A Race Against Time

This time of year is when I start peeking back at my annual prediction post that I write at the beginning of each year to see how I do and in preparation for my year end "grading my prediction" post. This time it's looking pretty grim. Usually I have a fairly high success rate at my predictions but this year, for the first time, I think I am going to get more wrong than right.

But it looks like prediction #16 will be a real nail biter. That prediction:

both "pussy riot" prisoners (i.e. nadezhda tolokonnikova and maria alyokhina) will be out of prison by the end of 2013.

 In the past few weeks there have been more and more stories about the new amnesty law that was proposed, and now passed, by the Russian parliament. The law would free both of the Pussy Riot prisoners, as Vladimir Putin just confirmed today. But will they be freed before midnight (Eastern Standard Time, of course--the Official Time Zone of Rubber Hose^TM) December 31, 2013? No one seems to know. Once Putin signs the bill:

It also must be published by the state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, per Russian law. The two Pussy Riot members could be be released at that point, perhaps as soon as Thursday; however, their release could technically take up to six months. Officials at the two prisons where Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina are held said they are ready to release them as soon as the bill is passed into law, according to The Guardian.

Will they be released within the next 12 days? Will I be counted right for prediction #16? Is the fact that I am fixated on whether my stupid prediction is right rather than the continued hardship of these two women being stuck in a Russian prison embarrassingly self-centered? Only time will tell! (Well, except for that last question. I think we can all answer that one right now.)