More mysteries behind 23

Last Wednesday’s column titled "Mystery of 23" elicited numerous responses. Seems like we have quite a legion of numerologists around, or make that numbers experts (not at all Opus Dei numeraries).

In the first place, no sooner had that column appeared when sleuthing partner Doc Sawi Savant and I quickly realized that we had left out an important reference to the number 23. And that’s the celebrated Psalm 23 of the King James Bible, the most quoted passage in that literary opus, indeed, for its highly lyrical quality.

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Yes, we’ve all heard this recited before, and remember large parts of it. Maybe we ourselves have read or recited parts of this Psalm on some occasion.

According to author Hassell Bullock, "No collection of poems has ever exercised as much influence on the Western world as the Book of Psalms." Though the Psalms are perhaps the most familiar portion of the Bible, they are also said to be among the most difficult to interpret. That’s why Bullock has written an authoritative guide for further study.

But let’s veer away from Scripture, lest I be accused of being a religious man, or beholden to prodigious memory of verses and chapters. Suffice it to say that the most memorable Bible-reading scene in a movie that comes to mind is from East of Eden, directed by Elia Kazan, based on the novel by John Steinbeck, and starring my former incarnation, a fellow named James Dean.

The scene shows the rebellious Dean-o character, in the person of Cal Trask, sullenly reading Bible passages as demanded by the domineering father, over a dinner table. I can’t recall now if Cal read part of Psalm 23. My memory must have said "23-Skidoo" to the details of that movie scene.

Speaking of which, that vintage American phrase (from the ’40s and ’50s) that meant "beat it" or "scram" is said to derive "from Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities, in which unfortunate hero Sydney Carlton’s head is the 23rd that day to be snicked off into the guillotine basket."

So wrote Sally Bolton three years ago, when she, too, tried to explain David Beckham’s adulation of Michael Jordan as a factor in his decision to choose No. 23 for his Real Madrid uniform. Bolton even asks readers to count the number of letters in "David and Victoria Beckham." Hmm. A stretch, that one.

She also opines that related to David’s move from Manchester United was "the 23rd hexagram in the oriental divination method of I-Ching, (which) means ‘break apart.’" She adds: "And in telegraphers’ code, 23 means ‘break the line.’ And, even more sinisterly, if you divide two by three you get roughly 0.666."

Why, so you do, roughly, heh heh.

"In fact, the number 23 does appear to crop up in a surprising number of places. Many people say the number 23 occurs in significant places in their own lives – and in the natural world.

"For instance, human gametes (ova and sperm) each contain 23 chromosomes, which pair up to make the DNA for a new person."

Well, we learn something new every day.

o here are other trivia addenda for good old No. 23.

Yet another, rather contrapuntal item we learn is that "23 Skidoo" is the title of a poem in Aleister Crowley’s The Book of Lies – Falsely So Called. With Crowley cited, can other occultist writers or figures be far behind?

"Robert Anton Wilson’s book, Cosmic Trigger I: Final Secret of the Illuminati, lists 23 as a cosmic number with strong connections to arcane magic and synchronicity. Numerous people have claimed to see 23’s everywhere (the 23 curse) prior to enormous success and fruitfulness.

"In many others of Wilson’s works (especially The Illuminatus! Trilogy), 23 is given special importance. Many Discordians use this number for any number of purposes. A 23rdian is a person who constantly witnesses the number 23 in high concentration."

Why, that makes us a 23rdian. And all we really wanted to point out was that Beckham and LeBron James both chose 23 for their sports uniforms, just like Michael Jordan. And that Marco Materazzi of Team Italia, the fellow who goaded Zinedine Zidane into head-butting notoriety, also wore No. 23.

And now, all over Wikipedia and other websites, we learn the following trivia addenda, among many others:

"Viginti Tres (23 in Latin)" is a song in the album ‘10,000’ Days by Tool. 23 was the number of people (16 females, 7 males) Neo had to select to re-found Zion in The Matrix Reloaded. Released on 5/2003, this film had an opening code sequence where the final, most prominent number is 23, reversed as if looking from inside a mirror. The number of crosses on the hill at the end of the Monty Python film The Life of Brian is 23. Princess Leia is held in detention block AA-23 in the Star Wars film A New Hope. William Shakespeare had Julius Caesar stabbed a total of 23 times. 23 is the standard TCP/IP port number for Telnet connections. Dr. Pepper now boasts of being an ‘authentic blend of 23 flavors.’"

Oh, by the way, Michael Jordan’s dad was killed in a roadside robbery on July 23, 1993. And Shakespeare was born and died on April 23. His first folio of plays came in 1623, the same year his wife Anne died.

