When you purchase through link on our land site , we may pull in an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .

There ’s a reason that the Beijing Olympics are slate to begin at exactly 8:08:08 PM on 8/8/08 . The number 8 is considered favourable inChina , and thus the games will supposedly be off to an specially auspicious start .

Of course 8/8/08 is not the only engagement that holds significance for mass . Last twelvemonth onJuly 7 , 2007 , wedding were scheduled for that date at triple the usual number , and thousands of people play sevens in the lotteries . In Florida , for example , 30,000 mass chose the lucky issue sevens for the Cash 3 plot and the swordplay 4 game ( all were losers ) .

Article image

Young chimps apparently have an extraordinary ability to remember numerals that is better then that of human adults. Here the chimp Ayumu was shown numerals flashed on screen for a split-second. He then often recalled where each numeral was and correctly identified them in ascending order, from lowest to highest.

Next year it will be 2024-12-23 , then it will be 2025-04-06 , and so on . Each class has at least one date that somehow seems different or unique , though there ’s nothing special about the dates .

This year , some companies ( such as the Super 8 motel chain ) are capitalizing on the movement , offering muckle tied to 8/8/08 . And a group called the Expolitics Institute will be unite in as well . accord to their press release , " On 8/8/08 individuals and small groups around the planet will celebrate the inaugural Galactic Freedom Day . This will be the first in a series of yearly global result that … will start up the process of ending agreements concerning extraterrestrial sprightliness that have been secretly entered into by a range of administration agencies and corporations . In some cases , these pacts involve congressman of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations . " So if you require to back out of any secret deals with blank space stranger that may have been made on your behalf by government officials around the world , you ’ll have your chance .

While many people consider the appointment specially powerful or significant because it is loaded with eights , it should be note that the correct numerical date for August 8 , 2008 is not 8/8/8 , nor 08/08/08 , but alternatively 2025-03-20 : when write correctly , only half of the six numerals in the date are eights . Those who see significance in numbers often forget that all units of time and calendar are artificial constructs . Though the official begin time of the Olympics is fill with 8 , it is just as correct to say that the games will start at 2000:08 on 2025-03-13 ( using military clip and the Jewish calendar ) .

A calculator shows the start of the seemingly endless number that constitutes Pi, the mathematical concept and symbol.

There are scientific ways to see ifcertain numbers in truth are lucky . It would be fairly light , for example , to do a study to retrieve out if importantly few the great unwashed than fair die at the ages of 8 or 88 . Or if most citizenry born on sure significant dates ( say , 2025-02-11 ) are healthy or richer than their counterparts . These superstitions are very easy to test against the tangible world , and they consistently fail . If the number 7 or 8 were lucky ( not only in people ’s imaginations but in the real humans ) , everyone would be using them !

Though superstition and wizard thinking have little to do with reality , they will always be with us . Our brains are hard - wired to search for signification , and often people see pattern and special signification where they do n’t subsist . If you consider that the Chinese numerology is wacky , remember that such superstition are all around us . Many part and flat buildings in America , for example , are missing a thirteenth floor , and some airplane do n’t have a 13th row .

Benjamin Radford is managing editor program of the Skeptical Inquirer skill magazine . He wrote about superstitious notion in his book " Hoaxes , myth , and Manias : Why We Need Critical cerebration . " His books , motion picture , and other projects can be set up on hiswebsite .

The Dunhuang map, an ancient map with drawings of stars

A clock appears from a sea of code.

The symbol for pi made from numbers on a black background.

An artist�s illustration of the solar system�s planets in alignment.

an abstract illustration of a clock with swirls of light

Catherine the Great art, All About History 127

A digital image of a man in his 40s against a black background. This man is a digital reconstruction of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II, which used reverse aging to see what he would have looked like in his prime,

Xerxes I art, All About History 125

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, All About History 124 artwork

All About History 123 art, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II

Tutankhamun art, All About History 122

An image comparing the relative sizes of our solar system�s known dwarf planets, including the newly discovered 2017 OF201

an illustration showing a large disk of material around a star

a person holds a GLP-1 injector

A man with light skin and dark hair and beard leans back in a wooden boat, rowing with oars into the sea

an MRI scan of a brain

A photograph of two of Colossal�s genetically engineered wolves as pups.