Storytelling

Poetry, prose and theater, indeed most forms of literary expression evolved from storytelling in the oral tradition.  Stories have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education and cultural preservation.  The Greeks told short stories as epillion or hexameter poems and much longer epic stories.  The Celtic Triads of the Druids were conveyed as verbal instruction. 

“Although they had a written language, the Celts rarely used it, preferring instead to pass on their beliefs, knowledge and wisdom through the time honored method of their oral traditions.  The honored and revered Storytellers, the Seannachaidhs, were a popular fixture around the fire, especially those who told the longest and most intricate tales during the wintertime.  Since daylight hours were scarce that time of year and families spent a lot of time around the light and warmth of the hearths, they became gathering places, where the Seannachaidhs, who burned with the fires of inspiration, would tell stories of the people.”

These storytellers pass down the lore that binds a society.  Folklorists study the knowledge, culture, myths, beliefs and tales of a group.  “When a Folklorist looks at Fairy Tales and finds a prominent pattern such as the number Three (i.e. 3 bears, 3 pigs, 3 Billy goats gruff, 3 notes to the Pied Piper, 3 kittens, Cinderella and her 2 sisters, 3 wishes, 3 characters, 3 tasks to be performed, travel to the third bend in the road, etc.,) recurring in a single culture or among a group of related peoples and does not find the same persistent recurrence in other cultural groups, there is a tendency to categorize such an occurrence as a cultural artifact,” writes Herb O. Buckland.

From Threes, Chapter 9, “Threes in Art and Popular Culture”

Play Ball

As we near the end of another season of Major League Baseball, we can pause to think about threes in baseball.  Of The Big Three professional sports in the U.S., baseball, football and basketball, baseball is loaded with threes.  Baseball is three strikes, three outs, nine innings, nine players, and three bases (the fourth is called home plate).  Baseball is scored in hits, runs and errors.  Batters are at the plate, on deck or in the hole.  Baseball is the quintessential natural threes in sport.  

Baseball has the Triple Crown, which is awarded when one player in either the American League or the National League (or in some rare cases all of Major League Baseball) has the highest batting average, the most home runs and the most runs batted in during a single season.  Before Miguel Cabrera won the Triple Crown last year, Carl Yastremski was the last player to do it 45 years earlier while playing for the Boston Red Sox.  Only 14 players have achieved the feat.  Pitchers also have a triple crown for most wins, best earned run average and most strikeouts in a single season.  Winning the pitching Triple Crown has occurred more often.  Grover Cleveland Alexander did it three times.  

Newton's Three Laws

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) compiled three laws of motion and published his thinking in Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687 while he was teaching at Cambridge University in England. Newton used the three laws to explain and investigate the motion of many physical objects and systems. His thinking is responsible for developments in the field of classical mechanics, which is the study of physical laws describing the motion of bodies in a system. Galileo, Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler also participated in the early development of classical mechanics.

Schooled in mathematics, natural philosophy, physics, astronomy and theology, Newton is considered to be one of the most influential individuals of all time and a founder of physical science as we know it today. His thinking dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries. We remember him primarily for his description of the principle of gravitation and the three laws of motion. He showed that the motions of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws. By demonstrating the consistency between Kepler's laws of planetary motion and his theory of gravitation, he removed the last doubts about the sun’s being the center of the solar system and advanced the thinking of the Scientific Revolution.

From Threes, Chapter 3, "Threes in Science"

The Wobbly Three-legged Stool

Even though workers are commemorated annually with a one-day break from labor, a more permanent break occurs at retirement. Retirement from a life of work is still a relatively modern development. Preparing for it financially and psychologically continues to challenge even the most careful planners. According to the Social Security Administration, "the three major elements of your retirement portfolio are benefits from pensions, savings and investments, and Social Security benefits." The Social Security Administration expects the program to be unable to meet its financial obligations beginning in 2042. Simply put, the number of people taking money out of the system in 2042 will be greater than the number of people putting money into it. According to statistics released by the Social Security Administration, by 2031, there will be almost twice as many older Americans than there are today, rising from the current 37 million to 71 million over that period. At present, the government's solution for addressing this imbalance is to increase the retirement age, thus delaying payouts to now younger workers on their eventual retirements.  

Since 1971 the life expectancy of the average 65-year-old in the rich world has improved by four to five years. By 2050, forecasts suggest, life expectancies will increase another three years on top of that. Until now, people have converted all that extra lifespan into leisure time. The average retirement age in the OECD in 2010 was 63, almost one year lower than in 1970. Living longer, and retiring early, might not be a problem if the supply of workers were increasing, but declining fertility rates imply that by 2050 there will be just 2.6 American workers supporting each pensioner. The figures for France, Germany and Italy will be 1.9, 1.6 and 1.5 respectively, and younger wage earners will be shoring up pension systems nearly everywhere. 

from Threes, Chapter 8, “Threes in Business and Technology”  

A Holiday From Labor

Matthew Maguire, a machinist, first proposed the Labor Day holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the CLU (Central Labor Union) of New York. Others argue that Peter J. McGuire of the AFL (American Federation of Labor) proposed a Labor Day in May 1882, after witnessing the annual labor festival in Toronto, Canada. Oregon was the first state to make Labor Day a holiday in 1887. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, 30 U.S. states officially celebrated Labor Day. Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland reconciled with the labor movement. Fearing further conflict, Congress made Labor Day a national holiday in just six days after the end of the strike. 

The September date originally chosen by the CLU of New York was preferred over the more widespread International Workers' Day (May Day or May 1 in more than 80 countries) because President Cleveland was concerned an observance on the latter date would be associated with the nascent Communist, Syndicalist and Anarchist movements that, though distinct from one another, had rallied to commemorate the Haymarket Affair on International Workers' Day. John L. Lewis started the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) trade union, in 1932. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders, including leaders of the CIO, to swear they were not Communists. That provision in the act was later found to be unconstitutional. The CIO merged with the AFL to become the AFL-CIO in 1955.

from Threes, Chapter 8, “Threes in Business and Technology ”