Canada's poppy quarters caused sensational warnings of 'spy coins' in U.S.

[ghostsofgiants]

This is almost as good as the Aqua Teen Hunger Force bomb scare.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/070507/world/us_cda_spy_coins

Canadian quarter with a bright red flower was the culprit behind a false espionage warning from the U.S. Defense Department about mysterious coins with radio frequency transmitters, The Associated Press has learned.

The harmless "poppy quarter" was so unfamiliar to suspicious U.S. army contractors travelling in Canada that they filed confidential espionage accounts about them. The worried contractors described the coins as "filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology," according to once-classified U.S. government reports and e-mails obtained by the AP.

The silver-coloured 25-cent piece features the red image of a poppy, Canada's flower of remembrance, inlaid over a maple leaf. The unorthodox quarter is identical to the coins pictured and described as suspicious in the contractors' accounts.

The supposed nano-technology on the coin actually was a protective coating the Royal Canadian Mint applied to prevent the poppy's red colour from rubbing off. The mint produced nearly 30 million such quarters in 2004 commemorating Canada's 117,000 war dead.

[asthmaticeog]

1. I'm pretty suspicious of "Kraft Dinner."

I mean what the fuck? Just what the fucking fuck?

[ghostsofgiants]

2. Rightfully so.

There's not an edible ingredient in that stuff.

[jilln]

10. Actually you're supposed to just eat the BOX

which has about the same amount of nutrition but is more brightly colored and attractive.

[Lisa]

13. and at least it has fiber -- unlike the contents! n/t

[Hand]

18. Ghastly stuff.

Salt, fat, and empty carbs. But cheap and filling. Small wonder Canada's got a huge juvenile obesity problem that worst among the poor.

[GirlinContempt]

3. That is fucking hilarious

[Bassic]

5. Oh man

I would have paid to see the looks on these people's faces. :rofl: :rofl:

[GirlinContempt]

6. I think this was my favorite part

"I thought the whole thing was preposterous, to think you could tag an individual with a coin and think they wouldn't give it away or spend it," said H. Keith Melton, a leading intelligence historian.

But Melton said the army contractors properly reported their suspicions. "You want contractors or any government personnel to report anything suspicious," he said. "You can't have the potential target evaluating whether this was an organized attack or a fluke."

[Bassic]

7. Incredible.

This is just so dumb :D

[GirlinContempt]

8. Sorry but how stupid do you have to be?

It's a fucking POPPY
It even SAYS its a remembrance day coin

Look out Santa, HLS has it's eye on you too

[Bassic]

11. The question is

How fucking paranoid do you have to be? I'm sorry I just can't seem to wrap my brain around it, it's just so fucking retarded.

[GirlinContempt]

15. That's what my dad said

:D

[Bassic]

19. Your dad sounds like a smart man

:P

[achtung_circus]

4. This one is really faded

although many carry almost no red anymore. In 2004, when they were being issued, they looked like blood-red.

[LynneSin]

9. So Canada's flower is the same one that produces heroin

:eyes:

[ghostsofgiants]

12. It's in commemoration war deaths, chosen because of Col. John McCrae's poem "In Flanders Fields."

:eyes:

[Lisa]

14. I think it's the corn poppy, which grows wild in fields and ditches ...

I seem to recall that they're much smaller than the opium poppy (which comes in other shades besides red, if I recall).

Corn poppies like disturbed ground -- so they thrived in the mud churned up by trench warfare.

[GirlinContempt]

16. Correct

[Redstone]

17. I read that in the newspaper today. Damn funny, though sickeningly pathetic.

Redstone