Yellow Pig Day

#YellowPigDay

Yellow Pig Day

Yellow Pig Day is July 17th, created in the 1960's, not to celebrate the pig, but to celebrate the number 17. The name was a fun name given to the day by the creators David Kelly and Michael Spivak in reference to Kelly's yellow pig collection. The yellow pig has 17 toes, 17 eyelashes and 17 teeth.

Why Celebrate the Number 17

Mathematically & Scientifically:

17 is a prime number, meaning it can only be divided by the number 1 and by itself.

17 is also the sum of the first four prime numbers: 2, 3, 5, and 7.

17 is the smallest number that is the sum of two powers of 4 (1+16=17)

17 is the first number that can be written as the sum of a positive cube and a positive square in 2 different ways

17 is the minimum number of givens in a sudoku puzzle for the puzzle to have a unique solution

17 is the atomic number of chlorine

Interestingly:

17 is a popularly chosen number in games where people are asked to pick a number.

17 written in Roman numerals is XVII, which as an anagram becomes VIXI, which translates to "I have lived" taking on the meaning "my life is over" in Italian, which makes it a very unlucky number to Italians.

Fear of the number 17 is heptadecaphobia

17 is the number of syllables in a haiku

17 is a symbol of victory and perfection in the Bible. It is also the day Noah's flood started and the day Noah's Ark settled back on land.

17 is the number of days, in Greek mythology, that Odysseus floated on a raft after leaving Calypso.

17 is the Jersey number of Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean, who won the World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1934 and was the MVP of the year. His number is retired by the Cardinals

17 is the Jersey number of NBA players, John Havlicek and Chris Mullin and NFL players Philip Rivers (Los Angeles Chargers), Davante Adams (Green Bay Packers), Don Meredith (Dallas Cowboys)

Where in the World the age 17 has significance

17 is the minimum age for taking driving lessons and to drive a car in the UK

17 is the age for obtaining a driver's license in many countries

17 is the voting age in Greece and Indonesia

17 is the age in the U.S. when parental consent is no longer required for joining the armed forces, donating blood and to watch, rent or purchase R-rated movies