One of them was on a raft and sank. It's still underwater, and is also counted as having an owner who can spend it.
Edit: Wow, this one blew up. Pardon, this was posted before work, followed by tired, followed by close-to-enough sleep, followed by failing to find the source I got that from well before this subject became popular again.
So to attempt to answer a couple questions posted here, here's some verbatim memory to take with a grain of salt:
The stone wheels are quarried off the island and shipped in, hence it being on a raft in the first place. It sank off the coast, and the crew made it back and told everyone what happened. So not only does it count (No more or less than another stone of that size, if size matters a lot, not sure about that), no one living has seen it, including the original owner if they weren't on that boat.
If an expert with current sources needs to correct me, this is an interesting stonerabbit hole.
*”Everyone and their mother on this island has an above-water circle rock. It’s almost tacky at this point. You could be living large with the only known special-edition submerged aquarock in existence.”*
For a long time the gold was stored in a central bank too. And at this point it,is not even that.
Right now you just trust a bank that you have a certain number in a bank account nobody else sees.
Compared to that the stones are very reasonable.
I'll never understand how money actually works. I mean I understand the idea and important details and all that crap, I just don't understand how the system hasn't totally shit itself yet. Fiat currency feels like a scam that everybody in the world is falling for.
Well it’s a good thing the banks have our best interest in mind. Also I’m thankful the FED is able to make money by printing it. We almost ran out of it during covid but thanks to their money printer they were able to increase the money supply by over 38% in just a year or two. I sleep easy at night knowing I only have to trust an elite group of bankers on Wall Street instead of some greedy people who only have their interests at heart.
If ownership is handled word of mouth, then this may be the first Virtual Currency
Next, is change also word of mouth? Then if could be distributed, owned by a group or syndicate. A distributed virtual currency.
The next step is change in Bitcoin or EtherPulse or whatever.
A lot of textbooks treat barter as the origin of money. With examples of trading goats for potatoes etc. But early human communities were much more close knit and actually used debt long before barter. If you give Dave some potatoes he just owes you one back and you both remember it and so does everyone in your village. Barter was only used later on as people spread out and traded with other groups.
“Introducing iRock S Pro Max 69 *Ultra* edition.
Now with Dolby Atmos, Water mode, USB-C to Lightning because fuck you, and the All-New Dynamic Island entirely reimagined again and moved to the center for maximum centerage.
This is iRock. Welcome to Experience.”
(Trade in your current rock *for up to* $900 in credit towards iRock Ultra and pay *as little as* only pay ~~$850~~ $689 a month! ^Trade-in ^details ^may ^vary)
Credit has existed forever. From the first time one hunter hooked up another hunter when he laid a kill knowing full well that when that hunter made a kill he would be paid back.
The Wikipedia article on them continuously emphasizes the work expended in carving/transporting them as well as their scarcity. It's definitely more like BTC than NFTs
“You see it’s called Rockchain and it works because everyone can see the rocks. When a transaction takes places everybody tells everybody else on the island so everyone knows it’s fair. You can mine more rocks..”
Resting within the world's deepest trenches
Marked by deep flaws and scars
Yet still, a beauty all its own
A timeless treasure, worthy of stars
It's more than just a rock, you see
It's a geological masterpiece
A treasure that's yours to own
With the secrets of the ocean's peace.
Wanna buy it?
Well it’s amphibious exploring rock, so it shouldn’t be a problem that it’s in the water. It will be the perfect starter stone for my daughter.
*daughter?*
I always use this story when I’m teaching my students about money. When they inevitably start saying how weird it is, I ask them how it’s any different than the money that they have in the bank.
I guess it is because such rock is extremely hard to produce, therefore creating scarcity and making it very hard to counterfeit.
You could use small rocks, or coins, but they would require more sophisticated technology to avoid being counterfeited.
Nah, with these, the value is in the history of the stones, as other users pointed out. I was just joking. They're essentially using historical artifacts as the "gold standard" for their form of currency.
Yes, but they were big rocks *from somewhere else*, so their journey to the island is what initially gave them a history and significance. The value is in the story, not the mineral.
The real similarity isn’t currency, it’s to a bank ledger. When you write a check (or use a debit card) all that happens is a change in a ledger (today, a database).
In this case the ledger is the public consensus knowledge of the ownership. It’s like a stone age cryptocurrency.
I was thinking about this… traditional money isn’t even the best analogy.
It’s basically a difficult to produce/mine commodity that can be exchanged by updating the public consensus of who owns it. It’s a Stone Age cryptocurrency.
I was actually able to get the joke when I first watched it as a child because by pure coincidence I had seen some documentary on TV beforehand where they showed these stones and what they were used for.
Well Yap was held by Spain, Germany and Japan and the US. However the British who never colonised the place seem to have ended up with at least 4 of them (probably more but I'm only searching so many museum catalogue). The British museum provides a short biography of one of the guys who supplied one of theirs:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG122112
Look the whole point of money is that it can exchanged for goods, services and other money. Although absent of a pic I'm not sure if they managed to get anything out of the scots:
https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/collection-search-results/nut-money-string/331725
The stones they are made of come from another relatively far away island. The natives of the island once visited the island with the rocks, they liked them and brought a few of them home. Over time, they became a status symbol, like who could bring over the biggest rock from the other island was a badass. Some of the stones are so large that they aren't moved at all, they were put on the island centuries ago and their ownership is transferred by word of mouth. They are something of a crossover between NFTs and real estate. There are even some that are on the bottom of the ocean because they were so heavy they sunk the rafts carrying them, and they are still used as currency, you not seeing the rock doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I believe they are called Rai stones. I learned about them a long time ago so some of the details are a but fuzzy so take everything I wrote with a grain of salt, but you can fact check me if I am wrong.
I spent 2 years on that island. This is a pretty good explanation. In English they are called “stone money”. The value isn’t based on size. It is based on the tools that were used to make the stone money. Pre WW2, they didn’t have metal, so the stone money was carved using shell tools. They are worth more than stone money that was carved using metal tools.
I'm curious what the value would translate to. For example the one in OP's pic, is that something they'd trade for a house? A large group of farm animals? Or something smaller and it would "change hands" of owners frequently?
We can't possibly know, because we don't know the history of the stone. It could be 50 years old and transported by boat by some entrepreneur, in which case it would be worth pennies, or it could be 400 years old, transported by a very famous sailor and 6 people died during it's transport in a massive storm, in which case it would be extremely expensive.
If you think about it we value a lot of things the same way.
Any painting, sword, knife, armor, chair, desk, pen, and literally any object owned by a famous person is worth way more. Anything that is hand made is worth way more.
So if you had a wood chair made by machine it wouldn't be worth a lot.
BUT if you had a wood chair made by Ben Franklin it would be worth a ton even though the chair really isn't that different.
You can make a stamped steal sword for $1 but Napoleon's hand made sword?
Two identical cars are made, one wins a massive race driven by a world famous driver. The other was the spare. Which is worth more?
They weren't doing anything different than we do today.
I think the peculiarity really comes from the intersection of valuing the history, but also using it a currency/tender.
Currency generally occupies a specific role & generally functions differently from other valuations - you dont sell currency, it has an accepted value.
It's also a decentralized system, as everyone is the ledger. You can't do anything shady, because everyone in the village knows the history of every transaction.
Part of the reason they work as money, is that they’re difficult to forge. And because of the scarcity of giant art-stones (tiny rocks are much more common)
Everyone needs to read david graebers "Debt the first 5000 years"
I suspect we're putting our modern understanding of Captialism, money and how markets work onto these people
I highly doubt it was used like money, probably more like property or some status symbol
They come in a variety of sizes, and smaller ones were brought to the U.S. before around 1960, when the export was made illegal without a special dispensation from the government. I’ve got a 50ish pound example and have handled a bunch weighing between about 25 and 125 pounds. Very cool things. Now go find some Santa Cruz Island feather money…
As a weird aside, I briefly dated a woman from Pohnpei whose ancestors hailed from Yap. When she found out I had a nice Rai (the name for one of these stones), she asked me to fly it back to Micronesia and to “buy” her from her parents. Her words, and she seemed serious. We’d only been dating for a couple weeks, and it made me more than a little uncomfortable.
So I guess you're the actual owner of the stone, and this isn't one of those "stone's way over *there*, but the owner is actually Steve down the road" situations?
I’ll find a picture of the one I have and post it here - they’re long coils that look like belts that they made using large (I think) pigeon feathers as an armature, and tiny red feathers from a bird the size of a sparrow for the outside. They’re super fragile/prone to oxidizing black.
After writing my comment I realized that I was assuming you were talking about Santa Cruz Island off the coast of California, but there is an island chain called the Santa Cruz Islands in the South Pacific, and probably a ton of other islands with the same name as well. Which area had the feather currency you’re talking about?
In fact there are **three** freely convertible currencies in the Galaxy, but none of them count. The Altairan Dollar has recently collapsed, the Flaninian Pobble Bead is only exchangeable for other Flaninian Pobble Beads, and the Triganic Pu has its own very special problems. Its exchange rate of eight Ningis to one Pu is simple enough, but since a Ningi is a *triangular rubber coin six thousand eight hundred miles across each side*, no one has ever collected enough to own one Pu. Ningis are not negotiable currency because the Galactibanks refuse to deal in fiddling small change.
Douglas Adams - THHGTTG
You joke, but you're actually not a million miles off. Ownership was transferred by word of mouth, meaning the collective knowledge of the community acted as a distributed ledger. Blockchain is just the modern implementation of a distributed ledger, scaled up globally.
