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Canada Hid the Konami Code In Its Commemorative $10 Bill Launch (engadget.com)
The Bank of Canada has hid a "Konami Code" Easter egg on its website celebrating their new $10 bank note. The Konami Code is a cheat code that appears in many Konami video games, allowing players to press a sequence of buttons on their game controller to enable the cheat. "The Bank of Canada's web team thought the Konami code [Easter egg] was a fun way to celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation," Bank of Canada spokeswoman Josianne Menard told CTV news. Engadget reports: On top of being laden with anti-counterfeiting tech that makes it extremely difficult to copy (holograms, raised ink, color-changing images and polymer materials), the new ten is a who's who and what's what of Canadian history. It features Canada's founding Prime Minister John A. MacDonald, Agnes Macphail, first woman parliamentarian, and Indigenous peoples pioneer James Gladstone, known in his Blackfoot language as Akay-na-muka. It also shows Canada's prairies, the coastal mountains of British Columbia, the Canadian Shield, Atlantic coast, northern lights, Metis Assomption Sash, maple leaf and much more (no poutine, though). All of that is squeezed on the 152.4 x 69.85 mm note -- that's exactly 6 x 2.75 inches, because Canada uses the metric system but probably still buys its printing presses from the U.S. The Konami code is in keeping with Canada's tradition of doing cute, pop-culture things with its history.
But is there room for its Denomination?
The note isn't that size because we buy printing presses from the US.
It's that size because it's been that size since before the metric system was introduced to Canada and we aren't particularly interested in buying new wallets.
Same reason why Canada still uses letter size paper. It fits our binders and filing cabinets.
Also the same reason Canada still uses AWG (though the code books pretend we don't) and our lumber is sold by the inch (or foot). Etc, etc.
Why did they include Agnes McPhail and not Emily Murphy?
Emily Murphy was the first female magistrate in the entire British Empire.
She was also the one who got the court ruling that women were declared to legally be "persons" under Canadian law.
The l'Assomption sash pattern was brought by Acadians to the town of L'Assomption QC when they were deported from Acadia by the Brits. It was indeed widely adopted by the Metis later on. In modern times, that particular pattern, know as lightning and flames, has become the emblem of the Lanaudière region.
Software is not supposed to be about how to work around a useability issue. - Ken Barber
It's not hidden or an Easter egg if they fucking blab about doing it. Easter eggs are things programmers sneak in that no one finds or notices. This reeks of some inane committee decision on how to appear hip but comes off kitschy because it was a deliberate marketing stunt.
If you wanted a useful story why not ask users about fun Easter eggs or secrets they've stumbled across over the years. Instead we get this TMZ-esque shit.
I was actually much more impressed with their 3d rendering of the $10 bill on their web site than with the code being there. Their renderer at first I thought was just a nifty spinning flat texture, pretty simple. But if you spin it faster, force is applied to the bill and it starts to bend. A little less simple, but it visually and feels quite nice. Plus the rendering of the holographic material actually looks quite nice on the page, too.
Some gamer probably came up with this idea, which is dumb. This kind of thing is about as tasteful as the Bank of Canada playing April Fools' Day jokes with our currency, only they waited until our 150th anniversary to cheapen it into some gimmicky cheat code. What does that say about our country and its history? If taken seriously, it suggests that even before Canada began as a country ~ the one that's 150 years old this year ~ we cheated, which is kind of true given that we invaded this country, treated First Nations viciously, and did it all against the rule of law which _did_ exist before we came here. We don't have to take ourselves very seriously, but in being self-deprecating we shouldn't downright mock ourselves and all meaning our country might have. Shame on the Bank of Canada and shame on Canadians if they think this is funny. Then again, I live in a country where the national police force, the Reckless Cowardly Murderous Perjurous RCMP, have very publicly gotten away with murder, so maybe some video game relic on the Bank of Canada's website is actually appropriate.
US bills have famous Americans on, and you can use them to buy dipsticks, which is surely just as demeaning as whatever it was you said. Maybe you should give away all your money in protest.
Paul "Say no to feeping creaturism"
Celebrate the birth of Canada with a cheat code from a Japanese company. Yep, sounds like stupid gamers to me.
I can only assume that the surgery required to remove that stick from your anal cavity was unsuccessful. How unfortunate that you appear to have become acclimated to it.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
The Canadian Economy is almost entirely shipping raw materials to American factories, and banks that support shipping raw materials to American Factories. Seriously, that describes 49 of the top 50 Candian companies. There's nothing Canadian and memorable to put on the bill. Were you expecting a "Little Mosque on the Prairie" reference?
