Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 7/1/2019 11:54 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: Pennies will never stop being minted--the members of Congress representing the state of Illinois would not stand for it. In spite of costing more to make them than they are worth. The same could be said for Congresmen. :)
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 01/07/2019, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote (in part): > On Mon, 1 Jul 2019 at 14:01, William Donzelli wrote (in > part): >> There are still a few institutions and older folks that still use >> checks (like the annoying people that hold up the line in a grocery >> store, writing out a check), so the image deposit system is just an >> effort to cut down the foot traffic to banks. > > And freighting trucks full of cheques from bank to bank, I thought? Yes. Most FIs and clearing houses scan them in and transmit signed batches around, saving boatloads of money. The smaller FIs are still an exception. N.
RE: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
USA paper currency used to be the size of punchcards. So, if one were to have a LOT of it, you could use the same trays, and counting machines, etc. Do you suppose that Hollerith had a lot of paper currency? On Mon, 1 Jul 2019, Rich Alderson via cctalk wrote: Actually, Hollerith designed his card that size precisely so that storage drawers for bank notes could be used. I deliberately inverted that, in a futile attempt at humor. Pennies used to be copper. Now, they are mostly zinc, due to copper costing more than a penny. But, they managed to maintain the copper color. During WW2, pennies were briefly made out of steel. Technically, they were bronze, a copper-tin alloy. Sometime in the 1970s, IIRC, pennies became copper (or bronze) coated aluminum. I've always heard copper plated zinc from 1982 on. They seem a little too heavy to be aluminum, although the newer pennies are slightly lighter. The Wikipedia article says that 1.5 million were made of aluminum in 1974, and then that was rejected, and supports the copper plated zinc that I had heard. Pennies will never stop being minted--the members of Congress representing the state of Illinois would not stand for it. In spite of costing more to make them than they are worth.
RE: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
From: Fred Cisin Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2019 6:57 AM On Sat, 29 Jun 2019, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote: >> US currency is very confusing to me. All the notes seem to be the same size >> and colour, so you can't readily sort them. I mean, I know America doesn't >> believe in helping people when they're sick, but it wasn't until I visited >> that I realised you saved up particular hatred for the blind and >> partially-sighted and went out of your way to make life more difficult for >> them. > USA paper currency used to be the size of punchcards. So, if one were to > have a LOT of it, you could use the same trays, and counting machines, > etc. Do you suppose that Hollerith had a lot of paper currency? > "If Hollerith were alive today, how many birthdays would he have had?" > requires being aware that 1900 was NOT a leap year. Actually, Hollerith designed his card that size precisely so that storage drawers for bank notes could be used. >> You use nicknames for 2 denominations which most of us foreigners don't know >> -- I still don't know which is a "nickel" (which is a metal to me) and which >> is a "dime" (which is a Swedish chocolate-covered sweet bar, of which I'm >> very fond but can't eat because I'm overweight). > A "Dime" is one tenth of a dollar. Or ten cents. Or $10 worth of drugs. > The coin is 17.91mm diameter, and the smallest coin in circulation. The name comes from an old French coin (pre-Republic) > A "Nickel" is five cents. or $5 worth of drugs. > The coin is 21.21mm, and is between a penny and a quarter in size. The $0.05 coin is a nickel-copper alloy. At one time, an easy way to distinguish between US and Canadian nickels was that the nickel content in the Canadian coin was higher, enough so that a magnet would pick them up. In the 19th Century, $0.05 was a silver-copper alloy coin like the $0.10 dime, $0.25 quarter, and $0.50 half dollar. (The silver dollar was something like 0.997 pure silver.) There was a nickel-copper $0.03 coin called, astonishingly enough, a nickel. > "Silver Dollar pancakes" are actually larger than a silver dollar, but > nobody complains. >> And the base unit is a cent, but you call them "pennies", the base >> unit of _my_ old country's currency, and you didn't even put the >> symbol into ASCII. Yes, "cent" because they were $0.01. "Penny" because that was what the small coins were called. There was no need for ha'farthings, farthings, ha'pennies in the Brave New Decimal Currency! > Pennies used to be copper. Now, they are mostly zinc, due to copper > costing more than a penny. But, they managed to maintain the copper > color. During WW2, pennies were briefly made out of steel. Technically, they were bronze, a copper-tin alloy. In 1943, at the height of the war, zinc-coated steel pennies were issued. In 1944, there was a return to bronze, but the coins were a different color because expended artillery shells were melted down for the metal, and had a higher tin content. > 6 decades ago, pennies said "One Cent" on the back, with pictures of > wheat; then they changed to a picture of the Lincoln memorial, which is at > the end of Memorial bridge in Washington, DC. >From 1909 until 1959, the Lincoln penny had the wheat ears. (The nifty thing about the image of the Lincoln Memorial is that on new enough pennies one can see the statue of Lincoln in the center of the Memorial.) Sometime in the 1970s, IIRC, pennies became copper (or bronze) coated aluminum. Pennies will never stop being minted--the members of Congress representing the state of Illinois would not stand for it. Prior to 1909, for I forget how long and I'm not going to look it up, the obverse of the penny had an image of an "Indian" head--which was actually the image of the sculptor's daughter wearing a feather headdress. OB vious: Someone was an avid coin collector as a kid. Rich
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
Oh, but we are proud of our unremembered heritage, and fiercely resist change. We still use Fahrenheit. And efforts to "go metric" have made little headway. On Mon, 1 Jul 2019, dwight wrote: Not every thing makes sense to go metric. Clearly bold sizes are better off in fractional sizes. Also for wrenches. I have to have 13, 14 and 15 mm wrenches. A 9/16 would have covered the entire range. I have a spot on my car that I need a 23mm offset box wrench. What a pain. I find that an SAE set of wrenches and a metric set of wrenches tend to need similar quantities. German cars switched from 14mm to 13mm heads for 8mm bolts about 5 decades ago. Japanese use 12mm heads on 8mm bolts, and 13mm and 15mm are rare on Japanese cars. Unless you are dealing with vintage stuff - 10,13,15,17,19 for German cars; 10,12,14,17,19 for Japanese cars 16mm, 18mm seem rare. Whitworth is finally rare Yes, once you get above an inch, sizes are less standardized. 9/16 doesn't cover everything. It could, if you provided appropriate punishment for any use of a 17/32 or 19/32 bolt head. 1/4-20 bolts use 7/16" heads, which is about 11mm. But lately, I have encountered some 1/4-20 with 10mm heads! (Chinese specification change)
