Electronically traceable currency
Steven Joseph Marzuola
never heard before. She says she heard it on Rush Limbaugh.
The fact is that it is illegal to enter or leave the U.S. with over
$10,000 in cash without reporting it to customs. There's no tax, only
a requirement to report it. Supposedly it is to help in uncovering
money laundering and tax evasion.
The story is that the government is/has conducting/ed tests on remote
currency detection. Supposedly they are putting a strip of some kind
into the bills (twenties only, for now) and when somebody walks
through customs carrying any of these bills, inspectors can tell how
much money the passenger is carrying without the passenger's knowledge
or consent.
This seems feasible -- they could use whatever it is that libraries
place in books to keep people from walking off with them.
She adds that the tests have been successful and starting soon (or
already) all $50's and $100's will have this treatment.
She goes on to say that Rush, his source, or some of his callers are
concerned about the "unreasonable search" aspect of this technology.
There were analogies to drug-sniffing machines, but money itself is
legal, so ... I don't know what all was said.
Somebody apparently added that the average cash-carrying citizen won't
be safe on the street, if muggers can carry hand-held currency
detectors through crowds seeking people with large sums of cash.
Has anybody else heard of this? i.e. is the government in fact doing
this to the currency? Is it legal? Couldn't we demagnetize our
money, or whatever, as easily as libraries check out books? Are
people talking about this on Rush's show, or anywhere else?
I don't have time to post on the rush-limbaugh groups as well.
Steve "neither listen to Rush nor carry large sums of cash" Marzuola
--
"Behold, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed."
-- Axel Oxenstiern, 17th century chancellor of Sweden
Kristen Kelleher
|>
|>
|> The story is that the government is/has conducting/ed tests on remote
|> currency detection. Supposedly they are putting a strip of some kind
|> into the bills (twenties only, for now) and when somebody walks
|> through customs carrying any of these bills, inspectors can tell how
|> much money the passenger is carrying without the passenger's knowledge
|> or consent.
|>
|> Steve "neither listen to Rush nor carry large sums of cash" Marzuola
|>
|>
|> --
|> "Behold, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed."
|> -- Axel Oxenstiern, 17th century chancellor of Sweden
|>
I heard this from a PFOM (paranoid friend of mine), only it wasn't
for customs. The strips are supposedly detectable with any of
those omnipresent electronic sensors (airposts, CD stores, libraries)
and they were used so that salesfolk only spend time on those
people who are loaded. Oh, and so the Evil Big Brother knows if
you are cheating on your taxes.
The main problem with this is that mots of people with
oodles of money don't carry cash-- they carry credit cards,
checks, gold bullion, etc.
What are those metallic little threads, then? They are there
to distiguish between counterfeit and voracious bills.
Kristen "i'm just a bill, yeah i'm only a bill" K.
Bruce Tindall
Bill Pickering <bi...@peach.america.net> wrote:
>since I have yet to see a one dollar bill later than series 1988. Why is
>this?? Another potential UL?? Any takers??
No, but I'll see your potential UL and raise you one. How about
a UL that the Big Bad Government has demonetized and is repossessing
all $1 bills that bear the signature of What's Her Name, the former
U.S. Treasurer who's now in the hoosegow for some kind of fraud or
embezzlement or something? No, I haven't heard any such rumor, but
if we can give it some kind of loony right-wing slant maybe we could
get Pete "call me IV" duPont to whisper it into Tush Limbo's ear
during their next intimate tete-a-tete.
B "those prolific Delawareans are deNemourous to mention" T
--
P. O. Box 447, Morrisville NC 27560 USA.
David Allen
: My mother, a usually voracious source, told me one yesterday I had
: never heard before. She says she heard it on Rush Limbaugh.
: The story is that the government is/has conducting/ed tests on remote
: currency detection. Supposedly they are putting a strip of some kind
: into the bills (twenties only, for now) and when somebody walks
: through customs carrying any of these bills, inspectors can tell how
: much money the passenger is carrying without the passenger's knowledge
: or consent.
: She goes on to say that Rush, his source, or some of his callers are
: concerned about the "unreasonable search" aspect of this technology.
: There were analogies to drug-sniffing machines, but money itself is
: legal, so ... I don't know what all was said.
: Has anybody else heard of this? i.e. is the government in fact doing
: this to the currency? Is it legal? Couldn't we demagnetize our
: money, or whatever, as easily as libraries check out books? Are
: people talking about this on Rush's show, or anywhere else?
Aaarrgh! Yes, I heard it, and posted it here (See "Limbaugh Again!"). The
thread that Limbaugh mentioned is an anti-counterfieting device, not a
government conspiracy to scan you for money.
The thread, which has started showing up in twenty dollar bills and larger
has microprinting on it that can be read when held up to the light. The
purpose of the thread is to defeat color copiers which have gotten very good
at duplicating US currency in the last five years. The thread is *very*
common in european currency, I have seen them used in Irish and English
notes.
Limbaugh said that he got the story from Pete DuPont, then he reported it as
fact. For a man who portrays himself as the paragon of accuracy, he is
pretty damn sloppy in his research.
I have sent him a polite note informing him of his error, but I do not have
high hopes of his admitting his error on the air.
The truly amazing thing about the story, was that he did *not* blame Bill &
Hillary for the conspiracy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Allen
Columnist, The Digital Frontier
dal...@infi.net
"For every action, there is an equal and opposite overreaction."
