BIRTHDATE OF OUR FACEBOOK PAGE
01/02/2010 can be read the same forwards and backwards.
A fascinating palindromic date.
Endless night is the title of one of Agatha Christie’s novels where the captivation of palindromic words is well illustrated (those that are spelled the same backwards as forwards), for example, words like radar or the name of the famous intellectual Asor Rosa. And also, the 1st of February of this year: 01.02.2010.
Of course, palindromes are considered as such depending on language, notation and different calendar systems (we write 19 but for us this isn’t a palindrome, but it is if it is written the way the ancient Romans did: XIX).
It is a matter of coincidence, but according to the statements in the famous correspondence between the great physicist Wolfgang Pauli and one of the fathers of psychoanalysis, Carl Gustav Jung, coincidence can be extremely revealing, and convey information on the symbolism through which we relate to the things of this world.
The fascination of palindromic words (found in many civilizations) have been subject of research by logicians, physiologists and mathematicians: the case of Douglas Hofstadter (author of Godel, Escher, Bach) is exemplary as it is based on the magic of symmetry that seems to bring order and balance to the chaos of the Universe.
Nonetheless, philosopher Francesco Bacone understood that some symmetry has to be broken to be able to appreciate beauty and life itself. If we had remained slaves of palindromes, we would never have learned, as children, to read and write or tell right from left, or even past from future, unless we had become politicians, where some clever “palindromic “ fellows always manage to work their way up, passing from Right to Left and vice versa, known as opportunists or better, “time – servers” (description taken from an image of the bestiary).
