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A Japanese city has introduced a novel way to keep track of senior citizens with dementia who are prone to getting lost -- tagging their fingers and toes with scan-able barcodes.
A company in Iruma, north of Tokyo, developed tiny nail stickers, each of which carries a unique identity number to help concerned families find missing loved ones, according to the city's social welfare office.
The adhesive QR-coded seals for nails -- part of a free service launched this month and a first in Japan -- measure just one centimetre (0.4 inches) in size.
"Being able to attach the seals on nails is a great advantage," a city worker told AFP."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/lost-found-japan-tags-dementia-sufferers-barcodes-093502777.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20161208171158/https://www.yahoo.com/news/lost-found-japan-tags-dementia-sufferers-barcodes-093502777.html
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Gaaark on Saturday December 10 2016, @04:11AM
This would be good for my son, who is mostly non-verbal and would possibly wander away from school, etc.
Or if he began behaving oddly/badly, the cops could just scan and have a detailed record of him... like DON'T BEAT HIM ACROSS THE HEAD: HE'S NOT BLACK OR CRAZY, YOU KNOW!!!! or something like that. Might give him a survival chance.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @04:32AM
Who cares if he's non-verbal, the real question is will he RESPECT AUTHORITAH when he's being BARKED AT by cops.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @05:05AM
Stop resisting!
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @04:53AM
What a friend did is get a bunch of shirts with a QR code printed on it. Depending on what they are doing, it says slightly different things and has different codes. For example, when at school, it says something like "I am supposed to be at school, if I am not there or appear to need help, please scan the QR code. The QR code goes to a web page that describes what school he goes to, who the teacher is, and a bunch of contact numbers. When shopping with mom, it says something like "I'm out with my mother, if I appear lost or in need of help, please scan the QR code" and the code takes them to a different page with mom's number. Plus, whenever anyone goes to one of the code pages, it automatically notifies both parents and activates a tracking device they have on the kid. The nice thing is that the pages just need to be there for most days, so his employer lets them host theirs and other parents who work at the company for free on their infrastructure. One thing they are now looking into is getting their son a specially trained autism service dog.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @09:14AM
This approach is going to seriously impede the performance of big data tracking us as individuals. But it is going to be a boon for the t-shirt industry.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @05:04AM
Body cam rollout is still a county by county developing news story. It would take years to roll out this kind of system in the U.S.
The type of cop you have to worry about isn't going to use the kook scanner 10 years from now. It is the same cop that has the mysteriously malfunctioning bodycam or tends to shoot first and get paid leave later. Your best chance at keeping your son alive would be to relocate him to some nice quiet town in Europe.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Francis on Saturday December 10 2016, @05:23AM
Like this is a normal everyday problem. You make it sound like this is a common problem. It's not a common problem, it happens from time to time, but people with developmental disabilities being screwed over by caretakers is a much more common problem and one that requires a lot more resources to resolve.
People like you overblowing the situation does nothing to resolve any of these issues. The police do need more training and better equipment, but suggesting that it's a problem that people ought to be worrying about on a daily basis is just plain ridiculous. There's literally millions of people every year that don't get killed by cops, and it's completely dishonest to make it seem like this is a common occurrence. It is and remains a rare occurrence and one that people can usually avoid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @05:37AM
Shut up, Francis! No one cares whether you see this as a common problem or not, because you do not scan! You are missing the bar-code thingy from "Idiocracy"!! Unscanable! Un-scanable!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @05:54AM
> There's literally millions of people every year that don't get killed by cops,
For every person killed by a cop, there are a hundred that are 'merely' injured by a cop.
For example, diabetics get tased [google.com] by cops all the time. They usually live. That does not make it OK.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @06:15AM
It also doesn't mean that it's 1 common or 2 not OK.
Perpetuating the false narrative that this is a common everyday occurrence that you can expect, just leads to more situations where police make mistakes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @07:08AM
> It also doesn't mean that it's 1 common or 2 not OK.
WTF?
Did you just claim that tasering people in diabetic comas is OK?
Because I'm not seeing any other way to read what you just wrote.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @05:39PM
Absolutely. People in that condition definitely have the potential to be extremely dangerous in the same way as those that are mentally ill are.
