The other day, our science writer at the paper got a call from a reader wondering just how big Mars was going to look the next Sunday. Is it true it was the closest it ever has been to the Earth, and that it will appear as big as a full moon?

"No," our writer said. "Mars will be closer than usual, but it won't look much different."

"Really? Because I read about it in your newspaper."

"Well, I wrote about it a few months ago because it was going around the Internet that Mars was going to look like the moon, and that's just not true. Is that what you read?"

"No, I read that Mars was going to be as big as a full moon this Sunday."

"Where did you read that? What section?"

"The comics."

"The comics?"

"Yes, in Non Sequiter. One of the characters said Mars was going to look like the moon."

"That's just not the case. Because, you know, it is just the comics."

"I was so excited too. You need to send a note to that comics writer not to put falsehoods in his strip. It's wrong to mislead people like that."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you." (Away for the phone) "No, it's just going be look like Mars always does. I know, it" (click)