Do I need an umbrella today? Who should I vote for? Is he the one? What is the best date to hold a summit meeting? Should I go out tonight? Pork bellies or orange juice? What is the road to financial gain? Meditation retreat or survivalist camp? Will Oakleys come back in style? Is there a future in plastics? Jets or the Giants this season? Mutual fund or gold bars? To what advantage does knowledge of the future provide? Does visualizing or stressing about the future create a self-fulfilling prophesy? 

How to Predict the Future will provide insight into predicting short term, personal, business and life-long events. Four artists will give concise presentations on disparate methods for predicting the future. These enlightened individuals are experts and self-taught mavericks.

Melissa Scherrer, tarot reader since adolescence, will demonstrate a pop-culture application of tarot reading. Audience members will be treated to an impromptu, mass reading and explanation of traditional tarot symbolism. Ms. Scherrer is also working to compile an almanac for 2009; she will share selected insights for the coming year.

Luke Murphy, in his own words, describes his presentation as a mash-up of Gauguin's painting, "Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?" and T.S. Eliot's The Four Quartets in the form of PowerPoint. His short lecture will describe terms for the mathematical relation of anxiety to anxiety, the means to predict and anticipate anxiety and the conditions for the reconciliation of anxiety with anxiety.

Melissa Brown, Power Ball and lottery observer, will share odds, ends and gambling secrets.  In today’s U.S. financial markets it is difficult to pick a winner. In her presentation, Ms. Brown will discuss strategies for playing the New York Lotto and illustrate why some numbers are better than others.  She will also collaborate with Luke Murphy on selecting a set of numbers that are randomly generated by the universe.

Carla Edwards, expert communicator with phalanges, will illuminate the ancient and often misunderstood art of palmistry. Her presentation will explain the significance of the lines and include a live, volunteer reading. Additionally, she will discuss the palms of significant public figures.

How to Predict the Future was organized by Melissa Brown.