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Topic: Interesting Geographic Facts

Christian Volpi
Master Film Handler

Posts: 349
From: Arlington, NE
Registered: Apr 2004

posted 11-17-2005 09:46 PM

oops

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 11-17-2005 10:00 PM

The US penny says One Cent" on the back. The nickle gets its name from the material it was made of, not some number...it just happens to be worth 5-cents. On the back of the Nickel it does indeed say "Five Cents" so, Joe, you are wrong.

The "Quarter" is short for Quarter Dollar and it does indeed say that. As such it and the Half-dollar are properly labeled.

In fact, only the "dime" requires someone to know what "dime" means to know its value...its size sure won't give it away...as I said before, it is my least favorite US currency in use in terms of its size/value.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 11-17-2005 10:23 PM

quote: Steve Guttag

In fact, only the "dime" requires someone to know what "dime" means to know its value...its size sure won't give it away...as I said before, it is my least favorite US currency in use in terms of its size/value.

The penny is worth 1/10th of what a dime is and takes up MORE space! That is MY least favorite form of US currency in terms of it's size/value.

You must be smoking some of that I-30 stuff. [Razz]

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 11-17-2005 10:29 PM

Coins of other currencies also have irregular sizes, or let's say, sizes not apparently related to their value relative to each other. I wonder if there is some kind of secret logic behind it.

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William Hooper
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1879
From: Mobile, AL USA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-18-2005 01:43 AM

quote: Steve Guttag
Sorry William...most casinos (and more seem to be doing it everyday) are going to slotless slots...well no coin slots that is...they have bill changers...for payouts, you get a receipt that will either work in another "slot" or you can take it to the cashier to get your dough.

I wonder how that will affect the behavior/compulsion/ritual/whatever of the folks who flush their money at the casinos? I've gone with some other folks, & often hear people whose big weekend feature is going to play the slots at the casino, & what strikes me even more than the evasion of which side of the ledger you come out on or how the casinos pay to keep all those lights burning is the ritualistic behavior at the slot machines. Got their big plastic cup, it's filled with nickels, quarters or half-dollars or dollars, whichever is their unwavering choice of machine denomination, they sit on the stool watching the slot machine with the flat affect of those 2 kids in the Road Runner cartoon who wonder why the coyote wants to catch the Road Runner, & put in the coin, smack the button, watch the machine deadpan, reach for the next coin without moving the head, put it in, etc. For hours. Maybe all day. When they walk, they carry their cup of change like the wise men carrying myrrh & gold in nativity scenes.

It's interesting, but not as feature-packed & weird as the ritual behavior of people who are preparing to receive coffee at the coffee machine. I sort of want to put a priest's miter on top of the coffee machine, or a cardboard cutout of the Moloch head from Metropolis.

The UK 50p piece has corners. It works in coin machines; it seems like they could figure out a way to make the US dollar coin's shape similar so you could identify it in your pocket.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 11-18-2005 07:23 AM

quote: William Hooper
It's interesting, but not as feature-packed & weird as the ritual behavior of people who are preparing to receive coffee at the coffee machine.

With the one big exception that you usually actually get what you want from coffee machines.
One thing which has not ceased to amaze me yet is that when you feed dollar bills into vending machines, they nearly always take the bill, even if it's really old. In Europe, most of the machines which claim to take bills reject the majority of Euro bills you feed them, even if they are fairly new. If I think about it, that's actually the one thing that works better here than in Europe [Wink]

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 11-18-2005 09:17 AM

quote: Andy Muirhead
If I do get any hassle in shops I point out that it is 'sterling' and last time I checked, NI was part of the UK. I mean you may well be correct that it's not technically legal tender, just pointing out that in my experience most places will take them. As for the scottish pound note, they are getting rarer up here.

I'm not sure what the constitutional basis behind all this is (presumably the same one which allows for slightly different legal systems in England and Scotland), but after having failed to persuade anyone in York to accept a Scottish tenner for a week after getting back from a trip there, I went into my local Royal Bank of Scotland (it was an RBS note, so it seemed a logical thing to do) and asked. They were happy to change the note for a Bank of England one: in fact, the lady explained that she usually did the same thing several times each day. She told me what I put in my last post - that businesses in England are not legally obliged to accept Scottish or Northern Irish banknotes, but that businesses in Scotland and Northern Ireland are legally obliged to accept Bank of England notes.

