Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Sunday, December 19, 2004

Roger Ailes, Chairman and CEO of FOX News is talking on C-Span right now about his list of *27 THINGS* that he looks for in a good news reporter.

Sunday, December 19
Q&A: Roger Ailes, Chairman
& CEO of FOX News
On C-SPAN at 8pm ET


Yes, my friends he has a specific list of 27 things.

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Sammy's Hill

The book by Kristen Gore has two 27's!


"During my elementary school years I collected four hundred and twenty-seven acorn people from Mr. Sanford."

And

"My BlackBerry had already informed me that today was the twenty-seventh anniversary of the seventh time that Roy C. Cullivan had been struck by lightening..."

Sunday, December 12, 2004

Festival of TREES!

This year celebrates the...

<>27th Annual Festival of Trees Will Ring-In the Holiday Season for WNY

The 27th annual Festival of Trees will ring-in the season for Western New York with a series of holiday events to benefit Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Buffalo, NY Friday, Nov. 19 through Sunday, Dec. 5.




Hair?

There are, you guessed it 27 local Fantastic Sam's franchises in WNY.

Must be the hair ; )

Thursday, December 09, 2004

I hates meeces to pieces!

Story in the new Onion: World's scientists admit they just don't like mice.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND—Nearly 700 scientists representing 27 countries convened at the University of Zurich Monday to formally announce that their experimentation on mice has been motivated not by a desire to advance human knowledge, but out of sheer distaste for the furry little rodents.

D'oh!

On this week's episode of The Simpsons, Mayor Quimby had 27 illegitimate children.

(I saw this, but forgot the context of the 27 until Tim reminded me. Thanks, Tim!)

Monday, December 06, 2004

Erie PA 27

The number of the day is 27.

While council is discussing giving out money, there is a possibility that the city will have to layoff most city employees for the last two weeks of the year due to the city being out of money. The tax-and-spend democrats on Erie City Council can't seem to make any spending cuts. Council also can't count very well either because they didn't figure in the last payroll of the year into the budget. There are 27 payrolls that needed to be met for 2004 instead of the 26 they budgeted.


From Erie PA and Life, with thanks to Eden for the link.

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Ken Jennings

Of COURSE there would be a 27 somewhere!



Ken Jennings Hits New Record On 'Jeopardy!'

Jennings has won 74 straight victories on the game show, answering about 2,700 clues correctly.

See? How addictive the number is...

Ode to Stephanie : )

Sunday, November 28, 2004

Twenty-Seven Days and Counting...

I just had a 'holy crap' moment, as I realized Christmas is only four weeks away.

We've not done any shopping, or found a tree, or baked cookies....

I'm happy it's coming, I just wish it would slow down a bit!

Monday, November 29, 2004

Arlo Guthrie's 27

(thanks to Paula)

We walked in, sat down, Obie came in with the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one, sat down.

-Alice's Restaurant

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Thursday, November 18, 2004

That guy from Spin City and Mad About You

Richard Kind did a guest spot on Scrubs last week, playing a hypochondriac who had been to the hospital 27 times.

Clintonian 27

27 000 guests due at opening of Clinton library

Monday, November 08, 2004

Presidential 27

From America: the Book

On page 5 of the election guide:

John Kerry: Monogrammed for Greatness

The Quest: Started early. Upon being slapped at birth, Kerry applied for, and was awarded, the first of his 27 Purple Hearts.

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Comment-able 27

This post was noticed in the comments over at Debbie's Blatherings, regarding the 30th anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons:

In honour of the 30th anniversary of D&D, I did nothing. I didn't do anything for the 27th
anniversary
, which is a more interesting number, so I thought why bother? Besides, every soul-crushing moment I spend with a computer instead of a telescope is a testament to the power of D&D.


Pepper Pike
"...this was an important moment in my life and I wanted to see every bit of it. Twenty-Seven million dollars was nothing to shrug off, and it was going to be mine. I could sense it. The ticket felt right in my hand, the numbers seemed to dance on the paper, telling me that they were winners."

The Prankster

Article in The New Yorker 10/4/04
About Maurizio Cattelan's art...


