Monday, March 31, 2014

4734

If you take all of the proper factors of 4734 that have a 7 in them, they add up to 4734.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

9.2



This is the 50th anniversary of the "Good Friday Earthquake" in Alaska. At 9.2 on the richter scale, this is the 2nd largest earthquake recorded.


The 1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan Earthquake, the Portage Earthquake and the Good Friday Earthquake, was a megathrust earthquake that began at 5:36 P.M. AST on Good Friday, March 27, 1964. Across south-central Alaska, ground fissures, collapsing structures, and tsunamis resulting from the earthquake caused about 139 deaths.

Lasting nearly three minutes, it was the most powerful recorded earthquake in U.S. and North American history, and the second most powerful ever measured by seismograph. It had a moment magnitude of 9.2, making it the second largest earthquake in recorded history —the largest being the 1960 Valdivia earthquake in Chile.

The powerful earthquake produced earthquake liquefaction in the region. Ground fissures and failures caused major structural damage in several communities, much damage to property and several landslides. Anchorage sustained great destruction or damage to many inadequately earthquake engineered houses, buildings, and infrastructure (paved streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains, electrical systems, and other man-made equipment), particularly in the several landslide zones along Knik Arm. Two hundred miles southwest, some areas near Kodiak were permanently raised by 30 feet (9.1 m). Southeast of Anchorage, areas around the head of Turnagain Arm near Girdwood and Portage dropped as much as 8 feet (2.4 m), requiring reconstruction and fill to raise the Seward Highway above the new high tide mark.

In Prince William Sound, Port Valdez suffered a massive underwater landslide, resulting in the deaths of 30 people between the collapse of the Valdez city harbor and docks, and inside the ship that was docked there at the time. Nearby, a 27-foot (8.2 m) tsunami destroyed the village of Chenega, killing 23 of the 68 people who lived there; survivors out-ran the wave, climbing to high ground. Post-quake tsunamis severely affected Whittier, Seward, Kodiak, and other Alaskan communities, as well as people and property in British Columbia, Oregon, and California. Tsunamis also caused damage in Hawaii and Japan. Evidence of motion directly related to the earthquake was reported from all over the earth.

There were thousands of aftershocks for three weeks, following the main shock. In the first day alone, eleven major aftershocks were recorded with a magnitude greater than 6.2. Nine more occurred over the next three weeks. It was not until more than a year later that the aftershocks were no longer noticed.

for more information:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Alaska_earthquake

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

56

I read a book many years ago called Ready Made Family.  The main character, Hedwig, had trouble remembering the product of 7x8.  The teacher noticed this, and confided to Hedwig that she (the teacher) was 56 years old, so now Hedwig could remember this.  Since then, I have also remembered that 7 x 8 = 56 this way.



Tuesday, March 25, 2014

218

My friend Kevin weighed himself this morning, and weighed 218 lbs.  This is the first time in many years that he has weighed less than 220.

Monday, March 24, 2014

800

There was a third Apple founder. Ronald Wayne (pictured at home in 2010) sold his 10% stake for $800 in 1976.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

1981

1981 was the year of the first known computer crime.

Ian Murphy is the king of the old-school computer hackers. In 1981, he and three accomplices broke into the AT&T phone system and changed its internal clocks so that customers would get midnight discounts in midday, while late-night callers got stuck with outrageous bills. For the incident, Murphy became the first hacker to be charged with a computer crime.



Saturday, March 22, 2014

12.52

In 1913 it was legal to mail children. With stamps attached to their clothing, children rode trains to their destinations, accompanied by letter carriers. One newspaper reported it cost fifty-three cents for parents to mail their daughter to her grandparents for a family visit. As news stories and photos popped up around the country, it didn't take long to get a law on the books making it illegal to send children through the mail.