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
> On Jul 1, 2019, at 2:10 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk > wrote: > > > >>> A "Dime" is one tenth of a dollar. Or ten cents. Or $10 worth of drugs. >>> The coin is 17.91mm diameter, and the smallest coin in circulation. >>> A "Nickel" is five cents. or $5 worth of drugs. >>> The coin is 21.21mm, and is between a penny and a quarter in size. >> I'm broadly aware but I can never remember which is 5¢ and which is 10¢. > > Think of the "dime" as a "deci" > > "nickel and dime" is used to mean small and irrelevant. > "nickel" and "dime" are also slang for $5 and $10 respectively, except in > casinos, because while the casinos still had coin slot machines In terms of denominations that the US used, originally there was no nickel. There was a half-dime to represent $0.05. It was a silver coin half the size of the dime. The mint changed over to nickel because the half-dime was too small. The original nickel was almost identical to the $5 gold piece of the time, so with some simple chemistry (basically gold plating the nickel) you could pass it off as a $5 gold piece. The mint changed the design of the nickel so as to make the subterfuge more obvious to the causal observer. US coinage is littered with denominations that are no longer used: half-cent ($0.005) copper “large” cent ($0.01 but the approximate size of a quarter but of copper instead of silver) 2 cent piece (copper) 3 cent piece (nickel) half-dime (silver) 20 cent piece (silver) And then of course there the gold coins: $1 (about the size of a dime) $5 (about the size of a nickel) $10 (about the size of a quarter) $20 (about the size of a half dollar) $50 (rare and about the size of a silver dollar) Each coin (be it silver or gold) was intended to approximately represent the value of the metal in the coin (that is a $10 gold coin was supposed to contain roughly $10 of gold). I believe at the time an ounce of silver was $1.25 and I believe gold was $32/oz. These are of course troy ounces - 12 troy ounces to a pound versus 16 avoirdupois ounce to a pound. TTFN - Guy
Re: STOP IT : "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
ENOUGH ALREADY! Surely there must be better lists to carry on this conversation. On Mon, 1 Jul 2019, dwight via cctalk wrote: Not every thing makes sense to go metric. Clearly bold sizes are better off in fractional sizes. Also for wrenches. I have to have 13, 14 and 15 mm wrenches. A 9/16 would have covered the entire range. I have a spot on my car that I need a 23mm offset box wrench. What a pain. Dwight From: cctalk on behalf of Fred Cisin via cctalk Sent: Monday, July 1, 2019 2:10 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR Now that the dollar coin is a different color than the quarter, they don't end up mixed. But, the replacement of the Washington quarter, that even included when they were silver, with the commemorative quarters means they are now all different designs, and the Susan B. Anthony dollar coins no longer have more of a difference of appearance from quarters than a Canadian quarter. A "Dime" is one tenth of a dollar. Or ten cents. Or $10 worth of drugs. The coin is 17.91mm diameter, and the smallest coin in circulation. A "Nickel" is five cents. or $5 worth of drugs. The coin is 21.21mm, and is between a penny and a quarter in size. I'm broadly aware but I can never remember which is 5¢ and which is 10¢. Think of the "dime" as a "deci" "nickel and dime" is used to mean small and irrelevant. "nickel" and "dime" are also slang for $5 and $10 respectively, except in casinos, because while the casinos still had coin slot machines they had nickel ones, and did NOT confuse those with $5 chips. But, without the little paper-cup bucket of coins, what's the appeal of scanning a card, and then, if the machine malfunctioned and you won, it prints out a piece of paper to take to the cashier cage? Yeah, but we reformed and decimalised it all about 50y ago, and now, as an olde pharte, all the old units and multiples are arcane and weird even to me. I have only the dimmest memories of seeing shillings and things like that. I barely understand feet and inches and don't really grasp pounds, ounces and so on at all. I have never used Fahrenheit. Oh, but we are proud of our unremembered heritage, and fiercely resist change. We still use Fahrenheit. And efforts to "go metric" have made little headway. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
Not every thing makes sense to go metric. Clearly bold sizes are better off in fractional sizes. Also for wrenches. I have to have 13, 14 and 15 mm wrenches. A 9/16 would have covered the entire range. I have a spot on my car that I need a 23mm offset box wrench. What a pain. Dwight From: cctalk on behalf of Fred Cisin via cctalk Sent: Monday, July 1, 2019 2:10 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR Now that the dollar coin is a different color than the quarter, they don't end up mixed. But, the replacement of the Washington quarter, that even included when they were silver, with the commemorative quarters means they are now all different designs, and the Susan B. Anthony dollar coins no longer have more of a difference of appearance from quarters than a Canadian quarter. >> A "Dime" is one tenth of a dollar. Or ten cents. Or $10 worth of drugs. >> The coin is 17.91mm diameter, and the smallest coin in circulation. >> A "Nickel" is five cents. or $5 worth of drugs. >> The coin is 21.21mm, and is between a penny and a quarter in size. > I'm broadly aware but I can never remember which is 5¢ and which is 10¢. Think of the "dime" as a "deci" "nickel and dime" is used to mean small and irrelevant. "nickel" and "dime" are also slang for $5 and $10 respectively, except in casinos, because while the casinos still had coin slot machines they had nickel ones, and did NOT confuse those with $5 chips. But, without the little paper-cup bucket of coins, what's the appeal of scanning a card, and then, if the machine malfunctioned and you won, it prints out a piece of paper to take to the cashier cage? > Yeah, but we reformed and decimalised it all about 50y ago, and now, > as an olde pharte, all the old units and multiples are arcane and > weird even to me. I have only the dimmest memories of seeing shillings > and things like that. I barely understand feet and inches and don't > really grasp pounds, ounces and so on at all. I have never used > Fahrenheit. Oh, but we are proud of our unremembered heritage, and fiercely resist change. We still use Fahrenheit. And efforts to "go metric" have made little headway. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
