1. Comment #27520 by PaulJ on March 25, 2007 at 6:28 am

You almost got me. But you're not supposed to publish stories like this until it actually is April 1st.

Other Comments by PaulJ

2. Comment #27526 by SonOfPearl on March 25, 2007 at 7:10 am

With stories like this, and many others reported on this site - how will we ever tell when a story is an April Fool tale other than the date it is published? Very sad indeed.

Other Comments by SonOfPearl

3. Comment #27531 by severnaya on March 25, 2007 at 7:28 am

Life in Putins Russia is hard enough that I sympathise with these people who no doubt believe their immortal souls endangered by signs of the devil in the mafia state which rules them. Due to their irrational beliefs, they may misinterpret these symbols; but I am not sure they are wrong to see evil around them given the times they live in.

Other Comments by severnaya

4. Comment #27572 by Bremas on March 25, 2007 at 10:38 am

No worse really, than that guy I heard about here in the US that believes in some sort of virgin birth or something. I think he lives somewhere between Maryland and Virginia.

Other Comments by Bremas

5. Comment #27574 by StephenH on March 25, 2007 at 10:41 am

I expect Art Bell to read out this story anytime soon. It's up there with "the voices from hell" when a bunch of people drill a deep hole into the ground, and someone lowers a microphone into it

With so many tv films based on supernatural themes, i'm really not that shocked that people will start to believe this stuff. It's rammed down their throats from the day they start to watch television

Other Comments by StephenH

6. Comment #27577 by DistrictSelectman on March 25, 2007 at 11:40 am

Here's one that's not an April Fool's joke:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/us/25mennonites.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Other Comments by DistrictSelectman

7. Comment #27590 by fonex_86 on March 25, 2007 at 1:36 pm

Finally, the Lord has opened the eyes of our brothers and sisters in Russia! Fear not my brethren, for it is better to be pure and holy than to lead a sinful life by accepting demonic payment slips!!!

Man shall not live by bread alone.. our prayers go with you!

*sarcasm (supposedly) ends here*

Yeah.... you'd better start praying...

Other Comments by fonex_86

8. Comment #27598 by tomwb on March 25, 2007 at 2:43 pm

Actually, UPC barcodes do contain the number 666 (sort of). If you have a look at any barcode on a product, find the number 6 in the code and notice what the bars above it look like.

Then notice that the bars at the start, middle and end of the code are the same (they're a bit longer than the other bars).

The bars used to indicate the start, middle and end of the code are the same as the bars used to code the number 6 (although the number 6 has a bigger space after the bars).

It's a bit unfortunate, knowing how irrational some people can be, that the designers of the UPS system didn't choose a slightly different set of lines.

Other Comments by tomwb

9. Comment #27600 by blods on March 25, 2007 at 2:56 pm

I don't think this is a hoax or April fools. For those that don't know this the story about 666 in barcodes has been around for years.
It was explained to me by a cold caller at my house who said it was a sign that the book of revelations was coming true.

It goes like this - somewhere in the bible it says we'll be marked with the number of the beast and that number is 666.
So pick up anything with a barcode on it - and have a look.
There's the barcode and underneath are the numbers that the barcode represents. If you find a barcode with a 6 in the lower number you'll find that that within the barcode the coresponding lines that mean 6 are two thin black lines.
Now all barcodes also have 3 markers in them - at the start the middle and the end, these are the lines which are longer than the others.
You'll notice that this start, middle and end marker are also two thin lines.
So all barcodes no matter what number is actually being represented by shorter bars actually have 666 in them.
Spooky

Other Comments by blods

10. Comment #27602 by tomwb on March 25, 2007 at 3:05 pm

Well, actually the code for 6 is:
thin line, thin space, thin line, thick space

wheras the code for the start/middle/end character is:
thin line, thin space, thin line, thin space

That's why I said 'sort of' in my previous post.

the number 999 (emergency services telephone number inthe UK) looks 'sort of' like 666 - does that mean the police, fire brigade and ambulance service are all satanic?

Other Comments by tomwb

11. Comment #27625 by Veronique on March 25, 2007 at 6:10 pm

DistrictSelectman,

Tell 'em not to worry. My license photograph looks nothing like me. They will be able to rationalise that it's not a graven image but a poor misrepresentation due to a flash bulb malfuntion.

I came across a different number some time back that was explained a bit like this:

Nero Caesar, in the original Hebrew after assigning numbers and then performing some sort of addition comes to 666. However, it is not convincing that Nero is the bloke in question when talking about the devil in Revelations. The sack of Rome was 70BCE. Revelations was written somewhere about 65-68BCE or, if you happen to be an endtimer, in the 90sBCE.

