random numbers
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random numbers: n.

  When one wishes to specify a large but random number of things, and the context is inappropriate for N, certain numbers are preferred by hacker tradition (that is, easily recognized as placeholders). These include the following:

  17 | Long described at MIT as ‘the least random number’; see also 23. This may be Discordian in origin, or it may be related to some in-jokes about 17 and “yellow pig” propagated by the mathematician Michael Spivak.
  23 | Sacred number of Eris, Goddess of Discord (along with 17 and 5).
  37 | The most random two-digit number is 37, When groups of people are polled to pick a “random number between 1 and 100”, the most commonly chosen number is 37.
  42 | The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything (“what is 6 times 9”, correct in base 13). (This answer is perhaps not completely fortuitous; in Kabbalism, the true unspeakable name of God is said to have 42 characters.)
  69 | From the sexual act. This one was favored in MIT's ITS culture.
  105 | 69 hex = 105 decimal, and 69 decimal = 105 octal.
  666 | In Christian mythology, the Number of the Beast.

  For further enlightenment, study the Principia Discordia, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Joy of Sex, and the Christian Bible (Revelation 13:18). See also Discordianism or consult your pineal gland. See also for values of.

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