Sample Horoscope

One day, I went down the aisles of my grade 10 science class asking the kids their birthdays. Each was given the appropriate horoscope. Here's Aries:

Aries – March 21- April 19

You have had some difficulties in the recent past. Sometimes you wonder who your best friends are, or will be in the future.

Someone's words will take on a tone of intensity for you now. Don't fall into a dark, brooding mood as a result. It's good to clear the air, and time to break your silence.

There's high drama on your schedule for the next couple of days, so prepare yourself. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Still, you might want to warn your close friends.

Some encounters will be a very significant -- some more pleasantly so than others. Think of it this way -- you have a choice about how to use this energy, so use it to its best ends.

You're in the mood to catch up on the latest scoop, but your family and friends have been a little too intense for your tastes -- at the moment, anyway. Let them talk, and just listen closely. Your turn will be coming up soon.

I asked the kids to put up their hand if they felt the horoscope was accurate. Hands went up around the room. Then I had them pass it to the person beside them. They started to laugh because all the horoscopes were the same. (I made it up.) It's so easy to persuade people of the truth of something so loony (luney?) as astrology. And easy to demonstrate how false it is. Still, few believers can ever be persuaded otherwise.

BTW: Not a single person pointed out that in the second paragraph I advised them to speak out, but in the last paragraph to just listen.

On Astrology
I notice in my Blog profile, my sign of the zodiac is listed. I regret this, but it comes with the territory.

I would rather not have my sign showing, for the simple reason that it reinforces the fraud/delusion/hoax that is astrology. You may say, “Come on, it’s just for fun. Nobody expects that the little reference to astrological sign will have any significant effect.” Try saying something similar to Big Tobacco, which pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to have a star smoke a cigarette once in a picture, just an incidental smoke. Tiny references add up.

Astrology, horoscopes, signs…the whole thing is of course demonstrably false. Experiments show that the location of Mars, say, in the sky when you were born has zero effect on whether you will lose your wallet today or marry a tall, dark stranger tomorrow. Same with the Sun. And to top it off, the dates are wrong. I’m supposed to be a Virgo, meaning that the Sun was in Virgo when I was wrong. Well, it wasn’t. ALL the dates are wrong. Yours, too. That means you have been reading the wrong horoscope in the newspaper all your life. You’ve been waiting for, or avoiding (they cover themselves by giving two options) the wrong person all this time!

Seriously, the fact that so many people accept astrology (and ghosts, ESP, werewolves, psychic fairs, etc.) as valid is disconcerting to me…especially as I am a physics teacher. Carl Sagan said “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence before they should be accepted.” I find it unfortunate that so many people accept stuff for which there is no evidence or even evidence to the contrary.

Pertinent quotes on this subject:
Sagan – “Don’t be so open-minded that your brains fall out.”
Person sitting before a “psychic”, after being asked his name, “Why do you need to ask?”
Me: Did ANYBODY forecast 9-11? (Answer: no.)