Britannia on 50p coins

Concern over Britannia's removal

The removal of Britannia, the female personification of Britain, from the 50p coins has prompted a handful of MPs to ask the government to intervene.

Link to full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7215104.stm

Japanese teen arrested for stealing virtual money to pay for virtual dress

A Japanese teenager was recently arrested by the Tokyo Police for stealing the virtual equivalent of 36 million yen (roughly $340,000 USD) from Korean MMO publishing giant Nexon, according to a story at Kotaku.

When confronted by authorities, the 16-year-old confessed, saying, "I originally wanted the dress worn by the princess, but I just ended up racking up a bunch of game points."

Full story: http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/01/japanese-teen-s.html

The Afghan village that uses opium as its currency

Paper money has all but disappeared from the village of Shahran-e-Khash. Instead the common currency is the one resource Afghanistan has no shortage of - opium.

At the market in this remote north-eastern corner of Afghanistan, five litres of engine oil - worth around £5 - can be bought for 100g of opium. Two bottles of Coca-Cola will set you back 18g. Even the children use opium to buy goods.

People here are so poor they frequently don't have the money to buy basic household goods. Instead, they use the poppies they grow in the surrounding fields to purchase what they need.

If the poppy is not in season the shopkeeper will keep a record in a ledger of the items people have taken and the debts are paid off after the harvest. When he finally has the drug, he sells it to a third party who comes from outside the area. The money he makes from this transaction is then used to replenish his stock.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-afghan-village-that-uses-opium-as-its-currency-447351.html

Photoshopping Bills Over Celebrity's Head

Currently there is a trend of taking a folded paper money and overlapping it onto a picture of someone. The results are quite fun to look at. Here's a fun little site that is holding a contest in which a person photoshops parts of a paper currency over a photo of a celebrity. I thought I would share it with every because I had a fun time looking over the very neat pictures.

http://www.freakingnews.com/Money-Celebrities-Pictures---1773.asp

Virtual Run on the Banks

In the online game Second Life, a shutdown of the make-believe banking system is causing real-life havoc for thousands of people.

Yesterday, Linden Lab, the San Francisco company behind the online role-playing game Second Life, pulled the plug on about a dozen pretend financial institutions that were funded with actual money from some of the game's 12 million registered users. Linden Lab said the move was triggered by complaints that some of the virtual banks had reneged on promises to pay high returns on customer deposits.

Currently, none of the ATMs in Second Life will allow players to withdraw any Linden dollars, which means the money can't be exchanged back into real dollars and likely is gone. Linden officials won't say how much money has been lost.

From now on, "proof of an applicable government registration statement or financial institution charter" will be required of anyone collecting deposits in Second Life, according to Linden. The company insists it "isn't, and can't start acting as, a banking regulator."

"If this is real money, there is an argument that you need to follow real law," says Benjamin Duranske, a lawyer who runs the Second Life Bar Association and is writing a book on virtual law.

For more details, see full WSJ article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120104351064608025.html
An LA Times article: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-secondlife22jan22,1,5958139.story?coll=la-headlines-business

Did You Know... Money isn't always just money

from the Orange County Register
Welcome to an occasional feature explaining science in Orange County. Science editor Gary Robbins introduces UC Irvine anthropologist Bill Maurer, who explains how money can have religious and cultural meaning. (Follow the links to the slide show)