The Mystery of Telling the Future

[zoobyshoe]

Are dustmen like dustbunnies?

I have no idea if dustbunnies are called "dustmen" in England.

A friend of mine went to a psychic. Before the appointment, the psychic called her to tell her just to pull her car into the driveway when she arrived and not bother to look for street parking. When my friend arrived, she parked her car a block away. When the psychic greeted her at the door, she looked into the driveway and seemed suddenly a bit thrown off. "Where's your car?" she asked? my friend said she'd decided to park a ways away an get a little excercize. The psychic seemed dissapointed, and mumbled something about that being kind of unusual.

Why did the psychic want my friend to park in the driveway?

 

[hypatia]

To look for car seats{kids}, or business papers, fast food wrappers or bumperstickers, anything that would show a lifestyle or give them insight. Even the kind of car, a old beater or expensive new car.

 

[zoobyshoe]

To look for car seats{kids}, or business papers, fast food wrappers or bumperstickers, anything that would show a lifestyle or give them insight. Even the kind of car, a old beater or expensive new car.

Exactly! I think you'd make a good "psychic", hypatia.

 

[Moonbear]

To look for car seats{kids}, or business papers, fast food wrappers or bumperstickers, anything that would show a lifestyle or give them insight. Even the kind of car, a old beater or expensive new car.

Yep, just like a palm reader is going to take note of callouses on your hands and whether you have short or long nails, well-manicured hands, or raggedy, bitten-looking nails, pale skin, or darkly tanned hands, etc. Those all tell them things like whether you work indoors or outdoors, manual labor or a thinking job, are appearances important to you, are you nervous about things, etc.

 

[Moonbear]

I am assuming the psychic was told everything the woman told the newspaper reporter, and that she knew getting to the ring would mean taking the carpet up. She certainly knew it would mean pulling up a floorboard.

Well, after reading and re-reading, nothing is really jumping out other than that this woman seems to have lost the ring almost immediately after receiving it...the article is dated April, she said she got the ring in August, and it's been missing for over 7 months, but only recently started looking for it (a few weeks). Based on that, I'm starting to think the psychic read into this that she didn't really care that much about the ring, at least not enough to pull up the carpet and floorboards of a newly decorated room: alas, the ring would be lost forever. Probably just damn lucky that ring wound up under a floorboard in that room; if it wasn't found there, well, then she'd have probably just been told that pink must refer to something else.

 

[Danger]

Are dustmen like dustbunnies?

Unless the language has changed in the past couple of decades, 'dustmen' are garbage collectors (what you Yanks refer to as 'Sanitary Engineers').

 

[Adrian Baker]

you guys are so nice! i was just wondering! jeez!

They don't take prisoners on this forum moonrocks! Harsh maybe, but that's Physicists for you!

 

[zoobyshoe]

Unless the language has changed in the past couple of decades, 'dustmen' are garbage collectors (what you Yanks refer to as 'Sanitary Engineers').

So, if you heard that a three-year-old kept winding someone up about the ring having "gone away with the dustmen", what would you ask yourself, as a "psychic?"

 

[Moonbear]

So, if you heard that a three-year-old kept winding someone up about the ring having "gone away with the dustmen", what would you ask yourself, as a "psychic?"

I don't know about as a psychic, but I'd be wondering why this twit in front of me can't be as reasonable as her 3-yr-old son and just accept that it's gone for good.

 

[Moonbear]

Hey, zoob, we're still waiting for the answer on this one!

 

[zoobyshoe]

Nope, I'm going to wait till someone else puts together the same picture that popped out at me.

 

[Evo]

A friend of mine went to a psychic. Before the appointment, the psychic called her to tell her just to pull her car into the driveway when she arrived and not bother to look for street parking. When my friend arrived, she parked her car a block away. When the psychic greeted her at the door, she looked into the driveway and seemed suddenly a bit thrown off. "Where's your car?" she asked? my friend said she'd decided to park a ways away an get a little excercize. The psychic seemed dissapointed, and mumbled something about that being kind of unusual.

Why did the psychic want my friend to park in the driveway?

My question is "why didn't the psychic know your friend chose not to park there"?

 

[zoobyshoe]

My question is "why didn't the psychic know your friend chose not to park there"?

I think she figured it out pretty quickly after my friend said she'd decided to park at a distance and get some excercise. Of course, though, the show must go on.

 

[Moonbear]

My question is "why didn't the psychic know your friend chose not to park there"?

The better question is why did his friend still use this psychic if the psychic didn't know she wouldn't park in the driveway?

 

[Danger]

The better question is why did his friend still use this psychic if the psychic didn't know she wouldn't park in the driveway?

Now, now... we all have at least one dumb friend.

 

[russ_watters]

Now, now... we all have at least one dumb friend.

Ever worry that its you? I know I'm safe - my group had one guy we call "The Jackass". We even made him business cards...

 

[Danger]

Ever worry that its you?

Are you kidding? I worked in a cowboy bar for 17 years.

 

[Moonbear]

Ever worry that its you? I know I'm safe - my group had one guy we call "The Jackass". We even made him business cards...

Is that sort of like every family has to have one strange relative? If you look around and don't see one, it's you! (I have strange relatives to spare if anyone is really worried and needs one.)

 

[zoobyshoe]

Ever worry that its you? I know I'm safe - my group had one guy we call "The Jackass". We even made him business cards...

