Just for fun

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

Some would recognise this number – 6255456376

However, does this number strike a chord with anyone …

Whitehall 1212?

Sam

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

What’s in a number, and where would we be without them?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Sam Stones on 11/07/2020 00:14:24:

[…]

However, does this number strike a chord with anyone …

Whitehall 1212?

Sam

.

I bought a secondhand ‘surveillance’ video recorder a few year back, Sam … only to find that it was password-protected.

It didn’t take me very long to guess 1212

MichaelG.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

The telephone number was for Scotland Yard, wasn't it?

I am not one of the "some", though I have a strange suspicion I have seen that number somewhere!

It looks like a concatenated National Grid Reference to 5 decimal places… but I can't imagine I'd have seen that even if of a particular well-known place. It lacks Grid Letters that place the number-set in the right part of the British Isles, though. Not also Scotland Yard?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Nigel Graham 2 on 11/07/2020 00:53:57:

The telephone number was for Scotland Yard, wasn't it?

I am not one of the "some", though I have a strange suspicion I have seen that number somewhere!

[…]

.

1. Yes, Scotland Yard … Hence the slightly tenuous relevance to my ‘security‘ recorder
2. The 7 segment display on your calculator contains a cypher

MichaelG.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

1212, Many moons ago, I had installed a new digital telephone exchange which necessitated a change of telephone number for the company. As we were early adopters of the new BT circuits, I chose a number for the main switchboard which ended in 1212. I think it was lost on most of the younger sales staff, but us old une had a chuckle or two.

I guess 49 is another of those time related numbers as in Pc 49

Would that have been 71011945 by any chance Michael ? – Its what the Arabs had given us!

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Scotland yard was easy.

Your number is not. Something along the lines of 148257, but not quite, as it has a double digit amongst it?

Campanology perhaps?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by not done it yet on 11/07/2020 08:10:54:

[…]

Campanology perhaps?

.

That rings a bell

… but you’re ‘cold’

I won’t spoil Sam’s fun though.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 11/07/2020 08:29:12

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

6255456376? Twitter code?

[GreensandsParticipant @greensands]

I'm afraid that if it is not my 'last three' then I have no chance of remembering a number these days!

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 11/07/2020 06:25:05:

1. The 7 segment display on your calculator contains a cypher

MichaelG.

0.7734

710.0553

710.77345

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Nice ones, Neil

… 'though my comment was actually intended as a clue to deciphering Sam's number

MichaelG.

.

Edit: Just realised, I was "barking up the wrong tree" 

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 11/07/2020 10:17:28

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Neil, only trouble is, they are not so clear on my scientific calculators, as they have a natural display, but they did work OK on the old LED ones years ago.

Regards Nick

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

You're all sophisticates. I never got beyond 5318008

pgk

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi pgk, one track mine eh!

Regards Nick.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Sorry about that, small typo error probably made it a little more difficult. It should have read

710.11345

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

I reckon Sam is letting Snakes play with Matchsticks 

Edited By V8Eng on 11/07/2020 12:47:04

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

Posted by V8Eng on 11/07/2020 12:45:12:

I reckon Sam is letting Snakes play with Matchsticks

Edited By V8Eng on 11/07/2020 12:47:04

Well spotted
(In Python it would be reticulated)

pgk

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Please excuse the stupidity of my previous edit

I was, of course, barking up exactly the right tree !!

MichaelG.

.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 11/07/2020 13:58:58

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

Posted by Nicholas Farr on 11/07/2020 10:33:18:

Hi Neil, only trouble is, they are not so clear on my scientific calculators, as they have a natural display, but they did work OK on the old LED ones years ago.

Regards Nick

Try 710.0553

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Derick, my point is that the one I showed, you can instantly see that they are upside down numbers. This one is a cheapy calculator.

It's a bit out of focus, but the five looks more like a S, the three more like an E the four makes a really good h and the seven makes a reasonable L, but many of the early LED calculators didn't have the return on the seven (look on the 7 on Speedy Builder5's one) the old LED's used to eat batteries for breakfast, dinner and tea, so all the digits were basic, which keep the power drain low, also the decimal point took a whole section, which made a better gap between the two words you are expressing.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 11/07/2020 15:36:43

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Any advance on 53177187714? ( hILLBILLIES )

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, my apologies to Derek Lane, as I have misspelt his name in my post of 11/7/2020 15:31:58 (bottom post on page 1) maybe a moderator can correct it.

Regards Nick.

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

It’s likely to be a sign of our age when we can recall BBC announcers ‘on the wireless’, asking us to call Whitehall 1212 (Scotland Yard) if we wanted to report anything suspicious. I was too young at the start of WWII to understand the significance when I first heard it. I did know Billy, my friend down the road, had a secret he wouldn’t tell his mother about.

Regarding 6255456376, MichaelG, barking up the right tree as is so often the case, got it in one while allowing me a bit of chuckle time.

Other answers were coming close with ESSO.OIL and SHELL.OIL from older style upside-down calculators.

However, insomniacs and night-time clock-watchers might realise that the numbers represent the number of segments displayed for 0 to 9 in the seven bit numerals of a digital clock etc.

If sleeping doesn’t come easily, and the digital clock is in full view, what about those other number patterns? For example, 232, or 555, or 437, or 327, or 127, or … has anyone still got their 1250 or done a 252?

Well, counting sheep is so old fashioned.

Keep safe,

Sam

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Sam, the number 505 on an old style seven segment display will look the same both ways and can be interpreted as SOS which ever way up you look at it.

Regards Nick.

[Author]

Posts