SIDE SALAD - Everything crunchy is good.

STUPID. STUPID. STUPID.

Funny story about the number 666. Turns out it's a commonly called phone number. For babies.

When I was first getting involved with telecom I worked for a good, upstanding Jesuit university in San Francisco in the early 90s. They were wisely replacing their ancient telephone system, one of the last large rotary dial key systems that was left in the city. Putting in a modern PBX meant new luxuries like direct incoming numbers for staff and faculty, and since the on-campus dorms were getting put on the new system too, a very large block of consecutive DID numbers were requested from the local phone company. There was only one existing prefix in the area with enough capacity, or so we were told. But I know I wasn’t the only one who wondered if someone at Pacific Bell must have been having a good laugh as the Catholic university got assigned numbers in the 666 prefix.

I was just a technician at the time but I recall some of the executives at the university being very unhappy with that arrangement. If memory serves, PacBell would only create a new prefix for the university for some astronomical fee, which the school felt was gouging and wasn’t willing to cough up. (I notice something has given way over the years though, as they do now have a less controversial prefix.)

As we got ready to turn on the new system we noticed that the 6000 number range was one of ours, and my boss, the telecom manager, decided to take the number 666-6666 for his own. I thought that was kind of a neat idea, and went for 666-6667 myself.

As you can likely imagine, there were many jokes and good times to be had with these numbers. And some weird lunatic prank calls, though not a lot. But what drove my boss crazy most of all about having that fateful number was the amazing number of “googoo gaagaa” calls he received. You know, those calls you get when an infant has gotten a phone off the hook and has inadvertently dialed you up and is cooing and babbling into the phone? Well, maybe you don’t, but trust me, if you ever get a phone number with all of the same digits, you will. Apparently pounding repeatedly on the 6 button is a fairly easy thing for a baby to do.

All of which reminded me of a funny column I read once in the Portland Oregonian's features section that goofed on the number 666.

I couldn't find that column online, but I did find an approximate version in honor of today's less-than-substantive news topic:

660
Approximate number of the Beast

DCLXVI
Roman numeral of the Beast

6, uh... what was that number again?
Number of the Blonde Beast

1-666
Area code of the Beast

66666
ZIP code of the Beast

666 mph
Speed limit of the Beast

$665.95
Retail price of the Beast

$699.25
Price of the Beast, plus sales tax

$769.95
Price of the Beast,
with accessories and replacement soul

$656.66
Wal Mart price of the Beast

$646.66
Next week's Wal Mart price of the Beast

Phillips 666
Gasoline of the Beast

Route 666
Roadway of the Beast

666 F
Oven temperature for roast Beast

666k
Retirement plan of the Beast

666 mg
Recommended Minimum Daily Requirement of Beast

6.66 %
5 year CD interest rate at First Beast of Hell National Bank ($666 minimum deposit.)

$666/hr
Billing rate of Beast's lawyer

Lotus 6-6-6
Spreadsheet of the Beast

666i
BMW of the Beast

668
Next-door neighbor of the Beast

Posted by Jeff at June 6, 2006 07:33 AM | TrackBack