After Spain's Andres Iniesta scored the first and only goal of the game in the second overtime of Sunday's World Cup Final and guaranteed the win for his team, Paul the Octopus's prediction was once again proven accurate. So, if you're like me, you're thinking, "What's the deal with this octopus??"Apparently, Paul, an octopus kept in captivity in a German aquarium, had been delivering flawless predictions about the results of Germany's soccer matches in the 2010 World Cup. In order to get these "predictions," caretakers would set two boxes with food side by side, one with a German flag, and the other with the opponent's. Paul chose the winning flag every time, including Spain's win against Germany. The eight-legged oracle was so accurate for Germany, that for the final between Spain and Netherlands, he was once again put to the test, and successfully chose the box with the Spanish flag.
So is this really the work of some natural phenomenon, or just another hoax? Skeptics, myself included, have said that perhaps the octopus is in someway persuaded to go to a certain box, weather it is by the type of food placed inside, the position the winning box is set in, the color and brightness of the flags, or even the smell of the water surrounding each box. In this case, though, someone still had to make the correct predictions. Perhaps a sports expert teamed up with Paul's caretakers? Or, maybe the octopus was just lucky? I'll leave that for you all to figure out.
Turns out for now though, we won't have to worry any more about Paul's predictions, since the aquarium announced his official retirement from the fortunetelling business. Thanks for the fun, Paul.
Intern Fiorella Bergandi for Skinnie Magazine
Twitter/FiBergandi
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