MetaFilter posts tagged with numerology

ChronograMs: CLeVer Letter-seqVenCes enCoDIng Integers

misteraitch — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 07:11:53 -0800

A chrono gram is a text (often an inscription), in which certain letters, construed as Roman numerals, express a date via the sum of their numerical values. For example, the sentence ‘LorD haVe MerCIe Vpon Vs,’ printed on a pamphlet might indicate its year of publication as (L + D + V + M + C + I + V + V =) 1666. Chronograms could be found on, for example, buildings & gravestones, medals & coins, and maps. The mother-lode for all things chronogrammatical must surely be James Hilton's volume Chronograms—5000 and more in number excerpted out of various authors and collected at many places (1882) and its two sequels issued in 1885 and 1895 respectively. Harry Mathews wrote a number of Oulipian chronograms: ‘An Ex-voto to include excursive excavators: a Chronogram for 1997’; ‘An exclusive evolutionary vortex of world excursions: the Chronogram for 1998’ and ’Clocking the World on Cue: The Chronogram for 2001.’ Outside of the Western languages (and the Latin alphabet), chronograms have been devised in Arabic, Persian and Urdu [PDF] using Abjad Numerals; and there is a ‘Javanese tradition [PDF] of expressing dates in candrasengkalas: i.e. by representing the numbers in dates by words having a fixed numerical value.’ Note also the related numerological techniques of gematria and isopsephy / isopsephia. When writing your own chronograms, use this handy calculator to determine the year corresponding to your text!

Counting Rhos

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 17:34:41 -0800

Do you like biology? Do you like numbers? Like, actual numbers and not the television show? Take a look at BioNumbers. Feel overwhelmed? Don't know what to look for? Start with Amazing BioNumbers and work your way up to the BioNumber of the month, which goes into a bit more depth about the science behind the counting.

Black Nationalism, Masonic Imagery, and Hip Hop

billyfleetwood — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 10:23:31 -0800

In 1913, a man named Noble Drew Ali, (born Timothy Drew) Formed a religious organization called The Moorish Science Temple, based on a supposed lost section of the Koran. Drew's teachings were heavily influenced by Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, and The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, which was written by Levi Dowling in 1908, and flourished again in the late 60's and was an influential precursor to the New Age Movement. Although presented as a sect of Islam, the Moorish Science Temple also drew inspiration from Buddhism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Taoism. It's goal was to present a message of self-determination, personal transformation, indigenous identity in the Western Hemisphere, pride, uplift, civic involvement, and self-sufficiency. Although much smaller in size than at it's heyday, the organization still exists today. Converts, often added the suffix "Bey" to their surnames. After the death of Ali, one of his ministers Wallace Dodd Ford (fictionalized as the character Jimmy Zizmo in Jeffrey Eugenides Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Middlesex) moved to Detroit, rechristened Himself Wallace Fard Muhammad and founded The Nation Of Islam. After the disappearance of Fard Muhammad, leadership of the Nation fell to one of his early followers Elijah Muhammad, a former freemason. He combined the teachings of masonry, philosophies of Moorish Science with Black Nationalist ideology similar to that of Marcus Garvey. The Nation evolved It's own lessons and theology, including the memorization and recitation of The Actual Facts. Perhaps the most famous member was Malcolm X*, who served as head of The Nation's Harlem Mosque. One member of his congregation, Clarence 13X, grew dissatisfied with the teachings of the Nation, and set out on his own, forming the Nation of Gods and Earths (NGE). While adopting the basic philosophies of The Nation of Islam, The NGE differed from the NOI in that it was based heavily on the idea that every Black man is himself God, and therefore, there is no real need for a central religion, church, or leaders. This philosophy caught on mostly with young people. In the place of organized worship, members of the NGE, known as 5 percenters, spread the beliefs in the form of Supreme Mathematics and the Supreme Alphabet. This process is known as "Dropping Science". The NGE mostly flourished mostly as a Youth movement in New York city and other areas of the Northeast, and inevitably became intertwined with the rise of Hip Hop and Rap Music (previously:1,2). 5% teachings can be found in the music of the Poor Righteous teachers, The Wu Tang Clan, Busta Rhymes, Big Daddy Kane, Rakim, and Brand Nubian. The 7, star and crescent symbol seen in the Brand Nubian video is the official symbol of the NGE, and is derived from the circle 7 symbol on the cover of the Moorish Science Koran and the Star and Crescent used by the Nation of Islam. The Masonic symbol prominently features the letter "G" Which some say stands for god, and is the 7th letter of the alphabet. *The "X" was considered a placeholder, used to indicate that Nation of Islam's members original African family names had been lost. They acknowledged European surnames were slave names, often assigned by the slaveowners to mark their ownership. Members of the NOI used the "X" while waiting for their Islamic names, which they received later in their conversion.

