Lifestyles

We can watch movies on laptop computers, predict the sexes of unborn babies and e-mail photos to people halfway around the world. Earlier this month, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic performed the first face transplant in North America.

But the future remains the final frontier. Thus, we're prepared to give a moment's attention, if not outright credence, to those who claim to be able to provide a glimpse of what's to come, whether it's a tarot-card reader or the stock-market analyst on your favorite cable news station.

Has the stock market bottomed out? Will the intensity and frequency of hurricanes increase? Will the Steelers win their sixth Super Bowl?

"We like to peek around corners," says Nancy Myer, a psychic consultant in Latrobe. "We like surprises, and we liked to be scared for fun. But in real life, we like to know what to expect. I think that's a human trait that we all have. We don't want to be hit off guard."

Myer has also assisted law enforcement authorities in homicide, rape and missing-persons cases. She says she doesn't predict the future for clients.

"It may seem like that, but there are internal decisions that a person has made in their mind and I can sense them."

Many clients ask her whether their job is safe.

"A lot of people are very concerned about that," she says. "I do that on a person-by-person basis A lot of people are concerned that the company they're working for is going to go under. Years ago, I was getting questions like 'Where should I live?' and 'Where's my knight in shining armor?' -- but this is such a scary economy that they switched to economic survival."

Lou Ann Gray of Johnstown, who also claims psychic abilities, calls herself an intuitive.

"I cringe at the use of the term 'psychic' on my Web site, but it's there to get hits on the site," she says. "It's distasteful, but it's a marketing necessity."

Her resume lists her as an instructor of psychology, sociology and human services at the Pennsylvania Highlands Community College in Johnstown, a certified K-12 school guidance counselor and a mediator in domestic relations, civil, criminal and contracts cases.

Gray doesn't issue predictions during her private sessions in the manner of a turbaned, B-movie seer. Rather, she says, she helps clients use their own intuition.

"It's more of a metaphysical counseling," she says. "I don't start rattling off a whole bunch of things. We start communicating with each other and go from there."

When it comes to assessing the future, people should learn to trust their gut, she says, the way our ancestors did.

"People relied on fears, their own intuition to predict things," she says. "Native Americans relied on signs from nature They used that to chart their decision-making process. People, for the most part, have so little self confidence that they look to everybody outside of themselves to make their decisions for them."

While the following are not predictions, Gray was a good sport about sharing her own feelings about what 2009 might bring:

The economy: " I think you'll see an upturn in this economy but not until the third quarter of next year. I think the gas prices will come down as low as a dollar and quarter in the not-too-distant future."

Health care: "I think this year you'll see some great strides toward possible cures or a stopgap of the progression of the disease of AIDS. She says the elderly will be afforded more respect and to expect universal health care, "kind of a return to the Kennedy-LBJ social force."

Politics: "You're going to see the government inching towards more of a democratic socialist platform than the capitalist platform that has always driven this country, because of union problems, because of labor problems." She says unions will learn to cooperate more with companies in order to survive.

The president-elect: "I think you'll see a real move, a real push back to traditional values. ... I think that's how his administration will be portrayed. I think that's how the values are."

The Pittsburgh Pirates: "They may have a winning season in about four years," but not in the immediate future. "They need to have a complete restructuring. They need to get back to a grassroots baseball campaign."

-- William Loeffler

TAROT

Tarot is a deck of 58 cards, each of which has a different picture.

Tarot has a variety of uses from practical problem solving to foreseeing the future or fortune telling.

After the cards are shuffled, they are laid out in a pattern known as a spread. Each place in the spread determines what aspect that card is speaking to .

Half of the cards are drawn upside down or reversed which negates their meanings. For example, the Death card -- which means change -- is read as stagnation when drawn upside down.

To learn more about Tarot, check out the free, online course at www.learntarot.com.

If you'd like to try a reading, Gypsy Cafe, a South Side restaurant, has its own resident Tarot reader. Rebecca Bloom is at the restaurant from 6 to 11 p.m. Fridays and 4 to 9 p.m. Sundays to offer 15-minute readings ($15) or 30-minute readings ($25) for those dining at the restaurant. She's also happy to do longer readings that allow her to work in depth. Details: 412-381-4977.

