Good Numbers Gone Bad

A news story reports that a new “study” has established a link between a driver’s chance of getting into an auto accident (or getting a traffic ticket) and the driver’s astrological sign. Lee Romanov, president of insurancehotline.com, looked at 100,000 drivers, and their tickets and accidents, as well as their astrological signs. Ms. Romanov reports that, “The results are overwhelming, showing drivers of certain astrological signs are prone to getting more tickets, while others seemed destined to have accidents.” Ms. Romanov has written her findings in a book (you can buy it throught the website) called Car Carma.

I’m skeptical.

Here Comes the Sun

For those who don’t deny global warming but deny that it’s man-made, probably the most popular alternative theory to explain it is solar variations.

Its appeal is obvious. Earth’s climate gets it energy from the sun! If the sun gets hotter, then of course the earth will too. This isn’t complex physics involving the selective absorption of infrared radiation by trace gases in the atmosphere — it’s something everybody can understand, and is so obvious you don’t need Al Gore to explain it.