I get to do the last in a year of Number posts today, for my dear husband. From Wikipedia



In mathematics
It is a prime number, the fifth lucky prime, the first irregular prime, the third unique prime and the third cuban prime of the form


It is a factor of all 3-digit base 10 repdigits, such as 111. 37 is the smallest prime that is not also a supersingular prime. It is a centered hexagonal number and a star number.

37 and 38 are the first pair of consecutive positive integers not divisible by any of their digits.

Every positive integer is the sum of at most 37 fifth powers (see Waring's problem).

37 appears in the Padovan sequence, preceded by the terms 16, 21, and 28 (it is the sum of the first two of these).

Since the greatest prime factor of 372 + 1 = 1370 is 137, which is obviously more than 37 twice, 37 is a Størmer number.

37 is the only two digit number whose product, when multiplied twice, subtracted by one, and then read backwards, equals the original two digit number: 37x2=74-1=73, 73 backwards is 37


[edit] In science
The atomic number of rubidium.
The normal human body temperature in degrees Celsius.

[edit] Astronomy
Messier object M37, a magnitude 6.0 open cluster in the constellation Auriga
The New General Catalogue object NGC 37, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Phoenix
The Saros number of the solar eclipse series which began on -1794 June 25 and ended on -496 August 12. The duration of Saros series 37 was 1298.1 years, and it contained 73 solar eclipses.
The Saros number of the lunar eclipse series which began on -1492 April 3 and ended on -194 May 22. The duration of Saros series 37 was 1298.1 years, and it contained 73 lunar eclipses.
The number of as-of-yet unidentified radio signals that have been received from outer space

[edit] In other fields

House number in Baarle (Belgian part)Thirty-seven is:

The number of plays William Shakespeare is thought to have written (counting Henry IV as three parts).[1]
The number of the French department Indre-et-Loire
The number of slots in European Roulette (numbered 0 through 36, the 00 is not used in European roulette as it is in American roulette)
I-37 is the designation for a US interstate highway in Texas, running from San Antonio to Corpus Christi
Municipal Okrug 37, a municipal okrug of Krasnoselsky District of Saint Petersburg, Russia
+37 was the international dialing code of the German Democratic Republic (aka East Germany). Today the +37 prefix is shared by Lithuania (+370), Latvia (+371), Estonia (+372), Moldavia (+373), Armenia (+374), Belarus (+375), Andorra (+376), Monaco (+377), San Marino (+378) and Vatican City (+379).
The number of men Veronica had been revealed to have performed fellatio on in the film Clerks, and a number which has turned up in Kevin Smith's other films as a result of this fact
The number 37 has largely been made famous by James Jordan in the movie, Cada La Cuente
The number that Martin Škrtel (born December 15, 1984 in Handlová, Slovakia), Slovak international football defender who plays for English Premier League club Liverpool FC wears on his shirt
A television channel reserved for radioastronomy in the United States
The 37th president of the United States was Richard Nixon
The protagonist in the book This Number Speaks (Publish America 2008) by Jason Patrick Doherty, is named Thirty-Seven
In the mock rock biopic, This is Spinal Tap, the band has had 37 drummers
The counting in the song "Aquarius" by Boards Of Canada, in all it's different versions, always ends on 37
Paul Newman's inmate number in the egg eating scene of Cool Hand Luke

_______________________

Happy, Happy Birthday, my love! Many Years!

And, heh heh - 37 drummers for Spinal Tap. Perfect.

The other day while driving with Dh, I was complaining about the grammar in The Killers' new song, Human as I am wont to do. The line is “Are we human, or are we dancer”* and while I love the Killers, and love the song, it still grates. I finished my rant with, “not that it will stop me from going to see them on Tuesday, I’m really excited about that...”

Dh’s reply? “What is that line, 'I smell like I sound**’” Oh touché. Good point. Grin.

So, Tuesday has come and gone, and Dh and I went to Seattle to see a local radio station’s “Deck the Hall Ball” with The Killers as headliners, and Death Cab for Cutie (they also had Cold War Kids and Shiny Toy Guns, which made explaining to my boss where I was going sound like I was a homicidal maniac).

Dh and I were discussing that there needs to be height segregation at concerts – this area for people under 5’, this for people under 5’6”, etc as especially during the Killers, we spent a ridiculous amount of time behind really tall people.

Anyway, I really like Death Cab, and in fact contemplated going to see them this summer, but they were opening for Neil Young, who I don’t particularly like (sorry Mom). They are relatively local, so that adds a nice level, and also affords a lot of opportunity to see them, but this was the first time I did. Their set opened with about five slower songs, which was an odd way to open, but enjoyable all the same. The lead singer kept having problems with his guitar, and swapping them out trying to get one that worked well for him, which totally botched the beginning of “Crooked Teeth” (botched so badly that, if I were them, I would have restarted the song). They finished up their fairly short set with Dh’s favorite song “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” and then mine “I Will Possess Your Heart” - because we all know that a good bass line will counterbalance stalker lyrics.

