Re: Does 'Canadians live in Canada' imply that all Canadians live in Canada?

On Mon, 5 Jun 2006 08:04:50 +0000 (UTC),
ijdavis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Ian Davis) wrote:

In article <0sc7825qdcorfe95sqvm0icc33s383d7f3@xxxxxxx>,
Tony Cooper <tony_cooper213@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mon, 5 Jun 2006 04:04:30 +0000 (UTC),
ijdavis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Ian Davis) wrote:

I'd happily say that Canadians think
that our health care system is superior to the American model, and
have difficulty
using US paper money, because all the denominations are the same color.


This is not as difficult a trick to master as you Canadians might
think. All of our paper money has numbers in the corner and we
quickly catch on that 5 is a larger number than 1, and 10 is an even
larger number. And so on.


The problem that I encountered in a Chicago kiosk at the Chicago train
station was that someone took a 20 dollar bill and then claimed that
I'd only given them a 5. Obviously my accent (its English despite
having lived so long in Canada) made me a mark. It is not I who
have to see the numbers on the corners on the bills. It is those
who might in seeing the cash handed over, have supported my assertion
that it was this color and not that, had a 20 dollar bill have been
a different color from a 5 dollar bill. The bottom line was that I
was out 15 dollars because you Americans (or at least the ones who
approve the current arrangement) think the world would be a lot
better if where possible we made everyone equally color blind.

I don't think you arrived at the correct bottom line. Your experience
was the result of (a) a confidence trickster intent on defrauding you,
or (b) an honest mistake by the kiosk attendant. In either case, the
color of the notes would not have made a difference. A person intent
on defrauding you can switch notes, and I'm sure honest mistakes are
made in Canada with your colored notes.

I've traveled quite a bit and never felt that color would assist me in
determining the value of a note in a foreign country.


I'm quite sure any Canadian could figure this out within a matter of a
few hours training. We get quite a few Canadian tourists down here,
and they all seem trainable. The Newfies are a bit slower, but they
seem willing to learn.

The trouble is we've figured out that we are ahead of you (or those of
you who think your ahead of us) on this one. Having different
denominations clearly identified by different colors doesn't mean
that you've traded real money for play money.. what it means is that
you've traded money the visually impaired can't see, for money which
the visually impaired can still see. If having all the bills the
same color is such a great idea, how come the idea's never caught
on in the rest of the world.

You do have a good health care scheme. It seems almost a shame to be
healthy in Canada with the availability of low cost medications.

Most people live long enough to value the not worrying about how much
health care is going to cost at some point. There was a time when I
rather worried that perhaps something which was free would be open to
abuse. But I've come to see that those who might be labelled as
abusing the system by seeing doctors when perhaps in the US they'd
reason they couldn't justify the cost, probably save the system money
by being managed before the crisis arise rather than after the crisis
arise.

I like your flag, too.

I once invented a sort algorithm. Got it published in the British
Computer Journal. I called it (accurately if not imaginatively)
"A fast radix sort". I later found that someone else had come up
with a very similar sort and called it "The American Flag sort".
Never seemed the right sort of name to me for a sort algorithm.
If I was going to better describe it I'd have called it "The
clock patience sort algorithm", but I've not meet many this side
of the pond who know clock patience.

Ian

--


Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Does Canadians live in Canada imply that all Canadians live in Canada?
    ... All of our paper money has numbers in the corner and we ... that it was this color and not that, had a 20 dollar bill have been ... I once invented a sort algorithm. ... with a very similar sort and called it "The American Flag sort". ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Freeloader at work
    ... Since then he's had a bunch of excuses but no money. ... Since then he's been at work doing even less than nothing since he can't use his left arm until he sees a specialist. ... as an employer what are the options when an employee pulls this sort of stunt? ... Your lawyer will know how you should handle this sort of effort to best effect while minimizing pitfalls. ...
    (rec.crafts.metalworking)
  • Re: Email scams: its different when its personal [Telecom]
    ... because I have to admit that our banking system is a creaking ... Us old folk remember when to get money out of your bank you ... today's technology allows scams like this to take place to the extent ... prevent that sort of thing. ...
    (comp.dcom.telecom)
  • it will phone scarcely if Ophelias survivor isnt classic
    ... sort you! ... Many honest approachs love Ed, and they afterwards remain Saad too. ... She'd carve safely than price with Hamza's western travel. ... the sketch will shine ahead of the american ...
    (sci.crypt)
  • Re: Bird Flu and this newsgroup
    ... potential disaster, a possible pandemic that might kill millions and disrupt society - the very sort of thing many of us have worried about - almost all of the posts on this newsgroup are about politics, and racism, and general raving lunacy. ... And speculation about what might happen and plans to deal with it are being discussed elsewhere, like at CurEvents and Flu Wiki and BirdFluDefense. ... that was also a warning that the production capacity ... order to drum up more money. ...
    (misc.survivalism)
Loading