Slashdot Mirror
Canadian Coins Not Nano-Tech Espionage Devices
Necrotica writes "An odd-looking Canadian coin with a bright red flower was the culprit behind the U.S. Defence Department's false espionage warning earlier this year.
The odd-looking — but harmless — "poppy coin" was so unfamiliar to suspicious U.S. Army contractors traveling in Canada that they filed confidential espionage accounts about them. The worried contractors described the coins as "anomalous" and "filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology," according to once-classified U.S. government reports and e-mails obtained by the AP."
Just wow.
I've got a bad attitude and karma to burn. Go ahead. Mod me down.
Man this has tinfoil hat written all over it... Why wasn't the contractor given a government issued one?
I mean really, nanotech in coins? They use nanotech in computer processors and look how much time and effort it takes to make one of them.
09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
+2 Troll is Slashdot's way of saying groupthink is confused
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/docume nt/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglo beandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20070110.w spycoin0110%2FBNStory%2FNational%2Fhome&ord=109400 50&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true
Didn't we know this back in January?
... they still don't work in American vending machines or toll booths ... and thats what really matters, isn't it?
I'd rather have these folks a little paranoid because you never know when a suspicious looking item really is being used for espionage.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
Kind of expected in a state of overly paranoid affairs. Paranoia is where rationality gets thrown out of the window.
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Aren't those the special Tim Hortons(Canadian version of crack in a cup) Remembrance Day coins they gave out a few years back? Funny they thought it had a microchip in them. Man some people can be so naive.
To be fair, when so many are out to get you (or you believe they are), even an unusual pencil looks like a knife.
"An odd-looking American coin with a bird which can be described as an Eagle raises suspiscion among Canadian Citizens as an artifact for espionage. The odd-looking - but harmless - "eagle coin" is unfamiliar to suspicious Canadian Police Enforcement and forced them to submit private reports about the eagles "devil eyes" which can only mean they contain tracking devices to take over canada." can anyone else say omfg paranoia ?
All this tells me is that the Americans think it's possible for coins to be used as spying devices. They wouldn't think it if they weren't somehow certain. I'd be carefull with American coins if I were you ;)
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
I can't think of a more appropriate example to illustrate the differences between our two countries.
Nobody made an effort to find out if it was a standard coin.
. mov
Wow Army defense contractors and Government 'intelligence' agencies
http://media.thestar.com/AP/0506dv_spy_coins_ISDN
...and that's what really matters, eh?
The Defense Security Service is the same group that felt it was a good idea to ban access to their websites based on top level domain name. You see, they figured no one with a .edu domain name could be trusted despite universities being a large consumer of their services. I asked them how the heck we were supposed to view their site. They suggested that we "buy a .com" and then it would work fine. After weeks of explaining to them how bonehead an idea that was they changed their policy. *sigh*
I would rather they have lots of false positives to avoid true negatives
Unfortunately, this sort of indiscriminate paranoia ensures that the true negatives will be missed in the midst of a sea of garbage.
The intelligent response to events like 9/11 is to recognize that law enforcement effort should be prioritized as always, focussing resources on the people most likely to do harm, and to accept that a certain level of risk is necessary to preserve some essential liberty.
Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
Little do they know that it's the two dollar coin that is the surveillance device. It's obvious if you think about it - the dissimilar metals in the coin form a galvanic cell to power the transmitter. Furthermore - oh, wait a sec, I think I see a CSIS truck in my driveway...
Mine's open for business.
I know one of the guys who worked on the coin, he'll be please to know that the coin looked to have so advanced technology! ;)
Menzoberranzan Networks
This coin is not rare at all.
The mint produced nearly 30 million such quarters in 2004 commemorating Canada's 117,000 war dead.
Another very important subject about this false-espionnage coin:
The Defence Security Service disavowed its warning about spy coins after an international furor, but until now it has never disclosed the details behind the embarrassing episode. The U.S. said it never substantiated the contractors' claims and performed an internal review to determine how the false information was included in a 29-page published report about espionage concerns.
This is amazingly easy to verify... this is another embarrassing episode.
"The report did not indicate what kinds of coins were involved. A service spokeswoman said details of the incidents were classified."
So, basically, a weird looking coin led the government to believe there was an international threat, and the reason this belief remained intact for more than... say... 30 seconds, is that these idiots were too dumb to Google "remember souvenir" (the words on the coin), and yet they're given the ability to classify such nonsense, escalating a problem that could've been resolved by asking any Canadian to empty their pockets, into a threat to national security.
Are they really stupid enough to think that spies are going to make tracking devices in the form of big red X's, and then put those devices on coins that are unlikely to stay in their possession for more than a day?
The most hilarious part are the comments by one of the U.S. contractors, who sounds like he just got his Official Little Orphan Annie secret decoder pin in the mail:
"It did not appear to be electronic (analog) in nature or have a power source," wrote one U.S. contractor, who discovered the coin in the cup holder of a rental car. "Under high power microscope, it appeared to be complex consisting of several layers of clear, but different material, with a wire like mesh suspended on top."
