One of the best-known forecasters ever is Nostradamus, who has achieved [almost] cult-like status due to the high number of his ambiguous predictions that seem to have been fulfilled. For instance, it is thought that he predicted the French Revolution when he wrote: "From the enslaved people, songs, chants and demands, / The princes and lords are held captive in prisons: / In the future by such headless idiots / These will be taken as divine utterances." While this popular interpretation holds merit, it would seem that the images of an enslaved people revolting, imprisoned kings, headlessness, and most importantly, song, all point to the coming of the musical Les Miserables more than the French Revolution itself. Nostradamus also predicted that: 'In the year 1999 and seven months, / From the sky will come the great King of Terror. / He will bring back to life the great king of the Mongols. / Before and after war rules happily.' This quote is often taken to be a prophecy of the end of the world. It is interpreted to mean that the Antichrist will come from the East in July 1999, and war will rage in the new millennium. Frightening as this may be, if we have learned anything from the latest Schwarzenegger movie, End of Days, we now know that you can, in fact, fight the Antichrist as long as you are a well-built Austrian man. Though I am not personally a well-built Austrian man, I do have faith that somewhere there is one ready to kick the Mongolian Antichrist's ass and save us all. (Do you hear me Hans and Frans?!? We need your help!)

Another great predictor of the future was Jules Verne (scary that a French guy knew what was destined for us all, isn't it?!) Among other things, he foresaw the mass-adoption of combustion engine, an invention that has shaped modern society, not to mention the pockets of the guys at Exxon. He also predicted the submarine - which Freud interpreted as meaning that Verne (like most French men, according to studies) had a very small penis. In Around the World in 80 Days he accurately anticipated that in the future obscenely rich white men like Richard Branson would devote massive amounts of money and time to prove that they weren't the same sissies who got beaten up in middle school by spending several weeks above the Earth surface in a hot air balloon, where no bullies could reach them anymore. (By the way, that a guy would name his company Virgin says something; though Freud would probably say it has to do with Branson's enjoyment of bowel movements, or the like, rather than that he was simply not getting laid). Verne also foresaw time travel, which hasn't happened yet, unless you count that stupid Medieval Times restaurant, and metallic clothing. This last prediction seems to be coming true, based on those E! Channel fashion shows that are always on.

Some of my other favorite popular predictions of what our lives would involve are the advent of the flying car and a universal tube system. Almost any depiction of the future used to, and usually still does, include flying cars. This is symptomatic of several things: we envy birds, we don't like walking, and that whole teleport thing from Star Trek is really cool but nobody buys that it is going to happen. As for the tube system, it strikes me as very similar to the Internet. It was thought that the tube system would be a means of rapidly sending letters and other material nearly anywhere, much like e-mail and the World Wide Web works today. Assuming that massive amounts of porn could be sent via the tubes as well, and I see no reason why it couldn't be, the two are virtually interchangeable.