- Allen's Corollary to Newton's Law
David Allen
"tell the truth".
He can be contacted at 70277...@compuserve.com
Cindy Kandolf
the govt to tell how much cash you are carrying, deleted]
Not too long ago my husband asked why on earth US currency hasn't
changed much in so many years - with the result that the most widely
recognized currency in the world is also among the easiest to
counterfeit.
I submit this legend as Exhibit A - even minor changes in the currency
make Americans paranoid.
(Exhibit B should probably be the Suzie B.)
ObNorskieTrivia: Cindy's votes on the new currency introduced today (1
November):
200kr. note: I don't understand the need for this note, but it's
beautiful.
20kr coin: Poor Harald! He may be funny-looking, but not THAT
funny-looking. Don't understand the need for this coin, either.
-Cindy Kandolf, certified language mechanic, mamma flodnak
ci...@nvg.unit.no
Trondheim, Norway
Oportet Ministros Manus Lavare Antequam Latrinam Relinquent!
Bo Bradham
> My mother, a usually voracious source, told me one yesterday I had
> never heard before. She says she heard it on Rush Limbaugh.
I ventured into one of the Limbaugh templ^H^H^H^H^Hnewsfroups
and this is what I found:
--------------------------------------------------------
Unofficial Summary of the Rush Limbaugh Show
for Thursday, October 27, 1994
by John Switzer
This unofficial summary is copyright (c) 1994 by John Switzer.
All Rights Reserved. These summaries are distributed on
CompuServe and the Internet, and archived on CompuServe (DL9 of
the ISSUES forum) and Internet (cathouse.org and
grind.isca.uiowa.edu). The /pub/jrs directory at ftp.netcom.com
contains the summaries for the past 30 days. Distribution to
other electronic forums and bulletin boards is highly encouraged.
*************************************************************
October 27, 1994
[...]
Phone Jeff from Fresno, CA
[stuff about Proposition 187]
... In fact, Rush just learned about something most
people haven't even heard about before - the 1991 Series $20
bills are electronically tagged in the lower right-hand corner.
Rush asks people to examine their pockets for such a bill, and
he'll explain more about this after the break.
*BREAK*
Rush notes that nobody in his obviously underpaid staff has a
Series 1991 bill, but he knows from personal experience that if
you hold it up to the light, you'll see something inside one of
the bill's corners. This is a thin, magnetic-coded piece of paper
which allows special metal detectors to detect it, allowing
authorities to count how much money you're carrying without even
having to search you.
Bo Snerdley holds up his $20 bill to see if he can see the strip,
but Rush reminds him that this is a pretty pointless thing to do
since Bo has a 1990, not a 1991, bill. Bo continues on, though,
determined to see what he can see.
Rush continues on to say that he heard about this from former
Governor Pete Dupont at the tribute dinner to Charlton Heston.
Dupont actually split one of his bills to show the thin thread to
Rush; it's a very thin, white shred of paper that's labelled
"U.S. Twenty Dollars," and its magnetic code will allow machines
to count how much cash you're carrying. One reason for this is to
enforce the laws that prevent people from leaving the country
with more than $10,000 in U.S. currency.
One obvious reason to be concerned about this is that if there is
a machine that can count the amount of money people are carrying,
without their knowledge, it's only a matter of time before such
machines end up in non-official hands. This is a matter of
privacy, but government officials and others will soon be able to
tell how much money you've got, and by implication this means
they'll be able to enforce any new laws on how much money you'll
be allowed to carry.
These bills are new, so they aren't in circulation in great
numbers yet, but it's interesting that most people wouldn't
detect this change in their $20 bills unless they were told about
it first. H.R. "Kit" Carson asks if this means his wife will also
be able to find out how much money he's got, and Rush agrees this
is yet another reason to be concerned about any sort of "Big
Brother" gadgets and trends.
---end quote -----------------------------------------------
I don't know when it was that RL got this scoop from Pierre
"call me Pete" DuPont, but I heard this UL almost a year ago,
anf afu was already hip to it then.
Besides, can't the government already "tell how much money
you've got" if they really want to? I know IRS auditors can get
your bank records if they want them. As to how much money
you've got on your person, you have to file a report on cash
transactions above a certain threshold, right? So none of this
is particualry new, or dependent on this mythical new
technology he's trying to get us to be afraid of.
Bo "just use an eelskin wallet and
fake out the detectors" Bradham
Dave Bushong
>[...]The thread is *very* common in european currency, I have seen them
>used in Irish and English notes.
Is this a thread about a thread? Is it a meta-thread?
--
Dave Bushong
OPEN/image Recognition Products
Perry Friedman
>My mother, a usually voracious source, told me one yesterday I had
>never heard before. She says she heard it on Rush Limbaugh.
>
>The fact is that it is illegal to enter or leave the U.S. with over
>$10,000 in cash without reporting it to customs. There's no tax, only
>a requirement to report it. Supposedly it is to help in uncovering
>money laundering and tax evasion.
>
>The story is that the government is/has conducting/ed tests on remote
>currency detection. Supposedly they are putting a strip of some kind
>into the bills (twenties only, for now) and when somebody walks
>through customs carrying any of these bills, inspectors can tell how
>much money the passenger is carrying without the passenger's knowledge
>or consent.
