Our new 'sideways' currency is a real head turner
Arizona Coin Collector
On the story below.
Glad I did not write this story. The part I though was funny was
replacing the ATM ENVELOPES. Replacing "10x5 inches" with
"5x10 inches". You will like the part about the coin design.
-------------------------------
FROM:
http://www.bermudasun.bm/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=135&ArticleID=41085&TM=45620.27
4/8/2009 11:53:00 AM
Our new 'sideways' currency is a real head turner
The following is the latest monthly report to the Bermuda Monetary
Authority (BMA) by the Senior Public Officer Of Funds (SPOOF).
I want to congratulate everybody involved in introducing Bermuda's
new banknotes on their brilliant achievement in the face of huge
challenges.
More than half the money in circulation now is the new colourful
banknotes.
The new notes are so widespread now that several doctors have
reported seeing patients with repetitive neck injuries from
counting money with the new "sideways" printing.
The Chief Medical Officer issued a bulletin this week advising
the general public, especially those like bank tellers and
cashiers who handle large amounts of cash, to hold the money at
right angles to the way old money was held.
Many large retailers and banks have ordered money cash drawers
and cash registers with the slots facing in a new direction,
while new ATMs are being installed that dispense banknotes
narrow-end first.
For those depositing money in ATMs, banks have ordered a new
supply of envelopes that measure 10x5 inches, instead of the
5x10 inches formerly used. Traditional cheques will fit in the
new envelopes if they are inserted end-first.
To speed the transition to the new bank notes, SPOOF has been
encouraging the public to spend their existing money as fast
as possible, so that it can be replaced by the new banknotes.
Because overall spending is down in these troubled economic
times, this process has been slower than expected.
Our officers are now removing old bank notes from individual
savings and chequing accounts and replacing them with the new
sideways money. As a result, many Bermudians using ATM machines
are receiving new banknotes from their accounts, even if they
haven't spent all their old money or earned any new money.
It is worth mentioning how important ATM machines were in the
process of bringing the new notes to Bermuda. Original plans
called for newly-printed banknotes to be shipped to Bermuda
in locked cases, but that presented unacceptable security risks.
Fortunately, in this era of electronic money transfers, the
BMA was able to have the new money sent to Bermuda over the
Internet. Because the BMA does not have its own ATMs, the
newly-transferred money was, by special arrangement,
collected by BMA employees from Bank of Bermuda and Bank of
Butterfield ATMs.
SPOOF would like to thank Lindo's Family Foods and the
MarketPlace stores for allowing us to use their
store-based ATMs and parking lots, after hours.
The new banknotes were then driven back to the BMA
headquarters where the BMA chairman and directors began
the time-consuming process of putting their signatures
on each note.
Widespread praise
The new banknotes have received widespread approval from
the Bermuda public and from numismatists around the world.
The latest issue of the prestigious journal Notable Notes
described the Bermuda money as "a refreshing new take on
lateral printing. "It is reminiscent of Mongolia's 20
and 50 mongo notes, with the insistent modernity of Israel's
new 100 shekel. But the Israeli money is printed laterally
on only one side: Bermuda has shown the world she is
willing to go all the way!"
The rival New Note News draws comparisons with the Colombian
50,000 peso note, the new Venezuela bolivar fuerte, and the
half-sideways Brazilian real. "No currency we know of,
anywhere in the world, combines so many images on a single
banknote," New Note News proclaims.
"The $10 note alone bears images of butterflies, turtles,
leaping fish, angel fish, a parrot fish, and several other
kinds of fish, a sea horse, a sea anemone, coral, the sun
or moon rising over the horizon and puffy clouds, several
maps of the island, the Commissioner's House, the
Deliverance, a cannon, an anchor, some onions, several
scuba divers and a picture of the Queen of England, not
to mention a sailboat and hibiscus flower watermarks.
"If you can't find what you want here, you can look
through the transparent oval in the middle of the banknote
and see anything you happen to be facing.
"Bermuda is clearly in the business of self-promotion. Its
Premier has proclaimed this the island's 'Platinum Period'
for tourism, but by the looks of its banknotes, Bermuda
tourism is very much in its $10 Period".
This lavish description puts into perspective minor local
grumbling over the use of the wrong species of tree frog
on the $20 bill, and the wrong species of longtail on the
$50 bill. Given the total number of images, these two
small errors are trivial.
Complaints over the small size of the Queen's head,
meanwhile, have quickly been turned to a useful social
purpose.
Supporters of the Queen are making their views known by
deliberately handing over their money with the Queen's
image prominently pointed towards the receiver. Advocates
of independence, on the other hand, are using the exchange
of banknotes like a secret fraternity handshake, discretely
covering the Queen's image with their thumbs whenever
money changes hands.
SPOOF is pleased to report, in conclusion, that our new
banknotes are not merely a new form of money, but a new
instrument for marketing tourism, and a new form of
political and social exchange.
We have already begun work on designing new Bermuda coins
to accompany these banknotes.
These too will be minted with a "sideways" design. The
Queen's profile, and all other images and inscriptions,
will be removed from the face of the coin and engraved,
instead, along its rim.
Users will no longer have to lay a coin flat on their
palms to determine its denomination but can simply
glance along its edge.
Minor differences between species of longtails or other
animals will not be noticeable, while the image of the
Queen will be so small that no change will be needed
if Prince Charles ascends to the throne, or even if
Bermuda becomes an independent country.
..
shreadvector
wrote:
> Hello
>
> On the story below.
>
> Glad I did not write this story. The part I though was funny was
> replacing the ATM ENVELOPES. Replacing "10x5 inches" with
> "5x10 inches". You will like the part about the coin design.
>
> -------------------------------
>
It is a joke. Humor. Like something from "The Onion". Notice the use
of "SPOOF" over and over?
Frank Galikanokus
That is one long winded spoof!
JAM
Roger Hunt
Coin Collector <nos...@nospam.com> writes
>Hello
>
>On the story below.
>
>Glad I did not write this story. The part I though was funny was
>replacing the ATM ENVELOPES. Replacing "10x5 inches" with
>"5x10 inches". You will like the part about the coin design.
>
>-------------------------------
>
>FROM:
>http://www.bermudasun.bm/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=135&ArticleID=41085&T
>M=45620.27
>
>4/8/2009 11:53:00 AM
>
>Our new 'sideways' currency is a real head turner
>
>
>The new banknotes were then driven back to the BMA
>headquarters where the BMA chairman and directors began
>the time-consuming process of putting their signatures
>on each note.
Very good!
--
Roger Hunt
Mike Marotta
> FROM:http://www.bermudasun.bm/main.asp?
The Bermuda Monetary Authority website
http://www.bma.bm/
does not have much. The links for the announced currency did not open
up for me and the press releases did not have any illustrations.
Tom Chao, and the others had nothing, either, but I did find images on
this
banknote news website
http://tiny.cc/lzbP6
As you can see, the new notes are printed at right angles to the
"standard" design, as the SPOOF article indicated.
Mike M.
Mike Marotta
> banknote news websitehttp://tiny.cc/lzbP6
... and that does not work for me ... hmmm...
http://www.banknotenews.com/files/d04c491163ab3b4b97e26251ac3925e2-452.html