Horses in the stream 3

Growing dissatisfaction with the status quo can create a rebellious atmosphere. To break the monotony you might consider changing horses in midstream, but be careful you don't end up in over your head. (Detroit News)

So I'm rebelliously mixing metaphors? Though, I guess if you are changing horses midstream and the stream is kinda deep you could end up in over your head. But if the stream was that deep, would you really try changing horses in the middle of it? And why would you change horses midstream anyway? Why not just get across the stream then....

OK, just had to stop myself and google the origin of that phrase. This is from The Phrase Finder:

Meaning
Don't change your leader or your basic position when part-way through a campaign or a project .

Origin
From an 1864 speech by Abraham Lincoln, in reply to Delegation from the National Union League who were urging him to be their presidential candidate. 'An old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a companion once that it was not best to swap horses when crossing streams."

I still don't understand it, and suspect that whoever writes the horoscopes for the Detroit News is still all caught up in the Obama/Lincoln thing.

But enough about me

Today a Denver Post columnist, William Porter, wrote about the United Astrology Conference held in Denver this week and the panel of seven astrologists that agreed that Obama would win the Presidential election based on his birth chart. Astrologers starry-eyed for Obama - The Denver Post

Mr. Porter, who admittedly does not believe his horoscope is anything more than "vague advice" describes the conference attendees as "breathless," "worried," and "ominous." His article is snarky, slightly condescending, and hilarious. My favorite quote is from one of the astrologists who admits that he doesn't have a correct birth chart (how can you NOT find out Obama's birth date/time these days?) and that without it, everything he says "might be garbage." Garbage? Really? I find it difficult to believe that if I'm born at 2:30 a.m. I'm a homicidal maniac, but if it's 2:30 p.m. I'm the next leader of the Free World.

I saw the story on an AOL news slide. Right below the Obama/horoscope article was an article about a 19-year old man in South Carolina who won the Powerball by listening to the "voices in his head." "19-year-old S.C. man wins $35 million Powerball jackpot" : News-Record.com : Greensboro, North Carolina

The voices told him that "your family is going to bring you success and fortune" so he used the ages of his siblings to pick the winning numbers.

OK, fortune I can see. But success? All he's really successful at is getting lucky. And being smart enough to pay attention and listen when the voices in his head tell him to play the lotto, and not to listen when they tell him to shoot up the quad.