Running Numbers

A scholarly look at the digits that matter.


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Published: Dec 2, 2008

8 Number of R.S.V.P.s listed, as of press time, for the December Philadelphia UFO Meetup on Dec. 4 at 6:30 p.m. at Germ Books, 2005 Frankford Ave. — which isn't fishy until you realize they changed their monthly meeting time from the second Thursday to the first Thursday. Know something we don't, UFO Meetup? And don't say it's because of the holidays.

4.5 Total number of hours of continuing education credit that members of the Casualty Actuaries of the Mid-Atlantic Region can earn during their fall 2008 meeting on Dec. 4 at the Sheraton University City Hotel, 36th and Chestnut. The tentative agenda includes a panel on "predictive modeling," which, according to the all-knowing actuaries, "has grown from internal data mining to the use of outside information." Outside information? You think you're being secretive about how you predict the circumstances of our deaths, but I'm on to you, casualty actuaries!

3 Number of New Jersey-based sports teams that will "coincidentally" play the major Philadelphia teams this week: the Devils on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. at home, the Nets on Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at home, and the Giants on Dec. 7 at 1 p.m. at, you guessed it, the Meadowlands. Any good conspiracy involves Jimmy Hoffa sooner or later.

3 Number of top players in the real estate market that will attend the Harvard Business School Club of Philadelphia meeting at the Embassy Suites in Wayne on Dec. 4, 6 to 8 p.m., to answer the question, Is it time to invest in the real estate market again? Is this a Skull and Bones thing? Don't tell me that's only at Yale. Register at hbsphilly.com. Admission is $30 for those who don't know the secret handshake.

1 Number of Royal Arch Masonry Grand chapters in the world to be initiated and founded by their Grand Lodge. The sole such chapter, the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Pennsylvania, will hold its December Annual Communication, including an election of officers followed by a public installation, in the Masonic Temple at 1 N. Broad St., Dec. 4, 9 a.m. Public installation? Are we supposed to buy that? Come on, Masons, when's the fully-robed, pre-UFO-apocalypse Jimmy Hoffa séance for financial world domination?

Hey ... can I get your digits? I want to hear about the numerals you need to see. Let a number-runner know at runningnumbers@gmail.com