Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2017 November 19

= November 19 =

Barcode Clash
How do different companies that produce products that are sold in supermarkets avoid generating barcodes that are the same as other companies? Do they all get together to decide on the barcodes? Is there a central register of barcodes? 179.182.232.213 (talk) 18:21, 19 November 2017 (UTC)
 * See International Article Number. Rojomoke (talk) 18:42, 19 November 2017 (UTC)
 * [ec] GS1 is the main international registry for barcodes. See also International Article Number. Tevildo (talk) 18:44, 19 November 2017 (UTC)
 * These articles do not discuss re-use of old article numbers. Are we not even bothering to consider re-using old article numbers, when a products stops being made or sold, since we will be able to just add some digits when we run out (and since most of the software can now be updated remotely if we have to do that)? --Lgriot (talk) 16:28, 20 November 2017 (UTC)
 * This is the relevant page from the GS1 site. Basically, a manufacturer can re-use a barcode 48 months after the previous product which used it has been discontinued. Tevildo (talk) 20:57, 20 November 2017 (UTC)

What's this sound/horn called
I would like to know what's the official name of the first sound in the following video is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKmdxRfKpUQ 19:54, 19 November 2017 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.217.120.168 (talk)
 * Klaxon -- rather onomatopoeic. Moriori (talk) 23:31, 19 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Only if you pronounce klaxon as "eeeyaugh-eeeyaugh". :) μηδείς (talk) 03:58, 20 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Nope. He stipulated "first sound" and it is the first note of the klaxon on our fire engine -- the eee bit.): Moriori (talk) 06:40, 20 November 2017 (UTC)
 * How does that first sound resemble the sound one makes when one says the word 'klaxon'? Because that's the necessary condition for onomatopoeia. --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  06:49, 20 November 2017 (UTC)
 * It doesn't. The word "klaxon" is likely based on Greek klazein "to roar," which is cognate with Latin clangere "to resound" (compare "clang"). Blooteuth (talk) 13:18, 20 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Wouldn't Siren (alarm) be a better link than a trade name?  D b f i r s   08:27, 20 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Klaxon has become a genericized trademark like zipper. -- Jayron 32 12:17, 20 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes, fair comment, but it's rarely used on this side of the pond, and I would use it to describe the historic device on old cars (I think of Jim-Bob Walton). Zipper is shortened to zip over here.  I would describe the modern car sound in the clip as a siren.    D b f i r s   12:33, 20 November 2017 (UTC)


 * It's not a klaxon, it's just a double-toot of a horn preceding the siren. And the word klaxon is certainly not onomatopoetic. The onomatopoeia for a klaxon horn is, as noted above, "ah-OO-gah". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 12:44, 20 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Seems klaxon has different meanings for different people, and there are sounds other than "ah-OO-gah". Google reveals a variety but the most common seem to be 1, 2, 3. Moriori (talk) 20:56, 20 November 2017 (UTC)


 * "Boing" (sometimes "chirp")
 * In the US, it seems that "Yelp" is the preferred term.
 * When purely electronic sirens were introduced to ambulances, they had a single pure sine wave tone with no harmonics. This made a simple and efficient noise maker and everyone knew they were coming. However it was then realised that drivers no longer knew which direction they were coming from. Like whales and dolphins, our ability to detect sound depends on it being multi-spectral. It is very hard to locate the direction of a pure tone (see cone of confusion). In particular, it's impossible to tell if it's from ahead or behind and there could easily be a 180° error in where you think it is. In the 1990s, tone bursts were added to these electronic sounders (the term in the industry is "sounder" rather than siren or klaxon, as those are both specific mechanisms) which sound like this sort of chirp, either a trill of frequencies, or a burst of near-white noise. This makes the vehicle much more obvious to listeners as to where it's coming from. Andy Dingley (talk) 12:53, 20 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Another reason was that fire trucks would collide with each other, because neither vehicle was aware of the other's approach until it was too late. 92.8.223.3 (talk) 17:23, 20 November 2017 (UTC)
 * What's your source for that ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:32, 20 November 2017 (UTC)
 * See.... no sirens or klaxons. Case proven, obviously. Martinevans123 (talk) 11:04, 21 November 2017 (UTC)

Zodiac USA- US based shoe company
Am looking for information on a US based footwear company called Zodiac USA, which specialized in women's leather and suede fashion boots during the 1970's and 1980's. I have searched the internet and can find no information on this now (I assume) defunct company. I had heard that they were at one time part of the Brown Shoe Company, but could not find any reference to Zodiac in your articles on the Brown Shoe co. either. Other than a variety of people selling vintage Zodiac boots, the ONLY reference I have been able to find was in an article about 1980's fashion, and it only mentioned the popularity of the boots, but had no other specifics. I have a pair of these boots and even on the tag it only says "Zodiac USA all leather made in the USA" I would like to find any information on the company itself. Fastfixitmom (talk) 23:14, 19 November 2017 (UTC)


 * Brown Shoe Revives Zodiac USA (Jan 2009). Zodiak USA has a website, zodiacusashoes.com, but it seems to be offline, suggesting perhaps that the revival has not been successful. One foot at a time from the Rochester Historical Society says that the Zodiac USA brand was originally owned by Encore Shoe who designed and manufactured in a factory at Rochester, New York. Alansplodge (talk) 23:33, 19 November 2017 (UTC)