Museletter the 128th

This week, as the world is celebrating the 60th Super Bowl, I’m spending a lot of time marveling about the number 60, which I consider The Anti-Metric. I mean, 60 is the reason 12 inches make up a foot, why there are 12 marks on a clock, and even why skateboarders attempt 360° turns… Metric, with all its tens and tenths, and zeros and ones, is a perfect system for an industrial or technological age. But if you’re focused more on time and space (such as agriculture or measuring land and so on), then basing your math on 60 makes much more sense.

Why? Because 60 is evenly divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30. That means it’s easy to cut in half, or a quarter, or a third, or a fourth, or a fifth, and so on… No need to deal with messy fractions or decimals! So a clock is made of 60 minutes, a minute is made of 60 seconds… If you put six groups of 60 together, you make 360 degrees in a circle… An acre of land defines a parcel based on furlongs—which are 660 feet long (eleven 60s).

It’s even hard coded into the human body: Look at your hands… See how each finger has three segments? Count them all up and you’ll find 12 segments. So 12 segments on one hand and five fingers on the other hand… 12 times 5 is what? 60!

Of course, the best thing about “counting by 60” (math calls it “base 60”) is its name: sexagesimal. I mean, just ask any teenager if they’d rather count in decimal or sexagesimal!

The Painting

Of course, some of you know there’s another reason I’m thinking so much about the number 60 this month. Perhaps it’s because the original Star Trek came out 60 years ago, in 1966? So did Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde album! Or maybe I’m musing because 60 years ago, Doritos became the first mass produced corn chip. (Did you know that Doritos were invented at a restaurant in Disneyland as a way to use up extra tortillas?)

60 years ago, Simon and Garfunkel released their album “Sounds of Silence” and UK recording artist David Jones changed his last name to Bowie to avoid being confused with the musician Davy Jones of The Monkees. 60 years ago, the film adaptation of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee was released, staring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. (If you haven’t seen it, you must, but be sure to have a stiff drink ready afterward, along with time for a long walk.

In 1966, the Chicago Bulls were admitted to the National Basketball Association and Time magazine asked on its cover: “Is God Dead?’ (An excellent example that correlation does not imply causation.) A ride called “It’s a Small World” opened at Disneyland (where you could also buy Doritos… did I mention that?) The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded, and the Beatles performed their final (paid) concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. 

The internet informs me that an object made 60 years ago is not an antique, or old, but rather “vintage.” As I write, I have sitting here a 60-year-old painting that hung in a home where a baby once slept, dreaming of what the next 60 years would bring. The painting is of a woman—a woman whom we might have once called a crone or hag, but now we know the correct term is vintage—a woman who in the old country could have been turning 60.

The painting reminds me that our idea of what 60 means changes radically from different perspectives. To a child, 60 is almost impossibly ancient. To my parents, 60 is young, with many adventures to come. Star Trek and the Beatles and Doritos and the Bulls have all stood the test of time, and through the magic of rediscovery and reinvention have become nearly immortal.

My optometrist likes to say that just because we get to add more years doesn’t mean we have to get older. But becoming more vintage? I can live with that.

An Ode to 128

OK, I can't close without remarking that this is Museletter the 128th, a number which in some ways is even more interesting than 60. No, wait, don't stop reading! I know it's about math, but it's really cool.

You'll note that you can get to 128 by "doubling": 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128… and if those numbers sound vaguely familiar, it's because all of digital computing technology is based on them. If you count using just zeros and ones (called binary), you can get up to 64 with 6 digits, and 128 with seven—which is why 128 is called "two to the seventh."

As computer tech is helping medicine improve at an ever greater rate, I won't be entirely surprised if people start living to 128, and we may have to once again redefine the term "vintage."

Thank You

I enjoy sharing my musings… and I enjoy hearing yours! Please share this newsletter with a friend, follow me on LinkedIn, and send me feedback. You can always reach me at david@creativepro.com