It's been mentioned here quite recently. FALSE.
The Treasury is changing US currency. TRUE. In fact, US currency will be
changed GREATLY in a few years, probably including more colors (to prevent
copying) larger portraits to one side, possibly certain concentric circular
patterns (centered on the eye of the portrait), etc. other things to make
color copiers barf (interfering wave patterns and such).
Anyhow, some of the things you can currently observe in new (series 1990)
bills ($10 and up, I am not sure about 5's) are:
a plastic strip, located near the left hand side of the bill. This says
USA XXX (XXX being the denomination) repeated so as to be alternatly readable
from the front with the edge up, and back with edge down
"microprint" surrounding the portrait. When photocopied, this will just
appear as another ring around the portrait, but if you look carefully it
says "The United States of America"
Many countries have been embedded plastic strips in their currency for many
years. The US is just a little slow. Other ideas have included holograms.
The problem with anti-counterfeiting techniques is that they must pass the
rigorous usage tests of the Treasury including the crumple test (very
interesting to see how they mechanically crumple bills... wind them up and
smoosh them) and the "washing machine test", etc. the day to day abuse US
currency must withstand due to it's abusive users.
Perry
numismatist
Daniel Ford Sohl
(Perry Friedman) wrote:
+ Many countries have been embedded plastic strips in their currency for many
+ years. The US is just a little slow. Other ideas have included holograms.
+ The problem with anti-counterfeiting techniques is that they must pass the
+ rigorous usage tests of the Treasury including the crumple test (very
+ interesting to see how they mechanically crumple bills... wind them up and
+ smoosh them) and the "washing machine test", etc. the day to day abuse US
+ currency must withstand due to it's abusive users.
Why do they do this? I noticed when I went to France in the eighth grade
that the French currency was unable to withstand being put through a spin
cycle (I found this out the hard way), and none of the other (paper)
currencies I've seen appear to be capable of doing so, with the sole
exception of the US. Admittedly, it's a nice feature, but is it really
necessary?
Daniel "Fifty francs down the drain" Sohl
--
_____________________________________________________________________
|Daniel "Ford" Sohl |"In the beginning, the Universe was created.|
|Danie...@brown.edu | This has made a lot of people very angry |
| | and been widely regarded as a bad move." |
| | -- DNA |
cper...@kean.ucs.mun.ca
> Danie...@brown.edu (Daniel "Ford" Sohl) wrote:
>> pbfr...@us.oracle.com (Perry Friedman) wrote:
>>+ The problem with anti-counterfeiting techniques is that they must pass the
>>+ rigorous usage tests of the Treasury including the crumple test (very
>>+ interesting to see how they mechanically crumple bills... wind them up and
>>+ smoosh them) and the "washing machine test", etc. the day to day abuse US
>>+ currency must withstand due to it's abusive users.
>> Why do they do this? I noticed when I went to France in the eighth grade
>> that the French currency was unable to withstand being put through a spin
>> cycle (I found this out the hard way), and none of the other (paper)
>> currencies I've seen appear to be capable of doing so, with the sole
>> exception of the US. Admittedly, it's a nice feature, but is it really
>> necessary?
>
>
> In fact British currency survives the washing machine pretty well. I'd
> guess that the new plastic-impregnated Australian currency does better
> in the washing machine than any other; anyone tried it? Also presumably
> wastes less cocaine.
>
> --
> -- Jack Campin -- Room 1.36, Dept. of Computing & EE, Heriot-Watt University,
> Riccarton, Edinburgh EH14 4AS Home: 031 556 5272 Fax: 031 451 3431
> Work: 031 449 5111 ext 4195 WWW: http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~jack/jack.html
> Internet: ja...@cee.hw.ac.uk Bitnet: via UKACRL BANG!net: via mcsun & ukne
t
Canadian money also survives a washing machine quite well. The thing that
always puzzled me about American paper money is that it is all the same
size and colour. Boring and confusing! Do the people who make it only have
access to one type of dye?
Cheryl
Joe D
: Canadian money also survives a washing machine quite well. The thing that
: size and colour. Boring and confusing! Do the people who make it only have
: access to one type of dye?
Yeah, it is rather boring. And more important, it violates the ADA!* Blind
people can't tell this bills apart!
This almost calls for a letter to the Treasury Dept asking (as a concerned
taxpayer) when the US currency can be expected to comply...
Joe D
*ADA is the Americans with Disabilities Act, requiring businesses over a
certain size and gov't facilities to be made accessible to the handicapped.
--
Joe D is not the man from a...@oasis.icl.co.uk, nor is he the man from
he...@crash.cts.com. He doesn't even want to know his Kibo Love Number, has
hugged, been hugged by, and gotten a backrub from Vicki Robinson, which sort
of renders any concerns about winkies irrelevant. His best mates all love
him, and they're often drunk enough to let him know every five minutes.
Kim Scheinberg
>
>perspective. But if you would like to prove me wrong, please carefully
>foam-wrap one bottle of Zima, and post it to: Steve Caskey, Schools Network
>Unit, Ministry of Education, Private Box 1666, Wellington, New Zealand.
>Don't forget to mark it "Personal" otherwise those bastards in the mail
>room will open it and scull it.
