Happy 07/08/09!

USA Today points out that a "rare time/date alignment" occurs on July 8, 2009 at 4:05 a.m. and 6 seconds. The exact date then will be: 04:05:06 07/08/09.

Does this mean anything? Well, if you ask a tarot card reader, it does. And, of course, that's who USA Today asks:

Although the alignment may not mean anything specific, it could be a good day to do something for yourself and others, said Betsy Carlson, a Palm Springs tarot card reader and numerology expert. "It's a good day to make money and have good health," she said.

As John Walkenbach notes, "the article doesn't mention that this is hokey nonsense. It quotes the numerology expert as if she's actually a credible person."

Pseudoscience

Posted on Tue Jul 07, 2009


Comments

Wow. And at eleven minutes and twelve seconds after ten a.m. it will be 07/08/09 10:11:12.

What do the numerologists have to say about that?
Posted by Tah  on  Tue Jul 07, 2009  at  11:14 PM
The date ascends (day/month/year)
the time descends (hour/minute/seconds)
Posted by Sharruma  on  Tue Jul 07, 2009  at  11:37 PM
Well, this is what "journalism" has descended to. Often, usually with political stuff, they just report what "both sides" of a story say, without bothering to tell you that one side is totally factually wrong.

In this case, as John Walkenbach said, they quote a friggin' NUMEROLOGIST as if she has anything logical or rational to say.

Stenography is SO much easier than that stupid "reporting and research" stuff.
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Wed Jul 08, 2009  at  12:10 AM
Of course today is a wonderful day - it's my husbands birthday! Ok, so some naysayers may say that it was the day that the worlds future dictator was born and it heralds the end of life as we know it, but I have a soft spot for him 😉
Posted by Nettie  on  Wed Jul 08, 2009  at  02:53 AM
In the non-English speaking world, the interesting date is August 7th, not July 8th. What does numerology have to say about this... ?
Posted by Christophe Thill  on  Wed Jul 08, 2009  at  03:30 AM
Christophe, it's not just the non-English speaking world who'd write July 8, 2009 as 8/07/09. Us Aussies do. So do people in the UK.
Posted by Smerk  on  Wed Jul 08, 2009  at  05:51 AM
Isn't every day a good day to "do something for yourself and others"? or "to make money and have good health"?

Do some of her clientele wake up and say "Today I am going to fire up the barbecue, burn a bunch of money, my neighbor's favorite possessions and then burn myself"?
Posted by floormaster squeeze  on  Wed Jul 08, 2009  at  07:28 AM
What about 12:34:56 07/08/09 ?? Isn't that "cooler"?
Posted by Maegan  on  Wed Jul 08, 2009  at  10:31 AM
Nettie, you husband is the future dictator of the world???

Floormaster, I too was wondering which days would be BAD days to "do something for yourself and others ... make money and have good health."

Christophe, the fact that most people outside the U.S. write the day before the month in a date only means that USA Today can recycle the same story in its international editions for 7 August, 2009.

By the way, don't you wonder why they never seem to interview phrenologists anymore?
Posted by Big Gary  on  Wed Jul 08, 2009  at  12:54 PM
"your husband", I mean.
Posted by Big Gary  on  Wed Jul 08, 2009  at  12:55 PM
In Canada people use both d/m/y and m/d/y, it's very confusing. At work we've adopted yyyy/mm/dd as our standard; less chance for confusion, and electronic files dated this way are sorted chronologically.
So, at 6:54:32.10 on Aug 7th, it's
9/8/7 6:54:32.10
Now that's a countdown!
Posted by Canadarm  on  Wed Jul 08, 2009  at  02:39 PM
THe military does yyyymmdd...no slashes, no hyphens.
Posted by Maegan  on  Wed Jul 08, 2009  at  03:12 PM
As a tarot reader myself, I can vouch that this date means absolutely nothing from a tarot perspective... Numerology, maybe... but in Tarot it represents squat!
Posted by Puck  on  Wed Jul 08, 2009  at  04:47 PM
Does it mean anything? Not in UK, it doesn't. We shall have our special date on 7 August 2009: 07.08.09
Posted by Arcoiris  on  Thu Jul 09, 2009  at  06:27 AM
How about 12:34:56 - 7/8/9 ?
Posted by Blackomne  on  Thu Jul 09, 2009  at  08:10 AM
I find this to be rather funny because July 8th is my birthday and I noticed the 7/8/9 oddity about a month ago.
Posted by Beltran  on  Thu Jul 09, 2009  at  08:48 AM
In the first line of your report date is wrongly mentioned as July,08. It should read as Aug,7, 2009.
Posted by kvbnrao  on  Wed Aug 05, 2009  at  02:19 AM
Not long after that was 12:34 and 56 seconds on the 07/08/09.

That is going by Australian version of the date (7th August, not 8th of July)...
Posted by b  on  Wed Sep 16, 2009  at  06:29 AM
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