Significant Number Factoid Friday – Today The Number Is Ten 10

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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Welcome to another significant number factoid Friday.

Today’s significant number is Ten, one of the most important and widely used of all the numbers.

This is just a small selection of what Ten gets up to, but there’s still a lot of stuff in here so brace yourselves for a long read.

Enjoy.

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The Number Ten 10

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In religion

• The number 10 is used 244 times in the Bible.
• The 10th word of the King James Version of Genesis is “earth”
• The number ten signifies perfection; it is the combination of the number seven which embraces all created things, and the trinity of the Creator.
• The Bible records 10 generations between Adam and Noah, and 10 generations between Noah and Abraham.
• The 10th Book of Enoch Archangel Uriel warns Noah about Flood.
• Noah waited 10 months for the water to recede after the Flood.
• The Ten Commandments of Exodus and Deuteronomy are considered a cornerstone of Judaism and Christianity.

• Ten Plagues were inflicted on Egypt in Exodus 7-12, sent by God by the intermediary of Moses: the water changed into blood, there were plagues of frogs, midges, big flies, then a plague on the animals, an epidemic of ulcer and tumours, hail and thunder, grasshoppers, three days of darkness, and finally the death of the firstborn in each Egyptian family.
• People traditionally tithed one-tenth of their produce. The practice of tithing is still common in Christian churches today, though it is disputed in some circles as to whether or not it is required of Christians.
• In Deuteronomy 26:12, the Torah commands Jews to give one-tenth of their produce to the poor (Maaser Ani). From this verse and from an earlier verse (Deut. 14:22) there derives a practice for Jews to give one-tenth of all earnings to the poor.
• There are said to be Ten Lost Tribes of Israel (those other than Judah and Benjamin).
• The Beast of the Revelation has ten horns each with ten diadems. (Rv 13, 1)
• There were ten nations whose hostility towards Israel was constant. (Ps 83,7-9)
• God moved back the shadow on the sundial of Ahaz by ten degrees as a sign that He was going to deliver Hezekiah from his mortal sickness and the city where he was. (Is 38,1-8)
• Christ’s parable of the 10 virgins (5 wise & 5 foolish) in Matthew 25.1-13 symbolizes our 5 inner & outer senses.
• Christ healed 10 lepers in a village, but only one turned back to thank him and with a loud voice glorified God. (Luke 17.12)
• The Holy Spirit descended on the apostles ten days after the Ascension of Jesus.
• Jews observe the annual Ten Days of Repentance beginning on Rosh Hashanah and ending on Yom Kippur.
• In Judaism, ten men are the required quorum, called a minyan, for prayer services.

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In mathematics

• 10 Squared equals 100
• 10 Cubed equals 1000
• 10 Factorial or 10! equals 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 x 8 x 9 x 10 = 3,628,800
• A Decagon is a polygon of 10 sides.
• 10 is the base of the decimal system.
• Ten is the sum of the first three prime numbers, of the four first numbers (1 + 2 + 3 + 4), of the square of the two first odd numbers and also of the first four factorials (0! + 1! + 2! + 3!).
• Magic square of 10:

1 4 2 3
2 3 1 4
3 2 4 1
4 1 3 2

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In science

• 10 is the Atomic Number of Neon (Ne).
• There are 10 hydrogen atoms in butane, a hydrocarbon.
• Primates have 10 fingers.
• The human foot has 10 toes.
• There are 10 spacetime dimensions in some superstring theories.

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In space

• Messier object M10, a magnitude 6.4 globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus.

• The New General Catalogue object NGC 10, a magnitude 12.5 spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor.

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• Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the United States Apollo space program. It was an F type mission, its purpose being a “dry run” for the Apollo 11 mission, testing all of the procedures and components of a Moon landing without actually landing on the Moon itself.
• The mission included the second crew to orbit the Moon and an all-up test of the lunar module (LM) in lunar orbit. The LM came to within 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 km) of the lunar surface during practice maneuvers.

