IT Career Horoscopes

HRHsoleil writes "If you're addicted to horoscopes, you going to love these Horoscopes for geeks." Mine was surprisingly accurate, thus proving beyond a shadow of a doubt the power that a gaseous orb a zillion miles away exhibits upon my laptop.

Comments

Umm...no..

[Gibble]

If you try to stay in control, you will only set yourself up for disappointment. Let go. Focus on projects that will benefit others and show off your altruistic side. Your co-workers look up to you more than you think. Problem-solving discussions are fruitful -- as long as you don't forget to follow up your words with concrete action. This is a good time to take a second look at an idea you've previously discarded. You've got a new frame of reference and will be able to see farther down the road than most. Be sure to pay attention to financial responsibilities and investments

Yeah right, the day "Problem-solving discussions are fruitful" is the day hell freezes over.

Re:Umm...no..

[Frymaster]

Yeah right, the day "Problem-solving discussions are fruitful" is the day hell freezes over.

you seem to have a problem with meetings. care to discuss it?

Re:Umm...no..

[Frothy Walrus]

Agreed. There room for creative problem solving though.

Re:Umm...no..

[Anonymous Coward]

WTF's wrong with the mod who modded this a "Troll"... it's FUNNY. It's SARCASM, you dumb ass.

Don't worry Frymaster, I modded you "Funny".

Re:Umm...no..

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey now! HOW FUCKING DARE you suggest that the mods here are anything less then perfect GODS! Why, just this morning, CmdTaco walked on water to get to a stranded motorist and jacked their car up LEFT NUT!

Re:Umm...no..

[Anonymous Coward]

OH GOOD GOD MY EYES IT BURNS!!

don't click on that link. you have been warned.

Look Into Their Crystal Ball

[Mr. Fusion]

I see lots of spam mail from registration in your future...

Excuse me, those are newsletters

-Mr. Fusion

Re:Look Into Their Crystal Ball

[CGP314]

I see lots of spam mail from registration in your future...

I see a larger penis in your future...

Re:Look Into Their Crystal Ball

[Anonymous Coward]

Believe it. I used to work for TechTarget. They don't sell much other than ads, and they have plenty of those.

Re:Look Into Their Crystal Ball

[SoSueMe]

Been registered for 2+ years, never got ANYTHING that I didn't specifically opt in for. Any modifications made to preferrences took effect right away. This has not been, in my experience, a S4L type site.

...the power that a gaseous orb...

[burgburgburg]

No more baked beans for you, I think.

Re:...the power that a gaseous orb...

[twoslice]

and looking at the stars, Shrek says to Donkey, "Look, there's Bloodnut, the Flatulent....

Clever

[jbellis]

But not, I think, as clever as Weird Al. :)

Re:Clever

[tuanjim_2001]

Word. With all atlest I get some action with someone famous.

Which one is mine?

[henrygb]

I read all 12 to try to discover if they could tell me when I was born - but they all seemed as descriptive as each other.

Re:Which one is mine?

[Frymaster]

i have a habit of lying about my sign.

them: what's your sign.
me:[insert random star sign here]
them: oh that is so you.

in twelve years i have only been caught once off the bat. and that was by my mom.

Re:Which one is mine?

[rknop]

If anybody asks me, and I manage to avoid going into a rant about how Astrology is one of the prime examples of popular ignorance in the modern age, I say that my sign is "Orion".

-Rob

Re:Which one is mine?

[edgarde]

I've known personally three people who offered to do my chart. I asked each to guess my sign. They offer 5 or 6 guesses and give up. Then I tell 'em and they're all "I was gonna say Sag".

For the record, Sagittarius (which I spelled "Saggitarius" in first draft) is the stupidest sign of the zodiac, but some of us are good at sports.

Re:Which one is mine?

[timeOday]

They were pretty descriptive, weren't they! I certainly don't believe in astrology, I just think the page was well written. The author certainly gives the impression of being a real IT person, or at least somebody who knows their audience very well.

Re:Which one is mine?

[Anonymous Coward]

This girl with psychic powers,
she said, "T-Bone, what's your sign?"

I blinked and answered "neon!"
I thought I'd blown her mind...

Re:Which one is mine?

[Short Circuit]

I think the "trick" behind horoscopes lay in writing something that the average reader wants to believe.

The same is true with fortune cookies. Although I sometimes wonder if some were written specifically to have "in bed" appended to them.

(Warning: That's my personal opinion. I don't mean to offend anyone.)

Re:Which one is mine?

[DrMorpheus]

Whenever anyone asks me what sign I was born under I always reply:

"Maternity"

Re:Which one is mine?

[idontgno]

Some girl with psychic powers, she said "T-bone, what's your sign"
I blink and answer "Neon," I thought I'd blow her mind.

Existential Blues, T-Bone Stankus
Used without permission, please don't sue me!

Re:Which one is mine?

[kilroy_hau]

I always answer like this

them: what's your sign.
me: Negative
them: oh that is definitely you.

Re:Which one is mine?

[mce]

Whenever I want to have some horoscope fun, I read mine, map it onto real life if at all possible, and then go on to read the ones of the other people involved in that mapping. Big fun is almost guaranteed.

It worked out well particularly well this time, since these are all geek oriented, I work with nothing but geeks, and my horoscope actually happens to fit onto my current work situation extremely well (Of course that's largely because I'm doing the mapping and kind of "want" to make it fit, even in case I'm looking for evidence that it doesn't! Simple human psychology, that is.). Anyway, none of the others that I checked fit even remotely with what's going on here at the moment. Surprise...

Re:Which one is mine?

[hesiod]

> she said, "T-Bone, what's your sign?"

That song kicks ass.

Existential Blue, by Tom "T-Bone" Stankus

Re:Which one is mine?

[hesiod]

> (Warning: That's my personal opinion. I don't mean to offend anyone.)

Come one, have some balls (I don't mean to offend you if you have none ;).

Never apologize for offending someone, and certainly not before you find out if they are offended or not. Besides, that is how fortune cookies are written.

Re:Which one is mine?

[SoSueMe]

My EX's sign was "STOP".
That lasted a Looong time!

Re:Which one is mine?

[SoSueMe]

My current SO's sign is "Yield".
It is much better.

Re:Which one is mine?

[marko123]

Mine is "Slippery When Wet"

Re:Which one is mine?

[marko123]

When I get fortune cookies, I always get:
"This fortune has a protective coating"

Re:Which one is mine?

[scotch]

Mine is "Wide Load"

Yeah, baby.

I only read the Onion Horiscopes

[snoopyjd]

Sadly they are remarkably accurate

Oh lord...Aquarius

[mccalli]

Fix up your workspace because company's coming! ...this is really the time to get down to the business of cleaning up your own personal act and taking care of those loose ends that keep you up nights.

Hmm. So how did it know that my second kid is due any day now, and that the first one is still keeping me awake by howling to the rooftops at night?

I'm convinced. No really, I am. Honest.

Cheers,
Ian

Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm paraphrasing here, but when talking about horoscopes, Carl Sagan summarised them like this:

The idea behind horoscopes is that the way the planets were aligned when you were born affects you. The only way this could actually be true is if it was their respective pulls of gravity against your body while being born.

Then he pointed out that the gravitational pull of the obstetrician that delivered you far outweighed that of any celestial body.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[ronmon]

And I think most of us could guess where the good docotor was positioned at that moment.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Psiren]

The hospital?

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[91degrees]

Yes it was. Unless the obstetrician had no mass at all.

The gravitational pull of the obstetrician will be about 10 times that of mars.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[91degrees]

Which is a little arrogant perhaps. It is possible that there are other forces in the universe that we don't know about. Who says they're not giving off waves of Crappon particles that science is unable to detect, but do manage to affect things?

And while we're at it, the gravitational effect of the obstetrician is currently much lower than that of most planets since he's not standing right next to me any more. Perhaps if he decdied to visit me, astrology would have something to say about that.

n.b. I stil think its all bunk, but Sagan's argument is rubbish.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[kisrael]

For the record, I think people who are trying to put forward astrology in the modern age don't argue that the stars are affecting you, but the stars and planets are responding to the same kind of underlying (presumambly cosmic) forces that control your environment.

I don't believe that either, but it seems more plausible. Most likely it's a big rosarch blot.

The other point I'm kind of willing to accept about astrology, at least with its origins, is that maybe once upon a time, when a kid was born relative to the harvest cycle would influence what kind of nutrition he or she got, and thus what kind of person they ended up. Still, it seems like other factors, especially nowadays, would greatly outweigh that influence.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[AlecC]

Alternatively, it not the planets themselves but some other factor which correlates with the planes which is affecting you.

To say you cannot, with your current knowledge, understand the cause of an effect, does not mean the effect does not exist. The trouble with astrology is that no-one has demonstrated any consistent effect. It all goes back to "ancient knowledge", but no-one knows how the ancient knowledge was gathered (other than making it up, which the ancients were even more prone to than the moderns).

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[__aafutm5472]

I think my preacher put it best...

"If horoscopes were true, they'd be on the front page of the papers, not buried back by the funnies."

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[BigBadBri]

"Eat shit. Assfuck"

We may deduce from the above that the poster was damaged by the forceps during the procedure (in which the pull of the obstetrician was definitely greater than his gravitational influence).

Poor AC.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[osu-neko]

I'm paraphrasing here, but when talking about horoscopes, Carl Sagan summarised them like this:

The idea behind horoscopes is that the way the planets were aligned when you were born affects you. The only way this could actually be true is if it was their respective pulls of gravity against your body while being born.

This, unfortunately, shows what a poor student of the history of ideas Carl was.

The idea behind astrology is *not* that the planets have *any effect at all whatsoever* on you. It's based on the idea that the sky is our clock, and the motions of the objects in it are like hands on a clock: they are designed to tell us something. Upon looking at a clock around 6am and saying "look, the sun is going to rise soon", I am not asserting that the motions of the hands on the clock have any effect on the sun.

Astrology is based on the fundamental assumption that the universe was constructed by and intelligent designer, and that the purpose of the sky was to help us tell when things were going to happen. We can tell when it's a good time to plant our crops or harvest them by noting the motions of particular things in it. We know this, then we notice *other* things moving around, and naturally we ask, "What is *that* supposed to be telling us?" Today we say the answer is nothing, but at the time, it was a logical question to ask, and a sensible action to attempt to discern the answer.

Now we can question whether there was an intelligence design behind the solar system, or whether, even if there was, the whole point of planets was to serve as a kind of calendar/clock for people to conveniently see in the sky. Both of these assumptions are indeed highly questionable. But to make up nonsensible "reasons" for astrology and then debunk them is just ridiculous straw-man tactics that ought to have been beneath a man as brilliant and Mr. Sagan...

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[rknop]

For the record, I think people who are trying to put forward astrology in the modern age don't argue that the stars are affecting you, but the stars and planets are responding to the same kind of underlying (presumambly cosmic) forces that control your environment.

I don't believe that either, but it seems more plausible.

It does? Not if you know anything about stars and planets. We can completely describe the behavior of the planets in our solar system using Newton's theory of Universal Gravitation. (Except for a few small details like the precession of Mercury's orbit, which require corrections from General Relativity.)

This leaves very little room for "mysterious cosmic forces" to affect where the planets show up in front of constellations....

The so-called "theoretical" basis of Astrology is almost as much absolute bunk as the claimed practical "successes" of it (given that astrology has been experimentally shown to have zero predictive power).

