Rolling Stone recently presented "The Year In Recordings".
A total of 47 recordings were cited.
The first two lines of Robert Lowell's poem "Middle Age" are:
At forty-five,
What next, what next?
Well, let's see... 45, huh? What's next? 46. What's next? 47.
[Submitted: E. F.]
[another intriguing submission]
telecom companies are now using a technology called Asynchronous Transfer Mode to move multi-media data (video, data, voice etc) between local internet service providers (ISPs).
there is a standard for the address of each node in this network, the first part of which tells each switch it must adhere to this international standard, and, you guessed it - the code is 47, here's part of the configuration of an actual switch:
ip host-routing
atm address 47.0091.8100.0000.0040.0b0a.1701.0040.0b0a.1701.00
atm router pnni
node 1 level 56 lowest
redistribute atm-static
it's a hierarchical address, eg 47.0091 could be North America, 47.0091.8100 could be California, etc. Each switch advertizes the regions it can get to, but the problem is right now they are all advertizing they can get to area 47 - which is the whole planet, so right now our primary global network is filled with unneeded area 47 messages, is this freaky?
To: 47-l@teleport.com
From: John Jay Ponce <tunberg@silcom.com>
Subject: 47
I believe you have overlooked the Egyptomythic significance of 47: There
are 47 pyramids (ok, some just look like piles of sand...);
hieroglyphics are read in sentences of 47 images ("Bird, Bird, Hippo,
Croc, Bird, Osiris..." well, you get it); there were 47 chief Pharoahs
(not counting Sam the Sham); Cleopatra was not bitten on the breast by a
single asp, but new translations suggest it was by 47 asps (who
collectively agreed to "get their asps outta here!"), and, of course,
when Lord Carnavon tragically opened Tut's tomb 47 people died from the
curse. Also, I'm 47.
J.J. Ponce, tunberg@silcom.com
HI
Loral/SS Corp's web page says they've launched 47 satellites so far. These guys are the leaders in commercial satellite systems.
The cop car in the movie "Phenomenon" ends in 47.
You know how thoughts start out, run for a while, and then you come to some sort of conclusion/realization? I've noticed that at that conclusion point there's very often a 47 licence plate in front of me or it will come at me from somewhere else.
[submitted by] steve southam
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 1996 12:34:23 -0800 (PST)
Subject: E. F.'s 47s
I saw "Goldfinger" on campus last night and I noticed several 47s:
-the second of the license plates on Bond's car begins with 47
-during the countdown of the atomic bomb, the timer is shown at 247, 147,
and 047... these numbers were either the first or last shown in each shot
of the timer
-one of the planes from Pussy Galore's Flying Circus had a registration
number which began with a 74, an inverted 47
That's not the only 47 I've seen in a movie at school lately...
-in "Epoca Bella", one of the characters complains that a man has been with
his lover for "four hours... a forty-seven minutes"
-in "The Candidate", which we analysized for PoliSci, Robert Redford is
excited that he has 47 points in the latest polls...
And that's not the only 47 I've seen in my Political Science class... Last week, my prof walked into the room, went straight to the chalkboard, and didn't say anything as he wrote...
47...in the middle of the board. We were discussed women in politics, and that was the number of women in the House of Representative in 1995.
I'm also beginning to find 47s in "The X-Files":
-a birthday in "Lazarus" was given as April 7th (4/7)
-the submarine commander in "End Game" orders a course set on 047 degrees
-Mulder's identification number has a 47 in the middle of it (see last
week's Entertainment Weekly)
That's all for now...
Submitted: E. F., Grinnell College
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 13:17:52 -0800 (PST)
Subject: 47, math, and michael
As many of us are aware, the square root of 23 is 4.7. 23 1/2 is also 1/2 of 47.
Last night, Michael Jordan scored 47 points in the Bulls' latest victory. He wears uniform number 23.
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 13:30:52 -0800 (PST)
Subject: 47 in history, government, sports, and randomness
[a hearty archive compiled by one of our ace researchers]
47s in History
A fire spread through the Library of Alexandria, considered to have the greatest collection of books in the ancient world, in 47 B.C. during the civil war between Julius Caesar and the followers of Pompey the Great.
Aristotle believed in the existence of a divine being, the Prime Mover, who is responsible for the unity of nature. In his metaphysical view, other movers existed, such as the intelligent movers of the planets and stars, and Aristotle suggested that the number of these is "either 55 or 47."
At Reims, France, on August 28, 1909, Hammond Curtiss won the first international air speed event at 47 mph.
At the start of World War II, Pan American Airways was the largest international airline in operation and, with its subsidiaries and affiliated companies, served 47 countries and colonies.
During the Middle Ages, the Benedictine order of monks and nuns provided medieval Europe with 20 emperors, 10 empresses, 50 queens, and 47 kings.
In 1863, Grant and his forces, with the support of Union gunboats and supply ships, sieged and incessantly bombarded the city of Vicksburg for 47 days until the Confederate garrison surrendered on July 4 (or 7/4).
German novelists Heinrich Bvll, Uwe Johnson, G|nter Grass, and Siegfried Lenz were members of Gruppe 47, a group of young writers committed to free expression and dissatisfied with complacent attitudes toward World War II.
Louis Philippe Joseph Orlians was born in 1747 and, during the meeting of the Estates-General summoned by Louis XVI in 1789, led the 47 nobles who seceded from their own order to join in the French Revolution.
The ronin is a class of masterless samurai who lost their place in the loyalty pattern of Japanese feudal society in the early 1700s during the incident of the 47 ronin. After the lord of the ronin was insulted and then ordered to commit suicide, the 47 ronin plotted to avenge him, but in doing so, they forfeited their own lives as per the samurai code of ethics.
