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Trick or Treat

 Friends,

There's been some hype about the “rare Halloween blue moon” tomorrow, a curious way of phrasing the coincidence. By definition, a blue moon is the second full moon of the month, and since the synodic lunar cycle lasts 29 days and change, any full moon occurring on the last day of October will by necessity be the second that month. In other words, all Halloween full moons are also Halloween blue moons. Sure, blue moons only come around once every two to three years (once on a blue moon, if you will), which works-out to six times this century for a Halloween full moon —so they are relatively rare— still, since the only kind of Halloween full moon is the blue variety, it seems misleading to imply they’re rare because they’re blue. Then again, I may just be getting grumpy in my old age. In any event, since a celestial object is in the limelight this year, it feels appropriate to wear a sci-fi themed mask. As a bonus, I can wear mine any time, for as long as the pandemic lasts. I’m holding off until after Halloween to wear it to the donut shop.

Happy Friday!


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