Thanks for the Chicken!

Have you noticed Google’s image has been replaced by a barcode today?  It is the 57th anniversary of the patent of the omnipresent barcode…later to become the UPC.

Bernard Silver and Norman Joseph Woodland received the patent on October 7, 1952. The original barcodes were circular in design.  It was soon determined that equipment needed to read the barcodes was well into the future.

Originally barcodes were used to (unsuccessfully) label train cars.  The first successful application of barcode scanning was on June 26, 1974, when NCR implemented it in a supermarket in Troy, Ohio.  A pack of Juicy Fruit Gum was the first item to be ‘scanned’.  Now these barcodes are ubiquitous.  Even cellphones have 2d scanning software to ‘read’ barcodes.

I wonder how soon we will all have barcodes tatooed on our bodies!

Today is also my grandfather’s birthday.  He would be 111.  Happy Birthday in Heaven Grandpa!