My friend Nancy (http://blogs.myspace.com/bluebirdsarefree) reminds us that today is Leonard Peltier’s birthday, and that we can leave him a birthday greeting at http://kola-ipf.livejournal.com/ .
Courtesy of my friend Chris Chandler, here are some more reasons to “celebrate” 9-9-09″
http://www.myspace.com/chrischandlerorg
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Today is 9-9-9 Let us celebrate the number 9…
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Well, it’s that time of the ummm year again
For the past 9 years, I have been sending out an additional “Muse and Whirled Retort” when the day, month and year are the same, such as February 2nd, 2002 etc. Four four four was a particularly good one.
So it is that time again! Today is Nine Nine Nine. Let us have a look at the number 9.
Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall
Number Nine Number Nine Number Nine Ironically, The Beatles are choosing this date to launch the Beatles Rock Band video game. How’s that song go? Number Nine
Number Nine Number Nine No, Not that one “Gimmie Money that’s what I want!”
John wrote Revolution 9 and George wrote “Cloud 9.” When the remaining two were asked if there was any significance to the release date being 9-9-9, they answered in German: “nein.”
I guess the most common reference is to 9 is a cat having nine lives hence the Nine Lives brand of cat food. I always thought that was an odd name for a brand of food. Like their slogan, “Well it’s not going to kill the cat.” But it may kill the K-9.
So where does it come from the nine lives thing?
One theory on the origin of this expression is that in ancient times nine was a lucky number because it is the Trinity of Trinities. As cats seem able to escape injury time and time again, this lucky number seemed suited to the cat. While in most countries the cat is said to have nine lives, in Arab and Turkish proverbs, poor puss has a mere seven lucky lives, and in Russia is said to survive nine deaths.
In Europe, a fear of cats for some religious reason or other I really dont quite get it led to their mass slaughter and when folks tied to drop them from high places, they had to do it nine times. The cats got the last laugh though, ’cause without the cats, the fleas needed somewhere to lite and, well, that brought on the plague, and humans only have one life.
In many African cultures, the cat is considered holy I only say this as I cite Zora Neale Hurston, an influential African-American writer of the early parts of the 20th century. She told the story of a very hungry cat that entered a house one day and found a plate of nine fish that were going to be eaten for dinner by the nine starving children who lived there. The cat was feeling a little selfish that day and ate up all of the fish in nine quick bites. With no food on the table, the nine starving children died of hunger the very next day, along with the cat, who died from eating WAY too much.
God was so angry with the cat that he threw him out of heaven and made him fall for nine days all the way back to earth. To this day, the cat still holds the nine lives of the starving children in his belly, which is why he must die nine different times before he will stay dead.
A similar thing happened to Sally Struthers, but I digress
I had always thought it had something to do with the cat-o-nine tails. But no. That goes back to the 17th century. It is a whip much like a riding crop with 9 tails designed to inflict much pain (oddly, from Hinduism). 9 is the complete number, and after the English invaded India, it was developed by the English Navy for complete punishment. These days, its mostly used in the S&M scene. Brings new meaning to that song “In the Navy.”
Nine is the counting number between 8 & 9 (for the fourth year in a row). Why was 6 afraid of seven? Because 7 ate 9. Sorry, I had to.
Nine is the last digit and has often represented the end.
There are 9 planets (I still love you, Pluto!).
And nine muses (also streets in New Orleans): Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Erato (erotic poetry), Euterpe (lyric poetry), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (song), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), and Urania (astronomy).
The muses get 9 streets in New Orleans named for them because the city that never sleeps (alone) is also the home of Engine Engine #9.
Ramadan takes place in the 9th month.
The number 9 is revered in Hinduism and considered a complete, perfected and divine number because it represents the end of a cycle in the decimal system, which originated from the Indian subcontinent as early as 3000BC.
There are 9 circles of hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy.
There are several rituals involving 9 Buddhist monks but they also involve a vow of silence, so I really dont know what they are.
The term Cloud Nine, which usually means to be in a place of bliss, actually came from the US, from a late 40s radio broadcast Johnny Dollar. Whenever the hero knocked the villain out, the announcer said he had gone to cloud 9.
Cloud Nine was not enough for Gene Rodenberry He took it all the way to Deep Space 9. At least he didn’t take it to District 9.
There are 9 innings in a baseball game one for each member of the Supreme Court.
9-ball became popular when they started televising pool matches. Watching someone else play pool on TV sounds about as exciting as watching someone play cards on TV, but people do it. 9-ball proceeds more rapidly than 8-ball because contrary to what the names would imply, there are actually fewer balls on the table.
The San Francisco 49ers are often called the 9ers perhaps that is because they play so poorly you would think there were only 9 on the field instead of the eleven you are supposed to have.
“BLOCK THAT KICK BLOCK THAT KICK number nine BLOCK THAT KICK number nine” not exactly a sing along I went to art school and it was our fight song not really it was Carmina Barana (really)
Drew Brees of my beloved New Orleans Saints wears number 9 and the season starts on Sunday so we do not yet have a losing record. We are in fact #1. Granted, we are tied with everyone else, but we are in fact #1 but will likely wind up around 9th. (8 teams make it into the playoffs)
I figure the Saints will finally be Superbowl-bound about the time I write the 12-12-12 newsletter but then the Mayan calendar will end, and all of the euphemisms about the saints winning the super bowl and the world ending will be true.