On February 19, 1914, May Pierstorff, just short of her 6th birthday, was “mailed” from her parents’ home in Grangeville, Idaho to her grandparents’ house about 73 miles away for just 53-cents worth of stamps. May’s parents were taking advantage of parcel post service, which began just the year before.

53¢ in 1913 is worth $12.52 today.

The first child “mailed” in the U.S. was an unnamed boy in Batavia, Ohio in mid January 1913. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Beauge of Glen Este, Ohio was carried by Rural Free Delivery carrier Vernon Little to its grandmother, Mrs. Louis Beague about a mile away. The boy’s parents paid 15-cents for the stamps and even insured their son for $50. 



Friday, March 21, 2014

8

What color is the number 8?  My friend Jen thinks it is dark green.  I think it is red.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

3000

In 2006, an Australian man tried to sell New Zealand on eBay. The price rose to $3,000 before eBay shut it down.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

0 (which is even)

To deal with fuel shortages after Hurricane Sandy, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced rationing on 8 November 2012.

"Drivers in New York City who have license plates that end in an odd number or end in a letter or other character will be able to gas or diesel only on odd-numbered days such as tomorrow which happens to be the 9th," he said.  "Those with licence plates ending in an even number, or the number zero, will be able to buy gas or diesel only on even number days such as Saturday November 10th."

Saying " license plates ending in an even number, or the number zero..." makes it sound like zero is not even.  It is.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

3,628,800

6! = 720  and  7! = 5040.

720 x 5040 = 3,628,800

10! = 3,628,800

This is the only case where the product of the factorials of two consecutive integers is equal to the factorial of another integer.

Monday, March 17, 2014

11

There have been 11 lost airplanes since 2005, defining an airplane as a craft large enough to hold 14 people.  (source: Mental Floss)

Sunday, March 16, 2014

699

Sir Nicholas George Winton, (born Nicholas Wertheim; 19 May 1909) is a British humanitarian who organized the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War, in an operation later known as the Czech Kindertransport. Winton found homes for the children and arranged for their safe passage to Britain. The UK press has dubbed him the "British Schindler".

for more information:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Winton





Saturday, March 15, 2014

93

Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima for work when the first A-bomb hit, made it home to Nagasaki for the second, and lived to be 93.

Friday, March 14, 2014

pi

to the tune of "Oh Christmas Tree"

Oh, number Pi, Oh, number Pi
You’re truly transcendental.
Oh, number Pi, Oh, number Pi
You’re physical and mental.
You stretch the bounds…of all we know,
And tell our circles where to go
Oh, number Pi, Oh, number Pi
Your digits are so gentle.

Oh, number Pi, Oh, number Pi
Why can’t I learn you faster?
Oh, number Pi, Oh, number Pi
You’re really hard to master.
Just when I think…I’ve got you down
I flip a 6 and 5 around
Oh, number Pi, Oh, number Pi
Numerical disaster!

Oh, number Pi, Oh, number Pi
Why are you so specific?
Oh, number Pi, Oh, number Pi
Your digit growth’s terrific.
Ten years ago, you had a Mill
And now you’re at a couple Trill
Oh, number Pi, Oh, number Pi
You stretch to the Pacific!

Thursday, March 13, 2014

13

12+1 = 11+2, and "twelve plus one" is an anagram of "eleven plus two."

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

364

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?  On average, a Licking Machine made at Purdue needed 364.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

2500

Janis Joplin left $2,500 in her will for her friends to "have a ball after I’m gone."

Sunday, March 9, 2014

433,982,548

Springing forward each year doesn't just cost you sleep. It also leads to more workplace injuries, lower productivity, and even an increase in heart attacks. Chmura Economics & Analytics says it all adds up to about $433,982,548.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

1.12 million

It would take about 1.12 million mosquitoes simultaneously biting to drain your complete blood supply.

Friday, March 7, 2014

5

Rick Swenson holds the record for having won the most Iditarods, 5: 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1991

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

116

The world’s oldest person has revealed the secret behind her long and healthy life, but if you think it’s all down to diet and lots of exercise then think again.