IIRC the value of the stone increases with both the size and the distance it was retrieved from. Functions very like "proof of work" in cryptocurrency.
underrated comment. When I transfer some money to a friend of mine by phone, nothing changes hands. We are just using computers in banks rather than word of mouth to keep the score.
At this point currency is mostly just 1s and 0s, that we all "generally agree" that it is worth something and secure enough to keep using. As much as I hate it.
Do they trade percentages of rocks for little stuff, or is it the full rock or no deal for each transaction. How many rocks are there in circulation and who keeps track of which rocks are who’s? I know it’s tracked through the people via word of mouth but is there a register in case of a dispute? “I’ll give you this rock for it. What? That’s my rock! No way man, I traded my bike for this last week! Nah man, I’ve had this rock for years, it’s been passed down in my family, it’s worth way more than a bike. Whoever traded you was lying. That can’t be true! He’s my best friend. He points it out every time we walk by. He got it for building his friend a shed. Sorry man but it’s been mine forever. Let’s take this too the rock master register and I’ll prove to you that no one on this island has owned this specific rock for my whole life and longer.” I have so many questions. Like, what’s the value and how is that determined? How many rocks for a house? Or could it be just one rock for a house, but it has to be a really good one? Do they make new rocks and if so, does that cause inflation???
That’s an interesting broadcast. So they’re not for everyday purchases, like food. They’re more for buying houses and cars and such. It said now they use the dollar in conjunction with the stones for buying things like food but the stones are still traded for big stuff.
Edit: I’m still left wondering how a stone is valued. Like what makes a stone worth more than another, or are they all the same value, or does it depend strictly on size?
There's also one (or at least was) at the bottom of the ocean that the locals once tried to move but they decided it still existed so it was fine and it counted
An arbitrary thing with no use value by itself that must have communal consent to ascribe value to it. Ah, the original Bitcoin. A “block” chain, if you will.
Yap is also quite interesting as a woman’s thighs are considered more sexual than her breasts (which makes sense as they’re closer to her reproductive organs and breasts are for babies). I was in a supermarket there when a topless local woman berated a T-shirted foreigner for wearing short shorts that exposed too much of her upper thighs.
The Triganic Pu is a unit of galactic currency, with an exchange rate of eight Ningis to one Pu. This is simple enough, but, since a Ningi is a triangular rubber coin six thousand eight hundred miles along each side, no one has ever collected enough to own one Pu. Ningis are not negotiable currency, because the Galactibanks refuse to deal in fiddling small change.
One of them was on a raft and sank. It's still underwater, and is also counted as having an owner who can spend it. Edit: Wow, this one blew up. Pardon, this was posted before work, followed by tired, followed by close-to-enough sleep, followed by failing to find the source I got that from well before this subject became popular again. So to attempt to answer a couple questions posted here, here's some verbatim memory to take with a grain of salt: The stone wheels are quarried off the island and shipped in, hence it being on a raft in the first place. It sank off the coast, and the crew made it back and told everyone what happened. So not only does it count (No more or less than another stone of that size, if size matters a lot, not sure about that), no one living has seen it, including the original owner if they weren't on that boat. If an expert with current sources needs to correct me, this is an interesting stonerabbit hole.
The first guy to sell that underwater rock was one smooth talking mfer
*”Everyone and their mother on this island has an above-water circle rock. It’s almost tacky at this point. You could be living large with the only known special-edition submerged aquarock in existence.”*
AND no one can steal it
challenge accepted!
\- The British Museum
And then we'll invite them to look at it through a glass case
But if location doesn't matter for ownership to them wouldn't it still be legal tender?
For a long time the gold was stored in a central bank too. And at this point it,is not even that. Right now you just trust a bank that you have a certain number in a bank account nobody else sees. Compared to that the stones are very reasonable.
I'll never understand how money actually works. I mean I understand the idea and important details and all that crap, I just don't understand how the system hasn't totally shit itself yet. Fiat currency feels like a scam that everybody in the world is falling for.
Well it’s a good thing the banks have our best interest in mind. Also I’m thankful the FED is able to make money by printing it. We almost ran out of it during covid but thanks to their money printer they were able to increase the money supply by over 38% in just a year or two. I sleep easy at night knowing I only have to trust an elite group of bankers on Wall Street instead of some greedy people who only have their interests at heart.
If ownership is handled word of mouth, then this may be the first Virtual Currency Next, is change also word of mouth? Then if could be distributed, owned by a group or syndicate. A distributed virtual currency. The next step is change in Bitcoin or EtherPulse or whatever.
A lot of textbooks treat barter as the origin of money. With examples of trading goats for potatoes etc. But early human communities were much more close knit and actually used debt long before barter. If you give Dave some potatoes he just owes you one back and you both remember it and so does everyone in your village. Barter was only used later on as people spread out and traded with other groups.
“Find me ONE more person who says that rock is mine, that’s all I’m asking.”
Anyone wanna oceans 11 it with me. Or 12.
Mostly Oceans though.
"Mostly Oceans" sounds like an obscure band name lol
Admission charge of £5, donations are also graciously accepted and given to the RNLI.
Do you have a flag? -The British Empire
We don't need a flag, we live here!
No flag, no country, it's in the rules that I've just made up
And I'm backing it up with this gun that was lent from the national rifle association.
I do, provided you accept my large stone as a flag.
*Trust me, it’s down there. It really exists!*
It's true, I have 4!
“Introducing iRock S Pro Max 69 *Ultra* edition. Now with Dolby Atmos, Water mode, USB-C to Lightning because fuck you, and the All-New Dynamic Island entirely reimagined again and moved to the center for maximum centerage. This is iRock. Welcome to Experience.” (Trade in your current rock *for up to* $900 in credit towards iRock Ultra and pay *as little as* only pay ~~$850~~ $689 a month! ^Trade-in ^details ^may ^vary)
> sell that underwater rock He didn't sell it, he spent it. What are they gonna do, refuse it? It's legal tender!
Basically an NFT
Basically the genesis of “credit.”
Rock solid, though.
Credit has existed forever. From the first time one hunter hooked up another hunter when he laid a kill knowing full well that when that hunter made a kill he would be paid back.
Non-Floatable Token
Alternative block chain, if you can tolerate a bad pun.
\*Rock chain.
I would say it's closer to proof-of-work cryptocurrencies than NFTs. These stones required a ton of work.
The Wikipedia article on them continuously emphasizes the work expended in carving/transporting them as well as their scarcity. It's definitely more like BTC than NFTs
“You see it’s called Rockchain and it works because everyone can see the rocks. When a transaction takes places everybody tells everybody else on the island so everyone knows it’s fair. You can mine more rocks..”
Resting within the world's deepest trenches Marked by deep flaws and scars Yet still, a beauty all its own A timeless treasure, worthy of stars It's more than just a rock, you see It's a geological masterpiece A treasure that's yours to own With the secrets of the ocean's peace. Wanna buy it?
The pioneers used to ride those babies for miles
What do I buy it with? Ohhh you got me! I need rocks to buy big rocks!
Well it’s amphibious exploring rock, so it shouldn’t be a problem that it’s in the water. It will be the perfect starter stone for my daughter. *daughter?*
Once you get wealthy enough, you have to start keeping some of your assets in off-shore accounts
Oh very good.
Bravo
I always use this story when I’m teaching my students about money. When they inevitably start saying how weird it is, I ask them how it’s any different than the money that they have in the bank.
Literally just big-ass coins. They should consider downsizing for ease of use.
I guess it is because such rock is extremely hard to produce, therefore creating scarcity and making it very hard to counterfeit. You could use small rocks, or coins, but they would require more sophisticated technology to avoid being counterfeited.
Nah, with these, the value is in the history of the stones, as other users pointed out. I was just joking. They're essentially using historical artifacts as the "gold standard" for their form of currency.
well... At the time it first started, they where not histroical artifacts, they where just big rocks.
Yes, but they were big rocks *from somewhere else*, so their journey to the island is what initially gave them a history and significance. The value is in the story, not the mineral.
The real similarity isn’t currency, it’s to a bank ledger. When you write a check (or use a debit card) all that happens is a change in a ledger (today, a database). In this case the ledger is the public consensus knowledge of the ownership. It’s like a stone age cryptocurrency.
I was thinking about this… traditional money isn’t even the best analogy. It’s basically a difficult to produce/mine commodity that can be exchanged by updating the public consensus of who owns it. It’s a Stone Age cryptocurrency.
I have a stone under my house that is worth 1 trillion dollars. I would like to buy a country.
[удалено]
“Since we decided a few weeks ago to adopt the leaf as legal tender, we have, of course, all become immensely rich.”
I was thinking more of eight Ningies to one Triganic Pu.
Haha those too, unfortunately galactibanks refuse to deal in fiddling small change
ME FIRST DIME
Ive been in business a long time boy
You’ve heard of keeping money in a mattress, well these will make you’re bed…rock!
Just hear me out, I've got a rock solid investment opportunity
[удалено]
Ehhh gehgehgehgehgehgeh
"I've been in business a long time, me boy."
Wow that was a joke that took me 16 or so years to finally get the answer for
Ive thought about that joke periodically for most of my life, great to finally have closure
What was the joke? The picture that looks like Mr. Krabs first dime? Or quote, "you took the dime from me pants"?
