Elliott C. Back: <3 Wendy Bug

23 Is Destiny

Posted in General by Elliott Back on May 18th, 2007.

This page is dedicated to the number 23. You might not think 23 is special, but it’s the smallest odd cototient prime, and forms a boundary point for the birthday paradox. It is the number of the Illuminati, and my birthday.


The 23 Enigma

All events are connected to the number 23, a belief held by Discordians and myself. According to Wikipedia, 23 is “considered either lucky, unlucky, sacred to the goddess Eris, sinister, sacred to the unholy gods of the Cthulhu Mythos, or strange.”


23 in Pop Culture

There have been two movies made about the number 23. In 1998, the movie 23 came out as a German movie about a hacker Karl Koch who committed suicide on May 23, 1989. More recently, The Number 23 starring Jim Carrey was released on February 23, 2007 to overwhelmingly bad reviews. The number also appears as a reference in television and other movies:

  • Star Wars - Princess Leia was held in cell AA23
  • The Matrix - Neo needed 23 people to found Zion
  • Lost - 23 is in the sequence of mystical numbers {4,8,15,16,23,42}

In sports, Michael Jordan and David Beckham wear the symbol 23 on their jerseys.


Mathematical properties of 23

  • 23 is a prime number, as well as a factorial, Woodall, Smarandache-Wellin, Eisenstein, Sophie Germain, and Safe prime
  • 23 is the smallest odd prime which is not a twin prime
  • 23 is one of two integers that cannot be expressed as the sum of fewer than 9 cubes of integers
  • Codewords in the perfect binary Golay code are of size 23
  • There 23 Axioms in Euclid’s Geometry.


23 is Holy

  • The best Psalm is the 23rd Psalm of the 23rd book of the Bible.
  • In 23 years the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad.
  • In Buddhist cosmology there are 23 events irreducible to either mind or matter.
  • Hexagram 23 in I Ching means “breaking apart.”
  • L. Ron Hubbard’s Axiom 23, “All thought is concerned with motion.”
  • December 23, 2012 is the date the Mayans believed the world will end.
  • Jacques de Molay was the 23rd and last of the Knights Templar Grandmasters.


Science & 23

It’s no coincidence that human sex cells have 23 chromosomes, or that earth has an Axial tilt of 23.5 degrees. There’s more of 23 to be found in nature, however:

  • 23 is the atomic number for Vanadium
  • Sodium has an atomic mass of ~23
  • Only 23 people allowed in a AOL chatroom
  • The letter W is the 23 letter of this alphabet. The symbol for that letter is 2 points down and 3 points up.
  • September 23 is the Fall Equinox.


The Number 23 in the News

2009-06-29: The baby that was born at 23 weeks and survived. Six months on, Jessica Hawkins is still on the tiny side - but has beaten the odds by growing into a healthy baby girl. [ref]

2007-05-20: Paris Hilton’s jail sentence for driving on a suspended license has been reduced to 23 days, with no more appeals. [ref]

2007-05-18: A 60 year old man died on a No. 23 bus yesterday after a fight with an unidentified passenger. [ref]

2001-09-11: The September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center leveled three major NY buildings; the digits 2+1+9+11 add up to 23.

1935-10-23: Dutch Schultzhad Vincent Coll assassinated on 23rd Street in New York when Coll was 23 years old. Schultz himself was assassinated on the 23rd of October. [ref]

1805-12-23: Joseph Smith, Jr. who founded the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) was born. [ref]

1564-4-23: Shakespeare was born on April 23rd 1564 and died on the same day, in 1616.

44BC-4-15: Julius Ceasar, betrayed by friends, is stabbed 23 times and dies. [ref]


Resources for Finding 23

Here are some external resources for exploring the number twenty three:


My Impressions

I’m extraordinarily lucky because this number is my birthday, yet I will probably die a violent and horrible death. The power of 23 grant me glory!

This entry was posted on Friday, May 18th, 2007 at 8:28 pm and is tagged with jacques de molay, hacker karl koch, star wars princess leia, buddhist cosmology, l ron hubbard, sophie germain, goddess eris, cthulhu mythos, birthday paradox, princess leia, mystical numbers, 4 8 15 16 23 42, matrix neo, discordians, december 23 2012, boundary point, mathematical properties, wellin, number 23, michael jordan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.

29 Responses to “23 Is Destiny”

  1. James Jerreau says:

    You really should have included the Law of Fives (another Discordian discovery).

    First - not the law - note that 23 contains the number five (2 + 3).

    The law of fives states that ALL phenomena whatsoever are in some way connected to the number five, or to the number 23, given enough ingenuity on the part of the researcher.

  2. Wendy says:

    hehe, I owe you a comment on 23 =)))
    To be honest, I do feel somewhat connected with this number. My deskmate in the middle school used to have 23 as his class number. We are competing in everything!!! not just studying and grades, but speed of eating lunch!! — and that was published on the newspaper. lol. (i’m telling u the truth, cuz we both want to eat really fast and see who could save more time for studying!)
    Yeah, that was my impression in the past of 23.
    Now, of course, because of Elliott, my one and only love in the world, I like 23 A LOT as well =)))))

    hmmm, can u guess what was my class number in the middle school?

