On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 07:25:27 -0400, Pat wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 01:45:54 -0500, wrote:

When I was young, phone numbers has a WORD at the beginning.
If you're over 60, you'll probably remember this:

For example:

Hilltop5-5555 = hi5-5555 which is 445-5555
Spring2-5555 = sp2-5555 which is 772-5555
Worth8-5555 = wo8-5555 which is 968-5555
Orchid3-5555 = or3-5555 which is 673-5555
Victory1-5555 = vi1-5555 which is 841-5555
Tiger4-5555 = ti4-5555 which is 844-5555

These seemed to make it easier to remember phone numbers, and the words
were usually simple words that were easy to remember. The word was
assigned by the phone company. It seems they stopped doing this around
the mid 1960's. I wonder why they stopped?

Anyone know the reason?

Of course you can assign your own words. But no one will know what
you're talking about unless they are at least 60 years old.

For example,

762----- can be SOund2 or POny2 or SOuth2 ROund2, POlice2 etc.....
536----- can be LEmon6 or JElly6 or KEndra6 .... and so on....

If your number is 536-1234 Just tell your friends to call LEmon6-1234.

When we were young, if the middle digit of the first 3 digits was a 0
or a 1, then it was an area code. All area codes had a 0 or 1 as the
middle digit and all central office prefixes had a 2 thru 9 as the
middle digit. Only 2 thru 9 had letters on the standard dial/keypad.
When they started running out of prefixes in big cities, they dropped
the use of letters. Much later, they started running out of area
codes that met the 0 or 1 rule, so they changed to a computerized
system with lists of valid area codes and prefixes. Now, the 0/1 rule
is completely gone.

The shortage of area codes with a middle number of 0 or 1, and all the
other things we are discussing all relate to the general number
shortage.

Since the invention and wide-spread use of computers, people use far
more numbers than they used to.

At the same time, the Arabs, who invented and still are the major
producers of Arabic numbers, limit the supply. In order to charge
more. As the price of oil has gone down, they are concentrating more
on the price of numbers.

The shortage of numbers is the reason that more and more American
employers etc. are using Social Security numbers as employee numbers, or
as Medicare numbers. It's the reason many states no longer issue new
license plates every year, not the cost of the metal but the cost of a
new set of numbers.

Every time you scrap a hard drive with millions or billions of numbers
on it, you compound the problem. That's why you should take your old
harddrives to Best Buy or some place where they will make sure the
numbers are recycled.

Never WIPE a harddrive. That is just wasteful.

The US governments has a large Number Reserve in mines in Nevada and old
missile silos in North Dakota, but they will not release the numbers
unless the shortage gets much worse. So save your numbers. Even
the numbers on receipts, like grocery store receipts, can help a poor
family get by.