# Moon beams



## Peak and Pine (Sep 12, 2007)

Tonight we wait an hour longer for the moon.

Damn. I loves the moon light. We of deathly pallor get the turn on, dress in Cruiser black, howl at whiskey bottles. But not right now. Right now we have to wait, a whole extra hour and this makes us shaky. The internet's new. But not so the moon. We used to yell up at the moon and the messages would get delivered sometimes, but only sometimes so we couldn't waste the content. Never yell about pocket squares to the moon. Only yell important stuff, like come back Nancy or some other schmaltzy thing I shouldn't be writing. Another six months of delayed moon beams. Blaggh.


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## JerseyJohn (Oct 26, 2007)

Peak and Pine said:


> Tonight we wait an hour longer for the moon.


No, the Moon will come up as it always does: exactly as gravity and Kepler's Laws have declared. It doesn't care that the hands on our clocks say it's an hour later. I'm afraid that's _our _problem, not the Moon's :biggrin2:. Besides, if you're in Maine, you're still going to see it rise a lot sooner than we will in NJ or the rest of America!


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## Peak and Pine (Sep 12, 2007)

This is true. We do get the moon all to ourselves up here for a while.

But I'll tell you something about one of the grandest times I ever saw the moon. It's where you are right now, on a hay ride in Elizabeth a loooong time ago. If you lay down really low in the wagon you couldn't see the neon signs of the passing cocktail lounges, just the moon up high. It was chilly, but we had half-pints and sorority sisters to keep us warm, and more.


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## Cruiser (Jul 21, 2006)

Peak and Pine said:


> I loves the moon light. We of deathly pallor get the turn on, dress in Cruiser black, howl at whiskey bottles.


Hey, I'm right with you there. I love them moon beams. Add in a little new age music (I like Patrick O'Hearn), some good Tennessee Whiskey ( I know, an unlikely pairing; but it works for me), and a sweet young thing (OK, at 62 years of age the "young" things are relatively speaking); and I'm in hog heaven. And I don't even have to wear black.

Cruiser


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## JJR512 (May 18, 2010)

I've been staring at this thread for a few minutes, trying to think if I had anything useful or interesting to contribute, and a realization occurred to me. I was thinking about looking up at the moon, and I realized that whenever I imagine looking up the moon in sort of dreamy way, the place where I imagine myself doing this is usually a lake, a lake high up in a mountainous, forested area such as the mountainous areas of Arizona. However, another part of this realization was that in contrast, when I imagine myself staring at the sun—OK, not literally staring at it, but just sort of staring off into a bright blue sky with only a few clouds here and there and the sun shining down brightly—the place where I always imagine me doing this is the beach, an ocean's beach. Kind of like the one in those Corona commercials.

So I guess when it's a bright, sunny day I want to be at the beach, but when it's a dim, moony night I want to be at a lake in a forest on a mountain. I have no idea what that means or says about me.

And when I imagine myself anywhere else besides at the beach of by one of those mountain lakes, I prefer for it to be raining.


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## Peak and Pine (Sep 12, 2007)

JJR512 said:


> And when I imagine myself anywhere else besides at the beach of by one of those mountain lakes, I prefer for it to be raining.


Way to go. Let's put a gloomy damper on my little moonbeam thread.


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## JJR512 (May 18, 2010)

Peak and Pine said:


> Way to go. Let's put a gloomy damper on my little moonbeam thread.


All I said was I prefer for it to be raining. I didn't say anything about it being gloomy. If you only see gloominess in the rain, that's your own perception and problem. I see life-supporting moisture being brought to plants. I see cleansing and nurturing. I see a chance to look for rainbows.


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## Peak and Pine (Sep 12, 2007)

O where to begin.

So you see the rain as life-supporting moisture being brought to plants. You see cleansing and nurturing. No you don't. You see gloom and mud and soaked clothing and catching colds and flooded basements like the rest of us. Don't give us that load. Besides, this is about moon beams. Or was supposed to be. Bwaaaaaah, my thread's been trashed. It's also 4 a.m. Moon go home soon. Moon backs out the yard, goes down the hill. Goes to bed maybe. Me too. Further entries here cannot be made until the beams of another night.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

And I stay in, behind drawn drapes
Scared of the lunar effect, pulled this way and that, 
Woken by a shining demon in my face.
Running round the flat naked, being chased by the orb, 
Scared to sleep, unable to sleep. 
So once again out into the night as a lunatic, 
To meet the demon face to face,
To deal with my fear head on.
But I can't look for long,
He stares me down, as I look for cover
In doorways and behind buildings.
I return home tired, the waking nightmare over
And sleep in a sunlit room.



