Mercury in Retrograde
I stumbled upon a thread of posts on a message board that included these:
Friday morning (2005.07.22) I was at work and we were having problems with nearly every machine we had to use. Even the label printer froze on me, which it never does.
Anyway, what I wish I had recorded is what I said after the printer froze:
"Gee'z! Every single machine we have is jacked up! It's like friggin' Mercury retrograde or something!"
Nobody knew what the heck I was talking about, but I called it, dang it!
To which someone named Portmanteau responded:
Astrology is epicycles for gullible people.
Someone else joined in:
If you say so, but if you study them, every now and then there is something relevant.
Portmanteau replied, No. There is nothing to it. I'm an astronomer, btw.
To this I was forced to add the following:
Not for nothin', but recently we went through a whole lot of trouble with things that had been working. Printers going offline, computers not able to be shut down, boiler systems not working (pipes leaking, pumps needing to be replaced, thermostats not communicating with the boilers), as well as the usual miscommunications between people. When I realized that Mercury was once again in retrograde this year, I just sort of relaxed a bit and knew that we'd get through it.
I am not an astronomer. Nor am I an astrologist. I don't accept most of what comes out of astrology. But I am a scientifically inclined person who has recently (particularly within the last 10 years) discovered the reason for faith (as separate from proof). It's (very over-simply) a willingness to accept what you can't see.
As Paul Eldridge said, "In the spider-web of facts, many a truth is strangled."
And the First Clarke Law (Arthur C. Clarke) states, 'If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible he is almost certainly right, but if he says that it is impossible he is very probably wrong.'"
Go where you will with these sentiments. For me, it's comforting to know that there are things out there that are too big to see with a telescope.
Friday morning (2005.07.22) I was at work and we were having problems with nearly every machine we had to use. Even the label printer froze on me, which it never does.
Anyway, what I wish I had recorded is what I said after the printer froze:
"Gee'z! Every single machine we have is jacked up! It's like friggin' Mercury retrograde or something!"
Nobody knew what the heck I was talking about, but I called it, dang it!
To which someone named Portmanteau responded:
Astrology is epicycles for gullible people.
Someone else joined in:
If you say so, but if you study them, every now and then there is something relevant.
Portmanteau replied, No. There is nothing to it. I'm an astronomer, btw.
To this I was forced to add the following:
Not for nothin', but recently we went through a whole lot of trouble with things that had been working. Printers going offline, computers not able to be shut down, boiler systems not working (pipes leaking, pumps needing to be replaced, thermostats not communicating with the boilers), as well as the usual miscommunications between people. When I realized that Mercury was once again in retrograde this year, I just sort of relaxed a bit and knew that we'd get through it.
I am not an astronomer. Nor am I an astrologist. I don't accept most of what comes out of astrology. But I am a scientifically inclined person who has recently (particularly within the last 10 years) discovered the reason for faith (as separate from proof). It's (very over-simply) a willingness to accept what you can't see.
As Paul Eldridge said, "In the spider-web of facts, many a truth is strangled."
And the First Clarke Law (Arthur C. Clarke) states, 'If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible he is almost certainly right, but if he says that it is impossible he is very probably wrong.'"
Go where you will with these sentiments. For me, it's comforting to know that there are things out there that are too big to see with a telescope.
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