FROM AROUND THE WEB: an interesting note on Social Security numbers.

The nine-digit SSN, which has been issued in more than 400 million different sequences, is divided into three parts:

Area numbers – The first three numbers originally represented the state in which a person first applied for a social security card. Numbers started in the northeast and moved westward. This meant that people on the east coast had the lowest numbers and those on the west coast had the highest. Since 1972, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has assigned numbers and issued cards based on the ZIP code in the mailing address provided on the original application form. Since the applicant’s mailing address doesn’t have to be the same as his residence, his area number doesn’t necessarily represent the state in which he resides.

Group numbers – These two middle digits, which range from 01 through 99, are simply used to break all the SSNs with the same area number into smaller blocks to make administration easier. (The SSA says that, for administrative reasons, group numbers issued first consist of the odd numbers from 01 through 09, and then even numbers from 10 through 98, within each area number assigned to a state. After all the numbers in group 98 of a specific area have been issued, the even groups 02 through 08 are used, followed by odd groups 11 through 99.)

Serial numbers – Within each group designation, serial numbers — the last four digits in an SSN — run consecutively from 0001 through 9999.

The numbers are not recycled. Recycling numbers might become an issue someday, but not any time soon — there are only about a billion possible combinations.

No link, unfortunately.

"SOMETIMES IT’S BETTER to wait for people to ask for advice or to be judicious in doling out advice. Socrates learned this the hard way. The Greek philosopher went around giving people good advice. And they poisoned him."

From a Harvey MacKay column.