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Old 9th May 2012, 03:11 PM   #1
FreshHat
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WTC Towers & Naked Ladies On New CDN $20?

Of course not!

Just try convincing the loonies (pardon the pun) who are envisioning such nonsense that they are not there:

Naked Women, Twin Towers Seen In New Canadian $20 Bill
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Old 9th May 2012, 03:34 PM   #2
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Hopefully one of the naked women isn't the queen. As soon as I glimpsed the memorial I recognised Vimy, of course I've stood on parade at that monument. One of the most moving experiences in my career.
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Old 9th May 2012, 04:11 PM   #3
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All I can say is that canadain woman are obviously rather strangely shaped.
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Old 9th May 2012, 04:15 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by FreshHat View Post
Of course not!

Just try convincing the loonies (pardon the pun) who are envisioning such nonsense that they are not there:

Naked Women, Twin Towers Seen In New Canadian $20 Bill
Where's the loonies? Where's the nonsense?

Pareidolia is a real thing. The human brain naturally finds patterns, and sees things that look like other things.

The people in the focus group who reported seeing the patterns in question probably know very well that the things aren't really there, but once you've seen the resemblance, it's hard to unsee it.

I think that for things that are going to be highly visible or highly circulated, focus groups like this are probably a good idea, so you can find out ahead of time what unfortunate associations your naive designs might create.
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Old 9th May 2012, 04:19 PM   #5
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Wait until the conspiracy geeks find out a lap dance also costs $20.
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Old 9th May 2012, 07:59 PM   #6
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This reminds me of when they came out with a new design for the $5 back in high school, and people complained they had drawn the Parliament buildings flying the US flag. They couldn't recognize the Red Ensign, which was the historically correct flag for the era of the Parliament buildings that were depicted.
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Old 9th May 2012, 08:06 PM   #7
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Hey, why is this $20 all stuck together and .... EWWWW!
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Old 9th May 2012, 08:38 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by Horatius View Post
This reminds me of when they came out with a new design for the $5 back in high school, and people complained they had drawn the Parliament buildings flying the US flag. They couldn't recognize the Red Ensign, which was the historically correct flag for the era of the Parliament buildings that were depicted.

*checks link*

How the hell did anyone mistake that for the US flag? A Union Jack fills up the entire top-left quadrant (not a single star to be seen), with the remainder being a solid background bearing a depiction of an escutcheon.

*looks for image of note*

But to be fair, the flag is depicted so small as to be barely visible. (At least in this image.)
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Old 9th May 2012, 09:34 PM   #9
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People see what they want to see. Any two upright structures become the world trade center.
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Old 9th May 2012, 09:54 PM   #10
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Unfortunately, we Canadian are notoriously bad at our own history. We generally beat the Americans when it comes to geography, but we suck at history.
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Old 10th May 2012, 05:31 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by Brian-M View Post
*checks link*

How the hell did anyone mistake that for the US flag? A Union Jack fills up the entire top-left quadrant (not a single star to be seen), with the remainder being a solid background bearing a depiction of an escutcheon.

*looks for image of note*

But to be fair, the flag is depicted so small as to be barely visible. (At least in this image.)


Yeah, they saw the distinct corner bit, and assumes it was the Stars part of the US flag. They didn't have any idea that Canada had ever used a flag with a similar arrangement.
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Old 10th May 2012, 05:53 AM   #12
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It isn't pareidolia. The pic on the bill is of the Vimy monument in France, which actually has a topless lady liberty? I think, holding up a torch, which could be a sex toy if you are really that kinky.

ETA: The Vimy monument is a tribute to fallen Canadien soldiers, hence the appearence on the bill.

ETAA: Fitter already recognized the monument in question, I didn't notice it until now.

Last edited by Careyp74; 10th May 2012 at 05:56 AM.
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Old 10th May 2012, 06:23 AM   #13
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Originally Posted by theprestige View Post
Where's the loonies? Where's the nonsense?

Pareidolia is a real thing. The human brain naturally finds patterns, and sees things that look like other things.

The people in the focus group who reported seeing the patterns in question probably know very well that the things aren't really there, but once you've seen the resemblance, it's hard to unsee it.

