CALIFORNIANS: INSANE? OR MERELY SIMPLEMINDED?

We report; you decide.

(Thanks to Stupendous Man)

Comments

[southerngirl]

It would never, ever, ever occur to me to NOT buy a house b/c of a number which appears in the address.

But that's just me.

S-man, long time no see!

[russell]

"The Feng Shui Violators" wbagbfarb

[russell]

wbagNfarb!!!

[Brad]

Um, that is NorCal. In SoCal, our numbers get bigger based on the average of our distance from the beach and from the slopes.

[U.O]

Un-frikken-believable!

Of course, when you consider the source, it becomes frikken-believable ...

People are starving in many places around the world, others remain homeless in fabulous sunny California. and these twits are swayed by superstition-inspired numbers games of the mind? (Well, yes, there are plenty of other examples of similar behavior -- lotto numbers being only one ...)

Now, if my house number was 666 ... mebbe I'd be a bit apprehensive, but mostly for the potential to attract unwanted visitors of the occult type, who might wanna have special "meetings" on my lawn ...

BTW, my present house number is 313 ... and the other (older) house (which I still own) is 15 ... what is the numerology of those digits?

[powerhungry]

Now there is a job--feng shui consultant.

"Mr. Jackson, I've determined that you are disadvantaged because of an unlucky number in your life . . . that number happens to be the amount in your bank account. The closer we can get that number to zero, the better . . . for me.”

[Mahatma Kane Jeeves]

Insane.
No, wait,
merely simpleminded. No, wait . . .

[southerngirl]

U.O. - eckchay ouryay ailmay.

[Oh Wise 1]

u.o.

those numbers you have are defintely not good.

fortunately, if you were to simply GIVE those two houses to me within 7 days or less, the curse on you and your cat would be immediately lifted and you would live out the remainder of your life to your predetermined age.......which doesn't look very good at this time either.

[U.O]

Oh Wise 1 --

OK! Whatever you say!

The deeds are in the mai ... wait ... I don't HAVE a cat!

[Mike "Dr. Mad's Dork" Weasel]

Well, get one, pronto!

[Alfred]

Already lifting curses of bad Feng Shui. Wedona has attacked again.
I used to have the old 666 marker for a highway going through the Navajo Rez.

[southerngirl]

Alfred, just how did you happen to "acquire" this particular marker, hmmm? Inquiring minds....

[U.O]

I don't think so, Tim ...

or for that matter, you either, Weasel ... I'd rather have a ferret ... not to put down cats or NEthing ... but I could ... If I wanted to ... put down cats ... unless I had one, of course ... which, by definition and the laws of nature, would then own me ... and I could accept that, having made that rational and conscious decision on my own, without coercion or torture ... but I don't ... have a cat ... so I won't ... put them down ...

(Primarily we don't have one, 'cuz both of us are "gone" from the main dwelling much of the time, and no one could be a slave -- er -- feed it, and pet it, and MT its litterbox ... mebbe someday, if "semi-retirement" ever arrives ...)

[Noob]

Sheesh, when buying a house, the only number I'm worried about is the one (not won) on the mortgage. Especially the digits before the decimal. Of course, if they passed an ordinance limiting the number of digits before the decimal to (not too or two) four (not for or fore)or (not ore) so (not sew), that would garner my support. Big time (not thyme).

Ok, went a little crazy with the homonyms, but what the hey (not hay).

[Sarcasmo]

I'm gonna go with . . .

Insanely Simple-minded

[U.O]

Oh, I dunno, y'all ... simple-minded may be a misnomer ... after all, it takes an extremely complex set of ... thoughts? ... to arrive at the conclusions these people do ... screwball, yes ... simple? P'haps not ...

[orangemike]

Some people are just unharvested Free-Range Soylent Green.

[Betsy]

You are all so unsympathetic! I think committed followers of feng-shui (at least THIS committed...at least those who haven't yet been committed) should be allowed to choose their own house numbers by meditating until it comes to them in a burst of chi.
Not only would it put them in greater harmony with the universe, but it would eliminate all that annoying third-class mail.
Also second- and first-class.
Also pizza.