• According to the 2002 Guinness World Records, Apollo 10 set the record for the highest speed attained by a manned vehicle at 39,897 km/h (11.08 km/s or 24,791 mph) during the return from the Moon on May 26, 1969.
• Due to the use of their names as call signs, the Peanuts characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy became semi-official mascots for the mission. Peanuts creator Charles Schulz also drew some special mission-related artwork for NASA.

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In politics

• John Tyler (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) was the tenth President of the United States (1841–1845). A native of Virginia, Tyler served as a state legislator, governor, U.S. representative, and U.S. senator before being elected Vice President in 1840. 
• He was the first to succeed to the office of President on the death of the incumbent, succeeding William Henry Harrison. 
• Tyler’s opposition to federalism and emphatic support of states’ rights endeared him to his fellow Virginians but alienated him from most of the political allies that brought him to power in Washington. 
• His presidency was crippled by opposition from both parties, and near the end of his life he would side with the South in its secession from the United States.

• Virginia is the tenth state in the Union.
• Canada is made up of 10 Provinces:  Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. There are also three territories, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon. (The major difference between a Canadian province and a territory is that provinces are jurisdictions that receive their power and authority directly from the Constitution Act, 1867, whereas territories derive their mandates and powers from the federal government.)

• Number 10 Downing Street is the official residence of the British Prime Minister.

• The tenth French department is Aube.
• There are 10 regions in Ghana.

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In sport

• In the Olympics, 10 is the highest score for a gymnastic event, attained by Nadia Comaneci in 1976, and Mary Lou Retton in 1984.
• The Decathlon is a 10-event athletic contest consisting of 100-meter, 400-meter, and 1500-meter runs, 110-meter high hurdles, javelin & discus throws, shot put, pole vault, high jump, and long jump.
• In ten-pin bowling, 10 pins are arranged in a triangular pattern and there are 10 frames per game.

• In American football, the end zones are 10 yards deep.
• In baseball, 10 is the minimum number of players on the field at any given time during play (including the batter).
• In basketball the top of the rim is 10 feet from the floor.
• In standard full-court basketball, there are 10 players on the court (5 on each team).
• In cricket, 10 is the number of wickets required to be taken by the bowling side for the batting side to be bowled out.
• In gridiron football, 10 is the number of yards the offense must advance to maintain possession in a single set of downs—four in American and three in Canadian.
• In rugby union, the starting fly-half wears the 10 shirt.

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• The jersey number 10 has been retired by several North American sports teams in honor of past playing greats or other key figures:
• In Major League Baseball by the Chicago Cubs for Hall of Famer Ron Santo; the Cincinnati Reds for Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson; the Kansas City Royals for manager Dick Howser; the Minnesota Twins for manager Tom Kelly; the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals) first for Rusty Staub and later for Hall of Famer Andre Dawson; the New York Yankees for Hall of Famer Phil Rizzuto; the St. Louis Cardinals for manager Tony La Russa; the Atlanta Braves have announced they will retire the number for Chipper Jones on June 28, 2013.

Chipper Jones Atlanta Braves batting autographed photograph

• In the NBA the Boston Celtics for Jo Jo White; the Chicago Bulls for Bob Love; the Detroit Pistons for Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman; the Miami Heat for Tim Hardaway; the New York Knicks for Hall of Famer Walt Frazier; the Philadelphia 76ers for Maurice Cheeks; the Seattle SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) for Nate McMillan; the Washington Wizards for Hall of Famer Earl Monroe, who played for the team in its past incarnation as the Baltimore Bullets.

Dennis Rodman

• In the NFL the Atlanta Falcons for Steve Bartkowski; the Minnesota Vikings for Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton.
• In the NHL the Carolina Hurricanes for Hall of Famer Ron Francis; the Detroit Red Wings for Hall of Famer Alex Delvecchio; the Montreal Canadiens for Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur; the first NHL incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets for Hall of Famer Dale Hawerchuk. 