-Rob

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[b!arg]

If everything in this world is just based on particles and objects(just big masses of particles) reacting to other particles and objects then one could postulate that the gravitational force of the planets did indeed have an effect on said person's life. This might also suggest that there is no free will. We're just a bunch of random reactions. :) Not that I believe this, I just like to throw this out every so often. But why not...it would seem fairly plausible. The given is the fact that we completely understand physics. That's a pretty big given.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Chatmag]

Carl Sagan shares the same birthdate as myself, 9 Nov. and as we all know, Scorpios are too intelligent to believe in horoscopes.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[jc42]

... the gravitational pull of the obstetrician that delivered you far outweighed that of any celestial body.

There was a related incident on NPR a couple of years ago. Someone claimed that, if you have a large dog, its gravitation pull on you is more that the pull of Saturn at its closest approach. Someone else questioned this. So someone else looked up the numbers in an astronomical reference book and did the calculations.

As I recall, they assumed a 50-pound (20-kg) dog. It turned out that at about 3 or 4 meters the dog has the same gravitational pull as Saturn at its closest approach to Earth. If the dog is closer, it's pull is greater that Saturn's. And if you're touching, even a small dog has a greater pull than Saturn.

I also recall thinking that a large dog that's very close when you're born might very well have a greater effect on your life than Saturn. But this is not due to its gravitaional pull.

Ain't physics wonderful?

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Boiled Frog]

I think it's funny that Carl Sagan believed in life on other planets but not astrology. There's about the same amount of evidence for both.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[91degrees]

No. Why?

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Dr. Zowie]

The problem there is that the ``underlying (presumably cosmic) forces'' that control both the planets and your environment are well understood. They are the familiar, simple forces that you can learn about in physics class.

Trying to understand something as complex as people using a force as simple as gravity is, well, laughable -- it's like trying to debug the Linux kernel using the theory of humours ("It panicked because of an excess of blood! But this patch contains extra phlegm, which should counteract the black bile from browsing slashdot...")

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[kisrael]

Look, I'm not defending it as a reasonable belief, but for some reason the "planets and people both following the same pattern" seems less egregiously wacky to me than "planets influencing people".

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[aiabx]

As someone has pointed out here, more than gravity may be involved. What I am wondering is how you can manage reliable predictions when you aren't in full possession of the facts.
First of all: Do the planets influence us in proportion to the square of their distance, or is the influence the same for all planets? If it's at the square of the distance, like all other natural forces, do astrologers take the varying distances into account? Do they account for the fact that the asteroid Vesta will have a greater "planetary" influence than Pluto? Or is there a magical quantity of "planetness" that excludes asteroids?
If the planetary effect is unaffected by distance or size, were accurate horoscopes possible before the discovery of Pluto? What happens if the IAU revokes Pluto's planetary status? Why does Pluto qualify and not Quaoar, Ixion or Varuna? Until I hear convincing answers to these and the many other similar questions I have, I will regard astrology as rank superstition and anyone who follows it as a credulous sap.
-aiabx

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[aiabx]

Wrong. Try again. We have convincing evidence that life evolved on at least one planet. And if it happened here, and you accept the premise that it happened without divine intervention, then it could happen elsewhere as well.
Thanks for trolling!
-aiabx

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[16K Ram Pack]

Whilst there is no evidence of life on other planets, the mathematical possibility of there not being life on other planets is extremely slim.

Astrology deals with things that we know about (eg the planets) and at least on known physics, there is not only no proof that there is a link, but that no-one who supports astrology has ever explained how the physics of it could work.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Short Circuit]

Well, educate people! That's what's lacking, isn't it?

It'd be interesting to see if members of any major groups who believe in intelligent design would have a tendency to go along.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[cduffy]

I also recall thinking that a large dog that's very close when you're born might very well have a greater effect on your life than Saturn

What you sayin' bout my momma?!

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[zangdesign]

Score one for rationality. One could quite possibly argue that the stars, moons, and obstetricians have no possible effect on one's life, but no one would be listening. They'd be having fun, instead.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[dustmote]

Not to mention light/dark cycles, which affect circadian rhythms and the emotional state of the people surrounding someone during developmental phases of the brain. It's entirely possible that at one time, these natural cycles had a much stronger influence on the kind of emotional development one would have. I suspect that there are a few aspects of life in cultures without modern conveniences that would fit these cycles and exert influence on one's neurological development, but the modern world has all but killed any relevance. It's pretty hokey anyway, although I like the sybolism involved. Of course, I like Rorschach blots, too. :)

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[theonetruekeebler]

F = G * m1 * m2 / d^2

So to determine the distance at which a 20 kg exerts the same attractive gravitational force on you:

G * m(you) * m(Saturn) / 1.2e12^2 = G * m(you) * m(dog) / d^2

Solving for d with a 20 kg dog:

d = sqrt(20 * 1.44e24 / 5.63e26) leaving 0.226m or about nine inches. So on a cold night, yes, your dog is exerts more gravitational force on you (and the covers) than Saturn.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[CrazyTalk]

I couldn't agree with the late great Carl more, but I'm surprised by the number of otherwise intelligent people (PhDs, etc) that really think that they way the planets were aligned when they were born affects their personality. I had one long arguement with a woman who believed in the zodiac, but though birth order (e.g. being the middle child) was of no consequence.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Boiled Frog]

Wrong. Try again. We have convincing evidence that life evolved on at least one planet.

Sorry. I should have said intelligent life.

The only planet that we know that has intelligent life is earth. Our solar system is a collection of coincidences that allow life. The earth is the precise distance from the sun to allow the kind of life that it does. It also has large planets outside of the earth's orbit to act as a shield against asteroids from outside the solar system. As far as I know, there haven't been any solar systems discovered, besides ours, with this structure.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[aiabx]

Same argument applies. Unless you assume that the human race was created by a supernatural act, you can conclude that the human race is the product of natural processes. If they occurred on earth, they can occur on any suitable planet where the same laws of physics apply, which, as far as we can tell, is anywhere in the observable universe.
Your argument about coincidences is true to a point, but you have to consider serveral points:
1) none of these configurations are hard and fast. If the earth were at 94 million miles out instead of 93 million, life would probably be much the same. If the sun were half as bright, and the earth at 25 million miles, life would be much the same. If there were a second Jupiter at the orbit of Mercury, life would be much the same. Of the hundred or so solar systems yet discovered, all we can safely conclude is that most of them have giant planets in close orbits. We can't conclude anything about earthlike planets, or giant planets in distant orbits. We do know that planets are common, though.
2) We also know that we have a staggering number of stars to work with. The last estimate I read was that there were ~ 10 billion stars in the MIlky Way, and on the order of 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe. That's 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars! Since we know planets are relatively common, what kind of odds do we want to assign to the possibility of another earthlike planet around another sun? 1 in 100? 1 in 1000? 1 in 1 million? How about an outrageous 1 in a trillion? That leaves around a billion earthlike planets in the observable universe. Not to mention the possibility of non-water based life. With the same natural forces working on all those other planets, what are the odds of life evolving somewhere else? I think they're pretty high, especially since we know it has happened at least once. Carl Sagan thought so too.
-aiabx

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Bromrrrrr]

The only planet that we know that has intelligent life is earth.

Well duh! That was the parent posters point. That is, I have never heard of any convincing evidence of ANY life that did not evolve on earth.

The point is that we know that, given the right circumstances, life can evolve. It happened on earth, why not somewhere else?
This is obviously not proof, but believing in extra-terrestrial life does not really equal belief in astrology which. As far as I know, has no foundation apart from 'esoteric' sources.

As far as I know, there haven't been any solar systems discovered, besides ours, with this structure.

Yes, and we've looked at all of them twice, just to make sure!

Sorry but it's a big universe out there :).

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[pmz]

and you accept the premise that it happened without divine intervention

Even this is unnecessary. It is sufficiently arrogant to think we are the only toy world for the god or gods. Without god or gods, then it is sufficiently arrogant to think we are the only world to have evolved. Either way, it is extremely likely there is life on other planets.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Anonymous Coward]

The idea that gravity is the mechanism by which astrology works was originally put forth by astrologers themselves. Sagan's rebuttal is therefore hardly rubbish; he was simply refuting this one specific mechanism by demonstrating how incredibly weak the force is that the planets exert upon us.

If you take issue with the phrase, "The only way this could actually be true is if it was their respective pulls of gravity against your body while being born," I agree that this is is hogwash. But the funny thing is, Carl Sagan didn't actually say this. An Anonymous Coward merely *claimed* that he did. And you were awfully quick to believe it.

Here is something that Carl Sagan actually did say: "That we can think of no mechanism for astrology is relevant, but unconvincing. No mechanism was known, for example, for continental drift when it was proposed by Wegener. Nevertheless, we see that Wegener was right, and those who objected on the grounds of unavailable mechanism were wrong."

You must admit that is hardly an "arrogant" point of view. On the contrary, it is clear that he was giving astrology the benefit of the doubt on this point.

The lesson to be learned here is that you shouldn't believe everything that Joe Slashdotter might say about a person, especially when they admit from the start that they are paraphrasing.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Anonymous Coward]

I think astrology is useful as a mirror - to give people a context to examine the current state of their lives. Sure, "Watch out on September 25th" isn't quite helpful, but who doesn't need to hear "maintain personal relationships?"

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[vpetersen]

Also, the ancients weren't aware of all celestial bodies. Pluto was only a comparatively recent discovery. Does it mean the horoscopes were messed up for all these millenia because its influence wasn't taken into consideration??

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Sivaram_Velauthapill]

We are not automatons because of quantum mechanics. Every "choice" or path is based on a probability. And these are supposed to be "random". For instance, the position of an electron in an atom is supposed to be "random" within the probability distribution. If you go with that view, you cannot be an automaton (ie. robot-like creature lacking free will)...

To put it another way, for a given cause the effect comes from a whole multitude of "random" possibilities...

Sivaram Velauthapillai

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Sivaram_Velauthapill]

You are overestimating the present state of science. There can very well be forces and things we don't understand in the universe.

For instance, we just discovered (i.e. in the last 30 or so years) that the vast majority of the mass (something like 75%(?)) in the universe is contained in dark matter. We thought we understood the universe fairly well but now we just realize that we couldn't even see the most dominant mass in the universe. How do you know dark matter doesn't affect the birth of a child?

Similarly, consider superstring theory. I don't know much about it but my feeling is that it will be accepted by science. From what I understand (which isn't much) superstring theory is supposed to postulate that there are more dimensions in the universe. From what I could recall, there are soemthing like 10 dimensions (although these dimensions are nothing like the 4D spacetime). All this time, we live with 4D and all of a sudden we realize there may be more (assuming that is what superstring actually proves)). How do you know these extra dimensions don't impact astrology?

My view is that there are some truths in astrology--we just don't know what they are. It's kind of like tradional medicine (i.e. non-scientific medicine). Traditional medicine is supposed to be totally bogus according to science, yet I have a feeling that some of it is true. People, in the past, couldn't have just made up these medicines. They would have refined it over time. Some may be pure junk; but some won't be. We just don't know what... same thing with astrology...

Sivaram Velauthapillai

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Sivaram_Velauthapill]

Maybe I should keep a hippo or an elephant around if my kid is born. Maybe it could help.. (of course, the fact that I don't even have a girlfriend kind of makes this difficult but that's another story ;) )...

Sivaram Velauthapillai

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[hesiod]

> I think my preacher put it best...

Yeah, a practitioner of one flimsy idea explaining how flimsy another is. Funny. Yet it is still a good point.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[hesiod]

> Maybe I should keep a hippo or an elephant around if my kid is born. Maybe it could help

I'd be the last to kill a joke (okay, I'm first this time), but you don't know if the gravitational pull of an elephant would be good or bad. Heck the outcome could change dramatically depending on if it was in the delivery room, or just in the waiting room smoking a cigar & chewing its nails with all the tension (does an efelant have nails?).

