#powers of two

[janmisali]

Number Tournament: SIXTY-FOUR vs TWO HUNDRED FIFTY-SIX

64 (sixty-four)

seed: 20 (30 nominations)

class: power of two

definition: the number of squares on a chessboard

256 (two hundred fifty-six)

class: power of two

seed: 45 (9 nominations)

definition: the total number of possible states of a single byte of data

which is the best number?

sixty-four

two hundred fifty-six

Voting ended onMar 5, 2023

[no-reply95]

"Indeed, on top of whatever other reasons John had for suddenly deciding that Yoko needed to be by his side at all hours-including at Abbey Road, including at writing sessions with Paul- there is the element of the long-standing infinite game. It's hard to believe, for example, that it is merely coincidence that John's Jesus freak-out, immediately followed by his Yoko freak-out, occurred just after he'd witnessed, at extremely close hand, a jolt of electricity between Paul and a woman named Linda Eastman, who within a year would be his wife. Linda connected with Paul on the New trip, and he invited her to ride in the limousine on the way to the airport. "There was something awfully steamy going on in that car... a lot of body heat," another passenger in the car said. "It was palpable; you could feel it." Two days after Paul brought his future wife in front of John, John found himself a new woman-and a new partner. He always had to top Paul."

Joshua Wolf Shenk, Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs

[ketrinadrawsalot]

De-rezzing a bee

[bewaremylove]

“The reason we can’t assign a date to when John and Paul definitively split is that it never definitively happened.” - Powers Of Two: How Relationships Drive Creativity, by Joshua Wolf Shenk

[powersoftwo]

