The Public 8 Ball.
We were very impressed when we read on the Public 8 Ball site that the P8B "is not some cheesy imitation 8 ball written in a web script. This is a real 8 Ball being shaken and read just for you." Then we did some real world testing.

"It is decidedly so" the P8B predicted

We asked the P8B if the Nasdaq was going to go down today (October 11, 2000). It's answer in the affirmative "It is decidedly so" was even more effective than words alone can express for, as you can see, the answer triangle was pointing straight down. A quick check after the market's close proved that the Public 8 Ball is indeed imbued with profound precience.

Having passed our highly scientific test with flying colors, the Public 8 Ball was ready to be asked, and obviously ready to answer, some of Elvin's questions. First and foremost was the question posed earlier to us: "Should Elvin pursue a career in streaming video?" The P8B computed the almost infinite number of variables in this question in a wink of an eye and responded "It is certain."

P8B says "It is certain" that Elvin should pursue a career in streaming video.

Having learned from our Nasdaq test that direction is as important as dictum we noticed that the response tile was pointing to the left. More specifically it pointed approximately to 10:00, by one construct, or West by North West by another. What, we pondered, did this directional clue mean? The obvious answers, like Elvin should never go to work before 10:00 am, or that he will find employment in a firm that is located West by North West from his home were considered and dismissed as too obvious.

Finally, after much cogitation, we realized that the unerring 8 Ball was pointing to a specific piece of information on the Web site on which it, in its magnificent foresight, knew its image would be posted: Streaming Media World. We then took great care to trace the face of a clock exactly the width of our site and place it over the first screen of the home page. When the image was aligned perfectly we drew a line extending from the 10:00 position straight out and it crossed only one element on the page directly in its middle: the word "video" in the Features navigation column. The P8B could not be more clear if it was made out of the finest crystal: Elvin should pursue a streaming video career.

But that was only a beginning. We needed to know more to help Elvin in his quest for a future. So we spent the next few hours consulting this scientific sooth sayer and this is what we learned.