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[hesiod]

> We have convincing evidence that life evolved on at least one planet

Convincing evidence? What, all the people, mammals, insects, fish, reptiles (and not to mention fossils) aren't enough to PROVE it to you? ;)

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[hesiod]

> I had one long arguement with a woman who believed in the zodiac, but though birth order (e.g. being the middle child) was of no consequence.

I think you should change your handle; You seem to be handling things pretty well, while your "friend" seems to be the one prone to CrazyTalk.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[meringuoid]

How do you know dark matter doesn't affect the birth of a child?

I don't know that. But that's not what astrologers claim, is it? They claim that the position of Jupiter in the solar system affects the birth of a child. Jupiter isn't made of dark matter, it's made of hydrogen, helium, some methane and ammonia, and the vapourised remains of Galileo. Astrologers don't point to mysterious, exotic entities from frontier physics, they point to bloody huge balls of gas and rock, made entirely of normal matter, interacting gravitationally in a very good approximation to Newtonian mechanics. Even relativity hardly gets a look-in. String theory doesn't even enter into it.

The funniest part is when astrologers claim that the position of Neptune (discovered 1846) or Pluto (discovered 1930) will have some effect on a newborn's future. And they try to pass this off as Wisdom of the Ancients. I must have missed the massive research programme over the last 73 years in which astrologers deduced the nature of Pluto's effect on people's lives. I must also have missed the public apology where the astrologers admitted that their predictions had been wrong for centuries because the unknown influence of Pluto was throwing them off...

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Sivaram_Velauthapill]

Elphants do have nails...but they don't smoke cigars--I could be wrong though ;) ...

We could turn to astrology to find the answers. Figure out the best sign for your child. Then find an animal (or even some big mass like an anvil) and artificially replicate the gravity that would have been exerted by particular stars/planets.

Sivaram Velauthapillai

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Sivaram_Velauthapill]

As some people in this thread have mentioned, I think astrologers simply use the stars/planets as a navigational tool. I don't think any astrologer has ever attempted to tie gravity with astrology (I could be wrong though). Do they even know what gravity is?

My point is that you cannot dismiss astrology simply because there may be some truth to it. Since most astrological descriptions are so vague, it's hard to prove that they are wrong.

Sivaram Velauthapillai

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Boiled Frog]

The point is that we know that, given the right circumstances, life can evolve. It happened on earth, why not somewhere else?
This is obviously not proof, but believing in extra-terrestrial life does not really equal belief in astrology which. As far as I know, has no foundation apart from 'esoteric' sources.

If an astrological prediction came true, would that prove that astrology was accurate? It happened before, why can't it happen again? My point is that belief in astrology and belief in extra-terrestrial intelligent life are both just that: beliefs.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[meringuoid]

My point is that you cannot dismiss astrology simply because there may be some truth to it. Since most astrological descriptions are so vague, it's hard to prove that they are wrong.

Au contraire: that's precisely why I _do_ dismiss astrology. If astrologers made specific, precise predictions and statements, if they made claims that were clearly and definitely either right or wrong, then maybe there might be something to it. But they don't - they make predictions and statements that are so damn vague that they apply to anyone, whatever the circumstances of their birth, and you get absurdities like the Randi demonstration upthread where nearly everyone claims that an identical horoscope describes them remarkably well...

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[marko123]

Right next to the headline:
"Fortune Teller picks numbers, wins lotto!"

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[hesiod]

> (Score:2, Insightful)

Oh, come on, man! I'm a Karma masochist, that should be flamebait or troll!

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[Bromrrrrr]

It's not a usefull comparison. Life having evolved on at least one planet is an undisputed fact, and I am here as proof of that :). On this you can make a reasonable assumption that it could exist elsewhere. Yes, believing in extra-terrestrial intelligent life is still only a belief, but it has some basis.

If an astrological prediction came true, would that prove that astrology was accurate?

No, because astrology is not just about making predictions, but about believing that celestial bodies have an influence over our lives and making predictions on that assumption. One prediction that checks out still leaves the assumption baseless.

My point is that belief in astrology and belief in extra-terrestrial intelligent life are both just that: beliefs.

And my point was NOT that extra-terrestrial life is a given, but that, believing that it might exist is in a entirely different ballpark than believing in astrology. Yes both are beliefs, but one is based on an assumption that has proven to be correct (life can evolve, given the right circumstances) and one is based on an assumption that has no evidence whatsoever.

Re:Carl Sagan on horoscopes

[silicon not in the v]

Insightful? One can only hope for meta-moderation.

horseshit

[keester]

This horoscope BS is so stupid ... oh wait, mine was cool. Alright, well, if anything it reiterates what you should already know, with maybe some bogus predictions. As long as its all in good fun and my phone bill isn't higher than my mortage payment ...

Geek horoscopes

[Crazieeman]

Your significant other will become jealous when you buy a new one. She laments being called the 'slow' one. Tonight: Play old school.

predictions for folks in IT are easy

[Savatte]

Aries: you will die a virgin
Taurus: you will die a virgin
Gemini: you will die a virgin
Cancer: you will die a virgin

etc..

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[Soko]

Oddly enough, my sign is Virgo, the Virgin. I'm also happily married with a daughter - no virgin here.

From the "IT horrorscope" for Virgo: Personal keyword: paradox

Ph34r.

Soko

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[CGP314]

What a coincidence! Those are the same horoscopes for the star trek fans. : )

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[Lane.exe]

ph34r 411 \/!rG0z

:) Cheers for the Sept. birthdays.

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[Anonymous Coward]

ummm, look around many of us have reproduced already. The bigger fear factor for the web, how long till we get 2nd and 3rd generation /.'ers? (my daughters working on it (vocabulary is hard for a 9 year old here....)) oh and after 20 min tring to get my ID recognized - screw the Karma...

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[Theaetetus]

Cancer: you will die a virgin

Geez, get cancer and die a virgin?! Glad I'm an Aquarius. ;)

-T

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[Manos Batsis]

I'm a virgo you insensitive clod!

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, what an intellectual you are.

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[scalis]

My new girlfriend is a Star Trek fan.... This is REALLY bad news. =\

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[Anonymous Coward]

No, your wife is not a virgin. (Jesus hasn't come back yet, and it won't be a virgin birth next time anyway so that excuse doesn't work for your wife) You on the other hand still are. The implications of this would mean a lot more about 100 years ago when people were moral enough to care about such details.

I suggest your stick with your wife though, she appearently doesn't mind, and geeks tend to be good fathers even if it isn't their kid. (tend unfortunatly leaves open that you are a bad father, in which case die, but I'll assume you aren't)

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[Anonymous Coward]

Two suggestions:

1) Ask her what PI is calculated to the last digit, then slip it to her when she's thinking about it.

2) Tell her that you have blue balls. Tell her that the blue balls were her fault. Then, while she's suffering from CPU failure, slip the anti-grav units on her and slip it to her right before you beam her out into space. As a bonus, your best buddy will tell you that "your logic was impeccable."

Hope that helps. As a last resort, you can paint yourself green from head to toe and tell her you tested negative for Rigelian fever.

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[Anonymous Coward]

Then this proves once and for all that horoscopes aren't worth the medium they are displayed in.

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[Bill_Mische]

I think not...

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[winkydink]

Sheesh. Folks have to chime in to this and say, "Nuh-uh, I have kids. See, I'm not a virgin."

Some folks seem just a tad touchy about this topic.

Of course, "touchy" is about the only way some geeks lose their virginity too. :)

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[CableModemSniper]

Doncha mean:
Gemini: You're gonna die a virgin, twice.
Apologies to Chris Rock.

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[JWW]

I think the reason so many folks chime in is that there are so many of us who don't fit this stereotype.

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[Macsimus]

Cheer up! My good friend and his wife are both Star Trek fans, and they just recently had a baby. And I don't believe they own a replicator or live in a giant holodeck.

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[Xerithane]

I think the reason so many folks chime in is that there are so many of us who don't fit this stereotype.

"Thousands of geeks stood up in protest of the stereotype, and then sat down again quickly out of breath."
No reason for stereotypes, people!

Re:predictions for folks in IT are easy

[JWW]

Ok, you got me. That one would apply to me.

My prediction

[evrybodygonsurfin]

As I gaze into my crystal ball, I see that site will stop serving pages in approximately two minutes.

Of course, they probably know that already ;)

Bottleneck?

[Damn_Canuck]

My key word is "bottleneck"? I think I heard more specific information a few weeks back at a tarot card reader than I am in the IT horoscope. I am waiting to see when they announce the IT layoffs will be in someone's future...

Re:Bottleneck?

[Anonymous Coward]

And after the layoffs, you'll probably hit the local bar and fulfill the prophecy of the "bottleneck" as you get drunk...

Gambling

[jargoone]

High-tech gambles could pay off big.

In this economy, surely they must be talking about video poker...

Re:Gambling

[Anonymous Coward]

...And don't call me Shirley.

Re:Gambling

[jargoone]

Say I beat you nearly to death, but don't kill you. When the hospital upgrades your condition from critical to serious, are you in good shape or bad shape?

Horoscopes

[Anonymous Coward]

We Scorpios don't believe in astrology...

Re:Horoscopes

[Ratface]

Definitely not....

Oh - you're a Scorpio too. Cool! I guess you're an interesting, wild, complex, sexually driven person too then! :-p

Oh great

[amplt1337]

"Expect to spend lots of time waiting in line for menial work when it is discovered that for your salary, management could hire six workers in Bangalore." ...darn.

Re:Oh great

[Bonker]

I was expecting something like this and didn't see one.

"Your current position will be exported to a country where 'overtime compensation' is a fairytale story about a foreign land with streets paved with gold where good children go when they die."

Re:Oh great

[amplt1337]

Yeah, though no fortune-teller gets rich telling people things they don't want to hear, esp. when they're probably true.

the sad thing is that if things go according to the current plan, "overtime compensation" will be a fairytale here [USA] too...

NO FUN

[flyneye]

Horoscopes are for people who dont take responsibility for their own lives and decisions.
These fail to even entertain.
Gong em.

Re:NO FUN

[Theaetetus]

Horoscopes are for people who dont take responsibility for their own lives and decisions.

Republicans? [rimshot]
Thanks! I'll be here all week! Don't forget to tip your waitress! ;)

Re:NO FUN

[flyneye]

*educational science film voice*
republicans,but especially democrats!

Obligatory "Calvin and Hobbes" post

[Anonymous Coward]

Link here.

Mine should actually read

[ArmenTanzarian]

You like new opportunities, but often get screwed over by them. Your inability to make the weakest remote connection to your server threatens your job and your gasoline budget this week.

I see...

[AngryCodeMonkey]

all the US IT workers being replaced by be Indians in the near future.

I prefer...

[fuzzix]

I prefer BBspot's geek horoscope

Excitingly Generic!

[jhines0042]

I was amazed when I read my horoscope!

Not only did it apply to me directly, but to countless thousands of other people as well! Nearly 1/12th of the worlds population could benefit from this advice!

How they get this accurate I don't know.

Re:Excitingly Generic!

[VivianC]

Every decision you make today will be wrong....

*kneeling down*

[Anonymous Coward]

I, for one, welcome our new gaseous orbs of Horoscopic Overlords!

One of these things is not like the other...

[Jaeph]

From Capricorn:

a) Embrace new ideas
b) play strictly by the rules
c) Don't take foolish chances
d) stick to established protocols

It's like I went to the elves for advice or something. :-)

-Jeff

Re:One of these things is not like the other...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes.

And it told me that I might be confussed as to if to continue my education or not. How do they know?

Re:One of these things is not like the other...

[iainl]

"Yes."