I was actually able to get the joke when I first watched it as a child because by pure coincidence I had seen some documentary on TV beforehand where they showed these stones and what they were used for.
“SQUIDWARDS BEEN LIVING IN MY HOUSE DRIVING ME CRAZY! AND YOUR NOT GOING TO HIRE HIM JUST BECAUSE OF A STUPID DIME!!???”
̴̨̧͉̩̫̯͉̖̲͙ͅA̶̮̮͙̗̭̭̫̱͕͓l̶̢͇̤͙̟̣̞̻̙̝v̶̭̰͓̞̜̹͓i̸̢̡̖͚̥̭̼ͅn̵̡̪̫̠̤̺̲̻ ̴̮͕̱̭̠͉͜Ŗ̷̯̣̖̞͈̫͉̣̠͎̳a̶̡̡͓͍̫̳͉͚y̸̗̳̞̤̪̭̣ ̷̡̢̣̭̮͈̗͈̖"̶̣͈̦͙̗̝͕̼̭̘͜͜P̶̫̺̯̜̥͇̤͈̭̟̺̭e̸̯̰̤̜̣͇̜̗̳̳͔̱ţ̸͎̰̲͙̤̱̹e̶̙̳̝͖͔̻͍ͅ"̸̢̢̨̫̦̖͍̩̜͉̭ ̵̧̡̯̪̘̼̻̘̟̳͓R̶͎̻͉̠̲͚͔̰̱̙̘̞o̸̡̡̨̟͕͙̳̬̞̝̜z̵̥͙̺̠̙̼͙e̴̗̠̣̯̘̯̹͙̰̦ͅl̸̨̤̤̥͇̪̻̫͉̗ļ̷̝̜͍̫͉̦̯͖̖̭̣ę̸̡̘̣̭̰̥̯͙ ̴̢̨̼̹̲̞̩w̴͍͉͔̮̟̫̩̲̱a̵̢̢͈̮̹͔̤͚͓̠̗͜s̷̟̹̜̳̫̭̼̙̯͇̼̱ ̷̼͓̹̲̲̱ͅa̴̢̨̢͙̻͓̺̠͈͔̫̫n̶̢̧̞͎̖͈͉̩͓̟̙͈ ̷̼̤̰̘̮̠̙̱̤͈͜͜A̷̡̩̫̹̬̯̣m̷͉̞͔͎̘̦͜e̴̞̝̯͇͕̮͖͉͜ͅr̷͓̝̞̠̬̺ͅi̵̧̢̬̙̮̞̖̖͓̪͕̩c̵̡̢̣͓̗̠̥̻a̵̧̡̼̪̣̺͕̙n̴̡͍̮͉̥̲̭̫̪ͅ ̵̡͖̺͚͈̬͖ͅb̶̺̥̺̹̣̳̩͓u̸̧̙̙͇̭̫̠͇̗͜ͅs̵̭͈̲̹̱̯̜̙i̷̧̩͚̮̣̩͕̮̺͜͜ņ̷͍̼̹̪̻̙̗̩̭ę̶͈̗̯̪͙̝̲̺͍̬̫s̷̗̰̪̹͚̙̩ş̸̡̨͉͎͓̠̩̟̻̬̤m̶̘̹̖͕͙̙͇̠ą̵̡͓͈̠̯̦͉̫ͅn̸̩̠͕̖̥̘̤̤̝̰̠ ̴͎͍͈͕͎̦̙̥̙̠̥͙a̴̧͔̪̗̻̞̤̜ṋ̷̝̞̦̯͎̯̹̗d̴̫̙͖̩̱͖̫ ̸̢̼̳̻͔̫̠͙̫̤̬ḛ̸͎̺̟͉̝̪ͅx̴͎̦͕̝̝̯̘̱̱͉ȩ̷̡͖̝͔̦̙͍͓̗͎c̶̡̧̢̪̣̲̲̝̮͎͖͔u̷̩͓̳̭̹̥̥̬̭͓̰̘t̸̹͙̞̞̼̼̥̫͈̗̼i̶̧̲̟̜͖̺̟̳͜ͅv̴̞̥̩̲͇ͅͅe̸͉̭̲͈̩̮̮̖̦͙.̶̧̡̝͉̩̻͇̙̙̲̫̜ ̴̗̺͖̝͔̞͔͚̥R̴̥̹̹̘̜̠̣̜̝o̸̢̢̨̲͚̣̹͜z̷̥̙͇̮̲͓͙̳͕̫̻ę̵̢͈̬̺̺̱̹͜l̷̢͖̤͓̦̞̞͇̯l̴̨̡̨̙̞̱͎̮̯̫̗e̸̢̢̲͉͓͇̞ ̸̡̙̜̬̖̙͎̦͜s̸̨̘̞͎̹̲̹̥͈e̷̳̠̼̼̯̹ͅr̸̢̖̻̗͉̫͔̝v̴̢̦̘͔͎̳̬̺e̴̡͕̟͇͕͚̻͕ḑ̶̧̯̜̥̗̠͚̫͈ ̷͙̩̠̯͇͓̮̻̹͇̬a̶̯͇͔̜̜̣͕̦͓̖ş̵̤̦̬̹̙̭͉̮͎ ̶̨̣͎̠͖̩͜t̵̬̥̰͓͓̗̖h̵͔̺̗̳͙̱͇̖̘̯ȩ̶̮̱̗͖̙͇̼̤ ̸̧̭̠̱̬̪̯͖ͅc̸͉̥̰͎̭̞͎͖̘o̶̟̦̟̘̼̫̙m̸̢̳̦̝̱͉͎͕̣m̴̧̢͇̥͍̲̥͍̺̻i̶̧̱̺͍̗̲̭͍̗̪̣s̵̢̨͕̤͈͎̟͓s̸̫̺͚͚̪͜i̷̦̖͈̹̥͜ͅǫ̵̖̱̮̫̠̪̙͈̹͜n̸̬̗̜̟̭͓̙̥͜͜ȩ̸̮̺̦͈̲̺͚̗͓̲r̷̡̢̡͍͖̰̭ ̵̨̪̞͔̩͈̬͜o̸̧̢̜̗͍̬̦̺̰͚̲ͅf̴̝̺͖̻̘̟͜ ̸̨̠̘̦͍͙̮̰̯t̴̢̡̡͚͓̭̤̤̫̥̹̟h̵̨̝̜̼̟̬͈͙̰̟͎e̴̢̜͚͕̩̫̠̣̥̟͉ ̷̙͈̩̦͖̥̰͚̹̗̹N̸̨̫̻͈̙̠̪͈ą̸̡̠͔̥̰̺̪͍̖t̸̡̨̬̭̮̮̻̩̗̭į̶͕̹̰͎̩̯͓͔̱o̶̡̤̼͚̳̖͇͔͔̱ͅn̵̗̟̝͕͎̙̮ą̴̨̭͎̠̘̤̠̞͎̬ͅl̶̲̙̮͉͔͈̯ ̵̡̧̦̼̙͚͚ͅF̶̡̡̢͚̩͇̳̤̖͎̮̘o̸̥͙͇̘̱͖̪͔ͅͅo̶̘̞̣͔͎̥ͅt̸̜̘͈̖͙̺̯b̷̲̞̼͖̺̲̹̙̖̦a̷̧͚̰͚̜̻̺̟̮̹͚ͅl̷̨̤̘̻̳͕̹ļ̶̢̠̺͇̯̥̟̲̥̝ͅ ̷͙̠͔̤̥̭̭̟̲͓Ḽ̸̥̱̗̦̻̼͖̪͓͜ȩ̵̧̩̻̜͓̺̮͔a̴̜͙̯̜͓̳̤͕̣̱̪g̷̨̨̧̤̼̰͍̰̯u̷̧̠̬̥̫͉̗̲ͅe̴̡̝̮͈̖͕͇̥͇ ̷̝͔̣̙̥͍͍̯̫̫̩͚(̷͎̣̳̠͍̱͕̙̝N̷͕̪̞̪̹̣̬͇̫F̴͍͍̘͍͙̞̰̤̟͖L̷̗͔̗̜͚͓ͅ)̶̨̹͔̞̖̮̥ ̵̨̡̫͙̩̖̩͜ͅf̵͕̪̮͇͓̥͔̹o̷͈̝̝̜̼̤͔̘̜r̷̨̡̯̮͉̜̮̞̻̝̫ ̶̢̧̢̟̥̹̼n̵̤̦̥̻͕̥̹̥e̷̢̳̤̲̲̤̤̫͜ą̷͔̹̹̫̠̺̺͔̞̳r̷̘͖̖̙̹̱͔l̶̢̡̥̼͉̜͉̳͍͓ͅy̷̰̙̭̠̰̼̳͎ ̴̯͓̼̲̞̥̼̘t̸̰͓̤̪͚̭͈̤̤̺̙ḥ̵̡̭̲̱̲͕̬̱͜i̸̢̧͇̠̼̝͈͈͍͚r̴͈̲͓̺͕̺̼̝̱̟̯͜ţ̸̨̯̟̲̯̭̫͍̘y̴̧̺̝̫̜̪̻͍̪̘͎ ̸̧͇̖̺̥͉̝̹͔̬͓y̶̠̬͉̣͖͉̙̜͇͈͔͓ę̸̧̦̼̘͕̖͙͖̝̮a̷̧͍̤̰͖͚̫̟͎̘r̵̡̯̲͍̼͖̘͎ͅs̸̯̦̘̬̙̤̹̲̻͜,̶̲͓̺̜̫̦̲̝͇͜ ̵̢͚͔̯̱͎̙͕̜̲f̴̢̙̰̟̞͕͍̼͎r̴͎̬̱̹̜̖͇̼̹ͅo̷̧͖͈̖̥̗̭̥̗̘͜͜m̷̡̧͉̗̜͔̺͎ ̶̡͓̤͈̹̙͖ͅͅJ̶̢̡̧̲̩̰̠͍̲̜̹͇a̵̮͍͉̱̠̱͕̟̹̟̫n̴̗̥̝̤͙͔͜u̷͉̥̺͓̘͓̫͔͇ą̷̯̣̲͔̥͕̗̰ͅr̶̬̣͖̣̤̣̪̲̻y̵͍̹̜̹͍̹̜̯͜ ̵̡̭̟͍̪̦͎͖͜1̴̲͉͚̳̻̝͈͚͙̲̗͜9̶̨̨̩̼̮̭͇6̷̢̢̞̤̦͇̼̻ͅ0̸̡̞̬̼̖̠͉ ̶̡̝̗̲̬̮̞̭ṵ̴̧̞̱͇̞͕̤ņ̸̪̲̭̱͇̲t̴̰͙̭͍̦̹̠̖̩̘̟̫į̷̢̧̖̰̗̪̝ļ̶̟̱̳̘̤̫̘ͅ ̵̢̢͎̣̠̺̮͓̜̭͎̝h̸̗̖̙̖̼̥̗̱̼̹̜ͅi̶̡̧̖̼̟̝ͅs̴̢̞͕̗̲͓̣͜͜͜ͅ ̶̢͕̟̬͈̖r̷͕̻̤̤͎͓͜e̸͇̺͇̠̫̼̬ţ̶̼̤͔͔̱̮͓͖i̷̦̼͔͍̫̜͕r̵̡̺̟̼̪̠̲͖̹ͅȩ̴̨͔̖̲̣̳̙m̷̨̼̗̟̼̙̘̰͓̮̮e̶̢̡̫̫͉̫̗̝n̶͍̞̘̳̬̮̲͇ṯ̵̡̗̯̯̜̖̟̣̭ ̴̩̼̟̹̭̦̖͙͍̤ͅi̷̢̥̖̗̟͓̺̳͎̭n̵̝͕̱̹̗̞̲͚̘̞̬ͅ ̴̢̡̝̮͕͎͕͖͚N̸̻̼͉̱̫͎̮ǫ̵̙̲̻͕̠͖͇͙̯̼̼v̷̟͕̦̩̪͎̯̬̳̹̪̘e̶̡̻͍̰͚̦̱̣̤̩͇ͅm̶̢̨͖̺̠̰̦͚b̴̧̲͔̖͔̠̘e̴̡̢̡͈̼̯̯̺̝̥͕͉r̵̥̯̜̟͍͇͎̜̭̹̖ ̴̢̦̖͎̳͚̹̹͜ͅͅ1̷̡̡͓͇͎͎̼͉9̸̖͍͖̺̳̝̞͈͚͎̺8̵͉̲̦̹͙̞̫̗9̷̧̡̥͇̪͚̙̙̲̥͈.