Did anyone see the full moon last night?

[Guest]

It was pretty neat.

[Wingnut]

I didn't, but I've seen about five pictures on Facebook today of it. Was there something unusual or extra special about last night's full moon? I've been wondering that all day.

[Guest]

A full moon brings out the crazy people. :)

It was supposed to be the brightest one of the year. We were coming home from a nice day trip and got full view of it.

[Wingnut]

A full moon brings out the crazy people. :)

As evidenced on the board this evening...

[bcguy]

It was really large on the news. When is the next time it will show?

[Guest]

Yes, I saw the moon. It was quite pretty when it rose - that full, giant, orange orb in the sky. But, more importantly, I felt the moon.

I know this sounds really, really crazy... but, you know how I have these anger management issues? Well, for some insane reason, it is a lot harder to control when the moon is very close to the earth. Don't ask me why. Maybe it's gravity but I couldn't find any scientific evidence of it and the psychologist was like, huh?

[Guest]

I think there's something to it. I don't know what, but something.

[log2]

As the aforementioned crazy person, when my lycanthropy subsided, I had my kids watch it a little with me.

I have no idea how the Japanese get a rabbit out of the "man-in-the-moon."

[Leah]

Oh..my bad....I thought Eowyn saw my neighbor working in the yard.....

[Guest]

Leah, I didn't know we were neighbors!

[pam]

It was pretty neat.

Is neat your word for tonight? Just like elephants?

[Guest]

I think it's neat that you noticed.

[MarginOfError]

Yes, I saw the moon. It was quite pretty when it rose - that full, giant, orange orb in the sky. But, more importantly, I felt the moon.

I know this sounds really, really crazy... but, you know how I have these anger management issues? Well, for some insane reason, it is a lot harder to control when the moon is very close to the earth. Don't ask me why. Maybe it's gravity but I couldn't find any scientific evidence of it and the psychologist was like, huh?

I'm inclined to attribute this to attribution bias with a smidgeon of self-fulfilling prophecy, but it's a fun topic so I'll play along.

When the moon is full, the earth, sun, and moon have to be positioned in such a way that the entire lighted face of the moon is facing the earth, which puts the earth between the other two objects. Because the moon is so much closer, it is possible that its gravitational effect is pulling against the sun's; literally, we're being pulled in two separate directions. Under this theory, your anger management would be at it's worst under a full lunar eclipse.

[Guest]

I'm inclined to attribute this to attribution bias with a smidgeon of self-fulfilling prophecy, but it's a fun topic so I'll play along.

When the moon is full, the earth, sun, and moon have to be positioned in such a way that the entire lighted face of the moon is facing the earth, which puts the earth between the other two objects. Because the moon is so much closer, it is possible that its gravitational effect is pulling against the sun's; literally, we're being pulled in two separate directions. Under this theory, your anger management would be at it's worst under a full lunar eclipse.

I've charted this before when I was in my early 20's. And I can find a pretty good correlation between the positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon and the intensity of the blood-rush to my head when I'm agitated (literally seeing red). It is more intense when the Earth, Sun, and Moon are in a line - that's both New Moon and Full Moon - and the Moon is close to the Earth (perigee). It doesn't have to be a lunar or solar eclipse - but, there is this event that occurs once every 1.5 years called the Proxigee - when the moon is closest to the earth and in the new moon phase. That entire week is crazy for me - as it approaches that new moon phase and as it leaves that new moon phase.

Basically, what I did was I kept journals of that blood rush that I feel when I get agitated. I was trying to make a correlation between the intensity of the blood rush and the "woman's period". I found a pretty good correlation between the two but there were still times when I had intense incidences and it was not around the period. That's when I went and tried to match the journal with the tides. And I found a correlation between the intensity and the perigee. And then there's also the amount of sunlight that I can find a correlation in.

The period thing is well-supported in medical science. The Seasonal Anxiety is also well-supported. The perigee though isn't. I mean, I have several nurse cousins and they tell me that they get more patients during full and new moons - but that's just commentary, not scientifically supported.

And, of course, as you said, it may well just be a self-fulfilling prophesy... this time though, I've been feeling that restlessness (when I'm feeling this, I usually put up my defenses because it is a precursor to an incident) for a few days befpre I realized, ah yeah, it's that time of year.

