I'm getting a 'B'...and...is it an 'S'?

   I was watching my favourite local morning show again. This morning they had a psychic as a guest. Yesterday (when they had a homeopathic doctor on) both of the hosts expressed skepticism at the idea of psychic powers, and said they were going to ask this guest some skeptical questions. That, of course, did not happen.
   Did the producers nix that idea? Or did the psychic refuse to appear under those circumstances? Or are the hosts just unsure of what constitutes skepticism? I have no idea, but the segment was a completely credulous one, with the one host eating up everything the psychic said, and the other host not even in on the interview.
   The (alleged) psychic did make some predictions for us to examine.

1) Germany will win the World Cup. Well, she couldn't very well have taken Brazil, them being the favourites and all. Germany is a pretty safe pick. Several places I have looked have them as the second favourite, and I have seen no one suggest that they rank out of the top four.

2) While the USA will have to contend with several hurricanes this year, none of them will be as bad as Katrina. This is also a fairly safe prediction. Katrina was the worst hurricane ever measured, according to some sources. It's likely we may not see another one that strong for a long time. It's like predicting that no major league baseball player will hit 400 this year.

3) Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will marry this year, and have another child. That child will not be adopted, but via a pregnancy. While she predicted the marriage to happen before the end of this year, there was no time frame set for the child. Another safe prediction, because, in this case, true or not, who really cares?

4) Jennifer Lopez is pregnant right now. The news will come out soon. Big deal. The tabloids have been buzzing with pregnant J-Lo rumours for two years. Lopez herself has recently admitted to the media that she and her husband, Mark Anthony, are actively trying to get pregnant. Not a very difficult prediction to make.

5) The morning show interviewer, who is pregnant herself, will deliver her child on July 1st or 2nd. She is due July 7th. No comment.

6) Toronto will have a bad year for shootings, but 2007 will be better due to improved enforcement. Well, last year was the worst year for gun related crimes in Toronto history. With this year half over, and with a significant number of shootings already, including several very recently in the news, this is a pretty safe prediction as well. So far this psychic hasn't really gone out on any limbs. She's making predictions that anyone who follows the news regularly could also make with confidence.

7) Toronto need not worry about a terrorist attack. I hope she's right. Based on recent happenings here in Canada, I think we need worry. However, vigilance may prevent tragedy, and I'm going to believe that's what she meant. I'll be happy if she gets this prediction right.

   There they are. Seven "psychic" predictions made by "celebrated" Toronto psychic, May Miller. I have reproduced them here so that we can check up on her accuracy later. Two or three of them we will know in short order, and two or three more within six months. Stay tuned.

tags:Skepticism