A Cool Twist To A Sad Business

It's rare that something as sad as a widow visiting her husband's grave can be cool, but stick with me:

"I go and talk with him," said Faye Garneau, who admits she isn't so sure she likes that her own name is already inscribed there, too.

That wasn't all: Several months later, the monument maker added a high-tech innovation — a small, square image known as a quick response or QR code, affixed alongside the big letters spelling out Garneau.

The monument maker — a friend — was working on the code before Garneau died of cancer at age 78.

When you scan the code, you are taken to a website that tells about Edouard Garneau.  There is some statistical information as well as accomplishments and hobbies.  For a mere $65 this code can be added to existing gravestones.  But that's not all.  The codes are being used for advertising, links to downloads or on a tourist trail it can pull up information relevant to the location.


This is the stuff I just love to see.  We have a way finally to record ourselves, define our time and who we are, in a way that is so scattered and backed up that it would be difficult to lose that information.  This is a wonder of the modern world, on par with the Royal Library of Alexandria, with our past archived and our future recorded live.  It's also great to see technology in the hands of everyday people, in such a simple and profound way.