As it turns out Misao Okawa, who turns 116 years old today, reckons it’s down to two simple things: sushi and sleep.

The Japanese woman, whose life has spanned across three centuries, eats three meals a day and ensures she always gets eight hours rest a night.

Mrs. Okawa, who has four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, also credits oily fish such as mackerel for her longevity and only went into a care home 18 years ago at the age of 98.

“She insists that her favourite meal is sushi, particularly mackerel on vinegar-steamed rice, and she has it at least once every month," Tomohito Okada, the head of the Kurenai retirement home where she lives, told The Telegraph.

The mother-of-three has been a widow since her husband Yukio passed away in 1931 and has an elderly son, 94, and daughter, 92 as well as four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Mrs Okawa became the world’s oldest person following the death of 116-year-old Japanese man Jiroemon Kimura on June 12, 2013.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

-3

-3:  The amount of time, in minutes. between the time the carpet shampooer left and the time we got dirty pawprints on the stairs.

Monday, March 3, 2014

80,000

The goody bags given out to every attendee at today’s Academy Awards ceremony have an individual value of $80,000.  If Oscars’ goody bags were a prime indicator of economic progress, it would be safe to assume that things were on the up and up, as this is twice as much as last year’s.


The funny thing about the goody bags is that they are handed out to very rich people who can already afford the stuff that’s in them several times over. Any folically-challenged actor may well be thrilled by the most expensive item in the bag, a $16,000 voucher for a robotic hair restoration, but truth be told, their personal hair stylist will soon discourage them from straying off to some rival salon. If they did try it out, they may come to appreciate the cheapest item in the bag, the $6.49 Drain Wig, which prevents loose hair from clogging up the shower. Same goes for another of the least expensive items, a Mace pepper gun, worth $120. Do they need that when they have their own security detail?  What does a Hollywood superstar do with it?  The answer – give it to an assistant.  Whether so many “O-shot procedures” will be re-gifted is another question altogether. This $2,700 treatment is a vaginal stimulation intended to reawaken sex drive. Then there’s a $4,900 system to purify home water supplies, or a $2,560 home spa installation in the unlikely event star’s homes are lacking in such basic necessities already. Further afield a $6,850 train trip through the Rockies, or a $15,000 walking tour through Japan may appeal, depending on shooting schedules and outstanding invitations for vacations on yachts and private islands.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

715

NASA announced Feb. 26, the discovery of 715 exoplanets (planets outside the Solar System) using data from the Kepler telescope.

The 715 exoplanets were discovered in 305 planetary systems. Four of the planets, each twice the size of the Earth, are in a "habitable zone" where surface temperatures would allow for liquid water. 

The addition of 715 exoplanets brings the known total to around 1,700. The first exoplanet was discovered in 1996.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

134 million

The state of Colorado got  $134 million in tax revenue from legal pot in the first year they legalized it.

Friday, February 28, 2014

4 (or not)

The NBA says they are NOT planning to add a 4 point shot to the rules of basketball.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

1944.444444...

A man spent $35,000 to have his house set up for his 18 cats.  This comes to 1944.444444... per cat.  See pics.




Wednesday, February 26, 2014

50

Facebook has added 50 new choices for gender, beyond the previous choices of "female" and "male".  I don't know what they are, however, because they are not showing up as options for me.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

117

What's cooler than a Girl Scout selling cookies?


A business-savvy Girl Scout who sets up shop outside a cannabis clinic to rev up her sales skills.
Thirteen-year-old Girl Scout Danielle Lei did brisk business last Monday selling Dulce de Leches and other flavors outside The Green Cross medical marijuana clinic in San Francisco.


Danielle was able to sell 117 boxes within two hours outside the cannabis clinic -- 37 more than what she sold within the same time frame at a local Safeway the next day.