Save your money, everyone. Steve, consider it done. You'll have it by
New Year's.
kim "courier" scheinberg
cfb103
(Steve Caskey) says:
>
>ObZima: Despite the testimony of the AFU UK contingent, I still believe our
>American brothers are correct in their appraisal of Zima as an abomination
>in the eyes of the Lord. Too much warm flat beer has warped the British
>perspective. But if you would like to prove me wrong, please carefully
>foam-wrap one bottle of Zima, and post it to: Steve Caskey, Schools Network
>Unit, Ministry of Education, Private Box 1666, Wellington, New Zealand.
>Don't forget to mark it "Personal" otherwise those bastards in the mail
>room will open it and scull it.
Admittedly, this is perhaps not the correct forum for this (yes, yes MOTTO!),
but the reaction that Zima stirs in people is beyond me. To my mind/taste
buds, it's an undistinguished little beverage that's fine if you don't want
beer. Course, I'd rather be downing a pint of Sam Adams or Yuengling Lager,
but any port in a storm.
-Josh "here's an idea...
alcoholic Sprite!" Munn
--
Josh Munn
It really was "bunny" foo foo
Bruce Tindall
And (paging Joseph Askew!) which member of the Soong family was *this*?
Andrew Welsh
> Admittedly, this is perhaps not the correct forum for this (yes, yes MOTTO!),
> but the reaction that Zima stirs in people is beyond me. To my mind/taste
> buds, it's an undistinguished little beverage that's fine if you don't want
> beer. Course, I'd rather be downing a pint of Sam Adams or Yuengling Lager,
> but any port in a storm.
Yes, well that's the whole point for me, as one who doesn't drink anything he
doesn't like the taste of (and beer just tastes disgusting). The idea of
alcoholic Sprite just fills me with a feeling of warmth and happiness. Plus I
haven't seen the adverts.
Andrew "who must get round to ringing the Coors importer" Welsh
--
Andrew Welsh (and...@bnr.ca) - All views in this posting are mine alone
'Reality,' sa Molesworth 2, 'is so unspeakably sordid it make me shudder'
cper...@kean.ucs.mun.ca
> In article <1994Nov2.095331.1@leif>, cper...@kean.ucs.mun.ca says:
<skip my critique of US money>
> You know, Cheryl, one might just chalk up preferences for currency appearance
> on taste and custom.
>
> -Josh "oh that's right,
> Merkins are _always_ wrong" Munn
>
> --
> Josh Munn
> Free Wales now!
Well, I wouldn't like to argue with custom, even if it does make foreign
visitors curious about the situation.
But taste? Whose taste is reflected in the choice of green for all bills?
Or do all Merkins automatically like green as a colour for money, from birth?
Cheryl
han...@quantime.co.uk
(Paul Tomblin) writes:
>In a previous article, and...@bnr.ca said:
>>Andrew "currently got 2 Dickens' and a Stephenson in my wallet" Welsh
>
>Speaking of which - I've got a 10 pound not that I've been carrying around in
>my wallet for some time now. I goot it when I was in the UK in '92, and
>never had the chance to go back. I know that they were just introducing the
>new 10 pound note then - although I never saw any. When I offered it Mr.
>Warley for sexual favours^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hbecause he's my best mate, etc
>tec, he siad he didn't think thais one is legal anymore. Can anybody confirm
>or deny?
>
>Paul "10 pounds would buy a lot of Zima" Tomblin
They are no longer legal tender, but they can still be exchanged at
certain banks for new ś10 notes.
Chris "wanted ś100 notes but they're only good in Scotland" Hansen
Chris Hansen han...@quantime.co.uk |"Reality is that which, |
Expatriate U.S. Programmer |when you stop believing |
in London |in it, doesn't go away."|
|Philip K. Dick |
Ewan Kirk
ab...@freenet.carleton.ca "Paul Tomblin" writes:
> Paul "10 pounds would buy a lot of Zima" Tomblin
But not enough.
Ewan "I really luv that stuff" Kirk.
--
--E.
Ewan Kirk
all...@schools.minedu.govt.nz "Steve Caskey" writes:
> ObCurrency: The New Zealand $5 note depicts a living person - Sir Edmund
> "we knocked the bugger off" Hillary.
Big deal: so does ours: The Queen.
> ObZima: Despite the testimony of the AFU UK contingent, I still believe our
> American brothers are correct in their appraisal of Zima as an abomination
> in the eyes of the Lord.
Only if you believe that beer is the god given drink and that all
other liquids are, by definition, beneath contempt. However, if
you have catholic tastes then you can appreciate Zima for what it
is. "An Unique Malt Beverage". Hearing 'Merkins going on about
how bad Zima is smacks of Coke drinkers telling the world that
7-up is the work of the devil.
Ewan "Bud is the work of the devil" Kirk.
--
--E.
David Allen
: Well, I wouldn't like to argue with custom, even if it does make foreign
: visitors curious about the situation.
: But taste? Whose taste is reflected in the choice of green for all bills?
: Or do all Merkins automatically like green as a colour for money, from birth?
Well, if what I read in the papers is true, then the money will be getting
*some* color and larger portraits. While the color of the money is kind of
dull, the engraving work is very impressive. Stop and take a magnifying
glass and actually look at the currency.
If nothing else, you can brush up on your Illuminati trivia.
Paul Linden
ab...@freenet.carleton.ca (Paul Tomblin) writes:
>Speaking of which - I've got a 10 pound not that I've been carrying around in
>my wallet for some time now. I goot it when I was in the UK in '92, and
>never had the chance to go back. I know that they were just introducing the
>new 10 pound note then - although I never saw any. When I offered it Mr.