Now that the dollar coin is a different color than the quarter, they don't end up mixed. But, the replacement of the Washington quarter, that even included when they were silver, with the commemorative quarters means they are now all different designs, and the Susan B. Anthony dollar coins no longer have more of a difference of appearance from quarters than a Canadian quarter. A "Dime" is one tenth of a dollar. Or ten cents. Or $10 worth of drugs. The coin is 17.91mm diameter, and the smallest coin in circulation. A "Nickel" is five cents. or $5 worth of drugs. The coin is 21.21mm, and is between a penny and a quarter in size. I'm broadly aware but I can never remember which is 5¢ and which is 10¢. Think of the "dime" as a "deci" "nickel and dime" is used to mean small and irrelevant. "nickel" and "dime" are also slang for $5 and $10 respectively, except in casinos, because while the casinos still had coin slot machines they had nickel ones, and did NOT confuse those with $5 chips. But, without the little paper-cup bucket of coins, what's the appeal of scanning a card, and then, if the machine malfunctioned and you won, it prints out a piece of paper to take to the cashier cage? Yeah, but we reformed and decimalised it all about 50y ago, and now, as an olde pharte, all the old units and multiples are arcane and weird even to me. I have only the dimmest memories of seeing shillings and things like that. I barely understand feet and inches and don't really grasp pounds, ounces and so on at all. I have never used Fahrenheit. Oh, but we are proud of our unremembered heritage, and fiercely resist change. We still use Fahrenheit. And efforts to "go metric" have made little headway. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
> A few years ago, one of the motorsports events that I help organize used > PayPal. The entry fee was around $1000-2000 (depending on the type of > entry) and I think we got around 50 entries that year. Most of the > competitors pay their entry fee on the last day of the "early entry" > deadline before the price goes up. When that happened, PayPal flagged > the event's account and locked access to the funds in the account. Did anyone in the organization warn Paypal of sudden influx of transactions? This can make a world of difference. -- Will
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 7/1/19 10:09 AM, William Donzelli via cctalk wrote: Maybe for you. I did a group purchase of tickets for a club I am a member of. Almost everyone paid me for their tickets paid with checks. I help organize motorsports events; my expenses are reimbursed with checks. Paypal seems to be king for this sort of thing around here. Got one PayPal for the tickets. My daughter does a lot of Venmo. A few years ago, one of the motorsports events that I help organize used PayPal. The entry fee was around $1000-2000 (depending on the type of entry) and I think we got around 50 entries that year. Most of the competitors pay their entry fee on the last day of the "early entry" deadline before the price goes up. When that happened, PayPal flagged the event's account and locked access to the funds in the account. They kept it locked until after the event was run. There was no reason for this; the event had been running for almost a decade with no financial issues. However, there are pre-event expenses that the event has to cover and, thanks to PayPal, it had no access to the entry fee money for this. If it were not for member's of the organizing committee loaning the event money for those expenses, the event would not have happened that year. So, PayPal (and, by association, any other electronic payment system) isn't even considered these days. alan
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 7/1/19 10:01 AM, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote: On Mon, 1 Jul 2019 at 17:46, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote: I sold a $3500 car once for cash to a guy who sold his goods at a booth at fairs and shows. He received lots and lots of $20 bills in payment, so that is what he paid me with. I kept the cash instead of depositing it in the bank and going to an ATM to get cash out. I hear that. I also bought a motorbike this way once. The dealers gave me a discount "for cash". I was naïve and thought that meant actual specie and turned up with £2000 in notes. The poor salesman nearly had an unfortunate little personal accident and was fearful his boss would give him grief for leaving so much in the company safe. He had merely meant "not for credit" and had expected a banker's draft or the like. I had another car that I sold for $24000 where the buyer paid in cash. The largest denomination in circulation here is the $100 bill (note), so that was a stack of cash. That went into the bank (after taking some creative photos with the money). There are small bank branches in grocery stores here and I deposited the money at one of those kinds of branches. It was more cash than they were used to dealing with and they didn't want to take it. alan
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
> Maybe for you. I did a group purchase of tickets for a club I am a > member of. Almost everyone paid me for their tickets paid with checks. > I help organize motorsports events; my expenses are reimbursed with checks. Paypal seems to be king for this sort of thing around here. -- Will
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On Mon, 1 Jul 2019 at 17:46, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote: > I sold a $3500 car once for cash to a guy who sold his goods at a booth > at fairs and shows. He received lots and lots of $20 bills in payment, > so that is what he paid me with. I kept the cash instead of depositing > it in the bank and going to an ATM to get cash out. I hear that. I also bought a motorbike this way once. The dealers gave me a discount "for cash". I was naïve and thought that meant actual specie and turned up with £2000 in notes. The poor salesman nearly had an unfortunate little personal accident and was fearful his boss would give him grief for leaving so much in the company safe. He had merely meant "not for credit" and had expected a banker's draft or the like. > Maybe for you. I did a group purchase of tickets for a club I am a > member of. Almost everyone paid me for their tickets paid with checks. > I help organize motorsports events; my expenses are reimbursed with checks. This matches what I've heard. I suspect that my Czech bank probably lacks any facilities for processing paper cheques whatsoever. I still used them occasionally in Britain when I left, circa 2014, but they'd been very rare for ~5 years by then. In the noughties I still used them regularly and caused some institutions -- e.g. my ISP -- quite serious operational problems by doing so. -- Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 - ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 7/1/19 5:01 AM, William Donzelli via cctalk wrote: In every other country I've visited or lived in -- about 30 or 40 