Happy Ussher Day 6014!

Happy Ussher Day 6014!

This post is for Sunday, October 23, 2011; which according to the calculations of Bishop Ussher, is exactly 6014 years since the creation of the world. It is also two days after October 21, 2011; which according to the calculations of Harold Camping, was the end of the world. I am writing this on the day between the two; evidently the world has not ended, despite Mr. Camping’s calculations; and probably tomorrow is not actually the world’s 6014^th birthday; but I plan to celebrate it anyhow, just for fun and satire.

So I plan to do tomorrow what I did last year and the year before that; light a candle, sing “happy birthday, dear world”, tell it to make a wish, and hold the candle in front of an open window so wind can blow it out. (But last year the wind was low, so I compromised by leaning out the window and waving the candle around until it went out.)

There are individual bristlecone pines provably older than 6014 years, so I don’t take Ussher’s calculations seriously. The universe is more like 13,700,000,000 years old; but the exact calendar date of the Big Bang is indefinite, due to the relativity of time-rates. Pick any day of the year, including leap-day, and the Big Bang occurred on that day in some reference frame. (Hour and minute are also adjustable.) So the birthday party might as well be on October 23, at any time you please. 

I ask the world to make a wish for novelty’s sake; for who ever asks the world for its wishes?

By the way,  6012 = 2*2*3*3*167;  and 6013 = 7*859;  and   6014 = 2*31*97; and 6015  = 3*5*401, and 6016 = 2*2*2*2*2*2*2*47.  Interpret this any way you wish!

P.S. added Sunday; the ceremony went off without hitch. The key is to use a small candle that a light breeze can put out. The Law of Least Action applies, as ever.