
24

16 horsepower's Bad Moon Rising is great.


Posted by: lw | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 8:47 AM
horizontal rule
25

Being a werewolf, I once used the fact that the full moon is on the opposite side of the sky from the sun to navigate my way home. It was early in the night, and the sun sets in the west, so the moon had to be in the east.


Posted by: Neil the Ethical Werewolf | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 10:54 AM
horizontal rule
26

You don't need meaning in your aphorisms. Just look soulful and say it. Nod a bit.


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 11:16 AM
horizontal rule
27

The moon is as high as necessary.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 2:41 PM
horizontal rule
28

The tide is sufficient.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 2:42 PM
horizontal rule
29

You can't take a full moon with you.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 3:31 PM
horizontal rule
30

You can't leave a full moon at home.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 3:39 PM
horizontal rule
31

Home is where the tide is.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 4:37 PM
horizontal rule
32

Too soon?


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 4:37 PM
horizontal rule
33

Reminds me.

Chapter 1 of Charlie Stross's new book starts with this: A clear spring night over Bavaria. Cloudless and chilly. The setting moon is a waning crescent.

Such (incorrect) detail!


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 4:59 PM
horizontal rule
34

I think there's a Lovecraft story where Lovecraft mentions a gibbous moon at a particular time of year and includes a footnote saying "if you look this up you'll see that there really was a gibbous moon at that time - I don't make everything up!"

My memory is hazy on this and a quick search of online Lovecraft texts didn't turn up the footnote. I guess it could have been something inserted by the editor from Lovecraft's correspondence in the three volume edition of Lovecraft's works I used to check out from the public library and read when I was a kid.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 5:08 PM
horizontal rule
35

33: Good catch. I have to draw a picture (or search on Google) to see why that is incorrect--the details of when the moon is "ahead of" or "just behind" the sun are not intuitively obvious to me. Since "waxing crescent" works maybe it's a typo ...


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 5:16 PM
horizontal rule
36

34: Apparently Lovecraft used "gibbous moon" with some frequency. And this book of stories inspired by Lovecraft is titled By The Light of a Gibbous Moon.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 5:23 PM
horizontal rule
37

33 wasn't an original observation. My dad read it and it hit his sailor nerves. After he posted his annoyance on FB, I went back, read it, and thought for a while. It is the type of thing that can bring your reading to a screeching halt.

Even waxing crescent would be a problem here. That sets at about 9. Not long after sunset. The story makes it seem much later at night.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 5:45 PM
horizontal rule
38

It's possible the Lovecraft footnote I'm thinking of is actually about waxing or waning. I eventually bought those Lovecraft books I used to check out of the library (at which point I mostly stopped reading Lovecraft), but I'm not going to dig them out of storage to look this up.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 6:15 PM
horizontal rule
39

First, good lord, whoever caught that is crazy sharp.

Second, if a new moon sets at sundown and a full moon sets at sunrise, why wouldn't a waxing crescent set halfway through the night? Is "crescent" closer to new than full?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:22 PM
horizontal rule
40

Yes,


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:30 PM
horizontal rule
41

No,


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:31 PM
horizontal rule
42

A waxing crescent would set from sunset through sometime before the middle of the night. A quarter moon is halfway there.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:33 PM
horizontal rule
43

42: + and separates crescent from gibbous,

"there' = "full"

Stop Making Sense.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:35 PM
horizontal rule
44

Apparently Lovecraft used "gibbous moon" with some frequency.

He probably liked the word because it sounds like "gibbering".


Posted by: mcmc | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:41 PM
horizontal rule
45

Great green gobs of gibbering gibbous gopher guts.

Bedtime methinks.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:44 PM
horizontal rule
46

Interesting n-gram for waxing/waning crescen/gibbous. Waning crescent way out front for a long time and slowly over time the waxing and waning combination of each have begun matching each other.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-31-12 7:51 PM
horizontal rule
47

Worth noting here that, while moonrises must needs be tied to sunset, moonsets aren't linked to sunrise, since the period between sunrise and sunset varies pretty widely.

Actually, I'm not clear on how this plays out at the poles and equator. I guess full moons occur on the same night all over the world, but rise earlier/later depending on your latitude?


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 11- 2-12 12:46 PM
horizontal rule