>Warley for sexual favours^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hbecause he's my best mate, etc
>tec, he siad he didn't think thais one is legal anymore. Can anybody confirm
>or deny?
I don't think shops would accept it, but it would probably be worth while
taking it to a bank and asking if they'd change it. I've heard stories of
people finding old notes, and being able to convert them into legal tender
(but I don't know *personally* if this would work.)
Paul Linden
Steve Caskey
ew...@kirk.demon.co.uk (Ewan Kirk) writes:
>In article <39bha3$5...@st-james.comp.vuw.ac.nz>
> all...@schools.minedu.govt.nz "Steve Caskey" writes:
>> ObCurrency: The New Zealand $5 note depicts a living person - Sir Edmund
>> "we knocked the bugger off" Hillary.
>
>Big deal: so does ours: The Queen.
Precisely - your currency (and ours, in the form of a watermark) depicts
"The Queen". Not "Elizabeth Windsor", but "The Queen". Just as it has
depicted Kings and the occasional Queen for yonks. It's the office that's
being depicted, not the person. When Liz pops her clogs, well... who knows
_what_ will happen, but she'll magically disappear from new coins, stamps,
et al, from that date.
Other Tin-Pot Little Countries also depict various Presidents For Life and
Glorious Helmsmen on their negotiable bits of paper and metal. So what?
>> ObZima: Despite the testimony of the AFU UK contingent, I still believe our
>> American brothers are correct in their appraisal of Zima as an abomination
>> in the eyes of the Lord.
>
>Only if you believe that beer is the god given drink and that all
>other liquids are, by definition, beneath contempt. However, if
>you have catholic tastes then you can appreciate Zima for what it
>is. "An Unique Malt Beverage". Hearing 'Merkins going on about
>how bad Zima is smacks of Coke drinkers telling the world that
>7-up is the work of the devil.
>
>Ewan "Bud is the work of the devil" Kirk.
At last: something we are in complete accord on.
Steve "would rather drink Lion Red,
and would rather drink Zima than Lion Red" Caskey
--
Steve Caskey (all...@schools.minedu.govt.nz)
Just another mindless public servant at the Ministry of Education
"I am a living art-form, a conceptual artist, and 100 percent bullshit, but
my rain dances have worked four times in a row." - The Wizard of Christchurch
Chris Grace
: ObCurrency: The New Zealand $5 note depicts a living person - Sir Edmund
: "we knocked the bugger off" Hillary.
You mean Queen Elizabeth II ($20) is dead?
--
Chris 'fufas' Grace TransData Corporation Ltd Auckland Airport New Zealand
Bo Bradham
Holland the paper money has barcodes on it. The bar-coded
serial numbers can be scanned to authenticate a note.
This is a bit more plausible given the ubiquitous nature of bar
code technology. I would guess that serial numbers known to be
in use by counterfeiters could be stored in some database and
banks or even stores could scan bills to see if they have the
bogus serial numbers.
Does anyone know anything about this?
Bo "I guess you'd be in dutch if you had
the wrong number on your note" Bradham
Joseph Askew
: Steve Caskey (all...@schools.minedu.govt.nz) unleashed on the world:
: : ObCurrency: The New Zealand $5 note depicts a living person - Sir Edmund
: : "we knocked the bugger off" Hillary.
: You mean Queen Elizabeth II ($20) is dead?
When did New Zealand have a Queen Elizabeth I?
Joseph "Never Heard ogf No Damn Title Act" Askew
--
Percentage of American schoolchildren aged between 15 and 18 who know that
the Population of the United States is between 150 and 300 million - 32.
Equivalent Percentage for US Population in Sweden 42, Mexico 42, France 41
Bruce Tindall
cfb103 <CFB...@psuvm.psu.edu> wrote:
>Her name is _not_ Elizabeth Windsor.
Absolutely correct. She was born Eugenio Pacelli, and in my
book, "Mr. Pacelli" she remains!
B "Fid.Def." T
David Allen
: I got some e-mail on this topic from a fellow who says that in
: Holland the paper money has barcodes on it. The bar-coded
: serial numbers can be scanned to authenticate a note.
This is true, Nova did a piece on counterfieting a few months back and
discuused the efforts of the Dutch and the use of barcodes to verify money.
A good idea, but God does it have some Orwellian overtones.
Barbara Hamel
In a previous article, et...@tuhhco.rz.tu-harburg.de (Paul Linden) says:
>I've heard stories of people finding old notes, and being able to convert
>them into legal tender (but I don't know *personally* if this would work.
Would depend on what was written in that note. And to whom.
Barbara "what price fame?" Hamel
--
Barbara Hamel | A "type A" person is the sort who brushes
"dark-eyed NCFreenet lady" | his teeth while going to the toilet and
ag...@freenet.carleton.ca | flushes just before he's finished to save
| time. - Ewan Kirk
Merlin
[...]
>The company I used to work for in Chicago, (a market research company)
>did a study for the Treasury in which they asked people to rate various
>redesigns of American currency. The sample bills were placed under lock
>and key and were never shown publicly. I wish I'd been around to see
>them--they were apparently quite different from the current designs.
