A lot of people have begun offering their predictions for the coming year. They say that "there will be two or three coup attempts," "it's a bad year for constructing houses" and other such ominous sayings.

I find this whole business of prediction weird. Remember: the future is what we make of it, regardless of "cosmic invisible hands" which may or may not change our fate. I think it's about time people became less fatalistic and assumed more responsibility for their actions.