4.7 KiB
[RT] Unsong - Interlude א: The Cracks In The Sky
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Author: u/gamarad LessWrong (than usual)*
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URL: http://unsongbook.com/interlude-%D7%90-the-cracks-in-the-sky/
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Score: 44
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Created: 2016-01-07T04:30:45
Post:
Comments:
u/ulyssessword [+27] (an hour later)
Tuesdays stopped happening.
Tuesday is the third day, when God created dry ground, plants, and trees. Earth skipped three Tuesdays. It is also the third (and presumably last) Friday (when God created animals and man), that Uriel called the President. He then goes on to play Bach’s Concerto I in D Minor, which has three movements. On the first Friday, he stared at the phone for three minutes.
The phone call is at 7:38PM, Washington DC time, which is solar midnight in Israel.No, it isn't.Uriel speaks exactly seven sentences to Nixon.
Edit: There were 13 expletives deleted in the passage, there are 13 principles of the Jewish Faith, and God has 13 Attributes of Mercy.
EDIT 2: March 14 is 80 days (40 + 40) from the day Apollo 8 crashed into the firmament.
None of this was a coincidence because nothing was ever a coincidence.
EDIT 2.1:March 14 is also Steak and BJ Day, which may in fact be a coincidence.
u/Escapement [+3] Ankh-Morpork City Watch (18 hours later)
Re: Solar Midnight: DC is on -5, israel is on +2, so the time would be 2:38 AM. Sunrise would be coming at 5:52 AM, and had set previously at 5:48 PM. The time is closer to solar midnight somewhere in England/France/etc, at a guess
u/ulyssessword [+1] (19 hours later)
Derp. I should have used something like this website instead of trying to do it myself, late at night.
u/Anderkent [+1] (8 hours later)
EDIT 2: March 14 is 80 days (40 + 40) from the day Apollo 8 crashed into the firmament
Are you counting the days that didn't happen? How are you counting the triple fridays?
u/ulyssessword [+2] (11 hours later)
I counted it as a standard calendar would. The tuesdays count, and all of the Fridays count as a combined one day.
If you wanted to skip the Tuesdays and count the extra Fridays as one day each, it would be the 79th day.
u/SvalbardCaretaker [+2] Mouse Army (14 hours later)
And how is 40 a relevant number? (2x40?) I really appreciate you doing the write-ups.
u/ulyssessword [+5] (16 hours later)
40 is a very common biblical number, from Noah's flood lasting 40 days, to the Israelites wandering the desert for 40 years. IIRC, it is also how long Jesus fasted for in the desert before being tempted by the devil, among other things.
u/ZeroNihilist [+3] (18 hours later)
Seems like 40 is related to trials, or more specifically periods of meaningful privation.
u/SvalbardCaretaker [+2] Mouse Army (16 hours later)
Thank you.
u/Transfuturist [+2] Carthago delenda est. (21 hours later)
Noah's flood doesn't just last 40 days, it lasts 40 days and 40 nights. This may explain the doubling.
u/Transfuturist [+1] Carthago delenda est. (21 hours later)
March 14 is also Steak and BJ Day, which may in fact be a coincidence.
This is not a coincidence, nothing is ever a coincidence. ;)
u/TeMPOraL_PL [+1] (2 days later)
Observing comments like these showing up in great amount under book updates makes me afraid that we'll all eventually go crazy from finding connections like these.
u/None [+3] (24 minutes later)
[deleted]
u/Transfuturist [+4] Carthago delenda est. (21 hours later)
This story is supposed to be lighthearted from what I hear, and this was perfect. I don't get a feeling of tension from the first chapter, only blue balls.
u/2BR02B [+2] Marxist-Lurianism (3 hours later)
I feel like that's supposed to be the point of the interludes, though. To lighten up a bit.
u/alexanderwales [+8] Time flies like an arrow (3 hours later)
My problem is that this one comes in too early. I'm not at the point where I need things to be lightened up, I want to get on with the actual plot. So on reflection I think I agree with /u/gardenofjew, the interlude pops the tension at a time when I wanted tension to be ramping up.
u/rthomas2 [+1] (a day later)
And we're back :) Can't imagine any better story to get me reading r/rational again.