Check out our new web page face lift done by Skeptic magazine investigative editor Dr. Nick Gerlich who has become something of an expert at building and rebuilding web pages. If you like what you see drop him an e-mail line of thanks for his tireless efforts for the skeptical movement. (You may recall some of Nick's past contributions to Skeptic on Princess Di conspiracy theories, JFK conspiracy theories, the 50th anniversary of Roswell, and others.)
This year will be the first full moon to occur on the winter solstice, Dec. 22, commonly called the first day of winter. Because a full moon on the winter solstice will occur in conjunction with a lunar perigee (point in the moon's orbit that is closest to Earth), the moon will appear about 14% larger than it does at apogee (the point in it's elliptical orbit that is farthest from the Earth). Earth is several million miles closer to the sun at this time of year than in the summer, so sunlight striking the moon is about 7% stronger, making the moon brighter. This will be the moon's closest perigee this year. If the weather is clear and there is a snow cover where you live, it is believed that moonlight will make even car headlights superfluous.
On December 21, 1866, the Lakota Sioux took advantage of this confluence of occurrences and staged a devastating retaliatory ambush on soldiers in the Wyoming Territory.
In laymen's terms it will be a super bright full moon, much more than the usual AND it hasn't happened this way for 133 years! Our ancestors 133 years ago saw this. Our descendants 100 or so years from now will see this again.
Only webstie found so far about this:
http://www.starhustler.com/scriptoftheweek.html
For those in the area I'll be giving my lecture on why people believe in God for the Humanist Association of Los Angeles Sunday, December 19 at 2:30pm at the MGM Plaza Community Center, 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica. For Directions and information contact HALA at 818/788-8140
"'Twas the night before Y2K. and all thru the nation
We awaited the bug, the millenium sensation,
The chips were replaced in computers with care,
In hopes that old bugsy wouldn't stop there.
While some folks would think they were snug in
their beds, Others had visions of dread in their heads.
And Ma with her PC and I with my MAC,
Had just logged on the net, and kicked back with a snack
When over the server there arose such a clatter,
I called Mr. Gates to see what the matter,
But, he was away, so I flew like a flash....
Off to the bank to withdraw all my cash.
When what to my wondering eyes should I see,
My good old mac looked sick to me.
The hack of all hackers was looking so smug,
I knew it must be the Y2K bug.
His image downloaded in no time at all,
He whistled and shouted, "Let all systems Fail"!!!
Go Intel, Go Gateway, Now HP, Big Blue,
Everything Compac and Pentium too.
All Processors big and processors small....
Crash away, Crash away, Crash away all !!!
All the controls the planes need for their flight,
All Microwaves, trains, and all traffic lights.
As I drew in my breath and was turning around,
out from the modem, came with a bound,
He was covered with fur, and slung on his back,
Was a sack full of virus, set for attack.
His eyes-how they twinkled, His dimples - How merry.
His midnight approach tho' soon became scary,
He had a broad little face and a round little belly,
And a sack full of virus that quivered like jelly,
He was chubby and plump, perpetually grinning,
I laughed when I saw him,
though my hard-drive stopped spinning.
A wink of his eye, and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know, a new feeling of dread
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
He changed all the clocks, then turned with a jerk,
with a twitch of his nose. and a quick little wink,
All things electronic soon went on the blink.
He zoomed from my system to the next folks on line,
He caused such disruption - could this be a sign?
Then I heard him exclaim with a loud hearty Cry,
Happy Y2K to you all, KISS YOUR PC GOOD-BYE !!!!