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?"

Comments

I still can't believe

[Dr. Hellno]

that we let Governor General William Shatner slip through our fingers

Re:I still can't believe

[The Yuckinator]

I'm sure that you're kidding, but you do know that Shatner didn't ever have a snowball's chance of even getting on the short list, let alone a serious consideration for the job, right?

Nerd Cred + International Respectability as a sovereign nation don't necessarily go hand in hand.

Re:I still can't believe

[agbinfo]

Did you forget that Michaelle Jean was the previous governor general? I don't think that the bar is that high.

Re:I still can't believe

[Gilmoure]

That's a lot of thrones to sit on and scepters to hold. Wish I knew how to sculpt. Would do a statue of the Queen, with lots of arms like a Hindu god, each holding a scepter or globe of a country she reigns over.

Random?

[Sockatume]

I think it's safe to assume that it's an aesthetically pleasing bit of random binary to symbolically carry the message that he's in with technology, in much the same way one might tattoo some bitching runes onto one's arm to convey how one is incredibly down with the druids.

Can't we just ask?

[kikito]

I mean, the guy that designed this is still alive, isn't he?

Re:Can't we just ask?

[MichaelSmith]

That would spoil the fun.

Re:Can't we just ask?

[SpaghettiPattern]

I mean, the guy that designed this is still alive, isn't he?

What? And spoil an available conspiracy theory? You must be new here!?

(Drum roll, awaiting "New Here's" joke.)

Re:Palindrome

[binkzz]

The first thing I notice is the binary string is a palindrome, the same forwards or backwards.

From the summary:

"One modern detail has attracted particular attention: a 33-digit palindromic binary stream at the base."

Re:The number is a Palindromic Prime in base 2.

[MichaelSmith]

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

1.1 times the number of people alive today

Re:Can get even worse

[Sockatume]

CRYMPH is Welsh, surely?

Re:Seeing patterns in the random

[maxwell demon]

The probability to get a palindrome this way is rather low (1/65536 for a string of 33 binary digits, to be exact).

Re:Not necessarily binary

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, you're all missing the obvious: It's not binary. Just because there are no digits other than 0 and 1 doesn't mean it's base 2.

Re:Possibly you're right

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm pretty sure that she knew what it meant

I don't even even want to know how you arrived at that conclusion.

Re:Possibly you're right

[Anonymous Coward]

but that her older, conservative looking mom had no idea.

Wow, her mom was older than her? You have a point there, that's really being conservative and traditional.

Re:Possibly you're right

[dgatwood]

Yeah. In this day and age, what with time travel and all, heck, she might even be her own mother, and that might be her grandmother.