The Killers’ set was very good, I really enjoy their style, and even though there's that grammar thing, the opening song of “Human” did set the stage nicely for their set. One thing that I noticed, and I don’t know if it was the concert set up, or their normal stage presence, is that I like to have that banter between songs and none of the groups really did that. But, Brandon Flowers did wear feathers on his jacket, which I guess counts for something, and really, their drummer stole the show. I also have to give a good shout out for their playing of, perhaps, but there are a lot of competing songs for this title, my favorite Killers song, “All These Things I’ve Done” - in the car afterwards, Dh mentioned that he actually doesn’t like that song, and then admitted that he was actually much more into Death Cab than The Killers. Apparently our Venn Diagram is out of whack again.

Anyway, the radio station streamed it, so hopefully this link works. It was a lovely time out for Dh and I, and I really love listening to live music and dancing. Even if that makes me not human.




*I realize it is a Hunter S. Thompson reference . It is still bad grammar.
**The Xman, who was in the backseat piped up with, “that totally makes sense. You want to smell good and you want to sound good”. It warmed the cockles of my heart, my work as a mom is done, my son “gets” Simon LeBon. Sigh.

I have the pleasure of being blog* friends with a lot of lovely Roman Catholic ladies, and yesterday was able to wish them a lovely Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

The Orthodox feast of the Conception of the Theotokos is today, and this morning during my prayers, I really was contemplating how I think that in many ways the differences between our Feast and the Roman Catholic feast speaks to the crux of the difference between our two faiths, as externally similar as they are.

From Father Thomas Hopko’s The Winter Pascha:

On the ninth of December the Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of the conception of the Virgin Mary by her parents Joachim and Anna. On this major festival which finds its place in the Church's preparation for Christmas, the faithful rejoice in the event by which Mary is conceived in fulfillment of her parents' prayers in order to be formed in the womb, born on the earth, dedicated to the Lord, and nurtured in holiness to become by God's grace the mother of His Son the Messiah.
...
The Orthodox Church, particularly in the present time, does not call the feast of Mary's beginning the "immaculate conception," although perhaps in ancient times this title would have been fully acceptable. This is not because the Orthodox consider Mary's conception to have been somehow "maculate" or "stained" (macula means "stain" in Latin). It simply means that the Orthodox do not want to support the conviction that God had somehow to intervene at the moment of Mary's conception with a special action to remove the "stain" of the original sin transmitted by the act of human reproduction because, simply put, the Orthodox do not hold that such a "stain" exists.
The Orthodox Church affirms original sin. Orthodox theology teaches that all human beings, including the Virgin Mary who is a "mere human" like the rest of us-- unlike her Son Jesus who is a "real human" but not a "mere human" because He is the incarnate Son and Word of God-- are born into a fallen, death-bound, demon-riddled world whose "form is passing away" (1 Cor 7:31). We are all born mortal and tending toward sin. But we are not born guilty of any personal sin, certainly not one allegedly committed "in Adam." Nor are we born stained because of the manner in which we are conceived by the sexual union of our parents. If sexual union in marriage is in any sense sinful, or the cause in itself of any sinfulness or stain, even in the conditions of the "fallen world," then, as even the rigorous Saint John Chrysostom has taught, God is the sinner because He made us this way, male and female, from the very beginning.
...
Mary is conceived by her parents as we are all conceived. But in her case it is a pure act of faith and love, in obedience to God's will, as an answer to prayer. In this sense her conception is truly "immaculate." And its fruit is woman who remains forever the most pure Virgin and Mother of God.
Come, let us dance in the spirit!
Let us sing worthy praises to Christ!
Let us celebrate the joy of Joachim and Anna,
The conception of the Mother of our God,
For she is the fruit of the grace of God.
________________________________________
[1] The feast is officially called The Conception of the Theotokos. Mary's nativity is celebrated on September 8. A popular tradition among the Orthodox says that the nine-month period is purposely off by one day to illustrate the "mere humanity" of Mary, unlike the "divine humanity" of her Son, whose conception on the feast of the Annunciation is celebrated on March 25, exactly nine months before His Nativity.
[2] See John Chrysostom, On Titus, homily 2.

I’d like to commend two points that Father Thomas made to you. One is how the icon portrays the conception – just like every other conception. And the second is that because neither The Theotokos or the Forerunner are perfect, their conception dates are commemorated just a day off, but that the Annunciation is perfectly exact.

Another thing that I noted this morning was today is also the commemoration of another long awaited and prayed for conception, that of Samuel by Hannah.. Hannah’s prayer certainly prefigures the beautiful Magnificat.

Happy Feast Day! And, a Happy Afterfeast to my Catholic (and Anglican/Episcopalian) friends

(quote from Father Thomas’ book and icon from the Antiochian Orthodox Website)

*This is not an exhaustive list, please know!