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>From one of us to the rest:
So, where the number began for me was back in 1989 at University of
Massachusetts Amherst. Since that time the number has been in my life in a
big way as you know by my constant submissions to this list.
Anyway, I just learned yesterday that even though UMASS has been around
since the 1800's, it didn't become a university until.....1947!
The Value Jet pilot first reported problems 5:47 into the flight.
you remember that Pomona's endowment is the 47th largest of all colleges?
well,
Additionally and ironically, statistics for the giving year ending
in 1994 (47 x 2 = 94) show that the Pomona College Alumni Fund had
a participation rate of 47%.
In the Indy 500, the winner was a rookie...the first rookie to win the
race since 1947. His average speed was 147 mph.
New York Times of 12 May reports that there were "roughly 47,000" cases of
child abuse in NYC during 1995.
New York Times Magazine of 26May has ad for Cape Cod Metal Polishing Cloths.
A picture of a nice old lady has caption: "... finally, after 47 years, I
have found a civilized way to polish my silver."
The following information is from the "Guide to the Macintosh Family
Hardware" available through Addison-Wesley dealers. This information
applies to all models using the Apple Sound Chip.
"The external sound jack is at standard line level (approximately 1.5
volts peak-to-peak) and its source impedance is approximately 47 ohms."
further testimony
The occurance of the number 47 in my life seems to be
increasing. For instance, even more than ever, the clock reads x:47 when
I look at it. Also, I've noticed that MOST of my co-workers have the
number 47 in either their phone numbers or addresses. Check with those
you work with! (maybe this is a sign that I've taken the right job.)
Recently, while searching for Pomona and 47 on the Web, I found this gem:
Pomona's endowment is the 47th largest of all colleges. Our endowment is
actually larger than entire state college systems! Here's the URL:
http://www.nacubo.org/website/bomag/neschrts.html
A heatwave hit the Eastern US recently.
Temperatures reached 96 degrees in New York City. This broke a 47-year old
record.
Dateline Washington DC: In a recent Washington Post poll, 47% of DC
residents disapprove of the performance of Presumptive Mayor-for-Life Marion
S. Barry, Jr.
This is a computer generated alarm and has not yet been reviewed by a
human.
A LIGHT QUAKE OCCURRED AT 01:50 PM PDT Tuesday, May 21, 1996.
THE MAGNITUDE 4.7 (MZ) EVENT LOCATES 10 MILES E OF SAN JOSE
THE HYPOCENTRAL DEPTH IS 4.9 MILES.
PRINCIPAL EARTHQUAKE PARAMETERS
_______________________________
Magnitude : 4.77 MZ
Event Date & Time : 05/21/1996 01:50:20 PM PDT
05/21/1996 20:50:20 UTC
Location : 37.3592 N, 121.7240 W
: (37 deg. 21.55 min. N, 121 deg. 43.44 min. W)
Depth : 7.8 km. deep ( 4.9 miles)
Location Quality : Excellent
The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947.
USA Today reported that ValuJet, the airline that suffered a horrible
crash a few days ago had 47 Boeing 737's in its fleet...i guess there are
only 46 now!
also: In a major study on the effectiveness of major tv advertising
campaigns, it was reported that the McDonald's (Michael Jordan/Looney
Tunes) ads were 47% effective...which lead the top of the list of 49 total
campaigns.
An article in the May 4-11 TV Guide about the demise of Mystery Science Theater 3000 claims:
MST3K has singular fans -- Vice President Al Gore -- and fans in
droves. More than 68,000 MSTies have joined the show's fan club.
In April, 110 of them bought a $4,700 full-page ad in Variety, the
Hollywood trade publication, to encourage some television network
-- any television network -- to finance new shows. Those efforts
have so far failed, and the inevitable twilight of the 'bots arrives: the
two-day filming of the MST3K finale.
>From the book _Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers_, a
novelization of the popular Britcom.
On page 60:
"He was waiting for Petersen to show up, and they were going to go down to
the Copacabana Hawaiian Cocktail Bar to spend the evening exactly in the
same way they'd spent one hundred and thirty-three of the one hundred and
forty-seven evenings..."
Later on the page:
"Dull and gruesomely monotonous as his social life was, Lister knew for
a fact it was at least four hundred and seventy-four times more
interesting than his working life on Z Shift under Rimmer."
Seems 47 is just an inherently funny number.
The first episode of Red Dwarf (the television series itself) contains no
less than three blatant 47s, but I don't recall exactly what they were...I
think one of them was the time for Rimmer's run around the ship: "Six
forty-seven."
