New York Times article
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Sunday magazine page 9
by Rich Brown
Code Happy To most Manhattanites, the introduction next year of a new area code (646) is an unavoidable pain. To Linc Madison, an area-code buff based in San Francisco, new digits are a source of endless pleasure. Madison, a 34-year-old telecommunications consultant, displays on a Web site his encyclopedic knowledge of codes and their 50-year history. He also likes to play trivia games like, say, calculating the number of code zones you would drive through on imaginary trips from Fredericksburg, Va., to Salem, Mass. “If you made that trip in 1947, you would go through 11 area codes. If you do it today, you’re up to 26,” he says authoritatively. Madison admits that this is an acquired taste. How does it go over around the family table at holiday time? “My father is interested somewhat,” he says. “But my brother is bored silly.”
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