The Nigerian yellowcake was actually just... yellow cake. Angel food cake, to be exact.
given the current state of affairs in the US. When you live in a totalitarian state, you see enemies behind every bush (insert appropriate joke here). To the commenter who said it only takes being right once to make it all worth while I would say "You're deluded, my friend." One of your great statesmen once said that if you give up your freedom in exchange for security, you will end up with neither; this is being borne out as we speak. Americans are not "safe" from terror - they may be safe from terrorism, but as we can see from the daily news reports, Americans are a terrified people. Those contractors who freaked out about our memorial coins were obviously not feeling "safe", and felt it necessary to file a report about their suspicions. (Incidentally, what they assumed were "nanodevices" were likely the ink dots from the printing process; the Royal Canadian Mint isn't known for its quality when it comes to short-run commemorative coins.) This is just another incident that, along with the Boston Police department's War On Things That Blink, make me glad I have absolutely no reason to travel to the US. For your sakes, I hope you get a new administration with a brain in it next time round!
"Apparatus dignosco occultus, satis non supernus."
OMG! Color on a piece of change!! I wonder if they actually figured out the "blue piece of paper" they kept getting back in their change was actually a five dollar bill.
It looks like money, but it isn't green... I better file a report.
My left arm is all scars and I consider that a valid excuse...
The quarter is the fourth one down on this page.
more of the same on Twitter.
I'm not sure that nano-scale structures are visible with conventional light microscopes. I was always under the impression that you'd have to look at the thing with an electron microscope to see the "nanotech" features.
We all know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it
P.S. No Canadians were harmed during the making of this admittedly stupid joke.
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
This is such bullshit. How paranoid are you when you think Canada is spying on you with money?
I don't want to live in a country that can't even trust Canada, because if Canada's not friendly, who the hell is?
http://www.gcn.com/print/22_10/21970-1.html worried about a coin but they cant keep track of the laptops. i think they need to focus on some of the important things before looking with the naked eye for nano-spy gear
God, just like we need more proof that American Intelligence is the new quintessential oxymoron. Still, it's better to have people laughing at you than trying to kill you. Let's have more money for sending "Intelligence" officials to Canada, and less for death squads in Iraq.
Is it me or does that image look like a really amateur 'shop?
-1 not first post
I can't find the link but I saw a story the other day about the effect that our increased border security is having on the tourist industry. Foreign visitors fear the border officials more than they fear terrorists. The result is many billions of lost revenue, several billion in lost taxes and a loss of something like 160,000 jobs.
I'm sure the Slashdot crowd can come up with many other examples of how our stupid paranoia is helping to kill the economy.
They were advertised on TV before they were put into circulation to avoid this mess.
When you are a country who's law allows the kidnapping of foreign nationals, who's laws allow "rendition", who's laws allow Guantanamo to exist... a country who spies on everyone else, then you see yourself in others too. One tends to expect from others the sort of treatment you meet out. Conversely, the society for which the above is unthinkable tends not to see those threats everywhere else. This story isn't so much funny, as it is deeply... deeply sad.
Could somebody please explain what nanotechnology looks like? I've never actually been able to see any of it, and I want to make sure I am prepared the next time somebody hands me a small metal disk with some nanotechnology embedded it in.
That should keep the coins in my pocket from reading my mind.
I am certain they chose coins to get a closer proximity to the mind of the American Politician.
Didn't we invade them already?
j/k
Seriously, this is really funny. I mean the DoD doesn't know what coins are being used by our northern neighbor and are worried about spying from them? Go figure! Oh, I guess 'cause it is a poppy they're thinking some evil drug thing.
The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
I guess this means we shouldn't have preemptively invaded Canada. [shrug] Oh well. We can't leave now, or there'll be a bloody civil war between Quebec and everyone else up there. Besides which, this is our best chance to spread democracy and freedom in North America.
After they've spent months determining coloured Canadian coins wouldn't kill us.
What will they do next to wow us? Stop terrorists from using airplanes? Rescue hurricane victims?
I couldn't help but laugh while I was reading this. This just helps strengthen the "ignorant American" stereotype that just about every country has for us. Thanks again dumbasses!
1. Celine Dion
2. Jim Carrey
3. nano-tech coins...
4. ????
5. Profit? ...No my friend. WORLD DOMINATION! MWahahahah!!
This isn't as far fetched as you might think. Anybody can buy hidden recording devices disguised as working pens, clocks, smoke alarms or whatever. They are not as high tech as they once were. The stuff Intelligence agencies have access to are even more high tech. When you have buildings full of highly intelligent people thinking up ways to spy on each other non-stop, you end up with some pretty innovative things. This for example http://www.spybusters.com/Great_Seal_Bug.html
Assemble a breast cancer ribbon, AIDs pin, a Remembrance day poppy, Canada pin, and a Nano-tech coin, it forms a miniature thermonuclear device of ultimate destruction.
