numbers - Gawker

posts about #numbers more →
Bad News: Newspaper Circulations Going Up!
Numerology: Bullshit
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raincoaster
11/22/09

In reply to Bad News: Newspaper Circulations Going Up!
Canada perfected this little scheme back when the National Post was founded and trying to inflate its numbers.
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lobstr
11/22/09

In reply to Bad News: Newspaper Circulations Going Up!
I went to UNLV right at the ending cusp of LV's glory days (More classic hotels on the Strip than douchebag attractors, Tarkanian was still coaching, slots still dropped coins etc) and even in 1993, with under a million residents, LV still was a two-newspaper town.

In fact I still have my mint-condition copies of the LV Sun's farewell to the Dunes Hotel special issue .. though, little did the Sun know they were about to implode themselves :[] .. good times though.
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Foster Kamer
11/23/09

@lobstr: I forgot! Yes! You're a UNLV grad. For the record, the Sun's still alive, it's just a fold-out in the RJ, now. A 20something year-old reporter at the Sun won the Pulitzer earlier this year for Public Service reporting on construction project deaths. Must've chapped some old asses at the RJ fairly well.
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skahammer
11/22/09

In reply to Bad News: Newspaper Circulations Going Up!
I would like a paper machete hat, please.

And then, look the hell out.
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Edited by skahammer at 11/22/09 5:26 PM skahammer was starred skahammer was unstarred

Glib and Bitchy
11/22/09

@skahammer: Ouch. Paper cut!
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Edited by Glib and Bitchy at 11/22/09 5:40 PM Glib and Bitchy was starred Glib and Bitchy was unstarred

Sergio Hernandez
11/22/09

@skahammer: Ha, beat me to it.
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Lysergic Asset
11/22/09

In reply to Bad News: Newspaper Circulations Going Up!
If the internet had been set up originally on a per-fee basis, maybe there wouldn't be resistance to the idea of internet-only news. "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?" comes to mind.

I was hoping for the death of print media if only to save the forests.
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Swifter
11/22/09

@Lysergic Asset: It is necessary to burn the forests in order to save them.
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Edited by Swifter at 11/22/09 5:37 PM Swifter was starred Swifter was unstarred

Tremonius
11/22/09

@Lysergic Asset: Compuserve, payable by the minute. Something called The Source offered all sorts of university (East Mississippi Barbers', I think) research opportunity at $7 per minute. Other deep resources offered a cover charge to the Inner Sanctum. This was connectivity in the late 80s, when I started. Even the local "tree board," the BBS which organized chatter so it went on forever like an organization chart, began charging.

Then somebody said, hey, everybody's still listening to radio and watching teevee. What's their business plan again?
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Lysergic Asset
11/22/09

@Tremonius: Damned if they do, fucked if they don't... I wonder who's turning a profit on web news.

#tips
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raincoaster
10/28/09

In reply to Numerology: Bullshit
Oh, thanks. Way to kill my new "blogerology" subscription service based on when your first post went up. #bullshit
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AEchinoderm
10/28/09

In reply to Numerology: Bullshit
Come on, numerology totally makes sense. Once, a friend of my ex-wife's mother, who is numerologist, ran my numbers and she came to the conclusion that I was either an illuminated person who would go on to do great things or a dark influence in the world. So close it's spooky. #bullshit
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themediatrix
10/28/09

In reply to Numerology: Bullshit
I knew numerology was bullshit when I was about 13 years old. That was when ELLE magazine decided to drop part of the formula for it's regular numerology forecast in the back of the magazine.

Originally, you had to add the digits of your birth year together, then add your birth month and birth day, then apply the digits from current month and year. The idea was to keep adding until you got a single digit and that was what you looked up to see your month forecast.

Because you had to use the current month, the number would change.

But I guess that was too complicated for the readers of ELLE, because when one year, they were like: meh, just use the month and day of your birth.

