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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
311, 74, 89, 815, 92, 911, 119, 127
What do you think when you see these numbers? Do any of them jump out at you?
Let’s trying presenting them in a different format.
3-11, 7-4, 8-9, 8-15, 9-2, 9-11, 11-9, 12-7
What about now? Do any of these numbers mean something to you?
For me, 3-11, 8-15, and 9-11 evoke memories and emotions. 3-11 reminds me of the gruesome images of the recent earthquake-tsunami disaster in Japan; 8-15 reminds me of the acts of war forever engraved in the consciousness of anyone with Asian heritage; 9-11 reminds me to never forget and to be forever grateful.
These numbers, to me, are dates. They mean something to me. They probably mean something a little bit different to you. If you’re Korean or Chinese, 815 means something quite different from what it does for me. If you’re Middle-Eastern American, 911 probably evokes an incredibly complex set of emotions. Someone from Fukushima is going have a much more intense reaction to 311 than I ever will.
But that’s the nature of numbers. They can be imbued with meaning with personal meaning. They have the potential to carry subjective significance. They’re special.
Numbers are quite different from words in this regard. The meaning of most “words” have been maintained for so long that each one conveys a similar meaning to each of us. Words have predefined meanings. Numbers don’t.
Numbers, on their own, are just a collection of digits. They’re neutral. They’re empty vessels, fully open to interpretation. They don’t have the excess baggage associated with words. Numbers, when connected to personal memories and emotions, can convey more than what their digits alone should rightfully convey.
Numbers are code. And this code carries more information than any word is capable of. Upon seeing a few digits strung together, we can recall our memories, our emotions, and our heritage. We remember who we are, and who we may have been.
But if numbers can supposedly carry stronger meaning than words, why do some of these numbers not mean much to us? Again, I believe this has to do with the heritage of words vs that of numbers. Words are defined concretely. They are, for the most part, static. The human element of numbers, meanwhile, is dynamic. 911 means something to us now, but it was juts an emergency telephone number just 11 years ago. 200 years from now, it might once again just be an emergency telephone number.
Don’t believe me? Do you think future generations will see 911 in the same light that we do now? Well consider this. What do 8-9 and 9-2 mean to you?
8-9 is the end of the Civil War. 9-2 is the end of World War II. Do they mean the same thing as they did to our forefathers? Of course not! And that’s part of the magic of numbers!
Words continue to carry their legacy over many centuries. They are truly remarkable in this regard; but this directly contributes to their stale nature. Words, already packed with meaning, fail to evoke new responses from us. New connotations are not made readily.
Numbers on the other hand, shed their meaning with time. In a way, they are “freed” with time. Perhaps we could say this is tragic; but this erosion of meaning is precisely what allows us to empower numbers with such intense meaning. As time passes, we are free to imbue numbers with new, intense, personal meaning.
In 200 years, none may regard numbers such as 815 or 911 as we do today. But for the time being, many of these numbers mean more to us than any word ever will.
In this way, numbers are special. Their nature is a bit magical.
<hr width = "50%">
3-11: Japan earthquake & tusnami
7-4: American Independance
8-9: End of American Civil War
8-15: End of Pacific War (World War II)
9-2: End of World War II
9-11: Terrorist attacks on America
11-9: Fall of the Berlin Wall
12-7: Attack on Pearl Harbor
Crossposted from main blog
 
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Korea (South)17174 Posts
311: memory of high school cuz of the band
815: the map LOL
911: the emergency number still came to mind b4 sept11
119: reminds me of korea, 119 number on fire stations that i see every day
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0123456789. my online name ^_^
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On November 14 2011 08:45 Rekrul wrote:
815: the map LOL
119: reminds me of korea, 119 number on fire stations that i see every day
LOL same, actually.
It's telling about who we are 
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On November 14 2011 08:45 Rekrul wrote:
311: memory of a high school cuz of the band
815: the map LOL
911: the emergency number still came to mind b4 sept11
119: reminds me of korea, 119 number on fire stations that i see every day
Gold.
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815 map
911 porsche carrera (not even a fan of the car)
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Numbers are numbers to me and as im not american I didnt see any of those dates but i doubt 119 would mean anything to me either. Numbers are numbers and thats why they are great.