I can understand the concern, especially considering the quality and technical savvy of the Royal Canadian Mint. Here is part of the Wiki entry:
"The Mint has been at the forefront of currency innovation. Among the Mint's technical innovations have included its plating process, which consists of a multi-ply technology that allows electromagnetic signatures to be embedded in the coins, assuring readability in the coin-processing industries.[3] Its other innovation was the world's first coloured circulation coin, the 2004 Remembrance Day 25 cent piece, with a red poppy on the reverse. Further innovation was achieved with the adaptation of the Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) technology to coat its dies, extending the life of the die beyond that of past chrome coated dies.[4]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Canadian_Mint
Now, consider that the mint also makes coins for many other countries, US military contractors and security conscious travelers can be even more paranoid.
By the way, Canadian money is made by and controlled by the Canadian government... Do you know who makes and controls US currency? If you guessed the US government, you should check again.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id =2&objectid=10436518
Also from May 1 BoingBoing:
"US war on terror is a war on tourists, too
America is rated the world's most unfriendly destination for foreign travellers in a recent global poll. The War on Terror (which includes a $15 billion fingerprinting program that humiliates every visitor to America's shores and has yet to catch a single terrorist) has destroyed America's tourist industry, killing $94 billion worth of tourist trade, and 194,000 American jobs.
In a recent poll of international travellers, commissioned by Discover America Partnership, a coalition of US tourist organisations, 70 per cent of respondents said they feared US officials more than terrorists or criminals. Another 66 per cent worried they would be detained for some minor blunder, such as wrongly filling out an official form or being mistaken for a terrorist, while 55 per cent say officials are "rude."...
Such comments, and the poll results - which rate the US by a 2:1 margin as the world's "most unfriendly" destination for foreign travellers - are found in "A Blueprint to Discover America," unveiled in January by Discover America Partnership to halt a dramatic decline in foreign visitors.
According to the blueprint overseas travel to the US has slumped 17 per cent since 2001, even as world travel to other countries reaches historic growth levels. The decline has cost US$94 billion ($127 billion) in visitor spending, US$16 billion in tax receipts, and some 194,000 American jobs. Many poll respondents said that visiting the US had become a hassle and that they would take their holiday money elsewhere. "
Perhaps those defense security experts suspected these coins because US security agencies actually have spy coins? Just a thought...
Now Al Quida could put nano gizmos in coins
ummmmm, yeah. but why?
To track what happens in the average American's sock drawer?
Because we all know that GW keeps spare change in his pocket and by releasing Canadian coins into circulation they may just end up there?
BTW, Which cave do they use for the manufacture of this nano-technology?
This report was absurd on its face. Get a grip.
Yes, we are tired of Pinky running the show!
Be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out. - Cardinal Wolsey
...now I need a picture of a kitten and a coin...
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
Who would believe something that kooky? Next thing you now someone will claim a box knife is an "evil tool" to hijack a plane.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
P.S. whoever "they" are
Never attribute to malice (or paranoia) that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. There is no way the USA can stay on top for long, when even the "bright" people in the USA are brutally stupid.
You now have an improvised explosive device to act as a diversion and allow you to jump out window!
5...4...3...2...
I heard there are WMDs in Iraq, eh!
The biggest conspiracy theorists are the spies. They actually make a decent living hatching ridiculous conspiracy theories (oooh, the Canadian Mint is run by aliens using their advanced nanotech to prepare for invasion). That way their masters get to spy on pinko commie agitators everywhere, like environmentalists and democracy advocates (ooh look, the Raging Grannies are inciting insurrection, let's tap their phones, send in the moles).
Damn those pesky terrorists
Canadian spooks aren't merely using beavers anymore, or so the US thinks.
Yes - We - Canada have a plan.
We're gonna spread our culture of health care and poutine using our ultra secret, ultra advanced coins.
Did you know the Tooney (our 2 dollar coin) is not only main made, but that it contains IED's? Thats right yankee's watch out.
We don't invade - we use our coins to invade.
Jackasses.
Killer
Took 'em this long to figure this out?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
This coin acTs as a pOtent passive micrOwave tracking systeM when tuned to a secret resonsANce freq and is used to track the bulk inteaction of individuals within Canada. The NSA contributed portions of the design the Canadian government.
Its actuallY a sort of field teSt beforE new quarters are minted with similiar teChnology heRe in thE US.
Its quiTe an ingenouS design actually, they can "burn" a portion of the nano-structure from a distance of 1/2mile from the target coin to allow a person of interest to be tracked with a unique return signature.
What I want to know is why it didn't occur to anyone to 1) call Canada and ask them or 2) call a coin collector and ask them or 3) use google, rather than running around like headless chickens.
Pity it wasn't the one dollar coin, then we could have had a cheap jibe about loonies. Oh well, eh.
It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
It looked like nano tech? Looked? What, they saw the bumpy metal texture that is used to 'stick' the dye onto the metal, and they couldn't tell it was just... bumpy metal? Do they have magnifying glasses and microscopes in the US? And they can't find the Canadian mint website to check on the coin? And they couldn't tell that the Canadian employee who handed them the change was not shocked by this coloured coin?
So, let's recap... the CIA agent (or whoever this was) had the following qualities:
-Poor eyesight, lack of magnifying tools.
-Never been exposed to metal that was not shiny and smooth.
-Has never seen money that was not American (money with colour).
-No access to the Internet.
-Inability to ask the Canadians around him if this was a normal coin.
-No access to tools or a laboratory to test the coin - a hack-saw and microscope would do.