The Discovery Channel, on cable TV here in Simi Valley, CA USA, has shown
a one-hour program, using the actual layout of the proposed U$100 bill,
(which I seem to rememeber is in some kind of final approval stage) on the
hows and the whys of the proposed new currency designs at least twice, so
far, this year.
It's Bea-UUUUUUUU-ti-ful! It's Gorgeous.
Here's a TV Guide version of what I remember about the proposed new
currency shown on the program and how the front looked:
The bill finally had Braille on it. RAH! The portrait was about 50%
larger, more realistic and all the way to the right where it took up a
full third of the bill. To be printed with several hard to duplicate
colors of inks, possibly magnetic. Soft pastel multi-colored gradient
shading background. Watermarked like good stationery on left side.
Hologram as found on plastic money on left side. The seal will be printed
with half on the front half on the back and will line up when held to the
light. Will retain nylon ribbon and micro-printing.
The rest of this post is another 140 lines giving more detail on each of
the features above.
TOUCHY-FEELY - Braille bills
~~~~~~ ~~~~~
One of the proposed changes was to have braille markings on them.
It's about time.
This is going to make it a lot easier to leave the correct dollar amount
on the dresser as you make your departures in the dark.
THE PORTRAIT - 50% bigger, more realistic, moved all the way to the right.
~~~ ~~~~~~~~
A market research firm (might even have been Chris') found the larger the
portrait, the easier it was to tell a counterfeit bill.
They pointed out the features of average human faces have some highly
specific basic proportions and relationships, many of which fall within
very, very narrow ranges. We see human faces all day long and these
ratios are therefore virtually innate knowledge, burned-in. ingrained in
our "mind's eye,"
Those more "organic," random-looking, frilly patterns of leafy garlands
(as interpreted through some artist's abstract conception) which adorn a
lot of currency are not governed by any such set of proportions or
relationships and can be virtually any old shape.
They showed how even a *very* *minor* thing wrong with the printing of a
portrait >>>*J*U*M*P*S*<<< right out at you, as opposed to something wrong
in the printing of those leafy, engraved garlands.
They demonstrated this point by having people whose jobs were not related
to handling currency (i.e., no treasury or banking employees in other
words) successfully pick out counterfeits which they had printed using
high-quality photoresist, metal plate offset printing methods.
Not as good as the metal plate engraving the treasury uses but pretty good.
The portrait on the proposed $100 bill shown was about 50% taller and
wider than on current bills. It was all the way to the far right-hand
side of the bill and took up nearly the full height of the bill and about
a third of the width.
Far more attention was paid to facial detail, providing a much more
realistic portrait. The portrait's entire background area was much, much
lighter than what we have now, perhaps a rather light 10% coverage instead
of the pretty dark 75%, or so, we have now.
MULTIPLE INK COLORS - No C, Y, M or K.
~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~
As I remember, the ink colors are being specially formulated to make it
hard to duplicate using today's color copier, laser printer, inkjet, etc.
technology.
What I seem to remember them saying was the fine-line engraving on the
bills would be printed using several colors of ink on each side, all of
the colors specially formulated to be fairly different from any of those
used in the common four-color CYMK (Cyan, Yellow, Majenta and Black)
printing process.
The idea being for example, no lines would be printed using a straight
majenta ink, which a color copier could lay down as a single "layer" of
majenta toner in a nice, thin line, probably doing the job pretty well.
Rather, they would use an ink which is a bit "off-majenta" so the same
color copier would have to lay down two "layers" of two different color
toners making a thicker, clunkier line with a multi-colored pattern of
tiny dots like you see in the color photos in newspapers and magazines to
"mix" the right color rather than a single pure tone or hue.
There was also some discussion about magnetic inks and making them
scannable. NO! Not by customs agents. Sheesh! Gimme a break. No,
scannable by point of sale devices, so manufacturers could incorporate the
technology to make it harder to rip off coke machines, change machines,
cash registers, etc.
Hey! I just thought: could people be combining what they can *see* (the
nylon ribbon) with THIS proposal and be coming up with the hilarious
paranoia that the gummint can scan you from a distance to see how much
money you're laundering today?
COLORED BACKGROUND - multi-colored gradient shading.
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
Both sides of each bill would have a background which would consist of
several "bands," or areas of different soft pastel colors gently fading
into one another across the bill and covering the entire side.
The example bill was very well done. Very pretty.
Put THAT in your process-color printer and smoke it.
WATER MARK - Like on good stationery, seen by holding up to the light.
~~~~~ ~~~~
This would be in the area on the left side and wuld be fairly good-sized,
say up to an 1.5 inches in diameter. I don't remember what this show
showed as the water mark, but an article I read in the local paper here
within the last few months, made mention of several possibilities,
including an eagle, the face of the Statue of Liberty or another portrait
same as the engraved one.
HOLOGRAM - Like the little eagles you see on plastic money now days.
~~~~~~~~
This, too, would be on the left side. The problem they were having was,
although it looked fantastic right after it was printed, you just had to
crumple it up a time or two and it would crackle and flake right off.
The Treasury's full-on, official crumple test seemed pretty crude as
opposed to many of today's highly accurate QA testing procedures, but it
sure looked effective. It was something like smushing up the bill by hand
and stuffing it into the end of a steel tube with a diameter of less than
1cm, then cramming a steel piston in the end, and ramming the piston down
the tube's throat by chucking it up tight into a bench vise. Pretty grim.
