Years ago, before everyone had in-car navigation systems, I held on to an amusing little thought about traveling on the freeways: when you witnessed a huge backup on the other side (that is, traveling the other direction), and it went on for mile after mile, and then it finally cleared, you were put in the unusual position of actually knowing the short-term future of all the poor souls who, farther up the road, were zipping along, blissfully unaware of the hellacious backup that would soon face them. I would glance at the dozens of drivers enjoying their 70 MPH care-free spin, knowing that their lives were about to get worse really soon. As tragedies go, it doesn’t exactly rank, but it was still an amusing realization of the power of fortune-telling. (more…)