The War of the Austrian Succession lasted from 1740 to 1747.
During the revolt by the Zealots in the year 67, Flavius Josephus, Jewish Pharisee, defended Galilee by guarding the fortress of Jotapata from the advance of the Roman general Vespasian for 47 days before surrendering.
Governmental 47s
In accordance with the 1981 constitution, the Chilean Senate is comprised of 47 elected members. Also, the Chilean political party known as the Union Para al Progresso de Chile currently has 47 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.
The intermediate appellate courts of New York, the four appellate divisions of the Supreme Court, are made up of a total of 47 permanent judges.
Prior the formation of the National Assembly in 1990, Nicaragua's legislature was the 47-member Council of State.
Spain's bicameral parliament consists of a 350-member Congress of Deputies and a Senate of 208 directly elected members and 47 special regional representatives.
The state legislature of South Australia, the state in south-central Australia, consists of a parliament of two houses: the Legislative Council with 22 members and the House of Assembly with 47 members.
The General Convention of the New Jerusalem, one of the two general organizations of Swedenborgians, has about 2800 members in 47 societies.
The constitution of Western Samoa provides for a legislative assembly which consists of 47 Samoan members.
The local government of Riunion, the largest of the Mascarene island group in the Indian Ocean, consists of the 47-member General Council, and the island become an administrative region of France in 1974.
In the presidential election of 1809, the Federalist candidate Charles Pinckney received 47 electoral votes while James Madison won with 122.
The legislature of Maryland, the General Assembly, consists of a 141-member (3 x 47 = 141) house of delegates and a 47-member senate.
Sports 47s
In 1958, Ernie Banks hit 47 home runs, setting a major-league record for a shortstop.
Jack Dempsey, nicknamed the Manassa Mauler, retired from boxing in 1927 with a career total of 69 professional fights, 47 of which were wins by knockout.
Reggie Jackson, the sixth-leading home run hitter of all time, had a career- high total of 47 home runs, with 118 runs batted, in 1969.
In the sport of polo, the bamboo or graphite handle of the mallet is a minimum of 47 inches, and the indoor American game consists of four seven- minute periods.
Johnny Unitas set a number of passing records during his career as a professional football player, including the most consecutive games with a touchdown pass (47), and he then retired in 1974.
John Wooden, who coached teams to more NCAA basketball championships than any coach in history, was a coach at Indiana State University during the 1946/ 1947 to 1947/1948 basketball seasons and guided the team to a 47-14 win-loss record.
Random 47s
The area of the Aran Islands, a group of three small islands in the Atlantic Ocean, is 47 square kilometers.
George Pierce Baker taught a course in playwriting at Harvard from 1905 to 1913 entitled "English 47: Techniques of Drama" and developed the experimental "47 Workshop," a laboratory course in which drama students such as Eugene O'Neill, Edward Sheldon, and George Abbott staged their plays.
When People's Liberation Army of China was the world's largest military force in the early 1990s, the air force had 470,000 members, and the navy had 47 submarines.
In his work "Almagest," the Greek astronomer Ptolemy described 48 constellations, 47 of which are known by the same name today.
Dominica, island republic in the West Indies, is 47 km long, and with a mountainous terrain, its highest point is Morne Diablotins, which is 1447 meters or 4747 feet in height.
The chromosomal abnormality involved in Down syndrome the presence of three copies of the 21st chromosome, and as a result, the affected person has 47 chromosomes instead of the normal 46.
The annual output of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is 47 billion kilowatt- hours.
The life expectancy in the U.S. was an average of 47 years in 1900.
"Gull" is actually the common name for 47 species of long-winged, web-footed seabirds.
Today, there are only 47 existent copies of the Gutenberg Bible, printed sometime between 1450 and 1456.
Hot Springs National Park was originally established by the Congress of the United States as a federal reservation in 1832 to protect the 47 thermal springs.
llinois has 47 television stations, and the Chicago Public Library contains 4.7 million volumes.
The lowest recorded temperature in Iowa, home of Grinnell College, was -47 dgrees F in 1912
Ischia, an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea between the gulfs of Gaeta and Salerno, has an area of 47 square kilometers, and in 474 BC, the island became a possession of Syracuse.
Japan is divided into 47 political regions, called prefectures, which include Okinawa.
The Republic P-47, the Douglas C-47, and the Boeing B-47 were all built and flown in the 1940s.
The Northern Mariana Islands, island group in the Pacific Ocean, became a commonwealth of the United States in 1947 and comprise an area of 477 square kilometers, of which the largest island, Saipan, has an area of 47 square miles.
Honor de Balzacs "La comdie humaine" ("The Human Comedy" 1831-1848) is a sequence of 47 volumes which portray the increasingly urbanized French society marked by the exploitation of technology.
Oklahoma has 47 daily newspapers.
Rideau Canal, the 125-mile canal in southeastern Ontario which connects Lake Ontario to the Ottawa River, has 47 locks.
South Carolina has 47 state parks.
In 1969, during the Apollo 11 mission, astronauts Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. and Neil A. Armstrong spent more than two hours walking on the lunar surface and gathered 47 pounds of soil and rock samples.
Social scientists have devised a list of life events and rated the relative stressfulness of each on a scale from zero to 100; being fired rates a 47.
The tinamou is actually any of 47 species of birds found from southern Mexico through Central and South America.
Submitted: E. F., Grinnell College
[thanks for the great research E. F.!]
Proposition 47 of the first book of Euclid's Elements is the Pythagorean Theorem.