I just wrote this now having been reminded by this thread of what happened to me one full-moon winter night in
Uppsala, Sweden in 1986 in a large Victorian house. Traumatised for quite a while after that, and still not comfortable in moonlight.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

So now that means we'll be getting equal sunlight and the moon will be coming up after 8pm.


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## JJR512 (May 18, 2010)

Peak and Pine said:


> O where to begin.
> 
> So you see the rain as life-supporting moisture being brought to plants. You see cleansing and nurturing. No you don't. You see gloom and mud and soaked clothing and catching colds and flooded basements like the rest of us. Don't give us that load. Besides, this is about moon beams. Or was supposed to be. Bwaaaaaah, my thread's been trashed. It's also 4 a.m. Moon go home soon. Moon backs out the yard, goes down the hill. Goes to bed maybe. Me too. Further entries here cannot be made until the beams of another night.


Don't tell me what I see or don't see, especially after I already told you what I see. You're focusing on the negative aspects of something. As I said before, that's _your_ problem. I don't always see the positive side of things but when I do, I don't need someone to tell me I'm full of ****.

Perhaps I might feel differently about the rain if I was raised in Seattle or England. Who knows. I was raised in Phoenix, AZ until I was seven and where I moved after that, Maryland, isn't particularly rainy, either, so I welcome the rain.


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## Peak and Pine (Sep 12, 2007)

Then how's about you starting a big fat thread all about the rain, and I'll be sure to take a big wide circle all around it.

Earle, if you're up, don't know what time it is in Switzerland, but I read your piece above and would like to comment, but it's not dark here yet. Later.


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## JerseyJohn (Oct 26, 2007)

Peak and Pine said:


> But I'll tell you something about one of the grandest times I ever saw the moon. It's where you are right now, on a hay ride in Elizabeth a loooong time ago. If you lay down really low in the wagon you couldn't see the neon signs of the passing cocktail lounges, just the moon up high. It was chilly, but we had half-pints and sorority sisters to keep us warm, and more.


But how much of that was due to the moon and how much to the half-pints and sorority sisters?

If the hay ride was in Elizabeth*, it must have been a loooong time ago indeed - like about 1820 - unless you were _really _low in the wagon. Maybe we shouldn't go there ... :icon_smile_wink:

*for those unfamiliar with NJ, Elizabeth is the area just south of Newark airport.


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## JJR512 (May 18, 2010)

Peak and Pine said:


> Then how's about you starting a big fat thread all about the rain, and I'll be sure to take a big wide circle all around it.


If you don't like talking about the rain, perhaps when someone else mentions it, you should just ignore that particular comment rather than zeroing in on it.


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## Peak and Pine (Sep 12, 2007)

JerseyJohn said:


> If the hay ride was in Elizabeth*, it must have been a loooong time ago indeed - like about 1820 - unless you were _really _low in the wagon. Maybe we shouldn't go there ... :icon_smile_wink:
> 
> *for those unfamiliar with NJ, Elizabeth is the area just south of Newark airport.


It was 1963 and they would shoot the President the next day but we didn't know that that night. Elizabeth was pretty much as now. I was fresh out of Maine where real hayrides drawn by real horses through still and spooky countryside was a big deal. But in Elizabeth there were sirens and punks throwing stuff at us and the wagon stopped at traffic lights and (because we begged) at liquor stores. The moon in Elizabeth, New Jersey when I was 18 and homesick was the same moon that crossed my window in Cape Elizabeth, Maine when I was 17 and there was a comfort in that and still is, though on the Jersey ride it was abetted somewhat by a certain Southern Comfort.


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## Peak and Pine (Sep 12, 2007)

JJR512 said:


> If you don't like talking about the rain, perhaps when someone else mentions it, you should just ignore that particular comment rather than zeroing in on it.


