Moon Cursor 2 replaces the spinning wristwatch in the Finders accompanying systems 6.0x and 4.2. On any occasion when the hands on the wristwatch would toll the time, you will have the phases of the moon to keep you company.
Moon Cursor 2 is copyright 1990 by Jim Trudeau, 5 Broadmoor Drive, Cumberland Center, ME USA 04021. Moon Cursor 2 is distributed for free under the Happiware system, which means if you like it, remember to smile. If you think it is worth the bother (and you live outside of Maine), send me a postcard of where you live. Pretty stamps are appreciated in this household. I can be reached on GEnie at JTRUDEAU2. Anyone may upload this little ditty to any bulletin board or electronic retrieval system, provided this documentation accompanies Moon Cursor 2. It may not be sold, nor may any charge be imposed for distributing it other than reasonable fees for copying that may be charged by user groups and the like, or charges for on-line time while downloading from electronic bulletin boards and networks.
To install Moon Cursor 2, open it using ResEdit. Then select both the acur and the CURS resources (shift/click on both). When they are both highlighted, choose COPY from the Edit menu, or type command-C. Then close Moon Cursor 2. Still in ResEdit, open the Finder you wish to change. Once the Finder is open, choose Paste from the Edit menu, or type command-V. ResEdit automatically replaces the wristwatch with the moon phase cursor. Save the new Finder, quit ResEdit, and you are all done. Very simple. To see the new cursor, replace your current Finder with the revised version you just created. Then do something that takes time, like opening a big folder or copying a file.
As always (and especially in ResEdit), work on a COPY of both Moon Cursor 2 and the Finder you are changing.
The moon in Moon Cursor 2 is astronomically accurate within the limits of the cursor size and shape. The grey areas are the maria, or "seas" on the face of the moon. In fact these are large relatively flat areas formed by volcanic activity after the moon was heavily cratered during its formation. The maria are relatively darker than the highlands and craters and so appear grayish to our eyes when we look at the moon.
The original Moon Cursor used 24 images in its animation, the first being the new moon (a black circle). It also had a couple of random pixels I missed when cleaning up the images. Moon Cursor 2 eliminates the mistakes, and runs through 28 images instead of 24. Since the lunar month is about 28.5 days, the newer version gives you one image for each night╒s view of the moon for any lunar month. The resulting animation is both more accurate astronomically and a little smoother. If you have two floppy disk drives, I have found the smoothest animation is while making a disk-to-disk copy in Finder 6.1.
Rather than the new moon, version 2 starts the animation with the thinnest crescent moon. I found that the first image would remain on the screen for long periods on many occasions. I thought the crescent moon was prettier and a little more noticeable. Besides, the view of the young crescent moon in the twilit sky just after sunset is one of the most beautiful astronomical sights the naked eye can behold. Go take a look the next time you have clear skies a couple of days after the new moon. And enjoy.
