For all you astronomy lovers out there, a lunar eclipse will occur tonight between 0301 and 0351 GMT (that's 10:01pm to 10:51pm Eastern time). According to some science type people, the moon will not totally disappear. Rather, it will turn red. Exciting. I know.
Lunar eclipses are actually regular things and are very predictable. The human race has been predicting them for hundreds of years, which leads us to the reason why Christopher Columbus was an A-hole, besides the fact that he had a vanity plate, wore trucker hats, and called everyone "Sport."
Apparently, when Chris was exploring the New World, he managed to anger the local natives in Jamaica. Evidently, this was before the advent of the Rastafarian movement and rampant weed smoking. Understandably, the natives were much more hostile than today. Columbus and his crew were running low on supplies, and the locals were refusing to help them. The locals may have been upset about all the raping and pillaging, but let's not jump to conclusions.
Anyway, Columbus took out his handy-dandy German astrology almanac (who doesn't have one of those laying around?) and realized that a lunar eclipse was imminent. He called the tribe leaders and told them that if they didn't cooperate, he would make the moon disappear from the sky. Sure enough, the eclipse occurred, and the locals begged Columbus to restore the moon. Chris and company, after laughing at the natives, got their supplies and continued exploring the New World.
So instead of playing nice with the natives, Columbus opted to be an A-hole. I'm not saying I wouldn't have done the same thing - everyone likes a good prank war. It's just I usually prank people who are capable of retaliating or at least understanding that they, in fact, had been pranked and not encountered some powerful witch doctor that can make celestial bodies disappear and reappear. Either way, I'm sure Columbus got his mileage out of the story back in Spain.
And that concludes today's history lesson.
Lunar eclipses are actually regular things and are very predictable. The human race has been predicting them for hundreds of years, which leads us to the reason why Christopher Columbus was an A-hole, besides the fact that he had a vanity plate, wore trucker hats, and called everyone "Sport."
Apparently, when Chris was exploring the New World, he managed to anger the local natives in Jamaica. Evidently, this was before the advent of the Rastafarian movement and rampant weed smoking. Understandably, the natives were much more hostile than today. Columbus and his crew were running low on supplies, and the locals were refusing to help them. The locals may have been upset about all the raping and pillaging, but let's not jump to conclusions.
Anyway, Columbus took out his handy-dandy German astrology almanac (who doesn't have one of those laying around?) and realized that a lunar eclipse was imminent. He called the tribe leaders and told them that if they didn't cooperate, he would make the moon disappear from the sky. Sure enough, the eclipse occurred, and the locals begged Columbus to restore the moon. Chris and company, after laughing at the natives, got their supplies and continued exploring the New World.
So instead of playing nice with the natives, Columbus opted to be an A-hole. I'm not saying I wouldn't have done the same thing - everyone likes a good prank war. It's just I usually prank people who are capable of retaliating or at least understanding that they, in fact, had been pranked and not encountered some powerful witch doctor that can make celestial bodies disappear and reappear. Either way, I'm sure Columbus got his mileage out of the story back in Spain.
And that concludes today's history lesson.
