Quoting from Omar's post: "Very occasionally, the moon actually does appear
to be blue."
I don't know which philosopher it is, but surely one of them out there
echoes my contention that if the moon "appears" blue then the moon is
blue. Is is as is, not as it "really" is under some other circumstance.
In fact, considering that color is but the name given to a certain
frequency of electromagnetic radiation that is visible (to most humans) there's
no such thing as the "true" color of anything. Color is predicated only of
objects that reflect electromagnetic radiation and then only when the
reflected radiation is apprehended by the sight sensors. So the moon is
sometimes white, sometimes blue, sometimes orange, sometimes redish,
sometimes otherwise. The moon has no COLOR it has reflectors only. Now my
contention is that ALL the rest of our experiences of the world are of the
same problematic schema. We deal with it as it appears to us at this or
that time, never, knowingly, never as it truly is. Truth has varying
wavelengths. We are but our senses. Amen. Yes, I do love the term:
"electromagnetic radiation". In fact, I genuflect to it though I hardly
know what it means.
On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 10:46 AM, Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Vaguely interesting.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/once-in-a-blue-moon.html
Very occasionally, the moon actually does appear to be blue. This
sometimes occurs after a volcanic eruption, like that of Krakatao in 1883.
Dust particles in the atmosphere are normally of a size to diffract blue
light, making the moon appear reddish at sunset. Larger volcanic dust
particles diffract red light, making the moon appear bluish.
