h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Art of Cold Reading - A14644262
Author: Serephina..has man flu - U191719

sorry had to resubmit after it was showing as not for review! very strange..

Hi, Serephina

You sure are prolific!

And this is an important thing to know about - so many people wonder "how can they know all that about me..."

Our Biology teacher once did an experiment where he asked ten people their exact time of birth etc and figured out precise horoscopes for them, put them in envelopes, let them read them after ten days and asked them whether any of that had come true. It had, in every case. And then he showed us that they were all identical, and merely so ambiguous that you could read *anything* into them...

I should have a few sites bookmarked showing how these frauds made ghosts appear etc. If you're interested, I'll go find them.

Previous review threads for newcomers:
PR: F5159979?thread=5213217 there are comments there not attended to, which still apply.
EGWW: F5159979?thread=3521422 specifically post 14, errors pointed out still require attention.

I won't be reviewing this until those are fixed, thanks Serephina.

GB

I tend to disappear for months at a time then post for a while

I'd certainly be interested in the ghost stuff, thanks!


GB , I always end up forgetting something!

updated

Have I caught them all?

No.

hoaxters = hoaxers
infact = in fact
spritual = spiritual
spritualist = spiritualist
aleged = alleged
sucessfully = successfully

A well constructed entry. You explain yourself well. Just some tidying up needed. (Unless anyone can think of anything which should be added.) You need a few more commas in places.

Anyone of us
Any one of us

TRiG.

sorry GB

updated

Any more comments/things i need to change?

Yep - sorry...

This can also be a feature of some mental illnesses
- add a full stop at the end of footnotes.

such as a person's age range, build, accent, etc
-->
such as a person's age range, build or accent

so called psychic
-->
so-called psychic

19th century --> 19th Century

world renowned --> world-renowned

Oh and I hear there's a Friday the 13th this month...

Alex

Updated

There is indeed a Friday the 13th this month , I still have more research to do there

Interesting article. Reminds me of when a gypsy came to our door selling lucky heather, and 'told our fortune' - she said there was someone musical in the house (well, my clarinet case was standing next to the door), and that if we knew someone called David we should try to get closer to them in the next few years. Well, my uncle is David, but it's not a rare name, and this was about 10 years ago and nothing's happened to him yet that would make us regret not being closer to him!

I reckon cold reading would be a useful skill to have, mind you...

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