 

Dale Hawerchuk

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In books, music, TV and movies

• Ten has appeared in the titles of many songs including
• “Ten Long Years” by B.B. King and Eric Clapton; 
• “Perfect Ten” by The Beautiful South; 
• “Ten Cent Pistol” by The Black Keys; 
• “Clock Strikes Ten” by Cheap Trick; 
• “Eight By Ten” by Ken Dodd; 
• “Ten Years Gone” by Led Zeppelin; 
• “Ten Ton Hammer” by Machine Head; 
• “Ten Cents A Dance” Richard Rodgers performed perhaps most famously by Ella Fitzgerald; 
• “Force Ten” by Rush; 
• “Ten with a Two” Willie Nelson; 
• “Ten Foot Pole” by ZZ Top; 
• “Ten Green Bottles” Traditional British children’s song, very much similar in theme to the US “99 Bottles Of Beer”; 
• and “Ten Feet Tall” by XTC.

• “Ten lords a-leaping” is the gift on the tenth day of Christmas in the carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas”

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• On TV there have been:
• A series on HBO entitled “1st & Ten” which aired between December 1984 and January 1991.
• A series on ESPN and ESPN2 entitled 1st and 10 which launched on ESPN in October 2003 to 2008 and moved to ESPN2 from 2008 to present.
• A 1977 short documentary film “Powers of Ten” depicts the relative scale of the Universe in factors of ten (orders of magnitude).
• A game show on CBS called “Power of 10”, where the player’s prize goes up and down by either the previous or next power of ten.
• and, “Ten Chances” is one the pricing games on “The Price is Right”.

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• Movies with “10” in their titles include, 
• “10”; 
• “10 Things I Hate About You”; 
• “10 to Midnight”; 
• “The Whole Ten Yards”; 
• “10 Items or Less”; 
• “Ten Little Indians”; 
• “10 Rillington Place”; 
• “The 10th Victim”; 
• “3:10 to Yuma”; 
• “The Ten”; 
• and, “The Ten Commandments”

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In militaria

• To reduce something by one-tenth is to decimate. (In ancient Rome, the killing of one in ten soldiers in a cohort was the punishment for cowardice or mutiny; or, one-tenth of the able-bodied men in a village as a form of retribution, thus causing a labor shortage and threat of starvation in agrarian societies.)

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• USS Annapolis (PG-10)
• The first USS Annapolis (PG-10/IX-1) was a gunboat in the United States Navy. She was named for Annapolis, Maryland.
• She took part in the Spanish-American War and later was sent to the Far East and then central American waters.

 

USS Annapolis 1896

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• USS Maine (BB-10)
• USS Maine (BB-10), the lead ship of her class of battleships, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the 23rd state.
• She was launched on 27 July 1901 and during WWI operated along the east coast where she trained engineers, armed guard crews, and midshipmen.
• Later Maine operated with ships of the Atlantic Fleet until 15 May 1920, when she decommissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard.

USS Maine BB-10 1902

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• USS Bridgeport (AD-10/ID-3009)
• The USS Bridgeport (AD-10/ID-3009) was a destroyer tender used by the United States Navy during World War I and the years after. 
• Originally she had been built in 1901 at Vegesack, Germany as SS Breslau of the North German Lloyd lines as a steel-hulled passenger and cargo steamship.
• Interned at New Orleans, Louisiana at the outbreak of World War I, Breslau was seized in 1917 by the United States after her entry into the war and commissioned into the Navy as USS Bridgeport. 
• Originally slated to be a repair ship, she was reclassified as a destroyer tender the following year. Bridgeport completed several transatlantic convoy crossings before she was stationed at Brest, France, where she remained in a support role after the end of World War I. After returning to the United States in November 1919, she spent the next five years along the East Coast and in the Caribbean tending destroyers and conducting training missions.
• She was decommissioned in November 1924 and placed in reserve at the Boston Navy Yard.

