i have been reading a lot of posts and a lot of links from posts to websites....... i have been thinking about what a lot of people have said.....and some of it makes sense i quess but i hope im not right in any way......

first off a lot of people are talking about how the pictures of the band in the new album involve what each of the particular members do in their personal lives....maybe a hint that they are coming to an end.

and i had found this link on another thread http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_%28numerology%29 the part that really caught my eye in one of the sections on that page is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...32#Hexagram_23 which says Hexagram 23 is named 剝 (bol), "Stripping". Other variations include "splitting apart" and "flaying". maybe another hint of the end?also the last song on the album Viginti Tres means 23 and i have heard that danny..."i think its danny anyhow"....is into many numerical references and symbols and what not.

also i have heard that 10000 days is around 27 years as long as MJK'S mother was paralyzed but also 27 years is how long many influencial artits lived....kurt cobain, janis joplin, jim morrison etc......maybe another clue to the end?


I know some or most of this might not make sense i'm kinda tired and stuff......but please try to branch off from this and see if it makes any sense to anyone else and if not sorry to waste your time everyone....

Only time will tell.

Maybe the band will split up into two seperate bands, of which you have to play both at the same time in order to hear the full aural composition.

man i just wanted to see if anyone else could try to elaborate on this a little bit or maybe even say if it makes sense at all not be a smart ass......and hey at least im not one of the people who have been up for fucking 3 weeks mixing and cutting songs and shit to try to figure out this "puzzle" i just thought it was kind of interesting how some of those things fit together.............

and im not one of the people talking shit on the new album and saying they SHOULD break up if you really want to be a smart ass with someone do it to someone who deserves it a little more thatn me. dick

re write it when you're not sleepy.

Instead of producing all this anxiety about Tool's portending doomful end, why not just enjoy what's going on right now...and then wait and see what happens? No point at all in worrying about something you have NO control over...

amen, if it happens it happens.
i doubt any of the members will fade away quietly into obscurity anyways.

holy shit seriously people im not worrying about the end of tool im nbot a fucking freak when it happens it happens i just wanted to know if any of that made sense

it totaly see what your saying... and that would make sence if that is the answer to all this "23" speculation

finally someone that isn't being a smart ass and telling me not to worry about what the band is going to do.....

I love smartasses.

me too actually i am quite a smart ass but still i thought this was kind of interesting

Ok, I will try not to be a smart arse about this. I just want to let you know what I think about this. I really don't think we should read into these things that much. I mean, obviously I don't know the future so I can never say for certain one way or the other that tool have finished or not. But using some obscure interpretation of a number as evidence for that they are splitting up is delusional. Well, I don't want to use that word, I don't think you're nuts, I just can't find the right word. I just think that if you logically reason things out, the only conclusion you could come to is that there is no hidden message embedded in this album that could tell us whether or not this is intentionally or unintentionally the last one that will be made. 23 could be twisted to mean anything you want. And so it has been done. This phenomenon of finding 23 in everything is merely a demonstration on the natural workings of the human brain. We find patterns, symbols and ideals in everything. We find it very hard to see the world as it truly is, because our ingrained method of understanding things involves simplyfying it into common threads and patterns. The truth is too large and complex for us to see immediatly and completely so we break it down into the little parts which we already have a hold of. Like numbers. I find it easy to grasp the idea of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. So when I see that the lotto numbers for this week are 24 3 4 5 6 19, I think Wow! Thats unlikely! When, as I am sure you know, it is just as likely as any other combination. But nevertheless our brains recognise these patterns because that is what we understand the most. So when someone starts thinking that a single number might have more significance than others, that person starts seeing that number everywhere. And thus perpetuates his belief that it is more significant.

Now, your argument is of course that this particular number was chosen because of what people have said about it and what it means. And you are right, there is nothing to stop someone from choosing to use that number that way, but I think you are losing sight of the enormity of other possibilities.

Here are some examples:



23 was used to demonstrate the way people find patterns in everything.

23 was used to refer specifically to [insert any reference from your wikipedia link]

23 was used to refer to all of them.

It could mean that they plan to continue playing together for another 23 years.

or another possibility is:

There is no puzzle to solve.


In reference to the photos showing the band members' personal interests as a clue to them calling it quits: Again, there are tons of other reasons why they chose to use photos of this nature. The most probable one is something that was said in a recent interview with Maynard, I think. Could have been Adam, I can't remember, but he said that the pictures showed each member's personal lives a little bit more than would have been done previously. He talked about how in the past it was possible to watch the opening acts for their shows from within the audience because no-one would recognise them. He liked that and that was one of the reasons they kept the mystique thing going with hardly any photos of them in the albums. But now things have changed, fans know what they look like and the anonimity has finally become that much harder to achieve. So instead of resisting it, they have decided finally to put a little bit more of their private lives on display. Just a little, nothing that a commited fan wouldn't already have found out. (except Justin's eagle - I have heard anyone ever mention that Justin likes eagles).

Anyway, that should be enough words to put you to sleep. Have a good nap and don't let conspiracy theories get on top of you (but don't believe everything you hear).

Edit: I apologise. I probably could have made my point in a few less words. I hope this helps. Don't feel obliged to read it all.

yeah i know it is kind of dumb to go along with consperacy of this so called puzzle.....but i thought it was kind of fun i never really posted anything other than a 1 or 2 word response and i just wanted to see what kind of response i would get with these bs numbers and what not

oh yeah and i also think someone hit the puzzle thing right on the head when they said that the "puzzle" was to make your own meaning to what you see/hear with tool......i mean the have been preaching about thinking for yourself and having an open mind their entire career so i think the true ansewer to this puzzle might just be to thinki for yourself and take what tool does as something personal to you

Well if it's not the answer to the puzzle, it's certainly a great piece of advice. Have a good one.