The "23 Enigma" refers to the belief that all incidents and events are directly connected to the number 23, some permutation of the number 23, or a number related to the number 23, given enough ingenuity on the part of the interpreter.
Unusual circumstances being linked to 23 are mentioned by William S. Burroughs. He tells the story of meeting a ferry captain named Clark who claimed to have sailed the same route without an accident for 23 years. That very day, however, the ferry sank, killing all aboard. Later that day, Burroughs writes, he was thinking about Clark's ferry accident when he heard that a Flight 23 on a New York-Miami route had crashed. According to Burroughs, the pilot's name for the flight had also been Clark. Burroughs began collecting incidences of the number 23 in a scrapbook and referred to them in his writings.
The 23 Enigma can also be seen in Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea's Illuminatus! trilogy (there called the "23/17 phenomenon"), Wilson's Cosmic Trigger I: Final Secret of the Illuminati (there called "The Law of 23s" and "The 23 Enigma"), Arthur Koestler's Challenge of Chance, as well as the notorious Principia Discordia. In these works, 23 is considered to be alternately lucky, unlucky, sacred to the goddess Eris, sinister, sacred to the unholy gods of the Cthulhu Mythos, or just plain weird. Discordians regard this as a corollary of the Law of Fives.
Like other numbers that have long been linked to unusual coincidences, 13 and 17 also being favorites, the 23 Enigma can be seen as no more than an example of apophenia. Skeptics point out the fact that 23, being a fairly low number, occurs often in the media, current events, and daily life, concluding that it appears probably no more often in conjunction with catastrophe or coincidence than 22 or 24. In interviews, Wilson has acknowledged the possibly self-fulfilling nature of the 23 enigma, implying that the real value of the Laws of Fives and Twenty-threes lies in their demonstration of the mind's power to perceive "truth" in nearly anything.
A 23 enigma list:
The first Morse Code transmission - "What hath God wrought?" - was from the Bible passage Numbers 23:23.
Alexander the Great was aged 23 when he cut the Gordian Knot.
Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times when he was assassinated.
The human genome contains 23 pairs of chromosomes.
The human biorhythm is 23 days long. Though Hermann Swoboda and Wilhelm Fliess, the two doctors who first posited biorhythm, did determine that a human's 'physical cycle' was 23 days long, biorhythmics is at best a highly speculative and subjective area of study.
It is believed that Adam and Eve had 23 daughters.
It is believed that the verses of the Qur'an were revealed over a period of 23 years. There exist hadith that support this figure, but many more that give other lengths of time.
Psalms, the longest book of the Bible, is the 23rd book of the Old Testament, and the famous "Divine Shepherd" psalm is Psalm 23.
December 23, 2012 is the date on which the Mayan calendar ends, predicting an apocalyptic event.
Both the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian calendars begin on 23 July. Both calendars were apparently calculated from the date of the heliacal rising of Sirius, which occurs at that latitude around that time of year.
Twenty-two organizations merged to create the "Department of Homeland Security". This makes the DHS the twenty-third.
William Shakespeare's date of birth is unknown, but he was christened on 23 April, died on 23 April and had his first portfolio published in 1623. His first play Titus Andronicus was performed January 23, 1594. Shakespeare's date of birth remains unconfirmed, and the chronology of his plays is uncertain
The "23 Enigma" refers to the belief that all incidents and events are directly connected to the number 23, some permutation of the number 23, or a number related to the number 23, given enough ingenuity on the part of the interpreter.
Unusual circumstances being linked to 23 are mentioned by William S. Burroughs. He tells the story of meeting a ferry captain named Clark who claimed to have sailed the same route without an accident for 23 years. That very day, however, the ferry sank, killing all aboard. Later that day, Burroughs writes, he was thinking about Clark's ferry accident when he heard that a Flight 23 on a New York-Miami route had crashed. According to Burroughs, the pilot's name for the flight had also been Clark. Burroughs began collecting incidences of the number 23 in a scrapbook and referred to them in his writings.
The 23 Enigma can also be seen in Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea's Illuminatus! trilogy (there called the "23/17 phenomenon"), Wilson's Cosmic Trigger I: Final Secret of the Illuminati (there called "The Law of 23s" and "The 23 Enigma"), Arthur Koestler's Challenge of Chance, as well as the notorious Principia Discordia. In these works, 23 is considered to be alternately lucky, unlucky, sacred to the goddess Eris, sinister, sacred to the unholy gods of the Cthulhu Mythos, or just plain weird. Discordians regard this as a corollary of the Law of Fives.
Like other numbers that have long been linked to unusual coincidences, 13 and 17 also being favorites, the 23 Enigma can be seen as no more than an example of apophenia. Skeptics point out the fact that 23, being a fairly low number, occurs often in the media, current events, and daily life, concluding that it appears probably no more often in conjunction with catastrophe or coincidence than 22 or 24. In interviews, Wilson has acknowledged the possibly self-fulfilling nature of the 23 enigma, implying that the real value of the Laws of Fives and Twenty-threes lies in their demonstration of the mind's power to perceive "truth" in nearly anything.