USS Bridgeport (AD-10)

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• USS L-10 (SS-50)
• The USS L-10 (SS-50) was an L-class submarine of the United States Navy. She was assigned to the Atlantic Submarine Flotilla and operated along the United States East Coast until April 1917 developing new techniques or undersea warfare.
• Following the United States’s entry into World War I, she was used to protect Allied shipping lanes to Europe.
• She was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 5 May 1922

USS L-10 (SS-50)

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• USS Barnegat (AVP-10)
• The second USS Barnegat (AVP-10), operated from 1941 to 1946, was the lead ship of her class of small seaplane tenders built for the United States Navy just before and during World War II. 
• First operating in the North Atlantic she provided not only tender services but salvage and logistic support as well. 
• Later she participated in Operation Torch, the Allied landings in French North Africa.
• From June 1943–May 1944 she transferred to the South Atlantic, reporting for duty with Fleet Air Wing (FAW) 16. Her arrival coincided with the opening shots of a local German submarine “blitz” against coastal shipping; the day before, the German U-boat U-513 had torpedoed the steamer SS Venetia.
• She was decommissioned on 17 May 1946.

USS Barnegat (AVP-10)

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• USS Yorktown (CV-10)
• The USS Yorktown (CV/CVA/CVS-10) is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is named after the Battle of Yorktown of the American Revolutionary War, and is the fourth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name. Initially to have been named Bon Homme Richard, she was renamed Yorktown while under construction to commemorate USS Yorktown (CV-5), lost at the Battle of Midway in June 1942.
• Yorktown was commissioned in April 1943, and participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning 11 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation.
• Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). She was recommissioned too late to participate in the Korean War but served for many years in the Pacific, including duty in the Vietnam War, in which she earned five battle stars. 
• Late in her career she served as a recovery ship for the Apollo 8 space mission, was used in the movie Tora! Tora! Tora! which recreated the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and in the science fiction film The Philadelphia Experiment.
• Yorktown was decommissioned in 1970 and in 1975 became a museum ship at Patriot’s Point, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. 
• She is a National Historic Landmark.

 

CVS-10 USS Yorktown

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• USNS Bridge (T-AOE-10)
• USNS Bridge is the fourth ship in the Supply class of fast combat support ships and the second ship in the Navy named after Commodore Horatio Bridge.

USNS Bridge (T-AOE 10)

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• USS Sampson (DDG-10)
• The USS Sampson (DDG-10), named for Admiral William T. Sampson USN (1840–1902), was a Charles F. Adams-class guided missile destroyer launched on 21 May 1960 commissioned on 24 June 1961.
• She was tasked with operations in the Atlantic and Caribbean and the Mediterranean. 
• Sampson was decommissioned on 24 June 1991 exactly 30 years after commissioning.

USS Sampson DDG-10

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• USS Tripoli (LPH-10)
• The USS Tripoli (LPH-10), is an Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship launched on 31 July 1965. She was named for the Battle of Tripoli Harbor.
• She took part in three tours during the Vietnam war and has more recently operated in the Middle East. 
• She was decommissioned in 1995.

USS Tripoli LPH10

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• USS Juneau (LPD-10)
• The USS Juneau (LPD-10) is an Austin-class amphibious transport dock, and the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the capital of Alaska. 
• The ship entered service on 12 July 1969, and participated in the Vietnam War, was command ship for the response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill, transported troops to the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Storm, and was part of the attempted US response to Cyclone Nargis. 
• Juneau was decommissioned in 2008, and is part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet.

USS JUNEAU LPD-10 P

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• USS Warrior (MCM-10)
• The USS Warrior (MCM-10) is an Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship launched on 8 December 1990, and was commissioned on 7 April 1993. 
• The Avenger-class ships were designed to have very low acoustic and magnetic signatures to avoid detonating mines. While most modern warships have steel hulls, the Avengers have wooden hulls with an external coating of fiberglass. They are equipped with sophisticated mine-hunting and classification sonar as well as remotely-operated mine neutralization and disposal systems.
• On 26 February 2013, 7th Fleet announced that the USS Warrior would be transferred from 5th Fleet in Bahrain to 7th Fleet in Sasebo Japan to replace the USS Guardian, which had recently been decommissioned after running aground in the Philippines.

