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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
... they still don't work in American vending machines or toll booths ... and thats what really matters, isn't it?
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.
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 ;)
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I can't think of a more appropriate example to illustrate the differences between our two countries.
...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*
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...
"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.
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.
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.
1. Celine Dion
2. Jim Carrey
3. nano-tech coins...
4. ????
5. Profit? ...No my friend. WORLD DOMINATION! MWahahahah!!
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.
Actually, you did invade us once (back in 1812), but we fought you off, sank most of your ships, and then marched down to Washington and burned down the White House. You wanna piece of this - come git some! *grin*
"Apparatus dignosco occultus, satis non supernus."
P.S. whoever "they" are
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
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's easy to Google it, but let's give the attribution anyway:
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
A common definition of "nanotech" is a device that was devised with intentional features on a scale of under a 100 nm or so. The best optical microscopes can resolve down to about 200nm, or roughly half a wavelength of blue light.
So you are correct. In fact, for some devices even an electron microscope doesn't quite cut it, and a scanning-tunneling microscope (STM) or atomic-force microscope (AFM) are used.
When you live in a totalitarian state
Well, at least we live in a country where we have dictionaries and whatnot that allow us to look up that word and understand what it actually means, and then look around the world and see where it's actually true.
You know, in countries next door to places where contractors actually do get bugged, kidnapped, and killed by people with a political agenda. If you're in that line of work, you've been to seminars where other guys in that line of work tell you what it's like to have your hotel room surveiled, your luggage tracked, or your co-workers decapitated. Canada isn't next door to Iran, but it is a place - just like the US - through which flows (and in which lives) folks with certain connections to operations like Hamas or countries like China and Iran that have a long track record of military and industrial espionage. Do you REALLY think that the US is a "totalitarian" state? What word do you use for places like Cuba, where (unlike the US or Canada) you can get shot for desparately trying to leave. Or North Korea? Are you THAT addled by your dislike for the US that you're that willing to close your eyes to places where such nonsense is the very nature of daily life and death, just so you're more comfortable using that label to score political points?
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
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).
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.
Stupid Flanders.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .