Here is my early January 2008 post with predictions for the year. How did I do?
Results below the post….
Former New York Times columnist William Safire used to write an annual predictions column, with multiple choice answers to questions, each new year. Here’s my local, amateur version in honor of Safire’s efforts. My predictions from last year are listed below the questions.
1. In 2008, the biggest Whitewater event will be
A. July 4th holiday
B. Memorial Day Parade
C. Christmas Parade
D. Celebration of another UWW national athletic championship
2. Winner of the 2008 election for Whitewater Municipal Judge will be
A. one among challengers (Ben Penwell, Art Coleman, or Colin Cheever)
B. incumbent Dick Kelly
C. Steve Spear as a write-in candidate
D. no one will vote
3. Leading vote-winner of the City of Whitewater presidential election results in November will be
A. John McCain
B. Barack Obama
C. Hillary Clinton
D. Rudy Guiliani
4. Whitewater will see the resignation of
A. a Common Council member (other than Kim Hixson)
B. a City of Whitewater department head
C. the leader of a prominent community group
D. none of the above
5. Between now and year’s end, the unemployment rate in Whitewater will
A. drop sharply
B. drop slightly
C. remain unchanged
D. increase slightly
6. The challenge of housing for students will be
A. solved
B. unchanged
C. worse
D. students? They’re not supposed to be off-campus anyway!
7. Overall vacancies in our downtown, and across the city will be
A. up significantly
B. basically unchanged
C. down slightly
D. down significantly
8. A local dentist will be nominated for a Nobel prize in
A. medicine
B. economics
C. peace
D. crowd-control
9. Market-penetration rate of the Whitewater Regsiter will
A. remain unchanged
B. decline slightly
C. decline significantly
D. increase after a subscription drive targeting lunatics
10. In 2008, Whitewater will receive news on how many new, large commercial businesses will locate to our city?
A. one
B. two
C. more than two
D. none
Adams’s guesses:
1. In 2008, the biggest Whitewater event will be
A. July 4th holiday (although I think that UWW will win another national championship; my answer is based on attendance alone)
2. Winner of the 2008 election for Whitewater Municipal Judge will be
A. one of the challengers (Note: I have no preferred candidate at this time; I merely think it’s a hard office to hold.)
3. Leading vote-winner of the City of Whitewater presidential election results in November will be
B. Barack Obama (Note: I have no preferred candidate at this time; I do think Sen. Obama will be the Democratic nominee, and would easily carry the City of Whitewater.)
4. Whitewater will see the resignation of
A. a Common Council member (other than Kim Hixson) and
C. the leader of a prominent community group
5. Between now and year’s end, the unemployment rate in Whitewater will
D. increase slightly
6. The challenge of housing for students will be
C. worse
7. Overall vacancies in our downtown, and across the city will be,
B. basically unchanged
8. A local dentist will be nominated for a Nobel prize in
D. crowd-control
9. Market-penetration rate of the Whitewater Regsiter will
B. decline slightly
10. In 2008, Whitewater will receive news on how many new, large commercial businesses will locate to our city?
A. one
We’ll see how we did at predicting at year’s end.
I’d say correct on Numbers 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 9. Partially right on Number 4 (Craig Stauffer resignation) and Number 10 (we have had large additions, but the question was ill-defined, and ‘one’ or a greater number are both possible answers).
On Number 8, where I predicted a Nobel Prize in crowd control for a local dentist-politician, I would suggest not that I have been proved wrong, but that I remain, instead, ahead of the curve. It’s only a matter of time until the Nobel Committee sees what I see.