# "Don't put the chocolate on the checkout scanner. It'll melt." \*headslap\* What's the SD? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 29, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-put-the-chocolate-on-the-checkout-scanner-itll-melt-headslap-whats-the-sd/729308 "2015-08-29T17:48:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-put-the-chocolate-on-the-checkout-scanner-itll-melt-headslap-whats-the-sd/729308/21 "2015-08-30T04:21:21Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > OK, quick poll, how many people got this reference (without looking it up)? Hint: a pop song from around 1960. > > I did, by the way. My, aren’t _you_ special. :rolleyes: If tin whistles are made of tin What do they make fog horns out of? And you _swallow_ it in spite. Kids today! You can play in my yard. The rattlers are bored. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-put-the-chocolate-on-the-checkout-scanner-itll-melt-headslap-whats-the-sd/729308/22 "2015-08-30T05:16:15Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > (Patten? Izzat the word?) [Pattens](https://2communicateblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/metal-pattens1.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-put-the-chocolate-on-the-checkout-scanner-itll-melt-headslap-whats-the-sd/729308/23 "2015-08-30T07:56:01Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > You mean they don’t use military grade lasers in supermarket scanners? You were expecting 1920’s style death rays or something? ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-put-the-chocolate-on-the-checkout-scanner-itll-melt-headslap-whats-the-sd/729308/24 "2015-08-30T08:14:47Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > OK, quick poll, how many people got this reference (without looking it up)? Hint: a pop song from around 1960. Yes, we sang it around the evening campfire at YMCA summer camp in the late 1950’s. I actually recognized the song _even though I had no recollection of those particular lines_! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-put-the-chocolate-on-the-checkout-scanner-itll-melt-headslap-whats-the-sd/729308/25 "2015-08-30T08:28:42Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > “Don’t put the chocolate on the checkout scanner. It’ll melt.” _headslap_ What’s the SD? It depends on whether the phaser is set on stun or kill. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-put-the-chocolate-on-the-checkout-scanner-itll-melt-headslap-whats-the-sd/729308/26 "2015-08-30T17:16:44Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > [Relevant lyrics](http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/d/doesthespearmintloseitsflavoronthebedpostovernight.shtml) [Alternate lyrics that I recall](http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/lonnie_donegan/does_your_chewing_gum_lose_its_flavour.html) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-put-the-chocolate-on-the-checkout-scanner-itll-melt-headslap-whats-the-sd/729308/27 "2015-08-31T03:05:15Z")
Spooky intra-GQ SerenDipity[sup]TM[/sup] thread hijack! On June 1974, the first installation of supermarket scanners entered service in a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio. This Spectra Physics model A price scanner, is one of those first ten scanners. A package of Wrigley’s chewing gum became the first purchase made with scanners that could read the new Uniform Product Code (UPC or barcode). Mounted within the unit a helium-neon laser projected a beam onto a rotating mirror and thence up through a glass plate on the top surface. The light reflected from the code label on the package and was detected by a photo-diode. A computerized cash register matched the signal from the photo-diode with information in a stored database to determine which product was being scanned. Cite:[http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah\_892778](http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_892778) I checked the offered data sheet of one of the latest and greatest, NCR RealScan 79 Bi-Optic Imager, and I still couldn’t find the type and power of laser it uses: [http://www.ncr.com/wp-content/uploads/RET\_NCR\_Realscan79-ds.pdf](http://www.ncr.com/wp-content/uploads/RET_NCR_Realscan79-ds.pdf) Elsewhere I read milliwatt, but it’s annoying I can’t just find it. Common, I’m trying to move this along… ETA: **SCAdian** , did you know that word “patten” beforehand or found it digging? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-put-the-chocolate-on-the-checkout-scanner-itll-melt-headslap-whats-the-sd/729308/28 "2015-08-31T03:14:19Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > [Pattens](https://2communicateblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/metal-pattens1.jpg). [Pattens.](http://guardianlv.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Dick-Van-Patten-Eight-Is-Enough-Patriarch-Dies-From-Diabetes-at-86-3.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-put-the-chocolate-on-the-checkout-scanner-itll-melt-headslap-whats-the-sd/729308/29 "2015-08-31T03:15:42Z")
You know, that crossed my mind earlier, but I spared my colleagues. ETA: Promoting Achievement Through Technology and Instruction for all Students. PATINS. > **[Home](http://patinsproject.com)** > > Joomla! - the dynamic portal engine and content management system ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-put-the-chocolate-on-the-checkout-scanner-itll-melt-headslap-whats-the-sd/729308/30 "2015-08-31T03:27:23Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > OK, quick poll, how many people got this reference (without looking it up)? Hint: a pop song from around 1960. > > I did, by the way. 1. Was that an example of the same sort of Skiffle music that inspired the Quarrymen? ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-put-the-chocolate-on-the-checkout-scanner-itll-melt-headslap-whats-the-sd/729308/31 "2015-08-31T04:40:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I never knew it as a pop song (I never knew the 60s, either), but I do know that song as a kids’ song. > > Does your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight My little smart-assed self actually did that when I was a kid. My mother wasn’t amused. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-put-the-chocolate-on-the-checkout-scanner-itll-melt-headslap-whats-the-sd/729308.md?page=1)