USS Warrior MCM 10

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• USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10)
• The USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) which is currently being built by Austal USA, is scheduled to be completed and delivered to the Navy in August of 2015 and will be an Independence-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy. 
• The ship is named after former United States Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot along with eighteen other people during the 2011 shooting in Tucson, Arizona.
• Gabrielle Giffords will be the 15th U.S. naval ship to be named for a woman by the United States Navy. But the name choice has been controversial, with two retired U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps officers criticizing the trend of naming ships for political reasons.

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• Lockheed Model 10 Electra
• The Lockheed Model 10 Electra was a twin-engine, all-metal monoplane airliner developed by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in the 1930s to compete with the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2. 
• It was used both in civilian and military roles.
• The aircraft gained considerable worldwide notoriety when a highly modified version was flown by Amelia Earhart on her ill-fated around-the-world expedition in 1937.

Lockheed Martin model-10 Electra

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• McDonnell Douglas DC-10
• The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a three-engine widebody jet airliner, capable of carrying a maximum 380 passengers, and used for medium to long-haul flights. Its most distinguishing feature is the two turbofan engines mounted on underwing pylons and a third engine at the base of the vertical stabilizer. 
• The model was a successor to McDonnell Douglas’s DC-8 for long-range operations, and competed in the same markets as the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, which has a similar layout to the DC-10.
• The DC-10 has had an eventful existence, as of January 2012, it has been involved in 56 aviation occurrences, including 32 hull-loss accidents, with 1,262 occupant fatalities. It has been involved in nine hijackings and criminal events resulting in 171 occupant fatalities.
• But despite its troubled beginnings in the 1970s, which gave it an unfavorable reputation, the DC-10 has proved a reliable aircraft, it’s initially poor safety record continuously improved as design flaws were rectified and fleet hours increased. The DC-10’s lifetime safety record is comparable to similar second-generation passenger jets as of 2008.

McDonnell Douglas DC10

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• Douglas F-10 Skyknight
• The Douglas F-10 Skyknight was a United States twin-engine, mid-wing jet fighter aircraft manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company in El Segundo, California.
• It was designed as a carrier-based all-weather aircraft and saw service with the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps.
• While it never achieved the fame of the North American F-86 Sabre, it did down several Soviet-built MiG-15s as a night fighter over Korea with only one air-to-air loss of its own against a Chinese MiG-15.
• The Skyknight was the only Korean war fighter that also flew in Vietnam (as also did the Douglas A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft). EF-10Bs served in the electronic countermeasures role during the Vietnam War until 1969. The U.S. Marine Corps retired its last EF-10Bs in 1970. Some aircraft continued flying as testbeds for Raytheon until the 1980s.

F-10B Skyknight (F3D-2)

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• Jianjiji-10 Fighter Aircraft
• The Jianjiji-10 Fighter Aircraft 10 (J-10) “Vigorous Dragon” was part of the development of an indigenous Chinese multi-role fighter equivalent to the Mirage 2000 operated by Taiwan. It is a replacement for the obsolescent Q-5 and J-7 and armed with much improved weapons.
• The J-10 is reportedly similar to the American F-16 and a cancelled Israeli fighter based on the F-16 called the Lavi. Although Israel denies transferring any unauthorized technology, it is known Israeli companies supplied assistance in J-10 development.
• Pakistan also reportedly provided one of its F-16s to China for study, and several Russian engineers who worked on the J-10 indicated a Lavi prototype was located in Chengdu’s facilities.
• The resulting design, very similar to the Lavi externally, features a delta wing with canards mounted just aft of the cockpit.

Jianjiji-10 Fighter Aircraft

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• Smith & Wesson Model 10
• The Smith & Wesson Model 10, previously known as the Smith & Wesson .38 Hand Ejector Model of 1899, the Smith & Wesson Military & Police or the Smith & Wesson Victory Model, is a revolver of worldwide popularity. 
• It was the successor to the Smith & Wesson .32 Hand Ejector Model of 1896 and was the first Smith & Wesson revolver to feature a cylinder release latch on the left side of the frame like the Colt M1889. 
• In production since 1899, it is a six-shot double-action revolver with fixed sights. Over its long production run it has been available with barrel lengths of 2 in (51 mm), 3 in (76 mm), 4 in (100 mm), 5 in (130 mm), and 6 in (150 mm). Barrels of 2.5 inches (64 mm) are also known to have been made for special contracts.
• Some 6,000,000 of the type have been produced over the years, making it the most popular centerfire revolver of the 20th century.