Well I thought we were doing moon beams here, but if this thread continues we will leave little spaces for you to insert stuff about rain with a promise that none of us will never ever dump on you again for bringing it up.


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## MikeDT (Aug 22, 2009)

Peak and Pine said:


> Tonight we wait an hour longer for the moon.
> 
> Damn. I loves the moon light. We of deathly pallor get the turn on, dress in Cruiser black, howl at whiskey bottles. But not right now. Right now we have to wait, a whole extra hour and this makes us shaky. The internet's new. But not so the moon. We used to yell up at the moon and the messages would get delivered sometimes, but only sometimes so we couldn't waste the content. Never yell about pocket squares to the moon. Only yell important stuff, like come back Nancy or some other schmaltzy thing I shouldn't be writing. Another six months of delayed moon beams. Blaggh.


Sorry Peak, I don't understand this one. Is it a riddle?


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## Peak and Pine (Sep 12, 2007)

Only to JJR512 apparently.

Mike, here in the States we had to turn the clocks ahead one hour at 2 a.m. Saturday night, giving an extra hour of daylight for the next 6 months (Daylight Savings Time). Sunday night, the time of the first Moon Beam thread entry, was the first night of the extended hour.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Hi PP, it's 0920 here now in SWEDEN. I've just sat down at my work desk. Are you still up? I'm not sure what the forum is set to, it says 0020 now, I'm assuming that is EST.


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## Padme (Aug 18, 2009)

Peak and Pine said:


> Only to JJR512 apparently.
> 
> Mike, here in the States we had to turn the clocks ahead one hour at 2 a.m. Saturday night, giving an extra hour of daylight for the next 6 months (Daylight Savings Time). Sunday night, the time of the first Moon Beam thread entry, was the first night of the extended hour.


It gives you an extra hour to walk at night. It comes out while it's still light. You just watch it changing positions as darkness hits.


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## MikeDT (Aug 22, 2009)

Peak and Pine said:


> Only to JJR512 apparently.
> 
> Mike, here in the States we had to turn the clocks ahead one hour at 2 a.m. Saturday night, giving an extra hour of daylight for the next 6 months (Daylight Savings Time). Sunday night, the time of the first Moon Beam thread entry, was the first night of the extended hour.


Oh I kind of forgot about that. It's not something which happens in China.

BTW China is technically across five timezones and only has one timezone, Beijing time.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

Padme said:


> It gives you an extra hour to walk at night. It comes out while it's still light. You just watch it changing positions as darkness hits.


and the sun sets at 7pm


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## Padme (Aug 18, 2009)

It's still bright enough in our neighborhood. We've got a lot of streetlights and all the neighbors are out. I didn't have a camera with me this morning but we saw a woodpecker. My husband got me a Flip camera to record some of his metal dectecting. I wish I had had that. You could really hear him pecking at the tree limb. We saw robins, bluejays and redbirds.


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## Peak and Pine (Sep 12, 2007)

Look. Moon. No moon. Moon. No moon. Etc.










Will see if I can find pics of rain. No rain. Rain. No rain. (So JJR won't feel left out.)


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## Peak and Pine (Sep 12, 2007)

Padme said:


> My husband got me a Flip camera to record some of his metal dectecting. I wish I had had that. You could really hear him pecking at the tree limb.


Your husband must have very sharp teeth.

That I'm somewhat confused by the postings here, particularly the Earl's, adds to the charm of this, its purpose actually; moon beams are not easily understood.


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## Padme (Aug 18, 2009)

The woodpecker Peak and Pine. The woodpecker was beautiful. I think the Earl is a deep thinker. I'm just a scattered mom.

How's your little house? You haven't posted anymore on your house thread.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

Padme said:


> It's still bright enough in our neighborhood. We've got a lot of streetlights and all the neighbors are out. I didn't have a camera with me this morning but we saw a woodpecker. My husband got me a Flip camera to record some of his metal dectecting. I wish I had had that. You could really hear him pecking at the tree limb. We saw robins, bluejays and redbirds.


In our neighborhood,the streetlights are off but they don't come on until after 7pm.


