Monday, January 22, 2018

Egg Accepted As Taxi Fare (Venezuela)




Havana Times
21 January 2018


Caridad

[…] The egg is the true currency of ordinary Venezuelans. It was a good joke on the social networks when people discovered that one day of minimum wage was not enough to pay for a single egg. But better yet was the man who didn’t have cash to grab a taxi after making a purchase at a food fair.

Overwhelmed by the weight, he asked a taxi driver how many bolivars he would charge for taking him home. Ten thousand bolivars, in cash of course. Ten thousand bolivars is the maximum allowed by banks to withdraw daily and the gentleman did not have them. So he made a very quick calculation, the egg carton of 30 units cost 300,000 bolivars. Each egg then has a cost of 10,000. He then offered an egg to the taxi driver in exchange for the raid and he, without hesitation, accepted.

I cannot assure that the anecdote is real, but it has all the basis to be it. […]

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Bar Codes on Traffic Light Signals Detect Jaywalkers (Dubai)




Gulf News
16 January 2018


Dubai: The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has clarified the confusion over the bar codes recently placed on traffic light signals in Dubai, and addressed rumours circulating on social networking sites. 

Social media users claimed that the barcodes could detect jaywalkers, and warned pedestrians to look out for the stickers.

In a recent tweet, the RTA stated that the barcodes on traffic light signals are not hi-tech devices that can fine jaywalkers but are simply part of the authority’s method in tracking its assets.  […]