What does "Once in a Blue Moon" mean?!

There are so many “moon” related phrases… “Over the moon”, “Shoot for the moon”… But I’m going to look at the phrase “Once in a blue moon”.

What does it mean? Where does it come from???

So the moon has 12 phases from when it goes from being a nothing moon to a full moon.. they occur monthly – ish. Each “season” consists of 3 full moons, So in a “normal” year there are 4 seasons and should be 12 phases – and 12 full moons. Sometimes, the moon doesn’t roll in it’s normal pattern and 13 phases/full moons occur in a year – this extra 13th moon is called…….. a “BLUE MOON”

In the olden days, the 12 full moons were given names.. You’ve heard of the Harvest Moon…

Anyway, so when a season had 4 moons instead of 3, the “extra” moon was called the blue moon – basically, the Blue Moon would not necessarily be the 13th moon. I think I may have said that already, but in a more confusing way…

So an interesting fun fact is that this year will have a Blue Moon! And it’s going to be on December 31… New Years Eve!

So this New Years Eve, be sure to drink to the new year and also to the amazingness of nature & the super extra awesomeness of this 13th full moon!!

I was trying to tweet my girlfriend when it crashed and the window title became “This Site Has been hacked by the Iranian Cyber Army”

Anyone have the same problem??? Was Twitter Hacked?

I’m sure they’ll fix it soon.. because the site is definitely down right now… no more funny black window…

But did anyone else see this? or was I hallucinating? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks,

VickyC xoxo

** Update **

So, I copied the screen from Twitter.com… from pressing back a few times…

What do you think? legit? fake? why twitter? Why not hack CNN if you’re trying to make a point… ??? Who are the Iranian Cyber Army…??

If you cant read the text, it says: USA think they controlling and managing internet by their access, but they don’t, we control and manage internet by our power, so do not try to stimulation Iranian peoples to…….
Now which country in embargo list? USA?
We push them in embargo list
Take Care.

I didn’t doctor that picture in any way – except a bit of cropping. It’s screenshot from my desk top. note the time and the title of the window (whatever that part of the window is called) and the address bar… And yes, the pictures didn’t open.. Probably because Windows sucks… But that’s a completely different rant…

Weird… ok, so comments below people! Twitter is still down nearly 45 mins later…

** FINAL UPDATE **

Twitter is back up and running… happy tweeting people!

The most recent news is that there is talk that Canada should be suspended from the Commonwealth because, according to a coalition of scientists, politicians and campaigners,  Canada “has not cut greenhouse gas emissions to comply with the Kyoto Project”.

There is a Commonwealth summit this weekend in Trinidad and Tobago – which PM Harper’s is attending, along with other prominent world leaders.

Apparently, Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions are directly contributing to droughts, floods and sea levels rising in other Commonwealth countries, like Bangladesh, the Maldives and Mozambique to name a few. Several prominent people have commented:

Clare Short, formal international development secretary: ” Countries that fail to help [tackle global warming] should be suspended from membership, as are those that breach human rights”

Saleemul Huq, lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: “If the Commonwealth is serious about holding its members to account, then threatening the lives of millions of people in developing countries should lead to the suspension of Canada’s membership immediately”

Apparently, a big factor for these people is that Canada is the next country to chair the G8 summit in June 2010. British Prime Minster Gordon Brown proposed a fantastic idea: Canada should fun $17.5 billion as part of the Copenhagen agreement to help poorer countries.. He has also allegedly offered $10 billion from Britain to kick start the “Copenhagen launch fund”.. (I’ve found different amounts on different sites – they seem to range from $800 million to $10 billion USD) Um, isn’t Britain broke?! I wonder where he pulled that from.. Gordon mate, good thing BS is organic eh…

As far as I’m concerned, this treaty mustn’t be signed. PM Harper needs to call their bluff. I find it absolutely amazing that the Climate Research Centre hack has not been reported in mainstream Canadian news sources. Also, according to my online digging, the US is in the same boat. There is hardly any mention of it. I wonder why….

Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail, and the world won’t get sucked into a “global government” scenario. I was watching some of the video clips from today’s Commonwealth summit, and many leaders feel that the main goal of the Copenhagen conference is that a deal is reached and that money is on the table. Even the UN chief is quoted to urge world leaders to “seal a deal”.

I’ll continue following the action as it happens…. Watch this space…

That being said, with this White House story, it’s a good thing that these socialite people were only there to have their pictures taken and rub shoulders with secretaries of state and other high powered people – and not to blow the place up. Can you imagine!?

Tareq and Michaele arriving at the White House

So I’m sure you’ve all heard about this, as it happened a few days ago. Socialites Tareq and Michaele Salahi insist they were invited to President Obama’s first state dinner, but apparently they weren’t on the list! 

I’ll leave some links at the bottom – because I really can’t be bothered to type out these peoples’ life history…

Ok, so initially, I didn’t really think that this was post worthy – rich people showing up at The White House uninvited, blah blah, but the more I think about it, the more it made me wonder about things like safety and national security. This couple didn’t look at all out of place at this formal White House function and their presence was never questioned. I was reading an article a while ago about shoplifters, and how the number of middle class female shoplifters is continuously growing. The women who steal look the part when they walk into a high end designer store, and people don’t think that they are thieves. Subsequently, they walk out with thousands of dollars worth of merchandise, and it costs the economy a huge amount of money every year.

That being said, with this White House story, it’s a good thing that these socialite people were only there to have their pictures taken and rub shoulders with secretaries of state and other high powered people – and not to blow the place up. Can you imagine!?