No, he said "Elves", not "Kosh"...

katz?

[happyfrogcow]

thus proving beyond a shadow of a doubt the power that a gaseous orb a zillion miles away exhibits upon my laptop

I thought Katz's influence on slashdot readers ceased when he stopped writting here.
(he's not dead is he? or else i'd feel awfull about making fun of a dead guy.)

Re:katz?

[proj_2501]

katz was never alive to begin with

Re:katz?

[happyfrogcow]

oh was he one of those pen names for about 20 different authors?

thats sadly unoriginal.

not bad

[c4ffeine]

You may feel confused about whether to pursue a new certification or degree. Seek out a former colleague's advice. This is a period of non-stop stream of consciousness. Pay attention to ideas that come to you in the middle of the night. Embrace new ideas and try to look at your work from new perspectives. Whatever you do, you will succeed if you play strictly by the rules. Don't take foolish chances -- stick to established protocols in your work environment. Because you're so good at what you do, others will want to give you more responsibility. Take the reins if they're offered. Travel and relationships with people far away are emerging as huge trends in months to come.

Not bad advice, it's surprisingly accurate. EXCEPT for the fact thati haven't finished with my FIRST degree yet. However, I am talking more with friends overseas, and since i usually sleep during the day and am awake at night, i guess i should pay attention to all my ideas. Not bad at all

Next /. story..

[grub]

Using Voodoo Dolls to influence your PHB...

Re:Next /. story..

[CGP314]

Debugging with Tea Leaves: just as good as any other method.

Re:Next /. story..

[Archangel Michael]

Hey, don't make fun of it, if it works.

Re:Next /. story..

[Anonymous Coward]

Using Voodoo Dolls to influence your PHB...

My PHB is a zombie, you insensitive clod!

Fake horoscope

[deltagreen]

I'm unemployed, you insensitive clod!
I think my horoscope needs a patch.

Re:Fake horoscope

[SatanicPuppy]

Heh. I think all unemployed /.ers (Myself included) should get together and form either:

a) A multinational software giant
or
b) The first gathering of geeks large enough to be visible from orbit.

Re:Fake horoscope

[christopher240240]

The first gathering of geeks large enough to be visible from orbit.

Whoa buddy, you know what happens when you get three geeks together.

Re:Fake horoscope

[p4ul13]

Odd smells accumulate?

Re:Fake horoscope

[Short Circuit]

No. Either the tides are influenced, or, assuming that only members of one sex are present, members of the other sex start migrating away.

Fortunately, I'm in a geek family, if not the parent. We don't have a noticable effect on our neighborhood.

Bah.

[BLAMM!]

Lame tabloid-esque horoscopes sprinkled with tech-speak to attract click thrus to their advertising.

What a waste of bandwidth.

Let modding begin.

simpsons reference

[jeffy124]

Rent-a-Cop security guard: "Wow! My horoscope was right!" Looks at piece of paper, "You will face challenges today."

(Episode CABF06)

Bah...

[BlackBolt]

Bah. I always read ANOTHER person's horoscope first, and find that it fits me perfectly as well. Then I read my own, and find it's no better than random.

Only RMS truly knows the future, not some dumb horoscope.

Mine was surprisingly accurate....

[Anonymous Coward]

Suprisingly,
They were all accurate...

Horoscopes

[stratjakt]

Slashbot: (Feb 23-Mar 18)

You will plug some cables into a router today. You will complain over a bowl of kraft dinner that you aren't making the 100,000 dollars and up that the radio commercial for MCP certs promised you. You will post grossly wrong information on slashdot to make everyone think you understand and use linux. Noone will notice as they don't know either, and you will get easy "karma" which is absolutely useless in the cosmic sense. You will not get laid, that was a stupid question.

yea right

[manifest37]

The recent drain on your financial resources is about to end.

If thats true for anybody let me know

Accurate for me as well

[admbws]

I'm Scorpio, and it basically told me it's time to get off my arse and do something new (instead of sitting and reloading Slashdot all day, like I normally do).

Lets see how acurate mine was.

[pavon]

This fall, you intuitively seem to know how to find work-arounds for problems that perplex others.
Well, this happens to me all the time. It's most likely just a matter of human nature - different people with different experience look at things differently, so that a difficult problem to one person is intuitive to others. So the likelyness of this happening really depends on the type of people and situations I expose myself to this fall.

Pay particular attention to flashes of insight and write them down before they fade away. One of these ideas could play a big part in your future.
This is intriguing. I have recently finished my undergrad and have been drifting aimlessly for the last year or so trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. (then again most people are not happy with their jobs, or are looking for meaning in their life) While no closer to an answer, I have noticed that I am very idea oriented. It is ideas that energize and drive me, while seeing things through to the final implementation is almost always anti-climatic, and by that time I'm usually off on another idea already.

If you're thinking of going back for training, try an online course. This is a good time for in-depth learning because you'll have the self-discipline and resolve you'll need to succeed.
This one is completely wrong. I can't think of any time in my life that I have been more complacent and apathetic (noticeable by the increase of slashdot posts in the last three months :) Self-discipline and resolve are two things I have not had in a quite a while. (Unless previously mentioned idea provides such drive and resolve :)

If you travel on business, pay particular attention to your laptop, cell phone and PDA as you go through airport security.
I don't travel on business, and don't have a laptop or PDA.

Your short-term memory is not functioning at optimal levels. Good Lord, considering how often I misplace things normally I don't want to see how bad my short-term memory is at suboptimal levels.

The interesting thing is, that while these "predictions" are bunk, if I were to believe them and follow their advice, would probably be better off because of it.

Re:Lets see how acurate mine was.

[edgarde]

while these "predictions" are bunk, if I were to believe them and follow their advice, would probably be better off because of it.

I was really moved reading mine, which tho delphic are still pretty apropos. This is neat cos for the first time I actually get what it's like for people who sincerely read horoscopes.

Why is it?

[cavemanf16]

Why is it that stupid people read horoscopes anyways? What is the formula at work here that makes people think that 'thier sign' is a unique horoscope that's RIGHT for them? If you read all the other horoscopes in the paper, or this website, they ALL apply to you too! I wonder what facet of our intelligence it is that tells us the horoscope is "right." If I pretended my birthday was 6 months later than it is, reading the horoscope for that day makes just as much gobblety-gook sense as my "real" horoscope. Anyone have some links to actual scientific studies on this subject of cognitive dissonance?

Re:Why is it?

[stratjakt]

It's just entertainment. Like fortune cookies.

Noone, not even "real astrologers" take them seriously. It's just something to kill another 5 minutes after you already read the comic page.

Re:Why is it?

[rknop]

Noone, not even "real astrologers" take them seriously. It's just something to kill another 5 minutes after you already read the comic page

Unfortunately, that's not true... lots of "real astrologers" take what they're doing seriously, which is evidence of self-deception. Many others, including (alas) family members of US presidents, take what astrologers are doing seriously, which means that they are being deceived.

If it were only "harmless entertainment", that would be one thing (although even still, it would be a sad commentary on our society-- like some of the rest of our harmless entertainment). Unfortunately, astrology represents two other dangerous things-- it's a widespread scam and/or one of the most popular cases of public ignorance.

-Rob

I like this one better...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sagittarius - You'll spend Saturday hung over and searching for a new keyboard after your reckless experimentation with keyboard piercing.
http://bbspot.com/toys/horoscopes/horoscope.php

YASND?

[dnotj]

Yet another slow news day?

perhaps an AMD story could have replaced this story

Be sure...

[ContemporaryInsanity]

... to back up critical files at the end of the month.

No Shit Sherlock - is this for geeks, or those needing an introduction to the cluestick (tm) ?!?

And the earth is flat too

[infinite9]

I'm amazed by how many people believe in a science? religion? that relies on the idea that the earth is the center of the solar system and everything else, including the sun, revolves around it.

Re:And the earth is flat too

[rknop]

I'm amazed by how many people believe in a science? religion?...

I think "scam" is the word you are looking for.

-Rob

Re:And the earth is flat too

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the Sun, the Solar System, and even the Universe does revolve around the Earth. It's mainly a matter of perspective. There's no real way to establish that one location is more 'central' than another. In fact, the planets of the solar system don't revolve around the Sun, they technically revolve around a point where their gravitational forces balance (the barycenter), which just so happens to be inside the Sun (mainly because its really freaking huge). However, you could just as easily say that 8 planets revolve around the Sun, and that the Sun revolves around the Earth, and thus the solar system revolves around the Earth. Similarly, you could say that Earth is the center of the universe, since it seems like all the galaxies are expanding away from Earth at the Hubble rate.

Re:And the earth is flat too

[bluGill]

Why not. Physics taught me that there is no center point. You can pick any point you want to to base your frame of reference on. Normally they suggest that there are points where calculations become much easier and suggest you pick that. There is no reason you can't pick your zero point as the center of the earth, if you really like overly complex calculations.

P.S. Next time you get the classic problem about the distance a fly traveling between 2 trains heading at each other... Pick jupiter as your reference point, and make sure you account for the relative rotation of the planets. If you assume distance traveled by the fly's own efforts you should get the same answer as everyone else, but the calculations will be so complex, and the numbers in between so large that the teacher won't be able to follow. Note that I claim no responsibilit for any mistakes you make in the calculations.

Re:And the earth is flat too

[Anonymous Coward]

It's even more amazing how many of us believe in evolution, when it's so clearly absurd. I used to believe in the mass-delusion caused "religion" of evolution.

Think this is a joke? Work out the probability of abiogenesis. Sir Fred Hoyle did, he calculated that the odds of a stochastic (i.e., non-directed, random) process making a living cell was one in 10^40000.

Believing that happened despite those odds takes more faith than it does to believe in astrology or voodoo.

Re:And the earth is flat too

[rknop]

Why not. Physics taught me that there is no center point. You can pick any point you want to to base your frame of reference on.

Study a little more physics.

While you are technically right-- you assuredly can choose any frame of reference-- to really have completely indistinguishable frames of reference you need to choose an inertial, i.e. unaccelerated frame. If you choose the Earth as your frame of reference, to properly predict the motion of things other things in the Solar System you're going to have to put in all sorts of mess centrifugal forces and so forth, all of which are fictitious forces arising from the fact that you're working in an accelerated reference frame. You can definitely tell if you're in an accelerated reference frame, and the Earth is one such, much more so than the Sun. (In the Solar System, you can approximate the sun as an unaccelerated reference frame, but of course it too is in the gravitational field of the Galaxy and accelerating as it goes around the Galaxy, so if you want to be really anal the Sun isn't even an inertial reference frame.)

-Rob

Re:And the earth is flat too

[el-spectre]

Gonna assume this isn't a troll... Off topic anyway.

No one is suggesting that we went from chemical soup to a cell in one step. Much more like 1000000, each a slightly more complicated chemical combination. For that matter, we can create (using a best guess of the environment 4 billion years ago) these first molecules (or very similar ones).

Abiogenesis isn't the same thing as a massive series of chemical interactions (trillions upon trillions of them, involving at least as many organisms and proto-organisms/molecules).

Evolution has some pretty good evidence. Yes, there are some holes, yes, we refine our understanding all the time. Does this mean that it makes sense to refuse the whole concept? Not really.

The only faith that this (or any science requires) is that the universe is not a basically deceptive place (i.e. God is not faking us out). If what we observe is somehow related to the truth, then everything else follows.

Re:And the earth is flat too

[Anonymous Coward]

Your millions of steps hypothesis (well, many share it, so it isn't directly "yours") has a few major flaws.

First, in order for the proto-life form to progress to the next stage, it has to be subject to natural selection. For natural selection to produce "better" life forms, there has to be a not-quite-perfect reproduction mechanism (perfect would eliminate changes, too far from perfect eliminates faithful reproduction).