47

finite — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 02:47:04 -0800

47 is a magical number. It has appeared more than a few times on Star Trek, Alias, and in many films.
The 47 society is dedicated to exploring the phenomenon that is 47.

Holy moleeds

escabeche — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:45:50 -0800

Am I supposed to be laughing or taking notes? Comic Charles Fleischer, who played Carvelli on Welcome Back, Kotter and voiced Roger Rabbit, gives a Ted talk which degenerates into what appears to be a dissertation about the number 37 and its relationship to string theory, delivered in a rapidly shifting sequence of accents; watch the audience get more and more uncomfortable as they try to figure out whether they're watching a stand-up routine, a Kaufmannesque prank, or a guy going crazy right before their eyes. TED should have known what they were getting; Fleischer has been performing some form of this routine for decades. (Warning: numbered suit.) Transcript of the routine. Fleischer's strange myspace page. (Warning: strange music/talking on click which I can't figure out how to turn off.)

Go about your life as if you had never read this material

mrgrimm — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:40:49 -0800

11:11. Just in case you haven't already heard about it, people all over the world have been experiencing the most amazing phenomenon in the history of our planet. I suggest that you click on The Rainbow Chamber link to continue.

Somehow Captain Clark is behind this.

deusdiabolus — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 23:44:25 -0800

The Number 23 has a movie. It's been associated with everything from conspiracy theory to historical and scientific fact, and now the obsession of thousands of Discordians and worshippers of Eris (not to mention KLF fans) is the specific subject of a movie directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Jim Carrey. It comes out in February. I don't think I need to tell you which day.

Gematria!

languagehat — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 17:57:42 -0800

Gematria! Mentioned in this post in the context of a "good or evil" algorithm, gematria (גימטריה) is actually Jewish numerology, assigning values to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and establishing mystical correspondences. It's basic to kabbalistic works like the Zohar, and you can get detailed analysis here. But we both know what you really want to do is plug words into a text box and get the result instantly, right? Here you go. And to start you off, METAFILTER = 299 [מטאילטר] according to the traditional system; according to The Gematria of Nothing, it's 31. Take your pick.

The only difference between Hotmail and Hailstorm is R and S... So what do the R and S stand for?

Sinner — Wed, 05 Sep 2001 09:14:39 -0800

The only difference between Hotmail and Hailstorm is R and S... So what do the R and S stand for?

Reading this article a few months back, I was struck by how inappropriate the name "hailstorm" was for a feature whose sole intention is user-friendliness. It just seemed too aggressive. Then, while reading something which also referenced hotmail's recent security problems, I misread "hotmail" as "hailstorm."

Now, I hate to seem like a numerologist here, or even worse, a scrabble player, but how else can you explain the similarity AND the impropriety of the name? Getting to the point, does anyone have guesses about what the "r" and the "s" are brought to you by?

I'm posting this at 1:11.

MarkBakalor — Fri, 21 Apr 2000 01:11:38 -0800

I'm posting this at 1:11. Sites like this make the web worth it.