Tag: April Fool

April the First strikes again

In March, Covid restrictions were partially lifted in Britain. Infections then rose to record levels. New cases increased by a million a week. A new variant of the virus, called BA.2, was even more transmissible than previous ones.

See the end note about enlarging illustrations.

So, in accordance with scientists’ advice, the government decreed that restrictions should return, on April 1.

April Fool! No, that ALL restrictions be lifted. And tests will no longer be free or charge. No more need for face masks or social distancing (except by scientists and other members of the cautious minority).

 

And April in the sky

Venus continues her reign as glorious Evening Star.

Fooled again. That’s the sky a year from now, in what we hope will be better times.

The bright planets are still on the morning side of the Sun,

as explained by this solar-system diagram fromn Astronomical Calendar 2022,

 

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ILLUSTRATIONS in these posts are made with precision but have to be inserted in another format.  You may be able to enlarge them on your monitor.  One way: right-click, and choose “View image”, then enlarge.  Or choose “Copy image”, then put it on your desktop, then open it.  On an iPad or phone, use the finger gesture that enlarges (spreading with two fingers, or tapping and dragging with three fingers).  Other methods have been suggested, such as dragging the image to the desktop and opening it in other ways.

Sometimes I make improvements or corrections to a post after publishing  it.  If you click on the title, rather than on ‘Read more’, I think you are sure to see the latest version.  Or you can click ‘Refresh’ to get the latest version.

This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the sun.

 

Loonar dream house

Hurry!  You can put down a deposit of only £4,400,000 (dollars, multiply by 1.39) for the first house on the Moon.  The price is only £44,525,536.42, and your monthly exoenses will be only £234,000 – mortgage, water, power, food, meteor protection, and average property markup of 27.61 percent.

So says a message received from Eve (and Adam?) today, March 30.  Postal and trash collection services, school and medical facilities, and council tax – oh, and oxygen – are not mentioned or may be in the small print.  The message must have got past the spam filter quicker than expected, being surely intended for tomorrow, April 1.

I agree that from the lonely luxury of my lunar mansion I would have the purest view of the starry universe, and of a gray desert.  Nevertheless, you couldn’t pay me to take up the offer, let alone ask me to pay the millions I don’t have.  I’d rather live amid air, trees, clouds, and all the hazes created by man and other biota, and forgive them for interfering with the sky.

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This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the sun.