Pale Contactless Rider

Happy Devil Day, everyone! 6/6/06 has arrived, and so far I've only had to wait for the dishNetwork guy and clean up after the dogs knocked over a coffee mug - hardly demonic occurrences, but the day is only half over.

Now however, I read that RFID chips are the legendary Mark Of The Beast. Yeah, you heard me. According to Katherine Albrecht in her book The Spychips Threat: Why Christians Should Resist RFID and Electronic Surveillance, the subcutaneous chips designed by Verichip resemble the mark as described in the Book of Revelations. Which is, as you know, very precise in its descriptions. As these chips are implanted in people, it will trigger the end times and before you know it, we'll be roaming a post-apocalyptic wasteland with only Kirk Cameron to save us.

Should this be true, it puts the Bush administration in a real bind, because they are both end-timers AND huge fans of electronic surveillance. Then again if the stories are true and Bush believes he is the one to preside over the end of the world, they better get crackin' with those chips now because he's only got 2 and a half years. Oh wait, I forgot, they're going to declare a state of emergency.

According to the article on Wired.com that I'm referencing, every major technical advance signals some end-of-the-world talk, including bar codes, social security numbers, Y2K and the Gutenberg Press. My own list would include Blackberries, television, massage chairs, the spork and atomic weaponry, but these things are subjective. Did I mention grape-flavored apples? How about the Liger?

I think Albrecht is just trying to sell books. For goodness sake, isn't the idea of having a chip put under your skin which will allow any clever 12-year-old hacker to learn everything about you reason enough to resist? Why drag The Beast into it?

Have a little sympathy for the Devil. It's his day.