Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Counting






So one day, while I was eating salted almonds, I was counting and arranging them, like I do from time to time, and getting a huge thrill out of it...I'm sure all of you have done that on occasion too, right?

Anyway, I decided to take a picture on an impulse, just so you get an idea of just how...me your author is. Of course, I chose the number 13, because it is one of, if not my outright, favorite number. Why? It's such a twisted, misunderstood, so-ugly-it's-cute type of number. I've always thought it's pretty, but there is a reason why it doesn't come up as often as 9, 3, 7, etc; it's a bit awkward, and often passed up in favor of its much more streamline, divisible neighbor, 12.

13 has some nice properties and relations to society and the universe-- it's the number of Archimedean solids in existence, the number of notes (via inclusive counting) in an octave, and it has a spooky, unluckiness to it that no other number can compete with (though not in Italy XD).

2 comments:

  1. Not to knock on the number 13 or anything... but odd numbers in general make me cringe. I begged the doctor to let me have my son on the 14th instead of the 13th, she didn't listen to me though!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, well, I actually have a generous affection for odds. :) Maybe because I'm a bit odd...

      But I could see how that could get in the way of you understanding the MAGNIFICENCE of number 13. I do feel quite sad for you, but fear not; there are plenty of lovely evens you could take a look at. 2, for instance, everybody loves 2... or at least, everybody ought to, because 2 is the little number that can do practically anything. 4, despite it being bad luck in Japan, is another nice number; splitting things into fourths gives me much joy. 100, 500, 700, lots of fun...I suppose I ought to post on evens now! Well, time to consult my lovely Number Freak book for some facts. Thank you for commenting! :)


      Delete