The Vent and Rant Thread

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

^Coming from one of three countries in the world that haven't adopted metric. Time to join the 1800s America.

Or at least the National Aeronautics and Space Administration should make sure their people are on the same page (see Wired article).

[Freeshadow]

hare a comment actually made by a pal of mine regarding the usage of non metric measurements in RPG (since being not used to the other ones you don't have a feeling about if it is big/heavy/etc. w/o actually recalculating them roughly in mind)

a cubic foot is something I'd go to have an orthopedist look afrer

[wodin]

Originally Posted by wannabee

They got rid of one and two cent coins here. The cost more to make then they're worth.

That's the urban legend about the 1 cent coins here, yet the keep stamping them out by the billions!

[badgoodDeb]

I find the UK one-pound coins really sexy. Shiny and gold, and twice as thick. They really *feel* their worth. I prefer them as souvenirs, over most purchasable souvenirs. [I also bought a Canadian looney and tooney on ebay, as virtual souvenirs, even though I hadn't recently travelled to Canada.]

I wish the US would make dollar coins like the UK's pound coins. But perhaps it's because I only visit there occasionally, and don't have to carry the extra weight all the time.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

The US now wants to get rid of $1 bills in exchange for $1 coins. They seem to forget that they tried this in 1979 and nobody liked it, they tried again in 1999 and nobody liked it, so true to good political sense, they are now minting millions of them again to be circulated.

They say that there will be a savings of 5 billion dollars after several years, as the coins last longer than the paper/cloth bills. I think they could save 5 billion dollars even faster if they would just stop sending soldiers off to fight other countries battles, and stop letting the politicians raise their own salaries every other month!


Stitchawl

I guess I must be nobody because I like them, and use them whenever I have the chance; which isn't often!

The trouble they've had with the more recent iterations is the size of them; they too closely resemble 25 cent and 50 cent pieces, and are easily confused with those. Why don’t they just go back to the size of the original silver dollar, which coincidentally is the same size as Las Vegas casino chips?

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

I find the UK one-pound coins really sexy. Shiny and gold, and twice as thick. They really *feel* their worth. I prefer them as souvenirs, over most purchasable souvenirs. [I also bought a Canadian looney and tooney on ebay, as virtual souvenirs, even though I hadn't recently travelled to Canada.]

I wish the US would make dollar coins like the UK's pound coins. But perhaps it's because I only visit there occasionally, and don't have to carry the extra weight all the time.

I LOVED the 1, 2 and 5 mark coins when I lived in Germany! I wish we had something similar!

[Freeshadow]

we loved them too - because they had twice the walue of the euros we have now.

[wannabee]

regarding the size issue of coins:

Spoiler:

we got rid of $1 and $2 notes as well. It's rare to mix up a ten cent piece and a $1 coin. Originally the 50 cent coin got confused with the 20 cent coin so the changed its shape. The two dollar coin is twice as thick as the 5 cent one. It seems to work pretty well over here.

Addressing the "Urban Myth" that the copper 1 and 2 cent coins were uneconomical. Apparently no one circulated them. People emptied their pockets at night and and only grabed the larger coins on the way out. When I read that I smiled and thought of the giant jar of 1 and 2 cent coins that was on the shelf which I still have like everyone else I know.

[Stitchawl]

When my father and uncle were kids, (late 1890's-1910's) they would throw their pennies into a 1-gallon pickle jars each night, having a 'special jar' for the ones that were still bright and shinny new. When they would fill up one jar they would start on another. By the time both of them moved out of the house there were quite a few jars.

Years later my grandparents sold their house, discovered the jars filled with pennies, took them to the bank, and converted them into paper money. Grandma said she got almost $100! She didn't mention this until she was in her 80's... at which time I asked my father; "By chance, were these pennies 'Indian Head' pennies. He replied that most of them were...

Spoiler:

'Indian Head' pennies in good condition are worth hundreds of dollars. If Grandma had gone to a coin dealer instead of the bank she would have received Mega-thousands of dollars for those pennies instead of a hundred bucks!

Stitchawl

[Freeshadow]

ouch that hurts

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Spoiler:

'Indian Head' pennies in good condition are worth hundreds of dollars. If Grandma had gone to a coin dealer instead of the bank she would have received Mega-thousands of dollars for those pennies instead of a hundred bucks!

Stitchawl

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

ouch that hurts

The same sort of thing happened to my mother...
My father always kept the newest magazine and comic books in his waiting room. Every week he would give me a dollar to go to the store and buy 10 new comic books, an assortment for younger kids and older. Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Sgt.Rock, etc., as well as Little Lulu and Donald Duck genres.

Every week my mother would take the old comic books and throw them into a box in the storage room, eventually adding the next box as one filled. When my father retired and sold his practice, my mother carted off all the old boxes to the incinerator room... There were 'First Editions' of virtually every new superhero after Superman and Batman... all in almost pristine condition.... She never had any idea people would actually pay for old comics.


Stitchawl

[wannabee]

Before they changed the shape of the 50 cent coin here they were round. I had a small draw full of them and thinking they were old, in times of need I would grab a few for cigarettes and the like. That was before cigarettes reach a dollar a pack.

Spoiler:

They remain a very collectible item in uncirculated condition, but are now regarded as little more than a bullion coin in lesser grade. Each coin contains approximately one third ounce of silver. The value of the coin continues to generate confusion among the general public. Today, they are worth around $7 each*. During the silver boom of the early 1980's, their intrinsic value reached highs of $11 to $15.

We'd all be rich in hind sight. Gotta laugh or you'd cry.

[SneakySnake]

Like that 1914 penny I lost. i just looked it up. $7.50 not so important then I bought it for 20 cents in the 1980s because that's the value it went through the bank's machine at (I was the teller).

I had an original $2 Telstra phone card in my wallet for years. I eventually threw it out. Maybe it is still worth $2.

I knew I should have bought up all the local coles's supplies of iSnack2.0 before it became cheesymite!

[wannabee]

Originally Posted by SneakySnake

I knew I should have bought up all the local coles's supplies of iSnack2.0 before it became cheesymite!

What's Duff Beer worth now?

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

When my father and uncle were kids, (late 1890's-1910's) they would throw their pennies into a 1-gallon pickle jars each night, having a 'special jar' for the ones that were still bright and shinny new. When they would fill up one jar they would start on another. By the time both of them moved out of the house there were quite a few jars.

Years later my grandparents sold their house, discovered the jars filled with pennies, took them to the bank, and converted them into paper money. Grandma said she got almost $100! She didn't mention this until she was in her 80's... at which time I asked my father; "By chance, were these pennies 'Indian Head' pennies. He replied that most of them were...

Spoiler:

'Indian Head' pennies in good condition are worth hundreds of dollars. If Grandma had gone to a coin dealer instead of the bank she would have received Mega-thousands of dollars for those pennies instead of a hundred bucks!

Stitchawl

I had a jarful of Indian head pennies, Mercury dimes, buffalo nickles, steel pennies, and silver dollars. When I went to 'Nam, someone stole them from my mother's house.

Yes, that hurt.