[U.O]

Bets' --

I'm not very sympathetic ... partly 'cuz where I live (until some semblance of reality forced its ownselfs way into the environment/ambiance) the house numbering system useta be something like this:

We're building a new house up on Cedar Street. What will our house number be?

Oh, just pick a number you like ...

ISIANMTU!!!

[Giddy]

Having transplanted from the left coast to the east coast and back again, I have to ask: which are you asking is crazy? The Californians who are hesitant to purchase property because of its street number (like my crazy cousin), or is it that the City Council would be concerned enough to allow time for this, and be interested in it?

Hangs head in shame,

-CA Native

PS - most of the craziest ones are transplants from someplace else, I'm sure of it!! They think they can came here to be crazy! And Hayward's in Northern CA (maybe a bit close to SF..) but No. Cal's much more conservative.. (getting off my high horse)

[Betsy]

U.O...I don't doubt you for a minute! I lived in a courtyard building in the heart of Chicago where the new building owner/"creative developer" (a whole'nother story) decided unilaterally to give each of the five entrances a new street number. Imagine the mailperson's surprise to discover that there was suddenly a "940 W. Spruce Street" where there used to just be a big building at 900. Our mail was screwed up for weeks until the PO got po'd. (See...there are private citizens even nuttier than the postal system. But you knew that:)

[U.O]

Bets' ...

Welllllll ... I once worked for the USPS ... I dunno if there's as much fuzzy thinking in the general populace as in that outfit ... but yeah, some others (besides governmental officials) are capable of some pretty strange stuff as well ...

[U.O]

Besides which already, when our small town (where I lived most of my life, before moving here) finally got around to numbering the houses (for 911 dispatch & such) I was on the city council ... (How small? REALLY small town.)

One of the other councilpersons said something about numbering, and I said, "No, it usually doesn't work that way, it's like ..." and I explained it ... then the Mayor said, "You sound you know whut yer doin' ... You take care of it ..."

After all those years in Jaycees, and other civic organizations, I still fergot about the "don't volunteer" rule ...

NEway, I proceeded with the project ... (the streets were NAMED, from founding days of the town 100 years ago ... just no numbering ID system) ... and then we did little phone stickers for everyone so they could put them on their phone and say (when calling 911) ... "This is ... and I'm at ... 15 Main Street ..."

(That's how small a town ... all the house numbers have only two digits ...)

Later on, we heard questions like: "My house number is ... 44 ... but Joe, over on the other side of town, his number is 44 too ... how can that be?"

Different streets, obviously.

After that, someone said, "Well, why didn't you just start at (number) one, and go up from there?" ...

Um ... yeah ... "Hello? 911? I live in house # 37 ... send help!"

Speaking of 911 -- didja hear they hadda change that system in the Twin Cities?

All the Scandahoovians there couldn't find the number eleven on the dial ...

[Alfred]

Highway 666 was getting a name change. Though if you had ever been on it you would think the name was apt. So we drove over to where they where replacing the sign and asked for it. Now that I think about it. 6 missionaries asking for the marker is a bad sign. My roomate could lift our truck -literally- so he got the sign.
Then the owner of the house we where staying in turned out to be an expert in Navajo Kung Fu. So he got the sign in the end.

The Navajo Rez just went by house description and Longitude latitude. Naming roads would have been difficult.

A great Feng Shui for houses. Wrather then numbers how about colors. I call green.

[U.O]

Alfred --

r.e. the "Highway #" aspect ... we had a road here that was once the extreme northern end of US 281 ... then they changed it, so that the 10+ miles were State road, and the US went on to the Peace Garden ...

What to number the "new" State road?

Well, they picked "69" ...

ISIANMTU!!!

That lasted for a number of years ... 10-15?

