'read deleted'

So, is "read" in the imperative mode, commanding the reader? Maybe it is past tense, pronounced to rhyme with "red" or "bed" or "dead" and so on. If the former, is one being commanded to read something deleted, or something with that title? If the latter, it implies: "I read [past tense] your message and have subsequently deleted it from my in box." Some may substitute "consequently" for "subsequently," replacing causality for chronology.  Does such causality smart? No, it evokes a chuckle, as in, "Whoa! That's it? Gone? Erased?" Even so, I may be erroneous. The perpetrator of "read deleted" may be super-efficient and reserving the right to reply. But I doubt it. And why should it matter to you?

Bar Codes

Speaking of bar codes, here are some to ponder:

• It is not cool to say in a bar, "Right now, I find you attractive, but what happens when I sober up?"
• Ever notice that when people relate morning-after horror stories of alcohol-based liaisons, no one ever admits to being the less-attractive one (to put it politely) on the other side of the bed?
• Bar codes dictate certain modes of behavior: loudness, repetition, false originality, flights of fancy, belligerence, pseudo-romance, and loudness. And repetition.
  
• It is utterly uncouth to spill a drink onto someone's lap as a means of introduction and a cheap way to sample mutual responses to physical contact.

Bar none? Mais, non! Bar all.

You may've missed this, but the bar code turned 35 on June 26.

Yup.

I gleaned some cool facts about the bar code from The New York Times:

-- it has 30 black and 29 white bars (how poetic, minimalist, and elegant: who ever thinks of the white bars? Hunh? You just thought the white parts were blank spaces, didn't you? I did.)

-- George J. Laurer, an I.B.M. engineer, led the team that developed the bar code (Laurer, now 84, praises its three great qualities: cheap, needed, and reliable.)

-- It was first used for a 10-pack of Juicy Fruit gum (67 cents)

-- Bar codes are scanned about 10 billion (with a B) times a day.

-- A committee of reviewers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recommended only one change to the initial design: change the font of the numbers below the bar code.

-- Neither I.B.M. nor its developers patented the bar code. GS 1, a nonprofit, gets a minimal annual fee from manufacturers to cover costs of overseeing the bar code's international standards.

-- UPC stands for Universal Product Code.

-- Bar codes cost a half-cent each.

The New York Times breaks down each component of the UPC is a very informative graphic.

The bar code pictured above is from the front page of The New York Times.