of them -- banknotes are all different sizes, so that totally blind people can sort by size if they have a few of them. I daresay the very skilled can do it by absolute, not relative, size. Sighted people can and do do it by touch without really thinking about it. US currency is the most most seriously counterfeited in the world, due to being useful almost anywhere. This is why the bills are not very distinctive - you are supposed to look at them. Most counterfeits are good, but not good enough, and can (and will) stick out in a batch of bills - the might just look "funny" or "odd". Have millions of eyes looking for the counterfeits ever day of the year is actually quite effective. I once worked at a bank, and the number of bogus bills that the tellers would get every month was very significant - and most actually stuck out like a sore thumb!. I sold a $3500 car once for cash to a guy who sold his goods at a booth at fairs and shows. He received lots and lots of $20 bills in payment, so that is what he paid me with. I kept the cash instead of depositing it in the bank and going to an ATM to get cash out. One day I was counting out some cash and two of the bills felt funny. This was before a lot of the anti-counterfeiting features in current $20 bills. The bills themselves looked really close to real ones, but the feel of the paper was wrong. Paper cheques disappeared in Britain a decade ago and are very rare now. That is mostly the case here as well. Most under-40 people do not have a checkbook anymore. In my business, I get maybe two payments per year with checks - well under 1/10 of a percent of total payments. My American friends and colleagues over here talk about US cheque processing and sending _images_ of cheques to one another, and the Czechs are incredulous. This is like hearing about carrying letters by horse-drawn carriage in these parts; this is a technology that never really happened here and that pretty much no living person has ever seen. There are still a few institutions and older folks that still use checks (like the annoying people that hold up the line in a grocery store, writing out a check), so the image deposit system is just an effort to cut down the foot traffic to banks. More convenience for customers, and less labor costs for banks. It is handy to have, but really, not many people use it much, simply because getting a paper check is just a rare occurrence these days. Maybe for you. I did a group purchase of tickets for a club I am a member of. Almost everyone paid me for their tickets paid with checks. I help organize motorsports events; my expenses are reimbursed with checks. alan -- Will
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On Mon, 1 Jul 2019 at 15:26, Patrick Finnegan wrote: > Checks can be relatively convenient and cheap compared to other options. I > can (for free) send a check of any size to anyone I want by filling out a > form on my bank's website to pay someone (mostly limited by my account's > balance). You need to use a cheque to do that?! o_O > Running a business, I have to occasionally transfer more money between my > LLC and personal account that goes over the monthly limit I can do, so I have > them print a check, and go to the branch, pick it up, and deposit it into the > other account. :-o ... I am astounded. I have only done that I think once in my life, to buy a motorcycle, about 30y ago. UK cheques were guaranteed by your card up to £50. IOW they got the money even if you didn't have it. For bigger purchases, sometimes, vendors might refuse. So you could get a "counter cheque" or "banker's draft" for large transactions -- i.e. thousands to tens of thousands -- which means the bank guarantees it, not you personally. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banker%27s_draft > It's dumb, but reliable and easier/cheaper than doing it electronically. I feel like the Reddit thread where the Americans discovered that for everyone else, SMS are free to receive, and the Europeans discovered that Americans pay to _get_ SMS as well as to _send_ SMS. You *pay* for EFT?! I am astounded, aghast, shocked! > Plus, checks are easier to deposit at home using a phone app than cash is. I heard that. I think it's hilarious. It's like, I don't know, chiselling a message into a rock, then taking a photo of the rock and mailing it. Like an Asterix comic book, from a parallel universe where no one invented paper and pen. > EFT costs money, have relatively low limits, and require you to know the bank > account # of the recipient. *Boggle* I bought my new _apartment_ by EFT in April. Of _course_ it didn't cost me anything. I'd no more expect to pay than I'd expect to pay to breathe. Yes I have the account numbers. Everyone does. You can't withdraw using it, only deposit. > Personal "internet-based" electronic payment systems fix the account number > problem, but I've got accounts on like five different ones to be able to send > money to different people who don't all use the same one. The EU system is EU-wide. > At least in the US, card processing costs (usually) the recipient some > percentage of the transaction. As a merchant, I just factor that into the > costs of doing business. If I have to pay an extra 3% to send money to a > friend for a shared expense, that's annoying. That is normal but only a concern for merchants. > NFC-based tap-to-pay systems (Google/Apple Pay, etc) are nice where they're > adopted. I enjoyed using them pretty universally in Australia, and was sad at > now few seemed to exist in New Zealand. The nicest part was that it kept the > terminal from asking me to sign a receipt. There were a fair number of > situations where I tried to pay for things, but they refused > chip-and-signature cards, and had to find cash. I was in the Nethelands at new year and found I could not use my cards to pay. This is the first time it's happened to me this century. This includes non-EU countries, across the Caribbean, etc. > As an aside, coming from the US, it seems strange to pay (business/strangers) > for things and use a card that draws directly from a bank account instead of > credit. If someone steals the account # or the merchant screws me over, > there's basically no protections on my debit card, especially if I don't > notice it right away. If you have good enough credit to get a credit card, > it's easily worth the benefits. If there is a dodgy withdrawal or payment, the bank refunds you and then use their might and clout and lawyers to chase the miscreant. You don't pay. We mostly only use credit cards for transactions when we don't have the money, e.g. big payments before payday, or for additional services -- e.g. mine gives me automatic travel insurance whenever I buy travel tickets with it. So I buy all my airfares and things that way. -- Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 - ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On Mon, Jul 1, 2019 at 8:01 AM William Donzelli via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > That is mostly the case here as well. Most under-40 people do not