From "Deus ex Machina and the Aesthetics of Proof"
(Alan J. Cain in The Mathematical Intelligencer * of September 2010, pdf)—
Deus ex Machina
In a narrative, a deus is unsatisfying for two reasons. The
first is that any future attempt to build tension is undercut if
the author establishes that a difficulty can be resolved by a
deus. The second reason—more important for the purposes
of this essay—is that the deus does not fit with the internal
structure of the story. There is no reason internal to the
story why the deus should intervene at that moment.
Santa in the New York Thanksgiving Day Parade
Thanksgiving Day, 2010 (November 25), New York Lottery—
Midday 411, Evening 332.
For 411, see (for instance) April 11 (i.e., 4/11) in 2008 —
For 332, see "A Play for Kristen**" — March 16, 2008 —
"A search for the evening number, 332, in Log24 yields a rather famous line from Sophocles…"
Sophocles, Antigone, edited by Mark Griffith, Cambridge University Press, 1999:
“Many things are formidable (deina ) and none is more formidable (deinoteron ) than man.”
– Antigone , lines 332-333, in Valdis Leinieks, The Plays of Sophokles, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1982, p. 62
See also the lottery numbers 411 and 332 in this journal on March 22, 2009— "The Storyteller in Chance ."
“… it’s going to be accomplished in steps,
this establishment of the Talented
in the scheme of things.”
— Anne McCaffrey, Radcliffe ’47, To Ride Pegasus
* It seems Santa has delivered an early gift — free online access to all issues of the Intelligencer .
** Teaser headline in the original version at Xanga.com