UPC Barcodes & 666?

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I guess we have all seen this example (the picture to the right) of a UPC (Universal Product Code) as an attempt to show that it is the mark of the beast. The one described in Revelations 13:16-18.

Rv:13:16: And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rv:13:17: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rv:13:18: Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore (60) and six.

While at first glance it looks good ... there are of course a great many problems with this theory. Most notably and the easiest for everyone to check … is that the same pattern appears for other numbers on barcodes as well. For instance:

From a box of macaroni	From A pair of pants	From Replacement Glass

All of these have the same double lines for various numbers as the 'mark of the beast' example, yet none of the barcodes have a six in them.

What are the long lines that so many say are the mark of the beast?

They are called Guard Bars and used to indicate the begining and ending of certain fields of the barcode. And are the following (From the UNIFORM CODE COUNCIL, INC.):

Left-Hand Guard Bar Pattern  =   101
Tall Center Bar Pattern      = 01010
Right-Hand Guard Bar Pattern =   101

(For those truely curious about barcodes click here to be taken to the main description pages from the UNIFORM CODE COUNCIL, INC..)

If we assume that the 1's and 0's are binary numbers they would equal:

Binary	Decimal
101	5
01010	10
101	5

Where a 1 represents a bar and a 0 represents a space.

Which means the marks that we see are actually 5-10-5 in binary not 6-6-6.

In reality, however, the Guard Bar Markings do not even represent a number but simply a fixed point of reference for the bar code reader to use as a way to 'know' where the information fields begin and end.

Though granted it does make them a lot more interesting to assume that they have some special meaning.

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A bit of totally useless information about UPC barcodes.
Did you know that:

It is suggested that the initial design for bar codes was probably derived from Morse Code by simply making the dots and dashes into thin and thick lines.

Thus
-.-. becomes
||||

Bar Coding was initially developed in the 1930s by the railroad industry to keep track of the rail cars (though not heavily used until the 1950's). The barcodes were imprinted on the side of the railway cars that went with a particular "system" at a uniform height above the ground. The barcode of the different cars could then be read together to compile information on that particular grouping; what station they came from, etc.

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