The Public 8 Ball

Note: This 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. I mean, you wouldn't use a voice-mail psychic, right? Why would you use a CGI 8 ball? It just doesn't make sense. The 8 ball currently on duty is a recent Mattel manufactured model number 3048AA, housed in a custom built Lego Mindstorms shaking cradle, triggered and watched by a Linux computer. 50,000 years of technological advancement has culminated in a system to bring you mysticism on demand. Anywhere in the world, 24x7, Y2K certified.

You should be aware that from time to time the Public 8 Ball will be restricted to private viewing. I highly recommend that you acquire your own 8 ball to ensure timely availability, or maybe a tiny key chain version note: the keychain does not have the proper responses, it may just be a toy..

The 8ball is offline until November of 2010

The 8 ball, your browser is busted if you see just this text.

The Public 8 Ball would not have been be possible without:

Viewmaster - who I believe created the 8 ball.
Tyco Toys - who now makes the 8 ball (and issues nasty letters to some of its fans). No, wait, Mattel bought Tyco in November 1996. Obviously control of the 8 ball production is key to corporate success. Or maybe Barbie had a lot of questions to ask as she turned 40.
Lego - who makes the Mindstorms robotics pieces for the shaker.
nqc - so those of us without Microsoft Windows can use Mindstorms. Thanks to Dave Baum.
Debian linux - which makes the computer run. A non-enumerable legion.
linux bttv driver - which gets the camera image. Thanks to Ralph Metzler and Marcus Metzler.
fsg - which provides the hardware and network connections.

There are a bunch of lame computer simulations of 8 balls on the web. I've listed some here for you.
Its a big web and the 8 ball graces many of the best pages, such as these.

The Public 8 Ball was conceived and assembled by Jim Studt, he can be reached at jim@federated.com