OT: A curious mystery of probably very little importance.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

What, exactly, is a thin white strip, probably glued, doing glued to the inside part of page in a book, about half a centimeter from the spine? I'm pretty sure I've seen one or two in a few other books, there to straight to be covering a crack and they always seem to be in the same place. This one is on the page marked 'part three', but there are none on the pages marked part two and one. I can't remember where the others might have been, except a vague recollection that they are near the spine. It's probably a coincidence.

[dogscoff]

It's actually an intestinal parasite that infests the innards of the book and sucks away at its nutrients- a kind of tapeworm, (Taenia saginata librus) the so-called "bookworm". You'll probably notice that on the affected pages there are letters or even whole words missing, these have been leached off by the parasite.

I recommend giving the book a good oral anti-parasitic, which should be pressed between the pages of the index containing the letter "d" (for "digestive system") in the case of non-fiction, or anywhere in the chapter listings for fiction books.

Of course you can place it on any page you like if your book happens to be a reader's digest

[Atrocities]

Really?

[Abdiel]

*LOL* Okay...

Maybe a serious answer here. Where did you get the book from? If it's from a library, or some public place, etc where they don't want it stolen, it might be a sensitized strip to set the alarm off.

Part 3? no clue

[narf poit chez BOOM]

That part three was perhaps a bit obscure. The book is simply divided into three parts. No mystery. Actually, I did get it from a library and the magnetic strip theory makes sense.

Of course, Dogscoff's theory holds credence too, as the page it was on had only two words on it, 'Part Three'. Perhaps attendent or adjacent words had already been eaten.

* Gives a medal to Dogscoff and Abdiel.

[ July 08, 2004, 09:49: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[AMF]

AS mentioned below, it's a strip to set off the detectors at the doors to the building where the book lives. Also used on CDs and other items of similar nature to prevent them from being stolen.

Of course, you coudl take the other view: have a $20 US bill? Hold it up to the light. See that small strip running through it? Those strips and the strips in the books are the same, and are tied into the GPS tracking system so that THEY can track what money you spend and what books you read at any given time. Furthermore, if you've ever been under anesthesia anytime in the past ten years the doctors inserted into your body itself one of those little things, so now they track you too.

Just kidding.

heh.

[psimancer]

alarik dont be so sure your kidding

as they do have gps tracking devices you can purchase for implantation in your children to keep track of them

[dogscoff]

as they do have gps tracking devices you can purchase for implantation in your children to keep track of them

No they don;t.

How exactly would you power such a device? HOw would you recharge the batteries? WOuld you really want an orbital microwave transmitter implanted under your child's skin?

An idiot self-publicist "scientist" here in the UK (professor Kevin Warwick) tried to push these things a while back and caused a load of publicity, until it was discovered that the thing required a mobile phone in close proximity... utterly pointless tablod scaremongering, especially when there are far more important things to worry about, like book parasites....

[PvK]

Actually, the local (Seattle) media recently covered several new "child homing device" products. The GPS Versions were to put in their cars. But there were also tracking devices to strap to their bodies to tell if they are leaving proximity of the sensor, and/or to track them down with. Not perfected yet, but available, and it certainly shows that there are people who think tracking other people's every move is a good idea. Big Brother bastard/scum that they are...

PvK

[Kamog]

*Nervously grabs several books from his shelf and flips through them to check for parasites. *
...
Hmmm, I don't see any parasites..
*Carefully examines the covers, the spine, the bindings of the books, looks closely at the first several pages and the Last several pages*
....
Still nothing.

But wait! I do remember that some of my clothes were infected with a similar parasite. I remember one of those tapeworms stuck inside a new pair of pants I bought a couple of months ago!