# 666 is the traingular of 36 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 4, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249 "2006-04-04T14:11:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249/41 "2006-04-16T07:18:26Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > I should also note that the ram’s horns (or “shofar”) were specifically NOT symbolic of the devil, but were horns blown to announce special or especially holy occassions. I appreciate that you have researched the conventional explanation. Please bear in mind that numerology demands a \*\*slightly different \*\* way of thinking. Also it took me over 3 minutes to think up (how can I apply 666 to the Bible?), research (I keep a Bible next to the dictionaries so I can join in more threads 🆒 ) and come up with my theory (horns!). I can’t believe you can ignore all this work… :o ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249/42 "2006-04-16T10:45:54Z")
> [@glee](#): > > I appreciate that you have researched the conventional explanation. > Please bear in mind that numerology demands a \*\*slightly different \*\* way of thinking. > > Also it took me over 3 minutes to think up (how can I apply 666 to the Bible?), research (I keep a Bible next to the dictionaries so I can join in more threads 🆒 ) and come up with my theory (horns!). > I can’t believe you can ignore all this work… :o Not for nothing, but I believe that 4000 years of Jewish tradition pretty well trumps 3 minutes of light thought. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249/43 "2006-04-16T20:01:12Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > That is all very interesting but of doubtful value. > > **Now what was/is the question?** Actually, the I Kings - Solomon reference is quite valuable\> He was the first apostate Davidic king, the number 666 is noted in his apostasy (breaking the Deut rules of kingship, especially in allowing idolatry), while the Beasts are Masters of Apostasy (the Sea Beast being Gentile pagan imperialism, at that time Rome, and the Land Beast being its Judaic lackey, at that time the Royal House of Herod and the Priestly House of Annas). ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249/44 "2006-04-16T23:21:40Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > Not for nothing, but I believe that 4000 years of Jewish tradition pretty well trumps 3 minutes of light thought. I say, old boy, are we in the same thread? I was replying to the OP! ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249/45 "2006-04-16T23:24:53Z")
> [@glee](#): > > I say, old boy, are we in the same thread? > > I was replying to the OP! Which is obviously why you quoted me. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249/46 "2006-04-16T23:34:03Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > Which is obviously why you quoted me. Well I was trying to see the World from a mystical, numerological point of view. Very weird. 😕 And although I was replying to you, I was throughout my postings in this thread hoping to show heirodule how easy it is to come up with alternative (and equally unlikely) Biblical interpretations of 666. No offence intended to any religion. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249/47 "2006-04-17T03:17:37Z")
> [@glee](#): > > No offence intended to any religion. Hah! And I suppose that when you said > [@](#): > > After all, he faked the fossil record and planted misleading astronomical evidence just to test our belief in Creationism… you were NOT deliberately making fun of the [FSM](http://www.venganza.org/)? ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249/48 "2006-04-17T09:04:20Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Well, it’s a lot more interesting than “668: The Neighbor of the Beast.” (Not to mention the dupes in the two lists.) I’ve always liked 999: The Beast and a Half ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249/49 "2006-04-17T16:51:20Z")
> [@DiggitCamara](#): > > This trick brought to you by Gödel. The trick is far older than Gödel, dating back at least as far as [Alcuin of York](http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/50686?&print=yes) in the eighth century. You may be thinking of Gauss, who is reputed to have solved the same problem as a young schoolboy. (See the link for more details on that story.) But the trick is far older than Gauss, too. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249/50 "2006-04-17T17:44:50Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Hah! And I suppose that when you said you were NOT deliberately making fun of the [FSM](http://www.venganza.org/)? That’s it. :rolleyes: I’ve had enough of numerology. You find your position gets sillier and sillier, until you have to fall back on ‘Because God said so’ or ‘God did it’. There **is** evidence of evolution. The Flying Spaghetti Monster is about as likely as Creationism. 666 is just a number. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249/51 "2006-04-19T07:00:34Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7279221&postcount=1](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7279221&postcount=1) Guest Robert Lucien notes that 6 6 6 in BCD (binary code) is 0110 0110 0110. I don’t know what 666 is in binary. This has been used in the low-budget 1970s A THIEF IN THE NIGHT Rapture-Tribulation movie series (which I recently bought & viewed on DVD) as # o o o o o o which was also taken up in Jack Chick’s comics. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249/52 "2006-04-19T07:07:08Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > I don’t know what 666 is in binary. 1010011010 (I looked it up.) ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249/53 "2006-04-20T00:32:13Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > The trick is far older than Gödel, dating back at least as far as [Alcuin of York](http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/50686?&print=yes) in the eighth century. > > You may be thinking of Gauss, who is reputed to have solved the same problem as a young schoolboy. (See the link for more details on that story.) But the trick is far older than Gauss, too. :smack: I stand corrected. I obviously meant Gauss, not Gödel. However, the story has been associated with Gauss for so long and through so many [sources](http://www.sigmaxi.org/amscionline/gauss-snippets.html) that I’ll keep mentioning his name (or, possibly, Gödel’s), whenever I hear/read it. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249/54 "2006-04-20T19:02:54Z")
> [@DiggitCamara](#): > > However, the story has been associated with Gauss for so long and through so many . . . that I’ll keep mentioning his name (or, possibly, Gödel’s), whenever I hear/read it. Heh. I first heard it told (well, read it, actually) about Leonhard Euler. RR [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/666-is-the-traingular-of-36/351249.md?page=2)