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
Very nice idea that bring attention too that historic milestone.
Or maybe, just maybe it's the entire infrastructure of automated bill-handling equipment, including vending machines?
But I'm sure it will grief some neatfreak crack dealer who feels compelled to store giant mountains of bills in his metric utility room—no wait, Canada still uses two-by-fours (for which neither dimension is a round number in any system of measurement) and 16" stud centers.
I got a chuckle from it. It's the kind of silly thing Google would do (though Google would be smart enough to be paid by the company selling the game).
The thing is, a national currency isn't supposed to be funny and cute, it's supposed to be reliable, steady, trustworthy. Other countries hold $4.5 trillion in USD as their "rainy day funds" because they trust the US dollar, they have confidence that the US government isn't going to play games with the currency. This is essentially an interest-free loan to the US of $4.5 trillion - that's enough to pay off all the federal debt from the first 200 years of US history, or almost enough to pay off the federal debt from the last 8 years.
Trillions more US dollars are held in short-term accounts to handle contracts denominated in US dollars because again the people involved trust the US to not play games with the currency.
This cheat code doesn't directly affect the currency in a material way, it's just symbolism, but it's exactly the wrong kind of symbolism, that sends the wrong message for a national currency.
Aw, well, see it really is ridiculous to include a cheat code if we're to take ourselves seriously at all. If you haven't checked it out, it plays O Canada, our national anthem, and bills drop from above. It's actually pretty 8-bit. It just has no place in any serious celebration of Canada and is therefore inappropriate for the Bank of Canada to use on its site. As for the stick up my arse, there really is a special place for it there now. Fortunately, after all these years, it's dissolved into a kind of personal poutine I whip out and fling at those who lack the resolve to develop a singular wit, the responsibility to avoid being a persistent nuisance, and the intelligence to apply both in appropriate measure :-p
Ha! Don't you be using your cheat codes on me. I ain't gonna give ya any bonus for your troubles.
Oh eat me. This is the Bank of Canada and we have a real history. If they want to commemorate our country using a Konami code, they might as well put stuff on the bill to match. Perhaps that Jim Carrey was Canadian and HE forsook his citizenship to become American. Why the hell not? And I'm not "baselessly" ascribing ulterior motives. "If" taken seriously. It's the celebration of 150 years as a country. Might as well make it Canadian Tire money while they're at it, right? You don't seem especially bright. Do you aspire to become a little more American yourself?
Meh. They should have a cheat code on the note itself. Punch it in and it doubles in value, or something,
Canada's government is hemorrhaging money, and now they are wasting money on designing new commemorative money.
It must be the code they use to print infinite money/debt!
Mind the frickin' laser...
I know what the cheat code is: Show me the money.
Open Source Network Inventory for the masses! Kuwaiba
Lighten up.... it's just a website.... The cheat code has nothing to do with the currency.
And it's not like the cheat code being there stops the web site from being useful for people that wanted to seriously look at the information. Meanwhile, the easter egg is a reminder for those that encountered it that those that work at the mint aren't afraid to have a little fun at the same time as they deliver informative content.
And for the record, yes.... Canadians *DO* have a history of not trying to take ourselves too seriously. That doesn't mean we can't or won't be serious when the stakes are high, but it also means that we know that if you try to take everything in life with absolute solemnity, you are just going to a grim and brooding mess that doesn't know how to actually enjoy life before it is gone.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
More to the point keeping the "standard" size of the bill has more to do with the millions of installed cash drawers, bank machines, vending machines, etc. that accept that "standard" size of bill.
Canada's currency is already the world's dorkiest, with its plastic material, transparent windows and holograms everywhere.
Yeah because using the polymer that much of the world is transitioning to due to its far better durability, and anti-counterfieting features like windows and holograms which have proven widely successful elsewhere and were invtended elsewhere really makes Canada's currency "dorky".
Hey engadget if you want to capture a viewers attention, not starting with an insult and an incredible display of ignorance would be a good start.
Which bugs me no end. By population we're 1/10th the size of the USA. We have ports on both coasts, rail infrastructure between, and international airports.
There's no reason we can't process more of our own raw materials into final product and a larger share of the economic benefit here.
Canada's so kawaii!
Works! Plays "O Canada"!