If I was an American, I wouldn't feel quite so safe with these geniuses protecting me.
.. then it must be... OMFG!!! I just inhaled 50 thousand nano-terrorists! MY EYES!! MY EYES!!
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
To those who don't think Americans and American "intelligence" agencies have been anything but intelligent in the last six or seven years, here's your proof to the contrary. Oh, and here's your sign.
Correction... I mean "Army contractor" not CIA agent. Pfft... just as bad. Hey, don't American's use poppies for anything? I wasn't aware it was just us Canadians.
*boggle*
Please tell me this is supposed to be satire. It sounds like something Colbert would say. But... gak. *please* tell me this is satire. Even if it isn't, just tell me it is. The state of the art for current nanotech is tiny motors powered by alcohol or sugar. These tiny motors are nowhere near industrial production levels. At an industrial level needed for, say, coinage, the state of the art is things like buckyballs, nanotubes, and those quick-dry pants and shirts.
You have any idea the kind of resources that'd be needed to put micro surveillance gear into a circulation coin? Even *if* the technology existed, you'd have to produce millions of them to have any chance at actually finding one in the pocket of somebody interesting, and that's to say nothing of the network of radio receivers you'd need... a transmitter and power supply small enough to fit inside a coin? The range would probably be so small you might as well plant a traditional bug....
If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
I have a roll of these that I brought across the border and have been handing out to friends and family. Who knew that I was in danger of a patriot act arrest due to some coins with a friggin' inkjet poppy on it!
Dave
Just released, from the Royal Canadian Mint:a spx?requestedPath=/en-CA/Home/default.htm
http://www.mint.ca/royalcanadianmintpublic/index.
Or to quote wikipedia: "On May 3, 2007, the Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a Gold Maple Leaf coin with a face value of One Million Dollars, though the gold content was worth over $2 million at the time. It measures 50 cm in diameter by 3 cm thick and weighs 100 kilograms, with a purity of 99.999%."
100 Kilograms equals roughly 220 pounds. Sadly however, it is doubtful that coin would fit in most American vending machines.
They don't say how much these roving idiots are costing US taxpayers, or what in hell their severe intelligence disorders are supposed to be good for. I guess we should just be glad Bush didn't decide to do a shock and awe on Toronto. We keep hearing about "emboldening the terrorists". My guess is that the terrorists got a whole lot bolder when they heard about this latest embarrassment to the US. "I mean, they thought the Canadians were making spy coins that they marked with big red flowers in the middle! We can get abway with just about anything!"
...which sometimes makes it dangerous for our citizens to be in some places which don't particularly hate us. "What a surprise - EVERYONE we capture is Canadian."
The DoD, while unbelievably negligent on research, may not necessarily have been under the assumption that Canada itself was trying to spy on them.
...rather than running around like headless chickens. I guess you missed the government contractor part. I believe there is a bonus clause in their contract for general acts of recockulousness.Not because of being accused of spying but because of being accused of being stupid enough to implant "super secret spy technology that is intending to go completely unnoticed" in a non-standard object that stands out and draws attention instead of in a perfectly normal looking quarter.
I'm not sure how a giant red center to a coin that is EXTREMELY visible qualifies as NANO technology, named so, because it exists on the NANO scale, which is to say, extremely not visible. I'm really starting to wonder about the "Nano" techology industry in the US.
Yes they are nano techology bots and we now know all your secrets.... Blame Canada. We also have miniature cameras hidden inside maple syrup bottles and listening devices embedded in bacon packaging ;-)
/dc
Seriously - the flowers are part of a breast cancer capmpaign and somewhat harmless. Besides - collect them if you can - they are somewhat limited in production.
"Question everything, including this!" - http://technoracle.blogspot.com/
Here is a partial transcript of what was transmitted from the "spy coin"
"Hey man, got any change?"
(sound of coins jingling in pocket?)
"Here" (garbled explitive?)
(sound of coins jingling in cup?)
"God bless!" (sound of severe coughing)
"Got me enough for a drink!"
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
I can't think of a better concealment method than hiding bugs on coins by painting a red poppy flower on them!
You know, aside from hiding a bomb with a mooninite LED sign...
That site has pictures of a lot of Canadian coins I've never seen before.
But since your comment appears to just be meant to direct people to an image of this particular coin, I would have said, instead:
"A picture of the quarter in question can be found in TFA."
I didn't actually *READ* TFA... But I at least clicked through.
Reminds me of a prank some students made. They bought a park bench and a group of students carried it with them the city. Police of course stopped them and asked them to return it to where they took it, but they showed the proof that they owned the bench and can carry it anywhere they please. So police let them and broadcast to other patrols that the students carrying a bench own it.
So the city got filled with groups of students carrying benches until all bench were carried away.
Of course the bench were returned afterwards.
Although very memorable, this prank was not highly praised due to involving police with whom the students have respect.
How this relates or does not relate to Canadian coins I leave to the reader.
False positives are bad, especially for really rare events.
I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
Parent should be rated insightful, not funny.
MABASPLOOM!
...probably brought to you by the same people who positively identified the presence of "Weapons of Mass Destruction" in Iraq.