Jim Carrey is quoted in People Magazine, on April 17 this year, as saying: "I’ve (been fixated on) the number 23 for years. It’s everywhere. Each parent passes on 23 chromosomes. Earth’s axis is at a 23-degree angle. Psalm 23 is my mantra..."

Why, some authors, like Ryan Parry and Rebecca Smith, have even written whole books on the stuff, such as How Mystical 23 Changed the Course of History.

"Pop stars and writers are among those fascinated by it.

"Late author William Burroughs was so gripped by numeric coincidences surrounding 23, he kept a scrapbook of his findings…

"Influenced by the occultist Aleister Crowley who had been convinced of the power of 23, pop band Psychic TV became so obsessed with 23 that they made the Guinness Book of World Records by releasing 23 albums on the 23rd day of 23 months in a row."

There’s so much more, uh, lore.

Carmaker Nissan enjoys a numerical coincidence. In Japanese, "ni" is 2, and "san" is 3. So Nissan would be 23. Vanadium, the 23rd element, is represented by the symbol V. In Roman numerals, V = 5 = 2 + 3. Volkswagen’s VW logo contains the Roman numeral V (2 + 3 = 5) and the 23rd letter W. Volkswagen is based in Wolfsburg. By the way, that W is said to have two points going down and three upwards. On a normal QWERTY keyboard, the 23rd letter W is right below and between 2 and 3.

Sesame Street’s Bert is a member of the national association of W lovers. The German movie 23 explored an obsession with the number, based on a real-life story. In the disaster movie Airport, the bomber has seat 23. In the Beatles film Yellow Submarine, The Butterfly Stomper, who destroys all things of beauty, wears a shirt with the number 23. In Die Hard III the train derails in subway station 23. In Pedro Almodovar’s Talk to Her, the woman Alicia is shown in flashbacks to live in a building with street number 23. In One Hour Photo, the number 23 can be seen prominently on a digital counter at a supermarket and a character’s sports shirt.

Enough of screen entertainment; let’s go back to religion.

Psalms is the 23rd and longest book of the Old Testament. The first Morse Code transmission – "What hath God wrought?" – was from the Bible passage Numbers 23:23. It is believed that Adam and Eve had 23 daughters, and that the verses of the Qur’an were revealed over a period of 23 years. The Knights Templar had 23 Grand Masters, the last being Jacques de Molay.

And here’s more of an assortment:

The human biorhythm is generally 23 days. Alexander the Great was aged 23 when he cut the Gordian Knot. John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 and his supposed assassin – Lee Harvey Oswald – was assassinated on November 24, 1963, the 23rd day being in between. The Salt March initiated by Mohandas Gandhi lasted 23 days. Taiwan is considered by the People’s Republic of China to be the 23rd province. Richard Nixon’s football jersey number at Whittier College was 23.

Uh-oh. It was?

Now, there’s even some dispute on this attraction to 23. What’s called the "23 Enigma" could be just an example of "apophenia," says a sober scientist, er, statistician, who contends that any 23 Enigma list would necessarily contain some entries "of dubious accuracy or verification, while others are the result of stretched applicability…"

Thus, the Downright False list within a list. This includes the belief that on average, every 23rd wave on a beach will be twice the size of the average wave.

"False. This idea exists in many parts of the world, with varying numbers of waves."

"The first song on the first side of the first Beatles album took 23 takes. That would be I Saw Her Standing There from Please Please Me, but in reality, the song that took the most takes was Love Me Do, at 15. However the last song (and their shortest, Her Majesty) on technically the last (last recorded) Beatles album is 23 seconds long.

"666 is said to be taken from 2/3 = 0.666. Very unlikely. Besides, 2/3 is 0.6 periodic or 0.667 by approximation. Actually, 333/500=0.666."

And what, pray tell, is apophenia?

"Apophenia is the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data. The term was coined in 1958 by Klaus Conrad, who defined it as the ‘unmotivated seeing of connections’ accompanied by a ‘specific experience of an abnormal meaningfulness.’

"Apophenia is often used as an explanation of paranormal and religious claims. It has been suggested that apophenia is a link between psychosis and creativity."

Okay, so we’re psychotic. We’re easy.

Mea culpa, too, for an erratum: We wrote that 23 is the 7th prime number. Not so; it’s the 9th.

And somehow a line was dropped from our conclusion last week, regarding what Materazzi may have said to get Zizou’s goat. Contrary to supposed lip-readers’ expertise or ZZ’s own attempts at rationalization, it had nothing to do with terrorists, mothers or sisters. The trash talk may have dwelled on dwindling hair on the pate, or something like being "panot," which sounds a little like "panini." So Zidane took offense, and gave The Matrix the mark of his head as a chest souvenir. Take that, 23!