"It's no secret that cannabis is an appetite stimulant -- so it's not shocking that a lot of our patients came and purchased cannabis, and then saw the cookies and purchased them," said Holli Bert, a spokesperson for The Green Cross. "But it wasn't just patients, staff members and neighbors also bought the cookies. I personally bought five boxes. It turned out to be a big success."


Bert said that Danielle's mother had contacted The Green Cross to set up the sale outside the store.
"We were happy to have her (Danielle) come -- she is extremely business savvy," Bert said.



Monday, February 24, 2014

110

The world's oldest known Holocaust survivor has died at age 110, her grandson told CNN Sunday.


Alice Herz-Sommer and her son were sent to a concentration camp during WWII, A talented pianist, she survived by playing for the Nazis at the camp.  "My world is music," she said in a 2014 Oscar-nominated documentary about her life, "The Lady in Number 6".







for more information:  http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/23/world/europe/holocaust-survivor-death/

for more more information:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Herz-Sommer


Sunday, February 23, 2014

22

The star-nosed mole rat has 22 fingerry appendages on his nose.



The star-nosed mole is a small mole found in wet low areas of eastern Canada and the northeastern United States. It is easily identified by the 11 pairs of pink fleshy appendages ringing its snout, which is used as a touch organ with more than 25,000 minute sensory receptors, known as Eimer’s organs, with which this hamster-sized mole feels its way around.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

3

Alexis Martin, a three-year-old who's become the youngest person in Arizona to be accepted into Mensa.


Alexis was found to have an IQ of above 160, and has even taught herself Spanish!
Her mom and dad started to realize she was something special when she began to recite bedtime stories at 12-18 months old.


"We'd be driving around in the car and she would recite her bedtime story from the night before,” said her dad. “She didn’t just recite them, she recited them exactly.”


The parents say Alexis' use of adult apps on their iPad has helped her learn and she began reading at age two.


The parents are now debating whether Alexis should start kindergarten early.






Friday, February 21, 2014

695

The "Epicurious Gourmand" experience at the Oregon Truffle Festival costs $695 per person and includes truffle tasting and truffle hunting with dogs.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

4

While the number 4 does not strike fear to many in the West, the Chinese and Japanese have a superstitious fear of the number 4. The reason is fairly simple: the word for death, shi, sounds just like the number for 4. In China and Japan, buildings do not have a 4th floor or any floor whose number contains the digit 4.  Cartoon characters that have only four fingers are considered bad luck. The superstition runs so deep in these cultures that cardiac deaths for Chinese and Japanese Americans are said to increase by 7 percent on the fourth of each month.


Wednesday, February 19, 2014

880

Exit 880 in I-10 in Orange, Texas, is the highest interstate exit number.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

15

In the past week, this blog has been viewed 15 times in Germany.  No one left any comments.

Monday, February 17, 2014

22

If there were such a thing, it would probably be rule No. 1 in the teaching manual for instructors of aspiring suicide bombers: Don’t give lessons with live explosives.


In what represented a cautionary tale for terrorist teachers, and a cause of dark humor for ordinary Iraqis, a commander at a secluded terrorist training camp north of Baghdad unwittingly used a belt packed with explosives while conducting a demonstration early Monday for a group of militants, killing himself and 21 other members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, army and police officials said.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

12

12 is a sublime number. 


A sublime number is a number with a perfect number of factors whose factors add up to a perfect number.


12 has 6 factors:  1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12.


The factors of 12 add up to 28.


6 and 28 are both perfect numbers because they are equal to the sum of their proper factors.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

43 ( 7 + 13 + 23 )

I asked my friend Cheryl what her favorite number is.  She said it is a tie between 7 ("I had seven children"),  13 (" I was born on the 13th.  I've always liked that number, maybe because most people don't."), and 23 ("When I was a child I always wanted to be 23.  Not 16.  Not 18.  Always 23.")

