Advertisement
Published: February 27th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Today was our last day of the tour. We had our best breakfast so far. Hotels and food improved as the days passed. Our first stop of the day was the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. This is one of the two buildings dedicated to print paper currency in the US; THE other is located in Dallas. In a typical year the bureau prints 33 million notes a day with a face value of $529 millions. Ninety five percent of the paper currency printer goes to replace previous notes. Approximately 54.8 % of the notes printed are one dollar bills, the current size of the paper and the faces in each of the bills were established in 1929. There are 9 different designs ($1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $1000, $5000 and $100,000), however since 1969 the largest currency in circulation is 100. In the case of the 100,000 note, it was only printed to be used between the Treasurer of the United States and the Federal Reserve. In its process , the Bureau uses 18 tons of ink per day.
In order to avoid counterfeiting, the notes have being redesign in recent years. The most important security measures incorporated
in 1990’s are a watermark, a security thread and a color shifting ink. The security thread is located on the left side of the note. It is written vertically and it has the word USA , the denomination of the bill (e.g. TWENTY) and a small flag. It is visible on both sides of the note and glows bright green under an ultraviolet light. The color shifting ink, is located in the lower right hand side of the bill, it is used in the number demonstrating the currency value. It changes the color of the number from copper to green when you tilt the note up and down. The watermark is a faint image of the portrait in the note and it can be seeing on both sides of the note.
From the Bureau we walked a short distance to the Museum of the Holocaust. This museum displays the history of the genocide of the Jews in the Second World War perpetrated by the Nazis. The tour starts in the fourth floor and you walk down to the first floor. In the fourth floor you learned about how Hitler came to power, his ideas about the Jews and the communist,
and how he converted Germany to Nazism.
In the third floor named the Final Solution, the exhibition started with how the Jews were segregated and transported to the concentration camps. We visited a barrack from the Auschwitz concentration camp and a copy of the crematorium was on display. The crematorium was a place where the dead Jews were cremated after being gassed in the gas chambers.
In the second floor named Hall of Remembrance show what the allied forces found once they reached the concentration camps. It also tell the stories of people who saved the Jews from the concentration camps, and show us pictures of Jews who died on such camps. A total of 6 million people died in the concentration camps. Although the majority was Jew, it also included Polish people, homosexuals, politicians and philosophers opposed to Hitler’s regime and enemy soldiers,
After the Holocaust we moved to Capitol Hill for a series of pictures, By that time most of us felt hungry. Because we were close to the Mall, some of us decided to eat lunch in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Others decided to visit other museums. The Air and Space Museum has the largest
collection of aircrafts in the world. Among its new additions are an Airbus 380 and Boeing 787 exhibit and the new Boeing 747 exhibit, Because we were in this Museum about two years ago, we decided to concentrate in certain exhibits,.
The day ended for some with a visit to the Mall, others decided to go back to the hotel to pack in order to be ready for next morning wakeup call at 4:00 am.
As this Educational trip draw to a close, it is important to reflect on some key learning’s;
a. The wisdom of the Founding Fathers of the US that has such advance thinking in terms of civil rights, independence and separation of church and state that are still valid today, Unfortunately even today not everybody is equal in the American society, There is still discrimination on the minorities,
b. The US is the nation that has fought more wars in the 20th century. Starting with the First World War, The Second World War, The Korean War, The Vietnam War, The Bosnian Conflict, The Gulf War, and minor invasions of Grenada, Bay of Pigs, Santo Domingo and Nicaragua, could lead us to think that this is a
violent society, unfortunately the 21 century has started with the Afghan War and the Irak War.
c. The US is a powerful and resourceful country. It is the only nation that has put a man on the moon, winning the space race in the Cold War years.
d. The world has to be weary of leaders who commit genocide. To allow Hitler to kill 6 million people in concentration camps is unacceptable. Unfortunately similar killings occurred in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kenya and now Darfur. The world cannot keep their eyes closed to such atrocities.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.059s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 5; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0323s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb