Have you ever thought about creating a 4D wallpaper, as in a wallpaper with an added accessory up top? Or, what would happen if you placed non-powered treadmills all around your house during a zombie apocalypse? If so, continue reading to see twenty-four more ingenious ideas that will get you thinking this holiday season.

20 Interesting US Dollar facts:

  1. Larger bills ($50, $100) can last in circulation up to 8 years.
  2. The average life of a dollar bill is just 18 months.
  3. 97% of all paper money contains traces of cocaine.
  4. Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer, is said to use $2 notes from sheets of bills purchased from the U.S. Treasury � he apparently has them bound into book form with the bills as tear-off “pages”.
  5. The number 172 can be seen on the back of the U.S. $5 dollar bill in the bushes at the base of the Lincoln Memorial.
  6. $20 bills last in circulation for approximately 2 years.
  7. $5 bills last in circulation for around 15 months.
  8. In 1960, the Federal Reserve had $177.41 in cash circulating for every person living in the US. In 1990, that amount increased to $1,062.86 per capita.
  9. The security thread and micro printing found in most currency today were first used in 1990 in the $50 and $100 bills.
  10. In 1865, the Department of the Treasury issued Gold Certificates, which were backed by gold and bullion deposits. These certificates stayed in circulation until 1933.
  11. The first paper notes were printed in denominations of 1 cent, 5 cents, 25 cents, and 50 cents. The government first issued paper currency in 1862 to finance the Civil War and to make up for a shortage of coins stemming from the fact that people hoarded gold and silver coins to achieve a sense of financial security.
  12. Almost half, 48 percent, of the notes printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing are $1 notes.
  13. Present currency measures 2.61 inches wide by 6.14 inches long, and the thickness is 0.0043 inches. Larger sized notes in circulation before 1929 measured 3.125 inches by 7.4218 inches.
  14. Martha Washington is the only woman whose portrait has appeared on a U.S. currency note. It appeared on the face of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1886 and 1891, along with the back of the $1 Silver Certificate issued in 1896.
  15. If you had $10 billion and spent $1 every second of every day, it would take 317 years for you to go broke.
  16. The $20 bill is sometimes called a “double-sawbuck”.
  17. The elm tree on back of the $20 bill near the White House represents a real tree in this same location. However, the tree is no longer on the White House grounds because it succumbed to rain-softened ground in 2006.
  18. While he appears on the $20 bill, Andrew Jackson actually preferred coins to paper currency.
  19. There are no pictures of African-Americans printed on US currency, though five African Americans have had their signatures on currency (as Registers of the Treasury and Treasurer of the United States).
  20. In 1963, the $2 bill and the Federal Reserve Note were changed by adding the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST” to the reverse and removing “WILL PAY TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND” from the front. Also, the obligation on the Federal Reserve Note was changed to its current wording: “THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE”.

[Sources 1 | 2 | 3]

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A technology, gadget and video game enthusiast that loves covering the latest industry news. Favorite trade show? Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.