No one likes making hard decisions. While flipping a coin helps in selecting from two options, like choosing between beef or chicken for dinner tonight, life isn�t always that simple. 

Sometimes the possibilities get more complicated. Like deciding between filet mignon, chicken parmesan or lamb chops. Sure, you could play eeny, menny, miney, moe, but that�s a pretty random way of narrowing things down. What you need in this case is more thorough guidance. That�s when you reach for your Magic 8 Ball.

Question: "Should I have steak for dinner tonight?"

Answer: "Cannot predict now."

Ah, obviously I need to worry about lunch first. See, I�ve already received insights into my life.

I confess that I hadn�t thought much about this wonderful prognostication tool in recent years. My daughter received one for a present a few years back, and occasionally I heft it for a quick answer, or to ponder the mysteries of how it worked. I was even so fascinated once that I attempted to write down all the possible answers. I came up with 12. (Turns out I was wrong, but more on the oracle�s intricacies and inner workings in a moment.)

Then a few weeks ago, a friend gave me a website which gives access to a Magic 8 Ball for those who don�t already own one, or who don�t have children who own one.

Imagine a person so dedicated to both the Magic 8 Ball and the Internet that he created a website where you type in a question and then see the image of an actual 8 Ball answer you. Jim Studt, dear readers, is that man, and The Public 8 Ball is his amazing website (http://8ball.federated.com). You should really check it out for yourself. As of last October, it had logged 460,000 fortunes.

I never realized how many people out there are seeking answers that only the 8 Ball can give.

As fascinated as I was by Jim�s hard work and his surmounted difficulties in creating and maintaining his motorized, computerized and digitized cyber Magic 8 Ball, I confess that I have only used it once.

Question: Will I finish my novel?

Answer: Without a doubt.

Considering this was before I�d even written the first page, I believe this to be a very promising prediction.

However, since I have in my possession an actual, three-dimensional real thing, on loan from my daughter, I don�t foresee using the Public 8 Ball very often. I did learn something from reading through this site: some of us have hobbies and some of us have obsessions, but not everyone has a hobby that is such a fulfilling obsession.

It turns out that Jim Studt isn�t the only person so deeply committed to the Magic 8 Ball. Links from that site led me to numerous other virtual 8 Ball sites�none of which are so ambitious as to use actual balls, just simulated computer graphics. The most valuable link of all was titled "The Inscrutable 8 Ball Revealed" and it documented a step-by-step dissection of an 8 Ball to learn its secrets, including an analysis of the "murky, viscous (and presumably harmless) blue fluid."

Caution: If you feel that your future Magic 8 Ball experiences might be cheapened by discovering the oracle�s secrets, you may want to avoid this next paragraph.

It turns out that 8 Ball answers are printed on each side of a 20-sided polygon known as an icosahedron. According to the research of Dan Egnor and Heath Hunnicutt, 50% of these answers are positive (e.g. "Yes - Definitely), 25% are negative (e.g. "My sources say no") and 25% are vague (e.g. "Better not to tell you now").

The secret to successful use of the Magic 8 Ball is in asking the right questions. Obviously, they have to be specific. You can�t ask, "Should I ask Mary or Jane to the concert," because the 8 Ball will respond, "Better not to tell you now." This indicates that you have not sufficiently searched your heart. Take a few minutes of reflection, then ask again, "Should I ask Jane to the concert?" and it will respond, "Don�t count on it." Ah, this clearly means that Jane will say no if you do ask her, so you should forget about even asking her and go straight to dialing Mary�s number.

What if we all followed the wisdom of the Magic 8 Ball, and avoided the doubts, regrets and second guesses of deciding things for ourselves?

Answer: Outlook not so good.