Lunar Networks

This blog is an excellent one for your studies of the Moon:
http://lunarnetworks.blogspot.com/

Now I have to figure out how to do a blogroll on the sidebar to the right.

Yes. Now please refer to the sidebar at the right.

Files (a possible situation)

Someone in an office might be sorting through some files and suddenly come upon something unexpected, something odd. Something could be missing, or perhaps there are some photographs or a manuscript or a receipt that someone was trying to hide, or had forgotten about, or had been distracted from, or had lost. Or maybe it’s something that wasn’t so interesting at one point but is more interesting now. Possibly someone could have planted something that would be of interest later, if found. So many files are simply kept.

Have you heard of the moon?

Who hasn’t heard of the moon? Is there a single person on this planet who would return only a blank stare if asked about the moon? I mean, besides an infant or someone who’s demented. I can’t recall learning about the moon, or when it was first pointed out to me. It became interesting to me over the course of time. My initial knowledge of the moon seems to predate any specific memories of it. I’m not sure if the idea of the moon came from someone indicating the object in the sky, or if it first appeared to me in pictures. Whatever the case, is the moon universally known? Is there someone in a perpetually cloudy place who has never encountered any reference to the moon, or who doesn’t know anyone who might have spoken of it? Someone who never goes out at night, or who never looks up? Someone who has continually pressing concerns of an earthly nature, or who might be locked up or trapped? But in general it hardly seems to be a matter of knowledge or ignorance. The presence of the moon is just a fact of experience. Is there someone who doesn’t know about the sun? Sure, it’s obvious that there is light during the daytime, but is there someone who is fundamentally in the dark with respect to where this light comes from? Theories about the sun or the moon could be various, but who doesn’t know what’s being talked about when either is mentioned? I suppose there could be plenty of people who are indifferent with respect to the sun or the moon. Abstractly they might be concerned if something should happen to either, but this possibility might not seem likely or relevant to them. The sequence of day and night, or even perhaps the presence of the earth below us and the air which we breathe, someone might say, are basic facts of the world that needn’t be further questioned. Or else, there are so many other things to occupy us. We can worry about the air we breathe and simply take the sun for granted, if we have to. Anyway, there’s hardly any point to my question here. I’m sure everyone knows about the moon, or just about everyone. There is no reason why we should all be astronomers.

*ETA - Rather than "demented" I would now substitute the term "mentally discombobulated."

"Mainstream Culture"

When I look at a bestseller list showing that week's most popular books or albums, or when I look at the list of the most watched films or television programs, typically I can expect to see just a few items that I personally am into. In other words, these lists of what is popular do not represent my own interests very well. Thus, I seem to be a bit out of step with what we might call "mainstream culture." But my own tastes aren't necessarily odd; I probably fit nicely into a fairly well-known demographic so that what I like in books and movies and so on can be fairly predicted as mainstream within that demographic.

In fact, I wonder if anyone looks at bestseller lists and sees their own tastes reflected in a majority of the items there. I don't know the answer to this. These bestseller lists could just be aggregates of the tastes of a number of well-known demographics, and if there is not a majority of people who find that their tastes are represented by a majority of the items on the bestseller lists, then those people who do find that they are into a majority of the things on the bestseller lists could in fact be a minority. This would mean that the people most into "mainstream culture" are not themselves mainstream, exactly.