There's no place like law.cool.cool.fun.

March 22, 2005 8:08 PM

What's a namber? A namber is a word that acts as a mnemonic for a number. For example, 65 is drum, and 181 is push. A namber address uses an arbitrarily-chosen list of nambers to represent each of the numbers from 0 to 255 in order to assemble four words to represent any IP address. Metafilter.com's namber is earth.frog.brown.tooth, and mysteryrobot.com conveniently provides translation and forwarding to the real IP address.
posted by TheCowGod (32 comments total)

It's not as if we don't have an existing system in place to translate easy-to-remember strings into IP addresses, but I suppose the point is that if this list of nambers were accepted as standard, the translation could be done locally without needing to query a remote DNS server.
posted by TheCowGod at 8:09 PM on March 22, 2005

And if I remember all 256 do I get a chance at winning the National Memory Championships?
posted by furtive at 8:13 PM on March 22, 2005

I'm not a namber, I'm a free man.

Sorry.
posted by NewBornHippy at 8:26 PM on March 22, 2005

420
posted by uncanny hengeman at 8:27 PM on March 22, 2005

CowGod: but this is different than DNS. DNS translate from a "easy-to-remember string" to an IP, which can change over time. This just seems to be mapping a number to a word, so if a site IP address changes, the string would change accordingly. Not very useful.
posted by milnak at 8:29 PM on March 22, 2005

Since the words are English words anyway, it would be better if they could match the number of syllables and rhyming. For instance, 128.2.180.80 would be something like "intubate.true.milady.baby". I wonder if that's even possible...
posted by tss at 8:31 PM on March 22, 2005

but this is different than DNS. DNS translate from a "easy-to-remember string" to an IP, which can change over time. This just seems to be mapping a number to a word, so if a site IP address changes, the string would change accordingly. Not very useful.

Good point. I suppose that's what you give up in exchange for being able to eliminate the entire DNS infrastructure. Not to mention the fact that 'earth.frog.brown.tooth' is really not that easy to remember to begin with. I never said it was useful :)
posted by TheCowGod at 8:35 PM on March 22, 2005

I can't wait to get Monkey.Love.Hair.Lip or Stop.Pick.Nose.Eat or Look.Hot.Horse.Love! nambers are like a bad game of Psychobabble
posted by nomad at 8:42 PM on March 22, 2005

Now all we need is a firefox extension and we are set...
posted by nickerbocker at 9:03 PM on March 22, 2005

IPv6 should be hilarious
posted by Lionfire at 9:37 PM on March 22, 2005

"I can't wait to get monkey love hair lip." Just for that sentence, I really hope this catches on.
posted by nebulawindphone at 9:45 PM on March 22, 2005

I'm not a namber, I'm a free man.

Ha! I didn't see that coming, I admit.
posted by gd779 at 9:45 PM on March 22, 2005

IPv6 should be hilarious

Haha. Yes, I would just ssh to "Sun.Slut.Barn.Blink.Tool.Fing.Bang.Whee!.Bling.Mink.Bung.Zip".
posted by wolftrouble at 10:13 PM on March 22, 2005

My site's namber is smoke.show.street.king, which I think is damn fine.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:23 PM on March 22, 2005

It's not a DNS replacement, but it is a mnemonic...

For 11-bit chunks, there's the S/Key word set.
posted by hattifattener at 10:35 PM on March 22, 2005

A namber is a word that acts as a mnemonic for a number

Correction. A namber is an English word....
So, if I am anywhere else in the word (IPs are international no?) I am just memorizing arbitrary sounds instead of clear numbers? :)
posted by vacapinta at 10:47 PM on March 22, 2005

localhost is law.cool.cool.fun
posted by juv3nal at 11:09 PM on March 22, 2005

And thus the post title juv3nal.
posted by ursus_comiter at 11:22 PM on March 22, 2005

wow don't I look silly.
shows how often I look at the title bar.
posted by juv3nal at 11:24 PM on March 22, 2005

IPv6 should be hilarious

Exactly what I was thinking. 8 groups of 64 words.
posted by aerify at 11:42 PM on March 22, 2005

I hate mnemonics that aren't based on repeatable logic.
They're really useless. To be most useful and practical they should be logically driven to one solution only. Otherwise, while you're trying to remember if it's "red against black, step back" or whatever the correct thing is, you get envenomated and die.
posted by HTuttle at 11:55 PM on March 22, 2005

HTuttle, there's a mnemonic for that?
I'd think that people who can't remember what a black widow looks like would have been evolved out by now.
posted by spazzm at 1:34 AM on March 23, 2005

So the first story I check on Metafilter tonight is this one, and I just finish checking this out then flip over here and find out about nambers, so I idly check the namber address for my ISP's nameserver, and it's slow.food.foot.fun.

I'm off to buy a tinfoil hat.
posted by flabdablet at 3:53 AM on March 23, 2005

do people really find it easier to remember a bunch of random words rather than numbers? numbers have structure. they relate to each other - have common factors, sum to certain values, show patterns, etc etc.
posted by andrew cooke at 5:54 AM on March 23, 2005

"If it's clear and yella, you got juice there, fella! If it's tangy and brown, you're in cider-town!"
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:03 AM on March 23, 2005

spazzm, that's not for black widows, it's for coral snakes. the actual mnemonic device is:

if red touches yellow, it can kill a fellow, and if its nose is black, it’s bad for jack.

or i could be totally wrong and there actually is a mnemonic for black widow spiders.
posted by Igor XA at 7:04 AM on March 23, 2005

This also doesn't work with hosts that use virtual servers, as far as I can tell.
posted by odinsdream at 7:06 AM on March 23, 2005

i've never been any good at arathmetic.
posted by quonsar at 9:42 AM on March 23, 2005

the version I learned:

Red on black: Venom Lack (aka nonvenomous king snake)
Red on Yellow: Kill a Fellow (Coral Snake! RUN!)

/derail
posted by Uncle Ira at 9:53 AM on March 23, 2005

For those people too lazy to click on the link:

"Because we thought it'd be amusing. Nambers are not terribly useful. They won't change the internet or DNS as we know it."

So this is rather like the blues name generator, a bit of fun for about 5 minutes.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 9:54 AM on March 23, 2005

no venom threat here, but another "this is broken" mnemonic:

liquor before beer, never fear.
beer before liquor, never sicker.

or was it...

liquor after beer, never fear.
beer after liquor, never sicker.

hmmm. guess this calls for a fact-finding mission. (and yeah, you can figure this one out when you're sober, but that's not much help when you're holding the shot and wondering where your BAC is hovering)
posted by acid freaking on the kitty at 10:27 AM on March 23, 2005

I though a "namber" was one of those things Gomer Pyle could count up to eight with.
posted by orthogonality at 11:05 AM on March 23, 2005