As we're all horrendously off-topic on the other board. :) :)

The salient points are:
1. The best coffees are in Wellington, which is the region where I live.

2. Yep, I know a few people in Upper Hutt.

3. The big old pennies (actually, the copper half-penny) went the way of the dodo in 1966/1977, when decimal coinage was introduced. BTW I think the most valuable NZ copper half penny is the 1942.

4. The last NZ 1c and 2c pieces were issued in 1987, they are now looking at getting rid of our 5c pieces.

:) :)

> As we're all horrendously off-topic on the other board. :) :)
>
> The salient points are:
> 1. The best coffees are in Wellington, which is the region where I live.
>
> 2. Yep, I know a few people in Upper Hutt.
>
> 3. The big old pennies (actually, the copper half-penny) went the way of the
> dodo in 1966/1977, when decimal coinage was introduced. BTW I think the most
> valuable NZ copper half penny is the 1942.
>
> 4. The last NZ 1c and 2c pieces were issued in 1987, they are now looking at
> getting rid of our 5c pieces.
>
> :) :)
>

Hi,
wasn't a Half Penny called a Hay Penny?

---

Only in the States - The backside was hay, much as the "Wheat Penny" has wheat on the obverse.

---

> Only in the States - The backside was hay, much as the "Wheat Penny" has wheat
> on the obverse.

And you could tell the difference from the tiny little coin???

Although I always found the US to have very strange coinage. Your dime is smaller than your nickle, and all your bills look the same (same size, same colour). I used to wonder why I got so much change until I realised, "oh sorry, I didn't realise it was a $20, I thought it was a $1"...

Australians, on the other hand, have what I like to refer to as "play money", with regard to their paper notes. :) :)

> Only in the States - The backside was hay, much as the "Wheat Penny" has wheat
> on the obverse.
>

Buzzzz Wrong!


Noun: ha'penny heypnee

1. An English coin worth half a penny
- halfpenny

Whew! I though I was nuts, I had to look it up...

There is a bridge in Dublin called thye Ha'penny bridge
the toll was a hapenny!

I was born in the 50's and know what a US Weat penny is....

Good try NA&5

---

> Noun: ha'penny heypnee
>
> 1. An English coin worth half a penny
> - halfpenny

I have no idea where dictionaries get their suggested pronunciation from, we would call it hape (as in nape)- knee. :) I shall ring Oxfords tomorrow and offer my services....

> Whew! I though I was nuts, I had to look it up...

:) :)

> I was born in the 50's and know what a US Weat penny is....

I was born after decimalisation... but I still remember using a ruler with inches and not centimetres (aka centimeters)...but I don't think I will ever get the hang of height in centimeters... "He was 167cm tall officer"..."...hmm.. that's 3.3 feet to a meter...carry the one... dang it!!!..."

---

> > Only in the States - The backside was hay, much as the "Wheat Penny" has
> wheat
> > on the obverse.
>
> And you could tell the difference from the tiny little coin???
>
> Although I always found the US to have very strange coinage. Your dime is
> smaller than your nickle, and all your bills look the same (same size, same
> colour). I used to wonder why I got so much change until I realised, "oh
> sorry, I didn't realise it was a $20, I thought it was a $1"...
>
> Australians, on the other hand, have what I like to refer to as "play money",
> with regard to their paper notes. :) :)
>
There is one distinct advantage to having all the paper money the same size.
They can easily be read by vending machines, slot machines, and bank machines, etc.

The dime was smaller because at one time it was made of silver. The weight of the
silver reflected its actual value. The same went for the 25 cent, 50 cent, and dollar coins.
Today those same coins are made out of stainless steel clad copper. And since the penny
it's worth a damn any more it is no longer made of copper, but rather copper coated zinc.

---

Account frozen...

In Japan I occasionally ran across a 1 yen coin, made out of aluminum (and always mangled, it seems). Completely pointless coin. It was worth .8 cents at the time for exchange rate. Everything on the street was priced in units of 10 yen. If I recall correctly, playing a cheap arcade game was 50 yen ($.40) and a draft beer averaged 600 yen ($4.80).

I always found the US to have very strange coinage.
you ain't kiddin'! we're the only
country that doesn't put the numerical value on a coin (ie: "10¢" instead of "one dime").even i can figure out the value of 五円, but that's probably because i'm adept at ideographs ("五"="5" and "円"="¥")

...all your bills look the same (same size, same colour).I used to wonder why I got so much change until I realised, "oh sorry, I didn't realise it was a $20, I thought it was a $1"...
Look in the corners of the note.Better yet [produces a 9mm] gimmie yer wallet.>:-D

The ATMs here only give out multiples of $20, which look like...what I like to refer to as "play money"
You took the words right out of my mouth...Pink and blue can't be US$ colors.to much like Monopoly money...

---

> The ATMs here only give out multiples of $20, which look like...what I like
> to refer to as "play money"
> You took the words right out of my mouth...Pink and blue can't be US$
> colors.to much like Monopoly money...

I have now developed, what I modestly :) call my "native bird colouring theory of a country's bills". NZ has the kiwi - a flightless bird of a rather brown plumage, hence our bills tend to be somewhat restrained in colour, and certainly only one colour per bill (very similar to our birds). The US has the bald eagle, which really only has two colours (and artists argue that white is not a colour anyway, it's a hue), hence the staid nature of your bills. On the other hand, Australia has galahs and lorikeets and budgies (I have *no idea* of their native bird) and they have colour galore on their bills.