I think that for things that are going to be highly visible or highly circulated, focus groups like this are probably a good idea, so you can find out ahead of time what unfortunate associations your naive designs might create.
No - there actually is a semi-naked woman on the monument. That isn't pareidolia.
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Old 10th May 2012, 07:01 AM   #14
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Originally Posted by Fitter View Post
Hopefully one of the naked women isn't the queen. As soon as I glimpsed the memorial I recognised Vimy, of course I've stood on parade at that monument. One of the most moving experiences in my career.
It's sad the Canadians in the focus group were unfamiliar with the monument. The bill's controversy will likely educate a lot of people. I wonder if the focus group participants were embarrassed when told of their mistake?
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Old 10th May 2012, 07:02 AM   #15
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Originally Posted by sophia8 View Post
No - there actually is a semi-naked woman on the monument. That isn't pareidolia.
It is a French monument, after all.
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Old 10th May 2012, 07:12 AM   #16
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Originally Posted by Andrew Wiggin View Post
People see what they want to see. Any two upright structures become the world trade center.
"Want"? I think they identified it by seeing what they 'knew' rather than what it 'was' which is how we know the brain works.

If you see something in the distance that isn't clear, say a rock, your brain will literally see an image of something you recognize, say a person. It's not that you mistakenly misread the image, your brain actually changes the image into what it expects it is seeing. Then when the rock comes into focus and you see it's a rock, the image in your mind will be a rock and you won't likely be able to recreate the illusion. You might be able to see how you made the mistake but the image you saw literally changed.

There are easier ways to demonstrate this phenomena. The light coming in our eyes actually hits the retina as an upside down image of the world. The brain flips the image so we see it right side up. You can put glasses on people that flip the image back to the literal image. After a period of time (a couple days I believe) people's brains flipped the flipped image and people saw the world right side up through the glasses and upside down without them.

That sneaky little brain has a mind of its own.
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Old 10th May 2012, 07:16 AM   #17
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Originally Posted by Battman View Post
Unfortunately, we Canadian are notoriously bad at our own history. We generally beat the Americans when it comes to geography, but we suck at history.
Curious, do you use American textbooks in your grade schools? Our history books are notoriously Americentric.
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Old 10th May 2012, 07:21 AM   #18
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There are some images of the monument and a slightly different discussion here.

There's a difference in that they report people saying the image reminds them of the WTC, not that they thought it was the WTC.
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Old 10th May 2012, 07:54 AM   #19
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Originally Posted by Horatius View Post
They couldn't recognize the Red Ensign, which was the historically correct flag for the era of the Parliament buildings that were depicted.
The Red Ensign? Isn't that the character that dies whenever the crew beams down to a new planet?
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Old 10th May 2012, 11:59 AM   #20
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Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger View Post
Curious, do you use American textbooks in your grade schools? Our history books are notoriously Americentric.
It's largely the influence of the American motion picture industry. Canadians are taught from an early age that our history is dull and unimportant. The enslavement of Africans brought to the New World (largely in the Maritimes) wasn't even mentioned in grade school when I attended and that's just one example.

I lived in the US for one year of my grade school career and my teacher there was better than all but one of those I had in Canada in all the other years combined.
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Old 10th May 2012, 12:18 PM   #21
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Originally Posted by theprestige View Post
Where's the loonies? Where's the nonsense?
Where's the design sense? It just looks bad.

CTists have already pointed out that the monument was built by Freemasons.
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Old 10th May 2012, 02:54 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger View Post
It is a French monument, after all.
That ain't a bikini she's wearing. It's hair.

Seriously, I got a look at the new 100s and the new 50s. I like them, mostly. I was a bit surprised that the 50 no longer reminds me that women are persons, so maybe that law got changed recently. Instead of reminding me about female personhood, there is a picture on the back of the 50 of a boat. There are no naked women on deck, or even women in swimsuits. I checked.

The current issue of the 20 features on its reverse a sculpture with some naked figurines on it (the sculpture residing in the Museum of Civilization across the river from Parliament), and on the obverse, the Queen herself is smiling at a doorway that is obviously intended to represent the female genitalia. (The word "Queen," after all, is related to "gyne"; which as anyone familiar with the term "gynecologist" will understand, describes a certain region of the royal person, rather than the royal person as a whole.)

Yes, Canada indeed has some kinky currency, eh.
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Old 11th May 2012, 07:35 PM   #23
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Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger View Post
Curious, do you use American textbooks in your grade schools? Our history books are notoriously Americentric.
No, we had Canadian text books, but our own history wasn't really taught much past grade school. That's when I was in grade school many, many years ago. When I was in high school, history was an optional course. I think Americans tend to take a lot more pride in their history than we do. I had a teacher when I was in high school who took American history at night school. Dunno, we seem to ignore our own for some reason. It was so bad at one point that some kids thought that Sir John A. MacDonald sold hamburgers.
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Old 11th May 2012, 09:50 PM   #24
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You people are disturbed. All I see a perfectly normal picture of penises.
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Old 12th May 2012, 07:42 AM   #25
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Originally Posted by JeanFromBNA View Post
Where's the design sense? It just looks bad.
Yeah, that's what struck me about it. It looks like a grade-school collage.
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Old 12th May 2012, 04:40 PM   #26
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I visited Vimy Ridge a few years ago and it is a wonderful monument to our war dead.