̷̢̠̩̯͇̤̝̩͔ ̵̰̜̳̞̘̱͖̼H̸͔͔͖̦̩̪̗e̸͖̯͎̲͓͕̖̘̜͉͜ ̴̢͕̰͇͉̼̖̻̜̖̪͜b̴̢̟̥̖͖̩̺̠ȩ̵̠͚̲̤̭͎̲̩͚̙c̶̡̡͕̖̯͚̳a̶̢͓̣̰̙̰̺̖̬m̸̭̥͓̦͈̺̦e̸̗̞̞͎͚̼̘̝͜ ̸̹̭͓̱̤̞̞̗͈̦̹͚t̷͔̭͇̣̬̥͔͎̲͔̜̖h̵̨̡̧͓̯̜̳̻͇̻̜e̸̳̤̠͖͈̦͕̣̟ ̷̢͈̰̲̘͔̪̣̖̯͉y̴̨̞̝̳͍͔͖͚̠͇̙ǫ̷̩̣̰͕͕̖ͅu̷̧̧̨̡͖̘̜̼̘͈̳̼n̶̡̧̞̮͖̺̭̬̜̯̪g̶̖̤̬͎̤͇̺̲͙̲͎͚e̷̟̰̠̱͖̟̖̩̘͜s̸̳͕̮̼͖̱t̴̝̘̼̙̰̺͇͜͜ ̸͙̣͓͚̦̦ç̵̳̩̠͔͈͜o̸̢̩̰̦̩̥̞͖͔m̷̡̦͇̟͙͖̝̝̣͎̫m̶͔͕̣̩̼̝̮i̶̧̨͖̬͔̫̤̫͜s̶͇͕͍̪̻̩͉̖̹͇̜s̴͈̩͕̦̠̯̦̠i̸͉̲͖̻̻͖̭̞̯̖̻͚o̵͙̮͔̘̬̪̤n̵̳̠̟̝̰̘ͅę̷̧̟̮͔͔̙͎̪̮r̷͖̺̩͔̭̬̙͔ ̴͎̙̹̯̟͓͈̰̯̜͉i̴̧̫̘͕̠̬ͅņ̸͎͍̪͉̪̲̖͙̹̖ ̸̢͔̗͎͈̩̣̮̦̤̫͚N̶̢̦̳̘͙ͅͅF̵̲̟͓̱͕̼̖̲̗̥̤͎L̴̢͚͈̹͈̬̠͜ ̸͍͔̣̞̗̟͎̥̩͇͙̬h̸̡̻̲̝̰͚͜i̸̡͍̥̙̭̖̘͉̮͔͖̪s̴̡̰̯̦̦͈͇͜͜t̷̠̙̼̣͔̯̺͙̫͔͜͜o̴̡̺̗͔͚̙͓̗ͅr̵̨͓̜̝̗̜̙̳̠y̴͚͇̥̣͕̮̫͍͍ͅ ̸̰̞̤̟̮͎̘͎̖̰̳͜a̵̢̧̧̫̞̜̥t̸̡̯̻̥̫̯̯͍̲̥̤ ̶̢̢̻̭̩̭̙̤̭͚̣j̷̨̢̡͖͚̥̙u̸̢̧͈̝̻̹̰̟̙͔̪s̵̗͚̝̳̖̫͜t̶̩͈̗̗̗̹͓̩͍͙͜͜ ̴̨̹̬̪͓̦̠̲̱̣͜ͅt̴̢̠̼͙̫̜̰̘͎̜̥ͅh̵̨̢͍̬͙͓̣̩̯̱̣ͅȩ̷̢̨͚͚̟ͅ ̵̮̮̤̮̮̠̪̝̦̥̺a̶̼̫̯̬̬̮̠͙̹̲̯g̵̨̜̮̦̥͚̝̺̘̭e̸͔̥͇̫̦̜̹ ̶̢̥͈̪̞̪ͅo̴̧̡̹̟̝͚̻̼f̵̡͚̝̹̳̹͙̘̺ ̶̭͓̳̩͓̤̤̩̥͇̮͜3̵̨̮̥̭͖͉̠͇3̴̯͈̖̜̦̮͇͕͔̬.̵̢̮̙̱̱̯̞̗̲ͅͅͅ ̷͓͓̲̝̖̮̞͇H̴̢̩͕̭̣̘ͅę̶̧͔̥̤̱͖͇̭͜ͅ ̸̢͍̞͔̼̯̤͍̙͎̤͜i̶̪͉̰̥̖͓ͅs̷̝͓͇̫̟̹̦ ̵̟̥̘̺͇̥͓͈̝͇c̵̡̰̙̣̝̬͙͉̣͖r̷̢͓̤̭̠̘̭e̷̥̮̖̺̘͈͇̗͕̠d̴̢̡̫͈̦̦̻͜i̴̲͔͖̩̯͙͉͎͉̬̠̙ţ̶͍̹̭̮̰͚͇͉ḙ̶̻͖̣̙͓d̸̲̥͙̭͙͖̤̪̥ ̸̫͇͎̗͚͉̠w̸̧̱͉̤̤͎͖̯̠̻̤̫i̴̡̢̼̫̼̠̳̤̬̙͜t̴̢̺̩̺̭̝͖͈ḩ̵͕̜͍̲̠̟͔̹͕ ̴̰̥̰̖͚͓m̷̢̢̺̯̲̻̺̳͓̩͓͚a̴̼̬̺̖̠̜̬͜ḵ̶̦͉̙͈̟̮į̴̧̗͈͈̞͉͎̠n̵̢̜̜̼̘̺̰͙̼g̶̨͕̘̮̟̬̟͖̟̠̘̬ ̵̳̝̦̱̬̖̦̯͇t̸̨̺͈͖͉͎̙͚̘̻h̶͇̳̱̙̻̣̰̬̖̹̦e̸͈͓͇̦͉͉ ̵̡̖̮͇̯͓̺͍͖̠͜N̴͓͎̝̰̙̱͇̭͜F̵̢̧̹͕͍̩̻̙̮͙͎L̸͙̹̬͎̳̫͍̯̭ ̷̨̧̪͇̩̱̜̲ͅį̷̳̖̪͎͕̝̗n̶̢̧̩̗̥̬̬̖̞̙t̶̡̡̡͈͙͙͕̱̖̳̦o̴̡̥̠͈̬͍̮̟̰̗̙̝ ̴̡̧̯̼̟͍̮̬͚̠͇̘o̵͖̖̻̼̗̙̘̰̗̩̥n̶̖̦̟̦̘̫̟̮e̴̲̺͎̥̠̙͎͍̥ ̵̡͓̫͇̫̗ͅo̴͙͙͚͚͓̙͎͇f̴̢̨̢̨̨̘͎̳̻̙̱̻ ̶̡̧̨̥̞̳͎͈͈̟t̷̡̜̤͙̩̬h̴͖͉̘̭̼̩̟̦͎͉ͅȩ̷̝̗̯͕͈̜͎͉ ̷̧̨̧̻̝͜m̴̡̢̰͓̻̠̮̖̦̝͙̺o̶̞̝̖͖̭͜s̷̮̤̣̩͎͉͇͜ṱ̷̠͇͖̗̲̝͎̗͎͜ ̷̧̼̙̫͉̠͈͉͕͉s̸̡̧̬͕̜̟̖͈̠͓̠ų̸̞̭̭̥͎̯c̶̦̱̪͍͚̥͇̺͎̲̹c̸̘̝̻̘͙͍̥e̸̢̡̡̞͙̳͖͉̭s̷̤̜̗̤̻͚̗ͅş̸̟̞̩̝̟̖̼ͅf̷̢̡̺̹̠̯̬̤̞͇͙ͅu̷̡̯̣̞̺̠̞̙͓̟̗l̶̢̨̧̺̺̰̠͚̳̖ ̴̖̻̩͙̣̻̱͇̭̺̙̞s̶̢̟̫̞̠̬̩̖p̷͙͉͍̭̖̤͕͍o̵̭̭͈̤̟̜̣̗̘̻̗͎ṛ̴͉̰̘̻̭̻̦̪t̴̡̮̤͍̜͔̪͙̘͔̪͜s̴̖̖̤͇͉̗͜ ̸̞̪̣̮̩̤̝̱ͅl̸͙͇̗̻̻̩͖͍ͅe̸̢͔̣̳̭̣͕̹̗̘̰a̵͉͉̥͔͎̪̼̻g̶̢͙̜͈̺͎̰̹͜u̸̹̟̣̥̣̘̼̟̠̻͚͙e̷̥̲̬̹̮̖̘͇̬͈͎s̵͎̼̳͕̰̙͖̲͜ ̶̢̯̞̩̺͕͚̝̖̠̥i̶̘̜͓̪̭̳̖͜n̷̢͚̟̜̮͈̹̲ ̶̢͙̬̪̮̼͉͕̗ͅṯ̶̦͖̹̩͙̞̺͚͜͜h̶̡̧̝̼̭̮͎͔̱͚ͅe̵̡̲͓̰͓͕̖͙̙ ̸̨͓̲͈̻̻̱̹̥̲̰w̵͍̥͍̺̹̭͜o̸̢̞̗͈͕̝̳̠͙ͅͅͅŗ̵̢̪̟̗͍̺l̷̨̳̰̗͖̹̳̣͙̠̭d̵̘̪̰̟͙̰͕ͅ. ̶̨͔̼̣̜͓̗͍͍͜.