1564

21564 = 647 013 315 423 014 058 906 363 993 672 382 847 810 793 238 926 822 076 892 396 189 123 300 181 669 316 258 033 865 343 549 026 429 791 206 516 109 247 595 650 160 031 166 964 966 968 464 214 248 547 982 571 756 621 256 334 189 325 232 447 382 562 460 363 828 517 886 013 652 370 126 007 089 799 756 332 266 445 461 366 513 309 097 959 820 680 687 652 934 488 576 679 164 870 982 813 267 322 182 831 369 423 226 883 111 083 811 838 279 688 802 753 646 337 165 233 618 409 048 668 258 710 244 105 934 903 792 073 814 923 330 279 489 309 182 105 202 371 070 073 219 138 670 156 464 570 200 903 789 202 079 635 855 202 756 591 616 — six hundred forty-seven cenquinquinquagintillion, thirteen cenquattuorquinquagintillion, three hundred fifteen centrequinquagintillion, four hundred twenty-three cenduoquinquagintillion, fourteen cenunquinquagintillion, fifty-eight cenquinquagintillion, nine hundred six cennovemquadragintillion, three hundred sixty-three cenoctoquadragintillion, nine hundred ninety-three censeptenquadragintillion, six hundred seventy-two censexquadragintillion, three hundred eighty-two cenquinquadragintillion, eight hundred forty-seven cenquattuorquadragintillion, eight hundred ten centrequadragintillion, seven hundred ninety-three cenduoquadragintillion, two hundred thirty-eight cenunquadragintillion, nine hundred twenty-six cenquadragintillion, eight hundred twenty-two cennovemtrigintillion, seventy-six cenoctotrigintillion, eight hundred ninety-two censeptentrigintillion, three hundred ninety-six censextrigintillion, one hundred eighty-nine cenquintrigintillion, one hundred twenty-three cenquattuortrigintillion, three hundred centretrigintillion, one hundred eighty-one cenduotrigintillion, six hundred sixty-nine cenuntrigintillion, three hundred sixteen centrigintillion, two hundred fifty-eight cennovemvigintillion, thirty-three cenoctovigintillion, eight hundred sixty-five censeptenvigintillion, three hundred forty-three censexvigintillion, five hundred forty-nine cenquinvigintillion, twenty-six cenquattuorvigintillion, four hundred twenty-nine centrevigintillion, seven hundred ninety-one cenduovigintillion, two hundred six cenunvigintillion, five hundred sixteen cenvigintillion, one hundred nine cennovemdecillion, two hundred forty-seven cenoctodecillion, five hundred ninety-five censeptendecillion, six hundred fifty censexdecillion, one hundred sixty cenquindecillion, thirty-one cenquattuordecillion, one hundred sixty-six centredecillion, nine hundred sixty-four cenduodecillion, nine hundred sixty-six cenundecillion, nine hundred sixty-eight cendecillion, four hundred sixty-four cennovemtillion, two hundred fourteen cenoctotillion, two hundred forty-eight censeptentillion, five hundred forty-seven censextillion, nine hundred eighty-two cenquintillion, five hundred seventy-one cenquattuortillion, seven hundred fifty-six centretillion, six hundred twenty-one cenduotillion, two hundred fifty-six cenuntillion, three hundred thirty-four centillion, one hundred eighty-nine novemnonagintillion, three hundred twenty-five octononagintillion, two hundred thirty-two septennonagintillion, four hundred forty-seven sexnonagintillion, three hundred eighty-two quinnonagintillion, five hundred sixty-two quattuornonagintillion, four hundred sixty trenonagintillion, three hundred sixty-three duononagintillion, eight hundred twenty-eight unnonagintillion, five hundred seventeen nonagintillion, eight hundred eighty-six novemoctogintillion, thirteen octooctogintillion, six hundred fifty-two septenoctogintillion, three hundred seventy sexoctogintillion, one hundred twenty-six quinoctogintillion, seven quattuoroctogintillion, eighty-nine treoctogintillion, seven hundred ninety-nine duooctogintillion, seven hundred fifty-six unoctogintillion, three hundred thirty-two octogintillion, two hundred sixty-six novemseptuagintillion, four hundred forty-five octoseptuagintillion, four hundred sixty-one septenseptuagintillion, three hundred sixty-six sexseptuagintillion, five hundred thirteen quinseptuagintillion, three hundred nine quattuorseptuagintillion, ninety-seven treseptuagintillion, nine hundred fifty-nine duoseptuagintillion, eight hundred twenty unseptuagintillion, six hundred eighty septuagintillion, six hundred eighty-seven novemsexagintillion, six hundred fifty-two octosexagintillion, nine hundred thirty-four septensexagintillion, four hundred eighty-eight sexsexagintillion, five hundred seventy-six quinsexagintillion, six hundred seventy-nine quattuorsexagintillion, one hundred sixty-four tresexagintillion, eight hundred seventy duosexagintillion, nine hundred eighty-two unsexagintillion, eight hundred thirteen sexagintillion, two hundred sixty-seven novemquinquagintillion, three hundred twenty-two octoquinquagintillion, one hundred eighty-two septenquinquagintillion, eight hundred thirty-one sexquinquagintillion, three hundred sixty-nine quinquinquagintillion, four hundred twenty-three quattuorquinquagintillion, two hundred twenty-six trequinquagintillion, eight hundred eighty-three duoquinquagintillion, one hundred eleven unquinquagintillion, eighty-three quinquagintillion, eight hundred eleven novemquadragintillion, eight hundred thirty-eight octoquadragintillion, two hundred seventy-nine septenquadragintillion, six hundred eighty-eight sexquadragintillion, eight hundred two quinquadragintillion, seven hundred fifty-three quattuorquadragintillion, six hundred forty-six trequadragintillion, three hundred thirty-seven duoquadragintillion, one hundred sixty-five unquadragintillion, two hundred thirty-three quadragintillion, six hundred eighteen novemtrigintillion, four hundred nine octotrigintillion, forty-eight septentrigintillion, six hundred sixty-eight sextrigintillion, two hundred fifty-eight quintrigintillion, seven hundred ten quattuortrigintillion, two hundred forty-four tretrigintillion, one hundred five duotrigintillion, nine hundred thirty-four untrigintillion, nine hundred three trigintillion, seven hundred ninety-two novemvigintillion, seventy-three octovigintillion, eight hundred fourteen septenvigintillion, nine hundred twenty-three sexvigintillion, three hundred thirty quinvigintillion, two hundred seventy-nine quattuorvigintillion, four hundred eighty-nine trevigintillion, three hundred nine duovigintillion, one hundred eighty-two unvigintillion, one hundred five vigintillion, two hundred two novemdecillion, three hundred seventy-one octodecillion, seventy septendecillion, seventy-three sexdecillion, two hundred nineteen quindecillion, one hundred thirty-eight quattuordecillion, six hundred seventy tredecillion, one hundred fifty-six duodecillion, four hundred sixty-four undecillion, five hundred seventy decillion, two hundred nonillion, nine hundred three octillion, seven hundred eighty-nine septillion, two hundred two sextillion, seventy-nine quintillion, six hundred thirty-five quadrillion, eight hundred fifty-five trillion, two hundred two billion, seven hundred fifty-six million, five hundred ninety-one thousand, six hundred sixteen (471 digits, 6446 characters)

[aceonthebass]

“At their last live performance, the iconic concert on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building, in January 1969, they assumed the positions they’d taken for 12 years: John stage left, Paul stage right, both looking out into the crowd—or, in this case, the surrounding rooftops—but able to turn in an instant to see each other. George stood to their left, facing both of them. During ‘Don’t Let Me Down,’ John forgot the words to the third verse and went into a nonsense refrain, pure gibberish, but then, literally without missing a beat, he and Paul turned to each other and picked up with the correct lyrics as though nothing had happened. John beamed. Paul bobbed his head up and down in primal affirmation.”

—Joshua Wolf Shenk, “The Power of Two,” The Atlantic (excerpt from his book, Powers of Two)

[no-reply95]

"The other thing I have to mention-it would be authorial malpractice not to mention it-is the obviously not-typical-heterosexual profile of John Lennon. This was a man who said of his lover Yoko Ono at the height of his obsession with her: "It's just handy to fuck your best friend... And once I resolved the fact that it was a woman as well, it's all right." John told Yoko that he liked her because she was like a "bloke in drag... like a mate," and Yoko told him repeatedly that she considered him a "closet fag".

I don't see John as closeted in the typical sense, but there was weirdness between him and women, and he had a yearning for a certain kind of closeness with men that one feels in the pit. It's not part of the project here to discern the details of his sexuality. But the idea that John's attention simply wandered from Paul and the band because of his other interests, that he just fell in love with Yoko in the traditional way, doesn't ring true."

Joshua Wolf Shenk, Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs