Comment On Survival Edition

I like the recursive wooden table with the letter.

is Jim Volker's photo upside down, or should i lay off the coffee machine..?

also, i struggle to think of any country other than the US that has bank notes all the same size - feel free to enlighten me!

Note to my german mate: Himbeere is raspberry not strawberry ;)

Last time I checked, bank notes weren't legal tender at all in Scotland. Most places still accept them though. But there's also several different banks printing their own notes... and they aren't accepted everywhere in England either.

Rory as a fellow Scot I am aware that many people like to think that Scottish notes are legal tender. Sadly this is not true. In Britain the notes are an accepted form of payment but are not an internationally recognised currency.
So you can use the notes in England but don't expect the currency exchange in a foreign bank to accept them.

But the Scottish banknote isn't legal tender "south of the border", or anywhere. Its a promissory note.

Scottish notes are not 'legal tender' but this has very little relevance at all. They are readily accepted around the UK, by most shops and all high street banks, and a backed by the Bank of England, in the form of million and ten million pound notes. Any Scottish bank may issue notes, but only three; Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank choose to do so.

I seem to get a 404 error in Jim Volker's image there...

"Legal tender" is a funny little thing, and has a very specific meaning - one which has nothing to do with whether you're allowed to use them as negotiable currency ;-)

TRWTF is that RBS kept printing pound notes after the Bank Of England gave it up in 1984. That's except for viewers in Scotland, where TRWTF is that the BoE stopped printing pound notes as early as 1984 ...

Straight from the source...

The spelling is "Ottawa". Love your site.

Also, at least two of the images are throwing up 404s for me.

The sticker with the heart means "I Ride Loveland" It is a response to the "I Ski (heart) Land" stickers of the past to acknowledge those on snowboards in addition to skiers.

But seriously... who has a compact flash reader these days?

Me! In fact, I have two. A lot of DSLR cameras use Compact Flash. Canon has just started using SD cards for some of their newer DSLRs, but the EOS 5D and EOS 40D (both excellent cameras, worth roughly $2000 and $1000 respectively) still use CF. I wouldn't be surprised if their replacements switch to SD, though.

Cian:

But the Scottish banknote isn't legal tender "south of the border", or anywhere. Its a promissory note.

Almost right.

Scottish notes are definitely not "legal tender", but then Bank Of England notes are not legal tender in Scotland either.

"Legal Tender" is an English legal term which means that the currency cannot be refused when used to settle a debt. Scots Law has no concept of legal tender and seems to get by fine without it.

Scottish notes are however "legal currency" as approved the UK parliament and should be accepted as payment throughout the UK.

Further Reading:
Bank Of England FAQ - Are Scottish and Northern Irish notes legal tender?
Committee of Scottish Clearing Banks - Scottish Banknotes Legal Position
Long thread about this on moneysavingexpert.com

A Nonny Mouse:

also, i struggle to think of any country other than the US that has bank notes all the same size - feel free to enlighten me!

Didn't a U.S. Appeals court just rule that same-sized bills discriminate against the blind?

http://news.google.com/news?q=different%20size%20bills

And, does telepizza deliver? (And I have to agree about Polish snacks. My local supermarket carries some.)

DShpak:

But seriously... who has a compact flash reader these days?

Me! In fact, I have two. A lot of DSLR cameras use Compact Flash. Canon has just started using SD cards for some of their newer DSLRs, but the EOS 5D and EOS 40D (both excellent cameras, worth roughly $2000 and $1000 respectively) still use CF. I wouldn't be surprised if their replacements switch to SD, though.

I also have a cf card reader. It's quite useful. my nikon d200 and d2x both use compact flash. and when I'm not coding I'm often either doing shots model, fashion, fetish, portrait, commercerial, event photo shoots. I find it it to be an indispenable piece of equipment :)

"Huh? I Heart Heartland? Heart isn't a verb, and there's no Heartla-- ooooooohhhh, I get it. I Love Loveland. That's awesome!"

On the contrary, Indiana is known as America's heartland.

Aaron:

"Huh? I Heart Heartland? Heart isn't a verb, and there's no Heartla-- ooooooohhhh, I get it. I Love Loveland. That's awesome!"

On the contrary, Indiana is known as America's Real WTF.

Fixed that for you.

Ottowa? OttAwa.

Toledo might not be one of the Top Ten Things That Suck, but it is one of the Ten Worst American Cities To Live In:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1027916/posts

As a Toledoan, I can vouch for its accuracy. The part about Cleveland is pretty funny, too (I grew up in the suburbs there).

DShpak :

...A lot of DSLR cameras use Compact Flash...

Yep, the recently released Nikon D300 and the flagship Nikon D3 both use Compact Flash. In fact the D3 takes two CF cards side-by-side.

I just want to know what the secret of Superman's twin brother is.

Even better, make it "I ♥²land"

i'd like to point out that 'maggie' is a swiss brand, not a german one as many people think.

kthxbye

Is there a website you can go to that regularly posts pictures of small random things from all over the world like this? I am unaccountably fascinated by these Souvenir Potpourri posts.

A Nonny Mouse:

also, i struggle to think of any country other than the US that has bank notes all the same size - feel free to enlighten me!

Hungarian bills are also all the same size. I can understand the problems of the blinds, but I prefer this way. Much easier to handle. I hate when I have to deal with Euro notes, all different sizes.

vambala:

Hungarian bills are also all the same size. I can understand the problems of the blinds, but I prefer this way. Much easier to handle. I hate when I have to deal with Euro notes, all different sizes.

swiss money is all the same 'height' but different length. each note is 11 millimetres longer than the next smaller one.

(11 mm are 0.043307086614173228346456692913386 inches....)

Alex - no matter how dire your situation: that issue of Perry Rhodan you received is not, I repeat, NOT for eating... :*)

np: Autechre - Foil (Amber)

Canadian notes are all the same size, although they are different colours. They also have raised bumps so blind people can distinguish them (or at least the newer ones do).

betlit:

i'd like to point out that 'maggie' is a swiss brand, not a german one as many people think.

I think you might want to rethink your spelling of "Maggi"...

np: Autechre - Montreal (Amber)

Leak:

betlit:

i'd like to point out that 'maggie' is a swiss brand, not a german one as many people think.

I think you might want to rethink your spelling of "Maggi"...

np: Autechre - Montreal (Amber)

duh! :) is simpsons running on tv already? *checking*

Anonymous Cow-herd:

Also, at least two of the images are throwing up 404s for me.

TRWTF is that it's not even the right error, which would obviously be Error 414.

When will this madness end?

11 mm = 0.43307086614173228346456692913386 inches...

for the SI-challenged as well as the math-challenged.

Kiss me I'm Polish:

I like the recursive wooden table with the letter.

You could say it's a photo of a printout of a photo of a letter on a table on a table.

I had to do some binary maths to get that sentence correct.

photo of

   (a printout of 

      (a photo of

         (a letter on a table)

      )

   )

on a table

...I think that's right...

Still trying to decide which of my junk/souvenirs TDWTF might actually want to receive....

Squiggle:

Kiss me I'm Polish:

I like the recursive wooden table with the letter.

You could say it's a photo of a printout of a photo of a letter on a table on a table.

I had to do some binary maths to get that sentence correct.

photo of

   (a printout of 

      (a photo of

         (a letter on a table)

      )

   )

on a table

...I think that's right...

We'll have no more of that lisp-derivative nonsense on this site, sirrah!

(Note to Alex and Jake -- I'd really appreciate a lisp Code SOD, if at all possible.)

Anyway, that's not tail-recursive. So it's obviously stupid.

Squiggle:

Kiss me I'm Polish:

I like the recursive wooden table with the letter.

You could say it's a photo of a printout of a photo of a letter on a table on a table.

I had to do some binary maths to get that sentence correct.

photo of

   (a printout of 

      (a photo of

         (a letter on a table)

      )

   )

on a table

...I think that's right...

LISP?

drex_ej:

I just want to know what the secret of Superman's twin brother is.

It was The Parasite pretending to be Superman's long lost brother, Kor-El.

Justice:

Aaron:

"Huh? I Heart Heartland? Heart isn't a verb, and there's no Heartla-- ooooooohhhh, I get it. I Love Loveland. That's awesome!"

On the contrary, Indiana is known as America's Real WTF.

Fixed that for you.

ITYM

s/Indiana/Louisiana/

Publius:

Even better, make it "I ♥²land"

"I heart squareland"?

Considering that Alex has been receiving these souveneers for quite a while, can you imaging the piles of stuff all around his office? Must be an awesome place to work!

Okay, clearly my knowledge of UK legal monetary terms is somewhat lacking, but then I'm a software developer not a legal expert!

The point I was trying to make was that many people outside Scotland will not accept the £1 notes. Obviously this is because the people in question aren't aware of their existence and often don't believe they are Sterling currency, not because they can't be legally accepted. I also have a hard time getting Bank of Ulster Sterling notes accepted here in Scotland.

Thank you all for enlightening me.

GrahamS:

"Legal Tender" is an English legal term which means that the currency cannot be refused when used to settle a debt. Scots Law has no concept of legal tender and seems to get by fine without it.

Scot's law DOES have a concept of legal tender, but due to laws passed years ago, only currency worth less than £5 exclusive is 'legal tender'. A council attempted to force someone to pay them in 'legal tender' a while back, but this was overruled, as notes were deemed to be money in common use, so acceptable.

Ken B:

Aaron:

Indiana is known as America's Real WTF.

s/Indiana/Louisiana/

Well, Louisiana did give us Britney Spears...

Ken B:

And, does telepizza deliver?

Of course. They're quite popular in Portugal, at least:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepizza

saepius:

LISP?

Thankth, but no thankth.

Didn't a U.S. Appeals court just rule that same-sized bills discriminate against the blind?

yes.

nitpicker:

11 mm = 0.43307086614173228346456692913386 inches...

for the SI-challenged as well as the math-challenged.

What is that, some kind of "decimal"? That's not going to be much use to the metrically-challenged, is it. Seven sixteenths of an inch is what you want.

TheGermanMate:

Note to my german mate: Himbeere is raspberry not strawberry ;)

nitpicker ;-)

Squiggle:

Kiss me I'm Polish:

I like the recursive wooden table with the letter.

You could say it's a photo of a printout of a photo of a letter on a table on a table.

I had to do some binary maths to get that sentence correct.

photo of

   (a printout of 

      (a photo of

         (a letter on a table)

      )

   )

on a table

...I think that's right...

actually it's a photographed printout of a scan imported into an Open Office document of a handwritten letter.