Until that level of reproducibility is attained, progress is only made by stochastic means. Which then means that until a proto-cell achieves sufficient fidelity in reproduction, the mathematical model best fit for predicting progress is simple probstat.

Re:And the earth is flat too

[pmz]

I'm amazed by how many people believe in a science? religion? that relies on the idea that the earth is the center of the solar system and everything else, including the sun, revolves around it.

Actually, everything is revolving around everything else, just to varying degrees.

In isolation, two masses will orbit their mutual center of mass, which is a point in space. It only appears that the Earth revolves around the Sun, simply because the Sun is just freakin huge--any wobble of the Sun is lost in a rounding error.

Re:And the earth is flat too

[el-spectre]

You know... I've had this conversation a few too many times... and I don't think I want to have it again.

Unlike most anti-evolution folks, you've a well thought out position, which I respect. I don't agree with it (again, don't wanna do this debate again), but I wish you luck in your search for truth (capital "T" optional). Thanks.

Re:And the earth is flat too

[Anonymous Coward]

I certainly respect your wishes to not engage at this time, I am quite familiar with feeling worn out on certain topics.

A point that I've noticed: if you're discussing with someone claiming to be a Christian who flames you, goes off on a rage, or is angrily incoherent, you have found a troll. A genuine Christian has been transformed and will, if they mess up and do that, apologize rather quickly.

So I would guess you're tired partially due to engaging in the past with a lot of trolls if you think simple logic is distinctively different.

Horrible prediction!

[Lumpy]

Life will move back into the fast lane...

Ye gods... They already piled on me another 5 projects(we let go the entire development team... can you finish their project?), added more duties to my already long laundry list and I barely have time to take lunch..

If anything get's more into the "fast lane" i wont be able to waste time here on slashdot except with my zaurus from the bathroom stall...

I don't know..

[DoctorPepper]

Mine seemed to be about 180 degrees out from what my true IT career is heading towards.

Perhaps they didn't shake the magic 8-ball hard enough?

Hi Tech Chinese Fortune Cookie

[BenitoM]

The Exchange server will be down at 6

Re:Hi Tech Chinese Fortune Cookie

[pmz]

Chinese Fortune Cookie

My favorite: "That wasn't chicken." (seen in a parody photo)

Re:Hi Tech Chinese Fortune Cookie

[YetAnotherDave]

ya, like you need a horoscope to figure that out.

If it could tell me when the damn thing will be running properly, I'd be impressed...

Please...

[thoolihan]

Place all

$HOROSCOPE" in bed"

jokes as a reply to this.
Thanks for your cooperation on this matter.

-t

Re:Please...

[Spam Bandito]

I thought that only worked for fortune cookies.

Re:Please...

[Anonymous Coward]

Lets get the obvious one out of the way, then...

"Copyright is a bargain with the public, not a natural right in bed"

BBSpot has been doing Geek Horoscopes for years

[Anonymous Coward]

BBSpot has been doing geek horoscopes for years.

<A href="http://www.bbspot.com/News/2003/09/horoscope s20030919.html"></a>

Re:BBSpot has been doing Geek Horoscopes for years

[perdelucena]

Yeah those are much better. And you can also choose random horoscopes and Slashdot stories as well

---
The stars dont like me

Mine was surprisingly accurate

[johnkp]

Mine was surprisingly accurate

This is also known as the Forer effect aka. subjective validation.

The inevitable joke

[ptomblin]

the power that a gaseous orb a zillion miles away exhibits upon my laptop

That's not a nice way to refer to Bill Gates.

Skeptics and horoscopes

[MyNameIsFred]

I remember a Nova program on horoscopes that I saw years ago. The Amazing Randy had asked a class of college students for the birthdates, and wrote a horoscope for each them. He asked them, by a show of hands, whether the horoscopes were accurate. They overwhelmingly said yes. He then asked them to pass their horoscopes to the person behind them. That's when they found out that he had written only one horoscope for the entire class.

Horoscopes are based on simple concepts that are almost univeral. That if I ask you if you are having conflict with your mate, you will probably say yes. It may be because of a divorce, or it might be a disagreement over what movie to see this weekend.

Re:Skeptics and horoscopes

[Bluesman]

>or it might be a disagreement over what movie to see this weekend.

How did you know? That's amazing.

Re:Skeptics and horoscopes

[Luveno]

That if I ask you if you are having conflict with your mate, you will probably say yes.

Safest. Bet. Ever.

Re:Skeptics and horoscopes

[16K Ram Pack]

Was this James Randi? Think he may have been a magician.

IIRC he has offered $1,000,000 to the first person who can genuinely prove paranormal powers such as ESP, telepathy etc in a scientific environment.

I think I also saw him doing a radio show where he showed how to be a false 'medium' and it's all to do with feeding off what the person you are talking to says.

As yet, the prize remains unclaimed.

Re:Skeptics and horoscopes

[redcup]

I love meeting people who believe in astrology. I met this girl in a bar who was really into this stuff, so I decided to play along (beer goggles). She's going on about how she foresaw this, that and some other thing, or when her best friend was in a car accident she'd had a dream about it the night before, and her psychic told her blah blah blah. I let her talk about it for quite a while.

After all sorts of anecdotal evidence, I played that I was convinced it worked, and said something to the affect of "I think astrology is amazing. For example, I'm outgoing and hard working. My political views are middle of the road. I'm a bit of a planner, but willing to try anything. I enjoy being different but like to fit in too. Sometimes I have a bit of a temper..." and so on. Once I feel I've given an adequate description, I finished with

"And the amazing part is, because astrology works, you're now going to tell me my birthday."

I don't think she ever caught on I was making fun of her...

Logic

[killermal]

Geeks are generally smart. Horoscopes are not for smart people.

Thus, horoscopes are not for geeks.

Re:Logic

[Concerned Onlooker]

Your syllogism doesn't hold up. All kinds of smart people believe weird things. See page 279 in Michael Shermer's book for a look at why smart people believe weird things. For instance, Ronald and Nancy Reagan regularly used psychic readings to aid them in decision making.

OK, so I couldn't really come up with a great example of "smart."

Spot on.

[killermal]

Nothing about romance... it must be accurate!

my god this is accurate

[BigGerman]

You may feel confused about whether to pursue a new certification or degree.

I am in the middle of Sun J2EE cert and not sure why in hell I am spending my time on it!

Pay attention to ideas that come to you in the middle of the night. Embrace new ideas and try to look at your work from new perspectives.

Just last night I got up and while taking care of things was thinking of a new P2P protocol that will change the world when I get to implement it!

Whatever you do, you will succeed if you play strictly by the rules. Don't take foolish chances -- stick to established protocols in your work environment.

I am fighting the strong urge right now to tell my bosses how stupid this project is!

Travel and relationships with people far away are emerging as huge trends in months to come.

I just did 1200 miles road trip to F&F last weekend!

Horoscope test...

[Dr. Zowie]

Not long ago I was teaching introductory astronomy to 180 college freshmen, and we did the "James Randi" demonstration. It was almost surprising how well it worked. I browsed to a horoscope site and downloaded horoscopes for everyone. Printed them up in little folding booklets, 12 types, about 4/3 as many as there were students. Asked the students to come get their horoscope and read it secretly.

Then they voted on how well-tailored their horoscopes were. About 80% of the class said that the horoscopes were "perfect" or "very good", with about 10% "good" and only 10% saying "fair" or "poor".

Of course, the kicker is that they all received exactly the same horoscope, I believe an Aquarius reading for early spring 2002.

Even more of course, the site I got them from advertised that "we don't produce generic horoscopes -- we tailor them specifically to your date of birth!"

Re:Horoscope test...

[davesag]

Quite a while ago now, one Sunday, the local paper's horoscopes must have gone on the blink because every star sign said exactly the same thing. Thinking this was hillarious we cut it out and pinned it up on the notice board in the kitchen. Months went by and ever so often I would notice guests reading their stars, and occasionally they'd ask, "why do you have these out of date horoscopes up here?"

"look carefully," I'd reply

"Um, okay..." and they'd carefully reread their own horoscope. Some people noticed that the stars were 'out of date' but almost no-one noticed that the stars were all the same. The only conclusion I could draw from this is that no-one ever reads other people's stars, only their own.

Re:Horoscope test...

[AeiwiMaster]

Even more of course, the site I got them from advertised that "we don't produce generic horoscopes -- we tailor them specifically to your date of birth!"

The last remark tells me that your made the wrong conclusion from
the experiment.

It seams that you have concluded that astrology don't work.

What the test should tell you is that the
mind try to fit new data into its own belief system.

But instead your mind fit the result of the test
with your belief that astrology don't work.

I think, a better way to get a indication if astrology works
is to make your students take the
What Zodiac Sign Should You Be? test at emode.com
http://www.emode.com/emode/tests/astrol ogy_makeove r_result.jsp

and see if it scores correct significant more that 1/12 of the times.

Knud

Actually, and this is serious...

[heironymouscoward]

Research has shown that the time of birth does have an impact on your life, especially in countries with sharp seasonal differences.

Things like the amount of food available to your pregnant mother, the amount of sun light you got when you were a few weeks old, the temperature you had to adapt to when you were a toddler... these seem to have an impact in later life.

The specific study was on fertility in Canadian women, and showed a difference of (IIRC) 40%+ between those born in the summer and those born in the winter.

So, before you laugh, there might actually be some basis for assuming that "Capricorns are always horny" and "Leos are dishonest".

Re:Actually, and this is serious...

[mrgeometry]

"Capricorns are always horny" and "Leos are dishonest"

All right! I am *so* looking for a Capricorn.

Wait. You're a Leo, aren't you? Dammit. Forget it then.

Re:Actually, and this is serious...

[yancy]

"Capricorns are always horny" and "Leos are dishonest".

Awesome! I'm going Capricorn hunting as soon as possible... er, you aren't a Leo by chance, are you?

Re:Actually, and this is serious...

[notfancy]

So, before you laugh, there might actually be some basis for assuming that "Capricorns are always horny" and "Leos are dishonest".

It's the other way around.

Re:Actually, and this is serious...

[Anonymous Coward]

As others have pointed out, you have Capricorns and Leos the wrong way around.

I know this because I'm a Capricorn and my girlfriend is a Leo... and she just can't get enough of me.

Re:Actually, and this is serious...

[YU Nicks NE Way]

You are a Leo. Leos believe nothing they read. Your horoscope has nothing to do with you. You are Bertrand Russell.

Re:Actually, and this is serious...

[Anonymous Coward]

Your post makes me wish I had mod points. Good show, sir.

Re:Actually, and this is serious...

[syle]

showed a difference of (IIRC) 40%+ between those born in the summer and those born in the winter.

40% of what? That's completely meaningless.

Re:Actually, and this is serious...

[damien_kane]

Now we know you're definitely a Capricorn, as you said 'my girlfriend'...
C'mon, this is /., you are a geek, if you're gonna lie at least make it believeable

Re:Actually, and this is serious...

[AlgoRhythm]

Yeah, agreed. But there is a big diference between predicting the future based on your birthday and personality analysis...

"Leos are dishonest".

... but then, I'm a Leo, so you obviously can't trust me :-p

Re:Actually, and this is serious...

[heironymouscoward]

Good question, my comment was too vague.

40% more grandchildren, was the actual figure.

Re:Actually, and this is serious...

[Anonymous Coward]

So, before you laugh, there might actually be some basis for assuming that "Capricorns are always horny" and "Leos are dishonest".

