I can’t be there tonight but Roxxie, Daniel and others will carry on in my stead!
Mad Liberation by Moonlight-
KBOO monthly mental health talk show.
Four plus years of bringing
the voice of mental health consumer/ survivors
to community radio!
Tonight! at 1:00 am!
If you get up before 1 am on Saturdays,
as a rule,
you can call it Saturday morning.
For most of us it's really
really late Friday night.
All the same details as usual:
KBOO 90.7 fm in Portland or
streamed on the web at http://kboo.fm/
Call in at 503-231-8187 to be on the radio
(or show up at the studio).
Topics are whatever you want to talk about.
If you are like me and don't stay up that late,
set your alarm and
see if it doesn't grab your attention.
If we can't keep you awake, then go back to sleep.
If you want to listen to some past shows,
they can be found here- the MLBM tab above
You are already a star. Show the world. KBOO 90.7 FM,
Tonight, Friday night from 1 to 2 am,
call us at 503-231-8187.
-Rick
Come on- it'll be fun.
Back in the July 1943 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, in a question and answer column written by Lawrence J. Lafleur, there was a reference made to the term “blue moon.”
Lafleur cited the unusual term from a copy of the 1937 edition of the now-defunct Maine Farmers’ Almanac (NOT to be confused with The Farmers’ Almanac of Lewiston, Maine, which is still in business).
On the almanac page for August 1937, the calendrical meaning for the term “blue moon” was given.
That explanation said that the moon “… usually comes full twelve times in a year, three times for each season.”
Occasionally, however, there will come a year when there are 13 full moons during a year, not the usual 12. The almanac explanation continued:
“This was considered a very unfortunate circumstance, especially by the monks who had charge of the calendar of thirteen months for that year, and it upset the regular arrangement of church festivals. For this reason thirteen came to be considered an unlucky number.”
And with that extra full moon, it also meant that one of the four seasons would contain four full moons instead of the usual three.
“There are seven Blue Moons in a cycle of nineteen years,” continued the almanac, ending on the comment that, “In olden times the almanac makers had much difficulty calculating the occurrence of the Blue Moon and this uncertainty gave rise to the expression ‘Once in a Blue Moon.'”
But while LaFleur quoted the almanac’s account, he made one very important omission: He never specified the date for this particular blue moon.
As it turned out, in 1937, it occurred on Aug. 21. That was the third full moon in the summer of 1937, a summer season that would see a total of four full moons.
Names were assigned to each moon in a season: For example, the first moon of summer was called the early summer moon, the second was the midsummer moon, and the last was called the late summer moon.
But when a particular season has four moons, the third was apparently called a blue moon so that the fourth and final one can continue to be called the late moon.
This time, on page 3 of the March 1946 issue, James Hugh Pruett wrote an article, “Once in a Blue Moon,” in which he made a reference to the term “blue moon” and referenced LaFleur’s article from 1943.
Pruett also wrote:
“Seven times in 19 years there were – and still are – 13 full moons in a year. This gives 11 months with one full moon each and one with two. This second in a month, so I interpret it, was called Blue Moon.”
How unfortunate that Pruett did not have a copy of that 1937 almanac at hand, or else he would have almost certainly noticed that his “two full moons in a single month assumption” would have been totally wrong.
For the blue moon date of Aug. 21 was most definitely not the second full moon that month!
Pruett’s 1946 explanation was, of course, the wrong interpretation and it might have been completely forgotten were it not for Deborah Byrd who used it on her popular National Public Radio program, “StarDate” on Jan. 31, 1980.
Over the next decade, this new, incorrect, definition started appearing in diverse places, such as the World Almanac for Kids and the board game Trivial Pursuit.
For me, this blue moon is also significant because it is my daughter’s birthday. If she was alive she would be 31 years old. Damn, I miss her. But I’m okay- not depressed, not confused… it’s only the second year since her death that I can actually look at a calendar and see the dates correctly and say, “Sunday is Erin’s birthday. It’s November 21st on Sunday.”
For 17 years I couldn’t read a calendar properly around this time of year. I couldn’t see the dates and know the days they fell on. I’ve turned a corner of some kind.
The full moon also means that next Friday, after Thanksgiving, will be Mad Liberation by Moonlight, on KBOO FM in Portland (or kboo.fm on the web). Late late Friday night, 1 am to 2 am.