In one of his art exhibits in Milan, he placed statutes of three adolescent boys hanging from a branch of an oak tree in a public square. The public cut two of the children out of the tree, the other one stayed hanging for view officially for twenty-seven hours.

Monday, October 11, 2004

Naked (economics) 27

(from Curtis)

Just thought I'd share a paragraph out of Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan:

From 1947 to 1975, productivity grew at an annual rate of 2.7 percent
a year. From 1975 until the mid-1990s, for reasons that are still not
fully understood, productivity growth slowed to 1.4 percent a year.
That may seem like a trivial difference; in fact, it has a profound
effect on our standard of living. One handy trick in finance and
economics is the rule of 72; divide 72 by a rate of growth (or a rate
of interest) and the answer will tell you roughly how long it will
take for a growing quanitity to double (e.g. the principal in a bank
account paying 10 percent interest will double in seven years). When
productivity grows at 2.7 percent a year, our standard of living
doubles every 27 years. At 1.4 percent, it doubles every 51 years.

Super hero 27

From R.


Sunday, October 10, 2004

Friday, October 01, 2004

27 Minutes via Paul Begala ; )

While live blogging the presidential debate last night I made sure to note when there was 27 minutes left...(of course, I wanted it to be 2.7 minutes at that point the entire debate could have ended at 27 minutes and we would have the same outcome.)

BUT that is not my point my point is,

PAUL BEGALA of CNN also noted, in his blog, while live debating...at 10:03 that there was 27 minutes left in the debate.

Go here to check it out. I kid you not : )

Paul Begala is in the know...weird.

(ETA: It should be pointed out that the above was posted courtesy of Jennifer. Thanks!)

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Ohmygod...they killed Kenny!

Thanks to Ray for pointing this out...



South Park is looking for the 27 All-Time Greatest South Park Episodes.

South Park fans, it's time to pick The 27 All-Time Greatest South Park Episodes. Why 27 episodes? We'd have 28, but that's absurd. We'll show the 27 All-Time Greatest Episodes, starting Fri., Oct. 22, and going all weekend!

Monday, September 20, 2004

Electoral 27

During my class last week, I overheard one student explaining the Electoral College to another student.

"So say you have a state, and that state has, oh....27 electoral votes.

(Sort of) math-related 27

In Ookla the Mok's song Math,

How many roads must a man walk down before his journey is complete
Given: That he wants to walk twenty-seven miles and each road that he walks is 4000 feet

Monday, September 06, 2004

Polka 27

Ad in this week's Artvoice:

'Come Polka with Paul Clark'
Democratic Candidate for Congress--27th District

Taxable 27

In this week's issue of The New Yorker:

Article entitled "Tax Code"

...and the fourth rate from 28 percent to 27 percent, with more cuts scheduled for later years.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Rotten 27s

From Jasper Fforde's Something Rotten

Beginning of chapter 5:

The twenty-seven point procedure is the most costly and complicated piece of bureaucracy the city has ever devised...


End of chapter 43:

"You sent all twenty-eight of them forward just to hide St. Zvlkx?"

"Twenty-seven actually--one of them was real."

27 monkeys



Ookla the Mok's CD Smell No Evil is:

a 27-track rock opera about a space-rocket test-monkey and the boy who loves him.

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Another literary-type 27

Sarah (Squeak) writes:

Not sure if you have this one - I just finished reading Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuck. From the inside cover of the paperback:

Ever heard of a culling song? It's a lullaby sung in Africa to give a painless death to the old or infirm. The lyrics of a culling song kill, whether spoken or even just thought. You can find one on page 27 of POEM AND RHYMES FROM AROUND THE WORLD, an anthology that is on the shelves of libraries across the country.

Thanks, Sarah!

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Major League 27s

Many thanks to an alert reader who sent me this.

MINNEAPOLIS -- After playing 27 innings in 27 hours, the Oakland Athletics were just glad to be going home. Going home with two victories was a bonus.

Buffalo Regional Government!

From the Buffalo news story- Proposal: A new 'regional city'

With one chief executive elected countywide, the regional city would take on City Hall's functions and its approximately 2,700 workers, protecting their seniority without being bound by labor contracts negotiated with the former city government.

