The New Hotness: $5 Bill Edition

Those of you who know me know that I'm not much of a fan of the news. I only watch to catch the weather report, if that. Otherwise, it's strictly 3 minutes at the top of the hour on Good Morning America, headlines on msn.com, The Daily Show (sporadically) and Newsweek (even more sporadically). I tend to assume the really important stuff will trickle down.

So imagine my surprise, when I received a brand new $5 dollar bill while in Boston this weekend. Behold:

The big changes include:

• Watermarks of the number "5" - one large "5" and a column of three smaller "5"s.
• Security thread - new location, new design
• New colors - the bill looks like someone spilled grape juice in the center of it, not to mention the gigantic purple "5" on the back. (More fancy stuff is detailed on the Department of Treasury site, http://www.moneyfactory.gov/.)

If I think back, I feel like I recall an announcement of some sort on this topic from a few months ago. However, it's just as likely that I'm so out of touch with the real world that I completely missed an announcement on NEW CURRENCY! Perhaps I need to reevaluate how I plug into the world.