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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
 Posted - 11/15/2004 : 08:09:12
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Y'know, I'm the kind of person that attracts religious zealots, astrologists, healers and the likes. I think maybe because I look physically perfect but am on a wheelchair due to arthritis. Maybe because I dress like a hippie, colorful trinkets with obscure signs and all (hey, I like how it looks like). Even my best friend's a witch and tarot reader. Sadly, she never gave me a reading... I wonder why.
Anyway, I've long since stopped believing in that stuff, but yesterday my friend was doing her astral map online and I decided to try for the heck of it, being bored and all.
First loading of the site made me giggle. There are many options:
Astral Map, where you do your 'map', meaning you toss in your name, gender, location of birth, date and time of birth, and it describes your life and personality.
Real Astrology, where it describes what the heck is Astrology and whatnot. What scared me the most is a link about the relativity of time. Alas, it was only speaking of dates according to different calendars. It seems to focus a lot on the concept of 'time', that has, obviously, little to do with the physical time Einstein et al spoke about.
Musical Pharmacy (no joke). Apparently it flashes a series of simple, badly photoshopped textures and plays music to deal with one thing or another. Makes no sense to me.
Horoscope, that is just the commonplace thing we all know and cherish.
Astral cards, where you can send astrology-biased greetingcards to your friends.
So, after a little browsing, I clicked the 'Astral Map' thing. It has a gibberish description of how time and space affect us, the planets and all, and why astral maps are so important, as they define the cosmic whatevers that rule us. Anyway, I clicked to calculate the astral map, so it loaded a neat little space map with obscure symbols spread across the 'signs'. So, I started reading...
... this is where I lost it. To my surprise, the description was rather accurate (or I think it was; I might be delusional), although vague and too fluffy for my taste. It even said:
quote:
If the choice, on the other hand, is of the path of reason (it says I had a choice between power and reason), all these problems will change and you will seek to become a kind of scientist, doesn't matter if you will embrace the career or not. Why a scientist? Because you'll have to see to believe, will need to experiment all things in a concrete way before giving yourself the luxury of believing them.
(freely translated by me)
Now, I've always considered myself a scientist. In fact, since I was little, that was the only thing I wanted to be. No matter which science: I oscillated from biology to robotics, but always a science, or science-related career. I settled with computer science (for now!).
The question is: how do they do it? It's all the way over the Internet, it's impersonal, and it was accurate. Coincidence? I certainly don't believe some mysterious cosmic power...
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"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
 Posted - 11/15/2004 : 08:26:51 [Permalink]
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Siberia translated:quote:
Because you'll have to see to believe, will need to experiment all things in a concrete way before giving yourself the luxury of believing them.
It's "accurate" because if you ask 100 randomly-selected people if the above statement "fits" them, probably 99 of them will say "yes." On a quick read, the opposite of the above - a "no" answer - is the same as saying "I am gullible, and will believe anything." Few people want to consider themselves gullible, even if they are.
Thus, the "reading" is not specific to you. It's applicable to the vast majority of humanity. It's quite probable that any result you might have gotten through the site is similarly vague. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Plyss
Skeptic Friend
Netherlands
231 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2004 : 08:34:09 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dave W.
Thus, the "reading" is not specific to you. It's applicable to the vast majority of humanity. It's quite probable that any result you might have gotten through the site is similarly vague.
It's known as the "Forer-effect". Siberia, Could you post a link to the site so we can test this for ourselves? I'd like to see how they classify me.
-Edited to add a link to original article by Forer (PDF warning)- |
Miss Tick sniffed. 'You could say this piece of advice is pricesless', she said. 'Are you listening?'
'Yes' said Tiffany.
'Good now...If you trust in yourself.."
'Yes..?'
'..and believe in your dreams...'
'yes?'
'...and follow your star..' Miss Tick went on.
'Yes?'
'You'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy. Goodbye.' |
| Edited by - Plyss on 11/15/2004 10:34:57 |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Wendy
SFN Regular
USA
614 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2004 : 09:30:59 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Plyss
Could you post a link to the site so we can test this for ourselves? I'd like to see how they classify me.