Smith and Wesson model 10

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• Colt model 10 Double Eagle
• The Colt Double Eagle is a double-action / single action, semi-automatic pistol manufactured between 1989 and 1997. It was available in standard full-size, as well as in more compact versions, features a decocking lever, and was chambered for several calibers. The family of models was known as the Series 90.
• The design of the Double Eagle was based on the Colt M1911 pistol. Magazines are single stack and are identical to magazines shipped with the M1911. Most of the Double Eagle models were available in stainless steel only, however the “Lightweight” Officer’s had an alloy frame and blued slide.
• The Double Eagle was chambered for several calibers but the most common are 10mm Auto asn well as the standard .45 ACP and 10mm Auto.

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Other stuff

• Deca- means 10 (Latin, Greek: deka).
• Decade is a period of 10 years.
• U.S. currency: One dime = 10 cents.
• Tin wedding anniversary celebrates 10 years of marriage.
• X is the Roman numeral for 10.
• The Passion Flower (Passiflora) has 10 petals.

• Each of the thirty six parts of the astrological Zodiacs is divides into ten degrees.
• In a standard deck of playing cards there are 10, numbered 1 thru 10, of all four suits.
• Counting from one to ten before speaking is often done in order to cool one’s temper.
• There are ten official inkblots in the Rorschach inkblot test.
• The traditional Snellen chart uses 10 different letters.
• Number of dots in a tetractys.

tetractys

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Significant Number Factoid Friday – Today The Number Twenty-Three 23

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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They’ve been ‘beautiful’,  they’ve been ‘big’  and they’ve been ‘unusual’.  Today we have ‘significant’ number, twenty-three, 23, so-called because of its use and the beliefs surrounding it.

Enjoy.

 

Twenty-three

Until the recent Jim Carey movie that highlighted the Discordian fascination with the idea that everything that happens on earth and in all of existence is somehow related to the number 23, that number was really only of significance to a few conspiracy theorists.

Discordia is a rather rare belief that is based on the study of random events and numbers. The number 23 is sacred because it belongs to a Greek Goddess named Eris. She is the Goddess of Chaos and her followers practice a form of ritual worship called chaos magic.

 

In Religion

• Although the Old Testament is unspecific, it is widely held that Adam and Eve had 23 daughters;
• The 23rd verse of the first chapter of Genesis brings the act of creation to a close;
• the 23rd chapter of the book of Genesis deals entirely with death, namely that of Abraham’s wife, Sarah;
• The 23rd Psalm alao known as ‘the psalm of David’, and even better known to many by its first line ‘The Lord Is My Shepherd’ is the most famous and most quoted of the Psalms;
• The Ancient Egyptians hailed the New Year on July 23 – the day Sirius rises behind the sun;
• According to ancient Mayan prophesy on December 23, 2012 the world will end;
• In Islam, the Qur’an was revealed in a total of 23 years to Muhammad;
• Muslims believe the first verses of the Qur’an were revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, on the 23rd night of the 9th Islamic month.

 

 

In Maths

• 23 is the lowest prime that consists of consecutive digits that are also primes;
• Prime numbers have been described as being the building blocks of the world of numbers and therefore also the building blocks of the reality that we experience;
• The Birthday Paradox states that a group of 23 randomly-selected people is the smallest number where there will be a probability higher than 50 per cent that two people will share the same birthday.

 

Graphical representation of the Birthday Paradox

In Metaphysics

• The number 23 has also been studied by many great metaphysicists, including Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson who wrote three books about the number. The number is seen by these authors as being the key to illumination and they also claim that major shifts in collective consciousness and world events can be seen in each cycle of 23 years.

 

In Love

• Twenty three is also a significant number in love. This is because in ancient China, the number two was assigned a feminine role and the number three was given a masculine role. The number 23 then became to symbolize marriage, procreation, and progeny.