How bout you, Russ? Nothing jumps out at you from the story to suggest how the psychic knew?

 

[Huckleberry]

The child mentioned the ring going away with the dustmen. The room with the new carpeting probably belonged to the 3 year old boy. They are having a daughter and put in pink carpeting. The woman took her ring off maybe because she was pregnant and her fingers swell or something. The child got a hold of the ring and stuffed it in a crack in the floor. They find the weirdest things on the floor. The ring must be on the floor somewhere. The psychic is probably a woman with children.

 

[zoobyshoe]

The child mentioned the ring going away with the dustmen. The room with the new carpeting probably belonged to the 3 year old boy. They are having a daughter and put in pink carpeting. The woman took her ring off maybe because she was pregnant and her fingers swell or something. The child got a hold of the ring and stuffed it in a crack in the floor. They find the weirdest things on the floor. The ring must be on the floor somewhere. The psychic is probably a woman with children.

You Are Correct Sir!

 

[Huckleberry]

I knew I was psychic.

That was an easy one.

 

[zoobyshoe]

That was an easy one.

That's what I thought. I read story and instantly figured the kid must have seen the ring in some dusty place, which is why he kept "winding" his mother up about it. I am sure the psychic fished for her answer in that pond.

 

[Huckleberry]

The psychic saying that she usually doesn't help her clients like that probably means that she didn't really expect the ring to be found, but it was the best solution to the information given her. She was probably preparing an alternate interpretation incase the ring was found somewhere else.

 

[Moonbear]

That's what I thought. I read story and instantly figured the kid must have seen the ring in some dusty place, which is why he kept "winding" his mother up about it. I am sure the psychic fished for her answer in that pond.

But how would you know that room was the dusty place? And why wedged under a floorboard? (How does a ring get UNDER a floorboard in the first place?) And if the "dustmen" are the trash collectors, then he could have been just saying it went out with the trash. I really think she didn't expect that woman to tear up a room that was just decorated, especially pulling up carpet when she's 7 months pregnant. She assumed it was lost for good, so told her it was in a place she wouldn't bother looking. If she did find it, it probably would be after the baby was born, when it was crawling on the floor sticking things in its mouth, so pink and floorboards would have worked for that too.

 

[Moonbear]

The psychic saying that she usually doesn't help her clients like that probably means that she didn't really expect the ring to be found, but it was the best solution to the information given her. She was probably preparing an alternate interpretation incase the ring was found somewhere else.

Exactly! That's the way I interpreted it. She doesn't usually get that lucky that someone is psycho enough to tear up newly laid carpet and floorboards looking for a ring on her advice and the ring is actually in the place she looked. If she found nothing, there are a million other ways to interpret the clues pink and floorboards. Pink because she took the ring off while pregnant and/or because she is expecting a girl. Floorboards are easy because most small things that are lost are on the floor somewhere: in a crevice somewhere, under furniture, behind furniture, sucked up when vacuuming, carried away by a pet, etc.

 

[zoobyshoe]

The psychic saying that she usually doesn't help her clients like that probably means that she didn't really expect the ring to be found, but it was the best solution to the information given her. She was probably preparing an alternate interpretation incase the ring was found somewhere else.

No, because she made that statement after the ring was found. Recall that she said something to the effect she's glad it worked out. She made an exception for this woman because she was just about positive the kid knew where the ring was.

 

[Huckleberry]

The 3 year old probably put the ring in a crack. Maybe they were redoing the floors at one point months ago. That would have given him the opportunity. Maybe it is an old house. They often don't have perfect flooring.

It doesn't surprise me that the 3 year old said dustmen. I'm not sure why he would say that but I am curious. I think he might be jealous of the baby. I guess it could be that he has assigned his own meaning to the term dustmen, but I'm not sure. I think it is more likely he wanted his mother to believe that the ring was gone. That would be the motive.

I say the kid is the culprit.

 

[zoobyshoe]

The 3 year old probably put the ring in a crack. Maybe they were redoing the floors at one point months ago. That would have given him the opportunity. Maybe it is an old house. They often don't have perfect flooring.

The kid put it there, or, he a least saw it down there after it rolled there when the mother dropped it. The point is: the kid knew where it was, and the mother wouldn't pay any attention to him. He had to keep repeating himself, but she wouldn't stop to figure out what he was trying to say.

It doesn't surprise me that the 3 year old said dustmen. I'm not sure why he would say that but I am curious. I think he might be jealous of the baby. I guess it could be that he has assigned his own meaning to the term dustmen, but I'm not sure. I think it is more likely he wanted his mother to believe that the ring was gone. That would be the motive.

Just because a three year old says "dustmen' doesn't mean he's using the term properly. You have to ask "What would a three year old call "the dustmen"? Could be anything to do with dust. He may have looked into the crack in the floor, seen dust, and decided "Only dustmen would live there." or whatever.

The point is, that the psychic now has to do a bit of fishing to figure out the details. She chats, finds out there's just been a remodel. New carpet? Why, she wonders, to cover an old, cracked floor? She fishes. Oh, she finds out, the new girls room is where the boy now usually plays, or whatever. Maybe, if she's lucky, the mother has to use her bathroom and she gets to ask the little boy "Joe, where are the dustmen?" "In the floor!", Joe says. And so on. Many possible variations.