headstones with QR codes: trolling beyond the grave - Polidicks

[url]http://www.npr.org/2011/05/30/136676964/technology-brings-digital-memories-to-grave-sites[/url] [quote]The process of burying the dead hasn't changed much over the centuries, but now their gravestones can provide a digital link to their life stories. A Seattle-based company is creating burial markers that include a scannable, stamp-like image called a "quick read" — or QR code. The codes can be placed on tombstones so visitors can learn more about the dearly departed, leave messages for their loved ones, and record stories for others who may visit. And all you need is a smartphone and a free app to make it work. Death and the human desire for remembrance are the constants that have kept Quiring Monuments — run by Dave Quiring — going for three generations. Quiring is part grief counselor, part artisan, part editor. "My job is to help people tell a story in stone, generally," he says. Quiring inherited his role 43 years ago, when his father died. Since then, he's added bronze, glass, even stainless steel and color photographs to the materials the company uses to make modern headstones. And now he's going digital: by offering black-and-white QR codes for gravestones. You may have seen QR codes in magazine ads. They're a little larger than a postage stamp and look a bit like a combination of a bar code and a Rorschach blot. You scan them with a free smartphone app and they bring up a website. Quiring pulls one from his shirt pocket. [b]A few seconds later, my smartphone begins beeping, and soon it has pulled up a sepia picture of a man in a double-breasted suit looking out at us.[/b] "There's my dad," Quiring says. "Look at him — quite the dapper guy back in 1930." [b]Quiring beams at the sight of this picture and the slideshow that follows. There's the obituary that was in the newspaper after his dad died and a scan of part of a Robert Frost poem that his wife found in his wallet.[/b] It became David Quiring Sr.'s epitaph. More Than Just Monuments We head to the veterans cemetery less than a mile up the road from the shop to visit the Quiring family's plot. A portrait of David Quiring Sr. This is the first image that appears when you scan the QR code at his grave. See his QR website. From the car, Quiring — who himself served during Vietnam — looks past some blooming cherry trees. Rows and rows of uniform white monuments cover the hillside. His shop has a federal contract to make them. He'd love to see his QR code stickers added to each one. "And then you could make a tour through there and it would be more than just a bunch of white monuments," he says. "It would be distinct lives of people who really deserve to have their story told." [b]It's an idea that's catching on — and not just with QR codes. A company in Phoenix has started selling tombstones with RFID tags for digital storytelling.[/b] That's a technology used for tracking things like library books and clothing in retail sales. Also visiting this cemetery is 80-year-old Harry Coles. He's an army veteran, making stops at his brother's and mother's graves. He doesn't own a cell phone, much less a smart one. But he likes the demonstration of how the QR codes work at the Quiring family's graves. "I'll be darned," he says. "Now that's something new!" Coles says he's old-fashioned, so he wouldn't want anyone to buy one for him. But he thinks having one could mean a lot. "For some people it brings back happy memories, and probably some bad memories, sorrowful memories," he says. "But, mostly, I would think, it's out of love. That's the basis for the whole thing." And it's the vision for Quiring Monuments: using technology to help future generations connect with their past.[/quote] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd2_FG06vnI[/media]

The last thing I need are some assholes with smartphones taking pictures of my gravestone.

..Before his untimely death, he was a large supporter of the Lemon Party..

I don't know what I think about this. Don't think a QR code is the best thing to put on a headstone, though.

Why would this matter? Its not like people walk around and sight see at cemeteries.

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;30184467]Why would this matter? Its not like people walk around and sight see at cemeteries.[/QUOTE] Are you kidding? Walking around in a cemetery is the most exhilarating activity there is!

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;30184467]Why would this matter? Its not like people walk around and sight see at cemeteries.[/QUOTE] I do. :smith:

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;30184467]Why would this matter? Its not like people walk around and sight see at cemeteries.[/QUOTE] Some of the most beautiful places on Earth are cemeteries.

[QUOTE=Kopimi;30184498]Are you kidding? Walking around in a cemetery is the most exhilarating activity there is![/QUOTE] Atleast you're getting your exercise. [QUOTE=Gaza Pen Pal;30184500]I do. :smith:[/QUOTE] Atleast you're making friends

It would be interesting to hear the entire story of someone's life just by looking at their grave.

[img]http://gyazo.com/e6c84647bdda392665f9fe01891b5060.png[/img] Doesn't look like it would hold up to weather too well.

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;30184467]Why would this matter? Its not like people walk around and sight see at cemeteries.[/QUOTE] My visit to the cemetary at Omaha Beach in Normandie was one of the best trips I've made.

[QUOTE=Kopimi;30184498]Are you kidding? Walking around in a cemetery is the most exhilarating activity there is![/QUOTE] I recommend visiting a cardiologist.

[QUOTE=Fatman55;30185115][img]http://gyazo.com/e6c84647bdda392665f9fe01891b5060.png[/img] Doesn't look like it would hold up to weather too well.[/QUOTE] you could carve it into the stone you know

I want this on my tombstone: [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/BRBAU.png[/IMG]

[QUOTE=Fippe;30185191]you could carve it into the stone you know[/QUOTE] Any water that gets into it and freezes could mess it up.

Let's scan this headstone. "ura faget." [img]http://images.wikia.com/gw/images/f/fb/Mantra_of_Yikey.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=Fippe;30185191]you could carve it into the stone you know[/QUOTE]Actually, that'd probably wear away faster than whatever method was used in the image.

[QUOTE=nikomo;30185231]I want this on my tombstone: [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/BRBAU.png[/IMG][/QUOTE] Just like to point out to everyone who wants to scan it, it's lemon party.

[img]http://imgkk.com/i/zxqy.jpg[/img] this will be how i will die

[QUOTE=fishyfish777;30185372][img]http://imgkk.com/i/zxqy.jpg[/img] this will be how i will die[/QUOTE] You'll die posting an image on a forum?

Hey everyone, let's go to the local cemetery to take pictures of peoples graves incase that weird ornament might be a QR code!

This is good use of advancement of technology.

[QUOTE=fishyfish777;30185372][img]http://imgkk.com/i/zxqy.jpg[/img] this will be how i will die[/QUOTE] it's a rickroll

I want a digital goatse on my gravestone

"I loved her soo mu- oh hey look! Its her here on my iPad! Look Mr.Girlfriend's Dad, its the porno we made!" [editline]1st June 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Kopimi;30184498]Are you kidding? Walking around in a cemetery is the most exhilarating activity there is![/QUOTE] Maybe there it is, where you have your open field cemeteries (or I assume you do) In my town, we got one hell of a tight cement cemetery. In spring/summer days, its hot as hell, and you dont have much shadow to cool off from the sun. Only a tree here and there, far from the graves. Then, every grave is like those rock coffins popped out of the ground. You only have like 25 cm between the coffins to walk around, making it feel like your pac-man. In short, you walk around between coffins through plank-wide paths with no shade to hide from the sun in a hot summer day. Did I mention there is no grass? Yea, if you do trip, you might end up falling on top of a coffin or on the cement, scrapping your knee or sticking a cross in it.

I can see this severely fucking over historians in a few thousand years. "A common pastime in the early 21st century was the wide opening of ones' anus..."

I'd have someone create a blog about my life online, from birth to death (every single detail), and have the QR-Code link to it.

I like this idea. Beats having actual links graved into the tombstone.

I like the idea. It's a bit cheesy right now, but it's nice to be able to put more info on those stones. I would rather have my future stone have stuff written all over the place than a QR code though.