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* 17 Is The Most Random Number

The Most Random Number Is 17.

Many people ask me why I frequently publish stuff on the 17th of the month. To those people I say, “How did you get this phone number?”

The short answer is that 17 is the most random number.

The long answer is long.

OK, here’s how I recall the story. When I entered MIT in 1984, one of my friends lived at a dorm called Random Hall (sometimes incorrectly called Random House). The residents of Random Hall tell the story of a survey that was conducted at MIT. As part of the survey, many things were counted at MIT: the number of departments in an organization, the number of halls in a building, the number of windows, etc. At the end of the survey, the number that appeared most frequently was 17, causing it to be dubbed “the most random number” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17_(number)). If the numbers resulting from the survey were random (a huge assumption), then it would be correct to say that 17 is the most frequently occurring of those random numbers. But calling it the “most random number” is simultaneously inaccurate and silly. Which is why I like it.

Ever since 1984, I’ve been working the number 17 into publications, conversations, etc. Taking the joke one step further, my MIT friend Art Mellor (a photographer whose work has been (self-)described as “getting better”) even gave me a subscription to Seventeen magazine a couple of years ago! He also sent this link, with more on this legendary story:

http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2007/02/is_17_the_most_random_number.php

So now you know.

50+17 Related Posts (Published On The 17th)