They were having trouble getting the hologram to live through their
WhirlPool (tm) test, too.
THE PERFORMING SEAL - half on front/half on back, line up held up to light
~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~
The left side of the bill would also have a round seal like our bills do
now. But, it wouldn't all be printed on the front.
The seal would be divided into 4 quarter-section pie-shaped wedges.
Two diagonally opposing wedges would be printed on the front. The other
two diagonally opposing quarter-sections would be printed on the back side
of the bill and lined up "perfectly" so that by holding the bill up to the
light, you'd be able to see the seal as complete.
OLD FAVORITES - The nylon ribbon and micro-printing.
~~~ ~~~~~~~~~
Like the U$100 bill we have now, this one would also have the embedded
nylon ribbon vertically along the left side with the denomination of the
bill printed on it over and over.
The bill would also retain the kind of microprinting currently used.
Mention was made of using one of the special shades of ink for it, too, to
really clobber current color laser and inkjet technology.
Stan "I wouldn't mind having a collection
of 10,000 of these. Strictly for
the numismatic value, of course." Greene
+==================================================================+
| Stan Greene | E-Mail: Sorc...@NetCom.com |
| All opinions are solely my own. | or: StanG...@Delphi.com |
| But, they should be yours, too. | or: FlarePistols@10paces |
+==================================================================+
Steve Caskey
et...@tuhhco.rz.tu-harburg.de (Paul Linden) writes:
>In Article <CyLyC...@freenet.carleton.ca>
>ab...@freenet.carleton.ca (Paul Tomblin) writes:
appears to be prepared to exchange for Zima]
>
>I don't think shops would accept it, but it would probably be worth while
>taking it to a bank and asking if they'd change it. I've heard stories of
>people finding old notes, and being able to convert them into legal tender
>(but I don't know *personally* if this would work.)
Reminds me of the story of the young chap who found a German banknote with
quite a few zeroes on it, dating from the early 1930s. He succeeded in
exchanging it at face value at current market rates, thanks to a
particularly dozy teller.
I can't remember whether they made him give it back when they figured out
what had happened, but I think it was established he wasn't pulling a fast
one on purpose.
Steve "by the time I got to the bakery, the cash I was carrying
was worth less than the wheelbarrow I was carrying it in" Caskey
Steve Caskey
ch...@transdata.co.nz (Chris Grace) writes:
>Steve Caskey (all...@schools.minedu.govt.nz) unleashed on the world:
>: ObCurrency: The New Zealand $5 note depicts a living person - Sir Edmund
>: "we knocked the bugger off" Hillary.
>
>You mean Queen Elizabeth II ($20) is dead?
Bet she wishes she was.
(see also my other attempt to weasel out of that faux pas)
Steve "my husband and I have concluded that
there is one 'n' too many in 'annus horribilis" Caskey
Steven Thornton
[re: barcodes on notes]
> A good idea, but God does it have some Orwellian overtones.
The problem I have with paranoid "Orwellian" fantasies in this case is
the sheer numbers involved. As of 1992, there was $292 billion in
actual currency in the US (outside of US Treasury, Federal Reserve
banks, and the vaults of depository institutions); at recent rates of
growth it's probably close to $350 billion now. That's a _lot_ of
notes -- maybe 50 billion of them? Sounds like a database nightmare to
me. Who's going to be keeping track of all of these, and how?
Steve "keeping track of my own is easy -- none at the moment" Thornton
--
Steve Thornton | ste...@eskimo.com | http://www.eskimo.com/~stevet/
Articulate Mandible
>But not enough.
I hear that Zima is an anodyne for sore wrists.
ObJuice: The dilution of the quality of spiriti fermenti over the past
few years mirrors the dilution of the quality of the culture of the
"developed" world over the same time period. Thankfully, there's
a counter-trend among folks determined to maintain some semblance of
quality in their lives. Vide CAMRA in the YooKay as an example.
--
Artie the Hinged Jaw
"Sobriety, water, and fish. There you have it."
Scott Hampton
Articulate Mandible
[Kirk votes for catholic taste]
>Ewan "Bud is the work of the devil" Kirk.
But Lou is God incarnate.
cfb103
>
>In article <94307.192...@psuvm.psu.edu>, cfb103 <CFB...@psuvm.psu.edu>
>writes:
(my snide remarks about currency preference deleted)
>Well, I wouldn't like to argue with custom, even if it does make foreign
>visitors curious about the situation.
>
>But taste? Whose taste is reflected in the choice of green for all bills?
>Or do all Merkins automatically like green as a colour for money, from birth?
Interesting point. No, of course, but we certainly do expect money to look
that way. Thus the spate of jokes referring to how goofy-looking foreign money
is. After all, everybody _knows_ that money should be uniform size and color,
and if those moronic furriners don't know better, screw 'em.
As to making foreign vistors curious, Cheryl, I might suggest that unless it's
something of importance, and there's a lot of pressure on a country to conform
to world standards, countries seldom consider the opinions of tourists. And
certainly not here in the good old US of A, the most arrogant country in the
world.