It's absolutely OK to shoot them if lesser measures haven't worked. It's unfortunate and regrettable, but, let's be honest, we give cops firearms for a reason. And that reason is to shoot people when lesser measures haven't worked. If we're going to require that the cops know that the person isn't dangerous due to a medical condition, then there's no point in even handing them a gun.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 11 2016, @12:11AM
Seriously? People in comas are "extremely dangerous" and may not only need tasered, but shot as well?
Have I run afoul of Poe's Law?
(Score: 3, Touché) by davester666 on Saturday December 10 2016, @06:54AM
Might as well get the ball rolling and put the barcode on the persons forehead. It's gonna happen folks.
(Score: 4, Funny) by aristarchus on Saturday December 10 2016, @07:28AM
put the barcode on the persons forehead.
Alright, that's enough! You are going to be scaring the eschatologists . . . wait, forehead? Barcode? Do you know what the boundary values of each and every barcode is? Yes! It is 6-6-6, the Mark of the Beast from Revelations in the Bibble! And, OMG, or "your" god, this is posted by davester666? Whose user id is 155? (For those of you not into end-of-times numerology, allow me to explain: you add the second digit to the first, and the first to the second and third. What does that spell? You got it: 666, again! What more proof do we need? I suggest everyone watch Seth Rogen's End of the World movie, though I am not sure why. Oh, I remembered, Hermione is in it!
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So, while we are on this topic, and ignoring the fact that almost all Japanese are non-christian and would not understand any European numerology (they have their own, lots of it is Chinese), did anyone else notice that our new editors include fnord666 (-there it is again!!!) and charon? Charon is the ferryman who takes souls across the river into Hades. It was bad enough when SolylentNews was people, but more and more it looks like we are seeing dead people, like jmorris, and they don't even know they are dead. And I fear to think what this could mean for you and I, dear reader. Um, reader? Hello? But in any case, the new eds are doing a fine job. Keep it up until we break the seventh seal.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Saturday December 10 2016, @07:33AM
It probably would make the eschatologists happy, not sad or scared, because it means they are going to be raptured soon...maybe a bit apprehensive about whether they will be raptured or will they be left behind while all their friends are...but that'll keep them on their toes...
(Score: 5, Insightful) by aristarchus on Saturday December 10 2016, @08:19AM
maybe a bit apprehensive about whether they will be raptured
The whole "rapture" thing is not part of Christianity, it is a doctrine of the Millerites [wikipedia.org] circa 1840 America. Of course, some might believe in it still. http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/morford/article/Jesus-And-The-Sex-Dolls-A-mistaken-rapture-the-2867723.php [sfgate.com] But others maintain it happened years ago, but no one noticed, because only one really nice African disappeared. So yes, they are all afraid, because they know in their hearts of harts, that they are not good people, they are sinners, cretins, Trump supporters and child abusers, and the only way they might possibly be able to float up to "meat Jesus in the hair" is if God if super jam-packed with grace and mercy. But then everyone will get to go, even the atheists and the dirty f***ing Hippies, and they cannot abide that. So, yeah, Hell for the evangelicals, because they would rather go to eternal damnation than admit one of "those people" into their heaven. A special fear, a self-inflicted fear, and there is nothing Jesus can do about it. Free will and all. . .
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So davester666, what class of demon are you?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @01:47PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @08:22AM
It was bad enough when SolylentNews was people, but more and more it looks like we are seeing dead people, like jmorris, and they don't even know they are dead. And I fear to think what this could mean for you and I, dear reader.
I don't see why an immortal Greek would care about that :D
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday December 10 2016, @08:41AM
Immortal? Why do you think me immortal? I guess I might be since I haven't died yet, but in that I am no different than the average teenager. Only gods are immortal, and I am just a philosopher, a human. I almost died a few times already, and I expect that one day it will actually happen. But to quote "Switch" in the "Matrix", not like this, not like this! I guess I should get my Japanese fingernail barcodes as quick as I can, and I advice all you to do the same. Better than being rfid chipped.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday December 10 2016, @10:10PM
An immortal Gaaark might care! :)
Nnnnnnnah!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by fleg on Sunday December 11 2016, @01:59AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7nDdS6XrbE [youtube.com]