Divining History

Since crawling from the slime, we've sought to discover answers to life's burning questions by using the most seemingly random methods. Where's your career headed? Look to the tea leaves. Marriage likely? Peer at the lines on your hand. Regular or seasoned fries? Flip a coin.

Diviners have always been around to guide us through life's "what nexts?" From the ancient Etruscan priests (who charted their people's destinies by interpreting lightning as messages from the gods) to the modern 1-900-number psychics (pledging to forecast your love life at $2.99 a minute), soothsaying has never really gone out of fashion.

MODERN USES

Today, the art of fortunetelling revolves around horoscopes and astrology in the Western world and is still a valued part of society in central Africa and China, where fortunetellers take the role of management consultants in business practices.

Hmm, maybe if the Redskins had hired a fortuneteller or two, they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble this season.

-- Dan Zak