No there isn't. As you implied, it might be true of Capricorns or Leos in a specific geographic area, but that's as far as you can take it. In fact, if they were born in the Southern Hemisphere, the results would likely be the exact opposite.

Re:Actually, and this is serious...

[sootman]

Or it could just be that *everyone* is dishonest *and* horny, duh. :-)

'Addicted' to...

[torpor]

... how can anyone be 'addicted' to horoscopes?

Ooooh... I "have" to have my fix of the Pisces prediction for today, ooh ....

OT: new OpenSSH arrived 23-Sept-2003

[Anonymous Coward]

openssh-3.7.1p2 is out.

What's up with that?

Astrological signs not all BS

[thaddjuice]

One of things that a lot of people don't consider about astrology is that there is a good reason why people of the same signs may have similar personality traits. People who were born at the same time of the year have had various seasons and events happen at the same key points in early development. So, people born right after Christmas in January may have different perspectives on the importance of family, friends, and holidays (their birthdays being near the holidays) than someone born in June. Also, can anyone say what difference it might make in a child's development if it's snowing when they're learning to walk vs. heat of summer?

I'm not saying this means that you can tell their future based on when they're born, but there may be something to the idea that people of like signs have similar personalities and that relationship compatibility may be tied in to zodiak sign.

Re:Astrological signs not all BS

[Talthane]

So, people born right after Christmas in January may have different perspectives on the importance of family, friends, and holidays (their birthdays being near the holidays) than someone born in June.

They also realise the same thing when they do what every child does sooner or later and count back nine months from their birthday.

Born at Christmas? Nine months from the first days of spring. Conclusion: Your parents hibernate.

Born in June? Nine months from October. Conclusion: Your parents couldn't afford heating.

For the record, I'm a Scorpio. Born in November, nine months after Valentine's Day. This is the reason Scorpios have a streak of evil - we have lived with the knowledge of dark lust from day one. :-)

Re:Astrological signs not all BS

[aiabx]

Not a bad idea if we assume that all people develop at the same rate in their early childhood. I can assure you as a parent that this is not the case. Furthermore, it does not explain how someone born on the 20th of December will be fundamentally different from someone born on the 22nd of December.
-aiabx

Re:Astrological signs not all BS

[Anonymous Coward]

So Australians are apt to be more like their half-year zodiac counterpart in Iceland? Or are there only really six sets of traits, repeated to constitute a year's worth?

Re:Astrological signs not all BS

[danila]

Yes, and then kids have up to 1 year difference in age when they go to school because of the month in which they were born. All cortect. The only catch is that there have been a shitload of studies and they demostrate no correlation between the birthday and anything personal worth mentioning at all.

Of course, we might find that the season has some minor effect, but that would not validate astrology, just like spaceflight doesn't validate levitation claims.

Ahhh, another anonymous moron

[Anonymous Coward]

everything has a gravitational pull.
and thanks to the inverse square principle, the doctor's influence on you gravitationally is far greater than mars.

Why I read horoscopes

[jazmataz23]

As most people have noted, horoscopes are written as generally as possible, since the horoscopes printed in a paper should "fit" 1/12 of the population. Why do I read them and apply their advice to my life? Because I've been around long enough to understand that a life lacking in mythology is drab and uninspiring. So I take a generic horoscope and look for its (usually positive) outcome in my life. And of course, I find it.

So how is this different from your collection of Star Wars "collectibles" *snort* or your borg mask? Well, the guidance I get actually makes a difference in my life. Well, one example is that I'm engaged to be married to a woman I met on a day about seven years ago that said "you will meet your soul mate today". Did I take extra care that day to keep my eyes out for intelligent and attarctive women? Sure. Am I glad I did? Yep.

In short, I have a life plan, and I'm working toward goals, but I don't think that I am the sole arbiter of events. The world doesn't revolve around me. A time to sow, a time to reap and all that. It's human nature to look to some source of greater guidance and pattern in the ebb and flow of life. Astrology's been around for thousands of years; if it were complete bunk, wouldn't we would have thrown it out by now? Does it matter that it can easily be explained as a self-fulfilling prophesy? Nah.

I love the Sagan quote, by the way. The bull-headed application of science in the realm of faith is absurd; similar to pointing out that a man can't really be suspended on a cross by nails through his hands.

Engage Shields
jaz

Re:Why I read horoscopes

[Anonymous Coward]

The bull-headed application of science in the realm of faith is absurd; similar to pointing out that a man can't really be suspended on a cross by nails through his hands.

What utter drivel. A man can be suspended on a cross by nails driven through his wrists. Applying science in the "realm of faith" (or, as I like to call it, the Magic Fantasy Land of faith) is totally justified - if it weren't justified, logical reasoning, it wouldn't be science. Justified logical reasoning shows that astrology is bunk and has no predictive power whatsoever. The fact that idiots continue to believe it is merely a sign that they are idiots.

Re:Why I read horoscopes

[rknop]

As most people have noted, horoscopes are written as generally as possible, since the horoscopes printed in a paper should "fit" 1/12 of the population. Why do I read them and apply their advice to my life? Because I've been around long enough to understand that a life lacking in mythology is drab and uninspiring. So I take a generic horoscope and look for its (usually positive) outcome in my life. And of course, I find it.

That's fine; if you find inspiration and personal meaning from somewhere, that's fine. However:

I love the Sagan quote, by the way. The bull-headed application of science in the realm of faith is absurd; similar to pointing out that a man can't really be suspended on a cross by nails through his hands.

This is very misguided.

It's one thing to say that you find that myth and faith makes life more interesting and meaningful for you. This is largely the purpose of most any religion. It's an entirely different thing to say that astrology has any real predictive power as a method of divination. That's what Sagan and other scientists are talking about when they say astrology is bunk. And, indeed, astrology has been shown through experiments to have no predictive power. It is wrong-- we know that, because we have evidence that it is wrong.

It's one thing to find meaning and inspiration from something, but it's another thing to claim that there is a truth in that something which has been demonstrated to be empirically false. It's similar to many Christians, who find meaning in the Bible even though they have no problem believing evolution and big-bang cosmology. The Christians who believe that the Bible must be literally true and in young-Earth creationism are wrong, because there is an overwhelming weight of evidence showing that they are wrong. It's not arrogance of scientists to say that they are wrong; it's simply pointing out the facts. Many other Christians, however, manage to reconcile this with their faith by recognizing that for their faith to have meaning, the Bible need not be literally true.

So find your meaning in the stars and the horoscopes if that's valuable to you; that's great. But if you believe that astrology is a generally applicable method of divination, you're deceiving yourself in the face of a tremendous amount of evidence pointing the other way.

-Rob

Re:Why I read horoscopes

[Anonymous Coward]

You claim that

The Christians who believe that the Bible must be literally true and in young-Earth creationism are wrong, because there is an overwhelming weight of evidence showing that they are wrong. It's not arrogance of scientists to say that they are wrong; it's simply pointing out the facts.

Contrary to your assertion, the evidence is overwhelming against evolution and for a young earth. Since this is a very broad topic, I'll leave it to you - pick a portion and let's have a discussion about it.

These would be a little more believable if...

[MongooseCN]

..they made predictions like "You will find a job soon.", "You will start a new career", or "You will move in with your parents."

Traits

[SolemnDragon]

Virgo: I don't believe in astrology.

Horoscope: You're a Virgo, and Virgos are practical people who don't often believe in things like astrology. Why are you reading this?

Virgo: Good point. (closes window, goes back to work.)

Chris Rock Says:

[PhxBlue]

Leo: You're gonna die.
Virgo: You're gonna die.
Scorpio: You're gonna die fuckin'!

Another Horoscope Idea

[Scholasticus]

Here's my idea for the Slashdotter's Horoscope:
Aries: You will get First Post today!
Taurus: You will receive a visit from the "goatse guy."
Gemini: You Fail It!
Cancer: You will read a story about the SCO lawsuit today.
Leo: Today you will finish your transformation of an old vacuum cleaner into a computer case.
Virgo: Today your boss will catch you reading /. while you're supposed to be working.
Libra: You will be asked to Meta-Moderate.
Scorpio: Someone will tell you that, despite your best efforts, BSD is dying.
Sagittarius: Your sig will mysteriously be left off your post on /. today.
Capricorn: What you thought was a witty comment will receive -1, Troll.
Aquarius: A site that you try to visit after reading about on /. will ironically be slashdotted.
Pisces: Your post on /. will unfortunately have an instance of "teh" in place of "the" because you didn't hit the preview button.

Re:Another Horoscope Idea

[FurryFeet]

I am a Taurus.
I hate you.

Re:Another Horoscope Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

> I am a Taurus.
> I hate you.

Bull! ;-)

Get your facts straight before you flame...

[Goldenhawk]

>similar to pointing out that a man can't really be suspended
>on a cross by nails through his hands.

I believe that any careful study of Roman history will discover that this practice was NOT related solely to Jesus' death. The Romans slaughtered thousands of criminals this way, and it's VERY well documented.

Even more importantly, very few Biblical scholars believe "hands" means "palms". Most believe that the nails were placed just above the wrist, between the two arm bones. Very good support, and excruciatingly painful (which was the entire point).

Get your facts straight before you flame more than half of the United States population.

Re:Get your facts straight before you flame...

[Anonymous Coward]

Flaming is emotionally charged ranting. Commenting "knowledgably" about things one knows little about is not flaming. It's trolling. And I got you. Nyeh nyeh. :)

Re:Get your facts straight before you flame...

[GoneGaryT]

Get your facts straight before you flame more than half of the United States population.

...but once you've got 'em straight, flame away by all means...

IRT Cancer's

[Anonymous Coward]

From the horoscope for Cancer, "Your short-term memory is not functioning at optimal levels."

Oh come on now, it hasn't been functioning at optimal levels for years. Now if it said it would be functioning at optimal levels, then it might be interesting.

More

[heli0]

Geek Horoscopes

Mine is Pisces, and it is spot-on accurate for me

[Anonymous Coward]

You've got an uncanny knack for reading the public pulse right now. It's a good time to push a new idea like crazy - and get your colleagues to help you. You're going to love having a high-spirited team behind you, but keep in mind that you can't have things your own way all the time. Sometimes it may seem as if you're herding cats, but if you try to take too much control you'll strangle the life out of the good will you've built. What you do now will have staying power and prove to be lasting. Take the high road. Be sure to back up critical files at the end of the month.

I am the senior supervisor of my group, and over the past year or so, I've been rather alienating them with my demands for professionalism and perfection when they seem to have a "don't-a-sh*t" attitude towards their work. I am the biggest anti-microsoft bigot in the organization, but I do recognize that we simply have to upgrade our core NOS to Win2K3 to keep operating smoothly for the coming years (sad, but true), so I pushed management for the budget to do this and got approval. (I think our senior management owns a bunch of MS stock or something, because they won't give me money to implement a proper backup and disaster recovery system but they'll gladly spend $100K on MS upgrades, go figure). Anyway I've now got my team rallying around me and excited to do this massive W2K3 implementation and migrating to active directory and all that jive, under the pretenses that it will be valuable experience to add to their resumes and skill sets, to further enhance their employability and advancability. They are all psyched-up about it too, and my image and standing with them has never been on a better keel since they think that I successfully got the W2K3 buy-off from management for their sake. I do indeed have a tendancy to be a bit demanding of attention to detail and short-tempered towards carelessness and goof-ups of my staff, so I guess I really do need to lighten up a bit on them and try to run this project like an adventurous expedition instead of being a slave-driving jerk.

BTW: I *always* have to manually back up all my machines at the end of the month and verify the backups by hand... since my management is too damn cheap to buy me a good backup system like ArcServ or Tiviloi.

Integrating disparate IT

[daveqr]

Shouldn't that be 'Integrating desperate IT' ?