have > a checkbook anymore. In my business, I get maybe two payments per year > with checks - well under 1/10 of a percent of total payments. > > > My American friends and colleagues over here talk about US cheque > > processing and sending _images_ of cheques to one another, and the > > Czechs are incredulous. This is like hearing about carrying letters by > > horse-drawn carriage in these parts; this is a technology that never > > really happened here and that pretty much no living person has ever > > seen. > > There are still a few institutions and older folks that still use > checks (like the annoying people that hold up the line in a grocery > store, writing out a check), so the image deposit system is just an > effort to cut down the foot traffic to banks. More convenience for > customers, and less labor costs for banks. It is handy to have, but > really, not many people use it much, simply because getting a paper > check is just a rare occurrence these days. > A few more thoughts from watching this conversation.. Checks can be relatively convenient and cheap compared to other options. I can (for free) send a check of any size to anyone I want by filling out a form on my bank's website to pay someone (mostly limited by my account's balance). Running a business, I have to occasionally transfer more money between my LLC and personal account that goes over the monthly limit I can do, so I have them print a check, and go to the branch, pick it up, and deposit it into the other account. It's dumb, but reliable and easier/cheaper than doing it electronically. Plus, checks are easier to deposit at home using a phone app than cash is. I'm still waiting for that one to be figured out... EFT costs money, have relatively low limits, and require you to know the bank account # of the recipient. Personal "internet-based" electronic payment systems fix the account number problem, but I've got accounts on like five different ones to be able to send money to different people who don't all use the same one. At least in the US, card processing costs (usually) the recipient some percentage of the transaction. As a merchant, I just factor that into the costs of doing business. If I have to pay an extra 3% to send money to a friend for a shared expense, that's annoying. NFC-based tap-to-pay systems (Google/Apple Pay, etc) are nice where they're adopted. I enjoyed using them pretty universally in Australia, and was sad at now few seemed to exist in New Zealand. The nicest part was that it kept the terminal from asking me to sign a receipt. There were a fair number of situations where I tried to pay for things, but they refused chip-and-signature cards, and had to find cash. As an aside, coming from the US, it seems strange to pay (business/strangers) for things and use a card that draws directly from a bank account instead of credit. If someone steals the account # or the merchant screws me over, there's basically no protections on my debit card, especially if I don't notice it right away. If you have good enough credit to get a credit card, it's easily worth the benefits. Pat
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On Mon, 1 Jul 2019 at 14:01, William Donzelli wrote: > > US currency is the most most seriously counterfeited in the world, due > to being useful almost anywhere. This is why the bills are not very > distinctive - you are supposed to look at them. Most counterfeits are > good, but not good enough, and can (and will) stick out in a batch of > bills - the might just look "funny" or "odd". Have millions of eyes > looking for the counterfeits ever day of the year is actually quite > effective. I once worked at a bank, and the number of bogus bills that > the tellers would get every month was very significant - and most > actually stuck out like a sore thumb!. That's kinda a good point. :-) Fake bills aren't a big problem in Europe in my experience, but I have seen them and it does happen. > Mind you, I think US currency is very ugly, compared to many other > currencies, but I see the point of the design. Personally I don't hugely care about that. I remember when the Euro became common a lot of people thought they were too modern, too colourful, etc. Comments such as "it looks like Monopoly money" were common. But we've all got used to them now. > Yes, that is the case all around, for the entire population. Well, yes, but more so. As in, paying for 1 beer, or other small transactions that for most sighted people wouldn't be worth it. > That is mostly the case here as well. Most under-40 people do not have > a checkbook anymore. In my business, I get maybe two payments per year > with checks - well under 1/10 of a percent of total payments. That doesn't jar with the experiences of my American friends over here, who have to send cheques to the US for processing, get cheques in the mail and send images back, stuff like that. A friend sends photos of cheques to his sister for her to process for him for small stuff "back home". It seems to be quite an everyday thing. > There are still a few institutions and older folks that still use > checks (like the annoying people that hold up the line in a grocery > store, writing out a check), so the image deposit system is just an > effort to cut down the foot traffic to banks. And freighting trucks full of cheques from bank to bank, I thought? > More convenience for > customers, and less labor costs for banks. It is handy to have, but > really, not many people use it much, simply because getting a paper > check is just a rare occurrence these days. Hmm. It certainly is for me, but not from what I hear for others... -- Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 - ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
> In every other country I've visited or lived in -- about 30 or 40 of > them -- banknotes are all different sizes, so that totally blind > people can sort by size if they have a few of them. I daresay the very > skilled can do it by absolute, not relative, size. Sighted people can > and do do it by touch without really thinking about it. US currency is the most most seriously counterfeited in the world, due to being useful almost anywhere. This is why the bills are not very distinctive - you are supposed to look at them. Most counterfeits are good, but not good enough, and can (and will) stick out in a batch of bills - the might just look "funny" or "odd". Have millions of eyes looking for the counterfeits ever day of the year is actually quite effective. I once worked at a bank, and the number of bogus bills that the tellers would get every month was very significant - and most actually stuck out like a sore thumb!. So if you get a stack of US currency, and need to count it, you really need to look at each one, even if just a partial quick glance. With a stack of Euros, you can do a quick sort by color or size, and bogus bills can slip right by. It is a trade off. Mind you, I think US currency is very ugly, compared to many other currencies, but I see the point of the design. On the other hand, US coins really are