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Quote of the Day (12)

2008-06-17


„I assume that possibly there might be an acquittal.“
(My translation of) federal coach Jogi Löw in the press conference (with a certain emphasis on (what I’ve translated with) “possibly” and especially “might be”) after he was banned from the field, see e.g. Sport1, ARD, … (German)

I assume that Jogi possibly might have spent too much time in the vicinity of politicians last night if he’s using such multiple careful words… (and of course there might always be an acquittal if the law or rules allow it).
:bigsmile:

Quote of the Day (10)

2008-02-12


Charles Darwin “I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother, and almost all my best friends, will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine.”

Charles Darwin (Autobiography)

:teufel:

Charles Darwin was born this day 199 years ago.

Build yourself an album cover

2008-01-15

I simply had to join this CD Cover Meme :) – found first at Fearblog, and e.g. the Dia-Blog has some links, and there’s a large Flickr pool, too.

It works like this:

And be so honest and really take the immediate results without reloading. Then put it all together, and this is my result:

(» original photo – Jael, if you don’t want me to use it for this just-for-fun purpose, sorry, just let me know and I’ll remove it. — Original quote from Woody Allen: “Eternal nothingness is fine if you happen to be dressed for it.”)

You don’t have to record music of your own, of course. (Phew!) Now anyone who wants may take this baton and create his/her own random album…

PS: The evaluation of my “Music 2007” blog carnival that ended yesterday should be done by tomorrow, at most on Thursday. And tomorrow will see the next instalment of my Music Quiz series.

“Lucky charms help starting into the new year”

2007-12-29

Quote from the children’s page(!) of today’s Donaukurier weekend supplement (with above title, translation and emphasis mine):

„[The ladybug] is supposed to protect the children and heal the sick when it comes flying to them. Who brushes it off or even kills it will have bad luck. It’s not clear if this is always correct. But when it comes to turn of the year traditions, who really thinks about investigating everything seriously?“

Wrong! Especially when such superstitions and similar things are booming, it is a good time to investigate and scrutinize them – and not, on the contrary, uncritically downright endorse them, directly or indirectly!

(In the rest of the article about fireworks, pig and more, they managed to do it better, more explanatory.)

It surely would be hard to investigate that properly in a scientific way – on the one hand, the test person or observer would not always notice such small things as ladybugs, on the other hand, they might know about this superstition, which would bring effects like self-fulfilling prophecies, placebo effects (and its opposite) and selective perception into play.

Apart from the fact that science as well as common sense would not suspect any “real” causal connection, i.e. beyond the psychological effects mentioned above, anyway – not to say likely consider it completely absurd…

Update early Feb.: No reaction ever arrived to my mail to the editors.

Quotes of the Day (9)

2007-12-07

zodiac The German TV magazine HörZu reports in its current issue about „fortune telling on TV“ on AstroTV and Co. under the headline “collusive game” (everything translated by me):

“But in truth, the pendulum swingers and card readers want one thing above all others: the money of those seeking counsel.”

They also mention a woman who spent 38.000 € in one year for phone calls and became indebted beyond hope.

I wouldn’t have anything to add to that if it wasn’t for the chairman of the German astrologers association, Dr. Schubert-Weller, being also quoted (emphasis mine):

“TV formats, hotlines and similar things in which astrological counsel is being offered raise considerable doubts in respectability. The time just is insufficient to properly understand the concerns of the consulter and work on a trustworthy horoscope.”

:blossnicht:

Horoscopes trustworthy, respectable? Pah! At most in the following sense, and the choice of the word “work on” above seems appropriate:

Let’s quote (and translate) more, this time from the (German) text of the GWUP about astrology (emphases mine):

“From a scientific point of view, any form of astrology appears unsustainable. […]

The quality of astrologic life coaching is highly depending on the competence of the astrologer, in any case, the astrologer does not take any information from the horoscope, instead he puts the information into it. By this, he can, of course, achieve correct statements and sensible advice. This just has nothing to do with astrology, it only feigns a “higher” legitimation of the statements and advice for the customer than a normal psychologist conducting a counseling interview.”

I think it’s a pity that despite all enlightenment, education and today’s life’s modernity there are still so many people who believe in zodiac sign influences & Co.