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).