PALM READING

Palm Reading is an ancient art based on the idea that the crease lines on the palm of a hand can tell you about an individual's personality traits and their future, including whether or not the future holds a long life.

The three major creases in the palm indicate three separate areas -- life, love and head. Their placement, curviness or lack thereof and number of shorter lines that interesect with them offer indications about events past and present.

Want to know more?

Go to www.lifescript.com.

WEATHER FORECASTS

Don't blame Stephen Cropper if you aren't prepared for cold weather in January and February. The meteorologist from our news partner WTAE-TV already has forecasted a snowier and colder first part of 2009.

"A lot of times, forecasting is an educated guess," Cropper says. "We all have degrees and technology, but we are kind of like doctors, although not as serious, in projecting what we think will happen from the 'symptoms' we are seeing. One thing that is much different now is that viewers are very knowledgeable about things such as upper-level jet streams, and they want hour-by-hour forecasts, which makes our job tougher because we have to pinpoint an hour-by-hour forecast."

And, sometimes, the weather doesn't cooperate. Cropper recalls last summer when a viewer called and wanted Cropper to pay to re-stain his deck because it rained and it wasn't forecasted. The weather is the one part of the newscast that affects everyone, Cropper says. He says learning under one of the best weathermen in the business in Joe DiNardo helps Cropper with his research in predicting.

"The thing is, when I say something and it doesn't happen that way there are 1.5 million people who've heard it," Cropper says. "I would love to always be right, but I want to especially be correct when there is severe weather such as the microburst at Kennywood (in 1992 where one person was killed) or a blizzard or something like that.

-- JoAnne Harrop

Magic Eight Ball

Ask the Magic Eight Ball anything, and you'll get an answer. The bowling ball-looking device is a toy used for fortune-telling or for seeking advice. Inside is a white, plastic die floating in a dark-blue liquid. You turn the ball upside down, die facing down, ask a question and then turn the ball right-side up for your answers. Examples are "without a doubt," "my sources say no," and "it is decidedly so." Save yourself a trip to the toy store and offer your questions online at 8ball.tridelphia.net.

ASTROLOGY

Shelly Ackerman is emphatic about making sure astrologers are not considered "a crazy bunch of psychics."

The New York City-based spokesperson for the American Federation of Astrologers and Green Tree astrologer Rick DiClemente agree patterns are more important than predictions.

The two of them say the astrologer's job is not so much to make predictions as to establish universal patterns that will help a person understand the direction life and events are going. Their horoscopes are based on alignment of the stars and planets that reveal those patterns.

Ackerman has no idea why the universe governs events. But she suggests thinking humans were a little presumptuous in the Age of Reason when they decided life had to have a reasonable, understandable basis.

"There is still a way we can blend the mythic and the scientific," she says. "Astrology is a field of study. You don't find dumb people doing it."

DiClemente says a creator decided on the patterns of the universe, and that makes their study important.

"Astrology doesn't predict the future, but if you study it, you can understand what's happening," says DiClemente, who lives in Washington County and practices from a Green Tree office.

He says, for instance, the next 14 years will be quite testing for our society, and suggests it is good to be alert to dealing with those upcoming challenges.

Ackerman also advocates that alertness. For instance, astrologers have been able to see it will be better for Barack Obama to delay the time of his inauguration to 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 20.

She hopes he does that, After all, what's a half-hour when good vibes are at stake.

-- Bob Karlovits

Ouija board

A Ouija board is a flat board with letters, numbers, and other symbols supposedly used to communicate with spirits. It was first patented in London during the height of the spiritalism in the mid-1800s as a parlor game. Its heart-shaped pointer is used to spell out a message, with the "yes" and "no" board messages indicating the beginning and end of the message. The word Ouija is a blend of the French and German words for "yes." The fingers of the participants are placed on the pointer that then moves to spell out the message. You can try a Ouija board online at www.museumoftalkingboards.com/.

Crystal balls

What self-respecting seer, fortune teller or sorcerer could manage with a crystal ball? Its use goes back in history to at least Medievel times -- and it has found a place in the Age of Technology. Ask the Crystal ball a question at Xpredictions.astrology.com/cb.

Oracles, fortune-tellers and seers are characters that show up in literature going all the way back to ancient Greece, and earlier. So, it's no surprise that seeing the future has been a recurring theme in the movies, since the very beginning.

