Court Rules That Paper Money Discriminates Against the Blind

Terralthra · Post by **Terralthra** » 2008-05-21 03:18pm

havokeff wrote:
Terralthra wrote:
havokeff wrote:This is awesome. Most of the time its... "Why does the U.S. force everything on the rest of the world!" now... rest of the world.. "Conform with us damn you!"

Seriously. Most Americans don't like the way other countries monies look. We think that it looks like Monopoly money. I couldn't even count how many complaints I've heard since we started making the slight changes to our money. For whatever reason we seem to like the very old stoic look of our Presidents and their very serious bills. It's like we think adding color will demean them or something.

Personally, I don't give a shit what it looks like as long as I have some and I can spend it.
Well, there's a simple solution for that. Continue with the very serious money, but change the format around so it's a full-body image of the various presidents. The $1 (Washington) would be an average height and width, the $5 (Lincoln) would be taller and thinner, the $10 could have Taft on it and be below average height and very wide...maybe the $20 could be FDR and be only as tall as the wheelchair.
Why though? Why the need for different sized bills? I don't really see the advantage other than just being too lazy to look in your wallet?

Didn't we just cover that the cause of this ruling is that some people can't see?

Erik von Nein · Post by **Erik von Nein** » 2008-05-21 03:20pm

Um, for the blind/visually impaired? Have you read this topic at all?

The Vortex Empire · Post by **The Vortex Empire** » 2008-05-21 03:24pm

havokeff wrote:
Terralthra wrote:
havokeff wrote:This is awesome. Most of the time its... "Why does the U.S. force everything on the rest of the world!" now... rest of the world.. "Conform with us damn you!"

Seriously. Most Americans don't like the way other countries monies look. We think that it looks like Monopoly money. I couldn't even count how many complaints I've heard since we started making the slight changes to our money. For whatever reason we seem to like the very old stoic look of our Presidents and their very serious bills. It's like we think adding color will demean them or something.

Personally, I don't give a shit what it looks like as long as I have some and I can spend it.
Well, there's a simple solution for that. Continue with the very serious money, but change the format around so it's a full-body image of the various presidents. The $1 (Washington) would be an average height and width, the $5 (Lincoln) would be taller and thinner, the $10 could have Taft on it and be below average height and very wide...maybe the $20 could be FDR and be only as tall as the wheelchair.
Why though? Why the need for different sized bills? I don't really see the advantage other than just being too lazy to look in your wallet?

Topic Title: Court Rules That Paper Money Discriminates Against the Blind

Some people can't see.

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2008-05-21 03:35pm

Terralthra
Erik von Nein
The Vortex Empire
Yes and the dot system works fine for that. As has also been pointed out.

Erik von Nein · Post by **Erik von Nein** » 2008-05-21 03:36pm

But that wasn't the point you made. You just said that people were being too lazy to look in their wallet (not sure how that would be any different with different sized bills, but okay). Be clearer next time.

Terralthra · Post by **Terralthra** » 2008-05-21 04:27pm

havokeff wrote:Terralthra
Erik von Nein
The Vortex Empire
Yes and the dot system works fine for that. As has also been pointed out.

Do you have any reason why the dot system + identically sized bills is superior to different sizes of bills and no dots? Even further, what's the downside of doing both?

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2008-05-21 04:33pm

Darth Wong wrote:Why don't Americans look at other countries to see what works, instead of asking questions into a void as if no one has ever tried these things before?

Because no problem has been so much as conceptualized, until Americans become interested in it?

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2008-05-21 05:04pm

Terralthra wrote:
havokeff wrote:Terralthra
Erik von Nein
The Vortex Empire
Yes and the dot system works fine for that. As has also been pointed out.
Do you have any reason why the dot system + identically sized bills is superior to different sizes of bills and no dots? Even further, what's the downside of doing both?

Nope and no downside, but why spend the money on both when one works fine.

Actually what Zod(?) mentioned would probably be the best way to solve the problem. Raised dots that are manufactured in the security strips. The strips themselves already have a specific placement in each bill, so not only would you have the different dot amounts you would have the placement to check as well. This would also help with counterfeiting as it would eliminate the bleaching method, at least for people that pay attention. So with one rather simple change, you create two ways of identifying bill denominations without sight and you don't have to change the size or colors.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2008-05-21 05:10pm

havokeff wrote: Nope and no downside, but why spend the money on both when one works fine.