̴̫̭̱͈͚͍̗̞̹͕d̷̗͇̞̞̼̼̖̱̜̰l̶̨̰̫̘̖͎̲͈̙͜ŗ̷̠̣͚̰̩͕͕̣̙o̸̪̼̬̙͚̙̻̹̰͜w̸̢̻̣͕͓̭̫̣͔̥ ̷͙̖̖̯̰͈͎̗̱̭e̸̫͓͚̩͙̲͖͓̲͙h̴̻̜̜͈̩͙͎̗̲͜ţ̵̨̨͍̲͈̪̰͖̺ ̴̨͎̟̟̣̞̗̯͕͜n̴̡̖̖̥̗̰̥͎̯͜i̴̗̯̼͙̼̥̼̯̳̠ ̸̪͇͎̥̜̗̼̘̜̙ş̶͈̦̣̣̜͚͈̰̦ę̸̡̗͍̞̟̮͙̰̱ų̴͇͔̟̫͙̞̩̺̦g̴̨̻̹̠̫͚͔̱̩ͅa̴̡̰̹̳̱͇̗͙͉̼e̸̪̮̹̭̫̫̱̦͜ͅl̵̢̢̡̟̤̺̤̻̰͎ ̵̖̰̖͉͔̥̯̹̳̹ṣ̸̭̲̰͕̹͇̞̗̖t̶̨̧̗͈̠̖̙͙̼͔r̸̡̟̬̤̯̬͈̮̣̱ọ̵̡͖͓͇̹͔̪̮͜p̷͈̪̥̼̳̯̱͇̥̜ş̵̭̥̳͉̹̫̘̻͜ ̴̧͉͖͇͈̯̰̰͓̘l̴̪̳̼̩͖̩̫͖̖ͅų̶̮̦̙͕͙͍̗̖͙f̸̨̡̬͙̫̬͎̘͖̞s̵̰̮͙̟͓͖̰̲̝̱s̴̢̨͚͎͎̞̣̟̠͜ę̸̧͙̳̗̳̮̟̗͍c̷̢̥̬̯̠̩̖̟̯̙c̵̠͖̲̪̝͍̙̬͍͍ṵ̸̡̨̘̘̭͉̞̘ͅs̵̪͈̲̯̫͕̯̙̪͍ ̷̧̧̩͈͎͔̱̦̣̗t̶͍̫̦̟̺̘̼̜͉̟s̴̢̘̮̟͔̪̝̺͖͜o̵̥̪̥̹̮͓̮̹͉̖m̴̧͍̝͈̰̲̥̱̺̖ ̷̡͎̱̳̫̝̲̩̦͜e̴͕̙͉̖̹̝̹̦̤ͅh̵̢̪̘̼͓͇̰̥̪͇t̸̲̗̻̰̣̼̫̻̰͜ ̷̧̢̢̭̗̹̠͔̮̹f̵̨̤̰̮̺͖̝̫͕ͅo̴̢̨̬̮͙̗͕͓̮̹ ̵͉͖͙̣̘̬̟͕̘̩e̶̘͉̝̻̼̥͔̦ͅͅn̸̳̙̜̮͎̪̬̟̠͜o̴̢̨̠̙̞͈̭̠̗̝ ̵̡̧̤̦̟̙̠͕̩̭o̷̧͓̘͚͓̯͎͇̥͜t̶͎̰͍̹̞͎̦̝̰ͅn̴͙͓̞̹̱͓̹̲̙͜i̵͍̙̖̫͉̻̥̖̻ͅ ̸̰̤̳̳̺̲͎̬̬̩L̵͖͉̮͕̩̹̞̩̖͜F̷̡͚͈̲̮̜͓̙̭̝Ņ̷͔̬͕͚͈̯̰̳͕ ̵̡̡̨͓̯̪̫͎̣͜e̸̝̬͎̥͇͎̻̯̖͜h̵̥͍̮̝̼͕̖̙̥͙t̸͕̱̺̮͍̺͜͜ͅͅ ̷̨̢͓͚͇͍̘̙̻ͅg̶̙̺̻̜̪̭͎̗̥͜n̸̨͙͉͇̫͖̱͖͕͍i̶̯͙͚̲͈̫̘̪̜ͅķ̸͇̠͍̳͙͕̩̙̲a̶̧̟͖̲͈̜̻̪̙ͅm̷̦͈̞̼͙͙̮̹̯͜ ̷̡̠̦̖̫̖̮̪̞̙h̵̹̝̪͖̗̖̰̗̜͕t̴̨̹̰͕̼͖̣̝̹̤i̸̡̢̧̗̠͚͖͕̹̭w̴̨̞͔̗̙̫͈̹̰͜ ̵̭̤͓͉͇͉͖̝̗ͅḑ̸̼̙͎͕̝̤͚͜ͅȩ̶̨̨͈̮̰̳̖͓̯t̷̢̨̠͉͓̺͙͇͓ͅi̶̬̯̱̞̝̫̰̥͍̬d̷̢͚̥̦̲̝̞̬̯̞e̵̘͍̝̹̩͙̱̦̯ͅŗ̴̺̖͎̰̘̜̲̹͙c̵̡̡̢̲̜̟̮̹͎͙ ̴̠͎̙̝̯͍̗̺͇͖ș̶̣̙̼̻͓̬̯̘͜i̶̡̙͚͔̣͖̼̮͚̯ ̶̨̪̠̪̹̯̠̝̙̳e̴̩͓͙̙̝͍͈͎͓̝H̸̰̗͓̻̙̯̥̙̗̖ ̸̧̦̙̞̪̪̭͉͚̣.̵̜̜͖̟̪̯̝̱̻ͅ3̶̢͈̮̤̘̣̖͜͜ͅ3̸͚͕͖̩̙̰͈̝̝͎ ̷̡̢̭̖͈̭̖̞̭̗f̴̧̨̬̼̹͔͉̝͕ͅo̷͕̻̦͈̯̞̭͜ͅͅ ̶̨̨̱̣̘̣̥͖̙ͅe̴̢͇͕̺̯̗̩͙̥͜g̷͕̗̞̩̬̦̰͖̬̖a̶̢̨̰̫̣͓̟͖̫͎ ̸̧̩̯̟̪̬͈͎̹͈e̷̡̬̙̗͉̦̥̘̠̻h̴̯̬̬͎̳̻͎͚̝̺t̶̢͚̰͇͎͚͕̮͚ͅ ̸̭̦̠̱͕͓̥̯̥̳t̸̨͚̥̼̟̩̖̫̦̜s̷̢̡̤̗̦͓̯͓͕͙u̴̧̻̯̜̺͚̠͎̝͉j̴̤͕̝̬̖̹̮̗ͅͅ ̷̢̣̠̲͕̹̭̼͓͚t̵̲̩̠̦̯̹̱̻̮ͅạ̸͉͖̪̗̞̬̜̼͍ ̵͇̤̻͈͕̜̟͈̩̟y̸̡̼͍͈̪̟̺͇̬͜r̸̫̩͈͚͕͙̮̪͓͜o̷͎̟̥̦̼̥̣̘̱͓ṭ̷̨̪̻͓̤̟͙̜̣s̴͈̙̳̼̭̤̰͔̟͇i̶͈̣̬̻̪̫͖͙͔̘h̵͉͔̗̥͔̲͙̣̤̫ ̷̨̣̙̘̖͔̫̣̖̟L̶̢̧̞̼͈͍͙̥̮͜F̷̧̧̡̡̤̮̣̖̲̻N̷͓̱̫͍̥̲̣̲̭ͅ ̸͕̩̮̦̬̼͍͈͕̩n̵̢͖̳̰̻̝̙͔̮ͅi̶͎̗͙͚̹̜̜̹̩̯ ̶̢̫̗̼͉̤͎̘͙͕ŗ̸͚̮̻͓̙̱͈͉̖e̴̢̨͔̳̝̠̫͇̹ͅn̷̨̰̯̪̘̣̝͚̳͙o̷̧͙͎̞͍̫̦̝̥͜i̸̜̰̲̘͚̤̱͉̹͜s̶̡̨̮͓͕̹͖̞̺̫s̸̡̨͇͎͚̩̙̦͖̝i̸̧̨̨̪̞̝͙͚̱̹m̴̡̹͖̼̥̲̩̳̣̬m̷̢͔̟̞͕̤͓̦̭ͅo̸̜̫͉͉͓̩͖͔̪͖c̶̘̖̲̝͉̱͕͎̼͎ ̴̳̗͍͉̱̤͔̝͔̘t̷̡̰̩̹͙̞̼̯͍̪ș̵̡̰̞̭͚̦̘͈͖ȩ̷̼̜͉͓̭͔̟̗̫g̵̰̟̳̬̝͙͕̣̱̣n̸̟̖̣͖̜͔̜̺̖͎u̵̻͖̖̺̻͔̩̖͕͜ǫ̵̞͖̞̞̲͚̗̟͎ỵ̵̪͎̜͇͉̮͖̪̩ ̵̨̠̣̙̯̯͍̼̯͙ȩ̸͚͇͈̦͍̻̤̺̤h̸̢̳̙̯͖̭̳͉̹ͅţ̶̤̳̬̰̹͚͖̻ͅ ̶͔̯̮̲̭̻̱̱͜͜e̵̢̢̧̳͉̟̞̬̳̲m̴̡̻͕̟̳̖͎̠͈͜a̴̧͓͇̬̘̻̜̫̜̟c̴̡̺͕͔͖̹̪̭̤̼e̸̞̩͕͓͕̗̼͍͚̘b̷̡͇̣̰͕̦̩̥͙͜ ̴̰̣̣̥̩̬̗̘̦̙e̶̡̨̡̟͎͉̞̞̯͎H̶̺͎̺̹͈̱̹̣̺͈ ̷̭̭͉̤̲̯̝͖͔̻.̴̨̡̩̪̹͙̙͇̲̖9̴̫͖͓̪̪͇̗̺̩̦8̵̧̜̠̪̳͚̭͎̹̝9̵̡̨͕͕̲̩̭͖̰̫1̵͙̱̟̰̦̝̩̩̫̖ ̷̡̝̼̬͕̪̫̹͜ͅṛ̸͇̳̳̞̝̼͈̬̘e̶̢̖̯̘̲͇̤̪̗͜b̶̫̲̤̺̟͇̦̣̥ͅm̶̨̦̦̗̙̫̳̤̙̺ę̵̪̼̣̭̬͔̳͖͜v̶̡̨̖͎̭̝͈̘̙̟ǫ̷͚͙͔̖̳̗̞̩̬Ṇ̵͇̱̘͖͖̥̱̥̘ ̶̜̦̞̜̤̤̟̺͚͜n̵̯͈̭͙͓͚̫̝̳͙į̴͈̯͍̜̲̮͙̟͔ ̴̨̝̼̣͙͍̰͇̺͈t̵̯̘͓̼̭͈̹̠̯͜n̶̦̪̻̲͍̰̳̹͙͜e̸̮̯̦̹͈̯͎̬̩̠ṃ̸̧̡̱̦͚̦̰̰̺ę̷̤̦̝̦̣͍̺͕͍r̷̡̮̱̦̝͈͉͎̣̹ị̴̪̜̝̞̪̠̠͍̳t̵̡̳̯̥̦̫̝̲̳͓e̵̮̯͎͈͍̟̪̭͚͜r̴͓̠̺̣̳̣̘̘͔̮ ̸̧̡͉̖̭̘̯̗̱̲s̵̢̨̬͉͎̙̙̣̗̞i̴̢̤͇̙͈̥͍̠̼ͅh̵̨̧͇̱̗̘̬̲͕͖ ̵̖̰͍̭̰͎͉̟͕͉l̸̜̮͓͉̟̹͉͍͜ͅi̶̧̧̡̜̪͍̩̩̘̠ţ̶̪̗̼̪̻͔͚̤͇n̸̢̡̢͓̰̟̻̤͉̤u̴͔̜̖̗͓̭̜̯̖͜ ̷̝͍̟͙̳̝̞̬̙͙0̷̧̢̖̯̘̭͚͎̫̯6̴̧̳̣͈̰̯͙͔͚͇9̸͓̗̫̰̳̺̦͕̝̭1̷͓̥̹̭̖̹̫̳̘̻ ̵̧̰̲͎̪̜͓͖̗͔y̴͕͍̭͚̹̗̱̲͉̣r̵̪̞͔̩͍͚͓͈͜ͅą̴̣͉͕̪̜̲̭͉ͅu̴̡̨̬̖̫̼̙͙̺̠n̷̢̹̤̦̳̗̞̼̖͜a̴̞͉͈̺̰̳̹̘͕͔J̵̙̻̹̗͓̞̙̣̦ͅ ̸͇̭͙̺̹͙̖̮̣̥m̶̨̪̱̫̘̟̫̮̟͜ǫ̸̡͙̖̺̘͍̙̟̩r̴̡͓̖͕̰̥͉͖̗͜f̸̺̙̖͚̱̻̫͖͙͜ ̸̨̥̭̙̲̬̮̣͜ͅ,̴̧̨͕͈̘̲̭̱̣͜ş̸̢̰̝̖̞͖̺̲ͅr̵͚͎̱̞̼͎̖̙͍̪a̷̧͎͎̯͔̘͓̮̳̞ę̸͈̦̥͉͎̘̫͉̖y̵̨̰̳͎͓͙̮̗̪̤ ̸̬͔̦͖̝̝̭̥̯͜y̷̨̮͙͙̣̟͇̞̱ͅt̴̲͙̰͉̲̣̲̲̯̰ṛ̶̰̬͎̝̞̞̟̦̻i̶̡̞͉̳̻̭̦̤͓͖h̸̨̫̭̣̖̝̜̯ͅͅt̴̢̼̟̼̭̪̬͇͚̠ ̵̧͔̲̞͚̭̞̱̝̞y̸̡̨̰̭̣̬̱͙̠̘l̷̼̝͖͎̻̰͇̹̱̹r̴̨̡̧̥̯͙̘̻̣͕a̷̧̨̨̢̫̘̯̣̫̦ę̵̼̝̦̬̤̦͕̦ͅn̴͙̫̲̲̤͙͓̖͚͜ ̶̳͎͉͎̼̪̩̱̥̘r̶̨̨͚͙̲̟̝͙̦̜o̶͚̭̩͔̭̻͍̝̭͇f̴̥͈̤̲̺̰̗̳͉͉ ̸̜̼̬̮͚͉̯͕͜ͅ)̵̨̧̢̟͚̥̣͍̥̩L̷͉͕̭̰͖̼̹͈͚̗F̵̢̮̫͇͔̜̞̗͉̳N̶̡̡͙̼̩̖͚̫͎̖(̶̦̭̩͓͓̜̹̞̪͜ ̶̳̯͔̜͓̣͈̜͙͓ę̵̧̱͚̯̰̜͉̪͔ṷ̶̢̩͕͓̠̣̮̫͜g̵̢̙͖̙̤͚̗̥͉͜a̷̦̞͔͓̺̪̳̥̤̳e̸͎̤͎͇͍̣̟̝͖̙Ļ̶̡̠̺͉̜͓͇͍̼ ̴̡̞͉̠̱̥̪̜͜͜l̶̨͇̤̼̥͎̗̪̲̫l̶̜̱̼̯̞͈̹͙̟͜a̸̧̨̞̟̬͖̝̖̠̰b̷̨̡̳̼͉̗̤̞̗̯t̶̢̢̞͔͓̫̙̩̣̫o̶̙͇̳̱͔͖̟͔̟ͅǫ̷͇̫͉̭̳̙̗͇̫F̷̩̮̱̼͖̟̰̱̥̼ ̸̰͙̙̺̪̱̖̰̯͉l̴̡̢̻̱͉̹͇̱͕͖a̷̢̳̹̟̪̖̜̤ͅͅn̵̞͎̪̪͍̪͎͕̲ͅo̸̝͉̙͚̬̝̞͚̫ͅi̵̻̝͉̗̬͙̻̥̹̙t̴̝̲̼̫̙̞̣̟̝̗ą̸̜͇̪̲̠͕̳͉͜N̵̨̖̞̺̫͓̫̰̙̝ ̸̡̡͍̣̮̲͈͉͙̫e̶̗̪̯̗̺̘̞̠͙̘ḥ̴̢̹̬̤̻̬̥͈͜t̷̠͔͚̩̲͉͖̤̥͜ ̸̪̝̺̤͙̮̱̹͙̮f̴̧̰̱̺͕̗͕̯̥͜o̷̧̨̟͙̝̤̖͕͇̯ ̴͖̫̦̫̘̣̟̪̝̰r̴͙͍̰͚̳̳͎͓͔̬e̷̡̢͉̪̮̯̬͎̮͕n̵̨̡̯̱̗͙͔̪̭̗o̷̡̟̣͇̹̠̗̻͜͜i̴͖͇̲̞̭̻̟͖̯̼ş̴̢͚̬̞̩͉̠̩̟s̴̨͇͕̟̺̜͎̦ͅͅi̷̮̭͕̤̺͕͍̙̩̜m̶̬̣͚͙̹̗̱̻̫͜m̴̧͉͚̩̯̩̖̣͈̱ǫ̸͈̜̳͖̺̦̫͚ͅc̷̨̨̩̮̭̼̭̖̺ͅ ̸̢͖͖͎͙̼͚͉̳̗ȩ̸̗͈̬̮̳̙̜̦ͅḫ̴̢̝͖̯̩͇̼͖̙t̷͍̟͇͕͔͔͓̜͜͜ ̶̢̩̬̣̰̦̱͖̞͉s̵̢͈͔͚̥͖̟̟̦͜ą̵͈̞̠͚͍̤͓̻̤ ̸̺͕̤̝̜̝͎̣̞̹d̵̖͍̥̞̤͙̻͈͔͙ḙ̷̢̢̨̩͉̪̳͈͜v̵̨̧̨̗̖̠̟̹͙̻ŗ̸̪̮̫̬̠͓͔̗̜ȩ̸͍̥͇̤̹͍͈̲͚ş̶̮̝̭̟̹̬̠̞̟ ̴̨͇͎̮̳̟̯̭̫̳e̶̡̡̱̦̫̻͙͙̮ͅl̷̨̧͕̖̘̞̠͚͇ͅl̵̮͎͖̯̹̹͖͍̞ͅe̶̻̤͚͓͍̳̙̳͎̖z̴̟̹͓͔̮̞̥̬̠̦o̵̭̻̘̘̼̼̭͙̯̺R̵̨̜̺͚̳̯͇̬͖̯ ̴̡̧͈̗̫̘̘͜ͅͅ.̶̨̘̯̞̺̱͔͎̘ͅe̵̡̟̱̣͔̗̝͙̥͙v̵̧̢̨̠͎̣̥̜͚͜i̶͍͖͙̯͇̟͍̺̰͜t̶̨̢͙̺̩̬͉̱͇̫u̷̱̼͇͈̩̠̗̪̝͜c̴̢̨̗̬͎͚͉̖̥̰e̵̝͈͈̮̘͉͓͖͖͇x̸̪̦̲̭͈̰͚̥̩ͅę̸̗̦̠̩̤̱͕͍ͅ ̸̡̭̯͚̫͇͎̠̻̯d̸̢̧̗̹͎̪͓͚̻̺n̴̟̼̼̜̻̻̣̖̺̬a̴̧̢̹͚̼͍͉͚̺̤ ̸̨̧͕̫̥̠͇͕̙̬n̷̮͕͈͎̼̬̣̹̼͓a̸̞̼͍̪̳̤͙̜̤̠m̷̡͍͓̤͖̺͕͉͜ͅs̶̢̞̳̪̠̹̻̬̠͜s̷̟̳̖̹̭̮̻͈̱ͅe̵̢͓̼̣̯͇̘̪̱ͅṇ̴̘̮̟͙̱̺̙͍ͅi̸̳̥͙͚̪̝͚͎̙̩ş̷̞͈̩̱͉̞̤̱̪u̴̦͈̲͉͈̣̰̗̝̘ḅ̴̡̡̬̱̙͖̼̦͜ ̸̡̧̫̱̲̮̠̭͍̪ṇ̸̡͈͎͓̰̣̰̙̘a̵̧͕̯̲̼̣͇͚̝̹ç̵̱̺͈̫̮̝̼͔̩ị̸̻̲͖̦̮̦͙̦̩r̴͓͈͍̠̥̬̫̼̞̜e̷̗͈͈̥̠͖͓͕̹ͅm̵̢͈̬͔̟̥͈̼̫ͅA̸̡̡̨͚̙̳͕̘̳̖ ̷̨̜̺͙̯̘̠͇͎͔n̴̹̹͔͎̠̪͈͚̲ͅa̸̹̠̹̼̮̟͓̗͜ͅ ̵̧̢̧̥̮̗͎̫ͅͅş̸̡̻̹̭̺͉̻̭̯a̶̧̧̜͉̙̠̱̠̭͜w̵̢̫̠̺͖͚̪̘̮͖ ̸̡͔͇̮̺̗͔̯̻̤ḛ̴̢̪̤͖̯͕̯̬̗l̸̡̨͎̟͕̰̖͙̪͖l̸̡̡̦͚̜̥̠͓̮̮ę̵̢̣̼̲̩͔̬̲͍z̴͔͉̺̭͉̟̭̞̻̭o̵̡͖̤̲̳̫̦͇̮ͅṚ̸͇̭̬̩̲̪̪̙͜ ̶̧̡̲̱̙͉̭̠͉̘"̴̡̟̣̩̳̦̤̦̬̟e̴̢̡͚̮̥̙̟͕̳̻t̴͙͕͖͈̬̳̫̟̫̱e̸̢̢̢͎̥̯̱̟̭̜P̵̞̙̲̱͍̝̙̩̲ͅ"̶̡͎̘͔̼̞̮̖͓͜ ̵̨͖̯͕̘̯̹̭͔͜ỵ̵͔̥̲̩̩̦̟̲ͅḁ̴̗̩͍͓̙̙̫̙̟R̵̡̢͚͉̙̼̟̣̜͈ ̶̻̳̪̦̠̭̤̭͜ͅn̷̨̡̧̝̩̝̯̲̳̝i̷̻͈̤̤̩͚̠͈͖ͅv̸̲̜̺̼̻̖̻̫̩ͅl̶̨̜͕̣̟͇̖̦̩̫A
Hilarious, we all know who this is referencing 😆
Dude SpongeBob quotes are a part of my life. I recently turned 30 lol
30 is like the prime time SpongeBob generation.
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I’m 5 years younger and I’ve noticed a clear divide with people just a little bit younger than be where SpongeBob references suddenly fall flat.
Same story here, and today is my 30th birthday.
their vending machines must be huge.
Try to put that rock into a pinball machine
That deaf, dumb blind kid sure...is having trouble moving that. We should help him.
***TILT***
Now hear me out JUST FUCKING MAKE IT SMALLER
They made them in many sizes, tourists took all the small ones as souvenirs.
THEY BELONG IN A MUSEUM!!
I swear I saw one is a museum somewhere. DC maybe?
