Scan this!

In a rather unusual phrasing, N. Joseph Woodland, the grandfather of the bar code died today. To get funeral information, just scan below:

It's kind of unusual to have the grandfather of something noted, but it appears that there wasn't any father of the bar code. This clearly makes no genealogical sense at all, but he was the guy who, while a student at Drexel, came up with the idea (drawing lines in the sand at the beach with his fingers and thinking it reminded him or morse code) that someone else perfected (with his assistance). 

Having grown up during the time when supermarket checkers entered prices by hand on cash registers (there were typically keys for cents, multiples of 10 cents, and dollars), so a price tag was affixed to everything and the adding up of the grocery bill was about as accurate as anything people enter into calculators. Meaning pretty accurate, but far from perfect, and slow.

The whole story is pretty interesting, and if you want to read the guy's obituary, it's here, and make sure to click through to the 2011 obit of Alan Haberman, the supermarket guy who implemented the codes and oversaw its advancement for many years. His story is maybe even more interesting.