The monument was designed by a Canadian, long before 9/11. The monument is not French, it is Canadian, on Canadian land.

Those that consider it pornographic are the type that will complain about anything and everything.

Here is a pic I took of the top of the monument. If you are offended, get a life.
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Old 12th May 2012, 04:43 PM   #27
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Originally Posted by Tsukasa Buddha View Post
You people are disturbed. All I see a perfectly normal picture of penises.
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Old 12th May 2012, 04:46 PM   #28
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Originally Posted by FFed View Post
I visited Vimy Ridge a few years ago and it is a wonderful monument to our war dead.

The monument was designed by a Canadian, long before 9/11. The monument is not French, it is Canadian, on Canadian land.....
Huh?
Quote:
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is a memorial site in France
Is it on the embassy lawn or something? Or are there two of them?
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Old 12th May 2012, 05:28 PM   #29
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Originally Posted by FFed View Post
Those that consider it pornographic are the type that will complain about anything and everything.

Here is a pic I took of the top of the monument. If you are offended, get a life.
A similar story from another commonwealth nation and the same war, the ANZAC War Memorial in Sydney contains a sculpture of a naked dead soldier carried on his shield by his mother, wife and sister. It caused absolute outrage amongst Catholics (whose main cathedral in Sydney is near the memorial), so much so that 2 other sculptures were never installed. One of them was titled The Crucifix of Civilisation and was a naked female crucified on top of a pile of broken soldiers, corpses and helmets. By all accounts the Catholics were apoplectic at this, and used their influence to prevent them ever being installed.

How these people spend all their time walking around looking at "pornography" when they're at a war memorial (or anywhere else for that matter) baffles me. Some of these monuments are incredibly powerful reminders of what is wrong with war, and all such people can complain about is the naked women.

Get a life, indeed.
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Old 13th May 2012, 10:09 PM   #30
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Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger View Post
Huh? Is it on the embassy lawn or something? Or are there two of them?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadia..._Vimy_Memorial
Look here in section 2.1
It's explained perfectly

OOPS, i see you already found it.

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Old 14th May 2012, 12:00 PM   #31
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Originally Posted by Skeptic Ginger View Post
Huh? Is it on the embassy lawn or something? Or are there two of them?
Here's the text of the treaty ceding the land to Canada:

http://www.treaty-accord.gc.ca/text-...aspx?id=102661

Quote:
The French Government grants, freely and for all time, to the Government of Canada the free use of a parcel of 100 hectares located on Vimy Ridge in the Department of Pas-de-Calais, the boundaries of which are indicated on the plan annexed to this Agreement.
This is how it's technically done since the constitution of the French Republic forbids actual cession of land rights to a foreign government:

Quote:
2. The provisions of the Accord or Agreement between the French and Canadian Governments covering the gift to Canada of land on Vimy Ridge are substantially the same as those dealing with the gift of land by the French Government for British Military Cemeteries; that is to say, the land is to be acquired by the French Government at the cost of the French nation, and held in perpetuity by it for use by the Canadian Government for a specific purpose, namely the erection of a monument and the creation of a park.
So you might say that technically the land was not ceded. However, the case of an embassy is only slightly different in that the land still belongs to the host country (unlike at the Vimy Memorial) but the jurisdiction of that nation is not applicable within the property boundaries.

If I didn't know any better I'd think you were quibbling about the distinctions. So I'll answer your question honestly: there is only one Vimy Memorial and it is not on the embassy lawn.
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Old 14th May 2012, 12:09 PM   #32
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The motherland keeps doing weird things while I'm away. Stephen Harper? Really? Naked ladies on money? Well that I'm alright with but it is kind of weird. NICKELBACK?

Don't make me come up there.
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Old 14th May 2012, 12:50 PM   #33
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Strange.... people keep saying the new $20 bill has pictures of the Twin Towers and naked ladies, but when I look at the bills all I see is a message that says "This is your god".


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA-_SSO_hhI
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Men shop for lingerie the way kids shop for breakfast cereal... they will buy something they know nothing about, just to get the prize inside. - Jeff Foxworthy

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