I once read that when the Bible uses the term “buy and sell”, it really means “to listen and preach.” (sell = “preach”; buy = “listen”) It really meant that without the Mark of the Beast, one could not go to the Beast’s church. (You couldn’t go to any Christian church, of course.) It’s an interpretation I haven’t heard of or read about anywhere else.
Ahem. If so, then all the supermarket scanning software I wrote over the years is calculating your groceries wrong. 
Here’s a brief overview of the UPC code. Data is encoded in both bars and spaces. There are four widths of bars and four widths of spaces; if you take the thinnest bar or space, then the next widest is 2X, then 3X, then 4X.
Each digit 0…9 is encoded as 7 “modules” composed of two bars and two spaces. And there are two sets of codes, one for the left half of the label and one for the right. For example, a left-half “6” (odd parity) is:
1X space
1X bar
1X space
4X bar,
which = 7 modules.
A right-half “6”(even parity) is:
1X bar
1X space
1X bar
4X space
which = 7 modules.
In addition to these digits, there are three modules on either side of the label, called “Guard Bars”:
1X bar
1X space
1X bar
…and 5 modules in the center:
1X space
1X bar
1X space
1X bar
1X space
Note that this center guard character has TWO thin bars, not THREE. If you see three in a label, you are combining part of an adjacent digit’s modules with the center guard character; this is not the way the scanner looks at it.
Note that there is NO character encoded as Some Guy claimed for a “6” digit.
Hope this clears the air.
Since I wrote this software many moons ago, I am drawing on pre-Internet data sources, and cannot easily provide a URL link without doing research that I hope you won’t force me to do. One of my official (printed) sources is “UPC Symbol Specification” from the “Uniform Grocery Product Code Council,” Washington, DC.
Just in case you’re wondering why this is so complicated – and it is, compared to other barcode schemes – it was designed to 1) be extremely accurate so you don’t get charged $4000 for a stick of gum, and 2) foil anyone with a ball point pen who tried to add a line and change the price. Such a trick would almost surely result in a non-read due to the internal label logic checks.
Musicat:
I have in my hand a box of Triscuit brand reduced-fat whole wheat crackers. Its UPC symbol is much shorter than the ones I’m used to seeing on normal products. In fact, it looks like “half” of a normal UPC symbol. There are two thin guard bars on the left and three thin bars on the far right. And there are two "4"s right next to each other at the beginning of the code which I would swear are encoded differently from each other.
Also, while most other UPC symbols have a little 0 printed on each end, this one has a 0 printed on the left end and a 7 printed on the right end.
Is this “short UPC code” some kinda newfangled thing they didn’t have back in your pre-www days?
But, hypothetically speaking, someone with detailed knowledge of the bar-code system and its “logic” would be able, in certain circumstances, to beat the system, right? And, hypothetically, that person could then share such information with amiable strangers he meets online, yes? Hypothetically.
You are looking at one of the several variations on the basic UPC code, probably UPC-E. It was designed especially for small packages like gum. It has the same “module” structure as its bigger brother, but of course cannot encode as many digits.
You may have seen other variations on magazines, with a big label followed by a smaller one that typically encodes the issue number.
Who, me? Call Me Hypothetical…
The UPC code is more elaborate than my simple, short description. It includes a complicated checksum calculation. If you wanted to alter even one digit of the product number, it would alter the check digit, too. This means Mr. Hypothetical with his fiber-tipped pen would have to change the widths and/or positions of at least 4 bars and spaces (with white-out?) and the altered element widths would have to fall within (rather tight) specs. Even one bar made 1.3X wide instead of 1X, depending on the reader’s tolerance, would render the label unreadable.
Yes, it could be done. Find yourself a nice, quiet corner of the supermarket, take out your magnifying glass and drafting tools and go to work. It might help to pretend you are a document forger in a Nazi POW camp…
But, if you are bent on fooling the scanner, wouldn’t it be simplier to print out a label on your computer and slap it on the package? Not that I am suggesting it, mind you. :rolleyes:
I better skedaddle outa here before the moderator notices how far we are from the OP. To sum up, UPC supermarket barcodes DO NOT have “666” imbedded in all labels. Rather than the work of the Devil, they are more likely the work of Kraft or Nabisco.
Kidding.
But I have read that the “smart” card will be put on your right hand or forehead, to avoid getting it lost or stolen. Lemme find a link…
But realistically, wouldn’t a smart card program such as vanilla describes be doomed to failure in the US? I mean, it seems to me that anything resembling a money/credit chip embedded in your hand or forehead would instantly attract incredible amounts of negative publicity, and huge numbers of people would refuse to have such a thing. It’s just too close to the Biblical description. Virtually every American, religious or not, probably knows about the Mark of the Beast. So you have something that a) a faithful Christian probably wouldn’t use, and b) someone who cares about the opinion of a faithful Christian probably wouldn’t use, if only because a person can only be amused for so long at being constantly called a minion of the devil.
They used to think Reagan was the antichrist (Ronald Wilson Reagan 6-6-6). But seriously…
In Revelations, the beast is wounded and seemingly killed. This is before the people are compelled to display the mark of the beast on themselves. Also, people will have a choice–be marked or die. It will not be something that is forced on them like the tattoos in the concentration camps.
Revelations uses a lot of symbolism and imagery and we are probably expecting these events to unfold differently than they actually will play out. Those who believe in Christ will be able to see these events for what they are when they do happen.
When they do happen? Would you care to supply that date? I want to be sure to anchor my chair in time so I don’t float away in the Rapture.
Suffered a head wound and lived (like Reagan)…
So the Mark of the Beast is the GOP elephant? Do those dumb hats that politicos wear at party conventions count as wearing the mark on your forehead? Or does a bumper sticker work just as well…?
Serious question:
Though I have seen explanations relating Revelation to things happening in John’s own day (i.e., Rome f—ing up the Jews and new Christians), I’ve never seen an explanation of what the mark would have been in that day. Is it, indeed, the military tattoo that Captain Amazing mentions? I’ve never heard of such a thing.
No one knows when the end of the world is (big surprise) and those who claim to know are obviously making false statements. However, in Christianity you are expected to live life in preparation for the end which can come at any time. Say that the Biblical end is June 10th but you are killed in a car accident on June 9th…Maybe its not the end of the world but it is the end of your world and your opportunities.
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” (Mathew 24:36)
The KJV says: “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” (Mark 13:32 is identical.)
So even Jesus Himself doesn’t (didn’t?) know when the Rapture will happen? Isn’t Jesus supposed to know everything?
There goes the “Holy Trinity”.
Peace,
mangeorge
Mambo wrote:
The events will unfold differently than they will play out? Huh? I thought “play out” and “unfold” meant the same thing.
Those who believe in Christ have been claiming, off and on, over practically the last two millennia, that the events happening in their own lifetimes were the events foretold in the Book of Revelation, and that the End would happen within the next few years of these events. Obviously, everyone who made that claim in the past was wrong, because the world has not ended yet. So if those who believe in Christ have mistaken non-End-Times events for End-Times events in the past, how will they know when the real End Times come?