In soviet Canada, the coins spend you!
"Dumbasses", Good thing they didn't come across a Loonie or Toonie!
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0QUY/is_200 4_April/ai_n6137787
In the 50's the Russians were apparently using hollowed coins to pass messages. While the "nanotech" comment reeks of paranoia (as does the idea of Canadians spying on the US... What do we think they want? California?) it's not unheard of for coins and other day-to-day objects to be used for spying.
Any plan which depends on a fundamental change in human behavior is doomed from the start.
Freak'n retards. Geesh!
Why? BECAUSE THEY ARE MORONS.
If I was a spy I'd be using American coins. They already have those disks in between them and it would be real easy to ...
I submitted this story back in January, shortly after the original clam about the spy coins was made and it was rejected. Original link is gone, but a similar one is available at http://www.thestar.com/News/article/170886.
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?
I'm not supposed to tell you this, but the poppy coins were just a decoy. The real tracking devices are embedded in these:
K N0328796820070503
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idU
We're still working on the miniaturization issue.
are you for real?
post 9/11, rights in the usa certainly have taken a turn for the worst... as in, turned in a direction, and traveled a little bit in that direction. like an inch. an actual totalitarian state would be another MILE in that direction
those on the wackjob left (as opposed to the real left... the wackjob left is a small loud dumb component of the left) frequently complain about the instilling of false fear to control society and create hysteria which feeds manufactured support for the so-called "war on terror"
and yet, if you want to actually find any fearful hysteria, you need look no further than the words above
how is it that those who complain about fear and panic are the ones who sound the most hysterical?
the usa has a LONG way to go before it is anything REMOTELY like a totalitarian state. to call the usa a totalitarian state only demonstrates how ignorant you are of what a real totalitarian state is really like
for one, you would be petrified to write what you just wrote
right now, in egypt, there is a guy in prison for 5 years for saying "unislamic" things. 5 years. for a blog. that's totalitarianism. right there
but if i were to point out that actual real facet of life under governments in the middle east, i would be a neocon who likes to drink crude oil out of iraqi children's skulls drumming up support for the war on terra, right?
i'm being extreme of course, but i'm just trying to help you write some of your own panic-ridden hysterical thinking like that which you have on display above
pffffft
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
"Now, they've demonstrated that not only are they paranoid about anything looking slightly strange, but they also don't have any idea how to investigate it."
We don't like long-hairs around here, hippy.
RTFM; please, I beg you.
It seems silly in retrospect, but in this kind of business (and in many others) false positives are a lot less damaging than false negatives.
A device is a compilation of features, and so, usually larger thn 100 nm, even in nanotech.
The worried contractors described the coins as "anomalous" and "filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology,"
Yea, because normally coins are grown on the Coin Trees (Leaves used to be used, until the forests were burned down to prevent devaluation) and are not man made.
*grumble about how people like this get paid*
It was a Remembrance Day (ww2) coin.. why would this strike anyone as suspicious?
Actually, the coin was NOT a WW2 coin. It was issued in 2004 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the start of the FIRST world war in 1914. Remembrance Day started at the end of WWI (11th hour, eleventh day, eleventh month in 1918).
It is the first general-circulation coin in the world to have ever been issued in colour. IIRC, Canada is still the only country to issue coloured coins in general circulation (the mint later issued one with a pink ribbon as part of a breast cancer fund-raising campaign). The images are "painted" (printed actually) by computer using some kind of epoxy on a small mesh substrate, which is then cured (not sure if this required heat or not, but it becomes quite a durable finish).
It is quite an elabourate process for a simple little image, but it was designed so that it could withstand years of use in general circulation without wearing off or fading. They worked on the assumption that these coins would see the same kind of abuse as normal coins, but given that people tend to save them for awhile when they get then in their change, I suspect that the mint went a bit overboard in the design. However, the Canadian Mint is internationally known for quality so they have a rep to live up to.
Given the unusual nature of the coin to someone outside of Canada, I'm not surprised that it caught the attention of US security. Also, given the paranoia of security-types in both the US AND Canada, I am not the least surprised that they would over-react to a benign situation (and, in the process, likely miss a REAL threat). I have, in my travels through many airports in Canada and US, witnessed some of these "bright lights" confiscate an old lady's plastic crochet hooks and "take down" an 80 year old man (forcing him to the floor, arms restrained at his back), who lost sight of his wheelchair-bound wife when an attendant took her down the elevator while his back was turned. That last incident really drove home the message that you MUST take seriously the signs that read "do not stop in this area" as you leave the departure gate. If Canadian security are like that, I can only imagine what DC or New York would be like (Philadelphia and Chicago are bad enough thank you).
I think I was carrying around a Beowulf cluster of these in my pocket the other day.
Maybe we should make more Mountie Horse Quarters to defend against the spy quarters.
e r-Queen-Elizabeth-II_W0QQitemZ120096113335QQihZ002 QQcategoryZ3385QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewIt em
http://cgi.ebay.ca/1973-25-Canadian-Mountie-Quart
I for one welcome our new nano-tech coin overlords!
No, you need a nano-scope.
