Crastinate

In the summer of 2005, I created the Moon Phase widget for OS X Dashboard. I've written about it before.

The widget has a donation button on it which, if clicked upon, takes people to a donations page. Generous people from around the world have donated through that page, much more than I ever imagined, and I am grateful for it.

Now that I've been collecting donations for a while, I've noticed a trend. Donations tend to arrive when the Moon is full. A few more match up to when the opposite occurs - a New Moon. My guess is that people are noticing the widget when it appears different than it usually does, with some part illuminated and some part in darkness. This only happens twice a month, so the novelty is infrequent.

Many people find astrology fascinating, though it is rooted in fantasy. I find it fascinating when other objects beyond Earth actually do impact our behavior and lives. That people think to kindly send me some of their money when the Moon happens to be opposite of the Sun is just plain cool.