Friday, February 14, 2014

128

I'm suffering from a lack of imagination today.  So 128 is today's number.  Just because.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

17

A sudoku puzzle must have at least 17 numbers to be filled in to be solvable.

Monday, February 10, 2014

45

The longest word to appear in an English language dictionary is

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis 

which is a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust, causing inflammation in the lungs.  It has 45 letters.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

512.73

512.73 is the Dewey Decimal system classification for analytical number theory.

What is the significance of 512.73?

According to "The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers":

First I subtract it from 666, the Number of the Beast in the Book of Revelation:
666 - 512.73 = 153.27
Behold!
The same digits appear, but rearranged, signifying the effect of removing evil from the world.

The whole number part is now 153, the number of fishes hauled from the river by Peter.
The decimal part is the sacred number 3, raised to its own power.

Divide the Number of the Beast by 3, and you obtain 222,
the Dewey Decimal system classification for the Old Testament.
Add 3 and you obtain 225, the classification for the New Testament.
Add 3 again, and you obtain 228, the classification of the Book of Revelation.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

5939.74

I couldn't think of anything, so I went to Yahoo, and typed in "How many" to see what they came up with.



There are:
  • 105 calories in a banana (on average)
  • 128 ounces in a gallon (fluid ounces)
  • 16 ounces in a pound (non-fluid ounces)
  • 4 cups in a quart
  • 5280 feet in a mile
  • 8 ounces in a cup (fluid ounces)
  • 28.35 grams in an ounce (approximately)
  • 365.39 weeks in a year (approximately)
  • 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon
  • 2 pints in a quart
total:  5939.74

Friday, February 7, 2014

0.01

My friend's credit card company messed up her account an overcharged her 1¢ so they sent her a check.


I whited out her name and address  on the picture.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

1

100 women were asked "On a scale from 1 to 10, how sexy are men with hairy chests?" The most common answer was 1. 



(source: Family Feud)

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

3

Preston, Socrates, and Buddy are hogging my bed. (Buddy likes to hide under the covers.)

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

20,860

The Gregorian calendar is set up so that a year is equal to one revolution of the earth around the sun.  The months don't correspond to anything.

A month in the Muslim calendar is equal to one cycle of the moon, between 29 and 30 days.  A year is 12 months.  This means that a year in the Muslim calendar is about 11 days shorter than a Gregorian year.  This is why the Muslim holidays are not connected to any seasons.

(The Jewish calendar has the same months as the Muslim calendar, but some years have 12 months and some have 13 months.  So the year is roughly the same as a year in the Gregorian calendar.)

So at some point, the year number of the Muslim year will catch up to the year number of the Gregorian year.  This will happen in the year 20860.

Monday, February 3, 2014

50

There are 50 states in the United States. 

(I couldn't think of anything.  So I decided to go to Google and type "How many" and go with the first way Google finished the sentence. 


Sunday, February 2, 2014

2

Sean :: Is there any special term for a prime p, such that the prime squared plus one is also a prime?

Kevin :: Yes. 2. If you can think of any other example, you should alert the media.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

C



Here is a proof that the amount of real numbers is larger than the amount of integers:  diagonal_argument

I know a proof that 2 to the power of the number of integers gives you the number of real numbers, but can not find it on line.


Friday, January 31, 2014

39,997.99

For only $39,997.99 you can get this 85 inch TV from Amazon.


  • 4K Ultra HD with Micro Dimming: Best picture quality
  • 120Hz Refresh Rate: Better for general viewing, video games, action movies, and sports
  • Smart TV with Voice Control: Interact with streaming content and the web
  • LED Design: TV without stand (Width x Height x Depth): 78.9" x 64.4" x 2.8", TV with stand (Width x Height x Depth): 78.9" x 64.4" x 22.9"
You save from the list price of $44,999.99.

You can get a used one for $30,999.99.