Oooo, me too! My favorite uncle was engaged to a fortune teller when I was a kid. We all had great fun having her do readings for us. I want a site where I can ask specific questions, like:
"What date will my house sell?" |
Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do on a rainy afternoon.
-- Susan Ertz
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2004 : 09:46:21 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dave W.
Siberia translated:quote:
Because you'll have to see to believe, will need to experiment all things in a concrete way before giving yourself the luxury of believing them.
It's "accurate" because if you ask 100 randomly-selected people if the above statement "fits" them, probably 99 of them will say "yes." On a quick read, the opposite of the above - a "no" answer - is the same as saying "I am gullible, and will believe anything." Few people want to consider themselves gullible, even if they are.
Thus, the "reading" is not specific to you. It's applicable to the vast majority of humanity. It's quite probable that any result you might have gotten through the site is similarly vague.
True, true, but that was just a snippet of over a page long reading. I thought it was probably some formula (again, inducing me to think it was for me), so I didn't really take it seriously, yet it was quite surprising. I thought it'd miss more.
I'd link you folks, but it's in portuguese I'm toying with random dates and such right now. Let's see if I can crack it up. |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2004 : 09:51:49 [Permalink]
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| Oh yes... I forgot to mention they keep referring to constellations as 'stars' and to the sun as a 'planet'. It's starting to annoy me. |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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Plyss
Skeptic Friend
Netherlands
231 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2004 : 10:10:23 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Wendy
quote:
Originally posted by Plyss
Could you post a link to the site so we can test this for ourselves? I'd like to see how they classify me.
Oooo, me too! My favorite uncle was engaged to a fortune teller when I was a kid. We all had great fun having her do readings for us. I want a site where I can ask specific questions, like:
"What date will my house sell?"
I believe i can answer that for you. Just let me meditate a short while to enter the proper state of mind so i can channel the proper spirits. Ahem.
"Even though balance is a priority, it becomes secondary because of your nature's deeper inner drive to stay focused on a creative project. It is your mind that creates separation between selling and non-selling. If you connect these two polarities, you will see them as one movement and your inner nature will not be negated. All you need to do is to allow for time for this to occur."
Was this reading helpful to you?  |
Miss Tick sniffed. 'You could say this piece of advice is pricesless', she said. 'Are you listening?'
'Yes' said Tiffany.
'Good now...If you trust in yourself.."
'Yes..?'
'..and believe in your dreams...'
'yes?'
'...and follow your star..' Miss Tick went on.
'Yes?'
'You'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy. Goodbye.' |
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Valiant Dancer
Forum Goalie
USA
4826 Posts |
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Wendy
SFN Regular
USA
614 Posts |
Posted - 11/16/2004 : 08:58:22 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Plyss
"Even though balance is a priority, it becomes secondary because of your nature's deeper inner drive to stay focused on a creative project. It is your mind that creates separation between selling and non-selling. If you connect these two polarities, you will see them as one movement and your inner nature will not be negated. All you need to do is to allow for time for this to occur."
Was this reading helpful to you?
Thank you, Plyss! It's all so clear to me now... mostly... sort of...
quote:
Originally posted by Siberia
I'd link you folks, but it's in portuguese I'm toying with random dates and such right now. Let's see if I can crack it up.
Sounds like you're already on your way to doing just that, Siberia. I don't speak a word of Portuguese, but my brother is fluent in it (the aforementioned years working in Rio). If you want to post a link I'll forward it to him. I don't know how much help he would be, but he used to think that stuff was fun to ponder.
Edited for spelling. |
Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do on a rainy afternoon.
-- Susan Ertz
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| Edited by - Wendy on 11/16/2004 09:00:53 |
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 11/16/2004 : 09:12:17 [Permalink]
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Sure thing! I was just wondering how they do it... maybe I'll try to crack the codes that actually calculate and display the maps.
Quiroga Net. |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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