thirty-seven

I'm there.



Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga, by Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino

Raphael died on his 37th birthday.


Mine (my birthday) was much less dramatic and deadly (AKA: better), although I'm pretty sure I looked about as excited as Ms. Gonzaga for most of the day.


Thirty-seven.

The number [link] is far more interesting than the year [link] (AD), yet (if you follow the links to see it yourself) check out those URLs. What is UP with THAT? You just give the "37" entry to the year, and force the number to be designated parenthetically as a number?

DUH!?
I mean, we KNOW it is a number. You don't have to say "37" is a number. It just IS a number. THAT is the default brain setting. Not the year. Aside from years 1066-2100, most of us will think of numbers just as numbers. Won't we? I mean, sure there are always the tangents and associations racing in and out of any mind that isn't defunct, but first and foremost, 37 is a quantity. Whole numbers just do that to us.

Wikipedia has many mysteries- add another. The YEAR gets the default link. No parenthetical description in its URL designating it as a year. Which, if you ask me, is really missing the boat. When I think, "thirty-seven," I think, firstly, of a quantity less than 40, greater than 30, and prime. Sorta like 31, only better. Maybe.

THEN I think of dozens. It is 3 dozen eggs, plus an extra that was still in the fridge. Of course.

Maybe cookies (common yield on recipes: "about 3 dozen" even when it's never really near 3 dozen).


Next, there are the images of a quarter, a dime, and two pennies. Perhaps 7 nickels and 2 pennies. Always two pennies. Apropos.


THEN I think of something entirely different. Not related to the number 37 at all, because 37 is OUT of obvious. We've moved on. The year 37 AD? Not even a tiny blip at the edge of my radar.

Until today, I suppose. Now I know that this is when Caligula's grandmother died.


"Meemamah? Is that you?"


It kind of sneaks up on you, information like that.



Thirty-seven.


So the coolest thing today (aside from reading about the number) I read about (the NUMBER) 37 was related to UHF broadcasting. Rather, UHF antibroadcasting. Nonbroadcasting? No-dirty-up-the-airwaves-casting? Hmmmm.

Channel 37 [link] = UHF silence.

In favor of radioastronomy [link] .


Yes, please.



Anyway... Raphael?




I win.