A random thought: money, time, and values

Its worth thinking occasionaly about how the design of day-to-day objects reveal the values of our, and other, cultures. Take cash. As everyone knows, the back of our greenbacks tend to contain pictures of famous old places in American history, such as the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Capitol. On the fronts are famous Dead White Presidents (and one non-president, Alexander Hamilton), folks sure to instill patriotic feelings in every American Heart.

But whats this? The Europeans do things differently? What a suprise! On their fancy Euros, mr. John Q Continental gazes on pieces of architecture - symbolically-laden gates and bridges - that take on more advanced forms with each demonination progression.

Whereas Americans favor antique architecture exclusively, European currency seems to encourage you to possess modernity, i.e. higher demoninations of money. Whereas American dollars features a specific group of rather un-representative dead folks, Europeans favour a broader appeal for unity. These are completely subjective observations, of course, but a "deep reading" of things like currency can be interesting, and even fun. If you doubt me, go to the Engraveyard at lileks.com. Its a hysterical look at odd currency from all places and times. I'll definitely do more features on it in the future.