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4-16 VT shooting sad day 
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your Country52798 Posts
edit: must stop posting one liners
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On November 14 2011 08:48 0123456789 wrote:
0123456789. my online name ^_^
dammit numbers i was going to make a post about you
like numbers makes me think of this really funny korean emo pro LoL player i know
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Baltimore, USA22259 Posts
On November 14 2011 09:26 StorrZerg wrote:4-16 VT shooting sad day
I can always easily remember Cho's 4-16... it's my birthday.
Edit - Also, when I read 3-11 I think of the Madrid train bombings.
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United States24772 Posts
On November 14 2011 08:45 Rekrul wrote:
311: memory of high school cuz of the band
815: the map LOL
911: the emergency number still came to mind b4 sept11
119: reminds me of korea, 119 number on fire stations that i see every day
I thought of the same things as you.
815 was just so screwed up. Just like some of those other dates Haji mentioned.
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On November 14 2011 08:42 thedeadhaji wrote:
311, 74, 89, 815, 92, 911, 119, 127
What do you think when you see these numbers? Do any of them jump out at you?
Let’s trying presenting them in a different format.
3-11, 7-4, 8-9, 8-15, 9-2, 9-11, 11-9, 12-7
First thoughts: 311 is a band (jumps out), 74 means nothing to me, 89 is prime, 815 makes me think of 8:15 PM for some reason, 92 was the pop FM radio station in my home state, 911 is the emergency phone number (jumps out), 119 looks like it should be prime but isn't, 127 is a Mersenne prime (also jumps out).
In date form I read them as 3 o'clock to 11 o'clock, and so on, up until 8-15, which still sounded like a time to me. Once I read 9-11 I realized they were supposed to be dates, but I didn't recognize any of the others.
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Those numbers are pretty interesting, but
0 118 999 881 999 119 7253
enough said
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127: max. number in 7 bit.
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Numbers in three-four digit sequences are natural units of memorization (that's why phone numbers are dashed). Here's my memorization of pi arranged by the pieces that I use to memorize it, along with their significance to me:
3.14159 (nothing special here)
26535 (math teacher wrote pi to this on the board in 6th grade)
8979 (micosoft calculator goes to here)
323
846
264 (64 is tossed around a lot)
338 (bullet caliber)
327
950
288
419
716
939 (socket for AMD processors circa 2005)
937
510
58209
749445
92307
816 (last three pieces here are special because they all end in 6)
406
286 (old Intel CPU)
I've stopped memorizing pi for a long time, so unfortunately I've lost many of the devices I used to remember the sequence and just remember how I break it up instead.
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911, 92 and 127 are the only numbers that mean anything to me from that list.
911 is emergency number and date and 92 and 127 are highways by me.
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I will never forget that game on 815 with the one base carrier play. Chokeblock with one zealot and two probes. I can't remember which pro game it was though =(
Also, the choke on that map was just a bad joke. Srsly.
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
On November 14 2011 12:26 Celial wrote:
I will never forget that game on 815 with the one base carrier play. Chokeblock with one zealot and two probes. I can't remember which pro game it was though =(
Also, the choke on that map was just a bad joke. Srsly.
Boxer vs July!!
OH the memories!
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Gnaah can't find the vod. IIRC P was starting bottom left. Stargate and Beacon were being built in his lower right corner. -.-
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Really, the only numbers that meant anything to me there were:
311, Local Information Number
911, Emergency Contact Number
I might be weird, but I don't place too much importance in the anniversaries of important events, or really dates in general. =/
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911 was the only set of numbers that stood out to me. And I thought of the emergency number to dial before 9-11 the date. Though the two usually come hand in hand in my mind.
Other than that, the only dates that really mean anything to me are my families birth-dates and the dates of holidays. Also, when I think of dates I usually don't think of them in number format. Like 7-4 didn't mean much to me, but July 4th obviously does.
3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197
Those are the digits of pi I have memorized from a running competition I had with a friend back in high school.
I memorized them in sets:
3.14-159-26535-8979-3238-46264-3383-27950-288-4197 thats how I memorized them, by adding small groups at a time. So if I see 4197 somewhere, pi might come to mind, oddly enough
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911 was the only one that stood out due to the emergency number, but I can't remember anything significant happening on 9-11.
I tried wikipedia but found nothing significant, a terrorist bombing in Bolivia that killed 60 people and apparently it is the "World Freedom Day" though only in the US.