If you RTFA (a lot to ask, I know) it seems that the contractors were concerned about the coating used to cover the poppy, which is "a conventional protective coating the Royal Canadian Mint applied to prevent the poppy's red colour from rubbing off." One contractor reported that "Under high power microscope, it appeared to be complex consisting of several layers of clear, but different material, with a wire like mesh suspended on top."
It's presumably the wire-like mesh, only visible under a microscope, that "looked like nano-technology". Not the poppy at all. The comment that the coin appeared to be "filled with something man-made" may mean that the coating covers the entire face of the coin; I haven't seen one, perhaps someone familiar with the coins could comment.
So merely googling the coins wouldn't necessarily have explained anything, unless there's a description somewhere of the coating and the presence of a mesh.
"Hey, don't American's use poppies for anything?"
W ars
Yes the Veterans of Foreign Wars hand out poppies in return for a donation but they look quite different than the flattened Canadian version. From what I can tell however, most Americans are quite unfamiliar with the practice of using poppies for veterans' memorials and the tradition isn't nearly as entrenched as it is in Canada.
Interestingly, they also use the poem "In Flanders Fields", the famous first world war poem written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, but fail to acknowledge that his was Canadian, only that he was a Lieutenant Colonel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_of_Foreign_
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flanders_Fields
The pursuit of absolute tolerance leads to the most rigorous and ludicrous intolerance. - REX MURPHY
I think what happened is someone got one of these at a tavern, as change. They decided it would be funny to fill out a report on it. They just forgot to put "j/k" at the end of the report.
And for our next trick, Canada is going implement yet another mindboggling technology that makes our currency frightening for Americans ... our currency will actually hold its value against other major world currencies and not be driven down the toilet by mountains of debt held by China.
t's a known fact that Starbucks is on a quest for domination of the US, and will not rest until there is a Starbucks on every street corner and every American is hooked.
Starbucks is a Tim Horton's wannabe--it isn't anywhere close to achieving domination of its home country the way Tim Horton's is. Let me give you an idea of just how far along Tim Horton's is in its quest to take over Canada:
* Tim Hortons is the LARGEST fast-food/cafe chain in Canada. It is MORE THAN DOUBLE the size of McDonalds in Canada in terms of number of stores AND makes significantly more money than Mcdonalds does in Canada as well.
* For every cup of coffee Starbucks sells in Canada, Tim Horton's sells TEN.
* One of every four dollars spent on fast food in Canada is spent at Tim Horton's
* Even though it has a relatively small presence in the US, it is large enough that it TOOK OVER a major US fast food chain (it merged with Wendy's, and the resulting merged entity was majority owned by former Tim Horton's ownership). It also took over other regional fast food businesses in the US (Hardee's, Rax, etc).
So, it is an honest mistake to believe the special-issue coins might have been issued by Tim Horton's, given how thoroughly they have taken over the nation. However, it is not the case--legal tender is made exclusively by the Royal Mint despite the appearance that being a Tim Horton's franchisee is a license to print money.
someone tell them about Canadian Tire Money, quick!
I don't want an international incident to come up because some unknowing spook bought something from some Canuck on eBay.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Evil doers are evil dreaders....
So, I wouldn't be surprised if the US Army is already secretly using this kind of spying techniques.
I can't think of a more appropriate example to illustrate the differences between our two countries.
Yeah, when we start putting the likeness of other people's monarchs on our coins, it's going to be time to ship out.
Viscente Fox would have been the first apparent choice, but he's out of office now.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Burn victim with bandage huh? That's just a disguise, you can't fool me! He's really a nanotech terrorist!
Engineering is the art of compromise.
You breath through your eyes? Dude where are you from?
"Growing old is inevitable; growing up is optional."
I wonder why this topic is marked as political when it is outright hilarious. Paranoia at its most laughable form. Luckily no one was tortured or killed to uncover this 'espionage'. Uhm, am i right? Are there any missing canadians?
Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
A quick Google search on "canadian quarter red flower" probably would have cleared it all up.
Or not:
Your search - "canadian quarter red flower" - did not match any documents.
Like someone bored out the middle and implanted something electronic in it. Course the whole thing should've ended with a 30-second Google search.
Wood you believe that Canada once used wooden coins? Or that there is actually a Canadian Coinspiracy meant to infiltrate Canadian coins into American circulation?
... it's probably a really good thing they didn't look at it under ultraviolet light.
Stupid Flanders.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
Thanks. You just make me choke on my coffee!
"I once preached peaceful coexistence with Windows. You may laugh at my expense - I deserve it." Be's Jean-Louis Gass
Do you REALLY think that the US is a "totalitarian" state?
It may not be, but it certainly is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
It's a cover-up
You can't take the sky from me...
If you think the Canadians are spying on you with rigged coins, you're hardly going to call the Canadian embassy and say "guys, we've got this coin here which is a bit odd, are you rigging them up with spying devices?"
And if someone else is spying on you using any random coin, then the people who minted that coin won't know about it so there's no point in asking them.
