By way of Amanda, I came across this letter sent to employees of a company that had installed a hand scanner to replace punch-card system for workers checking in and out of work (boldface original; italics mine):
Header: Recognition Systems IncTo Whom it May concern: It has come to the attention of Recognition Systems that some people have a particular concern about using our hand scanners which relates to their religious beliefs. The concern revolves around the detection or placement of what is described in the Scriptures as the mark of the Beast".
We at Recognition Systems wish to first make it clear that our hand scanners
DO NOT IN ANY WAY HAVE THE ABILITY TO DETECT THE "MARK OF THE BEAST" OR ANY OTHER MARK ON A PERSON S HAND.
DO NOT IN ANY WAY HAVE THE ABILITY TO PLACE THE "MARK OF THE BEAST" OR ANY OTHER MARK ON A PERSON S HAND.We at Recognition Systems understand that these facts alone may not completely allay the fears of these concerned individuals and would like to offer a solution that completely eliminates any concerns regarding the "mark of the Beast" In the Book of Revelations, chapter 13, verse 16, it is written, "he forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead". The Scriptures, regardless of version, consistently refer to the "mark of the Beast" being found or placed only on the RIGHT hand or forehead. Therefore, we suggest that any individual having concerns regarding the "mark of the Beast" be enrolled and use the hand scanner with their LEFT hand turned palm up.
Again. we wish to make it abundantly clear that Recognition Systems hand scanners have absolutely nothing to do with the "mark of the Beast". Yet it is important that any user concern be respected and ways be found to alleviate those concerns. We hope that this letter removes any concerns regarding the "mark of the Beast" and the use of our hand scanners.
RSI Management
Revised August 7. 1998
Two points. First, this letter is a decade old--this insanity is nothing new (it's not a Palin-specific phenomenon). Second, the part about facts not allaying fears is beautiful, not to mention explanatory.
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This sounds like an urban legend. Go to the site that is posting the letter and look at the logo on the original. Recognition Systems, Inc., is a division of Ingersoll-Rand. RSI does not use that logo. Instead, it used the Schlage logo. Notice that the letter lacks specifics as to location, date, and author. Notice the unprofessional use of bolding and caps. Notice the misspelling of the Book of Revelation as the Book of Revelations. But above all, notice the advice that a user fearful of being branded with the mark of the beast use the hand scanner with their LEFT hand turned palm up. Major, major problem. RSI scanners require the user to place his or her hand palm DOWN. Go to this website and check out the series of photos that will show up at the top: http://recognitionsystems.ingersollrand.com/ to verify that this is the case.
@Elf Eye: This letter may well be an urban legend; but the palm up palm down thing is correct. For reasons that defy logic, my highschool installed hand scanner devices on the doors(never mind the fact that hand scanners cost a fortune compared to mag stripe readers for the student IDs we all alread had). The plate on which you placed your hand quickly became horribly filthy. We soon learned that the system would accept as more or less equivalent, our enrolled hand palm down or our unenrolled hand palm up(which spared us contact with the vile plate). I don't think that that was intended behavior; but it worked.
I work with RSI HandPunch scanners. They are designed for right hands, sure: http://www.handpunchmanager.com/ But they don't actually care about the way you place a hand.
Their user manual says that if right hand is not available for punch-ins one can use left hand. I myself used my right and left hands during testing of my software (until I found out that tin-foil templates work just as well).
Oh, and "unprofessional" characterizes RSI pretty well.