Slashdot Mirror


The Binary Code In Canada's Gov-Gen Coat of Arms

Lev13than writes "Dr. David Johnston, formerly the president of the University of Waterloo, was installed as Canada's new Governor-General on Friday. As de facto head of state and the Queen's representative in Canada he is required to design a personal coat of arms. One modern detail has attracted particular attention - a 33-digit palindromic binary stream at the base. Efforts to decode the meaning of the number using ASCII, Morse, grouping by 3/11 and other theories has so far come up empty (right now it's a toss up between random, the phone number 683-077-0643 and Morse code for 'send help - trapped in a coat of arms factory.') Is 110010111001001010100100111010011 the combination to his luggage, or just a random stream of digits?"

27 of 486 comments (clear)

  1. Seeing patterns in the random by cjfs · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Hey we need something to make the coat of arms look more modern" "How about that code in the matrix?" "Just put a bunch of 1s and 0s along the bottom"

    And then an intern typed enough 1s and 0s to fill up the available space, trying to make it look random.

  2. The number is a Palindromic Prime in base 2. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This number is a prime: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palindromic_prime in base 2.
    In decimal it is: 6830770643

    1. Re:The number is a Palindromic Prime in base 2. by PseudonymousBraveguy · · Score: 2, Informative

      Please hand in your math license. The encoding has nothing to do with the property whether a number is prime or not. 4 base 10 is as prime as 100 base 2 (i.e. not at all)

  3. Re:Can't we just ask? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    He already told us the answer:

    The wavy band inscribed with zeros and ones represents a flow of information, digital communication and modern media.

  4. Re:Palindrome by DrSkwid · · Score: 3, Informative

    Not all binary codes are powers of two.

    For instance using 5311 instead of 8421

    5311
    0000 0
    0001 1
    0011 2
    0100 3
    0101 4
    1000 5
    1001 6
    1011 7
    1100 8
    1101 9
    1111 10

    There are also grey codes from the days of rotaty dialling

    --
    There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
  5. Re:The numbers are wrong (wild guess) by Gobelet · · Score: 5, Informative

    NATO aircrafts have OTAN printed on it because the two official languages used in NATO are English and French. OTAN means Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord.

  6. Re:Random? by Grant_Watson · · Score: 4, Informative

    The blazon (the heraldic technical description) of the arms is what officially defines them, and it doesn't include the particular sequence of digits; it just says "in base a bar wavy Sable inscribed with zeros and ones Or."

    So even if it means something, that particular sequence is just the artist's interpretation; somebody else who redrew the arms would be entitled to change it. Most likely, it's just what the artist liked visually.

  7. Re:The numbers are wrong by DrSkwid · · Score: 2, Informative

    You and the article are assuming powers of two, that is not the only binary encoding.

    this is one other example, from Bell Labs - the inventors of the modern world.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_code

    --
    There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
  8. Re:Random? by wireloose · · Score: 3, Informative

    Especially believable since it's a mirror image. The center is a 1, and each digit away is mirrored on the opposite side. Perhaps it's easier to see if you add some white space:

    1100 101 110 010 010 1 010 010 011 101 0011

  9. How about the eighth Mersenne prime? by wannabegeek2 · · Score: 1, Informative

    A simple binary to hex conversion yields 2147483647

    From Wikipedia...

    The number 2,147,483,647 is the eighth Mersenne prime, equal to 2^31 1. It is one of only four known double Mersenne primes.

    The primality of this number was proved by Leonhard Euler, who reported the proof in a letter to Daniel Bernoulli written in 1772. Euler used trial division, improving on Cataldi's method, so that at most 372 divisions were needed. The number 2,147,483,647 may have remained the largest known prime until 1867...

    --
    Never ascribe to malice or conspiracy that which can be adequately explained by ignorance or stupidity.
    1. Re:How about the eighth Mersenne prime? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      "Informative 3" at the time of this wriring.

      You're trying to rate Slashdot mods, right?

      In that case, I should say "Informative 3" is quite a bad score considering you gave an obvious hint of how bad that contribution was (a simple binary to hex conversion indeed) including a link to a Wikipedia article that clearly explains why, exactly, the listed number naturally isn't the advertised prime number (2^31 - 1 consists of exactly 31 1-digits - not 33, and no 0-digits).

    2. Re:How about the eighth Mersenne prime? by tokul · · Score: 2, Informative

      A simple binary to hex conversion yields 2147483647

      get better calculator. Yours has unsigned 32bit integer limit and confuses decimals with hexadecimals.

