Microchip identification of animals, whether that’s dogs, cats, horses, rabbits or parrots, is integral to the modern veterinarian’s practice. Microchip identification allows individual animals to be identified with certainty, provides proof of ownership and access to contact details for the legal owner. For stories involving a lost pet, or a stolen animal, it’s vital to understand how microhchips and the system works.
The microchip itself is around the size of a grain of rice, and coated in glass. The glass it very sturdy and non-reactive to living tissue, so after the initial implantation the animal should have no irritation from the chip. It has a very small frequency receiver and only one piece of data: a fifteen digit number, eg 981000000XXXXXX.
One study of the top 100 highest-grossing films in the US showed that just eight of those 100 movies had a non-white protagonist, as of 2014.
Six of those eight were Will Smith, according to diversity-focused book publisher Lee and Low Books.
The long-term exclusion of people of colour from science fiction offers up an interesting paradox.
How can a genre that imagines a future of infinite possibilities be seemingly unable to imagine a future where black people exist - or at least have any relevance?
Herein lies the power (and importance) of afrofuturism, and while you may not have heard of the term, there’s a good chance you’ve been introduced to it already.
Afrofuturism is perhaps best summed up by the queen of contemporary afrofuturism herself — Janelle Monae.
Her futuristic music videos and radical aesthetic (she even calls her fans “fAndroids”) are seen by some as a key force for pushing afrofuturism into the mainstream.
“Afrofuturism is me, us… is black people seeing ourselves in the future,” she explains in a 30-second video clip for Spotify.
It is no surprise then that Janelle cites the movement as the inspiration for her new narrative film, Dirty Computer: Emotion Picture, a visual accompaniment to her latest album (which is currently trending on YouTube).