    It was 16!
    i’m not sure whether i still like it that much or not.

    oh, well, thats part of my password in general use. ^^ so… hehe. i couldn’t possiblly make any change of this preference now.

    My favorite digit is seven.

    hmm, i think i believed more in the magic of number when I was younger.

    But anywayz, it was really entertaining to read such an article, my numberic magician Elliott :)

  3. Jim says:

    23 is also the number that Don Mattingly wore. Go Yankees!

  4. Nicole says:

    Elliot,
    I have actually never been to your site, but that was very interesting. Thanks for that post, I never knew all of that.
    Keep up the good work, and research.
    You should be proud!!
    Email me some time!
    -nicole

  5. MJ says:

    How bout 13, is it any significant compare to 23. Just curious if you’ll decide to write something about 13 later on.

  6. lita says:

    the word life in numbers is 12965 and it = 23

  7. kelly says:

    I was born on 11/8/67. (1+1+8+6+7=23).
    My wife was born on 7/25/72. (7+2+5+7+2=23).

    Weird.

  8. Kels says:

    that’s why my lucky number is 32.

  9. Channing says:

    23 is the closest integer to e^pi (e and pi being two of the most important constants in mathematics).

  10. betty says:

    My birthday, my daughter, my husband, my stepson, 3 nephews and 3 friends are all the 23rd

  11. Matt K. says:

    23 has always been one of my favorite numbers.

  12. Thomas Cleberg says:

    23 is also the 23rd number if you count to 23 by 1/23rd of 23. There are 23 Quarters in 5.75, which is also 23 x .25 (or .5 squared. Coincidence? I think not.) There are also 23 units of any group with only 23 members. The phrase “The complete second season”, found on DVD collection boxes around the world has 23 letters. There are 23 words in the first 23 words of Don Quixote. But, to my amazement… there are 24(!) examples of the significance of the holy number 23 on your post! Holy god I’ve found a new holy number. There are 24 hours in a day.. 24 adds up to 6, which is what you multiply by 4 to get it.. 24 is equally close to the tilt of the earth’s axis as 23, so it fulfills that as well! 23 is old news. 24 is the new hotness.

  13. James C says:

    23 is my lucky number. I didnt realise other’s had an obsession like me until i saw the Jim Carrey Movie and it’s even more apparent in looking at this site.

    Now my friends know it’s not just me that likes the number and notices it at least 5 times a day on the clock!

  14. Dingle says:

    Damn i searched this on google and their is a lot of things about 23 its weird but cool at the same time.

  15. Sydney says:

    That is certainly neat though, personally, I like the numbers 17 and 7 better. Everyone in my family was born on the 17th or the 7th… that, or the number seven can be multiplied by __(whatever)__ to get their birth date.
    Do you think the number 23 shows up so many time by chance, or does anyone here believe that the supernatural has something to do with it? My answer: chance.

    If I may… I would like to post another topic that falls under the “Chance or Fate?” category. I have been knowing this for a long time (and maybe others have, too) but I never spoke to anyone who knew about it and was willing to talk about it. I would love to hear what others have to say. Here it is… forry if you already all knew this:

    Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
    John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.
    Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
    John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
    Both were particularly cencerned with civil rights.
    Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.
    Both presidents were shot on a Friday.
    Both Presidents were shot in the head.
    Lincoln’s secretary was named Kennedy.
    Kennedy’s secretary was named Lincoln.
    Both presidents were assassinated by southerners.
    Both were succeeded by southerners named Johnson.
    Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
    Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.
    John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
    Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.
    Both assassins were known by their three names.
    Both names were composed of fifteen letters.
    Lincoln was shot at a theater named “Ford”.
    Kennedy was shot in a car called “loncoln” made by “Ford”.
    Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse.
    Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theater.
    A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland.
    A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

    Once again, sorry if this is common knowledge among the entire US but, like I said, I never was able to talk about it with anybody. So I honestly wouldn’t know.

    ~Sydney

  16. Josh says:

    Read about numerology and meaning of numerals- http://www.infokolumna.info ther is also english version.

  17. 234 is my fave number, its a number for my cigar :D

  18. hehe. 23 Michael Jordan!

  19. Wendy says:

    ahhhhh, when did u change the name of ur blog to “Elliott Back: <3 wendy bug”.
    So sweet of u bird! *muah*
    Wendy is becoming 23 soon…

  20. IXUS 80 says:

    Very interesting!

    I learned a lot of things about the number 23 I didn't know.

  21. Katie says:

    I’m the 23rd comment on this!

  22. Garo says:

    23 Responses to “23 Is Destiny”

    I loled

  23. LOST says:

    LLL OOOOOOO SSSSSSS TTTTTTT
    LLL OOO OOO SSS TTT
    LLL OOO OOO SSS TTT
    LLL OOO OOO SSSSSSS TTT
    LLL OOO OOO SSS TTT
    LLL OOO OOO SSS TTT
    LLLLLLL OOOOOOO SSSSSSS TTT

  24. Sanj says:

    6 and 8 are where it’s at.

    In the end, it’s n.u.m.b.e.r.s. They all rock.

    The end.

  25. Cram says:

    Hail Eris All Hail Discordia

Leave a Reply

Powered by WP Hashcash