12/12/12: Some hope date holds special mojo
When it comes to 12/12/12, it appears the fact the date falls on a Hump Day figures more into people's calculations than any numerological mojo.
This Wednesday is the last of the consecutive date sequences such as 10/10/10 or 11/11/11 to come around for the next 100 years.
Some would invest the date with more than usual significance.
“People have always been enchanted by numbers (e.g, numerology in the Middle Ages) and are eager to see patterns where there may only be unrelated data,” said James Dixon III, chairman of the English department at Grove City College.
He said his work in literary theory has shown him humans are pattern-hungry creatures.
“The human brain is hungry for order, and we tend to impose order on chaos to try to construct some meaning in our lives,” he said.
“The extreme examples of this are dramatized by the pathology of John Nash in the film 'A Beautiful Mind.' But all of us share some tendency to do what Nash did to such an extreme,” he said.
Many people consider it lucky to get married on one of these iconic dates.
It's just too bad the last one falls during the middle of the week.
A clerk in the Butler County Registrar of Wills office said marriage license applications were up for December but not as much as they would have been had Dec. 12 fallen on a weekend.
A check of the magisteral district judges' offices in Butler County showed three weddings were planned for Wednesday.
District Judge Wayne Seibel of Evans City said, “I've got two weddings that day, and one requested that they be married at 12:12 p.m.”
“I believe on 9/9/09, I did six weddings on that date,” Seibel said.
Funny thing, though, Sept. 9, 2009, was also a Wednesday.
Nicole Russell, owner of Nicole's Bridal Shop, 371 Main St., hasn't noticed any upsurge in clients either.
“Unless it's a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, it's not a big day. I think I have one wedding on that day,” she said.
Russell thinks it's a matter of logistics trumping any mystic attraction the date might have.
“They can't plan locally on a weekday to have a big party. It's more inconvenient for everyone,” Russell said. “Unless it's a destination wedding or it's real intimate, it's not a big event.”
“I have no weddings on 12/12, believe it or not,” said Karen Zombotti, owner of Bridal Reflections, 130 Market St., Kittanning.
“I have a lot of weddings for the other weekends in December except Dec. 22,” she said, adding she believes the increase in weddings is because it's the twelfth month of 2012.
“Anytime we have double numbers it happens. The brides say that way he won't forget the anniversary. I just think it is a neat thing,” Zombotti added.The pull of 12/12/12 could be felt in another way: in lottery sales.“We have found that some players do like to play numbers associated with dates. In this case, it would be the Big Four game,” said Gary Miller, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Lottery. “Last year when the date was 11/11, we did see a lot of player activity on the 1111 combo.”Miller said the state lottery limits its liablity in the Big Four game to $10 million.“When we sell $10 million worth of tickets we stop selling that specific number,” said Miller.“In fact, for our Big Four daytime draw that particular combination, 1111, was sold out on the sixth of November. And for the Big Four nighttime draw, it had sold out a day sooner, Nov. 5,” said Miller.Coincidentally, said Miller, 1111 was drawn on the Nov. 23, 2012, evening Big Four drawing.“It paid $9.9 million. It was the biggest of our daily game payouts in 2012,” he said.“It's too soon to tell, but we are not aware of any specific sales trend on 1212,” said Miller.“But it is hard to tell what resonates with our players. Everybody has reasons for what they play,” Miller said.Jonathan Valentino, manager of the Institute Hill Pharmacy, 937 E. Jefferson St., said he believes sales will increase because of players betting on 1212 and variations.“It definitely will increase. It happened last year when it was 11/11,” said Valentino.Valentino said he can't remember anyone buying a ticket at his store that hit on 11/11 or 10/10 or any other consecutive date sequence.“I'm thinking no because the chances of that happening on that day are awfully small,” said Valentino.Stephanie Rossey, manager of Planet Mart, 494 N. Pike Road, Sarver, whose store sold a $1 million ticket in the Nov. 28 record $580 million Powerball drawing, doesn't put a lot of stock in increased lottery sales on Dec. 12.“You'll have a few people in here and they will play those numbers because the dates stick out in their minds or they're superstitious, but most people have their own set numbers that they play,” said Rossey.She said selling a winning Powerball ticket has increased lottery sales at her store no matter what the date.“It's been exciting. We've got a lot more people milling around in here,” she said. “They want to play the hot machine.”“They will probably keep coming until the hype dies down or until they find out who won,” said Rossey.
