Today’s horoscope says: Expect some angry emails.
Early this morning I get the call from Lori, my Director at Discovery News, saying, “You’re appearing on FOX this morning!”
My morning-addled brain started wondering why. Was it because of the tech article I wrote about dousing superconductors in wine? Or was it about the Playboy Playmate picture that flew to the moon in 1969? Or had some massive piece of space news broken while I was asleep? Perhaps FOX News needed a space expert to explain some uber-cool cosmic discovery!
Alas, no.
They wanted me to explain an article I nearly didn’t bother writing: “Your Star Sign Just Got Rumbled.”
I nearly didn’t bother writing about this as I didn’t consider it “news.” I just saw a lot of fuss on Twitter about a change in the Zodiac and did some investigating. I won’t go over this non-news event again (you can read my article for the details), but for some reason the fact that astrology is bunk seemed to surprise people.
“I’m so depressed. How do I tell my wife that I’m now a Taurus?” — too funny.
The FOX News chat was fun, but there wasn’t nearly enough time to go into all the gory details. Have a watch, I thought it was quite entertaining. (I’ve heard that this YouTube video might not be available beyond the U.S. — let me know if you have problems.)
The upshot is that astrology isn’t a science. Astronomy is. So when scientists try to find some astronomical link between how the stars can influence our everyday lives — even shape our personalities — we will ultimately be disappointed. This frustration is evident in my article.
Astrologers acknowledge that there is a zodiacal shift — they’d be silly not to, there’s an obvious precession in the Earth’s rotation, or 26,000 year “wobble” — but this shift is in the “sidereal zodiac.” Astrologers have side-stepped this out-of-sync problem by pointing out that they use the “tropical zodiac” which is based on the seasons and not the positions of the constellations — Constance Stella touches on this in the FOX News interview. Hence why everyone getting worked up about a change in their star sign is erroneous. Sure, this fixes the problem, ensuring they keep 12 signs of the zodiac (avoiding the “extra” 13th constellation, the now famous Ophiuchus), but it begs the question: What’s the point in astrology if astrologers don’t care if there’s a drift between the traditional zodiac (written up by Babylonian astrologers 3000 years ago) and today’s corrected zodiac?
(Also, isn’t there another way of predicting future events through the seasons, split into 12 sections? Oh yes, it’s a… calendar.)
I think all this confusion only adds doubt in people’s minds about the validity of modern horoscopes. They are nothing more than fairy tales.
Before I get flamed in the comment boxes about me “trampling” on people’s beliefs and that astrologers have done nothing wrong, consider this. Astrology will always be here so long as people want to hear positive things about their future, regardless of the fact that it’s complete and utter nonsense. Most will call it “entertainment,” while others will spend a fortune getting “detailed forecasts” of junk from the likes of Jonathan Cainer. Where there’s belief in some supernatural “force” (not a real force by the way), there’s money and plenty of modern astrologers who will be able to make a living.
So there you go. A non-news event that culminated in an appearance on national television. While fun, I think I’ll be getting back to the science now…
astroengine.com 
Well Ian, i really wish i could see the interview on youtube, i love this kinds of “clash” but it seems since i’m outside the US (brazil) i can’t
…
Until a few years ago i used to just be baffled about how many people believe in astrology, nothing beyond my natural skepticism, but one of the comical truths Mr Douglas Adams left on “the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy” was about astrology, ok it was in that bad last book, but still i enjoyed and i’d like to share my joy and bliss (double rainbow all the way)
“astrology’s nothing to do with astronomy. It’s just to do with people thinking about people.”
or for a longer quote:
From the Mostly Harmless:
-Tricia just looked bewildered.
“I know that astrology isn’t a science,’ said Gail. “Of course it isn’t. It’s just an arbitrary set of rules like chess or tennis or, what’s that strange thing you British play?’
“Er, cricket? Self-loathing?”
“Parliamentary democracy. The rules just kind of got there. They don’t make any kind of sense except in terms of themselves. But when you start to exercise those rules, all sorts of processes start to happen and you start to find out all sorts of stuff about people. In astrology the rules happen to be about stars and planets, but they could be about ducks and drakes for all the difference it would make. It’s just a way of thinking about a problem which lets the shape of that problem begin to emerge. The more rules, the tinier the rules, the more arbitrary they are, the better. It’s like throwing a handful of fine graphite dust on a piece of paper to see where the hidden indentations are. It lets you see the words that were written on the piece of paper above it that’s now been taken away and hidden. The graphite’s not important. It’s just the means of revealing their indentations. So you see, astrology’s nothing to do with astronomy. It’s just to do with people thinking about people.”
“Not available in your country” – Bugga! So we down-under can’t have a good laugh today at what passes as “news” on Fox. I’ll have to make my own fun. … I’m picturing Elaine from Seinfeld … Stellaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
What’s funny is that the eqinoctal points are still fixed with the vernal and autumnal eqiunox and the physical tilt of the Earth’s axis which causes the seasons, therefore the appeal to a tropical year based zodiac is meaningless. Wrote about this years ago: http://astroguyz.com/2007/07/31/astrology-an-astronomical-perspective/
So I guess I’m a “insert new sign here” now…(looks for the general description of a “new sign goes here” and changes lifestyle and personality completely).
I wonder how many people will do that.
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so i guess i’m a virgo now…
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