It is mid-April, and I go outside.  

There is an expression in Korea about the spring weather: "Three cold four hot."  The format of a four word saying seems to come from the Chinese, as they are always written with four Chinese characters.  Concise but cryptic.

"What?" I inevitably ask, when someone says a four word saying to me.

"The spring weather, it cycles, three days cold, four days hot," they explain.

And it is pretty accurate. At least here in Daegu.  It's a nice way to divvy out the weather.  And much better then the summer weather: "Way too fucking hot".  I wonder what that is in Chinese characters.    

But I step outside on this mid-April day and am met with a blustery wind.  It is a warm sunny day, but with a blustery wind?  This isn't spring weather.  This is autumn weather.  And it is my favorite weather of all.  

They have gone and packaged the beautiful fall weather with the beautiful spring foliage.  What a wonderful idea!

But how are we getting fall weather in the spring?  I wonder if perhaps the earth's orbit has reversed.  It reminds me of the old pseudo-science classic "Worlds in Collision" by Immanuel Velikovsky.  

The main thesis was that the world had gone through several disruptive astronomical events in relatively recent history, and these had caused the earth's spin, (not its orbit), to be reversed several times.  

The thesis was backed up by ancient texts: the bible, myths, probably some Inca writings.  And it was all given a pseudo-scientific explanation.

It was an eye-opening read for a junior high school student, and it was even more eye-opening to eventually see it debunked by the likes of Carl Sagan, and to learn that reasonable sounding arguments, and not a inconsiderable narrative charm, could be used to convince one of the validity of the truly absurd.  Or is it absurd? I know that the mathematics I've seen that is labelled 'pseudo-science' certainly is.  

I'm not sure if I read this before or after I read "The Third Eye" by Lobsang Rampa. It was an amazing book about Tibetan mysticism written with absolute earnestness.  It was a life-altering read, making you believe the unbelievable; until you finish the book and see, on the last page, an advertisement shilling "Rampa Rocks".  

But this is autumn wind in the spring, and I know Carl Sagan would not allow a reversal of the Earth's orbit. Heck, I know that Velikovsky wouldn't even believe it.  Only one thing could possibly be causing it.  I walk past a man frustrated that his parasol has been inverted by a strong gust.  

"It's the Dutch" I warn him.  "They're coming back to Asia, and this time they are bringing their windmills."