Why Burning Money Is Illegal in the United States

Why Burning Money Is Illegal in the United States If you have money to burn, congratulations- but youd better not actually set fire to a pile of cash. Burning money is illegal in the United States and is  punishable by up to 10 years in prison, not to mention fines. (More fun facts: Its also illegal to tear a dollar bill and even flatten a penny  under the weight of a locomotive on the railroad tracks.) The laws making defacing and debasing currency a crime have their roots in the federal governments use of precious metals to mint coins. Criminals were known to file down or cut off portions of those coins and keep the slivers for themselves while spending the altered currency. The odds of being prosecuted under the federal laws that making burning money or defacing coins, however, are fairly slim. First, coins now contain very little precious metals. Second, defacing printed currency in an act of protest is often compared to burning the American flag. That is to say, burning money may be considered protected speech under the U.S. Constitutions First Amendment. What the Law Says About Burning Money The section of federal law that makes tearing up or burning money a crime is  Title 18, Section 333, which was passed in 1948 and reads: Whoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both. What the Law Says About Mutilating Coins The section of federal law that makes mutilating coins a crime is Title 18, Section 331, which reads: Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the mints of the United States, or any foreign coins which are by law made current or are in actual use or circulation as money within the United States; or whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or brings into the United States, any such coin, knowing the same to be altered, defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled, or lightened shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. A separate section of Title 18 makes it illegal to debase coins minted by the U.S. government, meaning to shave some of the metal off and make the money less valuable. That crime is punishable by fines and up to 10 years in prison. Prosecutions Are Rare for Mutilating Currency Its pretty rare for someone to be arrested and charged with defiling or debased U.S. currency. Even those penny press machines found at arcades and some seashore attractions are in compliance with the law because theyre used to create souvenirs and not to debase or shave metal off the coin for profit or fraud. Perhaps the highest profile case of currency mutilation dates to 1963. An 18-year-old U.S. Marine named Ronald Lee Foster was convicted of whittling away the edges of pennies and spending the 1 cent coins as dimes in vending machines. Foster had been sentenced to a year of probation and $20, but more seriously the conviction prevented him from being able to get a gun license. Foster made national news in 2010 when President Barack Obama pardoned him.

