Post 153

The Todd – Part 4 can wait. Right now, it’s anniversary time!

To celebrate this occasion, this post will cover everything related to the title and tagline of this blog.

The Far Side

The “Midvale School for the Gifted” cartoon was probably the first Far Side comic I ever saw. It was on a shirt at Joslins (modern day Dillard’s), and I proudly wore that shirt, and the other 4 Far Side shirts I owned, more than any other articles of clothing.

The Number 153
Today I Googled 153 and came upon this site: The Symbolism and Spiritual Significance of the Number 153

This site went into a great amount of detail about Revelation 15:3 (“And they sing the song of Moses [Deut. 32:1], the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb…”) and John 21:11 (the catch of 153 fish). But I wasn’t fully able to understand everything which was being talked about, so I’ll save that for another day.

It did, however, have some interesting claims about 153:

1 – Michael the archangel = 153
2 – The length of the grand gallery inside the Great Pyramid = 153 feet
3 – All of the apostles names combined = 459 (153 x 3)
4 – 1, 5 and 3 are the degrees in a scale used to make a chord

Hearts
Here is what a game of Hearts would look like if Jon D, Lee, Jodi and I played (the outcome would be the same, regardless of the players).

As you can see, they would all put up a good fight, but would not be able to stop me from shooting the moon (twice).

Minesweeper
I haven’t really talked too much about Minesweeper. I believe we got our first computer when I was in 9th grade. Since we did not have any “computer games”, I played Hearts, Solitaire, Freecell and Minesweeper ALL THE TIME. Consequently, I have never found anyone who can come close to my Minesweeper records.

And that, my friends, is what makes up the perfect blog.

Hotel Mixup

I originally thought I would be leaving Minnesota later than I did, so I booked a hotel. Unfortunately, someone didn’t get the memo and gave me Room 253 instead.

Reason #16 why 153 is the greatest number ever

Interesting tidbit of information: If you drive 153 miles south of Burnsville, MN

… (and then drive 4 more miles) you come to mile marker 153 in Iowa.

Coincidence? I think not.

Reason #15 why 153 is the greatest number ever

This could be a stretch to some… but here it goes:

My name is Jonathan David Carlson

J is the 10th letter of the alphabet
There are 5 letters in my middle name
C is the 3rd letter of the alphabet

Therefore (by removing the 0)… JDC = 153

Reason #14 why 153 is the greatest number ever

If you say 153 increasingly from left to right => 1, 15, 153

The number 115,153 is prime

Reason #13 why 153 is the greatest number ever

This really just has to do with interesting things about the numbers 1, 5, and 3 that I’ve discovered while being bored one day

(1 + 5 + 3)^0 = 1

1^0 + 5^0 + 3^0 = 3

1^0 + 5^0 + 3^1 = 5

1^0 + 5^1 + 3^2 = 15

1^2 + 5^2 + 3^2 = 35

1^1 + 5^2 + 3^3 = 53

1^2 + 3^2 + 5^3 = 135

Reason #12 why 153 is the greatest number ever

If p(x) represents the number of primes up to x, then the following is true:

p(153) = p(15) * 3!

where:
p(153) = 36 => 2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23 29 31 37 41 43 47 53 59 61 67 71 73 79 83 89 97 101 103 107 109 113 127 131 137 139 149 151

p(15) = 6 => 2 3 5 7 11 13

3! = 3 x 2 x 1 = 6

so… 36 = 6*6

Reason #11 why 153 is the greatest number ever

1^0 + 5^1 + 3^2 = 1 * 5 * 3

Reason #10 why 153 is the greatest number ever

While I should stop at #9 since it is a perfect square, and 1 + 5 + 3 = 9, I just have to keep going…

If all 6 combinations of number 1, 5, 3 are taken to form a three digit number then the following holds true:

153 + 315 + 531 = 351 + 135 + 513

Reason #9 why 153 is the greatest number ever

For all you Bible-readers out there…

“Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way:

Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.

‘I’m going out to fish,’ Simon Peter told them, and they said, ‘We’ll go with you.’ So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

He called out to them, ‘Friends, haven’t you any fish?’ ‘No,’ they answered.

He said, ‘Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.’ When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, ‘It is the Lord,’ he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.

The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.

When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish you have just caught.’

Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn.”

John 21:1-11