{"id":1266,"date":"2011-08-30T13:11:44","date_gmt":"2011-08-30T20:11:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/?p=1266"},"modified":"2011-08-30T13:11:44","modified_gmt":"2011-08-30T20:11:44","slug":"sometimes-nothing-is-better-than-something","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/2011\/08\/sometimes-nothing-is-better-than-something\/","title":{"rendered":"Sometimes Nothing is Better than Something"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Empty<\/a>

Nothing<\/p><\/div>\n

Last evening the 29th day of Ramadan 1432 came to a close. \u00a0It being the 29th day of the lunar month meant it was time to go out and look for the new moon, marking the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Shawwal and of course Eid Al-Fitr (the festival of breaking fast).<\/p>\n

Astronomically the new crescent moon was not going to be visible here in North America. \u00a0The moon was to set only 7 minutes after the sun and its elongation was below the Danjon Limt<\/a> for being easily visible with naked eyes. \u00a0We were not going to see it, but\u00a0maintaining\u00a0the tradition is just as important as seeing the moon, so off we went.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile down in South America, there was a good possibility that someone in Chile might see it and bring fasting to an end. \u00a0People in Chile were in contact with the CrescentWatch.org<\/a> project and all were ready to convey and record the sighting report. \u00a0To our surprise the report came back as Negative – crescent not seen!<\/p>\n

This seemed like the future had been sealed and fasting would continue for one more day. \u00a0But that would be too easy, right? \u00a0Suddenly, out of nowhere another independent sighting report appeared on one of the older moon sighting report websites, moonsighting.com<\/a> indicating that someone in Chile had actually seen the moon.<\/p>\n

The sleuthing began in search of that person so that the particulars could be ascertained. \u00a0Once found, it is\u00a0discovered\u00a0of course that our sighter in question only spoke\u00a0Spanish, oh wait Farsi too. \u00a0Great, find a translator and then begin the dialogue. \u00a0After much discussion, and well into the night, a decision had been reached. \u00a0Only one solitary sighting under very favorable sighting conditions did not provide the certainty needed to declare the end of \u00a0Ramadan.<\/p>\n

It was nerve racking carrying that kind of pressure knowing that the decision resting on your shoulders would effect so many people.<\/p>\n

Contrast all this with our carefree 40 minute trip up the mountain, a leisurely 1\/4 mile walk to the top of a hill overlooking the fog enshrouded canyons of the Santa Cruz Mountains and below all that the mighty Pacific Ocean. \u00a0Allow our eyes to feast on the ethereal afterglow of sunset and then enjoying a communal breaking of the day’s fast on the 29th day with good friends. \u00a0We stayed there for no more than 30 minutes when we were sure the ‘moon’ had set seeing nothing of it\u00a0at all, and then turned around and came back home. \u00a0Our conclusion as we walked back to our cars, we have one more blessed day of fasting and then we would all celebrate on the following day.<\/p>\n

In the end both\u00a0endeavors\u00a0yielded\u00a0the exact same result\u00a0– Ramadan would be a 30 day month. \u00a0Need I say which undertaking issued the greater return?<\/p>\n

Peace to you All!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last evening the 29th day of Ramadan 1432 came to a close. It being the 29th day of the lunar month meant it was time to go out and look for the new moon, marking the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Shawwal and of course Eid Al-Fitr (the festival of breaking fast).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[6,39,10],"tags":[41,491],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1266"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1275,"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266\/revisions\/1275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}