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## Padme (Aug 18, 2009)

In our neighborhood, they begin to turn on at dusk, with a very low glow, then as the evening gets darker, the lights get brighter. We've got a lot of walkers, couples on bikes with dogs on leashes, kids out until it begins to get dark. The harvest moon in the fall is my favorite. It reminds me of Linus's Pumpkin Patch moon.


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## Cruiser (Jul 21, 2006)

Padme said:


> The harvest moon in the fall is my favorite. It reminds me of Linus's Pumpkin Patch moon.


It reminds me of this. Enjoy.






Cruiser


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## Padme (Aug 18, 2009)

Thanks Cruiser. I hadn't heard this song. I liked it a lot. I'll listen to it a few more times today.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Cruiser said:


> It reminds me of this. Enjoy.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I don't even need to open that link to know what song that's going to be Crusier ya old hippy!  
BTW, have you heard his latest album Le Noise?


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## WouldaShoulda (Aug 5, 2009)

Hey, this is about Moon Beams.

Not Moon Bats!!


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## TheGreatTwizz (Oct 27, 2010)

Peak and Pine said:


> It was 1963 and they would shoot the President the next day but we didn't know that that night. Elizabeth was pretty much as now. I was fresh out of Maine where real hayrides drawn by real horses through still and spooky countryside was a big deal. But in Elizabeth there were sirens and punks throwing stuff at us and the wagon stopped at traffic lights and (because we begged) at liquor stores. The moon in Elizabeth, New Jersey when I was 18 and homesick was the same moon that crossed my window in Cape Elizabeth, Maine when I was 17 and there was a comfort in that and still is, though on the Jersey ride it was abetted somewhat by a certain Southern Comfort.


What a way to remember the 21st of November, 1963. I happen to be just a bit young to remember that, but I do vividly recall the OKC bombing and 9/11.

At that time, in NJ, you could buy liquor at 18!


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## JerseyJohn (Oct 26, 2007)

TheGreatTwizz said:


> At that time, in NJ, you could buy liquor at 18!


A brief Arcadian era in which I was actually 18-21! I remember going with my girlfriend (now my wife) to a bar to celebrate her 18th. Her driver's license only had the month and year (it was the 9th of the month); but when we explained it was her birthday, the bartender said "OK, I'll chance it". We had beer and steamed clams.

The switch from 21 to 18 in NJ killed the great rock clubs on Staten Island. NY drinking age had always been 18 at that time, and SI was the closest and easiest place for NJ teens to hit the NY bars. The multitude of clubs on Hylan Blvd depended on an enormous teen migration from NJ to "the island" every Friday night - girls over 15 (with phony ID, if necessary) and the guys who love them. With the drop in age from 21 to 18 in NJ, SI lost its attraction and most of the clubs eventually closed - the end of an era (prompted also by drunk-driving lawsuits and the attendant insurance premiums, I suspect).


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## TheGreatTwizz (Oct 27, 2010)

JerseyJohn said:


> A brief Arcadian era in which I was actually 18-21! I remember going with my girlfriend (now my wife) to a bar to celebrate her 18th. Her driver's license only had the month and year (it was the 9th of the month); but when we explained it was her birthday, the bartender said "OK, I'll chance it". We had beer and steamed clams.
> 
> The switch from 21 to 18 in NJ killed the great rock clubs on Staten Island. NY drinking age had always been 18 at that time, and SI was the closest and easiest place for NJ teens to hit the NY bars. The multitude of clubs on Hylan Blvd depended on an enormous teen migration from NJ to "the island" every Friday night - girls over 15 (with phony ID, if necessary) and the guys who love them. With the drop in age from 21 to 18 in NJ, SI lost its attraction and most of the clubs eventually closed - the end of an era (prompted also by drunk-driving lawsuits and the attendant insurance premiums, I suspect).


Similar thing happened in PA around my mom's age of reasons, and she tells me the stories all the time of crossing the bridge to NJ to drink. Man....the things I would give to have 18-19 year old girls at the bar.....drunk......legally......


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## JerseyJohn (Oct 26, 2007)

Tonight (Friday, 3/18) is the full moon. It's supposed to be especially bright. It's already well up in NJ as I write.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

JerseyJohn said:


> Tonight (Friday, 3/18) is the full moon. It's supposed to be especially bright. It's already well up in NJ as I write.