Some of our favorite examples include:

"Ed Wood" (1994): Johnny Depp depicts the true story of Ed Wood, a man of great vision and unstinting determination -- and perhaps the worst filmmaker of all time. Among his merry band of fringe celebrities and B-movie miscreats was noted psychic The Amazing Criswell, famous for his wildly inaccurate predictions (like Mae West will some day become president). "We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives," Criswell says.

"300" (2006): In ancient Sparta, you've got to get the female Oracle's blessing if you want to have any success in battle. Of course, King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) basically ignores the Oracle's advice. She decrees that Sparta must not go to war against the invading Persian force, lest it interrupt a sacred festival. He strolls down to the Hot Gates of Thermopylae with his bodyguards -- and then it gets messy.

"The Matrix" (1999): In the bafflingly complex "Matrix" movies, Oracle (Gloria Foster) is the one who foresaw the emergence of the One, Neo (Keanu Reeves), who would deliver humanity from its psychic and literal enslavement by the machines. She's played by a cheery old woman, but may in fact be some kind of program, neither beholden to the machines or the humans.

"Only You" (1994): Faith (Marisa Tomei) believes she'll find her soul mate -- Damon Bradley -- some day. The name was reveled to her as a girl playing with a Ouija board and from a fortuen teller. While preparing for her marriage to a podiatrist she might not love, she receives a phone call from a friend of her fiance with that all-important name. He's on his way to Venice, so Faith decides to drop everything and pursue him, but Robert Downey Jr. gets in the way..

"Minority Report" (2002): This science-fiction masterpiece from Steven Spielberg, based on a story by Philip K. Dick, revolves around a group of elite cops, who are assisted in their mission to prevent crime by a trio of semi-comatose "pre-cogs" -- pre-cognizants -- who can see murders before they happen.

"Big" (1988): A 12-year-old kid finds a grimy old fortune-telling machine, "Zoltar Speaks," and wishes that he would finally be big, which, he imagines, would solve all of his problems. But he didn't count on the wish coming true -- nor that he would turn into a fully adult Tom Hanks.

-- Mike Machosky

Jimmy Vaccaro, the Trafford native who has been a Las Vegas oddsmaker for more than 30 years, is still a Pittsburgh sports fan at heart. But, Vaccaro has to draw the line about his loyalties to local teams when it comes time to set odds.

The Pirates, especially, are not a good bet at 150-1 to win the World Series next year.

"The Pirates, even with me being a Pittsburgh kid, are like a dead issue," says Vaccaro, who is the oddsmaker for Lucky's Sports Book in Nevada. "They just don't try."

But if you'd like to wager a few sawbucks on the Steelers winning Super Bowl XLIII, the odds are enticing. As of last week, Vaccaro had the Steelers listed at 15-1.

"That's not a great price, but it's a fair price," Vaccaro says, who lists the New York Giants, at about 5-1 as his first choice to win the Super Bowl, although injuries to running back Brandon Jacobs and the suspension of wide receiver Plaxico Burress might cause those odds to go up.

Pitt basketball fans might take heart in the team's No. 3 ranking in national polls. But in Vegas, they are at least a 20-1 to win the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

"As good as they are, sooner or later they'd have to play North Carolina, and we'd make them a 10-point underdog (in that game)," Vaccaro says, adding a team like Duquesne is available for 500-1 "because they can't win it."

Vaccaro currently has North Carolina as the prohibitive favorite at 2-1.

As far as hockey is concerned, Vaccaro cheers for the Penguins, but says betting on hockey is almost non-existent. A single bet on a Steelers game might run as high as five figures, but a $500 wager on a hockey game is extremely rare.

"It's not that we don't want to take more," Vaccaro says. "But nobody really cares about it."

--Regis Behe

If you want to predict how long you will live, try buying term life insurance. The company will do its research via a questionnaire about your lifestyle. Your answers will help the insurer identify unhealthy factors that could shorten your lifespan, and the company will use the answers to help determine your rates.

