I'm in the library reading some books. Getting tired of sitting, I decide to wander around and see what everyone else is doing. Of course, there's a group of people at the computer table probably reading about different things happening in the world. Looks more interesting than the book I was reading, so I embarked on... you guessed it! Research! Okay, well actually I was just goofing around until I stumbled on some news websites where people had various opinions about these tracking devices found in ID bracelets, various media, and even trees! (There are some scientific experiments involving some sort of nano-spray paint where trees were painted with this type of paint which would facilitate the transmission of radio frequencies -- or whatever. I can't remember all the details, but it was something like that.) Anyway, I started reading a news article about students at this one school having to wear some sort of RFID tracking badge. Mandatory tracking? Hmm... I was trying to understand why some folks think good things about this, and why some people think potentially not-so-good things about this. When I finished reading that interesting article, I decided to spend my remaining hour at the library finishing the book I started a few days earlier. And then I noticed something. In the back of the book was this raised metallic-looking lump. I didn't really see or notice it at first because it was covered with paper, but if you held it a certain way (I held it up to the light) I could see this pattern in it. When I peeled it back, well by golly it was an RFID tracking device. Was this just like what I was reading about on the computer earlier? I learned even more upon further research. I learned even more upon further research that per Buys Textbooks, Fact #2: A number of books...have RFID ("radio frequency identification") chips bound into the cover...so that they can be scanned, tracked, or inventoried more easily.
Then, I thought "wow" I'm actually experiencing and discovering something I read about in the actual book I was reading. Cool!
Anyway, I think all that RFID ("radio frequency identification") stuff is pretty interesting. And I'm sure it has a lot of neat applications. What continues to amaze me is no matter how much I do research, how much I read and experience the media, or how much I study, I feel like there will be no end to my own education! (Oh, by the way, I was trying to remember what that little antenna looked like that I found in that textbook. I tried my best to sketch and illustrate it here. I'm not sure if this is exact, but it's how I remember it:
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