[Chaotic Insane]

I recall a conversation a friend related to me once.  One of his buddies was going on about implanting an RFID chip in his hand and how secure and awesome it was.  My friend then pulled out his knife, opened it up, and said, "Which hand?"

What goes in, can always come out!


Another thing to consider: how hardened are these ID chips?  If someone works around certain equipment, the chips can be destroyed, depending on their construction.  Consider the docs and techs around MRI machines, or those who work in electric sub-stations.

Oh god MRIs. Those things have ripped piercings right out of people. You have anything even remotely magnetic anywhere NEAR you and it's flying out and/or off.

[FastJack]

Hmm... wonder what it would do to the titanium rod running through my right femur.

[Chaotic Insane]

If Titanium has any magnetic properties at all, probably tear it out.

http://www.simplyphysics.com/flying_objects.html <-- MRI horror stories.

[Teknodragon]

New definition of Buzzkill there Tek!

*bow* Like my friend, I have a straightforward and often ruthless imagination.  Also, I've been studying electronics the last couple years, and have found I have a frighteningly good memory when it comes to the subject.  Much like the folks out there with networking skills, I sometimes have to just sit on my inner semi-expert and just roll with the fun of the game.  Though, I can make use of my knowledge when it comes to describing what a character using Hardware or the like does.

Another fun aspect of RFID is being able to use a 'sniffer', by walking along and pinging RFID chips in range and collecting the results. Decrypt the data, and you'd have whatever you need.  Not a precisely trivial device to build from scratch, but given a frequency range, adjustable transceiver, and suchlike, someone more experienced than I could likely be able to start pulling data in a relatively short period of time.

[Usda Beph]

Titanium=Non Magnetic AFAIK

[FastJack]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's not magnetic... Something I'd double check before getting an MRI, though.

Now, the plate in my ankle; I don't know what that is.

[Usda Beph]

For deserts?

[FastJack]

For deserts?

I don't know whether I should applaud or smite that comment.

[Usda Beph]

For deserts?

I don't know whether I should applaud or smite that comment.

Either one. It's worthy of both!

[The_Gun_Nut]

It's mostly anything with nickel or iron that you really need to be concerned about.

The only problem is, you can find iron in just about anything metallic.

[street.mage]

It's disturbing how creepy and eerily haunting our technology could effect us.  All people that have biological implants (ie, a kidney/lung transplant) has to take medication to prevent the body from rejecting the implanted part (or so I've heard).  I could just see pharmaceuticals selling drugs to prevent your body from rejecting the RFID implant.  "Shudders."

[Chaotic Insane]

It's disturbing how creepy and eerily haunting our technology could effect us.  All people that have biological implants (ie, a kidney/lung transplant) has to take medication to prevent the body from rejecting the implanted part (or so I've heard).  I could just see pharmaceuticals selling drugs to prevent your body from rejecting the RFID implant.  "Shudders."

"Ask a gentern if Zydrate is right for you... Ask a gentern about day and night time formulas of Zydrate... Remember, buying Zydrate from an unlicensed source is illegal..."

And I believe the medication for donated organs is only temporary. There's more of a window of rejection (than you have to take it for the rest of your life) as your body adapts to the new bits.

The problem with RFID tags in animals is that it's cancer, which I doubt they even have a REAL vaccine/cure for in the time SR takes place. I sure's hell don't see it happening in the next 60-some-odd years. We can't even get flu vaccines straight. Again, that's not even touching on the migration issue. Depending on how small these things are and what they're made of, it's not too far fetched to imagine some accidentally ending up in the blood stream (especially if they break) and then embedded in some organ they don't belong.

And I found an article about RFID tags causing cancer in animals: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/08/AR2007090800997_pf.html

And one focusing more on the livestock versions, which are a bit more advanced than the house pet version. Livestock RFID tags can give the animal's body temperature, brief medical history (I think) as well as owner information: http://www.louisville-pets.com/microchip_cancer_study.html

[FastJack]

The big problem with flu vaccines is that the flu constantly mutates. Basically, it works like this: You catch the flu. You're immune system sends out white blood cells to fight the flu. The cells fight it, reverse engineer it's genetic code and embeds that code into your immune system, remembering it so it no longer affects you. But the flu has encoded a surprise in the virus. Once you're "over it", it uses you body's own immune system to dispose of the "dead" flu (sneezing, coughing, etc.). Those "dead" cells actually aren't really dead, just a weakened form of the flu, one that has also learned from the fight with the immune system, upgraded to get past the defenses it ran into before. So, those disposed cells now go out and infect a new host. And the vicious cycle continues.

  -- This post brought to you by The Smiling Bandit <Strikes Again!/HA-HA-HA>

[Usda Beph]

Last time I got a Flu shot. I got the Flu. Bad! Normally I get ache & pains and I just bull my way through the 2-3 days. When I got the shot... I walked as far as my daughters bedroom (about 25') and crashed there for 3 days. I'd swore off flu shots since without any incidents in around 12 years.

[Chaotic Insane]

That's what I was referring to when I said they can't even get flu shots straight. XD They play guess-and-check for which strain is going to be the big one this year, give it to thousands of people, and hope for the best. And don't even get me started on the SNAFU that was the whole swine flu incident. A couple people die in a few months from swine flu and everyone's wearing face masks. A couple million people die each day from HIV/AIDS and no one wants to use a condom.

I've got a couple friends just sitting back and waiting for the zombies to come with as fast as they pumped out that swine flu vaccine. My money's on it coming out of the cervical cancer one. Pharmaceutical companies are disgusting.