7 is my lucky number and I always give myself a mental high five when I check my watch and it's 13:37.
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815 makes me think of the player before the map haha. It's independence day in Korea if I'm right.
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815 : burrow lurkers glitching up a ramp
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815 - the map
911 - the US emergency number
The only ones that stood out to me when I read them.
On November 14 2011 19:42 Cuddle wrote:
7 is my lucky number and I always give myself a mental high five when I check my watch and it's 13:37.
lol, both of things are true of me as well.
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I likey numbers. Numbers nom nom nom.
Let me first look at the once you mentioned
311, 74, 89, 815, 92, 911, 119, 127
Apologies in advance because I'm not a student of history.
First to my mind:
311: nothing - although my mind did a quick-check on 31 (3-1) which is important to us Koreans (삼일절)
74 - nothing comes to mind
89 - 1989, the year I was born. Also that reminds me that Hitler was born in 1889. (You will see why this is relevant later)
815 - liberation day!
92 - my sister was born 1992
911 - emergency and also the world trade centers
119 - emergency number in Korea, also one of the most heartbreaking days of my life D=
127 - one of my best friend's birthday (Jan 27)
I'm going to add:
420 - others may think of weed, I think of my birthday. Well, that and maybe weed. Also Hitler was born on April 20, 1889. Strange, huh?
So yeah... same numbers mean different things to different people.
I think I'm learning that obsessing over numbers isn't a good thing though. Look what happened to me last two weeks x_x+ Show Spoiler +ABL 1000th Page Celebration anyone?
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12-7 : A day that will live in infamy ... my BIRTHDAY! Hells to the yes!
Also, Pearl Harbor Day. :-( This allows my dad to make bad jokes about how he wanted to name me Pearl ... Thank goodness he was overruled.
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311, 74, 89, 815, 92, 911, 119, 127
If you sum up those numbers, that is how outraged I was on a scale of 1 to 10 when Steve Jobs' biography cover got defaced. I kid, I kid <3
311 is some non emergency helpline
815 the map
911/119 remind me of police (thanks to boxer for teaching me about 119 :/)
Very interesting thought on words vs numbers. Never really considered dates as numbers for some reason, more like symbols/icons. Words aren't generally as universal since they're language specific and other contexts even within that language. It happens to a degree with dates (other things associated with that date), but less so with the year. I dont know 9-2 but I do l know 1945.
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
interesting that so many people think of 911 as the emergency number before the date.
I might be the opposite because I grew up in a super safe neighborhood and have literally never called 911 in my life...
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On November 14 2011 08:42 thedeadhaji wrote:3-11, 7-4, 8-9, 8-15, 9-2, 9-11, 11-9, 12-7 Crossposted from main blog
7-4 4th of July
8-9 So close to an A
8-15 full moon
9-11 Porsche Carrera
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On November 15 2011 10:44 thedeadhaji wrote:
interesting that so many people think of 911 as the emergency number before the date.
I might be the opposite because I grew up in a super safe neighborhood and have literally never called 911 in my life...
A lot of people had made the association to the number long before the event came about.
I'd also wager that you'd get a different answer between referring to it as 911 and 9/11 (nine-one-one vs nine-eleven), as one is a telephone number, one is clearly a date.
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On November 15 2011 11:25 Dfgj wrote:Show nested quote +On November 15 2011 10:44 thedeadhaji wrote:
interesting that so many people think of 911 as the emergency number before the date.
I might be the opposite because I grew up in a super safe neighborhood and have literally never called 911 in my life... A lot of people had made the association to the number long before the event came about. I'd also wager that you'd get a different answer between referring to it as 911 and 9/11 (nine-one-one vs nine-eleven), as one is a telephone number, one is clearly a date.
Yeah. I've never really used or think about about calling 911 regularly, just learned it earlier and it is pretty ingrained. Agreed on the 911 vs 9-11 or 9/11 thing too.
Also, I might be totally wrong on this, but some people just call it "September 11." I forget which show, but the British hosts were actually remarking (in an 'interesting fact' manner) at the use of "nine-eleven" by Americans. Maybe partially since they use DD/MM/YY or whatever. Not that they dont know about the term 9/11, but the specific number might not be as drilled into the consciousness.
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EPT
