NEXT TIME YOU FEEL RATHER UNIMPORTANT, TRY A LITTLE ARITHMETIC TRICK BASED ON THE UNDEBATABLE FACT THAT IT TOOK TWO PEOPLE, YOUR PARENTS, TO GET YOU HERE. EACH OF YOUR PARENTS HAS TWO PARENTS, SO IN THE GENERATION JUST PRIOR TO THAT OF YOUR MOTHER AND FATHER, THERE WERE FOUR REOPLE WHOSE PAIRING OFF AND SHARING LOVE CONTRIBUTED TO YOUR EXISTENCE.

YOU ARE THE PRODUCT OF EIGHT-GRANDPARENTS, 16 GREAT- GREAT-GRANDPARENTS, 32 GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS, ETC. KEEP ON MULTIPLYING THE NUMBER BY TWO. IF YOU FIGURE AN AVERAGE. OF ABOUT 25 YEARS BETWEEN EACH GENERATION YOU DISCOVER THAT A SCANT 500 YEARS AGO THERE WERE 1,048,576 PEOPLE ON THIS PLANET BEGINNING THE PRODUCTION OF YOU.

TAKE YOUR HOUSE NUMBER, DOUBLE IT. ADD 5, MULTIPLY BY 50, THEN ADD YOUR AGE. ADD THE NUMBER OF DAYS IN A YEAR (365) AND SUBSTRACT 615. THE LAST TWO NUMBERS OF THE ANSWER WILL BE YOUR AGE, THE OTHERS WILL BE YOUR HOUSE NUMBER.