-Josh "Lord, maybe we should
go back to the days of
three cent peices and
quarter eagles" Munn
--
Josh Munn
"If he's so damn ineffable, why
doesn't he write his own biography?"
cfb103
(Steve Caskey) says:
(Steve and Ewan discuss currency portraiture deleted)
>Precisely - your currency (and ours, in the form of a watermark) depicts
>"The Queen". Not "Elizabeth Windsor", but "The Queen". Just as it has
>depicted Kings and the occasional Queen for yonks. It's the office that's
>being depicted, not the person. When Liz pops her clogs, well... who knows
>_what_ will happen, but she'll magically disappear from new coins, stamps,
>et al, from that date.
Lordy, I don't know that I want to stir up this little hornet's nest, but
the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is
Elizabeth II, of the House of Windsor. Her name is _not_ Elizabeth Windsor.
The royalty does not, as such, have last names. They do have a house name
(Windsor), and a family name (Windsor for Liz, Mountbatten-Windsor for the
descendents). Neithe is a typical last name, such as the peasantry has. I send
everyone to More of the Straight Dope for further details.
-Josh "this Zima obsession
is beyond me" Munn
Stephan Zielinski
>The problem I have with paranoid "Orwellian" fantasies in this case is
>the sheer numbers involved. As of 1992, there was $292 billion in
>actual currency in the US (outside of US Treasury, Federal Reserve
>banks, and the vaults of depository institutions); at recent rates of
>growth it's probably close to $350 billion now. That's a _lot_ of
>notes -- maybe 50 billion of them? Sounds like a database nightmare to
>me. Who's going to be keeping track of all of these, and how?
Oh, now you've done it. Larry'll have a proposal on the NSA's desk in
two weeks, tops.
--
Stephan "This joke may make more sense if you work for one of three
particular companies, or know somebody who has" Zielinski
Bruce Tindall
cfb103 <CFB...@psuvm.psu.edu> wrote:
>As to making foreign vistors curious, Cheryl, I might suggest that unless it's
>something of importance, and there's a lot of pressure on a country to conform
>to world standards, countries seldom consider the opinions of tourists.
Re currency, The Bahamas do (does?) consider the opinions of tourists
quite seriously, apparently. They issue a $3 banknote, in shocking pink,
with The Queen (TM) on the front and a regatta scene on the back. As
far as I could tell during my visit there, no one uses this bill as
day-to-day currency; I assume it exists mainly so that tourists will
take one home as a souvenir (as I did) and leave $3 worth of foreign
exchange behind.
David Allen
: David Allen (dal...@infi.net) wrote:
: [re: barcodes on notes]
: > A good idea, but God does it have some Orwellian overtones.
: The problem I have with paranoid "Orwellian" fantasies in this case is
: the sheer numbers involved. As of 1992, there was $292 billion in
: actual currency in the US (outside of US Treasury, Federal Reserve
: banks, and the vaults of depository institutions); at recent rates of
: growth it's probably close to $350 billion now. That's a _lot_ of
: notes -- maybe 50 billion of them? Sounds like a database nightmare to
: me. Who's going to be keeping track of all of these, and how?
Well, I am not paranoid, but as computers become more and more powerful, the
potential for abuse at a later date becomes feasable. If I told you thirty
years ago that I would be able to approve a credit transaction anywhere in
the US in fifteen seconds, you would have cited the same database nightmare.
I have no doubt that within 20 years, it will be possible to track currency
at the most mundane levels. I said possible, not neccesarily probable. That
depends on whether we allow the government to pass such nasty things as
clipper and the new telephony act pushed by the FBI.
Sevo Stille
>I got some e-mail on this topic from a fellow who says that in Holland
>the paper money has barcodes on it. The bar-coded serial numbers can be
>scanned to authenticate a note.
Well, I have a latest series 100 G note here. And they have barcodes above
their serial numbers. By the way, it is really beautiful, and is absolutely
packed with safety features - microprint, microregister, plastic watermarks,
silver and gold paint, gold foil and dichroic plastic applications.
By the way: One of the new safety features in the new Deutschmark series was to
be slightly elevated colour. The "experts" were rather embarrassed when
thousands of copier counterfeits of new DM bills appeared - elevated print is
one of the characteristics of colour copiers ...
Sevo Stille
Joseph Francis Nebus
>...smacks of Coke drinkers telling the world that 7-up is the work of the
>devil.
It isn't?
Well, consider this: in my parents' house is a booklet, handed down
from my grandmother, which contains a number of food recipes using 7-Up
as an essential ingredient. Apparently it's supposed to be good for basting
and use as some kind of base for sauces and such. It's quite strange.
Joseph Nebus
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sean Willard
But Budweiser Budvar is the nectar of, of not _all_ the gods, at least a
few hemidemisemigods.
And good bud is heavenly.
Sean "prefers Flensburger, actually" Willard
Articulate Mandible
>And good bud is heavenly.
Well, Mendocino bud is, at least. Then there's the occasional batch
of bud from Michoacan . . .
han...@quantime.co.uk
tin...@mercury.interpath.net (Bruce Tindall) writes:
>In article <94310.143...@psuvm.psu.edu>,
>cfb103 <CFB...@psuvm.psu.edu> wrote:
>
>book, "Mr. Pacelli" she remains!
>
Ah, yes! Elizabeth the Pious.
Chris "'D.G. Reg. F.D.' is the rest of her name, according to
the pound coin in my pocket" Hansen
Chris Hansen han...@quantime.co.uk |"Reality is that which, |
Expatriate U.S. Programmer |when you stop believing |
in London |in it, doesn't go away."|
|Philip K. Dick |