I'd guess that in border areas, on the south-west coast of Scotland and parts of NI which receive frequent visitors from the British mainland, the three 'currencies' are effectively interchangeable. This certainly seems to be the case in Berwick Upon Tweed, which I've visited quite a few times. But when you offer someone a Scottish note as far south as York, they might not recognise it and that's where the confusion sets in. I can't remember ever having handled any NI currency (not surprising, given that I haven't visited NI). In fact, after that visit to the RBS in York, I'd forgotten that NI has its own notes until the IRA/Northern Bank story broke.

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 11-18-2005 09:19 AM

Actually, in the US where our currency WAS based on the bi-metal system (Gold and Silver standards)...the penny nickel dime thing was easy to figure out...pennies were copper, Nickels were, well Nickel and dimes started the Silver coins...so the size and metal determined its worth. Up until the mid 1960s, the silver coins were indeed all silver...then the composite coins came out with copper and silver...now zinc has found its way into them...most people know that the penny is only copper clad now with zinc just below the surface.

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Mark Hajducki
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 500
From: Edinburgh, UK
Registered: May 2003

posted 11-18-2005 09:30 AM

quote: Leo Enticknap
businesses in Scotland and Northern Ireland are legally obliged to accept Bank of England notes.

I think in Scotland businesses are obliged to accept Bank of England notes with a value of less than £5. Since no such notes are issued the only legal tender is coins.

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Edwin Schwing
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 116
From: Las Vegas NV
Registered: May 2002

posted 11-19-2005 04:18 AM

I bought my current car (4 years ago) with 1700 $1.00 gold Sacaj-however you spell it coins. The salesman did not want to accept them until I threw in the chest I kept them in.

Best $1700.00 I ever spent!

E

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 11-19-2005 05:01 AM

quote: Leo Enticknap
She told me what I put in my last post - that businesses in England are not legally obliged to accept Scottish or Northern Irish banknotes, but that businesses in Scotland and Northern Ireland are legally obliged to accept Bank of England notes.

See Leo, that's why in the more progressive parts of Europe, they now have the Euro (see below), so they don't have to waste time with such nonsense anymore. I can see why in some more remote areas people still want to stick to their medieval trading systems with chicken, sheep, buckets of grain, colored stones, but - it's just money.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 11-19-2005 05:53 AM

quote: Michael Schaffer
See Leo, that's why in the more progressive parts of Europe, they now have the Euro (see below)...

...and 15% unemployment and rising.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 11-19-2005 06:50 AM

Nobody said integrating all these countries would be easy. But it has to be done. That is why the EU was also opened to the East. It will take a lot of time to work everything out, but it's worth it.
These problems don't have much to do with the currency though.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 11-19-2005 07:48 AM

quote: Michael Schaffer
Nobody said integrating all these countries would be easy. But it has to be done.

With respect, that's an easy thing to say, given that you emigrated out of the EU. If it weren't for (i) the 'no politics' rule on this board (the line between economics and politics is too thin to risk going there, I think), and (ii) the fact that I'm thinking seriously about emigrating out of the EU myself (thereby putting myself in a very weak position as far as criticising anyone else for doing so is concerned), I'd expand on that point.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 11-19-2005 09:01 AM

I didn't emigrate - I am on temporary leave, and I didn't go because I didn't like it anymore. I just wanted to try something new for a while. But I have only been gone 2 1/2 years, and who knows where the future will lead me? Anyway, I am still a big supporter of the EU and common currency. That isn't even a political point of view - apart from the fact that we don't want to discuss politics here, it is a far too complex matter to have a simple "opinion" about it - for me, it is a matter of principle. People have to come closer together and work with each other. The opening of the EU to the East is a massively problematic undertaking, as is the EU itself with all its bureaucratic nonsense and waterhead. But it still is a good idea. Just the fact that you can go, work and live anywhere in the EU without hurdles is a great thing.
But there isn't that much connection between these matters and the artificial clinging to medieval habits that I pointed out, so please don't start a political discussion which has nothing to do with the subject!

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