23 - cultural meme or independent weirdness?

i don't know if anyone has posted this link yet, but if not, there it is...

that site has a ton of significant occurences of 23, some of them quite baffling.

the number 23 triggers certain numerological programs, written in some peoples minds due to exposure to infected informational material. this material then spreads itself like a virus ( V ;-P ) trough a thread like this, and voila.. chaos is created. memetics at work.

Originally posted by The Parallelogram
i don't know if anyone has posted this link yet, but if not, there it is...

Yeah, posted by myself on the first page of this thread.

Anyway, this story, posted on this thread:

Astronomers plan to utilize NASA's 70-meter (230-foot) diameter Goldstone radar, the largest and most sensitive antenna in its Deep Space Network. Located in California's Mojave Desert, the Goldstone antenna has been used to bounce radio signals off other Near-Earth asteroids many times before, and it is now being readied to “ping” 2004 XP14 on July 3, 4 and 5.

And if you like that, you'll love this:

Watch this video, taken from this thread, and have a little look at the duration.



[edit on 2/7/06 by Implosion]

Very interesting! 23 always makes me think of Michael Jordan... and he definitely has something special. I never knew all of the associations with the number though... very cool. I'm going to go check out all of the great links you guys posted.

Shuttle Discovery races skyward

The Discovery orbiter has blasted away from the Kennedy Space Center - on a hot and sunny US Independence Day.
The shuttle left its Florida launch pad right on schedule at 1438 EDT (1838 GMT) and roared skywards to the cheers of spectators.

The vehicle's mission will take it to the International Space Station (ISS).

1438 EDT which of course, can also be written 238 pm EDT.

New one found on ATS.

23 tons dropped on one target

Got in late tonight and was channel flipping and came across The Boys From Brazil, just in time to hear Gregory Peck (as a fictionalised Josef Mengele) say that he took blood and skin samples from the Fuhrer (to create many clones) on 23rd May 1943.

3 at random:

Official warning on Windows bugs

Microsoft's recent update fixed 23 flaws found in Windows software.

Source.

There was no let-up in violence. Israeli attacks killed at least 23 people in Lebanon on Friday, including four killed when a drone fired rockets at a convoy of hundreds of cars fleeing the south. An Israeli soldier was reported killed in fighting and Hizbollah rockets wounded seven people in northern Israel.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew to New York in anticipation of a vote on ending the war, in which at least 1,034 people in Lebanon and 123 Israelis have been killed.

Source.

Another:

Reid warns terror threat remains

His warning comes as police continue to hold 23 people over an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic jets.

Source.

Another, from here:

I'm sorry if I'm flogging a dead horse, but they are everywhere.

A video of a "ghost car"

The whole way through [give or take] a 23 sits knowingly in the upper left:

I was born on March 23.....I feel special, not really. But I do add in the number 23 in alot of my own stuff(mainly art). So, im sorry if I may be indirectly helping this phenomena, but if I do it(be cause its my birth date), I would suppose many others do as well.

You make a good point. Many people have probably heard of this phenomena, and due to this want to add to it. It pops up with alarming regularity in artistic productions, however, it pops up with alarming regularity in other areas as well, and these are the ones I like to focus on. Here is an example I managed to learn a little about from ATS's very own Mr John Lear:

Originally posted by johnlear

Originally posted by Implosion

I have an incredibly mundane question for you John. Nothing to do with 'soul collectors' I'm afraid. It stems from a personal obsession of mine, illustrated in part by this thread. I was wondering, why the first Learjet model was the Learjet 23? Any specific reason?

My brother, Bill, Jr. say it was the 23rd. design. I think thats BS. He's much older than me and always thinks he's right.

I think it was the 3rd model of the second desgn, the first design being a turbo prop pusher.

The guy who knows for sure is Don Grommesh the original and chief engineer. I will get in touch with him and get back with you soon.

From this thread.

Lear Jet was a company which produced business jets for civilian and military use. It was founded in 1960 by William Powell Lear Jr. as Swiss American Aviation Corporation. The company was formed to manufacture an executive twin-engined high speed jet to be known as the Learjet 23 (SAAC-23).

Source.

Mention the phrase “private jet” to the average person and one word immediately pops into mind: Lear. Since its first flight in 1963, William P. Lear Sr.'s innovative aircraft, built to replicate the performance and amenities of a commercial airliner, has been tantamount with executive business travel.

Source.

I'd like to think that damn 23 had some small part in the success of this revolutionary aircraft. Of course, I've been wrong before...

[edit on 4/9/06 by Implosion]

Originally posted by Implosion
Another:

Reid warns terror threat remains

His warning comes as police continue to hold 23 people over an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic jets.

Source.

I heard that figure too... but then I heard it was 24...

mustn't leave this as a one-liner...

Here is another great example, taken from this thread. Allegedly a UFO over China:



Please notice the time in the bottom right of the image. Another all knowing 23.

Yeah, I noticed that one too. They really are just everywhere. And now we have 23_Paperclips popping up on the forum. If there's anyone able to do a statistical analysis of any numbers that crop up in ATS member names it'd be interesting.

And that ghost car video was rather cool. I'd like to have seen the unedited version of the tape to get a better idea of the turn of speed that car had. Also, they don't go back and look at the driver as you'd expect them to.

I was reading through this rather worrying thread. Let me post a little from the quoted source:

The vast Amazon rainforest is on the brink of being turned into desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate, alarming research suggests. And the process, which would be irreversible, could begin as early as next year.

Studies by the blue-chip Woods Hole Research Centre, carried out in Amazonia, have concluded that the forest cannot withstand more than two consecutive years of drought without breaking down.

Source.

Obviously, disturbing news. "What's it doing here?" I hear you cry, well...
When was it published? I think you already know...

Amazon rainforest 'could become a desert'
And that could speed up global warming with 'incalculable consequences', says alarming new research
By Geoffrey Lean in Manaus and Fred Pearce
Published: 23 July 2006

Damn you 23!

[edit on 8/9/06 by Implosion]

Another 23, taken from here.

From this thread:

Amazing new photos have been released by The Great Lakes Dive Company concerning their discovery of the famous Kinross F-89 Scorpion jet fighter that disappeared over Lake Superior on November 23, 1953. The plane had been ordered to investigate an unknown object that was being tracked on radar.

Source.