Slashdot Mirror
Bar Coding The World Away
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."
Peace
Yeah, and we all know there's hardly any of those around. Tiny fraction of the economy.
If Bush gets re-elected in November then I'm pretty sure you can count on this to be the case by 2008. Guess he's just thinking ahead on this one.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
It is intereasting how the main (and quite plausable) reason used by the USA authorities against going metric is due to the huge cost/effort which would be involved doing all the convertions.
No, the main reason the U.S. doesn't 'go metric' is because our government can't force us to do so and for the most part we, the people, don't want to. That's what's called a 'representative government', in case our friends on the other side of the pond have forgotten about such things in their rush to a new world order.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
...is a European standard any more "global" than a U.S. standard? I thought Europeans had gotten rid of all that colonial baggage?
In any case, why should anyone, anywhere, have an obligation to pay any attention to the directives of an organization comprised of members for whom they could not vote?
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
..."and the globe has defeated the United States."
:)
Shadenfruede anyone?
Quick Q: which country is thanklessly driving the world economy the fastest?
EU nations? wrong..they can't muster 4%...
China? maybe, but 1/8 US GDP and a large number of "unperforming" loans are a problem.
India? Well, all I can say is that I love India, and our recent boom in tech collaboration and investment
For anyone who still complains about trade & tech jobs wrt India... maybe you should change industries. I hear the auto-workers union is very reception is that uneducated drivel.
[trade isn't zero-sum.]
Robo-Blogs of the world: UNITE!
GSM - European standard for mobile phones adopted everywhere in the world except South Korea, a bit of Japan and the US.
DVB - The international standard for digital TV encoding, adopted everywhere... yup you guessed it.
EAN - Standard built with size in mind... right again.
International Court of Justice - agreed way of trying cross border disputes and crimes against humanity... right again.
Geneva Convention - International standard for the treatment of prisoners... except for Donald "Rum as Hell".
Non proliferation treaty for biological and chemical weapons... how the hell isn't that a good idea.
What the hell is wrong with the US ? On the flip side when the US (e.g. IEEE) comes up with a standard everyone around the world adopts it very quickly... because STANDARDS MAKE SENSE. Whether these are in the field of economics (WTO... love those Vietnamese shrimp), science (love those crazy inches), politics, war or just plain old retailing.
I'm betting on a -1 Flamebait, but there is a serious issue here when you try and do cross-border trade and cross-border technology. The US make the French look like the co-operative bunny brigade when it comes to standardisation.
Give it up. Its not funny anymore
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
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First, I'm American and my first and only language is English. Second, I'll spell whatever I want however I want you himmler cocksucking hitler warshipping spelling nazi! Shite didn't turn to shit because we listened to morons such as yourself, it turned to shit because people mispronounced and misspelled it.
For fucks sake, what kind of sanity deprived crazy nerd spends their time reading through postings and ridiculing spelling errors? Have you not better things to do, such as, perhaps correct the spelling a cute girl and get laid or a spelling bee for fun or something?
Candy-Coated Knowledge
We wouldn't be bowing to the French and their European Union of Socialist Republics on barcodes if George W. Bush were still alive. Today our barcodes, tomorrow our guns.