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[accidentalsuccess]

[INFO] Strange pattern on pg 123 of Halo: First Strike

[Lysit]

Not just your copy, how odd.

[kalamazoo]

These are sometimes an artifact of the book-binding process.

How many pages are in the book? (By pages I mean *all* pages, not just the numbered ones.) And what number is this page out of all of them?

There are sometimes internal codes used by the printers to designate sheets of print that are folded and cut to make the pages of books. The codes are put in the portion of the sheet that faces the binding, so normally they are never seen. If the machines are not perfectly aligned, however, those codes are visible at the edge of the binding. Such codes usually are put in a corner of the page, so usually they are found where one sheet meets another.

If, for instance, page 123 is actually the 129th page of the book as a whole, or if you can look at the bindings and see that there is a join at page 123, then I think this might be a printer's code.

If not.....

[accidentalsuccess]

it is page 129 overall in the book. There is also a "similar" mark on the lower side of a page in the 200's but I can't find it again (I was reading and noticed it). Maybe I can find it again. What makes that a binder's mark? I know nothing about book binding. it looks like bardode language. wait, I'm going to go scan it with a standard barcode reader and see if it is. . . . .

I'll post back in 5.


AS

P.S. 352 front/back pages in the book, 6 at beginning and end, 340 middle.

[accidentalsuccess]

it is not read by our barcode reader, though it read the back of the book barcode fine (for a check). It seems oversized for a true barcode, anyways.

[walshicus]

[Lysit]

I got mine of co.uk and it has it. Not got a scanner though:/

[Smarterdanu]

password

[accidentalsuccess]

Re: password

[Kagehi Kossori]

Two problems if the barcode is useful. 1) where it is located, it could easilly be clipped in the binding process. It is way to close to the edge. 2) There are about 20 or so different bar code types. While each of these work in a similar way, they differ in the actual patterns used and the start/stop registry marks they use. A standard barcode scanner isn't going to read them, since it is only programmed with the UPC type for product codes. I have however seen such a thing at least one other time in a book, though not where. Unless someone can find the right code reader for this class of barcode and can prove it has some significance, I would label this as likely not useful.

[accidentalsuccess]

1) standard barcode readers read ALL types of 1-D barcodes. It's the software that interprets them. I've programmed for them once (in high school, though.. .gah long time ago)

2) this may just be a wild goose chase, but in absence of anything more obviously productive to do............

I can't scan it. the one on pg 123 is on the upper left corner. The one on pg 219(?) is on the lower left corner.

[BRVolition]

I don't see anything in my copy

[CorSorei]

I found them in my copy, but they are located in upper right (pg. 123) and lower right (pg. 219). I'm pretty sure that this means it is just a "fluke" in the binding process. I read alot and have seen similar markings in books. Though I can only remember with certainy seeing them in hardbacks. I might have seen them in paperbacks before, but I can't remember with certainy. But I read to many books, and I read way to often (on average 250 to 350 pages a day), and it's also 5:00 am here so even I doubt my memory.

[Babrook]

In my copy they are located in the bottom left of page 121 and 129.

I'm sure it is just a problem with the printing/ink smudge.

[klobbermeister]

It's Morse Code...