But I say… I’d rather spend the money on space exploration than most social programs. At least then I know where my money has been spent on.

Your problem *would* be the same as that of people that say “evolution is just a theory” without understanding the proper meaning of the word “theory” … except neither of the astrologers pointer out the difference between signs and constellations either! Your post implies that quite a few more astrologers have failed to correct you either; how many?

I was thinking one could use a mirror array to direct the light from a telescope to the spectrometer. Nowadays people drill out holes in a plate and channel it the SM with optical fiber. I concluded it probably wasn’t worth it.

Its hard to understand why a good astronomer like you does this thing.

Errrr…because he’s a good astronomer?

@ Derek 51
Although some of the astrology stuff almost made me choke (OK I was drinking soup at the same time – I should have seen that coming) she’s not entirely a million miles of base about the water.

Yes, we can technically purify the most pollutd water on the planet, however doing it cost efficiently and getting it to where it is needed is an entirely different matter. Demand for fresh water keeps increasing in almost all societies. There is a serious possibility (sorry, no references to hand so anecsdoteville at the moment) that easy access to water could become a serious matter of contention betwen nations in the not too distant future.

As for the rest of what she says, yeah OK fruitloop

*wait for it*

Except, of course, a willingness to abdicate your will to someone else. And that someone else is charging you up the wazoo (or just to your ankles) with what he/she considers a “science.”

You could probably get the same kind of service from a “mentalist” for much less (well, maybe up to the ankles), or from a therapist for considerably more. At least the mentalist will be entertaining you and giving you a good show.

As had been previously stated, there is no known mechanism by which the planets or stars can influence one’s life. More so, why the stars and planets would pick only the day you were born to exert their influence is beyond, well, reality. (“Birth” just seems too arbitrary for one to be given such a celestial influence. Does a C-section still count? What about twins?)

By all rights, astrology should’ve gone in the Great Circular File of History when it was discovered by scientists that giant crystal spheres embedded with stars and planets (oh, and the moon and the sun) that encircled the earth did not exist. Instead, as it turns out, the earth and planets orbit the sun, the moon circles the earth, and the stars are at varying astronomical lengths away from our solar system.

Despite this newly discovered information (and by “newly,” I mean “hundreds-of-years old), Cunningham wants a national astrologer? What the frak! If astrology is a religion, then no frakking way should that happen.

Astrology still speaks volumes on the lack of critical thinking in society. Makes you want to facepalm most every time.

I remember 2000 well (actually, 1999, when we did all the work.) Checked millions of lines of code, discovered a handful of bugs, none serious, missed one (a report that printed the date as January 1, 19100 because it appended a 2-digit year to “19″, and the 2 digits suddenly became 3 digits…) Like all the bugs, it could be easily fixed with a pencil. Oh, well.

Anyway, are we going to have to go through that all again in 2012? Check for things like assuming the day after Dec 31, 2012 is … Oops, it doesn’t exist! The program will break! Arghhh!!! Run for your lives!

Actually, Richard, Astrology was originally the calendar, and astrologers were the 1st keepers of calendars for primitve societies. These calendar keeprs counted lunations and kept the times, This allowed them to predict the times to plant and harvest foods. Even nomatic people needed to live lives in keeping with a calendar.

These calender keepers later in some societies became the parasitic priest class that lived in temples and required as much “mystery” as they could generate to remain parasites, living off the work of others in the community.

The very elaborate calenders which were horoscope birth charts were just complicated calenders.

Too much emphasis is put on the horoscope aspects. Some of the Mayan and Aztec Calender wheels are works of art.

Wait until 2012 and the Woo will flow. Too many of the gullible people do not understand the the Mayan and Aztecs understood the concept of the number zero and carrying over numbers to the next column. I fear the next few years will be just like the magical fear of the year 2000.

It too will two pass.

I think it will provide the answers to your question.

- Lars

What is your problem with someone believing in Astrology? Its a religion and people will believe and follow it whether you like it or not. Does it really matter whether Astrology is Bull or Not? We have so much to do and discover in science. Then why this tirade against astrology? Why cant we focus on science.

Its hard to understand why a good astronomer like you does this thing.

regards
Deepak

To be fair, I think she was making a comparison with a stated LRO mission objective of finding water on the moon.

Still a nutjob, though. Maybe she should take up dowsing to help her find water here at home.

Does she have a hard time finding water or something?

It’s all that ‘homepathic water’, after all, how do you purify water when the more you dilute it, the more ‘effective’ it becomes?

J/P=?

We can ALREADY do that, with even the most contaminated water we can find. So, what in blazes hell is the women talking about?

Does she have a hard time finding water or something?

Here’s the trick: create a webmail account for questionable sites that request one, I have johnparadox@lycos.com as a filter account. I get 5-10 hits per day (lower numbers on weekends, as many as 20 – in the inbox, with another 50? already filtered during the week)
When the new stuff comes in, use checkboxes to ‘create filter/mark as spam’ to have any future mail from the same address automatically sent to the spam folder.
I also check through the spam for the really imaginative ‘nigerian money’ scams, and put them into a ‘favorite scams’ folder… and occasionally use the same account for ‘real’ email, but not often.

J/P=?

Which brings me to this…one of the quickest ways to debunk astrologers is to call their calculations into question. Donna Cunningham, for instance, claims Uranus was in Gemini, Neptune in Virgo, and Pluto in Leo, when she was born, and of course these influenced her path in life. Well, she got one in three correct, as Uranus was in Taurus and Pluto was in Cancer. Call this to their attention and let the hellfire rain!

Hehehehehe…..

RE: Astrology/Religion – what has really made my shake my head in the past is how a person can chuckle and shake their head at the concept of astrology, then head to church and worship a flying spaghetti monster… So astrology is whacky because planets and stars can’t really influence our moods or outcomes, but if I pray to that imaginary being in the sky enough, he can really change things! Wawaweewah! Religious people are so confused… “That other religion/belief is sooo silly, but mine is for reals because I’m sure of it!” /sigh

Sometimes the BULL gets you.

In astrology, it’s either one or the other. Every time.

What gets me about astrologers is when they say certain planets (they list the Sun as a “planet”) and constellations have an influence on our lives. If the constellation Virgo can influence us, why don’t they also talk about Carina, or Ophiuchus, or Draco doing the same?

Pluto is also described as having an influence, despite its size. Yet they don’t factor in Eris having more of an influence, since it’s larger than Pluto. And if the Sun is, astrologically speaking, a planet, then why don’t they mention the “planets” Alpha Centauri A, Sirius, or Procyon affecting us? By astrology’s definition they should, since they’re larger and more luminous than the Sun.

And what of the 300-plus extrasolar planets that have been discovered? Where is their influence, Mr. or Ms. Astrologer? Hmmmm?

Astrologers produce more hockey than the Stanley Cup playoffs.