Chinese vegetable barcodes

Let me get this straight. Putting barcodes on produce is somehow supposed to make me feel more secure about what I put in my mouth. Or so the Chinese want us to believe. Why? What's wrong with your apples and cabbage I should be worried about?

It's as if the UPC on my cereal makes me feel safe a breakfast. Yeah, right...

Meanwhile we at Azalea world headquarters have more important things on our minds. The water hyacinth in our office bloomed overnight. I thought it looked nice with the Port of Seattle in the background.

DIY barcode scanner

For those of you really obsessed with barcodes, you'll need your own scanner. I mean really, what home is complete without one.

If you're anything like me you already have a CueCat but outgrew that long ago. What you need is a homebrew dee-vice.

Well, here's one for you. Don't say I never gave you anything.