At least it's a falsifiable hypothesis. :) :) :)

Pink? Orange? Blue?

Find me that bald eagle!

---

> Pink? Orange? Blue?
>
> Find me that bald eagle!

To...
- spray it with paint to make it more colourful?
- to execute all last surviving birds in the attempt to get a better coloured bird?
- .....?

BTW the causal effect is bird --> bill, so the hypothesis is one-tailed (so as to speak in statistical terns, uh I mean terms).

:)

---

At least I didn't say you were full of guano... :-D Having lived in three countries (and no less than six currencies thanks to several corrupt Ministros de Economía), I can safely say it's not the case.

Still, there's quite a few weird notes out there.

---

>
> Although I always found the US to have very strange coinage.
>

Coinage in the US is getting stranger with all the commemorative coins coming out over the past few years such as the 50 state quarter set and Lewis & Clark nickel set which are all general circulation coinage.

Then there is the dollar coin attempts. The "Carter Quarters" from 1979-1981 are still floating around and are easily confused with a regular quarter. The latest attempt in 2000 was the Sacagawea coin. At least it was gold in color but they still can confuse people that have difficulty seeing and aren't paying close attention.

---

To truly explore, one must keep an open mind...

That's all that the automated ticket vending machines spit out. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to have $17.25 in change in your pocket? F'ing MTA a'holes...

I like the golden dollar over the silver dollar, but Sacajawea? What was wrong with Susan B. Anthony?

.o0(Actually, I do have a "conspiracy" theory behind it, but it's incredibly stupid)

---

> At least I didn't say you were full of guano... :-D Having lived in three
> countries (and no less than six currencies thanks to several corrupt Ministros
> de Economía), I can safely say it's not the case.

To continue complete off-topic multi-threads, which countries?

> Still, there's quite a few <a> href="http://www.banknotes.com/US-ST-NY.JPG">weird[/url] <a> href="http://www.banknotes.com/AQ1.JPG">notes[/url] out there.

Continue with your conspiracy theories, I do not have the "access" to be allowed to see these pages, I get automatically redirected to the homepage.

Now that's got me curious

BTW what was your golden dollar/silver dollar conspiracy? Like a lot of the others aren't incredibly stupid (the British royal family are alien reptiles in disguise, a government that can't keep photographs of soldiers abusing prisoners is capable of hiding all evidence that aliens have landed for 40 or so years....) :)

Sorry 'bout the dead links - They worked on my machine... dunno why not on yours. :-(

Anyway... the "reason" why it's Sacajawea on the piece of gold is because she "surrendered her identity as a Native to [the conquering] Lewis and Clark" whereas Susan B. Athony fought for the right to take part in society as equals. In essence: ``Submissives=Good, Activists=Bad, ergo, don't fight the System, and therefore, it's Sacajawea.``

It was stupid when I heard it, and it still is just as stupid now.

.o0(...or is it?)

---

> That's all that the <a> href="http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/lirr/pubs/tmimages/tvmgray.jpg">automated
> ticket vending[/url] machines spit out. Do you have any idea how annoying it is
> to have $17.25 in change in your pocket? F'ing MTA a'holes...
>

I really believe that is to force you to buy a more expensive pass so they have the money up front to waste instead of waiting for it to trickle in by ride.

Don't get me started on transit subjects. I moderate a transit forum and I'm always jumping on my local system about how they screw things up and drive people away from the system instead of toward it.


> I like the golden dollar over the silver dollar, but Sacajawea? What
> was wrong with Susan B. Anthony?
>

They could put Frankenstein on the coin, it wouldn't matter much to me as long as I could spend it and didn't confuse it with other coins.

---

To truly explore, one must keep an open mind...

I really believe that is to force you to buy a more expensive pass [snip!]
This is the MTA we're talking about - Mismanaging and Thieving )

They could put Frankenstein on the coin, it wouldn't matter much to me as long as I could spend it and didn't confuse it with other coins.
LOL! :-D

---

> > That's all that the <a>
> href="http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/lirr/pubs/tmimages/tvmgray.jpg">automated
> > ticket vending[/url] machines spit out. Do you have any idea how annoying
> it is
> > to have $17.25 in change in your pocket? F'ing MTA a'holes...
>
> I really believe that is to force you to buy a more expensive pass so they
> have the money up front to waste instead of waiting for it to trickle in by
> ride.
>
> Don't get me started on transit subjects. I moderate a transit forum and I'm
> always jumping on my local system about how they screw things up and drive
> people away from the system instead of toward it.

It's because you guys have an "advanced" mass transit system. Here is the local (for me) one:
http://www.tranzmetro.co.nz/

The reason they have introduced a text msg system is that the trains can be delayed quite a bit: signal failure, hot weather (they welded all the tracks together, didn't allow for heat expansion of the metal), points failure... so it's the way to find out - once you've left work to catch your train - that the train isn't going..... because it's not even at the platform.

> They could put Frankenstein on the coin, it wouldn't matter much to me as long
> as I could spend it and didn't confuse it with other coins.

Hmm.. scary money.... I wonder if that could be one way of trying to limit down the consumer society... must send a letter to our Finance Minister about this immediately...
Although we have a Mäori warrior on our 20c piece:
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/currency/Money/0160568.html

sorry for the non-html formatting of the links, but I have *no idea* how to do html tags. VBA, SAS and BASIC is as good as it gets for me.