For a brief time between the admission of New Mexico and Arizona to
statehood, the US had 47 states. The president at the time was
Taft. Taft adds to 47 if you sum the letter positions: 20+1+6+20.
a note (from the recent past):
Hi Eric. Happy 4/7. I wish I could be at the lab to celebrate. Instead I
have to study genetic and chromosomal disorders, several of which have 47
chromosomes, such as Down's Syndrome and Kleinfelter's Syndrome (47 XXY).
and a vote (remember voting for the best 47 story last month?):
Anyway, I want to vote for Brian Cragan who paid his kids to find 47s and
point them out to his parents.
It was announced that a new edition of Merriam-Webster unabridged dictionary
would be put online as a work-in-progress. So far, they have "over 470,000"
entries. Washington Post 4-28-96
On a recent "Simpsons" (or maybe it was a recent re-run) Bart's class
brought in their grandfathers sort of for show and tell. One of his
classmate's grandfathers was a judge who said that he had sentenced "46 -- no
47 -- criminals to death"
On the show "Mad About You"
(3/31/96)
Paul and Jamie's car was blocked in by a truck -- they
were told that it would be 4 to 7 minutes more, until
the truck was unloaded.
And, when Paul was waiting in line for coffee, the guy
right in front of him ordered: 47 house blends, 28 regular
capuccinos, etc...
(4/21/96)
When Paul is shooting his film "Weed", he says,
"Scene 8, Take 47"
On the news recently
In a health report about the healing power of touch:
Babies that were massaged gained 47% more weight than
babies that were not massaged.
At the beginning of the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" The
opening scene is the UN team that spends the entire movie checking out
this wierd UFO stuff. Well, in the opening scene they're all there in a
sandstorm in Sonora, Mexico. That's where the planes from flight 19 have
suddenly turned up after getting lost in 1945 over the Bermuda Triangle.
To confirm that these are indeed the right planes the team leader asks
for the numbers off the engine blocks. ALL of the engine block numbers
start with the digits 47...
hello 47 list people:
you may have noticed the following lines in the most inappropriate places:
Sender: owner-47-l@teleport.com
Precedence: bulk
i'm working on getting rid of the pests.
thanks for your patience.
eric347
(levine@catseq.catlin.edu)
this email was received by a 47 list member from a completely unassociated
source. imagine yourself in her shoes...
Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 =
Room 447=20
Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 =
Room 447
Todd reminded me what room we are meeting in this sunday for SOLO, see =
you all=20
there.
Rachel
Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 Room 447 =
Room 447
[Portions of this message deleted for space. -Editor]
Following are about 2 weeks worth of sightings.
International Herald Tribune 10Apr96: "President Bill Clinton said that no
final decision had been made on an evacuation from the West African capital
[Monrovia] where an estimated 470 Amercans and thousands of terrified foreign
nationals have taken shelter on U.S. Embassy property..."
F. Pena said there were 47 million more flyers this year. Presumably in
airplanes.
New Yorker 15Apr96: In satirical article by Christopher Buckley, he refers
to 4.7 million mad cows.
25Apr96 episode of ER: Ambulance number was 47.
47% of Monaco's population is French.
My husband and I were in Berlin last week. We were amused by what seemed to
be an old hand water pump on a side-street off of the Ku'damm. We never
quite figured out what it was, but it was number 47 of them.
The link between 47 and Waco, TX:
http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/robotman/archive/robotman960412-6632.gif
Completely random statement made by one of KOME's (98.5, San Francisco)
DJs at the end of "Dancin' Days" (the cover version by Stone Temple
Pilots).
"Reason #47 why you shouldn't do drugs: you'll end up doing Led Zeppelin
cover tunes."
(Scott Weiland, lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots, just wound up in rehab
again.)
One more for the Internet sightings: there's a lot of stuff out there
that pertains to last year's 47th Annual Emmy Awards. Check out the
background of http://www.emmys.org/emmys/RNOMINATIONS.html for a nice
graphic.
Also: for one of my classes this week, we were assigned to pick out a
sonnet from the 150-odd sonnets Shakespeare wrote. I deliberately did not
pick out #47 (that would have been silly, and I didn't like it, anyway).
However, I didn't realize until later that the ones I did like were #94
and #141: two times 47 and three times 47, respectively. Beware...
"President Bill Clinton said that no final decision had been made on an
evacutaion from the West African capital [Monrovia], where an estimated 470
Americans and thousands of terrified foreign nationals have taken shelter on
U.S. Embassy property or in private homes." International Herald Tribune,
April 10.
Caught Frederico Pena interviewed on TV April 23; he said 47 million more
people flew last year. Presumably on airplanes.
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