Rubrik: Worth smiling


A hotel on the Moon?

A hotel on the Moon – that sounds quite utopian if not absurd.  Fact is, there are people thinking about colonising and inhabiting space or other celestial bodies, since man has been busy flying into space. And if we believe the statements of different companies that are planning hotels beyond the Earth, there has to be a great demand. This would actually be also necessary to make this project lucrative. Or is it merely the prestige and publicity, which are reaped by such an undertaking and hence would justify it?

Columns: Worth reading, Worth seeing, Worth smiling | 8 Comments

To the hairdresser at the full moon?

You always hear that certain things should be done or left undone at certain phases of the lunar cycle, also during a full moon. You can believe it or not. It surely cannot be proven and to be honest, we are quite skeptical with regards to the attribution of human activities and lunar events. However, we would not like to exclude it – after all neither the efficacy nor the inefficacy of such theses has been proven. As long as you don’t get caught in your own convictions, it is part of people’s liberty to create their lives freely.

Columns: Worth reading, Worth seeing, Worth smiling | 4 Comments

Asterix and the full moon

Who doesn’t know them, the fearless Gauls Asterix and Obelix, who have been making the hearts of comic fans leap for joy since decades and who impress again and again through witty texts and masterful drawings. The stories originate from the pen of the French illustrator Albert Uderzo (1927–2020), who created, together with his fellow countryman René Goscinny (1926–1977), the first comic in the year 1959, and with that, brought the adventures of the brave Gaul to life.

Columns: Worth reading, Worth seeing, Worth smiling

Children of the full moon

We would like to take a quick look at people who were born at the full moon. As to this, we remind you, contrary to widely spread opinion, that there are not more children being born at the full moon than at any other point in time during the lunar phases. Extensive studies over many decades have arrived at this result. Even though, many people may perceive or experience this differently – the numbers are unmistakably clear. We have already written an article about this »More births at full moon?«. So there are as many full moon children as there are new moon children etc.

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Santa Claus in the full moon light

Ho ho ho – not long now, Christmas will bring joy to the hearts of the people and »Santa Claus« – this is how Father Christmas is called in America an many other countries – will ride with his flying sleigh across the sky at Christmas Eve, pulled by his reindeer with plenty of presents in the baggage. Looking at this imposing depiction of the nightly sleigh ride, the full moon is found quite often in the sky.

Columns: Worth reading, Worth seeing, Worth smiling | 5 Comments

Batman and the full moon

Who doesn’t know Batman, the comic hero who fights the sinister subjects of the big city at night as a bat man with super powers. Who has not seen him in movies or held one of the comic books in his hand? What we are mostly interested in, at this point, are not however, his impressive appearance, nor the trendy outfit, but the affinity to the full moon. Batman can be seen standing in front of the circular moon in countless images, his black cape blowing in the wind. And also the famous batman logo is always portrayed in connection with the moon, whether hovering against the light or as a full-moon-like light projection in the black night sky (the so-called »Bat-Signal«).

Columns: Worth reading, Worth seeing, Worth smiling

“I’ll give you the moon.”

There are movies that live on Mount Olympus. The movie “It’s a wonderful life” by Frank Capra from 1946, belongs to them. However, at the time of the release, shortly before Christmas of the aforementioned year, this had not been the case yet. Commercially, this movie was a flop and did not turn into a cult movie until decades later. Today, the story about George Bailey (played by James Stewart), who does many good deeds in a small American town, quarrels with his destiny on Christmas Eve and eventually, through meeting an unconventional angel, learns to recognise the value of life, is considered to be one of the best movies in motion picture history.

Columns: Worth loving, Worth reading, Worth seeing, Worth smiling | 2 Comments

Harry Potter and the full moon

Does it surprise anyone that the full moon plays a part in the Harry Potter novels, the most popular fantasy stories of these days. This appears to be quite natural midst all the magic. Are there differences between the individual volumes? What other connections are there with the full moon? And: Which of the performers may have possibly been born on the full moon? These questions occupied us and brought forward some astonishing details.

Initially, we searched through the texts of all seven Harry Potter books and counted how often the word »full moon« appeared. We found 13 places altogether.

Columns: Worth reading, Worth smiling

Good luck on Friday 13th

Today is Friday 13th and we wanted to take a look at, whether it is considered lucky and what this has to do with the full moon. Interestingly enough, the interpretation of the number 13 has developed in various directions in different countries and cultures and you can find as many examples for bad luck, as much as the ones that promise good luck, albeit diverse interpretations exist.

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Golf in a vacuum

Almost exactly 40 years ago, on 06.02.1971, Alan B. Shepard succeeded the furthest one-handed golf swing in history to date, as commander of the Apollo 14 mission. He did not accomplish this due to any extraordinary abilities as a golf player, but because he struck the golf ball on the moon.  And because of the prevailing, scarce amount of gravity and the absent braking effect in the atmosphere, the ball flew extremely far.

Shepard had to strike the ball one-handedly, as the rigid space suit did not allow two-handed play. He undertook four attempts and struck two balls altogether. How far exactly they flew has not been documented, however, one  can assume a couple of hundred metres. In the original audio material of NASA, you can hear Shepard saying jokingly, after his last tee off »Miles and miles and miles …«.

Columns: Worth hearing, Worth smiling | 2 Comments
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