not faked very much anymore (it is mostly limited to older collectibles), so the US Mint have been playing around a lot with new coin designs, maybe more than ever before. They are even starting to purposely introduce limited editions into circulation (the "W Quarter"), just for fun. The are, of course, still constrained by the physical aspects of the coins, due to mechanical changers and such. > To be honest, even in the UK, my blind friends mostly dislike dealing > in both paper and metal currency and if they can, these days they pay > with a card. Yes, that is the case all around, for the entire population. > Paper cheques disappeared in Britain a decade ago > and are very rare now. That is mostly the case here as well. Most under-40 people do not have a checkbook anymore. In my business, I get maybe two payments per year with checks - well under 1/10 of a percent of total payments. > My American friends and colleagues over here talk about US cheque > processing and sending _images_ of cheques to one another, and the > Czechs are incredulous. This is like hearing about carrying letters by > horse-drawn carriage in these parts; this is a technology that never > really happened here and that pretty much no living person has ever > seen. There are still a few institutions and older folks that still use checks (like the annoying people that hold up the line in a grocery store, writing out a check), so the image deposit system is just an effort to cut down the foot traffic to banks. More convenience for customers, and less labor costs for banks. It is handy to have, but really, not many people use it much, simply because getting a paper check is just a rare occurrence these days. -- Will
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On Sat, 29 Jun 2019 at 15:57, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > > USA makes a pretense of accommodating disabilities, but is actually pretty > hostile to the disabled. :-( > The "new" paper currency, that is s'posedly good for blind people has > slightly different shades of the same colors. (!) I googled pictures. Amazing. I am reminded of a famed quote from TV snooker commentator Ted Lowe, describing a position of the balls on the table: "Steve is going for the pink ball - and for those of you who are watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green." Snooker is a cue/ball game a bit like pool but much harder and on a far bigger table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snooker > A "Dime" is one tenth of a dollar. Or ten cents. Or $10 worth of drugs. > The coin is 17.91mm diameter, and the smallest coin in circulation. > > A "Nickel" is five cents. or $5 worth of drugs. > The coin is 21.21mm, and is between a penny and a quarter in size. I'm broadly aware but I can never remember which is 5¢ and which is 10¢. Thanks for the info on drug purchasing, in case I ever need that. :-D > "Silver Dollar pancakes" are actually larger than a silver dollar, but > nobody complains. :-D > Pennies used to be copper. Now, they are mostly zinc, due to copper > costing more than a penny. But, they managed to maintain the copper > color. During WW2, pennies were briefly made out of steel. I think many "copper" or "brass" coins around the world now are steel with a coating -- it's cheaper. > Our parent country taught us to make currency weird, and we have carried > on the tradition. Yeah, but we reformed and decimalised it all about 50y ago, and now, as an olde pharte, all the old units and multiples are arcane and weird even to me. I have only the dimmest memories of seeing shillings and things like that. I barely understand feet and inches and don't really grasp pounds, ounces and so on at all. I have never used Fahrenheit. I recently bought Dr Spock's famed baby book and have discovered to my dismay that all the units in it are incomprehensible. :-( -- Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 - ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On Sat, 29 Jun 2019 at 13:39, William Donzelli wrote: > > Your knowledge is way out of date. I was first there about 25y ago, and last there about 17y ago. The much-vaunted redesign was, to my European eyes, so subtle as to be indistinguishable. No, I'm not kidding. > US currency changed about twenty > years ago, partially to benefit the blind. Other than the one dollar > note, they all now have much larger portraits, big plain numbers on > the back, and subtle color variations. There is a tradeoff in the > design - the mint makes them distinctive enough for the blind, yet > identical enough to force people to actually look at the notes. In every other country I've visited or lived in -- about 30 or 40 of them -- banknotes are all different sizes, so that totally blind people can sort by size if they have a few of them. I daresay the very skilled can do it by absolute, not relative, size. Sighted people can and do do it by touch without really thinking about it. Braille is all very well but requires careful manual searching to find the codes and then reading of them. Note size is much quicker and easier. > Additionally, the newer brass color dollar coins are fairly successful > with the blind. They have a distinct color and edge, which does make > them very easy to distinguish from the Quarter, unlike the earlier > Susan B Anthony coin. This I didn't know but I'll take your word. To be honest, even in the UK, my blind friends mostly dislike dealing in both paper and metal currency and if they can, these days they pay with a card. Facebook's efforts to introduce a cryptocurrency highlighted that its management are rich enough that, even if they are well-travelled now, they don't personally pay for stuff. Most of the developed world has working contactless payment systems now, and we don't need Apple Pay or anything. My main British and Czech bank cards are all contactless. I don't insert them in slots much any more and I don't sign for things any more -- that went out in the 20th century. I just tap the card on a reader, and if the transaction is more than a cutoff, I enter my PIN. Obviously it's hard for blind people to sign for things; they mostly cannot write or fill in paper forms, including cheques. However entering a PIN is easy. Here in Czechia, there is little use of internet payment systems such as Paypal. They bypassed the whole cheque era; most Czechs have never seen a chequebook and a few friends were fascinated when I showed them my old British ones. Paper cheques disappeared in Britain a decade ago and are very rare now. Trivial payments are by card; large ones are by bank-to-bank electronic transfer. I can buy train tickets, theatre or concert tickets by sending the money directly from my bank via their website or smartphone app to the vendor's account. So people don't use their cards much online here, as they do now in Britain and Western Europe. In China, they don't even use cards -- it's a mobile phone app. Actual cash is disappearing. They bypassed cheques _and_ plastic cards and went from cash to apps. My American friends and colleagues over here talk about US cheque processing and sending _images_ of cheques to one another, and the Czechs are incredulous. This is like hearing about carrying letters by horse-drawn carriage in these parts; this is a technology that never really happened here and that pretty much no living person has ever seen. -- Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 - ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
