47-l-digest           Tuesday, July 1 1997           Volume 01 : Number 003




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Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 13:06:59 -0700 (PDT)
From: Eric Levine <willies@teleport.com>
Subject: The story of Paco and Noah

The unsual thing about 47 is it just makes you feel good.  There's a
personal quality to it, it's an exceedingly friendly number, and the
coincidences that happen once one becomes aware of 47 cause one to
seriously ponder the meaning of the universe and the interconnectedness
of all consciousness.

My late dear friend Paco became aware of my special affinity for 47 and
used to do little things to let me know he cared about my 47
connection.  Every year on Thanksgiving he and his brother put on this
amazing Thai Fest where all of our friends gorge themselves on Thai
food, and one year the invitation said to arrive promptly at 11:47
a.m.   In April, 1996, about a month before Paco died, he and I flew to
Los Angeles together to do various things.  We got off the plane, rented
a car, and drove straight to the beach.  Not really a nice beach, just
some beach somewhere south of Marina Del Rey so we could "get small". 
We parked the car, walked down to the beach, and there was lifeguard
station #47.  At that moment I felt otherworldly.  Well, I didn't know
that that was a drop in the bucket compared to how "otherworldly" I
would feel in the days and weeks following Paco's death.  About a month
after his death I was in San Francisco, a city he adored, seeing the
city through his eyes, when the #47 bus drove by.  That kind of
completed the circle for me, so I wrote a song about it.

On a more recent note, I went to Noah's Bagels in Mountain View the
other day and the sign said "Serving #47," but they had stopped making
people use numbers because it wasn't busy anymore. So 47 got to remain
up on the "Serving # " sign for a good loooooong time.

[submitted by]
Laura Norvig (laura@norvig.com)

[and]

On the subject of Noah's Bagels:  Take a close look at their paper coffee
cup sometime; the number 47 is so quietly yet singularly printed that it
has an other-worldly quality.  Kinda makes you feel spiritual--like you're
part of something bigger.

[submitted by]
Eric Levine (levine@catseq.catlin.edu)

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Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 10:57:42 -0700 (PDT)
From: Eric Levine <willies@teleport.com>
Subject: Random number generators, lava lamps, The economist, and 47

Last week's edition of The Economist magazine has a cool artcle about the
creation of the ultimate random number generator using 6 lava lamps.  The
article is on page 74.

[submitted by]
Christian & Sarah Schumann-Curtis

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Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 11:04:10 -0700 (PDT)
From: Eric Levine <willies@teleport.com>
Subject: styrofoam and other jokes 47

Numbers on the bottom of four styrofoam cups:
447
547
473
479


The book "THE SECOND OFFICAL HANDBOK OF PRACTICAL JOKES" has an isbn of
0-451-16924-7


notice the 4-7 at the end.

[submitted by]
Webrunner

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Date: Sat, 7 Jun 1997 10:07:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: Eric Levine <willies@teleport.com>
Subject: delcaration of 47

A Thomas Jefferson draft of the Declaration of Independence is on display at
the Library of Congress.  Guess how many changes were made to the draft
Jefferson submitted?  47 would be a good guess.

[submitted by]
Judy McDermott

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Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 14:09:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: ERIC! <levine@catseq.catlin.edu>
Subject: fast times at 47 high

i doubt that this passed beneath anyone's notice, but towards the end of
fast times at ridgemont high, when mr. hand goes to spicoli's house, he
tells him to turn to page 47 in his history book.

[submitted by]
camille

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Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 10:15:27 -0700 (PDT)
From: Eric Levine <willies@teleport.com>
Subject: shuttlebus 47

A few more 47's for you all.  I picked up the summer schedule of the school's
shuttlebus that runs near my huse and spotted a few 47s.  During the day, 
this bus has stops at 4:07 and 7:04.  Less obvious is the 7:15 stop (5-1=4,
or think of it as roman numerals, IV=4) and with a little manipulation,
one can find 47s in 11:45, and the pair 4:00 and 7:00.  There might be a
few others in the schedule, but I'm not going to search for them.  :)

[submitted by]
James Marshall

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Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 10:17:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: Eric Levine <willies@teleport.com>
Subject: druid 47

According to http://www.common.net/~bkjv1611/haloween.htm (history of
Halloween):
"By 47 A.D., Rome finally defeated the Druids in England and outlawed
human sacrifices."

[submitted by]
Dan Ford, Pomona '81.

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Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 15:36:46 -0700 (PDT)
From: Eric Levine <willies@teleport.com>
Subject: more excellent 47s

Spotted on Pop-Up Video during Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time":

Tattoo (Herve Villechaize on "Fantasy Island") was 47 inches tall.

The oldest donkey in the world lived to be 47.

Spotted on Pop-Up Video some time later: Total number of times "Macarena"
is said during the (wretched) song: 47.

Spotted in the Palo Alto Daily last week: "47 non-profits fail to receive
county funding."

Spotted in the Stanford Bookstore the other day: we've evidently got 47
copies of _Emotional Intelligence_ in stock.  (This new job is proving
interesting, non?)

Shown to me while doing a runthrough on the bookstore computer system: a
book whose cost to the store was 47% below its cover price.  (This was the
only example my supervisor used to show me how to look up this percentage,
which is used to determine discounts.)

Heard in Gottschalks last week, over the speakers: "47 please dial
extension 406...47 please dial 406."

More to come...no doubt five of them will assault me tomorrow...

[submitted by]
Michaela
http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~schlock/the47s.html

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End of 47-l-digest V1 #3
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