  1. SpongeBob, Dracula, and Copyright (8/17/2011)
    Content owners have been getting it wrong for a long time. Plus why 1995-2025 is the dark ages of the Internet.
  2. Law Blogs, Lawyer Blogs, Legal Blogs, Oh My! ABA Seeks Top 100 Blawgs (8/17/2011)
    Nominate your favorite.
  3. CEO Photo Fails (9/17/2010)
    Dear Peeps: Please stop using these CEO pics. They are officially overexposed. Kthxbai.
  4. Google’s Buzz Tweaks Are Lipstick On A Pig, And Why Google 2010 Is Like Microsoft 1998 (2/17/2010)
    Just because something can be done doesn’t mean it should be done.
  5. LawLawLaw 2009-10-17 (10/17/2009)
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  6. Epic Comeback: Red Sox Win ALCS Game 5 Over Rays 8-7 (10/17/2008)
    Down to their last 7 outs and trailing 7-0, the Boston Red Sox staged one of the most amazing comebacks in history. And I was there.
  7. LawLawLaw 2008-08-17 (8/17/2008)
    Technology, Law, Baseball, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Etc.
  8. LawLawLaw 2008-02-17 (2/17/2008)
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  9. LawLawLaw 2007-10-17 (10/17/2007)
    Technology, Law, Baseball, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Etc.
  10. Red Sox On Verge Of Historic Comeback (10/17/2007)
    The Red Sox are preparing to win three consecutive games against the Indians.
  11. Drawing That Explains Patent Costs (08/17/2007)
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  12. LawLawLaw 2007-07-17 (7/17/2007)
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  13. Google Analytics Chokes On Long WordPress URLs (07/17/2007)
    So I’m turning off Google Analytics for now.
  14. LawLawLaw 2007-05-17 (5/17/2007)
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  15. My Last PowerPoint (4/17/2007)
    And other things I don’t miss.
  16. LawLawLaw 2007-04-17 (4/17/2007)
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  17. More TiVo Failure Modes (3/17/2007)
    Numbers 17 and 18.
  18. LawLawLaw 2007-03-17 (3/17/2007)
    Technology, Law, Baseball, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Etc.
  19. LawLawLaw 2007-02-17 (2/17/2007)
    Technology, Law, Baseball, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Etc.
  20. LawLawLaw 2007-01-17 (1/17/2007)
    Technology, Law, Baseball, and Rock ‘n’ Roll.
  21. Website Review: RedStreet (01/17/2007)
    We can take it as well as we can dish it out.
  22. Domain Name Sale: BigBucket.com (11/17/2006)
    It’s big, it’s a bucket, it’s bigbucket.com. What’s not to like?
  23. How To Add Comments To Your Weblog Feed In Movable Type (5/17/2006)
    Comments add value to your weblog. Share them with your feed subscribers.
  24. Rolling Stone Five-Star Rated (Mostly Rock) Albums: Update (4/17/2006)
    More five-star albums added to the list.
  25. LawLawLaw 2006-02-17 (2/17/2006)
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  26. LawLawLaw 2004-10-17 (10/17/2005)
    Law, Baseball, and Rock ‘n’ Roll.
  27. LawLawLaw 2005-08-17 (8/17/2005)
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  28. LawLawLaw 2005-05-17 (5/17/2005)
    News and Commentary about Law, Technology, and their Intersection.
  29. LawLawLaw 2005-01-17 (1/17/2005)
    News and Commentary about Law, Technology, and their Intersection.
  30. Recursive Logo (9/17/2004)
  31. LawLawLaw 2004-08-17 (8/17/2004)
    News and Commentary about Law, Technology, and their Intersection.
  32. What To Call Stuff (5/17/2004)
  33. RSS Readers/Aggregators – Not Just For Blogs (5/17/2004)
  34. Music Technology Update (5/17/2004)
  35. The Battle Over Copyright Terminology (5/17/2004)
  36. Law Review Article On Patent Claim Drafting From The John Marshall Law School (4/17/2004)
  37. The ‘Three Full Moons’ Clause (2/17/2004)
    Simplify contracts by omitting needless words.
  38. Licensing Domain Names (2/17/2004)
    Consider licensing dormant domain names instead of selling them.
  39. A Copyright Primer (2/17/2004)
    How did copyright rights seemingly take over many aspects of our life?
  40. Trademarking Numbers (2/17/2004)
    You can register numbers as trademarks, and some numbers are still available.
  41. The Jujitsu Method Of Converting From Windows To Linux (2/17/2004)
    Don’t switch to Linux cold turkey. Use Windows to help you switch.
  42. The Jujitsu Method Of Combating Spam (2/17/2004)
    Using a spam-infested email account to train Bayesian spam filters.
  43. Old Versions Of Software (2/17/2004)
    The latest software is not necessarily the best software.
  44. Patent Assignments (2/17/2004)
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  45. News: Firm Name Change (2/17/2004)
    New name is Clock Tower Law Group.
  46. Spike Lee vs. Spike TV (7/17/2003)
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  47. How (And Why) To Trademark Your Logo (7/17/2003)
    If you have a word mark that may be difficult to register because it is descriptive, consider creating a logo that contains the words and register the logo.
  48. How To Make Your Computer More Secure (Or Why I Deleted Dell’s Support Programs) (7/17/2003)
    When you save HTML files to your local hard disk and open them in your browser, you could be sending information back to the originating website.
  49. How To Make Your E-mail More Secure (7/17/2003)
    Spammers (and others) use active elements in HTML-formatted e-mail to send information back to the sender about when you’ve opened a
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  50. Top 10 Webware Websites (Or Websites That Do Stuff) (7/17/2003)
    I have a handful of bookmarks filed under ‘webware’ because they are more like web-based software than websites. Whatever you want to call them, they are useful.
  51. Linux-Based Everything Server (6/17/2003)
    More proof the world is changing: an all-in-one Linux-based file, e-mail, web, database, DNS, FTP, etc. server.
  52. How To Name Your City (5/17/2003)
    PETA offered the German city of Hamburg 10,000 Euros to change its name to ‘Veggieburg.’
  53. Better Whois Patent (5/17/2003)
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  54. Mosaic Ten-Year Anniversary (5/17/2003)
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  55. OpenOffice.org One-Year Anniversary (5/17/2003)
    Try it for two weeks then decide.
  56. How To Avoid Drowning In Spam (5/17/2003)
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  57. Home Entertainment And Home Computer Convergence (5/17/2003)
    Today, we are just starting to see the convergence of all things data-related.
  58. Top 10 Tenets Of Principled Computing (5/17/2003)
    My decisions about computing are not arbitrary, they are based on principles that I’ve been refining for years.
  59. Addicted To Your Software? (5/17/2003)
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  60. Intuit Angers Users With New Licensing Scheme For TurboTax (4/17/2003)
    Not surprisingly, many users are switching from TurboTax as a result of this issue.
  61. Top 10 Ways To Keep Your Software Legal (4/17/2003)
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  62. Google PhoneBook (4/17/2003)
    Enter a phone number into Google, and, if a match is found, a phone icon will be displayed along with the name of the individual or company and a link to a map for the street address.
  63. Getting More Bang For Your IT Buck (4/17/2003)
    A recent eWeek article summarizes IT best buys based on a survey of IT professionals.
  64. Trademarks vs. Domain Names (3/17/2003)
    Trademark holders are winning 80% of their disputes with domain name registrants.
  65. Lab Notebooks Help Document Inventions (3/17/2003)
    You should keep good records of inventions since the United States uses the ‘first to invent’ system.
  66. IP Infringement Insurance (3/17/2003)
    IP infringement insurance can help companies manage the risk of litigation.
  67. Book Review: The Legal List 5.0: 1994-08-17: By Erik J. Heels (8/17/1994)
    ’The Legal List, Law-Related Resources on the Internet and Elsewhere,’ by Erik J. Heels v5.0, 17 Aug 94.

Erik J. Heels is a trademark and patent lawyer, Boston Red Sox fan, MIT engineer, and musician. He blogs about technology, law, baseball, and rock ‘n’ roll at erikjheels.com.

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