You'll want to believe...

[The Famous Brett Wat]

Those horoscopes are nicely crafted. They had me wondering whether they were generated by a program (like mission statement generators) half the time. But the hard-nosed rationalists among you might want to hope you're wrong this time! From Pisces:

You've got an uncanny knack for reading the public pulse right now. It's a good time to push a new idea like crazy - and get your colleagues to help you. ... What you do now will have staying power and prove to be lasting. Take the high road. Be sure to back up critical files at the end of the month.

I'm working on a thesis detailing a somewhat spam-proof replacement for SMTP. I'll review my backup regimen immediately, but I hope one of my fellow Pisceans doesn't beat me to the punch. Most amusing.

Odd...

[John M Ford]

It didn't mention my job being offshored. I don't see how it missed that.

Now you may find it inconceivable ...

[JasonMaggini]

or at the very least a bit unlikely that the relative position of the planets and the stars could have a special deep significance or meaning that exclusively applies to only you, but let me give you my assurance that these forcasts and predictions are all based on solid, scientific, documented evidence, so you would have to be some kind of moron not to reaize that every single one of the is absolutely true.

Where was I?

Am I the only one...

[greymond]

that gets rediculous bullshit that doesn't even come close to what i'm doing currently?

I'm a capricorn...

"You may feel confused about whether to pursue a new certification or degree. Seek out a former colleague's advice.
No actually i'm not taking a cert right now, nor considering one.

This is a period of non-stop stream of consciousness. Pay attention to ideas that come to you in the middle of the night. Embrace new ideas and try to look at your work from new perspectives.
Ok thats decent advice.

Whatever you do, you will succeed if you play strictly by the rules. Don't take foolish chances -- stick to established protocols in your work environment. Because you're so good at what you do, others will want to give you more responsibility. Take the reins if they're offered.
Um.. My boss is the only person above me and he is not leaving any time soon. If a new project comes in thats because we got another client, I only get to keep my job for being responsible.

Travel and relationships with people far away are emerging as huge trends in months to come."
I have no money to go anywhere and I did a lot of travelling last year, this year I do not even want to go anywhere, not to mention I can't even afford it right now.

So I get offered some good advice (to go with my good ideas) and a lot of bullshit.

Pisces

[hyperstation]

You will come to work. You will sulk. You will go home. You will sulk. You will drink. You will sulk.

You will do this over and over.

And then you will eventually welcome the cold dark embrace of death, thank god.

NICE!!!

[Redbw6]

Okay...so you've gotten me! I am a horoscope junkie. So what exactly do these horoscopes say? Does it talk about your profession, health.. what? I am definitely going to check them out! Thanks!!

woah, mine was right on...

[Anonymous Coward]

I am a Cancer, mine was pretty accurate, though some of it has not happened yet.

This fall, you intuitively seem to know how to find work-arounds for problems that perplex others.

Just call me Mr Work-Around.

Pay particular attention to flashes of insight and write them down before they fade away.

I actually do this a lot. I have a text file on my home machine that I jot down ideas on. If I'm at work, I SSH in to my home machine to add to this file.

One of these ideas could play a big part in your future.

Sweet.

If you're thinking of going back for training, try an online course.

I have been thinking of taking some courses at the local university, but online courses did not occur to me.

This is a good time for in-depth learning because you'll have the self-discipline and resolve you'll need to succeed.

This is true. In the last month, I have been doing nothing but learning both at work and at home. I've been totally focused and haven't cared about doing anything besides career-related learning.

If you travel on business, pay particular attention to your laptop, cell phone and PDA as you go through airport security.

I may or may not have to travel. I just got a laptop, but I don't intend to travel with it.

Your short-term memory is not functioning at optimal levels.

This is true, I have to write down things to keep track of everything. This is partially because there is just so much going on, that I can't remember it all.

Personal keyword: wireless
Related reading: 802.11 Learning Guide

I just recently got a 802.11b router along with the laptop. This is my first wireless network.

Or it could be...

[gosand]

Horoscopes are based on simple concepts that are almost univeral. That if I ask you if you are having conflict with your mate, you will probably say yes. It may be because of a divorce, or it might be a disagreement over what movie to see this weekend.

Or it could be a hangnail...

"... exhibits power on my laptop ..."?

[Get Behind the Mule]

Say wha, Taco?

The good news, I don't think you misspelled anything. The bad news is, your grammar and vocabulary seem to have gone over to the impenetrably flummoxed.

Did you mean to say that a gaseous orb exerts power on your laptop?

more accurate IT Horoscope site...

[Lumpy]

here

They never fail and are always right on target.

When will we get horrorscopes instead?

[pr0ntab]

I imagine it as something that we can use to inflict specific technological woe and terror upon those who insist on reading aloud, commenting on or talking about their horoscopes.

Perhaps we should suck it up and pick up some tabloids, using those Hollywood-calibre horoscopes as seeds for "unfortunate events" that will make them wonder if the stars are against them.

So get out there and start off-handedly asking about birthdays and magazine/newspaper subscriptions... it's time for devilish fun!

Re:When will we get horrorscopes instead?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think OPJ will be stealing that post.

My prediction:

[vudufixit]

Regardless of Astrological Sign, your job will be outsourced to another country.

Gaseous orbs.

[fmaxwell]

Mine was surprisingly accurate, thus proving beyond a shadow of a doubt the power that a gaseous orb a zillion miles away exhibits upon my laptop.

So your boss is out of town right now? Still, you better hope he doesn't find out what you just called him.

You insensitive clod

[shis-ka-bob]

Gemini May 22 - June 21 A shake-up in human resources may be in the works. .. I blame Slashdot for getting my 30 day notice yesterday! But, on the bright side my "problem-solving and extraordinary organzational skills are about to pay off in a big way monetarily." SO, IF YOU ARE READING THIS HIRE ME NOW AND "everyone will benefit."

Too many people's IT horoscopes

[nightsweat]

You will go to the unemployment office today to pick up your check.

There will be no jobs for you today. Tomorrow, either.

Your lucky number is 1,456,237.03

I kind of like this

[mrkurt]

Under my rising sign (Virgo), they have captured the truth:
Personal keyword: paradox
Related Reading: MS: Open-source model 'definitely worth emulating'

(As in, Paradox== "MS Open-source")

Under my sun sign (Taurus), they have also hit upon something I feel to be true: It's time to wrap up a long-term project you inherited. Don't be afraid to set aside the old tried-and-true, especially when dealing with technology past its prime.
Translation: time to put VB out to pasture!

Lots of IT positions out there...

[Short Circuit]

Actually, I found a great way to get a decent position in IT.

A lot of businesses in your local area may need technical assistance. For example, someone to fix their computers, or to get their office on a network. Or maybe to get all their QuickBooks licenses to use the same database.

You can make $30-40 an hour, albeit a small number of hours per client.

I'm making $6 an hour as a tutor at the local community college, and my brother makes as much as I do working one day a week. And he's only being paid $15/hour training wages.

Re:Lots of IT positions out there...

[Bromrrrrr]

Yes, yes, we've all had the email but thanks for reminding us anyhow :-)....can I work from home by the way?

Outlook not so good.

[Anonymous Coward]

Gee, both the plastic 8-ball *and* my fortune cookie said this!!!!

Scientifically Accurate

[BitwizeGHC]

"Now you may find it inconceivable or at the very least a bit unlikely that the relative positions of the planets and the stars can have a special deep significance or meaning that exclusively applies to only you but let me give you my assurance that these forecasts and predictions are all based on solid scientific documented evidence so you would have to be some kind of moron not to realize that every single one of them is absolutely true!" --Weird Al Yankovic

Yeah, so. . ?

[Fantastic Lad]

You discovered that 80% of people are idiots. (Including James Randi.) --Frankly, I'd have expected that number to be higher.

Doesn't prove anything about astrology one way or the other, however. (Except that perhaps 80% of 'astrologists' are probably also idiots.)

Babies and bathwater and all that.

You're a teacher and you're bringing Randi-isms into the classroom? Jeezus. You might want to check your sources a little more thoroughly. That guy is one of the most witch-hunting, bad-science, over-extended egos in the biz. Here's a logic problem for you:

When your career and self-worth are intimately tied up with your point of view being the right one, what do you think is likely to happen to objectivity? Man, even he points out that one of the big problems with 'magic' is that people mostly just want to sell books. Randi is no different, except that he's a bloody hypocrite.

-FL

Re:Yeah, so. . ?

[Dr. Zowie]

Well, Randi may be a showman and out to sell books, but his science is still good. False positives are poorly understood by most folks, but they are just as valid a way of testing predictions as false negatives.

Specificity to a star-sign is a big deal in astrology -- most astrologers will tell you that horoscopes are valid for a particular sign and no other. The demonstration shows that in fact that claim is false.

Randi's genius is in conceiving very simple tests that expose muddied thinking -- and then using those expositions to teach people about critical thinking in general.

You say "Babies and bathwater and all that", as if to say that throwing out the all the predictions of astrology is a bad idea because it throws out the good predictions as well as the bad. The problem with that idea is that there's no way to tell in advance which predictions are which! Even the astrologers don't know. It's like the old saw about advertising budgets: "I know that half my advertising dollars are wasted -- I just don't know which half!".

Re:First post, bitches!

[caluml]

If I had meant to post anonymously, I'd be annoyed. But I've got waaaaaay too much karma to care.

The Forer Effect

[Mad Man]

was Skeptics and horoscopes

Actually Bertram Forer did that experiment in 1948, except with pscyhological profile "tests" instead of horoscopes.

The phenomenon has since been known as the Forer Effect.

Psychologist B.R. Forer found that people tend to accept vague and general personality descriptions as uniquely applicable to themselves without realizing that the same description could be applied to just about anyone. Consider the following as if it were given to you as an evaluation of your personality.

You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some personality weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an independent thinker; and do not accept others' statements without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic.

Forer gave a personality test to his students, ignored their answers, and gave each student the above evaluation. He asked them to evaluate the evaluation from 0 to 5, with "5" meaning the recipient felt the evaluation was an "excellent" assessment and "4" meaning the assessment was "good." The class average evaluation was 4.26. That was in 1948. The test has been repeated hundreds of time with psychology students and the average is still around 4.2.

Libra

[Cat_Byte]

What the hell? Mine is talking about budget cuts and using other operating systems at work. I'm unemployed you insensitive clod!

Cute. Now try. . .

[Fantastic Lad]

to find something which isn't a complete joke.

I can't STAND horseshit astrology. Astrology is a powerful gateway to higher awareness which is bogged down and virtually impossible to find thanks to the infernal fog of bullshit created by this kind of crap.

Susan Miller does some reasonably good work. Look into Asian astrology, as well. Theodora Lau is also pretty sharp. --And don't be just another one of those damned twerps who condemns without even bothering to properly examine the question. "I don't need to because I already know it's bunk."

Cowards. --Just scared people will laugh at you for not going along with the popular concensus of your group. Puh-lease. Grow a spine and do some of your own investigation.

Anybody who doesn't realize that humans are linked to the rest of reality is a damned fool. If unexplained, paradoxical forces can exist at the quantum level, which they clearly do, then what makes people think that unseen forces can't also express themselves at the macro level?

Jeez. Our universe is just one massive, fractal-like expression. Think of it this way; if you are living as one part of that expression, then you should, logically, be able to learn about yourself by examining other parts of that same expression. Just because they don't appear linked in an obvious way only suggests that your means of observation are limited.

What arrogance. And from supposedly learned people, no less!

-FL

Study has no real science in it

[delcielo]

I'm tempted to go on one of those personal crusades against stuff like this. I can't begin to relate the difficulties my wife and I have had over crap like this type of study.

