I once belonged to the 47 Society http://www.47.net/47society/ which thinks 47 is the quintessential random number. Since I decided to opt out of the mailing list, the number 47 is still my favorite number, and am pleased whenever I find the number on the news, in public, or any other place. So I am proud to start a new category in my blog called "47 sightings." Here's the first entry. It has to do with the TSA scanners at airports:

"'Specifically, to reach annual radiation dose limits, a passenger would have to receive more than approximately 17,000 screenings in a 12-month period, which is equivalent to approximately 47 screenings per day, 365 days per year,' the inspector general's office concluded in an executive summary."

Now, I have never flown on an airplane. I have never gone to a commercial airport. The closest I have come to an airport is once I went to the restaurant at the airport in Salem, which then wasn't a commercial airport, then was for about a year and now isn't any more. I heard this on KGW's news at noon, which had extended to about 1pm since there were going to be some Occupy protesters waltzing about. Imagine my delight when I turned on channel 8 at about 12:30 expecting to find the barfy Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? when instead I found news. Anyway, I did the math and it was approximately 47 (46.5, they must have rounded up to 47) but was still excited to hear about the number 47 being used. I hope to add some more 47 sightings to this blog part.