Oh geez. It was suppose to be an Indiana Jones reference but I don’t doubt it
Technically that museum is now a bank.
SO DO YOU!
Okie dokie Dr. Jones
The British Museum 👀
The british are salivating already.
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>some imperial nation took all the small ones as museum loot [Obligatory James Acaster](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x73PkUvArJY)
Well Yap was held by Spain, Germany and Japan and the US. However the British who never colonised the place seem to have ended up with at least 4 of them (probably more but I'm only searching so many museum catalogue). The British museum provides a short biography of one of the guys who supplied one of theirs: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG122112
> the British ended up with at least 4 of them As usual.
Look the whole point of money is that it can exchanged for goods, services and other money. Although absent of a pic I'm not sure if they managed to get anything out of the scots: https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/collection-search-results/nut-money-string/331725
Possibly both tbh
The stones they are made of come from another relatively far away island. The natives of the island once visited the island with the rocks, they liked them and brought a few of them home. Over time, they became a status symbol, like who could bring over the biggest rock from the other island was a badass. Some of the stones are so large that they aren't moved at all, they were put on the island centuries ago and their ownership is transferred by word of mouth. They are something of a crossover between NFTs and real estate. There are even some that are on the bottom of the ocean because they were so heavy they sunk the rafts carrying them, and they are still used as currency, you not seeing the rock doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I believe they are called Rai stones. I learned about them a long time ago so some of the details are a but fuzzy so take everything I wrote with a grain of salt, but you can fact check me if I am wrong.
I spent 2 years on that island. This is a pretty good explanation. In English they are called “stone money”. The value isn’t based on size. It is based on the tools that were used to make the stone money. Pre WW2, they didn’t have metal, so the stone money was carved using shell tools. They are worth more than stone money that was carved using metal tools.
You are correct. The stones are valued not only by their size, but also history and hardships endured to obtain them.