AND

The commission's plan attempts to address that issue by expanding the Legislature from 15 to perhaps as many as 27 members, with roughly nine from Buffalo since the city makes up about 30 percent of the county population.

Buffalo is in THE KNOW!
posted by jen ; )

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Princess-y 27s

From The Princess Bride by William Goldman. (That's the book version. Not the movie.)

Inigo, at the age of twenty-seven, began having a few extra glasses of wine at night, to help him get to sleep.

and

...the Prince interrupted the Archdean with gentlest manner and said, "Holiness, my love is simply overpowering my ability to wait--please skip on down to the end of the service."
The time was then 5:27

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

27 in The Village

I went to see The Village tonight, and I don't want to give away any plot points...but there is a 27 near the end of the film.

Late Show 27

Tom Cruise was a guest on tonight's Late Show with David Letterman. Dave asked Tom how many movies he's done 20? 30?

Tom said, "I don't know...definitely more than 20. Maybe twenty.....seven?"

Monday, August 02, 2004

Linky goodness

Here are some more 27-related links...

Project X: The Mystery of the Number 27

27 Number Phenomenon Sightings

Properties of the Number 27

Mystical mathematical randomness

Thanks again to Jen for finding this link.

27

The third cube, 33.

1/27 = .037037037..., and 1/37 = .027027027...

27!+1 is prime. There aren't many numbers N such that N!+1 is prime; and it's hard to find them because factorials are so large. As of May 2002, the only known values of N are: 1, 2, 3, 11, 27, 37, 41, 73, 77, 116, 154, 320, 340, 399, 427, 872, 1477, 6380, 26951, ... (Sloane's A002981).

27×227+227+27 is prime.

Because 27 is the smallest factor of 999 that is not also a factor of 9 or 99, 27 is the smallest number whose reciprocal has a 3-digit repeating pattern. See also 239 and 757.

27 is the sum of the digits 2 through 7. 15 is the other 2-digit number that shares this property.

To test a number for divisibility by 27:

Take the digits of the number in groups of 3 starting from the right, and add the resulting numbers together. If the result is more than 3 digits, repeat this process.

Check the resulting 3-digit number for divisibility by 9. If it isn't, the original number isn't divisible by 27.

If it is, divide it by 9 (see the 9 entry for a simple way to do this). Then check the answer for divisibility by 3. If it is, the original number is divisible by 27, otherwise it isn't.

See also 89, 134217728, 10888869450418352160768000000 and 103.0056206947796095239×1029.

27 is a psychologically random number, similar to 17 and 37 and having no particular cultural origin. Like 37, it is often used when some random-sounding large number is needed. For example, in Graham Greene's 1953 play The Living Room one finds the line:


ROSE Since my last confession three weeks ago I've committed adultery
twenty-seven times.


(27 is also my favorite cult number, for various reasons, for example it's the street number of a house where I grew up, and my age was 27 years + 27 days when I met a certain close friend.)

27s from the research assistant...

Since my lovely roommie was so kind as to find my explanation of the magic of 27 and put it at the top of the blog, she has been named the official research assistant of The Chronicles of 27. (It's it's own reward...)

Here are some of her sightings:

Her mother has wanted to know since 1976: Is Cathy ever going to get married?

We all know her - perhaps a little too well. Pathetic one day, empowered the next. Since she first appeared in newspapers 27 years ago, the maddening yet lovable Everywoman has struggled "with the four basic guilt groups: food, love, mother and career," said her creator, Cathy Guisewite.

27 Sightings of Late.
1. 27 days for a marriage license.

I saw this article a few days ago.
There's more to marriage than a license

BY MITCH ALBOM
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

Last week, a group of Michigan lawmakers, hoping to stem the alarming divorce rate, proposed a law: couples would have to undergo four hours of pre-marital counseling.

If they refused, they would have to wait 27 days for a marriage license, instead of just three.

Now, I can hear our married readers screaming, "Go for the 27! Are you crazy?" This only shows the disconnect between those who dream of jumping over the broom, and those who are already sweeping up.

