The War on Error

Canada minted a quarter with a poppy coloured red as a token of remembrance of its war dead. The thought was nice. Although there was a coating to slow the loss of the red colour on the coin, the red rubbed off relatively quickly. I have to admit I thought it was a bit cool but probably more money than it was worth.

BUT, visiting members of the US military and some of the their contractors thought the coins were suspicious and reported back that they looked like some sort of nanotechnology and might be tracking or listening devices. Never mind that perhaps if a spy was trying to track or listen to someone using coins they might PERHAPS NOT COLOUR IT BRIGHT RED TO AROUSE SUSPICION. I suppose that says something about paranoia and perhaps the pervasiveness of US espionage (I have a US quarter that's all one colour - might it be a tracking device?).

But really. Either they think we're significantly stupid (red on a coin means listening device, blue means tracking device - it makes it easier when we're planting them on Yanks) or they are significantly stupid. Guess which one I'm thinking?