Today, June 25, is the birth date of the late philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine. As noted by his son in Quine's obituary, it is also Anti-Christmas. An appropriate gift for the day might have something to do with the number 25, since this is the number of Christmas Day, of today, and of the sections of a strange work by Philippe Sollers, Nombres This work is the subject of a long essay, "Dissemination," by the deconstructionist philosopher Jacques Derrida (Translation, annotation, and introduction by Barbara Johnson, University of Chicago Press, 1981; London, Athlone Press, 1981.) The best introduction to Derrida is the work at left, Derrida for Beginners, by Jim Powell, Writers and Readers Publishing, A Beginners Documentary Comic Book, 1997.

This work seems ideally suited for an Anti-Christmas present.  It might be supplemented, however, in view of the numerological remarks by Sollers and Derrida, by the following link to an ultra super magic square.  This is a type of "diabolic" square; the qualities that make it particularly special, even among diabolic squares, are described here.

June 25, 2002 shc759