On this day (December 4th) in 1872, the Mary Celeste was found in the Atlantic Ocean, about 400 miles (640km) east of the Azores, with some of the sails still set but no sign of life anywhere. In a fictional recounting of the incident in 1884, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- be still my beating heart -- would write an embellished retelling of the story stating that there still being half-eaten meals in the cabins, hot coffee on the stove, and cigar smoke in the air. These details were a fabrication, but is true about the story is the ten crew members were never seen again and the ships cargo (1,700 barrels of commercial-grade alcohol) untouched.
There were no signs of force or mishap, just the silent ship floating on echo-less waters.
The ship was found on the other side of the Atlantic ocean, and so we can rule out the Bermuda Triangle, what we can't rule out though is....
In other news, Space X launched its Falcon 9 with 64 satellites on it. Why 64? Am I the only one to see something funny in this number? I mean, there are 64 condons in our DNA code? The I Ching has 64 Hexagrams? And if you really want to get down to it:
- As a product of 8 x 8, it is the expression of a realized totality and perfect.
- According to R. Allendy, this number represents the "static realization - even number - of the cosmic unit - 6 + 4 = 10 - in the blooming of the beatitude. It is the final liberation which allows to the being to realize its full individuality after its cycle 4, in the links of the cosmic Karma, 60". It would represent also the natural forces acting in union with the providential determinations of the Cosmos.
- Being the cube of 4, the number 64 represents the physical world of the four elements to the third power, in the plenitude of its expansion.
- According to Claude of Saint-Martin, this number represents the "complement of the octagonal circle where the powerful number, after having covered all the depths of area and of the existence of the beings, restore the unit in its simple number, there where it was divided, and the action where reigned the nothingness and the death".
- Symbol of the paramount chaos.
Bible
- It is the number of generations from Adam until Jesus according to the Gospel of Luke.
General
- The mother of Buddha had, according to the tradition, to born in a family endowed of 64 species of qualities.
- Age of the Virgin Mary when she died, according to visions of Ann-Catherine Emmerich.
- The mathematician W. R. Ball reports the following legend: In a temple of Benares, there is a dome under which a plate of bronze marks the center of the world. On this plate, there are three vertical stems of one cubit height. During the creation of the world, God placed on one of the stems 64 discs of gold of different sizes, the largest at the basis, the others going decreasing. In top, the smallest disc. This accumulation is the tower of Brahma. Night and day, without stop, the priests relay to transfer the discs from a stem to another. Only one disc must be take at once and it is forbidden to place a disc on another of lower diameter. When the 64 discs will be transferred from the tower of Braham to an other stem, the temple and the Universe will crumble. This will be the end of the world.
- The Chinese tradition wants that Confucius has had 64 generations since Hoang-ti, founder of the dynasty.
- The 64 devas of the Abhavara class, at the Indians.
- The 64 Koua (hexagrams) of the Yi-King.
- To the funerals of Alexander the Great, the mortuary chariot was dragged by 64 mules.
- The 64 persons in China who carry the skin of the defunct emperor.
- The 64 "tantras" (books) of the "tantrism", which is a form of Hinduism.
- The magic square using the first sixty four numbers is associated with the Mercury planet and has for sum 260.
64 7 6 60 61 3 2 57 49 55 11 13 12 14 50 56 41 18 46 21 20 43 23 48 32 34 27 37 36 30 39 25 40 26 35 29 28 38 31 33 17 42 22 44 45 19 47 24 9 15 51 52 53 54 10 16 8 63 62 4 5 59 58 1
- The 64 nucleotides of the genetic code.
- The 64 squares of a game of chessboard.