Oh, okay. So all this fucking math I've been doing to find out if the neighborhood hottie was into me was for nothing? Thanks a lot ELLE. I could have been flirting with that wasted time. #bullshit
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Mr. Praline
10/28/09

In reply to Numerology: Bullshit
42, bitches. 42. #bullshit
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OliversArmy
10/28/09

In reply to Numerology: Bullshit
"Numerology is totally fake and made up and based on nothing except the ease with which it can be employed to fool uneducated people."

True. To fool educated people it is simply renamed economics.
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Hamilton Nolan promoted this comment Edited by OliversArmy at 10/28/09 2:47 PM OliversArmy was starred OliversArmy was unstarred

raincoaster
10/28/09

@OliversArmy: most deserved instant starring in Gawker history! #bullshit
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snugbug
10/28/09

In reply to Numerology: Bullshit
PS: Fun Fact: The number 13 gets its ominous reputation from the fact that there were 12 original apostles of Jesus, and Judas Iscariot was the 13th. #bullshit
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crotchety
10/28/09

@snugbug: I think there were 12 and 11 after Judas' death. #bullshit
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snugbug promoted this comment crotchety was starred crotchety was unstarred

snugbug
10/28/09

@crotchety: Thanks for the correx, I wrote this in a hurry and fudged the facts.

Let me try again: There were 12 original apostles +Jesus = 13. Since one apostle (Judas) turned out a traitor → 13 = unlucky number. #bullshit
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snugbug
10/28/09

In reply to Numerology: Bullshit
This is a proper opportunity to revisit scorn upon one of the silliest thrillers in the history of cinema: Joel Schumacher's The Number 23, starring Jim Carrey in one of those ill-fated "dramatic performances" that never quite work out for him. The premise is that any and all numeral combinations ultimately add up to the sacred sum of 23. #laughriot [gawker.com]
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Edited by snugbug at 10/28/09 1:48 PM snugbug was starred snugbug was unstarred

Cheap Shot
10/28/09

In reply to Numerology: Bullshit
Ok, explain Chinese names then.
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Edited by Cheap Shot at 10/28/09 1:29 PM Cheap Shot was starred Cheap Shot was unstarred

Trystero
10/28/09

@Cheap Shot: Their numerology is called I Ching. #bullshit
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Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith
10/28/09

In reply to Numerology: Bullshit
George Bergman sounds like my kind of Obsessive Compulsive! #bullshit
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romulus
10/28/09

@Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith: I think I took basic calculus from him in college (I don't remember my prof's name but suspect it was Bergman). In trying to figure that out, I found this rather delightful stuff: [math.berkeley.edu] #bullshit
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Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith
10/28/09

@romulus: Ew, I take it all back! George Bergman is pretty much my dad, geeky math links included! #bullshit
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Perhaps Not
10/28/09

In reply to Numerology: Bullshit
When Jesus comes back on the 12th day of the 12th month of the 12th year, won't you be surprised. #bullshit
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You Cannot Untoast
10/28/09

@Perhaps Not: No, dead men stay dead, silly. #bullshit
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lostarchitect promoted this comment You Cannot Untoast was starred

lostarchitect
10/28/09

@You Cannot Untoast: Either that, or they tell no tales. #bullshit
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A Message To Rudy
10/28/09

@lostarchitect: Or wear plaid. #bullshit
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ampersandparade promoted this comment A Message To Rudy was starred

NessiaHaeden
10/28/09

In reply to Numerology: Bullshit
First of all, the RZA doesnt do "numerology," but Divine Mathematics. A type of numerology, yes, but not quite the same.

Secondly, juice-based cleanses DO work. I've done the Master Cleanser several times, and I'm always amazed at the results.
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Hamilton Nolan
10/28/09

@NessiaHaeden: I stand corrected! #bullshit
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raincoaster
10/29/09

@NessiaHaeden: If it really worked, wouldn't you just have to do it once, and then you'd be a Cleanse Master? #bullshit
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