Edited May 7, 2012 by anatess

[applepansy]

A full moon brings out the crazy people. :)

It was supposed to be the brightest one of the year. We were coming home from a nice day trip and got full view of it.

It was most definitely the brightest. I had to close the blinds. :)

[pam]

I really need to get out more. Literally...I stay in my house so much of the time...I need to step outside once in awhile.

[MarginOfError]

I've charted this before when I was in my early 20's. And I can find a pretty good correlation between the positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon and the intensity of the blood-rush to my head when I'm agitated (literally seeing red). It is more intense when the Earth, Sun, and Moon are in a line - that's both New Moon and Full Moon - and the Moon is close to the Earth (perigee). It doesn't have to be a lunar or solar eclipse - but, there is this event that occurs once every 1.5 years called the Proxigee - when the moon is closest to the earth and in the new moon phase. That entire week is crazy for me - as it approaches that new moon phase and as it leaves that new moon phase.

Basically, what I did was I kept journals of that blood rush that I feel when I get agitated. I was trying to make a correlation between the intensity of the blood rush and the "woman's period". I found a pretty good correlation between the two but there were still times when I had intense incidences and it was not around the period. That's when I went and tried to match the journal with the tides. And I found a correlation between the intensity and the perigee. And then there's also the amount of sunlight that I can find a correlation in.

The period thing is well-supported in medical science. The Seasonal Anxiety is also well-supported. The perigee though isn't. I mean, I have several nurse cousins and they tell me that they get more patients during full and new moons - but that's just commentary, not scientifically supported.

And, of course, as you said, it may well just be a self-fulfilling prophesy... this time though, I've been feeling that restlessness (when I'm feeling this, I usually put up my defenses because it is a precursor to an incident) for a few days befpre I realized, ah yeah, it's that time of year.

Wow. That's an incredible amount of effort. I'm impressed.

Truthfully, it's possible there is an effect. The difficulty is in measuring it. It wouldn't be hard to determine an effect associated with menstrual cycles since most women have a cycle every month. Developing a pattern around the relationship of the sun, earth, and moon is difficult, however, since they are rarely ever in the same position relative to each other. It would be hard to decide what baseline would be. I suppose the best you could do is an observational study that uses trigonometric approximations of the distances between objects. Such a model would be nearly impossible to interpret though.

[Guest]

Wow. That's an incredible amount of effort. I'm impressed.

I refused to medicate, so I had to figure it all out to get plain self-control and mental preparation as effective as possible.

I just saw the Avengers and it was quite interesting to me to see Bruce Banner turn into the Hulk at will... I know it sounds stupid, but I identify very well with Bruce Banner/Hulk as the exact comicbook representation of my stupid anger problem. They even had Hulk come out when it's a full moon in the earlier comic book. But in the movie, Bruce get to control his anger on a level that he can turn into Hulk "safely" and because he wanted to - that was way out there.

[Timpman]

I saw it in the clear sky over Moab :)

[pam]

I saw it in the clear sky over Moab :)

I bet it was gorgeous there. You probably could see millions of stars too.

[Iggy]

It was pretty neat.

Yep I saw it. Finally remembered at 1:20 AM to go out on the back porch to take a look.

We had a lot of cloud coverage too. Because the moon was bigger and WAY brighter, you could see it through the clouds. What was really NEAT was that you could actually see the layers of clouds.

Closer to earth they were moving in one direction and the clouds closer to the moon were moving in the opposite direction.

Anatess- my simple explanation for me being effected by the full moon is that the moon effects water (ocean tides, etc.) Our bodies are mostly water, and as a woman I am more in tune to my body.

When I was a bartender/cocktail waitress I dreaded the full moon. Drinkers were more volatile on the full moon.

[jerome1232]

Man, I worked 6 pm to 6 am, all I saw was a lot of boxes.

I missed out, here in California the smog layer gives an added bonus when viewing celestial events, our sunsets light up half the sky in pink, with out any clouds. The moon is a really great red-orange color while it's low in the horizon. The bad part is practically the only "star" I can see is venus, okay there's a few more than that but you can literally see only 2 stars where the little dipper is supposed to be.

This thread reminds me, it's almost summer and I'm excited to take my little 3 year old fishing for the first time... maybe. I'm sure he'll get a kick out of casting and reeling in at least.

Was there a topic? I can't remember.