That's probably the single stupidest reason against it. No matter what method you choose you have to redesign the plates that print the money once. Change them according to the size/dot method and you still only change the plates once. Trying to say you're spending money on both the size and dots is either being disingenuous or speaking from ignorance.

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2008-05-21 05:58pm

General Zod wrote:
havokeff wrote: Nope and no downside, but why spend the money on both when one works fine.
That's probably the single stupidest reason against it. No matter what method you choose you have to redesign the plates that print the money once. Change them according to the size/dot method and you still only change the plates once. Trying to say you're spending money on both the size and dots is either being disingenuous or speaking from ignorance.

How does a security strip change which is inserted into the paper, require a plate change?

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2008-05-21 06:06pm

havokeff wrote:
General Zod wrote:
havokeff wrote: Nope and no downside, but why spend the money on both when one works fine.
That's probably the single stupidest reason against it. No matter what method you choose you have to redesign the plates that print the money once. Change them according to the size/dot method and you still only change the plates once. Trying to say you're spending money on both the size and dots is either being disingenuous or speaking from ignorance.
How does a security strip change which is inserted into the paper, require a plate change?

That's only one possible option, and I'm not sure even sure how viable my original idea would be. But its been proven that braille on money takes a minimal amount of cost to put in place, and you'd have to change the plates if you're printing out braille on the bills one way or the other, so change it to accommodate size as well and you're knocking out two birds with one stone.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2008-05-22 02:47am

Dahak wrote:I found them to look like a bad joke. Felt almost like Monopoly money.

You hit the nail on the head. It looks so damn cheap that I couldn't believe I was holding real currency

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2008-05-22 03:20am

wautd wrote:
Dahak wrote:I found them to look like a bad joke. Felt almost like Monopoly money.
You hit the nail on the head. It looks so damn cheap that I couldn't believe I was holding real currency

Once you started spending it, you would be fine.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2008-05-22 03:29am

*shrug* I think it's personal taste. I liked the look and proportions of the notes, the way it's less square than euros and wider instead and the greenish subdued look appealed to me. Still I think differently sized money and more variations of color (you could still keep it mainly greenish even so) would be a real step forward, even bigger would be skipping paper and getting money that lasts alot longer and adding embossing and such.

And hey if you don't fix your notes you might be get coins instead *shudder*

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2008-05-22 06:03am

Er, they are making color variations now. Not like the bright colors elsewhere, but it is easier to tell them apart at a glance now (especially that new $5):

For some reason, though, the $100 hasn't had any changes since 1996. It's due for a new version with changes in line with the other bills later this year, though. Now they just need to change the $1 bill, as it's looked exactly the same since my mom was five.

Lusankya · Post by **Lusankya** » 2008-05-22 08:54pm

Executor32 wrote:Er, they are making color variations now. Not like the bright colors elsewhere, but it is easier to tell them apart at a glance now (especially that new $5):

For some reason, though, the $100 hasn't had any changes since 1996. It's due for a new version with changes in line with the other bills later this year, though. Now they just need to change the $1 bill, as it's looked exactly the same since my mom was five.

You call those colour variations? So you can have any colour you want, as long as it's green? Maybe it's more noticeable in real life, but except for the numbers, they all look kinda... sameish.

Phantasee · Post by **Phantasee** » 2008-05-23 12:57am

They look like they got washed with the tiedye shirts...

And I think it's hilarious that Europeans are calling US money "Monopoly Money" when that's the exact phrase they've used for Canadian currency for years.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2008-05-23 02:12am

The greenish colorsheme I like, but the colors need to be less subdued and washed out.

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2008-05-23 02:50am

It's definitely a lot more noticeable IRL. The $5, for example, IRL looks almost fully pink in the middle, rather than the washed-out look it has in my tiny pic.

Resinence · Post by **Resinence** » 2008-05-23 03:49am

Executor32 wrote:It's definitely a lot more noticeable IRL. The $5, for example, IRL looks almost fully pink in the middle, rather than the washed-out look it has in my tiny pic.

Just so you know, this is what AU money looks like, and what Lus is probably comparing that image to when it comes to "variation in colour".

Big Difference.