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http://www.sciencedaily.com/re.../03/150330163029.htm

 

Intelligent people can develop strong entirely incorrect beliefs

 

"It must be a full moon" is a common refrain when things appear more hectic than usual.

 

The moon is even blamed when things get crazy at hospital emergency rooms or birth wards. "Some nurses ascribe the apparent chaos to the moon, but dozens of studies show that the belief is unfounded," said Jean-Luc Margot, a UCLA professor of planetary astronomy.

Of course, the moon does not influence the timing of human births or hospital admissions, according to new research by Margot that confirms what scientists have known for decades. The study illustrates how intelligent and otherwise reasonable people develop strong beliefs that, to put it politely, are not aligned with reality.

The absence of a lunar influence on human affairs has been demonstrated in the areas of automobile accidents, hospital admissions, surgery outcomes, cancer survival rates, menstruation, births, birth complications, depression, violent behavior, and even criminal activity, Margot writes. His study was published online by the journal Nursing Research.

Even though a 40-year-old UCLA study demonstrated that the timing of births does not correlate in any way with the lunar cycle, the belief in a lunar effect has persisted. A 2004 study in a nursing journal, for example, suggested that the full moon influenced the number of hospital admissions in a medical unit in Barcelona, Spain.

But Margot identified multiple flaws in the data collection and analysis of the 2004 research. By re-analyzing the data, he showed that the number of admissions was unrelated to the lunar cycle.

"The moon is innocent," Margot said.

So why do the erroneous beliefs live on in spite of the evidence?

Margot cited what scientists refer to as the "confirmation bias" -- people's tendency to interpret information in a way that confirms their beliefs and ignore data that contradict them. When life is hectic on the day of a full moon, many people remember the association because it confirms their belief. But hectic days that do not correspond with a full moon are promptly ignored and forgotten because they do not reinforce the belief.

Margot said the societal costs of flawed beliefs can be enormous.

In just one current example, the recent measles outbreak appears to have been triggered by parents' questionable beliefs about the safety of the measles vaccine.

"Vaccines are widely and correctly regarded as one of the greatest public health achievements, yet vaccine-preventable diseases are killing people because of beliefs that are out of step with scientific facts," Margot said.

A willingness to engage in evidence-based reasoning and admit that one's beliefs may be incorrect will produce a more accurate view of the world and result in better decision-making, Margot said.

"Perhaps we can start by correcting our delusions about the moon, and work from there," he said.


Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by University of California - Los Angeles. The original article was written by Stuart Wolpert. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Having spent many nights in the ER, I can say that although the number might not reflect it, the complexity and unusual nature of said "ER" visits certainly are affected by the full moon.  Much like the fact that births are affected by big storms. I don't know if it is pressure changes on the amniotic fluid or something similar, but we can have a plethora of deliveries when th weather turns south.

 

there are four fundemental forces of nature: strong and weak nuclear, electromagnatism and gravity that prevent us and our stuff from just simply floating off into space as the first elementary quanta in a model we imagine to be our source. Presence of a moon in orbit around an inhabited body of mass in space certainly effects one or more of those forces affecting on some scale purtubations in fields common to the living and the dead. 

When you run a pipeline, you dig a ditch, lay the pipe in it, weld it up and refill the ditch. Sometimes you have to haul dirt away, sometimes you have to haul dirt in to fill it.

When you dig a grave, after the casket is put in and the grave refilled, there is different amounts of dirt left.

If you build a fence. after putting the post in and tamping all the dirt in around the post, there aint enough dirt to refill the hole, but the post will be tight. sometimes there is dirt left over, but the post is loose. Same amount of tamping each time.

Others and me think the phase of the moon influences this.

Originally Posted by jtdavis:

When you run a pipeline, you dig a ditch, lay the pipe in it, weld it up and refill the ditch. Sometimes you have to haul dirt away, sometimes you have to haul dirt in to fill it.

When you dig a grave, after the casket is put in and the grave refilled, there is different amounts of dirt left.

If you build a fence. after putting the post in and tamping all the dirt in around the post, there aint enough dirt to refill the hole, but the post will be tight. sometimes there is dirt left over, but the post is loose. Same amount of tamping each time.

Others and me think the phase of the moon influences this.


Density?  Porosity?  Definitely not lunarisity.

Originally Posted by Contendah:
Originally Posted by jtdavis:

The moon does influence people and other things.

___

The moon influences tides. That is a proven fact.  The rest of the moonology advanced by superstitious folks is hogwash. How many vampires have you seen around your house lately on a full moon?

I believe you are confusing Vampire traits with "Werewolves".

 

Werewolves respond to a full Moon.

 

Vampires cannot operate in Sun light.

They don't need a Moon to function. Just Darkness.

Originally Posted by CountryBoy:

there are four fundemental forces of nature: strong and weak nuclear, electromagnatism and gravity that prevent us and our stuff from just simply floating off into space as the first elementary quanta in a model we imagine to be our source. Presence of a moon in orbit around an inhabited body of mass in space certainly effects one or more of those forces affecting on some scale purtubations in fields common to the living and the dead. 

 

 

Having an interest in the subject, and having read every response, yours was solely the most rattling, un-needed, 5 line babbling, to what could have been stated as:

 

"i Believe the Moon influences Human behavior".

 

Originally Posted by Harald Weissberg:
Originally Posted by CountryBoy:

there are four fundemental forces of nature: strong and weak nuclear, electromagnatism and gravity that prevent us and our stuff from just simply floating off into space as the first elementary quanta in a model we imagine to be our source. Presence of a moon in orbit around an inhabited body of mass in space certainly effects one or more of those forces affecting on some scale purtubations in fields common to the living and the dead. 

 

 

Having an interest in the subject, and having read every response, yours was solely the most rattling, un-needed, 5 line babbling, to what could have been stated as:

 

"i Believe the Moon influences Human behavior".

 

harold w, mine was a scientific argument. yours on the otherhand could be that of a lunatic

Originally Posted by Harald Weissberg:
Originally Posted by CountryBoy:

there are four fundemental forces of nature: strong and weak nuclear, electromagnatism and gravity that prevent us and our stuff from just simply floating off into space as the first elementary quanta in a model we imagine to be our source. Presence of a moon in orbit around an inhabited body of mass in space certainly effects one or more of those forces affecting on some scale purtubations in fields common to the living and the dead. 

 

 

Having an interest in the subject, and having read every response, yours was solely the most rattling, un-needed, 5 line babbling, to what could have been stated as:

 

"i Believe the Moon influences Human behavior".

 _____________________________________________
CountryBoy has posted under several Noms de Merde -- Quail Dog and Prissy for example.  He's a rather elderly, easily confused old guy (sometimes unsure of his gender) residing in a nursing home. He makes these rather flamboyant posts when nursie give him his meds -- the really good ones. 

 

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