1.37

At Chicon IV in 1982 there was an issue of the hoax newsletter which repeatedly quoted George Flynn (a NESFA member who had a fannish reputation of keeping accurate track of things numerical -- voting numbers, attendance numbers and the like -- and reporting on trends) as commenting on any number they m/a/d/e/ u/p/ reported. For example, if the hoax newsletter reported that the Chicon IV Board of Directors had paid for 27 dinner meetings for itself, they'd then make up a quote from George that this was 1.37 times greater than any previous Board. And so on -- everything was 1.37 times greater or smaller.

A few years later, when SCIFI made a temporary loan of $20,000 to the NESFA Lunar Realty Trust #1, it made it in the form of 100 checks for $137 -- each delivered by a different route (by hand at conventions, by mail, etc) and one check for the balance.

Why 1.37? Who knows? It was probably all Bruce Pelz' idea.

Chip Hitchcock commented that 1.37 was a common in-joke/notion in fandom since the mid-70s and cites Guy Norris's apazine in Apaloosa. (It was named after the Fine Structure Constant which is approximately 1/137.)

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Publication

1982

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