The Smug Baldy Speaks

On the Skeptic forum, Robbynne asked:

Does anyone happen to know if there is a website anywhere that documents her [Self-Proclaimed Psychic, Sylvia Browne's] hits and misses? I’d love to see what type of an average she gets (I suspect random guessing produces a higher average IMHO). I tried googling it, but I didn’t come up with anything.

I found this one

While it doen’t guage her hits or misses, it was collected in December, 2004 – which let’s us examine some of the predictions. My comments are bolded below:

Here are Sylvia’s predictions for 2005. She was talking with George Noory.

She says the death count after the tsunami in South East Asia will hit 417,000. Miss – the death toll rose above 283,100

We will see more and more of these kind of disasters as we are in the end times. We only have 80 more years left to live. Then Mercury or Venus will swing into place and life will start all over again. We could be hit by a meteor and killed off just like the dinosaurs. N/A : Oh man – that’s still pretty kooky

We will see more visitations from aliens because they colonised us in the first place and they are coming back asking the question ‘what did we do here?’. N/A – more kookiness

Osama Bin Laden is dead. She thinks someone is speaking for him. We will find out this year. Miss – OBL is confirmed to have released an audio tape in January, 2006

Saddam Hussein will be dead before his trial. Miss – SH is very much alive – but some of his lawyers aren’t.

Scott Peterson will not survive in prison. N/A – this prediction was made after the fact that the jury recommended death on Dec. 14, 2004 – even so, with only life in prison, or death as the likely outcome, claiming that he would not survive prison didn’t take any psychic powers.

Economy will rebound at the beginning of the year then it will go slow and then in the middle of the year it will really rebound. Miss – the US economy was relatively strong up until August and September 2005 when hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the gulf coast. Economic conditions are just now stabilizing as rebuilding continues.

Real estate is a good investment. N/A: Real estate is almost always a good investment

Unemployment figures will drop. Hit – unemployment dropped as predicted

Technology in the medical field will be a big thing. Such things as diabetes and cancer. There will be a vaccination that will help colon and cervical cancers. Hit- though CBS News reported in Nov 2004 that a cervical cancer vaccine was promising:

The FDA will have a (to?) clean out. Miss – the FDA is alive and well

Stem cell research should be using umbilical chords and skin for its research instead of embryos. N/a – not a prediction

We will never see human cloning. N/A – so far, so good – have to wait till the end of time – or until there are human clones to see if this is correct

Medical surgery will start to use some kind of laser.
Lasers have been used in medical surgery for years. Uh, miss. Though she also predicts that Doctors will begin to use little devices to listen to their patient’s heart beats

Anti-Gravitational rods helped move the stone blocks to build the pyramids. OK – more kooky

We will see all kinds of weather changes because of the polar tilt. Hit. I stand in awe of the supernatural forces that allow her to claim that “THE WEATHER IS GOING TO CHANGE” while maintaining a straight face

This year the US will be hit hard again by tornados. North Carolina will be hit. Florida will be pelted yet again. The east gets milder and the south gets colder. It will be a mild winter. Hit – though there are tornados every year, during, um … TORNADO SEASON

The US troops will not be home from Iraq until 2006.
Another changed prediction. Previously she has predicted US troops would be home by June/July 2004. Then she changed it to the end of 2004. One day if she keeps on guessing she will eventually get it right, and of course she will forever keep reminding us she got it right too. Too early to tell, but my magic 8 ball says 2006 doesn’t look like a good year for troop withdrawls from Iraq.

North Korea is a big worry. They have all kinds of weapons and they are being too quiet. Anything could trigger North Korea into action. N/A – not really a prediction. Although, you have to admit, the woman knows kooky

The Illuminati is real. I’m now pounding my head against my keyboard: sdafsddfsfsd.

The US anthrax attacks in 2001 was a domestic issue and made in New Jersey. Hit. Although, everyone knows that Trenton Makes, and the World Takes

Some minor terrorist attacks on the trucks and trains not airplanes. This will hit our food supply. Swing batter batter batter

Laser beams affecting the cockpits of aircraft are coming from other planes or satelites.
Wrong. NEWARK, New Jersey (CNN) — A New Jersey man was released on $100,000 bail Tuesday 4th January after federal authorities accused him of pointing a laser beam at two aircraft last week. To read the full story from CNN click: Here.

Nothing will happen over the Ohio election tampering. Hit. She’s, like, magic

Donald Trump’s third marriage will only last for two years. Too early to tell

Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas are in trouble. Miss. They’re still married. Even though hollywood couples don’t tend to last long, and the American divorce rate is still around 50%, I’m betting this one will overcome the odds, and the 26-year age difference.

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher will get married and have a baby. Hit. Demi and Ashton were only dating at the time, though their wedding plans were widely rumored.

Elizabeth Taylor’s health is a worry. She seems like she has given up her fight for life. 2005 will be a bad year for her. Hit – though at the time, ET was 73 – bedridden with Parkinson’s disease and recently hospitalized for a heart condition. My cat made the same prediction in 2003.

Jennifer Lopez’s marriage will hit the rocks. Jo Lo doesn’t know what she wants to do. Miss – 2005 came and went and JLo is still married

Britney Spears will become pregnant and her marriage will break up within a year.
12th April Britney announced she was expecting a baby. No psychic ability needed to predict this one as for months now Britney has been telling everyone how she can’t wait to have kids.

Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell will finally call it quits. Miss – Goldie and Kurt are still married, and (EEW) apparently enjoying it

Mount St Helens will blow this year or within 18 months. N/A – wait till June 2006 to see how this plays out

Arnold Schwarzenegger will run for President in the future after they change the law. N/A – though theyare us – and we haven’t changed that particular law yet

Man will go to Mars in the future. There was life on Mars and we will find fossils once we get there. Hit – see Red Planet for proof

She did not see the tsumani coming, but now she says she told Montells viewers not to go to India.

There will be no NHL this season.

She claims she predicted that Red Sox would win the World Series.

She admits she said on Coast that John Kerry would win the election and that on Montell she said Bush would win.

She claims an 87% success rate but she would like to be 95%.

The Shroud of Turin isn’t Christ but it is real and Da Vinci had something to do with it.

Jesus was real and had God given powers. He will not return but we will have the Age of the Messiah.

There is no Devil but there is an Hell and we are living in it.

The Mayan Calendar used to end in 2002 and they changed it to 2012. It ends because they got bored of writing it.

The United Nations will not last.

In the year 2030 the US will not have a Presidency.

No major earthquakes in the near future for central California.

There will be another election in the Ukraine. A third one.

There will be no US draft.

A lot of terrorists will be found in Syria.

In the next two years we will find that the rogue nations will start to calm down and become more agreeable.

Oil will never run dry. The US should start to use its own resources such as in Alaska.

The war in Iraq will carry on for another year.

Eventually we will be told the truth about UFO’s. Probably in the next five years.

The Winter Olympcs in 2010 will be safe and very successful.

She also missed, um, the complete destruction of New Orleans – as well as the lobbed ball prediction she could have made following the 2004 hurricane season that there might be some troubling wind-driven rain events in 2005.

Also missed:
Major Terrorist Attacks in London and Bali
Major Earthquakes in Indonesia and Afghanistan
The Death of Pope John Paul II
The Michael Jackson Trial
The Robert Blake Trial
The death of Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist
The resignation of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Conner