An insurance company's questions will include inquiries about your weight, and whether you smoke or drink. Mental health issues -- for instance, if you are taking antidepressants -- can raise your rates, because companies might consider you a suicide risk. Companies may ask about whether you travel to foreign countries, which can make you a greater risk. The insurers will ask about your hobbies, and any risky ones -- like flying small planes, or mountain-climbing -- will be red flags.

To make your own predictions about your lifespan, check out www.livingto100.com. The Web site, operated by a physician, provides a questionnaire and calculator for your life expectancy, depending on your answers. The Web site assures you that your future is not doomed or already decided. It tells you what you can do to get healthier and lengthen your life, and gives you the opportunity to re-calculate regularly for progress reports.

So, for instance, if your original estimated death age was 70 -- and you quit smoking and lose 50 pounds -- you might go back to the Web site later and find your life expectancy increased to 80. So, let your predictions and life changes begin, and maybe you'll hit a triple-digit age.

Real life people who have predicted the future:

• Edgar Cayce (1877-1945), known as the "sleeping prophet" and "father of holistic medicine," gave psychic "readings" to thousands of seekers.

• French author Jules Verne (1828-1905) pioneered the science-fiction genre with such titles as "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas."

• Madame Blavatsky (1831-1891), Victorian theosophist, is called the pioneer esotericist of our age.

• Mentalist and thought reader Amazing Kreskin has been fascinating audiences for five decades

• Clairvoyant Erik Jan Hanussen (1889-1933) , known as Adolf Hitler's Jewish psychic, attained favored status as an honorary Aryan, but once he became an embarrassment to the Nazis, he was murdered and left in a pauper's grave.

• Grigori Efimovich Rasputin (1872-1916), the "mad man from Siberia," gained the ear -- and fear -- of Russian royalty and aristocracy.

• Alvin Toffler, sociologist, future-ologist and author of "Future Shock." His definition of the title was "too much change in too short a period of time," which proved eerily prescient in regard to the technological acceleration of the 21st century.

• George Gallup (1901-1984) founded the American Institute of Public Opinion in 1935. Since then,

• Some would credit Franz Kafka (1883- 1924) for predicting the rise of Nazism in the story "In the Penal Colony," as well as H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) for predicting radiation poisoning in the story "The Colour Out of Space."

• Jean Dixon (1918-1997) was one of the best-known astrologers and psychics in America. Her most famous prediction was the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

• Faith Popcorn, predictor of such trends as "uber-movement." She predicted the "anchoring" trend, which her BrainReserve describes as "a reaching back to our spiritual roots, taking what was secure from the past to be ready for the future."

• John the Evangelist was author of the Book of Revelation, which influenced everyone from Charles Manson to Hollywood filmmakers.

• Neal Stephenson, author of "Snow Crash," predicted virtual worlds on the Internet and "avatars" representing people online.

• Dating to 1400 BC, people traveled from all parts of Greece to be advised by the Oracle of Delphi. Its allure was lost in 4 AD with the rise in Christianity.

• When Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) published "Brave New World" in 1933, he wrote of bio-engineering and designer drugs.

• Nostradamus (1503-1566) was a French physician and astrologer whose famous collection of predictions was published in 1555.

• Astrologer Joan Quigley famously advised First Lady Nancy Reagan.

• Oddsmaker and football personality Jimmy the Greek Snyder (1919-1996) brought gambling to the forefront of televised sport.

• Author George Orwell (1903-1950) envisioned a future in his "1984," where "Big Brother" was watching and personal privacy was demolished.

Fictional characters:

• Carnak the Magnificent, Johnny Carson's alter ego.

• The three witches in "Macbeth": "Hail, Thane of Cawdor."

• The Soothsayer in "Julius Caesar" who warns "Beware the Ides of March."

• In the "Twilight" book series, Alice Cullen is one of the vampire characters who can see the future. That's how the Cullen vampire family made its money -- she could see what the stock market was going to do

• Tiresias, the blind prophet in "Oedipus Rex": "This day shall be thy birth-day, and thy grave."

• Gifted Tarot reader Solitaire looked into the future for the evil mastermind Dr. Kananga, until she lost her powers when she fell for James Bond in "Live and Let Die"

• The Ghost of Christmas Future in Charles Dickens' "Christmas Carol" offers a glimpse of Scrooge's future, but it could be changed.

• Punxsutawney Phil is the nation's famed groundhog prognosticator.

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