Mon 6 Mar 2006
For years now, the number 14.4 has wafted through my conscious and tortured me with its failure to reveal its origins. It’s one of those familiar things, and I pronounce it in my head as “fourteen-four.” Why is fourteen-four so familiar in my head? What does it refer to?
187, 211, 459, 1170.12(a)-(d) and 667(b)-(i) are familiar to me because they’re California Penal Codes for murder, robbery, burglary, and the premise of the 3-strikes law. Is 14.4 a Penal Code? I don’t think so because it’s something so familiar that I’d retained it in my subconscious. Is it Pica on a typewriter? Is it a standard measurement of something? But it’s such a imperfect number. Not 14 and a HALF, not FIFTEEN. What could it be? The length in inches of a legal piece of paper? No, that’s 8.5″ by 14″.
I think at some point, I had figured it out in a conversation with someone. But I’m not sure because right now, I have no idea what the hell 14.4 is. Do any of you out there know?
14.4 Volts, any rechargeable item, like drills or vacuums.
Really? I didn’t know that. So that can’t be it. Thanks, tho.
Maybe it’s a biblical verse… or my address because that *is* part of my address.. Maybe you want to come visit me. Hehe.
Well, it’s funny because I see the numbers 44 AND 11 all the time.. they pop up everywhere. Let’s say I don’t look at the clock/watch in awhile… but when I do decide to glance at it, it’s alway 1:44, or 5:11.. 6:44… etc.
Then one day… I noticed my address had those numbers in it (only those 2 numbers)… but, those numbers appeared before they were my address. A lot of things occur to me in double identical digits… but 1 and 4 are always there. So I was thinking.. maybe it was just 2 very important relationships that I’ve had… Tropicana’s favorite number is 44… Marriott’s favorite number is 11… they just keep appearing everywhere.. either that OR I just *want* them to, and I only *notice* those numbers because it’s embedded in my brain… hey I just worked 17 hours.. do I many ANY sense??
Ok so I didn’t realize it still said Stevie Wonder fan when I replied… I have to change it everytime ‘eh? So, I lose brain cells after 11 pm.
I meant “do I MAKE any sense”.. not, “do I many any sense”.
OH MY GAWD, I REMEMBER NOW!!!
Mr. W and I were talking about my high school age addiction to BBSing (chat boards online) back in 1993, 1994. That’s why the number popped back into my conscious thru my subconscious.
Back then, the average baud rate for a modem was 2400. I had a 2400. We made fun of people still running on 1200s. And then once in awhile, someone would log on with one of them there gosh darn new 14.4 modems, running at twice our speed. We’d “whoaaa” enviously.
The heck is the average modem speed now? We don’t even use dial-up anymore. And that was only 10 years ago! Geesh.
Fan/Idiot/Moron – you probably notice those numbers more. Mr. W’s daughter claims to always be looking at the clock when it says 10:10a/p. (In the world of numeric coincidences, a bailiff just walked in looking for our backup bailiff, and my bailiff said, “I told him to come back in half an hour, so he’s coming back at 10:10.”) But it doesn’t mean she doesn’t look at the clock 12,354,394 more times throughout the course of her day (especially in class, I’m sure), except she doesn’t note those times.
Vicky/Karen/Mike – I’m disappointed in you guys for not knowing 14.4! Vicky and Karen, because you guys “whoa”ed with me, and Mike, cuz you’re MIKE!
i totally didn’t read this until now. dude, it’s totally modem baud speed. that’s the first thing i thought of when i saw the entry, but then i thought to myself, “cindy can’t be THAT MUCH OF A GEEK.” i guess i was wrong!
If that’s the FIRST thing you thought of, why didn’t you contribute that instead of keeping me in suspense for almost 24 hours until I had to figure it out myself, triggered by something Stevie Wonder Fan said? And you knew about my geeky side (the small, negligible side it is) because you had said before how you’re surprised by my level of techno savvy, as opposed to someone else’s lack thereof.
i should have known – the last case i worked on was on v.90 modems.
ahhh, all this talk about 14.4k modems makes me nostalgic of my 2400 baud days…
*doooooooo-deeeeeeeeee-DRGHDHRGHGRHG!*
CONNECT 2400/ARQ
typical DSL speeds are 1.5Mbps download/384kbps upload.
a 2400 baud modem transfers 2400bps (bits per second). so a typical DSL connection transfers 1,500,000bps. 625 times faster than a 2400 baud modem.
and just to be accurate, a 14.4k modem is 6 times faster than a 2400 baud modem. six!
Speaking of nostalgia, remember ASCII letters? You could make them different colors, and flash. It was so pretty.
My 2400 didn’t do the thing you described up there because I altered the init string to do silent dial-up. My parents were avidly against my modeming since it tied up the phone line, so I’d do it in the middle of the night, but I couldn’t afford to wake them up with the dialing “*dial tone* Bee boop bop beep boop bee bop” and the subsequent screeching and heavy loud static connect sound.
My modeming got so bad that my dad confiscated my INTERNAL modem. I bought another one behind his back (external) and would only attach it when they weren’t home or when they’re asleep and think I’m on the computer doing my homework late into the night.
Oh my God. I WAS a geek.
Ooh, ooh, remember line noise? It w}}as }r}}}eally an}}noying}.
[…] It was now midnight. I’m still reading C and E words in the dictionary. If Mr. W weren’t using the laptop I would’ve blogged a post begging for help from my readers. “This is gonna be like that 14.4 thing,” I grumbled. […]