Whether it's your voice or a simple hand gesture, with the new Ultra-Slim Samsung Smart TV S9, controlling your TV is easier than ever before. You can talk to your TV in more natural ways such as asking, "What action movies are on", or you can perform all the basic commands such as "record", "last channel" and "turn on". You can also use hand gestures to browse the new intuitive Smart Hub, a central, easy-to-navigate hub of all your favorite content. You can even use gestures to use apps, play games and more. Samsung has also made it easier to keep up with the latest technology. The new Smart Evolution Kit updates your TV with new software, so you can keep enjoying new features without having to get a new TV. Discover how the new S9 can keep up with both you, and the ever-changing world of technology. 



Thursday, January 30, 2014

1900

This is an actual screen shot from my friend Shevie.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

17

17 is an unlucky number in Italy, probably because in Roman digits 17 is written XVII, that could be rearranged to "VIXI", which in Latin means "I have lived" but can be a euphemism for "I am dead."

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

8466548 (4048144+4418404)

An equation that works in reverse as well.

2012 x 2012 = 4048144  and  4418404 = 2102 x 2102

or, if you prefer

2102 x 2102 = 4418404 and 4048144 = 2012 x 2012

Monday, January 27, 2014

288

The most overdue book in the world was borrowed from Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge, England and was returned 288 years later. 

(source: ebizarre.com)

Sunday, January 26, 2014

2700

The CHEAPEST Super Bowl tickets are gong for $2,700.

also:  Average cost are $4,600.  Most expensive are $25,000.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

30,000

For $30,000 you can buy a first class ticket from LA to Dubai on United Arab Emirates’ A380 airline suite. 


With private three-wall suites (plus closeable door) and two lounges on the plane, Emirates takes it one step further and offers their highest-paying customers two classic walnut and marble state-of-the-art shower systems complete with shower kits and fine linens. Also available: relaxing chair-massages and mini-bar parties.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Thursday, January 23, 2014

800

A scroll at the University of Bologna is shown to be 800 years old.

In 1889, an Italian librarian’s faulty identification sentenced to archival obscurity an antique Torah scroll that has turned out to be the oldest complete such scroll in existence.

This week, University of Bologna Professor Mauro Perani announced the results of carbon-14 tests authenticating the scroll’s age as roughly 800 years old.

The scroll dates to between 1155 and 1225, making it the oldest complete Torah scroll on record.
Like all Torah scrolls, this one contains the full text of the five Books of Moses in Hebrew and is prepared according to strict standards for use during religious services

What a 19th-century cataloguer had interpreted as clumsy mistakes by what he guessed was an awkward 17th-century scribe provided the very clues that led Perani to investigate further. National Geographic spoke by telephone to Perani about his rediscovery.

.....What led you to take a second look at the scroll?

In 2012, a colleague and I decided to write a new catalog of the [University of Bologna] library’s Hebrew manuscript collection. The original librarian and cataloguer from 1889, Leonello Modona, was an educated man but not a scholar. He had dated this scroll to the 17th century with a question mark.

He described the writing in this scroll as “an Italian script, rather clumsy-looking, in which certain letters, as well as the usual crowns and strokes, show uncommon and strange appendices.” But when I went to examine the scroll, I saw immediately that it was not the “bad” writing that Modona described. These Hebrew letters were in the Oriental style, not of Palestine, but of the Babylonian tradition, and from a much earlier time than the 17th century.

.....So what did you do?

I consulted with other colleagues and experts who agreed that this scroll originated from some time between the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 14th century. I then pursued carbon-14 testing at the University of Sorrento; the results showed a date of between [the] second half of the 12th century to [the] beginning of the 13th century. In addition, a second carbon-14 test at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign confirmed the first result.

.....Even before you received the authentication of the carbon-14 dating, were there clues that led you to focus on an early date?

At the end of the 12th century Maimonides set down the rules for how to copy Torah scrolls, and those fixed rules have been followed ever since. This scroll’s copyist did not know of those rules. Those rules would have forbidden him from using some of the graphical elements found here, such as use of compression of letters, line justification, and which letters can have  “crowns” on top.