I don't think they suspected Canada. And they could have asked about the parts they were suspicious about - the multilayer clear coating designed to protect the red color. The mint I'm sure would have been happy to send them a description of it, which they would see perfectly matches what they're seeing and would mean either a) there's no reason to suspect anything or b) Canada is spying on us. And if we're worried about B, then that also does not comfort me.
Tin foil hockey mask!
Task Mangler
Ah, now it's starting to get interesting.
If Homeland Security is listening, you should investigate a document called the Necronomicon which details how unspeakable horrors threatening the very existence of mankind itself can leap out from the seeming nothingness of silent sylvan spaces through the mechination of acts which only the insane themselves would dare to effectuate.
Hey, it's cheaper than actually x-raying shipping containers at our ports, right?
And why does the department responsible for defencing care?
There exists no way of exchanging information without making judgments. --Bene Gesserit Axiom
The coin was not, and could not be, the culprit, since it did nothing wrong, nor was there a culprit involved in any part of producing the coin. The culprit was the intelligence-challenged human who filed the report, in that the waste of time and money was the result of that action. Co-conspirators included everyone involved in propagating the stupidity and everyone who let any of THEM into government positions or contracts more complicated than roadside litter-collecting.
One would hope that the summary editors had some working familiarity with the language, but the evidence is strongly against the desire. On the same page, the term "post-WoW world" is used, but I have not seen any evidence that WoW has expired, so we currently experience a "WoW world".
Searching without the quotes returns 1,150,000 hits; many first page results are relevant.
we're talking orders of magnitude of difference in terms of legal norms jackass
inches versus miles
but don't let that stop you from going apeshit over molehills while you ignore mountains
mountains of injustice that leads to the kind of islamofascism the world is having troubles with now
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
considering the ottawa valley area (where the mint that produces these coins is located) is considered by some to be the second silicon valley, and has a very large percentage of its industry located in the technological sector, if i had to say that a nano-scale device came from anywher other than the US or Japan, that it would be from Canada.
Much of the southern United States is already made up of "uninhabitable hellholes." This does not stop Americans from inhabiting them.
If we worried about the places we live in being habitable, there would be a lot fewer people living in Phoenix and Dallas. Also, we would not be trying so hard to rebuild New Orleans, quaint customs and all.
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
In related news, a further report was filed for Canadian paper currency looking "like monopoly money" and "them crazy canucks got no call tuh be usin' color in their money, they's up to somethin'"
in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
"It was a Remembrance Day (ww2) coin.. why would this strike anyone as suspicious? As for the "man-made" bit.. well, it's a coin.. who'd they expect made it?" America ALWAYS has reason to be suspicious, because America has Enemies. And they aren't just ordinary, run-of-the-mill enemies, either. They are extremely sophisticated Enemies that justify constant fear that is so intense that no amount of say comical-like fumbling like mistaking coins for transmitters or constitutional rights for constitutional suggestions, NONE of it is inexcusable. Because we must always remember, and furthermore, NEVER forget, that THEY know that we know that the government knows that SPIES know, that nobody would EVER slap a big honkin' red decal on the exact spot where they had implanted their supersecret nanotech listening devices. Therefore, it is THE perfect cover! 'Au revoila!' as the Canadians say. Y'see, Chief? I got right into the culture ... disappeared ... went native ... melted away ... never even knew I was there.
To catch a spy, you have to think like a spy..... No? Wouldyoubelieve ... well-intentioned buffoon?
make a nano-tech device in a Canadian coin. They'll never suspect it, and if they do people will laugh at them and call them a stupid American. Then you can take over the world with your device. No one will suspect it Canada is a neutral country.
"To be is to do." --Socrates
"To do is to be." -- Aristotle
"Do-Be-Do-Be-Do..." --Sinatra
The best way to hide microscopic eavesdropping components is inside relatively rare things that stand out against similar but different things, of course.
In unrelated news, army contractors are fucktards.
Holy cow, that message deserves a "-2 troll"??? I don't get it. I honestly don't see what is wrong with it.
Table-ized A.I.
"This is a lighthouse..."
kartune85 : Incapable of reason, observation or learning. A kind of dim, drab, flightless parrot.
If the US changed their policy on allowing stupid dumbasses from holding important postions, like President, his closest advisors, spooks and spys that are supposed to be protecting the country. A simple change like making stupid dumbass CONTRA indicated instead of MANDATORY I think things would go a lot smoother over all.
...just another example of how far a small joke can go. /they're in your news twisting your minds
wouldn't be suprised if this new article is some sort of cover up..
This Sig is removed due to factual inaccuracy
A quick Google search on "canadian quarter red flower" probably would have cleared it all up.
Not necessarily. It would possibly not describe the squarish plastic coating that glowed under ultraviolet light. They could have contacted a Canadian coin expert, but that may have taken a while to find and vett. I agree they jumped the gun, but they may have figured they should warn agents during the investigation to be on the safe side rather than wait for the research center to dig around.
Table-ized A.I.
I think this says quite a lot about americans in general, and their defense department in particular.
Why, yes! I AM new here.
zeeze googles, zey do nothing.
I'm loath to say it to this audience, but Americans never cease to amaze me in what insane ways they can make asses out of themselves over and over again.
I mean, really. You would expect this kind of story from Chavez or Ahmadinejad AGAINST the US, not the US against their neighbour for crying out loud.