 

In Psychology

• The great psychologist and anthropologist Carl Jung also thought that the number 23 was special and defined it as a number of synchronicity.

 

In Politics

• The 23^rd President of the United States was Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901). Served as President from March 4, 1889 to March 4, 1893.   Party – Republican.  VP – Levi P. Morton;

Benjamin Harrison 23rd President of the United States of America

•  The Twenty-third Amendment (Amendment XXIII) to the United States Constitution permits citizens in the District of Columbia to vote for Electors for President and Vice President. The amendment was proposed by Congress on June 17, 1960, and ratified by the states on March 29, 1961. The first Presidential election in which it was in effect was the presidential election of 1964. Prior to the passage of the amendment, residents of Washington, D.C. were forbidden from voting for President or Vice President as the District is not a U.S. state. However, they are still unable to send voting Representatives or Senators to Congress.

 

In Space

• The tilt of Earth’s axis is roughly 23o accounting for the changing seasons and the procession of the Zodiac;
• The first Apollo landing on the moon was at 23.63 degrees east; the second was 23.42 degrees west;
• On July 23, 1996 the “Mysterious Eyes” of comet Hale-Bopp are first sighted.

 

In Militaria

• The most famous aircraft with the 23 designation is the Russian Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 also known by the NATO reporting name ‘Flogger’.
• It is a third generation variable-geometry fighter aircraft, and was the first attempt by the Soviet Union to design look-down/shoot-down radar and one of the first to be armed with beyond visual range missiles. It was also the first MiG production fighter aircraft to have intakes at the sides of the fuselage.
• Production started in 1970 and reached large numbers with over 5,000 aircraft built. Today the MiG-23 remains in limited service with various export customers.

Mig-23

• In America, the Northrop YF-23 or Northrop–McDonnell Douglas YF-23 was a less commercially successful single-seat, twin-engine fighter aircraft designed for the United States Air Force (USAF). The design was a finalist in the USAF’s Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) competition, battling the Lockheed YF-22 (developed by Lockheed, Boeing and General Dynamics) for a production contract. Two YF-23 prototypes were built with the nicknames “Black Widow II” and “Gray Ghost”.
• Although the YF-23 was stealthier and faster, but less agile than its competition. After a four-year development and evaluation process, the YF-22 was announced the winner in 1991 and entered production as the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor.
• The U.S. Navy considered using the production version of the ATF as the basis for a replacement to the F-14, but these plans were later canceled. As of 2009, the two YF-23 prototypes were museum exhibits.

Northrop–McDonnell Douglas YF-23,  nicknamed Gray Ghost (foreground), with YF-23 Black Widow II

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• On the ground the Soviet ZU-23-2 anti-craft gun was developed in the late 1950s. It was designed to engage low-flying targets at a range of 2.5 km as well as armoured vehicles at a range of 2 km and for direct defense of troops and strategic locations against air assault usually conducted by helicopters and low-flying airplanes.
• In the Soviet Union, some 140,000 units were produced. The ZU-23 has also been produced under licence by Bulgaria, Poland, Egypt and the People’s Republic of China.
• Development of this weapon into a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) led to the ZSU-23-4 Shilka. (see below)

The ZU-23-2 in Saint Petersburg

• However, the best known piece of ground militaria is probably the  ZSU-23-4 “Shilka” is a lightly armored, self-propelled, radar guided anti-aircraft weapon system. The acronym “ZSU” stands for Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka, meaning “anti-aircraft self-propelled mount”. The “23” signifies the bore diameter in millimeters; the “4” signifies the number of gun barrels.
• It is named after the Russian Shilka River. Afghan soldiers nicknamed it maszyna do szycia (sewing machine) due to the sound of firing guns and because of the similarity of the name “Shilka” to the Russian word meaning “to sew”). It is also referred to by its nickname of “Zeus”.