There is more freedom here. There are also passages whose graphical layout is identical to that of the Aleppo Codex [a Bible in book form], which dates to the 10th century. This all means that either the Torah scroll was made before the death of Maimonides, who died in 1204, or the copyist had not yet learned of those rules. Remember, there was no Internet then to spread the news immediately.

....So when did the University of Bologna first obtain this Torah scroll—and how?

This scroll has been at the University of Bologna library for centuries. It’s very possible that at some time it came into the possession of a monastery, was later taken to Paris after Napoleon suppressed the monastic and religious orders, and finally restored to Bologna after Napoleon’s collapse.

.....How significant is this discovery?

This is important because this is the entire Torah scroll, the most ancient entire scroll that we know of. We have fragments of other Torah scrolls from the Cairo Geniza that date to the same time or earlier, and they show identical styles to this copyist. Maybe we will find another Torah scroll that is older, but for now this is it.

 to read the article that I just completely copied here:  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/05/130530-worlds-oldest-torah-scroll-bible-bologna-carbon-dating/

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

115,132,219,018,763,992,565,095,597,973,971,522,400.5

There are 2 39 digit narcissistic numbers.

115132219018763992565095597973971522400

and

115132219018763992565095597973971522401   .


A narcissistic number is a number that, when you take all the digits, raise them to the power of how many digits the number has, and add them all together, you get the original number.

For example, 407 is a 3 digit number, and 4^3 + 0^3 + 7^3 = 407.

The number of the day is the average of the 2 39 digit numbers.  It begins with one-hundred-fifteen-dodecillion.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Monday, January 20, 2014

161

Because morse code was time consuming and often expensive, users in the olden days came up with a lot of abbreviations.  They came up with a list of 2 digit numbers and what they stood for.  The meanings would have nothing to do with the numbers.  Most are not used today.

A few that are still used:


  • 73 means "Best wishes" often used as a sign-off.
  • 88 means "Hugs and kisses", also used as a sign-off, mostly to a HAM of the opposite gender.
  • 161 (since it is 73+88) is used to say both, either to someone you really like, or to a couple where one of them is the opposite gender from you.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

8

I asked my roommate for a number of the day and a reason, and he said 8 because

'Octomom' charged with welfare fraud


The woman known as the "Octomom" was charged with welfare fraud after allegedly failing to report nearly $30,000 in earnings.

Nadya Suleman, 38, who gained fame in 2009 when she made medical history by giving birth to octuplets, all of whom survived, was charged Jan. 6, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said in a news release issued Monday.

She is being charged with one count of aid by misrepresentation and two counts of perjury by false application for aid, the release said. The mother of 14 children allegedly failed to report the extra income she earned between Jan. 1, 2013 and June 30, 2013.

Suleman is scheduled to be arraigned Friday at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center. Prosecutors will ask that her bail be set at $25,000.

If convicted, she faces up to five years and eight months in jail.

 

 

Saturday, January 18, 2014

130,000,000

447 E 52nd St, New York, NY 10022

This is the largest single-family residence in Manhattan.  And it is now selling for a mere $130 million!! 



Friday, January 17, 2014

24527 (8191+8128+8208)

In the Simpsons, the following appeared on a Jumbo-tron:







The writers purposely selected a perfect number, a narcissistic number, and a prime number.

8191 is a mersenne prime number.  (A prime number is a number that has exactly 2 factors - itself and 1.  A mersenne prime is a prime number of the form 2^p-1, where p is a prime number.  8191 is 2^13 -1)

8128 is a perfect number. (A perfect number is a number that is equal to the sum of its proper factors. The proper factors of 8128 are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 127, 254, 508, 1016, 2032, 4064 and these add up to 8128.)

8208 is a narcissistic number.  (A narcissistic number is a number that, if you raise each digit to the power of the number of digits you have, and add all of them, you get the original number. 8208 has 4 digits, and 8^4+2^4+0^4+8^4 = 8208.)

