1.11.11

Having done interesting numbers to death this year, I have nothing new to say on the subject of one.  That must be why it’s the loneliest number. 

I will, instead, lift this paragraph from my third post of 2011 (I blogged three times on January 1st, while everyone else was nursing hangovers; if you didn’t know then what you were letting yourself in for, you can’t blame me):

1.1.11 [for 1.1.11 read 1.11.11]: Isn’t that a great date? It’s like 2011 is saying, Yes, you had some interesting numbers in 2010; but let me show you what I’ve got…

2010 had the consecutive (8/9/10, 11:12:13), the repetitive (10/10/10) and the palindrome (01/11/10). Of course, it all depends on your perspective: my American friends won’t have had the same first one because they put the month before the day; here in the UK 8/9/10 happened in September but in the States it was in August. Then there’s the manipulation: if I had added or subtracted zeros then 8/9/10 would have been 08/09/10 and rather dull; 01/11/10 would not have been a palindrome at all as 1/11/10.

I then went off at a tangent, so I had to do some research on the number 1.

There is some useful info on Wikipedia:

• it is an integer
• it comes after zero and before two (seriously?)
• one is the identity for multiplication, so if you multiply any number by one, it remains that number

I needed Wikipedia for that?

What else can one share about one? 

• it is the atomic number of hydrogen

And that’s all I got.  That’s just ace, isn’t it?

Turns out I did have a little something new to say on the subject of one after all; but I never said it would be interesting.  One forgets, sometimes, just how dull one can be.

CoWAbunger Corn

This week’s winner might surprise you if you’re new here; but regular readers know I can’t resist a corny joke.  Throw in a fun number and she was bound to be a shoo-in: skipping politely over the double ‘the’, well done, Janie Jones of Janie’s Place for this comment on 9.10.11:

Since we are talking numbers here, I will word my comment in the the form of a joke:

Why was the number 9 afraid?

Because seven “ate” nine.

I confess I did hesitate to give you the award because your blog is providing half my jokes for next year; but corn will out.

Here’s your award:

By the way, is your avatar a Gilmore Girl?  I didn’t notice until I blew it up.  If I’d known you’d have won a lot sooner, just for having great taste in tv.

Poll Asked

Image via Wikipedia

The result of the number poll is sort of in.  It’s a case of, whatever [strike hand attitude].

• 30% Stop writing them now; they suck.
• 24% I’m wonderful and they’re crazy.
• 6%   Should get out now, while they still can.
• 9%   Don’t do maths in America.
• 18% Are addicted to this blog.
• 12% Couldn’t say.

I hope that’s as clear to everyone as it is to me.  Now, could somebody please explain it?

11.6.11 – For The Last And Final Time? *

*Of course it would be the final time if it was the last time, but since when did I let tautology get in the way of a dramatic title?  We haven’t all been Freshly Pressed yet, you know.

Today’s topic is brought to you courtesy of Six Word Saturday:

I’m bored with the number posts.

Regular readers know that since 1.1.11 I have been blogging on the year’s fun numbers.  At first, on the first day and it being the first time of the year, it was amusing.  But we are half way through the year and it’s become repetitive.  Look, I’ll show you:

• 1.1.11
• 11.1.11
• 11.2.11
• 3.3.11
• 11.3.11
• 4.4.11
• 11.4.11
• 5.5.11
• 11.5.11

I bet you dozed off before you reached the end of that list, didn’t you?  I know I did.  It’s natural; real, even.  It would be odd if you didn’t.

I didn’t bother writing a 6.6.11 post and no one noticed.  That left me positive that the number posts are past their prime.  I don’t mean to be negative, but I think these posts are beginning to sound as if they’re written by the numbers – when was the last time I  showed you a funny You Tube clip or sunny photo of the Queen to illustrate them? 

I figure the best solution is to ask you, my faithful and beloved readers, to work once again; it’s the rational thing to do. 

Here’s a poll:

3.3.11

Image by renoir_girl via Flickr

Did you think I hadn’t noticed the date?  Don’t worry: I saved this third post of the third day of the third month for the eleventh hour (UK time).

3.3.11  Isn’t it pretty?  I love symmetry in numbers. 

Which eleven-letter word has three back-to-back double letters?  Clue: a person who minds all the tomes.  The answer is below.

I wanted to share some jokes about the number three but I couldn’t find any.  There are lots of rules of three, but none that interest me.   The best I could do for you was three interesting facts and three number eleven pyramids:

• 11:11 x 11:11 = 1234321 
  111 x 111 = 12321
  11 x 11 = 121*

*I knew that one!

• Camels have three eyelids.  Not sure if that’s on each eye or altogether; no one can tell me.
• The three best known Western names in China are Jesus Christ, Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon.
• Three facts about a three-initial president:  JFK was the first Roman Catholic to be president, the first Boy Scout to become president, and the first president to be born in the Twentieth Century.

And here’s one I thunk up all by myself: there are eleven letters in the numbers eleven & three.

I have way too much time on my hands.

Answer: Bookkeeper

 

10.10.10

Today is the Hub’s birthday.  What a shame he isn’t ten, thirty or a hundred; I like number neatness. 

 

Spud and I woke him with presents.  He always manages to guess what we’ve bought but we fooled him this year by not getting him anything.

When we were very young

 

Just kidding; I’ve been saving for months and I had £3.71 to splurge with (remember my Christmas savings jar from last year?).  Apart from a box set of Goodnight Sweetheart, I got him packets and packets of Buttons and Haribo; some Christmas card tags; and a magazine.  This is where the fooling came in: he loves Airliner World and can’t afford it so he had asked for a copy.  I bought Airways and gave him that instead.  He smiled resignedly, knowing that I never get these things right – if he says ‘no’ to coffee, he gets one anyway; if he asks for Galaxy, he gets Buttons; if he gets a dvd box set of Goodnight Sweetheart, he already has four of the six dvds in the set sitting on his shelf.   

He said it was okay, he was quite happy to read that one.  He is a geek, after all; it’s what they do.  Spud then gave him a large flat packet that confounded all the Hub’s present guessing instincts – don’t worry; don’t lose the faith; it was just a blip: how many people, no matter how irritatingly excellent to the point of spoiling everyone else’s fun at guessing they are, given pound shop sky lanterns on their birthday, would instantly guess what it was they’d just been given?  Especially if it was a decoy gift: inside was the latest copy of Airliner Nerds of the World Unite magazine, just as he’d requested, plus a war movie to get him in the party mood.

We got him gooooood.  Of such small triumphs is happiness made.

The Birthday Boy gets to choose dinner on his birthday – sort of a last meal in reverse, though sticking to the spirit of the-condemned-man-celebrates-with-food-that-turns-into-ashes-in-his-mouth, given who’s doing the cooking.  The Hub always chooses sandwiches, falling as they do into ‘least likely to be burned’ category. 

That was today’s plan until Tory Boy phoned to say he wasn’t coming home Friday and going back today but just coming for the afternoon because he had been offered extra working hours.  Any activity that doesn’t require me to fund it is to be encouraged, so I asked him what meal he would like for his too-short visit: Lost Child trumps Old Man every time, I’m afraid.  He chose a roast and, to add insult to injury, the Hub was going to have to get up from his birthday couch to go buy all the ingredients for his usurped meal as my fridge is still by the front door due to the ongoing kitchen refurb.  However, Tory Boy saved the birthday because he phoned this morning to say he was free on Wednesday so he would come through on Tuesday night instead of today: he gets his roast; we get to see more of him; and the Hub gets his birthday sandwiches.  Once he’s been to the shop and bought the ingredients, that is.