NationStates Jolt Archive

Psychic fails to predict crystal ball fire

A French amateur psychic's powers of prediction are under sharp scrutiny after his crystal ball started an inferno that burnt out his flat.

British newspaper The Times reports that the fortune-telling device caused a fire that destroyed two other flats and rendered several more uninhabitable.

Herve Vandrot, 24, who studies botany at Edinburgh University, left his trusty crystal ball on a windowsill while he sauntered off to the city's Royal Botanical Garden.

He returned surprised to find his top floor flat ablaze and suffered blistering to a hand after dashing in to rescue some course work.

He was dragged out of the building by some of the 35 firefighters, who rushed to tackle the inferno.

Mr Vandrot had only been in the flat for two weeks.

After a night in hospital, Mr Vandrot insisted the crystal ball was not to blame.

"I don't think it is capable of doing that. I think it was an electrical fault; the plug of my computer was melted."

However, Edinburgh firefighters say they could see it coming.

"Strong sunlight through glass, particularly if the glass is filled with liquid like a goldfish bowl, concentrates the sun's rays and acts like a magnifying glass," a spokesman said.

"The fire had been started by the ball concentrating a ray of sunshine on a pile of washing."

Agence France-Presse (AFP)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1436692.htm

Nothing like a piece of entertaining news to end the week. Looks like the "spirits" got this guy back for exploiting them for his financial motive.

Personally I use mathematical computer-based models to predict the future. Less chance of a fault.

I knew you were going to say that.

I also predict that in one hours time..you will use the porcelian throne.
...*the vision is fading*....the seat will be a bit cold....and uh....there will be plenty of toliet paper.

Also....your lucky numbers are 4,12,25,27,34,40

That will be five dollars, please.

Wow. I thought that whole frying-ants-with-a-magnifying-glass thing wasn't true.

Wow. I thought that whole frying-ants-with-a-magnifying-glass thing wasn't true.


I predict a giant ant like in the movie "Them" is going to capture you and burn your short and curlies off with a giant magnifying glass for saying that.

Your lucky numbers are 3,7,26,29,34.

Wow. I thought that whole frying-ants-with-a-magnifying-glass thing wasn't true.

lol

In the future, everyone will have a money-back guarantee for everything. Also, Donald Trump will learn Japanese, and become the US Ambassador to Japan...

As an occultist, I'd like to point out that few truly-skilled occultists sell their work (even fewer do predictions for cash). But, one DO can argue karma got to this guy. Destiny ironies, so to speak, have a tendancy not to be coincidences.

Otherwise, real funny.

Oooh, you are an occultist?

I find such things incredibily interesting.

In response to the article:

Maybe the spirits(or Fates) hid such an event from him for specific reasons? Maybe his life will drastically improve from this point on.

My mother went to a psychic to find out what was going to happen with me and my sisters. Translate: she wanted to know why she didn't have any grandchildren yet. Anyway, the psychic told her that I was going to have three sons, two of which would be a pair of twins. When she told me that I called bullshit and to prove it, I went to a different psychic. Unfortunately, she told me the same thing. But of course, life never really turns out that way, I miscarried the twins and ended up with a son and a daughter. And no, we're not having any more kids, so no twins in the future.

I called the Psychic Hotline once and the lady who answered the phone asked me my name. I told her that if she didn't know, she wasn't much of a psychic, and hung up. :p

My mother went to a psychic to find out what was going to happen with me and my sisters. Translate: she wanted to know why she didn't have any grandchildren yet. Anyway, the psychic told her that I was going to have three sons, two of which would be a pair of twins. When she told me that I called bullshit and to prove it, I went to a different psychic. Unfortunately, she told me the same thing. But of course, life never really turns out that way, I miscarried the twins and ended up with a son and a daughter. And no, we're not having any more kids, so no twins in the future.

You should have your mother get her money back. Clearly she was mistaken.

I called the Psychic Hotline once and the lady who answered the phone asked me my name. I told her that if she didn't know, she wasn't much of a psychic, and hung up. :p
No, no, she sees the future, obviously. And quite clearly saw that the future did not contain you telling her your name. So she couldn't know your name, right? So she had to ask, right?

Then again, she probably should've known that you'd hang up on her the moment she asked you the question.

No, no, she sees the future, obviously. And quite clearly saw that the future did not contain you telling her your name. So she couldn't know your name, right? So she had to ask, right?

Then again, she probably should've known that you'd hang up on her the moment she asked you the question.

Aha, but if she didn't ask the question she would change the future, giving her a nasty headache.

Aha, but if she didn't ask the question she would change the future, giving her a nasty headache.
Good point.

Which just goes to show that the future is fixed and cannot be altered, which means none of us have any kind of free will whatsoever. So, should you happen to find yourself in court on charge of murder, you can create a succesful defence by saying "It's not my fault I stabbed that bastard 137 times, it's been set in stone. I had no choice!"

Aha, but if she didn't ask the question she would change the future, giving her a nasty headache.

I'm just glad she wasn't able to psychicly discern my credit card number! :p

Good point.

Which just goes to show that the future is fixed and cannot be altered, which means none of us have any kind of free will whatsoever. So, should you happen to find yourself in court on charge of murder, you can create a succesful defence by saying "It's not my fault I stabbed that bastard 137 times, it's been set in stone. I had no choice!"

But how did I know I was going to do it, I'm no psychic...

But how did I know I was going to do it, I'm no psychic...
That's not the point. If the future can be predicted, then the future is set in stone, whether you're psychic or not.

So there's absolutely nothing you can do about anything that happens.

I'm just glad she wasn't able to psychicly discern my credit card number! :p

Well, the forces of the occult are vast and mysterious, which is why they are useful for vague and generic predictions of personal lives but aren't so useful for looking to the future where someone is entering their PIN number...

This is even better than the psychic who failed to predict getting hit by lightning

Looks like the "spirits" got this guy back for exploiting them for his financial motive.

Except that he's an amateur psychic.

So, should you happen to find yourself in court on charge of murder, you can create a succesful defence by saying "It's not my fault I stabbed that bastard 137 times, it's been set in stone. I had no choice!"

To which the judge will respond, "And consequently, I have no choice but to sentence you to life in prison without parole."

To which the judge will respond, "And consequently, I have no choice but to sentence you to life in prison without parole."

And if you ask why, the judge will say, "I don't have a choice. I went to pychic today, and she told me I would put you in prison for life without parole. What can I do? The future is set in stone."


Personally, I think the future is constantly changing. So, even if you could predict the future, something may happen between your reading and the event you predicted. This could change the event, thereby changing the future, rendering your prediction null and void.

A book I read once put it best by saying, "Divination doesn't tell the future, it tells the uninterrupted future."

We can predict the future by extrapolating from the past and present, and therefore change the future. Things would get a lot more interesting if we could actually see the future instead of just infer... Messy situations like the Minority Report. The short story is even more confusing than the film...

This thread could stand on the merits of the title alone.

A book I read once put it best by saying, "Divination doesn't tell the future, it tells the uninterrupted future."
That doesn't make sense. The future you see would be the future in which you go and see into the future - otherwise it wouldn't be your future.

So if you're not psychic, you're simply oblivious and you can't change the future. And if you are psychic, anything you try to change what you saw should make that future happen just the same.

Except that he's an amateur psychic.
Doesn't mean he had no intention of making a profit.