Bar Coding The World Away 470
778790 writes "The Bar Code, long used for inventory classification and sometimes feared as a tool of social engineering, has been regulated in the name of globalization, and the globe has defeated the United States. Bar Codes in America will now have more digits, to match the global bar code standard: the European Article Numbering Code."
More digits... (Score:5, Funny)
Damn (Score:5, Funny)
Bwahaha (Score:4, Funny)
Woah... (Score:5, Funny)
Is this an April fool dupe or something? ;-)
welcome ... (Score:3, Funny)
end of the bar (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Damn (Score:2, Funny)
Are you a) a racing driver, b) in the military or c) into extreme sports?
In other news... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:More digits... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:More digits... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:It's about time (Score:4, Funny)
As far as I know, the U.S. military uses metric exclusively. Also, they use the 24 hour format, not that idiotic AM/PM stuff. So, with the military dictatorship coming in a few months, your wish might come true. ;-)
Re:It's about time (Score:2, Funny)
What do you mean yards and miles?
Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)
OSR... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Mobile Phones (Score:3, Funny)
"Next you'll be telling me that you don't use good old metre's and kilo's."
Re:I once went to a Church ... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:More digits... (Score:1, Funny)
-- Rev 14:9-11 NIV
Translation: Get out of the barcode industry while you can!
Re:Metric? (Score:5, Funny)
Internationalism? Multinationalism? What? (Score:4, Funny)
We all know that "global" means "European"; I'm fine with that. And the "international community" means the EU. No problem. Now that Europeans have repented of their colonialist/paternalis past, they're once again qualified to decide what's best for the rest of the world.
What's difficult is keeping track of which "international" things are evil and which are good.
"Multinational" is bad, right? Because it's got something to do with corporations, which are bad. Unless they're European. A "multinational" corporation is an American corporation which operates in more than one country, and it's bad, even if it practices "internationalization", in spite of the fact that "internationalization" is good (right?). But what about "multinational ism "? Is that one good or bad? I can't tell.
International standards are good, of course, provided that they're European, because then they're "multilateral" (which is good, I think, because "multilateral" means "involving any set of one or more nations which includes France"). If standards are not European, they're "unilateral", which is bad. "Unilateral" means "not including France" (or else "not excluding the US"), and it's very, very bad.
"Globalism" is good, because it includes France. "Globalization" is bad because, even though it includes France (except for Jose Bove), it doesn't exclude the US. "Globalism" is good because it excludes the US by definition: Anything which includes US is no longer "global". Instead, it's "hegemonic", which is very, very bad.
Did I miss any?
Re:Damn (Score:5, Funny)
d) stalked by a psycotic ex-girlfriend?
Re:Mobile Phones (Score:3, Funny)
True. They're too expensive to be loosable at the moment.
"you should know already you need a tri-band phone if you are going to travel anywhere important in the world."
I do. I should get one at some point. As you say, it would be useful for going to Canada.
Phil
Re:Get me a rewrite... (Score:3, Funny)
If Bush gets re-elected then fire and brimstone will rain from the sky! Thus rendering all small businesses destroyed.
Mark my words, fire and brimstone.
Re:Woah... (Score:3, Funny)
I don't know if you are serious in suggesting that conversion to metric costs less than losing space probes, but the notion is rather implausbible, considering the cost of, for example, razing Detroit to the ground so that 8-mile road can be rebuilt on the 13-km mark. And the savings of the one, holy & catholic measurement system may not be so apparent when someone conflates, say, newtons with kilogram-force and crashes some other space probe. (I would claim that the savings of a complete conversion to metric, from now to forever, would not recover the conversion costs, once everything is adjusted to present value.)
The real problem with the Mars probe was not the use of traditional units, but the failure to specify & check the units. You should always specify units: always, always, always. A metric world cannot change that.
Re:It's about time (Score:3, Funny)
Makes it a pain in the ass for glider pilots who want to calculate glide ratios!
No the Mark of the Beast! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:How long? (Score:4, Funny)
Help! What's the politically-correct position? (Score:3, Funny)
Do I have to boycott barcoded products?
Re:Damn (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Damn (Score:3, Funny)
Have you seen the movie The Shawshank Redemption? Tommy is a fairly young man who has been convicted once again for breaking and entering. After relating the tale of his most recent arrest, and describing how he had served time all over the state, the protagonist Andy asks him a question.
I mean, I'm glad you've found a hobby that you enjoy, but maybe if you've broken most of the bones in your body, crippled your knees, and nearly killed yourself more than once...it might be time to consider a sport that's a little safer. Skydiving, for example. Cheers!Re:Woah... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Damn (Score:1, Funny)
There are ex-girlfriends who aren't psycotic??!?!?!?
Fixed-length fields.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Damn (Score:2, Funny)
Hey! (Score:1, Funny)