Ask it anything. Give it a shake. Wait for the little triangle to float up out of the dark. It is certain. Reply hazy, try again. Don't count on it.

Twenty answers, floating in blue liquid, chosen entirely at random. And somehow we treated them like the voice of the universe. We asked it everything from "Should I have ice cream for dinner" to "Will I get into that college" - questions big and small settled over the breakfast table, all on the say-so of a plastic sphere that knew absolutely nothing about our lives.

This Sunday the Magic 8-Ball comes out of the toy box, and we'll talk about what we're really doing when we go looking for answers…and what we might be hoping to hear.