Tuesday, December 11, 2012

12/12/12: A Very Good Day

(12/12) / 12 = 0.08333333333

For those people who are attracted to the special significance of numbers, today, 12/12/12, marks the day of the last sequential date on our present calendar for the next 89 years (it won't happen again until January 1, 2101).

This Century's Final Repeating Date:

The tropical year is identified as "the time it takes the Sun to appear to travel around the sky from a given point in the tropical zodiac back to that same point in the tropical zodiac." Of course, this value depends on where in the Earth's orbit one begins the measurement of one revolution about the Sun (John Dee emphasized this point as early as 1582 C.E.).

For our purposes, rather than assign a different value to different date in an arbitrary unit of measurement (i.e., any of our present-day calendars that do not precisely mark the beginning of our planet's existence), let's just go with the Gregorian calendar and for argument's sake say that today is 12/12/12 C.E.

12 Facts on 12

  1. Mathematicians love the number 12 for its inherent divisibility as it can be evenly divided into multiple subsets: halves, thirds, fourths, sixths and twelfths. 
  2. In number theory, 12 is a sublime number, a positive integer which has a perfect number of positive divisors (including itself), and whose positive divisors add up to another perfect number.
  3. In science, the human body evolved into having 12 cranial nerves
  4. In Chinese numerology, one is a yang number ruled by the sun and represents independence and individualism. Two is a yin number ruled by the moon and represents symmetry and balance. Combined, the number 12 brings harmony to the yin and the yang. 
  5. Significance culminates in the number 12: in religion (12 apostles) and mythology (12 Olympian gods) and astrology (12 signs of the zodiac). 
  6. The Aeneid, the epic poem by Virgil is divided into two halves composed of twelve books, which perhaps John Milton imitated in his epic poem Paradise Lost.
  7. In art theory, there are 12 basic hues in the color wheel; 3 primary colors (red, yellow, blue), 3 secondary colors (orange, green & purple) and 6 tertiary colors (intermediates between the primaries and secondaries). 
  8. In video gaming, specifically Mario Kart Wii, 12 is the maximum number of characters that can participate in a race. 
  9. In 12 B.C.E. (a leap year starting on Sunday), the Comet Halley made an appearance. 
  10. In 12 C.E. (a leap year starting on Friday), the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. 
  11. In 1812 C.E. (a leap year starting on Wednesday), Napoleon authorized the usage of Mesures usuelles, the basis of the Metric System. 
  12. In 1912 C.E. (a leap year starting on Monday), Alfred Wegener proposed the theory of continental drift. 

In 2012 C.E. (a Wednesday), I will spend the day in Paris with my children reveling in the resplendence of our common global heritage. 

Whether or not you assign increased significance to today - 12/12/12 - any day whereby multitudes of people take notice, pause, and contemplate a deeper, potentially more signifiant meaning to the world, to life, and to our place amid it all, is for all practical purposes: 

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