2013 puzzle

Four non-matching digits. Last time was 1987. From 1988 to 2012 at least two of the digits were the same.

Linjeakel said:

Four non-matching digits. Last time was 1987. From 1988 to 2012 at least two of the digits were the same.

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Winner!

To receive your prize, just call 555-555-5555, and have your credit card ready (for the shipping and handling charges).

(Our CEO pointed this out to me today, in response to my pointing out to him last month that on Dec. 20 there were two times of "interest" to weird people like him and me: 2012-12-20 20:12:12.20 and 12/20/2012 12:20:20.12.)

LOL - I'm not sure if I'm happy I won, or very sad that I knew the answer! 

I rang the number and left all my credit card details, but when I asked what the prize was, the person just laughed .... 

Linjeakel said:

LOL - I'm not sure if I'm happy I won, or very sad that I knew the answer!

I rang the number and left all my credit card details, but when I asked what the prize was, the person just laughed ....

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Then your prize is experience, that quality that allows us to immediately recognize a mistake the second time we make it.

There was no 2013 till now...lol

Nice puzzle!

I just had to come back and check on this one.  Now i know...and I will use it somewhere else, too.

It also has 4 numbers that are consecutive normally but not currently. ( nothing to do with 25 years ago though)

But wait: there's more!

For extra credit, what characteristic does the number 2013 have that has only happened 2 other times since 1800, neither of which was in the 1900's?

Hint:

NogDog said:

But wait: there's more!

For extra credit, what characteristic does the number 2013 have that has only happened 2 other times since 1800, neither of which was in the 1900's?

Hint:

Spoiler

one of the other two years was the year that the university I attended was founded.

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The first three digits added together equal the last - the other years being 1809 and 2002.

Linjeakel said:

The first three digits added together equal the last - the other years being 1809 and 2002.

Click to expand...

You're too good!

(In case anyone's interested, Miami University was founded in 1809 in Oxford, Ohio -- over 3 decades before Florida became a state and over a century before the University of Miami was founded in Miami, Florida.* Not that any of us M.U. alumni are sensitive about it, mind you; but the name of my alma mater is not "Miami of Ohio".)
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* Which was named after the Mayaimi tribe in that general region of Florida, whereas Miami University's name comes from the Miami tribe that lived in the Indiana/Ohio region, and for which two rivers in Ohio were named: the Miami River and the Maumee River.

To be fair - it was your clue that did it. I couldn't for the life of me work out what the answer was - I was thinking solar eclipses, blue moons, the date of Easter - you name it, I considered it.

Then I did a search here on KB for any other posts you'd made about university and discovered the one you attended. (No, you're not sensitive about it, at all!)

I googled that to discover the year it was founded which made it easy to see what the years had in common and why no other years before 2000 could fit the bill.

Interesting little mystery!

It's also an alliteration when you read it out which happens a bit more often, but still rare.  And one more... it's the first year in a string of three that is the product of 3 prime numbers.  That won't happen again until 2665-2667.

Not since one hundred years ago have we had a year that contained a number that is highly perceived by many as unlucky.

I am committed to the idea that this will be a wonderful year, however!