All About Common Chinese Punctuation Marks

All About Common Chinese Punctuation Marks Chinese punctuation marks are used to organize and clarify written Chinese. Chinese punctuation marks are similar in function to English punctuation marks but sometimes differ in the form or look. All Chinese characters are written to a uniform size, and this size also extends to punctuation marks, so Chinese punctuation marks usually take up more space than their English counterparts. Chinese characters can be written either vertically or horizontally, so the Chinese punctuation marks change position depending on the direction of the text. For example, parentheses and quotation marks are rotated 90 degrees when written vertically, and the full stop mark is placed below and to the right of the last character when written vertically. Common Chinese Punctuation Marks Here are the most commonly used Chinese punctuation marks: Full Stop The Chinese full stop is a small circle that takes the space of one Chinese character. The Mandarin name of the full stop is Ã¥  ¥Ã¨â„¢Å¸/Ã¥  ¥Ã¥  · (jà ¹ ho). It is used at the end of a simple or complex sentence, as in these examples: è «â€¹Ã¤ ½  Ã¥ ¹ «Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã¨ ² ·Ã¤ ¸â‚¬Ã¤ » ½Ã¥   ±Ã§ ´â„¢Ã£â‚¬â€šÃ¨ ¯ ·Ã¤ ½  Ã¥ ¸ ®Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã¤ ¹ °Ã¤ ¸â‚¬Ã¤ » ½Ã¦Å  ¥Ã§ º ¸Ã£â‚¬â€šQÇ ng nÇ  bÄ ng wÇ’ mÇŽi yÄ « fà ¨n bozhÇ .Please help me buy a newspaper.é ¯ ¨Ã© ­Å¡Ã¦Ëœ ¯Ã§  ¸Ã© ¡Å¾Ã¤ ¸ Ã¦Ëœ ¯Ã© ­Å¡Ã© ¡Å¾Ã¨ â„¢Ã¨   Ã¦Ëœ ¯Ã§  ¸Ã© ¡Å¾Ã¤ ¸ Ã¦Ëœ ¯Ã© ³ ¥Ã© ¡Å¾Ã£â‚¬â€šÃ© ² ¸Ã© ± ¼Ã¦Ëœ ¯Ã¥â€¦ ½Ã§ ± »Ã¤ ¸ Ã¦Ëœ ¯Ã© ± ¼Ã§ ± »Ã¨ â„¢Ã¨   Ã¦Ëœ ¯Ã¥â€¦ ½Ã§ ± »Ã¤ ¸ Ã¦Ëœ ¯Ã© ¸Å¸Ã§ ± »Ã£â‚¬â€šJÄ «ngyà º shà ¬ shà ²u là ¨i, bà ºshà ¬ yà º là ¨i; biÄ nfà º shà ¬ shà ²u là ¨i, bà ºshà ¬ niÇŽo là ¨i.Whales are mammals, not fish; bats are mammals, not birds. Comma The Mandarin name of the Chinese comma is é€â€"號/é€â€"Ã¥  · (dà ²u ho). It is the same as the English comma, except it takes the space of one full character and is positioned in the middle of the line. It is used to separate clauses within a sentence, and to indicate pauses. Here are some examples: Ã¥ ¦â€šÃ¦Å¾Å"é ¢ ±Ã© ¢ ¨Ã¤ ¸ Ã¤ ¾â€ Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã¥â‚¬â€˜Ã¥ ° ±Ã¥â€¡ ºÃ¥Å"‹æâ€"…è ¡Å'。å ¦â€šÃ¦Å¾Å"Ã¥  °Ã© £Å½Ã¤ ¸ Ã¦  ¥Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã¤ » ¬Ã¥ ° ±Ã¥â€¡ ºÃ¥â€º ½Ã¦â€"…è ¡Å'。Rà ºguÇ’ tifÄ“ng bà ¹ li, wÇ’men jià ¹ chÃ… « guà ³ lÇšxà ­ng.If the typhoon does not come, we will take a trip abroad.ç  ¾Ã¥Å" ¨Ã§Å¡â€žÃ©â€º »Ã¨â€¦ ¦Ã§Å"Ÿæ˜ ¯Ã§â€ž ¡Ã¦â€°â‚¬Ã¤ ¸ Ã¨Æ' ½Ã£â‚¬â€šÃ§Å½ °Ã¥Å" ¨Ã§Å¡â€žÃ§â€ µÃ¨â€žâ€˜Ã§Å"Ÿæ˜ ¯Ã¦â€"  Ã¦â€°â‚¬Ã¤ ¸ Ã¨Æ' ½Ã£â‚¬â€šXinzi de dinnÇŽo, zhÄ“nshà ¬ wà º suÇ’ bà ¹ nà ©ng.Modern computers, they are truly essential. Enumeration Comma The enumeration comma is used to separate list items. It is a short dash going from top left to bottom right. The Mandarin name of the enumeration comma is é  â€œÃ¨â„¢Å¸/é ¡ ¿Ã¥  · (dà ¹n ho). The difference between the enumeration comma and the regular comma can be seen in the following example: Ã¥â€"Å"〠Ã¦â‚¬â€™Ã£â‚¬ Ã¥â€œâ‚¬Ã£â‚¬ Ã¦ ¨â€šÃ£â‚¬ Ã¦â€žâ€ºÃ£â‚¬ Ã¦Æ' ¡Ã£â‚¬ Ã¦ ¬ ²Ã¥  «Ã¥ Å¡Ã¤ ¸Æ'æÆ'…。åâ€"Å"〠Ã¦â‚¬â€™Ã£â‚¬ Ã¥â€œâ‚¬Ã£â‚¬ Ã¤ ¹ Ã£â‚¬ Ã§Ë† ±Ã£â‚¬ Ã¦  ¶Ã£â‚¬ Ã¦ ¬ ²Ã¥  «Ã¥ Å¡Ã¤ ¸Æ'æÆ'…。XÇ , nà ¹, Ä i, là ¨, i, à ¨, yà ¹, jiozuà ² qÄ « qà ­ng.Happiness, anger, sadness, joy, love, hate, and desire are known as the seven passions. Colon, Semicolon, Question Mark, and the Exclamation Mark These four Chinese punctuation marks are the same as their English counterparts and have the same usage as in English. Their names are as follows: Colon冒號/冒å  · (mo ho) - Semicolon - 分號/分å  · (fÄ“nho) - Question Mark - å• Ã¨â„¢Å¸/éâ€" ®Ã¥  · (wà ¨nho) - Exclamation Mark - é ©Å¡Ã¥Ëœâ€ Ã¨â„¢Å¸/æÆ'Šå  ¹Ã¥  · (jÄ «ng tn ho) - Quotation Marks Quotation marks are called Ã¥ ¼â€¢Ã¨â„¢Å¸/Ã¥ ¼â€¢Ã¥  · (yÇ n ho) in Mandarin Chinese. There are both single and double quote marks, with the double quotes used within the single quotes: ã€Å'...『...〠...〠 Western-style quotation marks are used in simplified Chinese, but traditional Chinese uses the symbols as shown above. They are used for quoted speech, emphasis and sometimes for proper nouns and titles. è€ Ã¥ ¸ «Ã¨ ª ªÃ£â‚¬Å'ä ½  Ã¥â‚¬â€˜Ã¨ ¦ Ã¨ ¨ËœÃ¤ ½  Ã¥Å"‹çˆ ¶Ã¨ ª ªÃ§Å¡â€žÃ£â‚¬Å½Ã© â€™Ã¥ ¹ ´Ã¨ ¦ Ã§ «â€¹Ã¥ ¿â€"Ã¥ Å¡Ã¥ ¤ §Ã¤ ºâ€¹Ã¤ ¸ Ã¨ ¦ Ã¥ Å¡Ã¥ ¤ §Ã¥ ®ËœÃ£â‚¬ Ã©â‚¬â„¢Ã¥  ¥Ã¨ © ±Ã£â‚¬â€šÃ£â‚¬ Ã¨â‚¬ Ã¥ ¸Ë†Ã¨ ¯ ´Ã¢â‚¬Å"ä ½  Ã¤ » ¬Ã¨ ¦ Ã¨ ® °Ã¤ ½  å› ½Ã§Ë† ¶Ã¨ ¯ ´Ã§Å¡â€žÃ¢â‚¬ËœÃ© â€™Ã¥ ¹ ´Ã¨ ¦ Ã§ «â€¹Ã¥ ¿â€"Ã¥ Å¡Ã¥ ¤ §Ã¤ ºâ€¹Ã¤ ¸ Ã¨ ¦ Ã¥ Å¡Ã¥ ¤ §Ã¥ ®ËœÃ¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¨ ¿â„¢Ã¥  ¥Ã¨ ¯ Ã£â‚¬â€šÃ¢â‚¬ LÇŽoshÄ « shuÃ… : â€Å"NÇ men yo jà ¬zhu Guà ³fà ¹ shuÃ…  de ‘qÄ «ngnin yo là ¬ zhà ¬ zuà ² dshà ¬, bà ¹yo zuà ² d guÄ n’ zhà ¨ jà ¹ hu.†The teacher said: â€Å"You must remember the words of Sun Yat-sen - ‘Youth should be committed to do big things, not to make big government.’