Photo from the White House

Yes, the Secret Service said that the couple had gone through the same checks that they other guests had been through – metal detectors etc. But what does that say? It says that as long as you look the part, can blag your way through not being on the list and that you don’t beep when walking through the metal detector, then you’re good to go! I wonder what lines these people pulled though, it can’t have been as simple as “Don’t you know who I am?!?!?!” or “Google me..”.

The Secret Service must be frantic at the moment. What kind of message does this send to the “bad guys”? They’re probably going to buy Armani suits and get hair cuts en masse. I mean, the woman even SHOOK HANDS with the President… Come on!!!

As stated in nydailynews.com, “Assassinations occur because of the kind of lapses we saw at the White House on Wednesday evening”. And I think they’re complete right. Another article on nydailynews.com states “They could have assassinated the President or vice president using other means – anthrax, for example… The Secret Service does not check for bioweapons”. Again, it might be a bit James Bond-esq but what if she’d smuggled a vial of anthrax in the heel of her shoe or something – Then what would happen?!

But then this leads me to ask, what will this incident lead to? Does the President have to be locked in a bullet proof, atomic bomb proof nuclear shelter type building, have all of his paper correspondence dusted for traces of bioweapons, and ensure that everyone who comes into contact with him has a FULL background check? Maybe test his food for any foreign substances (I mean poisons…. !). No, I mean that’s just utterly ridiculous.

I guess these people are just REALLY desperate to be famous.. And for them, this was definitely a successful evening. I think the Secret Service and the security forces in every country need to take a good look at this scenario and learn from it – FAST..

Dailymail.co.uk – Increase in middle class female shop lifters
Foxnews.com – White House party crasher life history
Huffingtonpost.com – Salahi’s meet Joe Biden
Dailynews.com – Salahi’s disgrace the Secret Service
Dailynews.com – Secret Service face the heat
CBSNews.com – Crashers may face criminal charges

Exactly 1 week ago, the news broke that Britain’s Climate Research Unit (CRU) was hacked and all the data had been posted on the internet.

One week on, what has changed? Well, the story is progressing nicely. There’s a weatherman and blogger from the BBC, named Paul Hudson who wrote in his blog that he was sent the “hacked” emails around 5-6 weeks ago. Very bizarre. You would think that since he works for the BBC, that this hacked email business would have made it out into the open earlier..??

Another thing that is very interesting is that Hudson wrote an article for the BBC in October 2009 titled “What happened to global warming?”. His argument is that over the last 11 years, there has not been an increase in global temperature. Some of the hacked emails mention this article. In his blog, Hudson mentions this point, saying that his research on global warming prompted the scientists to discuss and complain about his article – so he was copied on the emails. With that being said, Hudson can at least confirm the authenticity of the emails that he received.

So the point remains. Who collected the data and who sent it? Was I a whistle-blower with a conscience from the CRU, was it a scientist with a grudge?

Also, I think it’s important to mention that next month, the United Nations is holding a Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Apparently, a world government is going to be created? And wealth is going to be transferred from the powers in the west to third world countries because of “climate debt” which is supposedly a front for an “adaptation debt” that the treaty requires the so-called rich countries to pay.

Why have we not heard about this already? Well, if they talked about it, the backlash would be HUGE. Our leaders and the media are not willing to give any information for fear of this. Power comes from fear. I have a lot more reading to do before I post anything else.. But for now, I think this is sufficient food for thought – on a Friday..

I found a few sites that are interesting, feel free to check them out if you want to do some further reading. As with any other posts, feel free to comment or say something if you think that a point I’ve made is wrong.

Friendsofscience.org – They have a lot of interesting articles
Dissidentvoice.org – Very interesting article and comments
BBC.co.uk – Paul Hudson’s blog

It makes me think that they did it on purpose. It’s such an obvious mistake. But why would they print something like that on the cover of their magazine? People aren’t going to buy their magazine because their photoshopping peope messed up. It’s not like this will get them any good publicity. It  makes them look like they don’t care. If it was a tiny picture on page 60, then ok – maybe it wouldn’t be noticed.. But this is the cover picture! It’s like the MOST important page!!! What if they accidentaly airbrushed one of her eyebrows off?! Or even worse.. What if they left that tiny bit ofhip in the picture!!!! OH NO!!! Can you imagine?!?!

Demi Moore is beautiful. At 47, she has an envyable body, beautiful skin, husband half her age, the list goes on.

According to spokespeople from W Magazine, the retouching was done in-house and nothing “unusual or out of the ordinary” was done. Unless Demi Moore is deformed in the hip area, I think these people are lying. They deleted a piece of her hip!!! How is that not unusual?!

Is there not an editor at  W Magazine whose job it is to check for these things before their magazine goes to print? Anyone who spent more than 5 seconds looking at this picture could see that something is clearly wrong. It’s like the Ralph Lauren ads where the model’s waist was digitally minimized to the width of her head.

I have huge issues with retouching pictures, and I honesty think that it is lying. It’s glorified lying that distorts people’s perception of what is truly beautiful. It also diminishes the our understanding of beauty when we see a real and not retouched picture. The colours just aren’t bright enough, the contrast just isn’t strong enough, the skin/eyes are the wrong colour, there’s too much arm fat, etc.. It’s getting a little ridiculous.

It makes me think that they did it on purpose. I mean, it’s such an obvious mistake. But why would they print something like that on the cover of their magazine? It can’t be to boost their sales. People aren’t going to buy their magazine because their photoshopping people messed up. It’s not like this will get them any good publicity. It  makes them look like they don’t care. If it was a tiny picture on page 60, then ok – maybe it wouldn’t be noticed.. But this is the cover picture! It’s like the MOST important page!!! What if they accidentally airbrushed one of her eyebrows off?! Or even worse.. What if they left that tiny bit of hip in the picture!!!! OH NO!!! Can you imagine?!?!