Solar eclipse pits superstition against science

[musicguy123]

Indian astrologers are predicting violence and turmoil across the world as a result of this week's total solar eclipse, which the superstitious and religious view as a sign of potential doom.
But astronomers, scientists and secularists are trying to play down claims of evil portent in connection with Wednesday's natural spectacle, when the moon will come between the Earth and the sun, completely obscuring the sun.

Waiting…..

[Gard]

...for what, a really interesting astronomical phenomenon that has occured millions of time throughout the history of the solar system?

These "astrologers" need to go hang out with the moon walk hoax tinfoil hat brigade.

[jdieh1]

Originally Posted by Gard

...for what, a really interesting astronomical phenomenon that has occured millions of time throughout the history of the solar system?

These "astrologers" need to go hang out with the moon walk hoax tinfoil hat brigade.

I believe he is waiting for the doom part. But a sarcastic waiting

[Gard]

Originally Posted by jdieh1

I believe he is waiting for the doom part. But a sarcastic waiting

Oh, I got that he was being sarcastic and making a joke, I'm just disturbed that ANYONE would take these idiots that think an eclipse means ANYTHING (other than the moon moving in front of the sun for a short time).

Sometimes I fear we are sliding back into another dark ages...

[NJL]

Originally Posted by musicguy123

Waiting…..

awesome thread, you have even included a link.

[Asa Samuel]

The moon does do something, my mum works in A&E and full moon nights are always more caotic, always more patients and they always get more mental health patients on full moon nights than on other nights.

[Mark Latimour]

Originally Posted by Asa Samuel

The moon does do something, my mum works in A&E and full moon nights are always more caotic, always more patients and they always get more mental health patients on full moon nights than on other nights.

This has been debunked quite a bit:

Originally Posted by article

There is a more serious problem for fervent believers in the lunar lunacy effect: no evidence that it exists. Florida International University psychologist James Rotton, Colorado State University astronomer Roger Culver and University of Saskatchewan psychologist Ivan W. Kelly have searched far and wide for any consistent behavioral effects of the full moon. In all cases, they have come up empty-handed. By combining the results of multiple studies and treating them as though they were one huge study—a statistical procedure called meta-analysis—they have found that full moons are entirely unrelated to a host of events, including crimes, suicides, psychiatric problems and crisis center calls. In their 1985 review of 37 studies entitled “Much Ado about the Full Moon,” which appeared in one of psychology’s premier journals, Psychological Bulletin, Rotton and Kelly humorously bid adieu to the full-moon effect and concluded that further research on it was unnecessary.

Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...-the-full-moon

[Thunderscreech]

Well, around here it seems like, sometimes, that a full moon comes with a large a mount of lunacy. But not always a full moon.

[Asa Samuel]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

This has been debunked quite a bit:



Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...-the-full-moon

Whether it's been debunked or not it still happens every full moon at the hospital my mum works at

[Gard]

Originally Posted by Asa Samuel

Whether it's been debunked or not it still happens every full moon at the hospital my mum works at

It's even got a name:

Enumeration Of Favorable Circumstances

aka counting the "hits" and not counting the "misses", or you could just call it was it is, a reporting/recording bias in favor of your theory.

There is NO statistical evidence to support any of the claims to "lunacy" being related to the phase of the moon. That goes for Mercury being in retrograde as well...a favorite of my ex-wife whenever things didn't go as she wanted them to.

[Rattman]

I was part of a boy scout troop that traveled to a US Air Force base in eastern N.C. during 1970 to witness a full, solar eclipse. Mere words alone could never justify the "other worldliness" that those few minutes on the tarmac were like. The temperature instantly dropped, the birds immediately all roosted and the colors and patterns that played along the ground and the sky... oh my gosh...

[Gard]

Originally Posted by Rattman

I was part of a boy scout troop that traveled to a US Air Force base in eastern N.C. during 1970 to witness a full, solar eclipse. Mere words alone could never justify the "other worldliness" that those few minutes on the tarmac were like. The temperature instantly dropped, the birds immediately all roosted and the colors and patterns that played along the ground and the sky... oh my gosh...

It IS quite an experience, isn't it?

And the fact that it is just a natural phenomenon doesn't remove any of the wonder.

[bassrique]

This is clearly the work of the devil and portends disaster for us all. If you dispute these facts, I will pour gasoline on you.

[Sartori]

The astrologers are right. There will be violence and turmoil across the world with the eclipse.

But that's because there's always violence and turmoil across the world. Might as well predict that water will be wet.

[Kyon`]

I've seen drunks go crazy where some weird occurrences happen in the sky, and when they don't.

[chrisisnotevil]

Originally Posted by bassrique

This is clearly the work of the devil and portends disaster for us all. If you dispute these facts, I will pour gasoline on you.

+1

[Pilgrim]

Science always wins. Those who are ruled by superstition lose.

No problem.

[kserg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj-x9ygQEGA

[hbarcat]

Originally Posted by Sartori

The astrologers are right. There will be violence and turmoil across the world with the eclipse.

But that's because there's always violence and turmoil across the world. Might as well predict that water will be wet.

Right on!

[JonathanD]

I do have to ad that the moons gravity does effect us in some small way. It moves the ocean and creates tides. It has to have some pull on the human body which is made mostly of water. Now, I do not propose that the effect is any different in conjunction with the position of the sun. Maybe the solar radiation hits the earth in a different fashion. The only effect I suspect is a few crashed cars from people taking their eyes off the road when the pretty eye candy appears.

Some stoned 15 year old who has no idea this is coming and lives in the boonies may believe the world is ending.

Sounds like fun.