I have US half dollar coins (JFK) trom 2017, and maybe later they were in proof sets, unc sets, and banks should have them for general circulation. On Mon, Jul 1, 2019 at 12:50 AM Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > I think that half-dollar and small dollar are still officially in > circulation. You might have to ask your bank to ORDER. > I think that they stopped minting half dollar in 2002, when they decided > that they had enough inventory to meet foreseeable needs. > > Half-dollar would presumably be all Kennedy. Walking Liberty is now R@RE. > > Small dollar would be commemorative presidents, with some random Susan B. > Anthony, Scajewea, Native American small dollars mixed in. But, don't you > want to collact EVERY president? :-) > Cartwheels (large dollar) are not in circulation much. > > > On Mon, 1 Jul 2019, John Herron via cctalk wrote: > > > This is interesting. How long ago was that out of curiosity? I keep > > thinking to ask my bank if they have any dollar coins or half dollar > rolls > > (probably doing them a favor by trading for more common currency) same > with > > $2 bills. Might as well get them before they're really out of circulation > > unless that already happened. > > > > On Fri, Jun 28, 2019, 2:47 PM Electronics Plus via cctalk < > > cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > > >> Just for fun, I went to the bank and bought about $1000 in half dollar > and > >> dollar coins. My son collects them, and we went through them all. We did > >> find some silver half dollars. The ones we are not keeping now go to > >> whatever fast food or corner store is needed. Some like them, some hate > >> them! Most tell me they have not seen them in years. > >> > >> Cindy > >> > >> -Original Message- > >> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of TeoZ > via > >> cctalk > >> Sent: Friday, June 28, 2019 2:36 PM > >> To: Chuck Guzis; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > >> Subject: Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an > >> IBM 5100 using OCR > >> > >> I have not seen any half dollars in circulation in some time. They are > >> just > >> too big to fit in people skinny jeans these days. > >> > >> -Original Message- > >> From: Chuck Guzis via cctalk > >> Sent: Friday, June 28, 2019 3:18 PM > >> To: Fred Cisin via cctalk > >> Subject: Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM > of > >> an > >> IBM 5100 using OCR > >> > >> On 6/28/19 9:57 AM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > > I saw this half-dollar sized plastic fob on the desk and asked what > > it was for. > >> > >> The big failure of the Susan B. Anthony coin was that it was about the > >> same size (slightly different shape) as a quarter-dollar coin, causing > >> people to mistake them as such on occasion. > >> > >> It was *extremely* unpopular. > >> > >> FWIW, I just checked my "loose change" container that sits atop my > >> bedroom dresser. There were two Kennedy half-dollars--one from 1968 and > >> the other from 1983. I suspect that a great many are still in > >> circulation. > >> > >> --Chuck > >> > >> > >> --- > >> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > >> https://www.avast.com/antivirus >
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
The banks I go to usually have a pretty good selection. Every once in a while I'll get a surprise from a teller who has been saving something special for me for a few days. If asked nicely, some tellers will watch for things for you. On Mon, Jul 1, 2019 at 12:37 AM John Herron via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > This is interesting. How long ago was that out of curiosity? I keep > thinking to ask my bank if they have any dollar coins or half dollar rolls > (probably doing them a favor by trading for more common currency) same with > $2 bills. Might as well get them before they're really out of circulation > unless that already happened. > > On Fri, Jun 28, 2019, 2:47 PM Electronics Plus via cctalk < > cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > > Just for fun, I went to the bank and bought about $1000 in half dollar > and > > dollar coins. My son collects them, and we went through them all. We did > > find some silver half dollars. The ones we are not keeping now go to > > whatever fast food or corner store is needed. Some like them, some hate > > them! Most tell me they have not seen them in years. > > > > Cindy > > > > -Original Message- > > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of TeoZ > via > > cctalk > > Sent: Friday, June 28, 2019 2:36 PM > > To: Chuck Guzis; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > > Subject: Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an > > IBM 5100 using OCR > > > > I have not seen any half dollars in circulation in some time. They are > > just > > too big to fit in people skinny jeans these days. > > > > -Original Message- > > From: Chuck Guzis via cctalk > > Sent: Friday, June 28, 2019 3:18 PM > > To: Fred Cisin via cctalk > > Subject: Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of > > an > > IBM 5100 using OCR > > > > On 6/28/19 9:57 AM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > > >>> I saw this half-dollar sized plastic fob on the desk and asked what > > >>> it was for. > > > > The big failure of the Susan B. Anthony coin was that it was about the > > same size (slightly different shape) as a quarter-dollar coin, causing > > people to mistake them as such on occasion. > > > > It was *extremely* unpopular. > > > > FWIW, I just checked my "loose change" container that sits atop my > > bedroom dresser. There were two Kennedy half-dollars--one from 1968 and > > the other from 1983. I suspect that a great many are still in > > circulation. > > > > --Chuck > > > > > > --- > > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > > https://www.avast.com/antivirus > > > > >
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
