Preface: On Number 66

Stanford Bronze Plaque 66
in honor of Class of 1966
Stanford's Memorial Quad

Stanford Bronze Plaque 66 is on the ground 66 yards to the right of Stanford University's Memorial Church. It is in front of the archway between Buildings 60 & 70. The plaque is dedicated to Class of 1966.

As part of my compilations of Numbers project, web pages on "Number 66" were begun on
August 2, 2017 for my friend Cathy's 66th birthday on August 5, 2017. Foothill College Krause Center was closed from August 11-September 24, so there were 45 days without Mac computer
to compose web pages using BBEdit. Using Dell Computers at Los Altos Library and Mountain View Senior Center, I wrote HTML in Microsoft Word to continue "Number 66" entries.

When Krause Center opened on September 25 for the Fall Semester, I was sidetracked doing "On Number 96" for Cornell Professor Harold A. Scheraga's 96th birthday on October 18, 2017.
He was my doctorate advisor (1963-1970) in physical chemistry of macromolecules. 202 items were compiled for "Number 96" and completed on October 25, 2017.

Best By Number: Who Wore What With Distinction (2006) enabled me to include five sports players with uniform #66. From Jeremy Baker's Tolstoy's Bicycle (1982), learned that Michelangelo finished The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome (1541) at age 66. Also Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote Reveries of a Solitary Walker before he died at 66. I quote from this book of Rousseau: "Before instructing others, one should have inner enlightenment" on my Enlightenment News page, and recount my experience with Paul Brunton on Sept. 1, 1979 watching a most beautiful sunset at the very spot Rousseau sat in Vevey 200 years earlier.

Fun composing "66 in Collectibles, Coins & Postage Stamps", #96-104, with 1966 U.S. coins of half-dollar, dime, nickel, & penny, adding to 66¢. The 1866 U.S. Seated Liberty "No Motto" Silver Dollar sold for $1,504,847. Other items include Marvel stamp #66 of General Thunderbolt Ross, #66 Topps cards from Wings, World on Wheels, Look 'n See, & Scoop (1952-1954). 66¢ U.S. stamps showed "Wedding Cake", "Yes I Do", and "Swallowtail Butterfly" (2013). 66 denomination foreign stamps were found from East Germany, France (5), French Polynesia (4), and Mozambique (4). 2018 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogues were consulted to locate these "66" stamps.

Section "66 in Books on Philosophy and Religion" includes items #110-144 from my personal library searching for wisdom quotes from favorite philosophers, saints and sages. Section "66 in Poetry & Literature" includes items #145-167 from my favorite poets and writers, quoting from their poem 66, chapter 66, and page 66.

The final item #168 is Numerology: words whose letters add up to 66— Resurrection, Transformation, Butterfly Peacock, Forest Paradise, Golden Journey, Spring Iris, Wisdom Fountain. May the reader of "On Number 66" enter a forest paradise in the golden journey
to Spring Iris and Wisdom Fountain.

Peter Y. Chou
Mountain View, November 30, 2017