The September full moon is known as the Harvest moon. It is generally larger, and therefore appears brighter from Earth. It is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox.

It is a “Harvest moon” because farmers used to use the light given by the seemingly larger, brighter moon in order to harvest their crops, long into the night.

I bet if you tried, you’d be able to read a book with just the light of the full Harvest Moon.

(Note: The photo featured, whilst it is the september full moon, is not a harvest moon. The harvest moon for the Southern Hemisphere occurs in March, it’s autumn.)

The Freedom of the Moon - Robert Frost
I’ve tried the new moon tilted in the air
Above a hazy tree-and-farmhouse cluster
As you might try a jewel in your hair.
I’ve tried it fine with little breadth of luster,
Alone, or in one ornament combining
With one first-water start almost shining.

I put it shining anywhere I please.
By walking slowly on some evening later,
I’ve pulled it from a crate of crooked trees,
And brought it over glossy water, greater,
And dropped it in, and seen the image wallow,
The color run, all sorts of wonder follow.

Our moon is really an amazing feature of our sky. It causes our oceans to rise and fall twice a day, illuminating our sky, be it as a glimmer during Dusk just before reaching its “New Moon” phase, following the sun into night slumber, or be it in its gibbous or full phase, where it streams enough light to our land - Just barely enough to read by. The full moon causes “lunacy” - The crazed walk the streets under a full moon, dogs howl at it. There are more births as if the pull of the full moon has a tidal effect on the mother’s womb. Our months are originally structured around the full moon and there are people who rely on the full moon as a guide to when to sow seeds and when to harvest. Surely it’s no coincidence that the female cycle is roughly 28 days - the exact time it takes a moon to retreat through all its phases, returning to its full and illuminated state.

Amazingly enough, our moon is the only moon in our solar system, out of hundreds of moons, whose size and distance from its mother planet is a perfect match to completely hide the Sun when it choses to pass through such a path.

Our moon is a truly spectacular object.

Guh. Holidays ended yesterday, and I’ve still yet to go to uni. Why? I cant be fucked. Quite seriously - 7am is just too early for me at the moment, I’m dead tired from studying and, to be honest, everything I need is in the textbook. Too easy.

So I rearranged my furniture yesterday. And cleaned. Hey, I did something productive!

Kay, SCIENCE GEEK WEEKLY TIME. Bring it on, bitch!

Plants need sex too!
Many plants undergo sexual reproduction - that is - there are two cells containing half the required chromosomes - fusion of these two cells produces a viable zygote embryo.

Angiosperms, that is, flowering plants, do this through the use of their flowers. Flowers contain female (stigma) and male (anther/stamen) parts. Pollination involves a pollen grain developing a pollen tube down the female stigma, which carries the two sperm down to the ovule.

Angiosperms also undergo double fertilisation - one sperm fertilises the egg, whilst the other sperm fuses with what is known as the polar nuclei in order to form an endosperm, from which the developing embryo can gain nutrition later on.

Edit: You know what really grinds my gears? Spending 30 minutes on the phone with tech support, trying to fix a software issue with a BRAND NEW computer. Really, I shouldn’t have had to fuck around with that, as simple as it was to fix. :(

Guh. Day = getting worse.

It’s 12.22 A.M. I’ve been reading for almost two hours now, and I’m still not tired. Okay, I’m exhausted, but I can’t be bothered sleeping. There, I admited it. I don’t know why, but lately midnight seems to be the time where I most want to surf the interwebs. 1 A.M tends to be the time I actually lay my head to rest, and it’s 1.30 A.M before I’m taking a ride on the sleepy train. I hope I don’t get into too much of a habit of this, because the 7 A.M University starts will completely kick me in the arse. I may have to get up super early sometime during the week just to knock me back into my proper schedule.

So, on Friday, James decided he’d take me to go and get my iMac. At the time, Dad hadn’t deposited my birthday money and monthly budget into my account, so I was about $800NZ short for my precious iMac. James said he didn’t mind paying, and I’d pay him back as soon as the money got transfered. The plan seemed fine to me, so off we went to the nearest Apple retailer, about 5 minutes drive from my apartment, about 45 minutes drive from James’s place, at which we were currently staying. We get there, but no iMac. The new ones, apparently, have been ridiculously popular, and so most of the apple retailers were sold out. Oh wells, I said. I called up the nearest Harvey Norman - they said they had available stock: So back in the car we get, driving for 40 minutes in peak hour traffic to get to the store, only to find that the Douchebag who I spoke to on the phone failed to mention that the “available stock” was actually display stock. At this point, it’s getting relatively late, and most retail stores are starting to close up. I give in, disappointed, and tell James I’ll order the iMac through the apple store instead.

Well, on Saturday I find out that Dick Smith Electronics actually has several iMac’s in stock. I was pretty pissed off, considering that one of the Dick Smith’s was closer than the Harvey Norman we went to. I was even angrier, because I’d checked the website a few days before, and the new iMacs weren’t listed as stock. Nevertheless, I tell James, saying that there should still be stock on Monday, and we’ll go and get it then when James picks me up from the train station near his house.

James has better ideas. It’s about 20 minutes before the store closes, and he rushes out to buy the entire computer for me! It’s currently sitting at his house (”Well fed and watered,” according to James) waiting for my loving attention. And the money from Dad has been deposited now, so I’ll be paying James back first thing tomorrow morning. :D Boy, am I excited. And boy, do I love that boy. :)

So, in order to Encourage the inner science geek in all my visitors, I’ve decided that I will be posting a random, but sciency, science fact once a week. Introducing *Bah bah bummm* Science Geek Weekly! This week’s science geek delight is proudly brought to you by the solar system. Yes! :)

Seasons are not a result of the Earth being closer or further away from the Sun, like most people will proudly tell you if asked (seriously, it’s been surveyed.) - It is, instead, a result of the Earth’s axial tilt of just over 20 degrees. This tilt causes the sun’s rays to hit the northern hemisphere’s surface more directly during July and the southern hemisphere’s surface more directly during January.

Additionally, the Earth is closest to the sun during the Northern Hemisphere’s winter - if the closer-to-the-sun theory for seasons were to be correct, Summer for ALL hemispheres would be during December, when the Earth is closest to the sun. Whilst it is summer for the Southern Hemisphere, it’s definetely not summer for the Northern.