(a brief note:  I’ve been battling a bad case of the flu, and the following was written under the influence of a fever and an unprescribed mix of several over the counter cold and flu medications)

Riddle of the day:  why will next May 8^th be mistaken for a dishonest corn chip?  (* – answer below)

From the numbers department:  The upcoming calendar year will, as every year does, have some interesting dates for fans of number sequences.     Among the more interesting facts:

• Although the two digit representation of the year (13) is a prime number, the four digit year (2013) is not (3 * 11  * 61 = 2013).   This is why anyone who is celebrating their 61^st birthday on March 11^th of this year should automatically be named king of the world, or at least be given a 25% off discount at any Midas muffler shop.
• The year 2013 is the first year this millennium (if you accept that the millennium began on January 1^st, 2001) that will not have any dates where the month, day, and two digit year are all the same numeric value  (1/1/01, 2/2/02, 3/3/03, 4/4/04, 5/5/05, 6/6/06. 7/7/07, 8/8/08, 9/9/09, 10/10/10, 11/11/11, 12/12/12).  Note also that with 13 being a prime number AND greater than 12, there won’t be any dates where the month times the day equals the year (last year had an abundance of these:  1/12/12, 2/6/12, 3/4/12, 4/3/12, 6/2/12, and 12/1/12) This is good news, as it should result in a significant decrease in the volume of e-mail and Facebook postings about how wonderfully special such dates are.
• * The answer to the riddle:  A dishonest corn chip might also be called a “fibbin’ nacho”, not to be confused with the famous mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci, who derived the famous number sequence that is a key plot component to the novel “The DaVinci Code”  (Inspired by the sales posted by Dan Brown’s yarn, the next novel I write will use a more famous number sequence (5,8,8,2,3,hundred, known to scholars as the famous “Empire Carpet” sequence)   as a key plot component  The reason May 8 will be confused with a dishonest corn chip (as well as a dishonest fascist, (a.k.a., a “fibbin’ Nazi”) ) will be that it is the only date in the year who’s month, day and two digit year values (5/8/13) represent a segment of the Fibonacci sequence (0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34, …).   This will mark the first such occurrence in more than five years, since March 5, 2008, and the last time it will occur in more than eight years, the next time being August 13, 2021.   Because of this, anyone who turns 13 years old on May 8^th should also be given a 25% discount at any Midas muffler shop.

 I hope that you found this as fun and entertaining to read as I did to write, because it’d be nice to know there is someone out there who is as big a nerd as I am. 

Please note the Drivel by Dave remains an independently funded site, with no influence from or debt owed to any corporate sponsor.  We adhere to the highest levels of ethics and integrity, and those looking for unbiased views will continue to be able to trust us, just like they can trust the Midas touch for all of their automotive repair needs.