Thursday, June 29, 2006

Would you buy a house numbered 1666?

So...we're looking at this house, which has a lot of "potential." Maybe we’ll take out a wall in the kitchen and make a Great Room. Maybe even add a "master retreat." Put in a hot tub. Easy to do if you’ve got the cash. Well...what about the address? Can that be changed as well?

I'm not very superstitious and don't belong to a cult in Northern Idaho (I can make fun it since I lived there for 15 years) that believes the mark of the beast lurks in UPC codes or my cat's microchip (which I think is pretty innovative...can we chip my kid too?). But, I did a little surfing. Although I didn’t find much on 1666 (just some births, deaths, and random events with the most notable being the Great Fire of London), I did uncover some known and perhaps unknown tidbits about the infamous number 666.

As mentioned, in Christian eschatology, 666 is widely considered the mark of the beast, AKA Satan, that will terrorize us in the end times. Although a few history/Bible scholars assert that 666 merely refers to the fifth and last Roman Emperor, Nero, who was known for persecuting Christians. Yet, other such scholars believe that 616 is really the mark of the beast. On the other specturm, 666 sounds like the words: “Things going smoothly” in Chinese, so it is considered very lucky. In Judaism, the number 666 is considered mystical, even holy. But more interestingly, $666.66 was the price of Apple's first computer. And, Ronald Wilson Reagan had 666 as a nickname because there were six letters each in each of his names. Notably, he had his address changed form 666 to 668 when he moved to California at the end of his presidency.

So, should I buy this house numbered 1666? Would you buy from me in 5-10 years after I fix it up? Should I buy it and have the address changed to 1667? 1668? D says I’m crazy to consider it…but hey, Ronald Reagan did it. What can’t I?.

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