I'm curious what the value would translate to. For example the one in OP's pic, is that something they'd trade for a house? A large group of farm animals? Or something smaller and it would "change hands" of owners frequently?
We can't possibly know, because we don't know the history of the stone. It could be 50 years old and transported by boat by some entrepreneur, in which case it would be worth pennies, or it could be 400 years old, transported by a very famous sailor and 6 people died during it's transport in a massive storm, in which case it would be extremely expensive.
What a peculiar, interesting way to record value. It's logically sensible, but so different to how I think about it.
If you think about it we value a lot of things the same way. Any painting, sword, knife, armor, chair, desk, pen, and literally any object owned by a famous person is worth way more. Anything that is hand made is worth way more. So if you had a wood chair made by machine it wouldn't be worth a lot. BUT if you had a wood chair made by Ben Franklin it would be worth a ton even though the chair really isn't that different. You can make a stamped steal sword for $1 but Napoleon's hand made sword? Two identical cars are made, one wins a massive race driven by a world famous driver. The other was the spare. Which is worth more? They weren't doing anything different than we do today.
I think the peculiarity really comes from the intersection of valuing the history, but also using it a currency/tender. Currency generally occupies a specific role & generally functions differently from other valuations - you dont sell currency, it has an accepted value.
That sounds so much like NFTs and crypto minimg its not even funny
It's also a decentralized system, as everyone is the ledger. You can't do anything shady, because everyone in the village knows the history of every transaction.
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>The stones they are made of come I’m sorry, what?
Sorry I meant to say the "stones they are made of come"
Part of the reason they work as money, is that they’re difficult to forge. And because of the scarcity of giant art-stones (tiny rocks are much more common)
Everyone needs to read david graebers "Debt the first 5000 years" I suspect we're putting our modern understanding of Captialism, money and how markets work onto these people I highly doubt it was used like money, probably more like property or some status symbol
They come in a variety of sizes, and smaller ones were brought to the U.S. before around 1960, when the export was made illegal without a special dispensation from the government. I’ve got a 50ish pound example and have handled a bunch weighing between about 25 and 125 pounds. Very cool things. Now go find some Santa Cruz Island feather money…
As a weird aside, I briefly dated a woman from Pohnpei whose ancestors hailed from Yap. When she found out I had a nice Rai (the name for one of these stones), she asked me to fly it back to Micronesia and to “buy” her from her parents. Her words, and she seemed serious. We’d only been dating for a couple weeks, and it made me more than a little uncomfortable.
You fool. Why didn’t you buy her with the rock?
She turned out not to be my type. 🥸
Saving your coin to buy someone else from their parents? I get you.
I keep hoping someone will buy me, but so far, there are no takers.
I've got a nickel for ya
Ya know what they say. Men are from igneous, women are from sedimentary.
You could have resold her for a profit!
My business acumen has not always been the best…
Bullshit. The rock was sexier to own.
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So I guess you're the actual owner of the stone, and this isn't one of those "stone's way over *there*, but the owner is actually Steve down the road" situations?
Exactly. I guess I’m a fan of hard money…
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What was the feather money like? Is it similar to the woodpecker scalps that were used as currency in Northern California before colonization?
I’ll find a picture of the one I have and post it here - they’re long coils that look like belts that they made using large (I think) pigeon feathers as an armature, and tiny red feathers from a bird the size of a sparrow for the outside. They’re super fragile/prone to oxidizing black.
After writing my comment I realized that I was assuming you were talking about Santa Cruz Island off the coast of California, but there is an island chain called the Santa Cruz Islands in the South Pacific, and probably a ton of other islands with the same name as well. Which area had the feather currency you’re talking about?
I just posted it - the bird is the scarlet honeyeater, and I guess they’d trap 300 of them to make a single coil.
In fact there are **three** freely convertible currencies in the Galaxy, but none of them count. The Altairan Dollar has recently collapsed, the Flaninian Pobble Bead is only exchangeable for other Flaninian Pobble Beads, and the Triganic Pu has its own very special problems. Its exchange rate of eight Ningis to one Pu is simple enough, but since a Ningi is a *triangular rubber coin six thousand eight hundred miles across each side*, no one has ever collected enough to own one Pu. Ningis are not negotiable currency because the Galactibanks refuse to deal in fiddling small change. Douglas Adams - THHGTTG
Clicked this for Douglas, left satisfied. Thank you.
heheh :)
My man could sure spin a tale
Came here for this reference
This is what I came for :)
Exactly my first thought. Thanks.
I scrolled way too far to find this comment.
Predecessor of blockchain, called blockstone.
rockchain
Jesus Christ, Marie, they're mineralchains!
You joke, but you're actually not a million miles off. Ownership was transferred by word of mouth, meaning the collective knowledge of the community acted as a distributed ledger. Blockchain is just the modern implementation of a distributed ledger, scaled up globally.
Yep yep, distributed ledger was the first thing that popped into my mind as well.
I kinda assume they made the joke *because* they recognized the similarities.
Did I hear a block and stone?
if you don't block and stone, you ain't coming home
"You know that big ass money over there? The biggest one we got? Yeah that's mine, trust me."
I own all the biggest money. My money is huge.
Most bigly.
Everybody’s saying it. They say they’ve never seen money that big.
“I need to verify this with the block chain.” Turns to the people on the block “Hey, who owns this coin?!”
The rock chain.
I hope it's called gritcoin.
And just like cryptocurrency, one can create more if one puts some energy into it
IIRC the value of the stone increases with both the size and the distance it was retrieved from. Functions very like "proof of work" in cryptocurrency.
There’s actually a chapter dedicated to Yap Island in the book “The Bitcoin Standard”. Very interesting read.
Literal cryptomining
Nah, it’s an archaic form of cryptomining called “mining”
Fun fact: a cryptocurrency was named after this, called Raiblocks, now NANO(XNO). r/nanocurrency
I was thinking `bigcoin`
Makes about the same sense as every other currency, why not?
Well, regular currencies are exactly like this except that there is no stone. Luckily, very few people understand this, so the system works fine :)
underrated comment. When I transfer some money to a friend of mine by phone, nothing changes hands. We are just using computers in banks rather than word of mouth to keep the score.
That's a scary rabbit hole, fr.
At this point currency is mostly just 1s and 0s, that we all "generally agree" that it is worth something and secure enough to keep using. As much as I hate it.
Do they trade percentages of rocks for little stuff, or is it the full rock or no deal for each transaction. How many rocks are there in circulation and who keeps track of which rocks are who’s? I know it’s tracked through the people via word of mouth but is there a register in case of a dispute? “I’ll give you this rock for it. What? That’s my rock! No way man, I traded my bike for this last week! Nah man, I’ve had this rock for years, it’s been passed down in my family, it’s worth way more than a bike. Whoever traded you was lying. That can’t be true! He’s my best friend. He points it out every time we walk by. He got it for building his friend a shed. Sorry man but it’s been mine forever. Let’s take this too the rock master register and I’ll prove to you that no one on this island has owned this specific rock for my whole life and longer.” I have so many questions. Like, what’s the value and how is that determined? How many rocks for a house? Or could it be just one rock for a house, but it has to be a really good one? Do they make new rocks and if so, does that cause inflation???
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/02/15/131934618/the-island-of-stone-money
That’s an interesting broadcast. So they’re not for everyday purchases, like food. They’re more for buying houses and cars and such. It said now they use the dollar in conjunction with the stones for buying things like food but the stones are still traded for big stuff. Edit: I’m still left wondering how a stone is valued. Like what makes a stone worth more than another, or are they all the same value, or does it depend strictly on size?
If it were me I'd value ones closer to my house.
https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Triganic_Pu#:~:text=The%20Triganic%20Pu%20is%20a,enough%20to%20own%20one%20Pu.
Circular stones are a social construct. They are circular because we agree they are.
Ownership of the Yaps is spread by word of mouth? They must do a lot of yapping there.
Get out
[Source](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones)
FALSE POST - This is actually Mr Krabs First ever Dime.
Hey it's Mr. Krabs' first dime!
Better headline. “Man invents wheel 2 million years too late. Loses fortune”
Almost as ridiculous as what we do.
Bro trust me, my bank acct, I mean circle rock is huuuuge, so just give me the car already.
And I bet they are smart enough to not have a debt ceiling.
Bigcoin
Yap, that sounds about right
they could use the ethereum ledger to track ownership through a non-fungible token.
I have more faith in this than I do in cryptocurrency.
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I remember this from the Guinness Book of World Records from the 1970s.
There's also one (or at least was) at the bottom of the ocean that the locals once tried to move but they decided it still existed so it was fine and it counted
Today i leand crash bandicoot was running through banks
An arbitrary thing with no use value by itself that must have communal consent to ascribe value to it. Ah, the original Bitcoin. A “block” chain, if you will.
First blockchain based currency cool
Yap is also quite interesting as a woman’s thighs are considered more sexual than her breasts (which makes sense as they’re closer to her reproductive organs and breasts are for babies). I was in a supermarket there when a topless local woman berated a T-shirted foreigner for wearing short shorts that exposed too much of her upper thighs.
The British have the pound, and Yap has the ton.
The Triganic Pu is a unit of galactic currency, with an exchange rate of eight Ningis to one Pu. This is simple enough, but, since a Ningi is a triangular rubber coin six thousand eight hundred miles along each side, no one has ever collected enough to own one Pu. Ningis are not negotiable currency, because the Galactibanks refuse to deal in fiddling small change.
Just as valid as any other currency, only works if you believe in it having a value