Slashdot Mirror
Canada Rolls Out Plastic Money
markian writes "Canada is set to switch to new banknotes that last 2.5 times longer than paper money. High-tech features include metallic imagery in a transparent area, raised ink, transparent text, and hidden numbers. 'If you look through the frosted maple leaf emblem at a single-point light source and hold it close to your eye, you'll see a hidden circle of numbers that match the face value of the note.' The Bank of Canada has more information on the subject. Now if we can just get rid of the penny..."
Australia has had polymer banknotes since 1988, and in fact it's an Australian company that will be supplying these notes to Canada. Polymer banknotes have been used to varying degrees in 27 countries prior to Canada.
Doubtful. A lot of prices end in .99 not because that's the store's actual cost, but because apparently many customers think 4.99 is $4, not $5.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_pricing
Australia got rid of the 1c coin years ago. Prices that used to end in .99 now end in .95, not .00.
Celsius is problematic because the degrees are too large, thus not really a better system, and is actually separate from the metric system anyway, so I wouldn't count that fact.
Celsius is an official SI derived unit of measurement for temperature, and therefore is part of the metric system.