Nostradamus wrong?

Which prophesies of Nostradamus have failed to be fulfilled? (Of course, not including those predicted beyond present day.)

All of them. Or none of them, depending on your point of view.

The prophecies are so vague that most of them have at least one event that they can be applied to.

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"We're gonna have lawyers here. It'll be a fun time."
--R.R.S.

Does the same go for Jeanne Dixon?

Cheese Head said:

Does the same go for Jeanne Dixon?

If you're asking if Dixon's "prophecies" have failed, the answer is yes. Even her most talked-about "success" -- the supposed prediction of JFK's assassination -- was actually a failure if you look at the facts instead of the hype.


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"The best medicine for misery is neither myth nor miracle, but naked truth."
-- Richard Walker, The Running Dogs of Loyalty: Honest Reflections on a Magical Zoo

I'd heard that Nostradamus predicted nuclear holocaust for August 11, 1999. I'll guess we'll find out soon if that's right or not.

Damn! I had plans for that day.

Just to be safe, I think I'll ask for my birthday presents early this year.

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The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. -- E. Grebenik

Did Nostradamus, Jeanne Dixon, or any of these other psychics foresee the y2k bug? It doesn't seem like it. Did they even predict trouble around Jan 1, 2000?

Of course, computers didn't even exist in Nostradamus' time, but if these fortune tellers were worth there salt, I would think they would have foreseen some trouble around the turn of the millenium.

Maybe no one predicted that there would be a problem around Jan 1, 2000, because there will not be a problem.

Or maybe it is because none of them are right.

StrTrkr777, "Maybe no one predicted that there would be a problem around Jan 1, 2000, because there will not be a problem."

I expect there to be problems world wide. Not big crisis like some chicken-littles, predict, but problems.

Anyway, the y2k bus has already been a problem in terms of the cost/time spent fixing programs in advance so that they don't have a problem. For example, my local utility company announced a major rate increase to cover their costs of y2k preparedness. I'm sure y2k solutions will be a multi-million or billion dollar cost for the US economy.

y2k bug, not bus.

What's truly mind-boggling in all of this is that the problem was identified as early as 1979, by an MIT scientist if I'm not mistaken. Nobody took notice, nobody cared. And the rest, as they say...

While I don't really believe in these kind of prophecy things, Nostradamus' interest me. Kat says that they are all very vague. I have read them, and interpretations of them, and some really are interesting. For example, he predicts the rise of hitler, and predicts what his name will be, with but one letter changed. He foresaw the name of America, the continent, before Amerigo Vespuci was at all famous.
Apparently, next month, a leader will come from the Middle East and aim a bomb--one worse than ever seen before--towards a large city called New York. Hmmm. And, he said that a great American president will be shot IN DALLAS TEXAS, and he gave the date to the day (cough...JFK...cough)
Any thoughts?

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***HunnyChile***

Basically, no one can figure out what the predictions "really" mean until after the supposedly "predicted" event has occured. What is really happening is that the "predictions" are retrofitted to conform to what has already happened. Here is what the Skeptic's Dictionary www.skepdic.com says of the Hitler prediction:

"True believers, such as Erika Cheetham, believe that Nostradamus foresaw the invention of bombs, rockets, submarines, and airplanes. He predicted the Great Fire of London (1666) and the rise of Adolph Hitler and many other wonders.

"Skeptics, such as James Randi, cast doubt upon the interpretation of Nostradamus' quatrains.

"Here is how Randi and Cheetham read one of the more famous quatrains, allegedly predicting the rise of Adolph Hitler to power in Germany:

Bestes farouches de faim fleuves tranner
Plus part du champ encore Hister sera
En caige de fer le grand sera traisner
Quand rien enfant de Germain observa.

"Cheetham's version:

Beasts wild with hunger will cross the rivers,
The greater part of the battle will be against Hitler.
He will cause great men to be dragged in a cage of iron,
When the son of Germany obeys no law.

"Randi's version:

Beasts mad with hunger will swim across rivers,
Most of the army will be against the Lower Danube.
The great one shall be dragged in an iron cage
When the child brother will observe nothing.

"You can read their arguments for yourself, but I'd like to add one thing that neither mentions. 'Germania' is a term which refers to an ancient region of Europe, north of the Danube and east of the Rhine. It may also refer to a part of the Roman Empire corresponding to present-day northeastern France and part of Belgium and the Netherlands. To me, both versions of this prophetic poem are gibberish. And why anyone would think Hister refers to Hitler rather than exclusively to an area of the Danube, which even Nostradamians recognize as the common usage of the term in their hero's day, is beyond me."

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"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," Jack Handy

Hunny--Care to provide the verses in which Nostradamus mentions America, New York, bombs, Dallas, Texas, American presidents and/or exact dates? The original verses, not the "interpreted" versions?

Gr8Kat has already pointed out the flaws in the Hitler/Hister connection.

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"We're gonna have lawyers here. It'll be a fun time."
--R.R.S.

Here, read this one:
http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~jamesf/hitch.html


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"We're gonna have lawyers here. It'll be a fun time."
--R.R.S.

Check this out. http://www.skepdic.com/nostrada.html

Watch out for a Mongolian king being resurrected next month.

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"I wept because I had no shoes, then I met a man with no feet. So I took his shoes" - Dave Barry

Hey, Gr8Kat, steal my thunder, why doncha! I already posted that link!

Sorry, Strainger, no disrespect intended It just seemed that, to try to put it nicely, some people didn't follow the link and I just wanted to make sure the message got across.

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"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," Jack Handy

Strainger and Gr8kat provided a link that covered mathematical possibility of Nos being accurate.
Here's something with no math. It's from Charles Mackay's "Extraordinary Popular Delusions..." published in 1841. It's as fair a place as any to start:

"The prophecies of Nostradamus consist of upwards of a thousand stanzas, each of four lines, and are to the full as obscure as the oracles of old. They take so great a latitude, both as to time and space, that they are almost sure to be fulfilled somewhere or other in the course of a few centuries."