Conflict with KBOO programming- so even though it was a full moon last night/ this morning, Mad Liberation by Moonlight will not be broadcast Friday night (the night of August 27th/ morning of the 28th, depending on your perspective).
It is possible we will have the show on next week. I am undecided. Sometimes we take a break in the summer. I will keep you posted by blog and by e-mail if you’re on the list.
Getting the announcement part out of the way, tonight is Mad Liberation by Moonlight at 1 a.m. PST on KBOO, 90.7 FM in Portland, Oregon. Streamed on the web at http://www.kboo.fm/. It’s a call in show, blah blah blah, call in at 503-231-8187 to be on the radio, read other posts about it here. Archived shows are found on the MLBM tab above.
Always remember- click pics for full size; most are really big.
West on the Springwater Corridor trail near my home- On the left (south side) is a marsh. On the right (north) are a series of ditches that collect water and keep it for a bit until mid June or so. This is one of several places I monitor for amphibian eggs and relative potential for supporting polliwogs through their transformations.
Marsh on south side of Springwater Corridor
Picture with hard-to-see newt tadpoles as of last week
The marshy area stays pretty moist and frogs that spawn there can expect their babies to grow up unless they’re eaten by birds or some such. The ditchy area is iffy. Eggs there will hatch- the ditch pools will fill with tadpoles- but the puddles will mostly dry up before the frogs can mature.
Lots of froggy love goin on- look at all that slimy frog spawn!
The marshy area also has a healthy population of newts- gilled newts that look like this as they are changing:
The frogs I’m talking about are basic pacific tree frogs. They are brown to green ion color and start out very small and stay just a bit bigger. The newly transformed froglings will be about the size of your thumbnail. Or smaller. Fully grown, 1 or 2 years old they may be the size of your thumb. This presupposes that they survive tadpole-hood.
Babies look like this when they mature:
Hey little fella/ gal/ whatever you are
More frog eggs
The ditch puddles are still quite moist. Too wet and muddy around the edges for me to get close enough for you to see the tadpoles. But they are there- here’s a picture I took last year of one I brought home to mature:
Newts also spawn in these ditches and most don’t survive. I’ll get some of them, too. With the newts, I have to take them back out to a place like the marsh when they’re ready.
Almost ready to leave the tank (last year)
The frogs just hop out into the world. Usually 90% of them will take off in one day from the tank on my back porch.
More spawn
My annual hobby/ mission involves finding places like this that serve as marginal habitat- attractive to frogs in love (blush) but generally not capable of sustaining their babies. I find several spots near home. Powell Butte is one of my favorites but the marginal ditch I find them is messed up this year due to construction of an underground water reservoir.
This is a picture from Powell Butte, pre-reservoir.
The radio program Friday night was difficult. No callers until… well, their was Dan, who always calls when he’s on his break at the group home… but then at 1:50 0r so the phones would not stop- crazy. Our usual engineer, my friend Daniel F was unable to do his part because KBOO suspended him for 2 weeks because he said “shit” on the air before 10 pm a couple nights before. KBOO didn’t get any complaints but someone ratted him out to the station manager and he – well, already said it. Can’t blame them. If there had been a complaint the FCC could levy a fine that exceeds the station’s annual budget.
So, shit. It was just a hard night. Anyway, the mp3 is uploaded, you can find it on the radio archives tab (MLBM above).
Four plus years of bringing the voice of mental health consumer/ survivors to community radio!
Tonight! at 1:00 am! If you get up before 1 am on Saturdays, as a rule, you can call it Saturday morning. For most of us it's really really late Friday night. All the same details as usual: KBOO 90.7 fm in Portland or streamed on the web at http://kboo.fm/ Call in at 503-231-8187 to be on the radio (or show up at the studio). Topics are whatever you want to talk about. If you are like me and don't stay up that late, set your alarm and see if it doesn't grab your attention. If we can't keep you awake, then go back to sleep. If you want to listen to some past shows, they can be found here- the MLBM tab above You are already a star. Show the world. KBOO 90.7 FM, Tonight, Friday night from 1 to 2 am, call us at 503-231-8187. -Rick Come on- it'll be fun.
moon soup 