It's a supermoon.


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## Apatheticviews (Mar 21, 2010)

Howard said:


> It's a supermoon.


Vulnerable to Kryptonite, and possessing abilities beyond the ken of mortal moons.


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## JJR512 (May 18, 2010)

This morning I had to be in a small town near Cumberland, MD, which is about 130 miles away, a 2.5 hour drive. I was out of the house by about 5:30 am and the moon, huge and reddish, hung low over the horizon. I got on the highway heading west, directly into the moon, and I felt a pull on my soul. _Keep going west_, the pull said. I don't think it meant for me to stop near Cumberland. Was I supposed to follow it forever? Was I supposed to stop in my home state of Arizona, where I'd much rather be? I don't know. All I know is that for a little while, it was just me and the moon.


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## JerseyJohn (Oct 26, 2007)

We watched the "super-moon" rise tonight. It was rather disappointing, perhaps because the sky is especially clear, so it didn't look especially big. It came up in NJ around 7:45. It should be rising in central PA as I write.


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## MikeDT (Aug 22, 2009)

This 'super-moon' woke me up at 03.20(Beijing time) this Sunday morning. Unusually bright and shining right through the window and directly into my face as I was lying in bed.


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## Cruiser (Jul 21, 2006)

OK, it's time for my personal all time favorite moon song, "_Yellow Moon_" by the Neville Brothers, joined here by John Hiatt. If you don't like this song, you just ain't right. :icon_smile:

https://www.myspace.com/video/vid/55392714

Cruiser


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## Regillus (Mar 15, 2011)

I just happened to recall; back about 1983-84; one night in Florida. I came out of my place to walk next door, and I just happened to glance back and up and I saw several rings around the Moon. Now it's a rare occurrence to see even one ring around the Moon - a blue ring makes it a "blue moon." As best as I can recall I saw; starting at the innermost ring and going to the outermost ring; a white, red, yellow, green, and then blue ring. Except for the white ring; it was the same order as prism colors. I stopped for a short while to look at it, since I knew this was an extremely rare event - likely to last only a few minutes. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. So I go next door for a while, and when I came back out I looked to see if the rings were fading already, and yes they were. I caught it at just the right time when the colors were brightest.


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## Cruiser (Jul 21, 2006)

Regillus said:


> it's a rare occurrence to see even one ring around the Moon - a blue ring makes it a "blue moon."


As a longtime amateur astronomer I must say that this is one definition of a "blue moon" that I'm not familiar with. The generally accepted definitions revolve around the number of full moons that occur. For example, when there are 4 full moons in a season instead of the normal 3, the 4th one is often called a blue moon. Also, when there are 2 full moons in a calendar month, the 2nd one is often referred to as a blue moon. These definitions have nothing to do with color.

As for rings aroung the moon, these aren't as rare as you suggest. They are caused when moonlight is reflected off of ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. The colors that you saw was indeed the prism effect caused by the light waves being broken down by the ice crystals, the same thing that happens when light is refracted by glass. This is the same thing that produces rainbows; the sunlight is refracted by the water in the atmosphere. :icon_smile:

Cruiser


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## JJR512 (May 18, 2010)

Cruiser said:


> As a longtime amateur astronomer I must say that this is one definition of a "blue moon" that I'm not familiar with. The generally accepted definitions revolve around the number of full moons that occur. For example, when there are 4 full moons in a season instead of the normal 3, the 4th one is often called a blue moon. Also, when there are 2 full moons in a calendar month, the 2nd one is often referred to as a blue moon. These definitions have nothing to do with color.
> 
> As for rings aroung the moon, these aren't as rare as you suggest. They are caused when moonlight is reflected off of ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. The colors that you saw was indeed the prism effect caused by the light waves being broken down by the ice crystals, the same thing that happens when light is refracted by glass. This is the same thing that produces rainbows; the sunlight is refracted by the water in the atmosphere. :icon_smile:
> 
> Cruiser


These are the definitions of "blue moon" with which I am familiar, especially the second one.

As for the rings, consider the location he was in. Florida. Florida might not see them as often.


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