A 23 enigma list:
The first Morse Code transmission - "What hath God wrought?" - was from the Bible passage Numbers 23:23.
Alexander the Great was aged 23 when he cut the Gordian Knot.
Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times when he was assassinated.
The human genome contains 23 pairs of chromosomes.
The human biorhythm is 23 days long. Though Hermann Swoboda and Wilhelm Fliess, the two doctors who first posited biorhythm, did determine that a human's 'physical cycle' was 23 days long, biorhythmics is at best a highly speculative and subjective area of study.
It is believed that Adam and Eve had 23 daughters.
It is believed that the verses of the Qur'an were revealed over a period of 23 years. There exist hadith that support this figure, but many more that give other lengths of time.
Psalms, the longest book of the Bible, is the 23rd book of the Old Testament, and the famous "Divine Shepherd" psalm is Psalm 23.
December 23, 2012 is the date on which the Mayan calendar ends, predicting an apocalyptic event.
Both the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian calendars begin on 23 July. Both calendars were apparently calculated from the date of the heliacal rising of Sirius, which occurs at that latitude around that time of year.
Twenty-two organizations merged to create the "Department of Homeland Security". This makes the DHS the twenty-third.
William Shakespeare's date of birth is unknown, but he was christened on 23 April, died on 23 April and had his first portfolio published in 1623. His first play Titus Andronicus was performed January 23, 1594. Shakespeare's date of birth remains unconfirmed, and the chronology of his plays is uncertain
Terry_Clubbup
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Unusual circumstances being linked to 23 are mentioned by William S. Burroughs. He tells the story of meeting a ferry captain named Clark who claimed to have sailed the same route without an accident for 23 years. That very day, however, the ferry sank, killing all aboard. Later that day, Burroughs writes, he was thinking about Clark's ferry accident when he heard that a Flight 23 on a New York-Miami route had crashed. According to Burroughs, the pilot's name for the flight had also been Clark. Burroughs began collecting incidences of the number 23 in a scrapbook and referred to them in his writings.
The 23 Enigma can also be seen in Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea's Illuminatus! trilogy (there called the "23/17 phenomenon"), Wilson's Cosmic Trigger I: Final Secret of the Illuminati (there called "The Law of 23s" and "The 23 Enigma"), Arthur Koestler's Challenge of Chance, as well as the notorious Principia Discordia. In these works, 23 is considered to be alternately lucky, unlucky, sacred to the goddess Eris, sinister, sacred to the unholy gods of the Cthulhu Mythos, or just plain weird. Discordians regard this as a corollary of the Law of Fives.
Like other numbers that have long been linked to unusual coincidences, 13 and 17 also being favorites, the 23 Enigma can be seen as no more than an example of apophenia. Skeptics point out the fact that 23, being a fairly low number, occurs often in the media, current events, and daily life, concluding that it appears probably no more often in conjunction with catastrophe or coincidence than 22 or 24. In interviews, Wilson has acknowledged the possibly self-fulfilling nature of the 23 enigma, implying that the real value of the Laws of Fives and Twenty-threes lies in their demonstration of the mind's power to perceive "truth" in nearly anything.
A 23 enigma list:
The first Morse Code transmission - "What hath God wrought?" - was from the Bible passage Numbers 23:23.
Alexander the Great was aged 23 when he cut the Gordian Knot.
Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times when he was assassinated.
The human genome contains 23 pairs of chromosomes.
The human biorhythm is 23 days long. Though Hermann Swoboda and Wilhelm Fliess, the two doctors who first posited biorhythm, did determine that a human's 'physical cycle' was 23 days long, biorhythmics is at best a highly speculative and subjective area of study.
It is believed that Adam and Eve had 23 daughters.
It is believed that the verses of the Qur'an were revealed over a period of 23 years. There exist hadith that support this figure, but many more that give other lengths of time.
Psalms, the longest book of the Bible, is the 23rd book of the Old Testament, and the famous "Divine Shepherd" psalm is Psalm 23.
December 23, 2012 is the date on which the Mayan calendar ends, predicting an apocalyptic event.
Both the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian calendars begin on 23 July. Both calendars were apparently calculated from the date of the heliacal rising of Sirius, which occurs at that latitude around that time of year.
Twenty-two organizations merged to create the "Department of Homeland Security". This makes the DHS the twenty-third.
William Shakespeare's date of birth is unknown, but he was christened on 23 April, died on 23 April and had his first portfolio published in 1623. His first play Titus Andronicus was performed January 23, 1594. Shakespeare's date of birth remains unconfirmed, and the chronology of his plays is uncertain
Pretty interesting, huh?
fuckin' heartbreaker... oh well leinert, maybe next time. i really thought they had it.
"Devin Hester, you are RIDICULOUS! TOUCHDOWN BEARS."
---WBBM 780 AM Chicago
thank god rex came through
how cute!
OK, Robert Anton Wilson.