Finally, it got so bad that the NDDOT could not keep signs on the road for more than a few days ... I personally witnessed the amount of time it took for a new set to disappear when I was driving school bus ... One morning the new signs were up (there were only three) ... the next morning, they were gone ...

So, the NDDOT decided to change the number ... it is now ND #4 ...

Entirely true story ...

[AlanBoss]

As a Californian, I have to say that I would actually pay extra to live in a neighborhood that discourages people who practice Feng Shui from moving in.

[southerngirl]

"Veeerry interesting".

That's what I think U.O.'s story would be, should he choose to tell it.

[U.O]

Whut story?

If I'm lyin', I'm dyin' ... I had NUTTING to do with it ... and besides, I wasn't even there ... and ... they made me drive ...

(I am, however, quite suspicious of Federal Duck and them others ...)

[Handwritten]

I grew up on a street that was only one block long, but straddled the city's east/west divide. The house numbers went 37, 21, 14, 29, 45... people got really confused trying to find our house!

[Dr Acula]

Fung shui believers are insane (you should SEE the amounts fung shui experts CHARGE for their services) but a council that forces everyone to have a five figure house number must be simple-minded.
Not as bad as Japan though, where houses are numbered according to date of construction, so a road that is several miles long can have the numbers apparently completely random. No wonder satnavs are so popular there.

[Spiny Norman]

That's NoCal - we here in SoCal can't explain them. Whatever it is they're smoking up there, they're not sharing.

[SoCalGirl]

They won't buy a house ... if the number's not right."

AND

If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit.

Makes perfect sense to me.

[Suzy Q]

orangemike: *SNORK*

[hellflowerbutterfly]

Wow I never knew my house number was so important!! Mine is 448 do I need to move or am I safe?! Please advise.

[kevin]

Feng Shui Works!!!

My life was awful until the day I pointed by toaster toward Cleveland.

[former resident of both]

El and Spiny --

Q: Why will northern California and southern California never secede from each other?

A: They both want to claim Santa Barbara but neither will take Fresno.

[Kev]

"Now, if my house number was 666 ... mebbe I'd be a bit apprehensive"

When my sister was in high school, she used to date a minister's son whose license plates had "666" as their three numbers. I can't believe he didn't request a replacement right when they sent the plates to him...

[U.O]

Well, Kev, it was obviously a case of him (or his dad) not being bothered by "superstition" and simply having "true religion" ...

(Editorial alert! There's one hidden in there, somewhere ...)

[Betsy]

In Chicago there was a humongous commercial/residential building at 666 N. Lake Shore Drive. It had, like, a zilliion office tenants -- doctors, lawyers, megacorporations -- plus residents.
About five years after its renovation and debut as a "classic property," it mysteriously re-debuted as 680...thereby necessitating everybody ordering new stationery and business cards, and changing their billing addresses, phone book listings, etc, etc, etc.
I'm so glad I live in a sophisticated big city.

[Kev]

"Well, Kev, it was obviously a case of him (or his dad) not being bothered by "superstition" and simply having "true religion" ..."

U.O., there's a folk song in there somewhere. Everybody sing:

"I ain't bothered by suuu-perstition,
cuz I got me some truuuue religion."

Thank you, I'm here all week.

[U.O]

Wowser, Kev ... WTG!

Nice job ... I'm a poet and don't know it ... HAR! (You are, however ... good work ...)

[Annie Where-but-here]

Ahem...Hayward, CA is located directly over one of the busiest fault lines around. So....if you don't like your address # today, give it a few days - it's sure to change.

Are we Californians crazy? Or are the rest of you just jealous because you're freezing your patooties off and we're not?

[Numerology consultant]

Numerology is the science whose origin can be traced back in the 6th century BC from great Mathematician and Philosophers. People often wonder if the day they were born considered blessed or cursed. Whether the numbers in their date of birth lead them to success or make them lack behind in the race of life? The answer to all these questions comes from the study of numerology. The suggestions that come across by this study prove to enlighten a person’s overall personality.