Blue Moon

The stars conjoin to make this an auspicious New Year's Eve. As the second full moon in December, this makes tonight a "blue" moon, a rarity. The last New Year's Eve blue moon was in 1990. It will appear bigger than usual (about 7%)--the moon is at its closest to earth on January 1--and brighter than usual (earth and moon are closest to the sun on January 2). If only the overcast will clear, it will make a pretty show to usher out an unpretty decade.

A decade of 911, a decade of war and fear, a decade of diminishing fortunes and natural calamities. Its cultural highlight was the rise of the oxymoronic phenomenon "reality TV." The national discourse has gone deeply awry, and the institutions that support it are losing revenue and readers faster than the Arctic is losing sea ice. We have made an unencouraging beginning on Millennium 3.

Unless, of course, you shake off your (my) curmudgeonly inclinations and look at the other things that have been going on. Brian Mann gives his good news of the year in this In Box post. I have my own geeky and mildly-lefty list, and I encourage you to share your own take on the decade's blessings in a comment below.

Play nicely tonight--the police and ER personnel hate full moon nights. After a full moon brawl some years ago that brought fifty rowdies to woe in the streets of Gouverneur, the police chief quipped "We're hoping for a half moon tomorrow night."