Thursday, January 28, 2016

Page 194: A Numerological Guide to Tweezer.Me

On page 194 we see for the first time the url for www.tweezer.me, which is in reality a microsite dedicated to showing some Destiny Jones status updates that do not appear in The Billionth Monkey. These posts also appear on Destiny Jones’s Facebook page, but on Tweezer I can control the time of the post, the number of likes, and other details for bonus Easter eggs. I held off on discussing the url until this point of the walk-through because the website contains spoilers. As does this post, so if you haven’t read The Billionth Monkey yet you may want to hold off reading this post.

The user icon (photo by steve prue) and cover image for Destiny Jones's Tweezer account.

Here’s a guide to the posts as they appear (i.e., in reverse chronological order):

9:30 on February 27: This post refers to the scene at the Men in Black nightclub (page 184). “Sir” is a term from the leather crowd. Here we find the following numerical Easter eggs:
  • 276 (from 6,276 followers) = עור, leather.
  • 52 (from 52 likes) = MIB, or “Men in Black.”
  • 93 (from 9:30) = the number of times HAL transmits the message “ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS—EXCEPT EUROPA ATTEMPT NO LANDING THEREat the end of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2010.
7:18 on February 27: Refers to the lighter on page 190.
  • 31 (from 31 likes) = the path on the Tree of Life attributed to the element of fire.
  • 111 (6,111 followers) = אלף, the letter alef spelled in full, which is attributed to the Tarot card The Fool (i.e., clown).
  • 718 (from 7:18) = The monolith on Jupiter is 718 times larger than the one on the moon, according to Arthur C. Clarke. This is also the number of the hangar whose sensors Rey triggers in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
February 26: This one was posted shortly after her encounter with The Slasher (page 134).
  • 13 (from 13 likes) = אחד, achad, one (i.e. “uni”).
  • 350 (from 4,350 followers) = קרן, qeren, horn (“corn”).
  • 326 (from 3:26) = κερας, keras, horn
February 25: Posted just before Destiny Jones meets Niels Belanger (page 97).
  • 12/06 (from 12:06) is the traditional date of Krampusnacht (Krampus being the person depicted in this post).
  • 15 (from 3,015 followers) = the number of the Tarot card The Devil.
  • 26 (from 26 likes) = the path on the Tree of Life attributed to the Tarot card The Devil. [Since there are 10 sefirot, for clarity the twenty-two netivot or paths are commonly numbered from 11 to 32. The first of the twenty-two Tarot majors is numbered zero...putting the fifteenth card on path 26.]
So this post is a big #DevilReference, and also kind of foreshadowing.

January 1: Destiny gets invited skiing in Wyoming. (See conversation on page 102).
  • 65 (from 65 likes) = ניה = NYE, i.e. New Year’s Eve.
  • 114 (from 1:14) = בהן (thumb) x 2 i.e. “who has two thumbs?”
December 24: A reference to Christmas is yet to come in the story (page 251).
  • 310 = שי, gift or tribute
  • 495 = מטנה, gift
  • 61 = אין, ain, not…a homonym and bad pun for “knot.”
December 5: This paper is later referenced on page 209.
  • 56 (from 56 likes) = אימה, emah, horror
  • 606 (from 6:06) = פלצות, pallatsuth, horror or fright
Readers of Perdurabo may recall that December 5 was the date of Aleister Crowley’s funeral in 1947.

December 1: We know from page 101 that Destiny’s mother is a painter.
  • 52 (from 52 likes) = אימא, mother.
  • 42 (from 6:42) = אמא, mother
  • 60 (from 2,060 followers) = ס, samekh, the letter attributed to the Tarot card Art.
Readers of Perdurabo may recall that December 1 was the day that Aleister Crowley died in 1947.

November 10: Destiny’s first post on Tweezer.
  • 237 (from 2:37) is the valuation of “Tweezer” transliterated as טוההזהר.
  • 628 (from 1,628 followers) is the valuation of “Tweezer” transliterated as תוההזהר.
  • 31 (from 31 likes) = אל , El, God, and לא, lo, not. Put them together and we get Ello.
November 10 is also a meaningful date for me.

Finally, the sidebars at Tweezer.me contain a few self-referential goodies. On the left, we have the following trending topics, which I call Tweezer Pleasers:
  • Deepwater Lemuria Trial (mentioned on page 79)
  • Bog Snorkelling (see page 16)
  • French Quarter Shooter (see page 88 et al.)
  • Hamlet Special Edition (first mentioned on page 128).
Meanwhile on the right we have the following "sponsored" (though they're not really sponsored) ads:
  • Hamlet Special Edition graphic novel (special supplement to the book, or free online at Stanley's Marvelous Comics)
  • Godco Insurance (first mentioned on page 18)
  • The Billionth Monkey
  • Ham Stabbeth First t-shirts (mentioned on page 129) and other merchandise that you can actually buy.

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