New $100 bill

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New $100 bill: Too sci-fi?
The Treasury unveiled a revamped version of the $100 bill, complete with futuristic new security features. Some critics want a refund
posted on April 21, 2010, at 6:38 PM
The new $100 bill.

The new $100 bill. Photo: Getty

Best Opinion: WSJ, The Awl, Death + Taxes

The U.S. Treasury has released images of a redesigned $100 bill with new, Bladerunner-esque security features. Benjamin Franklin now consorts with a blue 3D security ribbon and a "bell in the inkwell" security stamp whose color fluctuates from copper to green (watch a video preview below). While Gawker's Hamilton Nolan damned the futuristic new look as "embarrassingly colorful" — "it looks like a god damn child's crayon scratch pad" — other critics embraced the redesign, which will enter circulation next February: "This is money that tells you it is coming from the future," says Alex Balk at The Awl. "It's... confident and a little aggressive." Matt Kiebus at Death + Taxes is also dazzled: "The United States Treasury just made the most complicated piece of currency my eyes have ever seen," he says. "It's new, it's shiny, I want it." Here's an FX-heavy video from the U.S. Treasury outlining the changes:

White House staff brings kids to work

WASHINGTON – Michelle Obama told a group of curious kids visiting the White House Thursday about her daughter Malia's most frequent question about Dad's job: What's he doing to help tigers?

Asked about her family's favorite animal, the first lady said they talk about tigers at least once a week, because Malia, 11, is concerned about what President Barack Obama is doing to save the endangered animals.

"He tells her he's working on it and there are a lot of people who are thinking about it," she said. "But I think, the Obama household, we're trying to save the tigers."

Mrs. Obama spent about an hour taking queries from children of executive office employees who visited the White House for Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.

The children asked Mrs. Obama about life in the White House, her campaign against childhood obesity, the White House garden - and whether she could make school recesses longer. She dodged that last one.

One detail she shared: The playlist on her iPod includes songs by Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Rihanna, Beyonce, Usher and Sting.