Thursday, February 18, 2010

Astrology Debunked

The newspaper's Daily Almanac features "Today's Birthdays", a listing of the famous and infamous blowing out the candles on that particular day. Yesterday's listing was a particularly interesting cross-section of folks.

Jim Brown, possibly the greatest football player ever to don shoulder pads, turned 74 and Michael Jordan, possibly the greatest basketball player ever to lace on a signature pair of sneakers, turned 47. Mary Ann Mobley, former Miss America, celebrated birthday 71 and Rene Russo, movie star, lit 56 candles.

If there is anything to this "your fate is linked to the stars on the day of your birth" stuff, February 17th would be a great day to have a baby. If it's a boy, he is fated to follow Jim and Michael into athletic glory and if it's a girl, she will remain beautiful and intelligent well past middle age like Mary Ann and Rene.

Before we schedule that Cesarean though, we must note that Larry The Cable Guy and Paris Hilton also celebrate birthdays on Feb 17. I'm not sure that I'd want my son to wear a tool belt on stage and make a living telling fart jokes. Similarly, few parents would hope that their daughter would achieve fame from a sex tape and general air-headedness on reality TV.

Astrologers claim that there is a cycle to the stars and that those born on the same date but different years do not necessarily share the same fate. To refute this, Larry The Cable Guy and Michael Jordan both turned 47 yesterday. The stars may have aligned identically for the two, but I know which one I'd choose for a teammate in a pick-up basketball game.

No comments:

Post a Comment