There is no possible way for you to control a control group well enough to get ANY meaningful data from a study that follows people from birth into adulthood. The variables are nearly infinite.

If the people who wrote the study actually performed the data collection and administered the study, they should be shot for putting forward the idea that you can tell anything specific about adulthood from such specific environmental factors in children.

Most of the time, when you hear something like this, it is an interpretation of data that other people collected and deemed only marginally interesting; but some advocate got a hold of and pawned off as meaningful.

A great book to read for new or expecting parents is "The Myth of the First Three Years" by John Bruer.

Play Mozart to your baby because it's soothing and you wish to foster a familiarity with the music. Don't do it because you think it will increase your child's I.Q. by 5 points; because there is nothing that actually suggests that... nothing.

Re:Study has no real science in it

[heironymouscoward]

I'd tend to agree except that you're probably overreacting to what I said.

You will find my own comments on previous stories where I discuss the recent findings that parental influence on children is incredibly low, less than genetics and less than peer influences. To me, with a daughter of 3 weeks, it's already clear that we are born with a character and we develop that character despite, not thanks to, the influences we receive.

However... the study was based on historical data of women born in Canada around the turn of the century, a large and complete population, and the only firm conclusion it drew was that there was a statistically-significant difference in fertility, as measured by the number of grand children, depending on the month of birth.

This has nothing to do with parenting.

Re:Study has no real science in it

[delcielo]

Yeah. I apologize. Later on when I came back to Slashdot, I realized I had sort of gone off on a rant there. It's one of those things where I really wish I had read my post and yours more carefully before spouting off. :-)

I obviously projected something badly onto your post, and I shouldn't have. I apologize.

Congratulations on your new baby!

Randi

[Fantastic Lad]

Well, Randi may be a showman and out to sell books, but his science is still good.

No. The example used was a clever test. Good science is something else entirely. Do some digging. The man is about as critically objective as any New Age buffoon. He just has superior PR.

You say "Babies and bathwater and all that", as if to say that throwing out the all the predictions of astrology is a bad idea because it throws out the good predictions as well as the bad.

Actually, that's not exactly what I meant. --While you make a good point about not being able to tell in advance which predictions are good or bad, I was not talking about predictions, (and that astrology is all about predictions is another huge misnomer in my opinion.), but rather discarding the concept of so-called 'magic', (areas of reality not yet understood or recognized by orthodox science), simply because there are so many charlatans about is foolish.

It just takes a little work. --Watch the patterns. When one system or writer proves to have a poor return on accurate 'predictions' drop it/him/her. Indeed, most will prove to be worthless. The single largest mistake, I think, is in believing that Astrology is about predicting to people what will happen to them in the future. That's not it at all. Rather it's about forecasting 'weather' patterns in the forces which will influence their lives.

Sound the same? Think of it this way. . .

A weather forecaster telling you that, "You will get wet on Wednesday," is obviously being presumptuous. (What good is that kind of report to people who won't go outside on Wednesday? Or how useful is that kind of prediction for people who wash regularly?) Unfortunately, this is the way most 'astrologers' present their work. On the other hand, a weather forecaster can tell you that "It will rain on Wednesday." --And that's better. But it still isn't entirely responsible because even an expert meteorologist doesn't know for sure. Nobody lives in the future, and the future is variable. It's stupid, both for meteorologists and astrologers to make such predictions.

Now what a weather forecaster can say with real authority is, "These patterns of high and low pressure exist in these areas, and they are moving in these directions. In the past, these patterns have led to precipitation."

Now THAT is responsible reporting.

And what you do with that information, wear a rain coat or not, is up to you. Choice is still very much a vital factor. (Another huge misconception is that Astrology precludes choice.)

Interestingly, I have found that the patterns of influence examined in Astrology are in fact far less fickle than those observed in weather patterns. Weather patterns are determined by very quickly changing chaotic systems, whereas Astrologers look at planetary motion, which while also chaotic, are so on a much slower scale. Through mathematics, a good astrologer can tell you years in advance what sort of forces are going to be influencing the world on a given day.

If you are at all interested in looking at this stuff in any real depth, I would recommend the work of two women who, in my opinion, are not fools or charlatans.

Susan Miller for western astrology.

And Theodora Lau, for Asian astrology, which works on the higher, year-by-year cycle. Yes, you need to pick up a book to read her work, but it's foolish to think that the mode of information distribution automatically voids one's research. (Trust Randi to suggest such faulty logic.) What mode of mass-communication doesn't cost money to maintain?

-FL

Silicon Valley Tarot

[perp]

Silicon Valley Tarot will answer the questions "What will happen to me? My program? My career?"

Some of the cards are hilarious, like "Venture Capital" or "Flame War"

Weather prediction...

[Dr. Zowie]

Weather prediction is a good example of weakly predictive system: the meteorologist can't tell you 100% precisely whether there will be rain or not; he can only give you predictions.

But, aside from the statistics of how effective they are, meteorology passes two tests that astrology does not: there is a plausible explanation given for why it should work; and the results are falsifiable.

By "Plausible explanation" I don't mean that, er, it sounds OK to me. I mean something very specific. All of the theory of weather prediction is reducible to particular experiments that you can do in the laboratory, to particular pieces of mathematics that you can teach to a non-believer, and/or to particular types of correlated observation you can make and teach readily. The product (a weather prediction) rests on a collection of simpler components that give a clear line of causality between the observations (wind speed in various places, satellite photos, etc.) and the predictions. Astrology does not have this. In fact, individual astrologers are in general not well versed in the theory of planetary motion. For example, few astrologers can tell you the phases of Jupiter's moons or even which constellation contains the Sun at the moment (hint: it's not the corresponding astrological sign). As a result, their product (predictions and explanations) is not plausible, because there is no line of causality linking their observations (presumably, observations of the sky -- though astrologers are not noted for owning telescopes or other observing equipment) and their product.

Finally, weathermen's results are falsifiable. Meteorologists go out of their way to make statements that actually mean something, in the sense that they exclude whole classes of phenomena. When the weather channel predicts sun and instead it's cloudy, you know immediately that the meteorologists screwed up: their predictions didn't apply to the actual weather. The point of the demo I ran in class is that most astrologers go out of their way to make statements that are not falsifiable and hence mean little. If the horoscope that I gave my students were specific and falsifiable, one would expect about 10% of the class to reply that it applied to them. In fact, over 80% of the class felt that it applied well to them, and only 10% of the class felt that it didn't apply to them. That is to say, the astrologer who wrote the horoscope did a piss-poor job of writing predictions or even life summaries that are useful (in the sense of actually meaning something).

Thanks for correction

[Sivaram_Velauthapill]

Assuming that you are correct, thanks for the correction. I thought the original guy was right with his quote but thanks for pointing out it wasn't...

Sivaram Velauthapillai

When will pr0ntab learn to spell?

[Anonymous Coward]

Learn to spell, dipshit

I'm confused...

[JWhitlock]

Is this the birthdate of the user, or of the computer?

I'd say it's for the user - mine was accurate enough, but my laptop's was not:

The compatibility issues that have been hounding you lately will magically seem to resolve themselves. Now is a good time to purchase new hardware, especially if you've been putting it off. The discipline you need to finally put your dreams and goals to work is at hand. Seek out an unconventional partnership. Despite personality differences, find the common denominator in professional relationships -- you're going to need help to accomplish your goals. Although your sign likes to be productive, your schedule has been challenging, even for you. Your hard work has not gone unnoticed, however. You've proven yourself and will have a chance to enjoy a bit of freedom and autonomy. Enjoy!

The laptop (born on Sept 11, 2000) has been all but useless after installing gcc 3.3.1-r2 from the gentoo ~x86 tree. The compatibility issues are NOT resolving themselves magically - I'm reinstalling gentoo from scratch, without the ~x86 tree.

However, I'm hopeful my laptop will avoid "unconventional partnerships" in the near future. Please stay away, openssh bug!

anyway ...

[Anonymous Coward]

the way the 12 zodiac are done it will work for anyone ... wish indians would release their astrology under GPL or something'

I see

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be talking to yourself, while looking with a Seagal-like-face in your mirror ;-)

Are *you* talking to me?

Are you talking to *me*?

Are you *talking* to me?

"Conversations with yourself is the best way to self-knowledge, or to being put in a nuthouse."

My favorite horoscope...

[cafebabe]

From Slashdot's Quote sidebar:

"Today is a good day to bribe a high-ranking public official."

Please enlighten me.

[pr0ntab]

What was it that I spelled incorrectly, Anonymous Asshat?

I suspect you are a Virgo. I fear we are incompatible.

Lab tests and fasifiability.

[Fantastic Lad]

But, aside from the statistics of how effective they are, meteorology passes two tests that astrology does not: there is a plausible explanation given for why it should work; and the results are falsifiable.

Of course the parallel between weather and astrology ends at this point. There are, to my knowledge, only theories as to why Astrology works. Some of them sound fairly reasonable, but none is testable in a lab setting with the current knowledge allowed by orthodox science. --Which is not to say that there is not available a lot of otherwise good science which might be used to explain the hows and whys behind human behavior patterns. (For instance, how biological life is affected by electromagnetism and gravity is a wide and largely untapped area of study. Robert O. Becker has raised many observations which might be worth considering.) People have indeed been studying this stuff for a good long time in a variety of arenas. But certain areas of knowledge are very much off-limits to the public realm. Becker, for instance, despite his long and respected career, his many contributions to science and medicine, the inherent value of his work in these 'off-limits' areas is largely ignored.

As well, it is true that most 'astrologers' are jokers, so of course they are going to play the non-falsifiable game. I don't argue with that at all, but then I don't consider them important to any discussion about Astrology except in recognizing that they are part of the fog bank which helps to obscure things.

It would be nice if public arena science could hand out answers regarding the mysterious forces upon which Astrology is based. --Heck, it would be nice if public arena science could hand out answers regarding the mysterious forces upon which Quantum Physics is based. But at the moment, public domain science can do neither. --It does not stop, however, those forces from being both predictable, and useful areas of study.

Very simply, just because something cannot be explained does not mean it isn't there. There are a lot of things which cannot yet be explained but which I am sure could be, (and very probably have been), given enough time and proper study.

There are two problems with Astrology and Energy practices; 1. They are derived from periods of history which came before the arise of scientific doctrine, and as such, have the dubious honor of falling under the same umbrella as religion and dark-age belief systems; that is, they are treated as toys and subjects put away with the childhood of the human race. And 2., were they acknowledged and taken seriously by the modern world, they would prevent the current power structure from being able to direct and control humanity in quite the way it does.

Becker again is an example. --Cellphone radiation is a hot button topic, as we all know. In Becker's study of Acupuncture, (which the American military first turned him on to, because, "We don't know why, but gosh Darn it! It sure seems to work! We want to use it on the battle field. See what you can come up with." --Through researching this, Becker discovered that the function of the human body is enormously affected by micro-currents of DC electricity. (When those acupuncture needles are inserted and set to rotating in the air, they generate micro currents which go on to affect the body in certain ways.) This led into wider areas of research, including everything from how non stem-cells can and do dedifferentiate, to the understanding of certain mechanics through which EM radiation affect the human nervous system in a multitude of ways entirely ignored, and worse, actively rejected by the media, corporate and government bodies, and by those in academia.

Here's an article on Cell phone radiation and how it has been shown to cause the blood-brain barrier to become permeable; something previously claimed impossible by many in respected science. I

Re:Carl Sagan

[jeepliberty]

Carl Sagan was very opinionated. I read Immanuel Velikovsky's Worlds in Collision in college and thought it was interesting and possibly believable. Carl really bashed it.