    3. Re:How about the eighth Mersenne prime? by tokul · · Score: 2, Informative

      unsigned 32bit integer limit

      Correction. "signed 32bit integer limit"

    4. Re:How about the eighth Mersenne prime? by FrootLoops · · Score: 3, Informative

      What? The number is...

      110010111001001010100100111010011 (binary)
      1972549D3 (hex)
      6830770643 (decimal)

      ...which has little to do with Mersenne primes. I'd be happy if it were such a prime, but it's not.

  10. Not a phone number by ArundelCastle · · Score: 3, Informative

    Whole summary is pretty corny... Bunching 10 random numbers into 3-3-4 doesn't make it a phone number.
    First, 683 is the country code for Niue, and apparently they are small enough to use only 4-digits for their subscribers. So 10 digits is too much. (Nothing is apparent for (68) 3077-0643 either.)
    Second, no telephone system that I am aware of supports 0 as the first number of a central office prefix, only as a subscriber number.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Numbering_Plan#Current_system

  11. Re:Can get even worse by Phydaux · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://hanzismatter.blogspot.com/
    A blog that collects and translates (if possible) the tattoos of mostly Chinese/Japanese/Gibberish characters on people who aren't sure what they really mean.

    Some of them aren't that bad, but others make you want to cringe.

  12. A simple binary to hex conversion ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    A simple binary to hexadecimal conversion yields: 1572549D3

  13. Re:Can't we just ask? by silanea · · Score: 3, Informative

    [...] zeros and ones represents a flow of information, digital communication and modern media [...] ...signifying nothing.

    Hey, it's Fox News!

    --
    Rudolf Hess edited Mein Kampf. He was the very first grammar nazi.
  14. No shit Sherlock by GameboyRMH · · Score: 2, Informative

    This happens every time a new URL shortening service launches without a preview feature, and n00bs fall for it.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  15. Re:EH by Berserker · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's just a reflection of the first 16 digits around the 17th

  16. Re:I still can't believe by alexo · · Score: 2, Informative

    that we pledge allegiance to a foreign head of state.

    We don't.
    It's just that our head of state also happens to be the head of several other states and prefers (or is it obligated?) to spend most of her time in one of them.

  17. Re:Can get even worse by Antisyzygy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Norse runes had meanings on their own, typically used in divination. I.e. you have a bag of runes and toss them on the table. Each one has an associated meaning like, property, heritage, success in war, protection, ect. The way they landed (rightside up, upside down, face up, face down) determined what they meant.

    --
    That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
  18. Re:Can get even worse by douglips · · Score: 2, Informative
  19. Re:Can get even worse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    It was even funner than that. He thought that the tattoo meant "Fiery Strength". The young Chinese food delivery guy told him it meant "Little bitch". He got mad and called in Chinese food from another restaurant to get another delivery guy, and thus another opinion. This order was deliever by an older Chinese guy. He told him waht the young guy said, and asked him if it was correct. The older Chinese guy assures him, oh no, it doesn't say Little Bitch. The tat owner becomse visibly relieved to hear that. Then the old guy tells him it means, of two men who love each other you are the ope that plays the woman. Several scenes over he ig etting it tattoed over to say Spicy Kung Pao Chicken, since it's the only Chinese ideograph he is sure of the meaning of.

  20. Re:I still can't believe by Moridin42 · · Score: 2, Informative

    No.. the guy's job is to represent the Queen of Canada.

    There are just 15 other nations of which she is also Queen. Each of which nations has control over its territory without interference from the others, despite sharing a monarch. Thats whats sovereign about it.

    --
    I don't expect morality, equality, consistency, or justice from the law. I expect only legality.
  21. Re:I still can't believe by artson · · Score: 2, Informative

    "But who knows, maybe Captain of the USS Canada mighta been cool.

    HMCS Canada maybe.

    --
    In times of trouble, the smell of frying onions usually gives confidence and comfort.
  22. Re:I still can't believe by SEE · · Score: 2, Informative

    In twelve countries, sure, the title is "Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of [Specific Place] and of Her other Realms and Territories . . ."

    In the UK, she's the slightly different "Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of Her other Realms and Territories, Queen . . ."

    However, in Canada her title is "Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen . . ."

    So, even Canadian law gives her billing as Queen of the UK first, with higher priority than her role as Queen of Canada. (Grenada does the same, but it puts the "Queen" between God and Of.)