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Shibboleth
Mar. 15th, 2013 07:27 pmIn the ICU waiting area of the Civic Hospital, near the Neurosciences waiting area, is a wooden cabinet with a plaque: "Ten Yad of Ottawa / Bikur Cholim Pantry". The cabinet is locked with a 4-digit combination bolt. Above the lock is a label: "CODE: CHAI-CHAI".
It's a nice shibboleth, in the traditional sense. Someone who's one of the "right" people will have the cultural background to pass the test. I come close — I knew the general nature of the solution to the code, but had to do a quick bit of research to get the details. And it took me two tries to unlock the cabinet, since there's some ambiguity to the order of the digits. Then I put everything back the way I found it; I didn't even open the cabinet, I just wanted to see if I could unlock it. It's not like they're trying to keep the code secret.
It's a nice shibboleth, in the traditional sense. Someone who's one of the "right" people will have the cultural background to pass the test. I come close — I knew the general nature of the solution to the code, but had to do a quick bit of research to get the details. And it took me two tries to unlock the cabinet, since there's some ambiguity to the order of the digits. Then I put everything back the way I found it; I didn't even open the cabinet, I just wanted to see if I could unlock it. It's not like they're trying to keep the code secret.
