TOW ... Linda-Badman!!

My mum's currently in the "Linda Goodman" frenzy .
The cover says , "over 2 million copies sold " . So, lets say they sold a million copies .
Now the book costs $10 .
So the publisher made $ 10,000,000 !!!
And the female would have definitely made more than a million herself . And, thats from just one book !!
I can't believe that she made herself a multi-millionaire by making a fool out of people like my mom !
I must strike back .

LINDA BAD-MAN!!
Astrology .
Astro , basically has dooble-entendre . It essentially refers to George Jetson's pet mutt .
And oh yeah , it also means something that's got to do with stars and all that celestial crap .
Logy , comes from the latin word logos that means science which inturn comes from the greek word sciens that means knowledge , which again is derived from the french wor......ehm..... well , it is not germane to what I'm talking about here.

What is pertinent here is the meaning of the word astrology .
Well if you logically look at it , and just for the record "logic" too comes from logos which in turn....never mind ! ; yeah , so logically it could either mean :
* the study of Mr. Jetson's dog . Or,
* the study of stars and their affect ( shud I be saying effect ?) on our lives .

Now , they both seem equally interesting and yet rummy topics .
But there is nothing much to analyse about George's canine friend .
So, we'll make this discussion less dusultory by focussing on stars and how they play with our lives.

There isn't a magazine or a daily that doesn't reserve a column for astrology / zodiacs .
And everybody reads it , whether they believe it or not .
But , I don't get it !!
Where is the connection ?!
How can some "thing" that is like a zillion light-years away from me and is constantly moving away with a speed that makes me wonder whether its ass is on fire , decide the course of my life .
Now , c'mmon don't gimme that " magnetic effect " crap !
That's what all these astrologers claim .
"... the position of the celestial objects at the time when you were born , creates a unique magnetic field that makes a signature pattern of neurons on the frontal node of your cerebral cortex , just above the medula oblongata....".

Well , it should not take me more than 2 seconds , make it 3 , to strip open the fallacy of this dogma.
The time starts now.

One , even if we assume that the magnetic field at the time of birth does define one's personality then there are so many other sources of magnetic fields running concurrently . What if I had a tranformer near the hospital I was born in !!
Forget the tranformer , you dont need a Phd in electrical sciences to know that even domestic electrical circuits create magnetic fields and their proximity can't even be compared to these celestial sources , our astro friends are talking about .
Not convinced .

OK , what about the fact that they are on the run . Remember the 'Big Bang' theory ?!!!
No no , not finger-bang ! .......Big bang .
Well , all these stars are moving away from us at a speed that could leave even "The Concord" chagrined . A couple of billion miles per second , at the least . So there goes your magnetic effect theory !

Need more proof ?
Fine , there is another reason . Well , there are so many celestial objects that are born and that die every second . And there are loads of them we don't even no about . How do you accout for that .
Do you know how many planets are there in the solar system ?
nine ?!
Wrong ! the answer is ten . A new member was added to the solar family a couple of months back .

A'rite , I guess it's time for me to lift up my sword and say touche .

But , then astrology is atleast better than numerology .
What's up with numerology anyway ? And how can anyone actually believe in this thing !!
You change your name as directed by numerologists ( who are mistaken for people who are good with numbers ) , and you become wealthier , healthier and wise(er ?!) . Well you sure do need to get wise .Duh ?!!
No , seriously . Where is the relation ???
Its like saying , " Frank farted in Frankfurt and my dog died in Delhi !!! ".
I can't believe astrology,numerology on one hand and biology,neurolgy,logic on the other , come from the same root !
Its like a mother having two kids . One is as good as it gets (say , me), and the other ..the antagonist...like my sister !!!.
I guess the evil kid of Mrs.Logos , basically gives people (read :losers ) who can't make their own decisions a reason to hand-over their life to a " non-living thing " !!!
So be it.
<>