The ZSU 23-4 Shilka

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In Sport

• The New York Yankees won the World Series 23 times;
• Devin Hester, whose jersey number is 23, becomes the first person to return the opening kickoff for a touchdown in a Super Bowl ( XLI );
• Basketball legend Michael Jordan wore 23 for the Chicago Bulls; his dad was also murdered on July 23, 1993, during a botched robbery;
• World record-breaking basketball boy wonder LeBron James also wears the number 23 shirt;
• English soccer star David Beckham took the number 23 when he joined Real Madrid; he said it was in deference to Jordan;
• 23 was the shirt number worn by tragic soccer player Marc-Vivien Foe when he was at Manchester City; the Cameroon international died after collapsing on the pitch during a Confederations Cup semi-final;
• In darts, 23 is the lowest score that cannot be gained with the throw of a single dart.

 

Michael Jordan action shot in the famous # 23 shirt

 

In Movies and TV

• In the film Airport, the mad bomber has seat 23;
• In the film Airplane II, the name of the spaceship is XR-2300;
• The original Star Trek, as well as Babylon Five are set in the 23rd century;
• In Star Wars Princess Lea was held in cell AA-23;
• The German movie 23 explored an obsession with the number, based on a real-life story;
• In the Beatles film Yellow Submarine, The Butterfly Stomper, who destroys all things of beauty, wears a shirt with the number 23;
• In Die Hard III the train derails in subway station 23.

 

 

The Darker Side

• In the Kaballah, the Hebrew studies of gematria, the number means severity or judgment. It is associated with apocalypse. In fact, the date to beware of in the future would be the year 2023, according to that system of predictive numerology;
• Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times when he was assassinated;
• 230 people died in the conspiracy plagued TWA flight 800 disaster;
• There are 23 chapters of the Cult Awareness Network;
• THE average smoker gets through 23 cigarettes a day;
• The Hiroshima bomb was dropped at 8.15am (8+15= 23);
• The United States set off 23 atomic bombs at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific;
• The Unibomber killed or wounded 23 people;
• Rock star Kurt Cobain was born in 1967 and died in 1994. Both years bizarrely add up to 23 if counted as individual digits: 1+9+6+7=23. 1+9+9+4=23;
• The date of the terrorist attacks on America on 11 September 2001 (9+11+2+0+0+1) add up to 23.

 

9/11 Memorial (AP photo by Mark Lennihan)

 

Other things about 23

• Homo sapiens are given 46 chromosomes from their parents, 23 male and 23 female;
• The human Biorhythm cycle is 23 days;
• It takes 23 seconds for blood to circulate through the human body;
• There are 23 joints in the human arm, and 23 vertebrae in the human body;
• A full turn of the DNA helix occurs every 23 angstroms;
• The first Morse code transmission is reported to have been “What hath god wrought?”, a Biblical quote from Numbers 23:23;
• In telegraphers code 23 means “break the line”;
• There are exactly 23 characters, numbers and letters, on the face of all U.S. coins;
• Every 23rd wave crashing on a beach averages twice the size as normal;
• The Latin alphabet has 23 letters;
• Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species was published in 1859 – 1+8+5+9 = 23;
• AOL chat rooms only allow 23 people at a time;
• The address of the Freemasons lodge in Stafford, England, is 23 Jaol Road. In New York City it’s on 23rd street;
• The letter ‘W‘ is the 23rd in the alphabet and has 2 points down and 3 points up;
• US Cavalry legend General Custer was promoted to the senior military rank at the age of 23;
• William Shakespeare was born on April 23,1556 and died on April 23, 1616; the two 23’s obviously equals 46 which was Shakespeare’s age when the KJV was published; in Psalm 46 in the KJV Bible count 46 words and you arrive at the word ‘shake’; count 46 words backwards from the end of the chapter and you end on is ‘spear’;
• The author William Burroughs was obsessed with 23. While living in Tangiers, he met a Captain Clark who ran a ferry between Spain and Morocco. One day, Clark told Burroughs that he had been doing the route for 23 years without incident. Later that day, the ferry sank, killing the captain. While Burroughs was thinking about the incident, a radio bulletin announced the crash of a Flight 23 on the New York-Miami route. The pilot was another Captain Clark. The events prompted an obsession which saw Burroughs record every occurrence of the number 23 for the rest of his life.

 

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