Apparently it is more likely that it was his son Gaius Caesar whose dates correspond more to Revelations. Now Gaius Caesar in Hebrew with the same machinations applied comes to 616 and that is proposed as the proper number.

But hey! tradition does stretch back and the same three numbers certainly packs a better punch.

I can't remember where I came across it - maybe the BBC's Doomsday Code or on one of our ABC's Compass - the only quasi-religious show we have in Australia (aren't we lucky! unfortunately our commercial channels import a number of US televangelist shows and show them in the early hours before dawn).

Education is still the only way to combat this stupid stuff.

Cheers
V

Other Comments by Veronique

12. Comment #27628 by Russell Blackford on March 25, 2007 at 7:15 pm

Do you mean the sac kof Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish Temple?

The sack of Rome is rather different. That was first performed by Alaric the Visigoth a few hundred years later. (Actually, I see that the Gauls did it the first time, some hundreds of years of earlier, but the first time in the history of the Empire was by Alaric in 410 AD. Over the centuries since, various other folks had their go at it.)

(Pssst, Veronique, I don't think you mean "BCE". I think you mean "CE", or "AD" as we used to say.)

Anyway, I love all the religious stupidity that I get to read about on this site. Good for a laugh.

Other Comments by Russell Blackford

13. Comment #27633 by BT Murtagh on March 25, 2007 at 8:40 pm

10. Comment #27602 by tomwb on March 25, 2007 at 3:05 pm Well, actually the code for 6 is: thin line, thin space, thin line, thick space

Just to add to the confusion, that's what it is on the left half of a UPC barcode. On the right side the lines and spaces are reversed. The serpent's sign is subtle... (Say that six times suddenly!)

It always irks/amuses me when these idiots get all worked up because their grocery bill adds up to $6.66 or whatever. Even by their own moronic superstitions it's supposed to be the "number of a man" NOT the number of a can of chicken soup!

Still, I guess I am talking about people who often can't distinguish flesh and blood from a cracker and grape juice.

Other Comments by BT Murtagh

14. Comment #27660 by jeepyjay on March 26, 2007 at 3:28 am

I've had correspondence with several christian fundamentalists who claim to 'prove' that the bible is the word of god because of the numerological results they derive from the words of Genesis. For example:

http://homepage.virgin.net/vernon.jenkins/

I've used similar methods to derive results from Lewis Carrol's Jabberwocky, but this doesn't seem to change their minds.

Of course a lot of the results given by Jenkins on his site are perfectly correct and interesting results from the Mathematical Recreations point of view (which is my interest).

Other Comments by jeepyjay

15. Comment #27696 by nickthelight on March 26, 2007 at 7:07 am

I don't believe a word of this. Sounds like utter nonsense, as if these villagers can ascertain the significance and relevance purporting to the spacing or thickness of black lines to mean evil. Rubbish. Yahoo is pulling our legs.

Other Comments by nickthelight

16. Comment #27721 by wendelin on March 26, 2007 at 10:31 am

I'm with these peasants, actually - Big Brother by any other name...

Other Comments by wendelin

17. Comment #27725 by Mark R on March 26, 2007 at 10:57 am

For the Russians who do not want new passports - No passports then - simple

For the mennonites who do not want new drivers licenses - No license then - even more simple

but Do you need a drivers license for a horse and buggy though?

Other Comments by Mark R

18. Comment #27758 by Veronique on March 26, 2007 at 3:11 pm

Sorry Russell; of course you are right.

Yes it was Solomon's temple that was destroyed in 70AD or CE. When did BCE and CE come into vogue? It is the first time I have written it and I got it wrong. Damn.

My apologies. I should have checked my post before submitting it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Revelation

records that it isn't really known when it was written.

My education in religion isn't terrific because I always thought it was tosh.

Cheers
V

Other Comments by Veronique

19. Comment #27807 by Russell Blackford on March 26, 2007 at 8:33 pm

I'm a horrible pedant. :)

Actually, I still prefer to write "BC" and "AD" and be open about the fact that the calendar is based on the traditional year of birth of Jesus. The more politically-correct BCE and CE still use that year, so I don't see how they are an improvement. In fact, to think of Jesus' alleged birth in 1 AD as inaugurating a "common era" seems like it should be more offensive if anything. Go figure. *shrug*

Other Comments by Russell Blackford

20. Comment #28367 by Veronique on March 29, 2007 at 1:38 am

Nothing wrong with pedantry Russell.

I read somewhere that Jesus was supposed to have been born 4BC, if anyone actually knows, that is. Did they make a stabbing guess to start AD as his birth year?

I will stop being politically correct (having made a hash of it anyway) and go back to BC & AD. I don't make errors there!

Thanks
V

Other Comments by Veronique