Jesus Christ, American "intelligence" workers are fucking dumb. We've had those for almost THREE YEARS! Wow. These agents are like the superstitious explorers of old, ascribing magical powers and properties to the strange and incomprehensible things encountered in foreign lands. This really takes the cake. Any shred of credibility your government had left is now gone, if they gainfully employ these morons to do critical jobs. Most stuff I read about the USA merely gets my goat - this one makes me actually want to go knock on the White House door and demand an explanation for stupid behaviour.
I remember when they were playing the trailer for "Independence Day" in theatres, the clip of the White House being destroyed sometimes got cheers. (Which is funny, but also sad.)
Oddly enough, the new Globe and Mail story is a dupe of the old story (now in archive, free part follows).
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
I wasn't aware of the war between U.S. and Canada...
"If all the coins disappeared from the world tomorrow, human civilisation would collapse within two years".
- Albert Einstein.
And I, for one, would welcome bees as our new overlords.
- Ecsad Essemal
The Hexadecimal TV-REMOTE!
See title. That's all they needed to do. *sigh*
I didnt know contractors carried around electron microscopes in their pockets.. so what does nano-technology look like?!!! haha
the only intellectually and morally defensible position in this world is a global one
if the usa does a crime, and the usa does plenty of crimes, and a thousand dunderheads scream and moan about it, and then in the middle east a crime of a much larger magnitude is committed, and not one of those dunderheads says a peep ("i can't do anything about it") that's not morality, that's not a sense of justice, that's not a human concscience
it's just one sided ignorant and racist bullshit
it's saying the big bad usa is the only thing that can be responsible for anything in this world, which means, if you take your rationale to its logical conclusion, you EXPECT the usa to be stumbling around the middle east for a long time to come... they are the only ones responsible for anything there in your mind, right? why don't they just butt out of the middle east? oh, i get it! you blame them for everything, and then ask them to leave!? and of course, as soon as they leave, you would blame them for leaving and making things like hell there! (smacks forehead)
it's condescending and racist because it's implying people in the middle east can't be held responsible... for stuff that they do... to themselves! no let's be our most creative and apply our most convulted logic and find a way to blame the usa. you realize this is condescending right? the usa is responsible, but those people in the middle east can't be held responsible? are they men or children in your eyes?
the lessons of 9/11 is that what happens in a cave in kandahar matter in downtown manhattan
now you, and a thousand dunderheads like yourself, want to micromanage every gaffe and misstep of the usa, and it's all you focus on, and it's all you criticize
meanwhile, somewhere in a cave in asia minor, the next 9/11 is being planned
but you don't want anything to do with that, right?
"I dont ignore any injustice. What you are asking people to do is to ignore the giant "molehill" they have some influence over"
wtf?!
yes, you ignore injustice
in your world, morality has nothing to do with the scale of the crime, morality only has to do with how much the perpetrator of crime listens to you
so in your world, you will berate and harass the guy who jaywalks just because he listens to you... while the guy who murders someone won't listen to you... so you'll ignore him. this is what you say! fucking incredible
that's not justice, that's not morality, that's not a human conscience
that's just being a sheltered western child. that's what you are
there is a big world out there. learn some of it, get out of your western coccoon if you wish to keep commenting intelligently on world problems
i'll say it again, in case you missed it:
the only intellectually and morally defensible position in this world is a global one
not an anti-usa one, not a pro-usa one. if you keep coming back to the usa as the root of all the problems in the world in your mind, the problem is you, not the usa, because you can't voercome your retarded prejudice. its a big world out there. its full of all sorts of people, who have nothing to do with the usa, and who are responsible, or should be, responsible human beings. really, dunderhead. wake up, grow a real HUMAN conscience. not an american conscience. that's all you have now. obsession with the usa is not a substitute for a human conscience
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
This scares the hell out of me. If people are afraid of a coin, they must be plain paranoid and hell knows what that kind of prople are up to. I woulnd't be surprised if in, let's say 5 years, all tourists are tagged with a subdermal gps beacon "for their own security".
But.. the fact that I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they're not after me...
Privacy is terrorism.
while your ad hominem attacks and straw men are very persuasive in the defense of this "dunderhead":
the granparent post was excusing US injustice on the basis of injustice in Egypt.
No one took the position that injustice elsewhere should be ignored. You simply presumed that anyone who points a finger at the US must for some reason automatically be excusing Egypt.
As far as 9/11 is concerned, I'm not sure what you want me to think about it.
What the hell does Egyptian fascism have to do with 9/11?
What the US is doing in Iraq or Afghanistan also has nothing to do with what we are talking about. We are talking about US FASCISM and stifling of human rights inside its own borders.
I'm afraid you wont get me to quake in fear at the word "9/11" either. 9/11 was NOT the worst thing that happened to humankind in the past 10 years by a longshot.
lastly:
Invading IRAQ had nothing to do with 911.
Invading IRAQ had nothing to do with 911.
Invading IRAQ had nothing to do with 911.
Invading IRAQ had nothing to do with 911.
No one has a right to their *own* opinion. They have a right to the TRUTH.