Saturday, 070707

Tomorrow, the calendar reads 070707.
What's the significance of this set of numbers? Nothing, if you are not superstitous.
To me, they are a nice combination of numbers that I wouldn't mind having as part of my telephone number.
But for some people, 070707 is more than that -- the 7th day of the 7th month of the year '07 is going to be their lucky day. Besides, the next time the calendar reads that way will be the 7th day of the 7th month of the year, 2107.

Here's an article from Live Science.com:

Believing the triple appearance of the number 7 will bring luck, many people are planning important events for this first Saturday in July. Brides and grooms, especially, looking for a little extra dose of marital fortune, are flocking to the altar in droves on 07/07/07, according to wedding watchers.
If they only knew what the Chinese were thinking.
The number seven is considered lucky due to its frequent and favorable appearance in the Bible, say historians.
"As the number of the days of God's first week, of the levels of heaven…of the numbers of angels and trumpets, etc., the number came in the last few centuries BCE to represent divine perfection," said David Frankfurter, professor of religious studies and history at the University of New Hampshire. "Something organized seven-fold meant that it corresponded to God's own arrangement."
Numbers control our fate?
Just as some people wouldn't dare get married on a Friday the 13th or live in a house with the address 666, believing in the positive influence of the number seven is just another technique humans use to have some jurisdiction over the chaotic world around them, said Frankfurter.
“In our modern American society we have a tendency to look for magical ways to control the world or fate, so numerology is especially important for us,” Frankfurter said.
The obsession with numerology—and other para-sciences like astrology—tends to get stronger especially during significant life events like marriages, he added. "It represents Americans' rather weak (compared to Asian cultures') attempt to exert some numerical or calendrical control over important life-cycle, transition, or other crisis situations," Frankfurter told LiveScience.
Trying to find meaning in numbers is a practice that goes back to ancient times, say historians, and doesn't begin and end with 6, 7 and 13.
There are many other numbers in the Bible that were thought to have sacred meanings, said Frankfurter, including twelve (for the tribes of Israel and the zodiac), five (books of Moses) and four (archangels, gospels).
Lucky numbers also vary from culture to culture, proving, skeptics say, that coincidental connections between an event and the influence of a number can always be found if you're looking hard enough, no matter what the digit.
Chinese culture, for example, associates "degrees" of luck according to how a number is pronounced. Eight, whose Chinese name rhymes with the words for prosperity and wealth, is considered particularly auspicious. The Beijing Olympics, as a result, will open next year at 8 pm. on Aug 8, 2008.
Oh, and many Chinese consider 7 a very unlucky number associated with death. Don’t tell the brides.

While we're on the subject, let me remind you about the 070707 Green Everyday Concert that will be held tomorrow (of course) at the Bukit Jalil Stadium from 4pm to midnight. Admission is free. It is a concert for the environment and is being held simultaneously with similar concerts across the globe. Among the more than 55 performers are "Papa Rock" Ramli Sarip, Zainal Abidin and Dayang Nurfaizah.

So, as they say, be there or be square.