Alex Beam
Letters to the EditorThe Boston Globe
1 Exchange Place Suite 201
Boston, MA 02109-2132
RE: Mercury Retrograde https://www.bostonglobe.com/2019/11/15/opinion/mercury-is-retrograde-take-cover/?et_rid=1745480152&s_campaign=todaysheadlines:newsletter
Dear Boston Globe,
Mr. Beam doesn't seem to know the difference between astrology and astronomy. Let's explain it to him:
Astronomy: noun
1. the branch of science which deals with celestial objects, space, and the physical universe as a whole.
Scientists believe that the moon pulls the tide. Does Mr. Beam agree with this? Mercury purportedly is a big hunk of metal pounded by the sun.
It is red hot.
Sunspots interfere in AM radio transmissions, according to scientists. Scientifically speaking if celestial objects like the moon and sunspots have a huge impact on the planet, and if space itself is an entity, huge things moving around on what a PBS special considered a big blanket (space) would tend to disrupt things, the way an annoying person on a crowded bus puts their phone on speaker. Loud.
But that's just looking at Mercury retrograde logically. Wonder how the Earth's movements impact our heavenly neighbors, Venus and Mars?
Maybe Beam's column is "good copy" since I'm responding to it. Then again, I try to look at things from different perspectives.
In Alex Beam's world if an asteroid hits and blocks the sunlight it's just the sunlight being blocked and has nothing to do with some huge rock slamming into our space.
Everything's connected. If the moon pulls the tides we should at least evaluate if a big hunk of hot metal in the sky can pull at our spectrum, interrupt the magnetic field that we rely on so much. I think Mercury retrograde is more scientific than Mr. Beam would like to admit.
As for Beam's column, Ecclesiastes 7:6-29 is helpful: 6 When a fool laughs, it is like thorns crackling in a fire. It doesn't mean a thing
Joe Viglione