2. 27 Giambra Regionalism Proposals.
FOCUS: GIAMBRA REPORT CARD
Short on results?

Not all of Giambra's ideas are faring so well. Of the 27 proposals floated by the county executive, the cities, towns or villages he needed to work with rejected nearly half. And some of those communities criticized Giambra for his "flavor of the month" approach to regionalism.

3. U.S. Constitution
has 27 amendments...

4. Secret Peach Passion Sparkly Gel Deodorant
2.7 ounces! What more could a Jen ask for? Peach and sparkly!

5. In the book that Erin and I bought for lent...
the first lesson...is a meditation, that you are supposed to say one time and then REPEAT 26 times. Meaning 27 times. Another sign...

8. Sofia Coppola
What up? Is she really the first American woman to be nominated as best director? And did it really take her...dadadada 27 days to make the film? Whoa. I think she was a terrible actress, right?

Walgreen's Drugstore.
I was purchasing an item that the cashier thought was in the rebate book. I knew it wasn't I already looked...but she said "just give me 27 seconds!" : )

Bam#1
Another 27 sighting...although I am not sure how positive this one is...
Some question the expense of having a full-time Council in Buffalo with its staff of 27 and dozens of interns.

We just downsized 4 at-large members, which should not have even been an issue...but...Well, isn't it obvious that we don't need that many members? But no...no...not obvious in Buffalo. Home of all things racially motivated of course. 27 staff members.

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Sightings from my alert readers...

All two of them. ;)

This one comes from Curtis at Singing Loudly:

From The Effect of Living Backwards by Heidi Julavits, copyright 2003.

In Chapter one the narrator and her sister are in a plane talking about seducing a male flight attendant to see how long it takes him. One is betting the other that he is either to fast or too slow. The sister gets up to go back and give the married flight attendant "a hand."

"The man in row 27 regarded us irritably through the seat crack as I played with her rubber watch, beeping it idiotically in my attempt to set the timer to 00:00. Edith braided her hair over her left
shoulder, then cinched the split, hoary finale with the elastic she had gripped between her teeth. She tossed the braid over her shoulder and pressed her fingers on the cowlicked heaves by her crown."

And the second, from Jen (of all things)

MIAMI (AP) -- Retired but hardly slowing down, Ricky Williams is racking up mileage instead of yardage.

Frequent flyer Williams was in Los Angeles on Monday after a brief visit to Tokyo and may next be bound for Martha's Vineyard. It's all part of a whirlwind trip that became a retirement tour when Williams decided last week he was done with football and the Miami Dolphins at age 27.

Friday, July 16, 2004

VP 27

John Edwards has been married for 27 years.

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

Jasper Fforde and 27

There is an abundance of 27s in the Thursday Next series.

In the first book, Thursday is a Literary Detective for SpecOps 27.


(text reads Wordage is our business Grammar is our game.)

I know there were more that I came across while reading, before I started formally recording them, but I've just started The Well of Lost Plots and came across this line:

I had this idea for a bumper sticker: 'A unicorn isn't for page twenty-seven, it's for eternity.'

and here's another one, referring to the car Miss Havisham is driving:

It was the 27 liter Higham Special.

Doctoral 27

Jen's doctor brother, who just celebrated one year in practice, wrote in an email to her today:

Take a quick guess on how many patient visits i averaged per week for my first year--

27.

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Literary 27s

Twenty-seven--three, and you think he might have had the edge? He murdered us.

-Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Well, I'll tell you the truth, said the little old man. I'm just twenty-seven years of age.

-Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Friday, June 04, 2004

27 and Terror

Thanks to Mac for this.

Nabil al-Marabh, once imprisoned as the No. 27 man on the FBI (news - web sites)'s list of must-capture terror suspects, is free again.

Read the complete story at yahoo.com, or get it here. I can't seem to get the link directly to yahoo to work. :(

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

The New Yorker and Blogging

This story in the New Yorker (with thanks to all things jen for the link)

She scans a dozen first thing in the morning and keeps tabs on another twenty-seven throughout the day, though any of these may lead her to countless others.

