THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 29, 1994 TAG: 9412290359
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRED KIRSCH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
Gene Emery has issued his prediction for 1995.
``My prediction'' says Emery, ``is the psychics' predictions will be wrong. As usual.''
Which means don't count on seeing:
Rush Limbaugh fall upon hard times and become not only destitute, but a Democrat.
A plant that grows in northern Florida curing AIDS.
A volcanic eruption in August creating a new land mass which will join Cuba with America.
Garth Brooks abducted by aliens.
Or Arnold Schwarzenegger running for prime minister of Austria.
Emery, science writer for the Providence (R.I.) Journal and a ``born skeptic,'' is the guy who keeps tabs on all those predictions made in supermarket tabloids this time of year.
``Somebody has to hold their feet to the fire,'' says the 42-year-old Emery. ``And see if any of these things ever really happen.''
According to Emery, who's been at this for 15 years and contributes his insights to the magazine Skeptical Inquirer, the results of prognosticators have been fairly predictable.
``Their track record has been abysmal. But every year I'm always hopeful that they'll hit one. Every once in a while, you'll get one that comes pretty close.''
Like 1992.
``Here it is,'' says Emery, digging the clipping out of a stack of predictions he's saved. It forecasts that Michael Jordan will retire from basketball.
``It should have stopped right there,'' Emery says with a sigh. ``But it goes on to say, `He will turn to a career as a farmer. The super rich hoop star will donate the profits of his crops to the needy.' ''
The year 1994 hasn't been much different than a lot of other previous years. A lot of things didn't happen.
According to prognosticators, 1994 was supposed to be the year:
Jay Leno quit ``The Tonight Show.''
Frank Sinatra was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Italy.
Hillary Rodham Clinton pleaded guilty to shoplifting lipstick.
Princess Diana revealed an appliance repairman and a postal worker fathered her two sons.
Pope John Paul decreed that married couples could only have sex on the first Friday of each month.
Madonna married a Middle Eastern sheik and became a ``a totally traditional wife.''
``There are still a few more days left in the year,'' Emery points out, ``but I wouldn't hold my breath.''
``We tend to put down psychics and brand their predictions as outlandish,'' he says.
``But what if someone had said in 1994 O.J. Simpson would be charged with a double murder, Tonya Harding would try to break Nancy Kerrigan's legs and that there would be no World Series? Would you have believed that?
``There was an incredible amount of unexpected news in 1994 for psychics to predict. Probably more than a lot of other years. They just didn't get the right ones. I take the view that anything is possible.''
Emery also takes a dim view of psychics who hide behind vague language or make broad sweeping predictions.
``Like Jeanne Dixon,'' says Emery of the well known psychic who is credited by some with forecasting John Kennedy's assassination.
``One of her forecasts this year was that `Mike Tyson may soon marry behind prison bars and could father a child.' That's not a prediction.
``And I don't count things like `A major earthquake will hit California.' Come on.''
Weak stuff like that doesn't make the stack of clippings Emery checks up on. Neither does stuff like ``Sally Jessy Raphael and Rush Limbaugh will become `secret sweethearts.' ''
``If it's a secret,'' says Emery, ``how would we know? Psychics love to make predictions like that.''
In scanning the list of 1995 predictions from the tabloids, Emery finds ``for the first time in years, no Elvis sightings. And nothing about Ross Perot, either.''
Emery's ``best bet'' for happening in 1995 is:
``In an effort to bury the hatchet and get her on his show, David Letterman invites Madonna to dinner. Sparks fly, setting off a romance.''
As Emery says, ``Why not?''
It has, he notes, a lot better chance of coming true than:
``A meteor the size of a Buick hits a car dealership in Las Vegas. No one is hurt, but the meteor opens a vast underground supply of drinking water to solve the city's water problem.''
Emery, who is a popular lecturer, invariably gets asked, ``OK, hot shot. What do you think is going to happen?''
``I try to avoid making predictions,'' he says. ``But I'll leave you with these two.
``The Red Sox will win a World Series sometime in the next 200 years. And the headlines in your newspaper this year will be as bizarre as any predictions you'll see in the tabloids.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Rush
Garth
Arnold
John Paul II
Jay
Hillary
by CNB