Monday, October 20, 2008

The Top 23 Interesting Facts About the Number 23

23. First and foremost, I genuinely hope there actually are 23 interesting facts about the number 23.

22. Twenty-three is the ninth prime number, as well as the smallest odd prime which isn't a twin prime. So... y'know. That's pretty intense.  

21. The first 6 digits of pi are 3.14159 which all add up to 23. WHAAAAAAT. (PS: If you recite pi to Rob, he gets all hot and bothered.)

20. The atomic number of vanadium is 23. One of vanadium's most prominent usages is in lacrosse shafts, therefore making it the bro-iest metal alive. (Note: Elements are not actually alive.)

19. Normal human sex cells have 23 chromosomes. HOTT!

18. Psalm 23 ("The Lord is my shepherd, etc etc etc...") is basically the best, most holiest psalm ever. Let's chat about our faith sometime! (Note: Actually, please let's never do that.)

17. In a group of at least 23 randomly chosen folks, there's a more than 50% probability that some pair of them will have the same birthday. This is called "The Birthday Paradox". Frankly, it's not much of a paradox, as far as I'm concerned. Kinda kooky, but I'm not seeing the inherent contradiction here.

16. In Islam, it took 23 years for the entirety of the Qur'an to be revealed to Muhammad. (There is a decent possibility that it will take Future Ted even longer to tell his children who their mom is on How I Met Your Mother. DJANGO! By the way, "django" is going to be the new "zing"... get the word out!)

15. According to Principia Discordia, the sacred text of the fake religion Discordianism, 23 is the sacred number of Eris, the goddess of discord. But so is 5. Also, nothing is actually sacred. Kids, a really good thing to do in your free time is to invent a fake religion.

14. A good number of great athletes have worn the number 23, including Ryne Sandberg, Don Mattingly, and of course, Michael Jordan. Unfortunately, there were no Space Jam-type films for Donnie Baseball or Ryno. Oh my gosh, someone invent a time machine and go back to 1993 and write a script in which Mattingly and Sandberg have to team up across American League/National League lines and fight aliens. YESYESYES! 

13. Last year, Blonde Redhead released a quite excellent album titled 23 that included a very good awesome song of the same name.

12. Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times when he was assassinated. 

11. The Number 23 is just about the worst film ever made.

10. A good number of ridiculous people are convinced that everything that happens ever is related to the number 23. Yes, there are actually people who think that a number is capable of carrying on a conspiracy and influencing world events.

9. In 1923, the Yankees won their first World Series, William Butler Yeats won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and a storm of large hailstones killed 23 people in Rostow, Soviet Union. (OMG 23 PEOPLE THAT IS LIKE A THING OR SOMETHING!!)

8. There were 23 problems on David Hilbert's famous list of unsolved mathematical problems, presented to the International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris in 1900. As of today, 4 of the problems have been left totally unresolved. Unfortunately, Dr. Hilbert had an additional list of 23 unsolved problems in David Hilbert's life, ranging from lost socks to lost loves to his bizarre love of socks. None of these problems are currently resolved.

7. In 23 AD, some fascinating things happened. Pliny the Elder was born... it was really weird having a baby whose last name was "The Elder". He wrote a book called The Natural History, which was basically a list of everything people knew during the Roman Empire. I haven't read it and am basically too lazy to give the wikipage a full rundown, but from what I can gather, it was mostly about dolphins and gems. Also, over in India, Maka Dan-Dang became the first person ever to be strangled by an elephant. (CLOSED CASKET FUNERAL ALERT!) Finally, Wang Mang, throne usurper and owner of the fifth coolest name ever, died in battle, restoring the Han Dynasty to power.

6. According to the song "What's My Age Again?" by Blink-182, "nobody likes you when you're 23." Perhaps someone should have told me this earlier!!?!

5. 23 is one of "The Numbers"--4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42--featured on "that show" Lost, enjoyed by "those people" who scare the frig outta me. 

4. Dr. Pepper has an alleged 23 flavors. (Although, it still just tastes like Dr. Pepper.)

3. 23-skidoo was a thing old folks used to say. (It is slang for dick pills.)

2. 23 is the number of years old I am today! That was an awkward sentence! I'm gonna stop typing now!

1. Also, as a special bonus, here's a mini-list of other amazing folks born today:

a.) Mickey Mantle

b.) Snoop Dogg

c.) Ryan North

d.) Arthur Rimbaud

e.) John Krasinski

f.) Christopher Wren

g.) Margaret Dumont

h.) Charles Ives

i.) Bela Lugosi

j.) Viggo Mortensen

k.) The Empress Michiko

l.) Jomo Kenyatta

m.) Jelly Roll Morton

n.) John Dewey

...

...

...

AND ME!

1 comment:

krishna kashyap av said...

Great information and very much interesting.
Thanks a lot for sharing such
a valuable information.
Work from home