That 70's Show

Jen was watching a repeat tonight on Fox, and Kelso bought a sweater that was $27 dollars.

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Take me out to the ballgame...

News of Randy Johnson's perfect game reminds me that 27 hitters are retired in a perfect game.

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

The Simpsons

The episode that played on Fox tonight at 11:

Lisa has a new telescope and is trying to ifnd the stars. She says that at 6:22 pm, Orion will be visible at 27 degrees.

Saturday, May 01, 2004

Dave Barry 27

Friday's entry in the Dave Barry desk calendar:

"We put your question to the American Bar Association, which sent us a
127-page response."

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Miscellaneous 27s

USPS 27

a search for the US Postal Service online generated 27 results.

Hair band-related 27

Axl Rose was married to Erin Everly for 27 days.

13 Going on 30 27s

In the movie 13 Going on 30, Jenna's (Jennifer Garner's) friend says "If you're going to start lying about your age, I'd go with 27."

Also, the magazine she works for throws a party at 27 Wall Street.

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Hallmark Easter Greetings

In a card sent to me by Jen:

"Every year, the Easter Bunny tries to break the record of 327 jelly beans stuffed into his cheeks."

Monday, March 29, 2004

West Wing and more

Nothing to do with Bruce Willis or Matthew Perry

But, as my good friend Ray pointed out, "the whole nine yards" really equals "the whole 27 feet."

More West Wing

From last week's epsiode, The Supremes:

President Bartlet is having a conversation with CJ about abortion and the new potential nominee for the supreme court. He says:

"Twenty-seven million women voted for me. I think they might have had in mind that I was going to protect this particular right."

(see, I thought the whole WW 27 phenomenon had to do with Aaron Sorkin. There were also many 27s on his other show, Sports Night. Maybe he passed the power of 27 on to the writing staff!)

Sunday, March 28, 2004

That would make an excellent name for a rock band...

27 Flavors of Punk Rock

Thanks Brian, for sending this one:

The Riverdales

In Brian's own words:

This band uses what I believe is called the 27 flavors of punk rock or something like that. They are very ramones influenced and really good.

Dave Barry

From today's column:

But Dr. Atkins persisted, because he had a dream -- a dream that, some day, he would help the human race by selling it 427 million diet books.

A natural wonder?

Bar in Niagara Falls, NY--Club 427

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Sex and the City

In the finale of SATC, Alek says "The museum curator is 27 years old."

The Magic Bus

Okay, so it's not really magic, but I did pass Lakeshore Central Schools bus #327 on the road yesterday. Incidentally, 327 is also the number of the quad that me, Jen, Mary, and Karen lived in sophomore year.

Friday, March 12, 2004

Chevy Commercial

Random guy in Chevy commercial has a 27 on his shirt.

Old Navy

Speaking of shirts...Old Navy puts out a lot of 27-related merchandise. Like a t-shirt, that I own. I've also seen hats.

Sunday, March 07, 2004

On the Radio

In my car today, I flipped to the oldies station's "600 best songs of the 60s" countdown just in time to hear the last half of song #27, which was "Build Me Up, Buttercup."
The West Wing 27 Sightings

(from Season 1)

Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

President Bartlet has the line "27 lawyers in the room and none of you can tell me what 'post hoc, ergo propter hoc' means?"

A Proportional Response

The president gives his order for retailiatory military action at 16:27

Thursday, March 04, 2004

This is a blog devoted to sightings of the number 27 in pop culture, news, and any other random places it decides to pop up.

My friends and I discovered the magic of 27 in college, realizing that people would frequently cite the number 27 in conversation when needing a random number. For example:

"Oh my God, I love this movie. I've seen it like 27 times."

We then began seeing it creep into other things...movies, songs, TV shows. We discovered a website called The 27 Conspiracy, which was a great source of sightings for a while...but Brandon, the keeper of that site, got too busy to keep up with it.

Weird Al Yankovic references the number 27 in a lot of his songs and videos. Some alert listener has chronicled all the Al-related 27s here.

I'm going to post the random sightings I've seen here, and continue posting them as I see them. Have a sighting to add? Email me!