Thursday, January 16, 2014

3.2

An incident that took place in Indiana in 1897, when politicians attempted to legislate an official (and wildly incorrect) value for π:

The Indiana Pi Bill was the brainchild of Edwin J Goodwin, a physician from the town of Solitude in the south-western corner of the state. He had approached the assembly and proposed a bill that focused on his solution to a problem known as "squaring the circle". He seemed oblivious to the fact that this ancient problem had already been proved impossible in 1882. Goodwin's complicated and contradictory "solution" effectively dictated a value for π equal to 3.2. He said that Indiana schools could use his discovery without charge, but that the state and he would share the profits from royalties charged to other schools who wished to adopt a value of 3.2 for π.

Initially, the technical nature of the bill baffled the politicians, who then passed it without any objection. It was then up to the state senate to ratify the bill.

Fortunately, Professor CA Waldo, a mathematician at Indiana's Purdue University, alerted senior politicians to the absurd legislation. This prompted Senator Orrin Hubbell to proclaim: "The Senate might as well try to legislate water to run uphill as to establish mathematical truth by law."

There was a successful motion to indefinitely postpone the passing of the bill, but it still exists in a filing cabinet in the basement of the Indiana statehouse, waiting for a gullible politician to resuscitate it.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

28

A "sociable chain" is a set of numbers where each number is the sum of the proper factors of the previous number, and then it gets back to the beginning number.


For example: 

For example
* The proper factors of 12496 are:  1, 2, 4, 8, 11, 16, 22, 44, 71, 88, 142, 176, 284, 568, 781, 1136, 1562, 3124, 6248.  If you add them up, you get 14288,
* The proper factors of 14288 add up to 15472.
* The proper factors of 15472 add up to 14536.
* The proper factors of 14536 add up to 14264.
* The proper factors of 14264 add up to 12496.  Which is where we started.  So this is a sociable chain of 5 numbers.

When the chain ony has 2 numbers, it is an  "amicable pair".
* The proper factors of 12285 are 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 13, 15, 21, 27, 35, 39, 45, 63, 65, 91, 105, 117, 135, 189, 195, 273, 315, 351, 455, 585, 819, 945, 1365, 1755, 2457, 4095.  These add up to 14595.

* The proper factors of 14595 add up to 12285.

SO, what does this have to do with 28?  The longest known chain has 28 numbers in it:


14316, 19116, 31704, 47616, 83328, 177792, 295488, 629072, 589786, 294896, 358336, 418904, 366556, 274924, 275444, 243760, 376736, 381028, 285778, 152990, 122410, 97946, 48976, 45946
22976, 22744, 19916, 17716, back to 14316 which I don’t count a second time.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

133.335

133.335 is the Dewey-Decimal number for numerology.

And if you reverse it and add, they add up to 666.666 , the Number of the Beast repeated.

Monday, January 13, 2014

132

How many different 2 digit numbers can you make from the digits in 132? 

6 :  12, 13, 21, 23, 31, 32.  If you add these numbers, what do you get?  132!!!


Sunday, January 12, 2014

5771

You know those long boring conditions you have to agree to before installing software that no one ever reads?  I did a word count on one, and it was 5771 words.


... If the WM-DRM Software's security has been compromised, owners of Secure Content (“Secure Content Owners”) may request that Microsoft revoke the WM-DRM Software's right to copy, display and/or play Secure content.  Revocation does not alter the WM-DRM Software's ability to play unprotected content.  A list of revoked WM-DRM Software is sent to your computer whenever you download a license for Secure Content from the Internet.  Microsoft may, in conjunction with such license, also download revocation lists onto your computer on behalf of Secure Content Owners.  Secure Content Owners may also require you to upgrade some of the WM-DRM components distributed with this software (“WM-DRM Upgrades”) before accessing their content...