I think that half-dollar and small dollar are still officially in circulation. You might have to ask your bank to ORDER. I think that they stopped minting half dollar in 2002, when they decided that they had enough inventory to meet foreseeable needs. Half-dollar would presumably be all Kennedy. Walking Liberty is now R@RE. Small dollar would be commemorative presidents, with some random Susan B. Anthony, Scajewea, Native American small dollars mixed in. But, don't you want to collact EVERY president? :-) Cartwheels (large dollar) are not in circulation much. On Mon, 1 Jul 2019, John Herron via cctalk wrote: This is interesting. How long ago was that out of curiosity? I keep thinking to ask my bank if they have any dollar coins or half dollar rolls (probably doing them a favor by trading for more common currency) same with $2 bills. Might as well get them before they're really out of circulation unless that already happened. On Fri, Jun 28, 2019, 2:47 PM Electronics Plus via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: Just for fun, I went to the bank and bought about $1000 in half dollar and dollar coins. My son collects them, and we went through them all. We did find some silver half dollars. The ones we are not keeping now go to whatever fast food or corner store is needed. Some like them, some hate them! Most tell me they have not seen them in years. Cindy -Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of TeoZ via cctalk Sent: Friday, June 28, 2019 2:36 PM To: Chuck Guzis; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR I have not seen any half dollars in circulation in some time. They are just too big to fit in people skinny jeans these days. -Original Message- From: Chuck Guzis via cctalk Sent: Friday, June 28, 2019 3:18 PM To: Fred Cisin via cctalk Subject: Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR On 6/28/19 9:57 AM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: I saw this half-dollar sized plastic fob on the desk and asked what it was for. The big failure of the Susan B. Anthony coin was that it was about the same size (slightly different shape) as a quarter-dollar coin, causing people to mistake them as such on occasion. It was *extremely* unpopular. FWIW, I just checked my "loose change" container that sits atop my bedroom dresser. There were two Kennedy half-dollars--one from 1968 and the other from 1983. I suspect that a great many are still in circulation. --Chuck --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
This is interesting. How long ago was that out of curiosity? I keep thinking to ask my bank if they have any dollar coins or half dollar rolls (probably doing them a favor by trading for more common currency) same with $2 bills. Might as well get them before they're really out of circulation unless that already happened. On Fri, Jun 28, 2019, 2:47 PM Electronics Plus via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > Just for fun, I went to the bank and bought about $1000 in half dollar and > dollar coins. My son collects them, and we went through them all. We did > find some silver half dollars. The ones we are not keeping now go to > whatever fast food or corner store is needed. Some like them, some hate > them! Most tell me they have not seen them in years. > > Cindy > > -Original Message- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of TeoZ via > cctalk > Sent: Friday, June 28, 2019 2:36 PM > To: Chuck Guzis; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > Subject: Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an > IBM 5100 using OCR > > I have not seen any half dollars in circulation in some time. They are > just > too big to fit in people skinny jeans these days. > > -Original Message- > From: Chuck Guzis via cctalk > Sent: Friday, June 28, 2019 3:18 PM > To: Fred Cisin via cctalk > Subject: Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of > an > IBM 5100 using OCR > > On 6/28/19 9:57 AM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > >>> I saw this half-dollar sized plastic fob on the desk and asked what > >>> it was for. > > The big failure of the Susan B. Anthony coin was that it was about the > same size (slightly different shape) as a quarter-dollar coin, causing > people to mistake them as such on occasion. > > It was *extremely* unpopular. > > FWIW, I just checked my "loose change" container that sits atop my > bedroom dresser. There were two Kennedy half-dollars--one from 1968 and > the other from 1983. I suspect that a great many are still in > circulation. > > --Chuck > > > --- > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > https://www.avast.com/antivirus > >
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
Washington State Ferries still use 50 cent pieces and 2 dollar bills a lot. After years of receiving them as change, I finally asked why? The reason is they reduce the number of hand movements by one half. If you're sitting in a kiosk all day dolling out change, it can reduce repetitive wrist/elbow ailments. On 6/28/19 9:57 AM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: I saw this half-dollar sized plastic fob on the desk and asked what it was for. On Fri, 28 Jun 2019, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote: If I may just say -- only about 5% of humanity know how big that is. I don't. I don't even know if a half a dollar is a note or a coin, and that's without getting extra-pedantic and pointing out that about a dozen countries call their currencies the "dollar". :-( Oh, FAR FAR FAR less than 5%. Most residents of USA haven't seen a half dollar or "50 cent piece" in decades. They are as much of an oddity as the $2 bill. They are nominally still in circulation, most recent being JFK, but I think that they stopped making them in 2002, and there are federal vaults full of uncirculated pre-2002 coins. Most recent has a portrait of Kennedy. They are 30.61mm diameter, which is the largest relatively recent USA coin (not counting the long discontinued 38.1mm SILVER DOLLAR) You could have just ASSUMED THAT IT WOULD BE logarithmically between a quarter[dollar] (24.26mm) and a dollar coin (26.5mm). That would be completely WRONG, unless you use the 38.1mm ancient "silver dollar", but hardly a problem. "50 pence coin" would be CLOSE ENOUGH. Actually, for THIS purpose, "large coin" is as accurate as you need. Just as I am not at all familiar with British currency, that hasn't dampened my appreciation of British TV, such as Doctor Who and a variety of Brit-coms. "Silver dollar" used to be a large coin. (38.1mm) It was the standard for casinos. When it was discontinued (1935), the casinos started to mint their own chips/tokens as a replacement. There was a brief attempt to revive the silver dollar in 1971 with the "Eisenhower Dollar". It is quite rare that you will encounter one of the "large dollars". The Susan B Anthony dollar (1979-1981) http://www.smalldollars.com/ was never widely accepted, mostly because it was MUCH MUCH too close to a quarter in size. (26.5mm V 24.26mm) Different edge milling is NOT ENOUGH. It COULD have been widely accepted, if the gubmint were to have given a tax incentive to have video games that took a quarter to provide five games for a "Carter Quarter"; and the "quantity sale" would have been so profitable that the tax incentive would only have to have been short term. It is quite rare that you will encounter one. It was later replaced with the Sacajewa dollar. Same problem. It is quite rare that you will encounter one. Then there was a commemorative series (gold colored) of presidents of USA. Change of COLOR is NOT ENOUGH. It is quite rare that you will encounter one. And, I understand that the gubmint is planning an "American innovation" commemorative series. We are far too arrogant to learn from our mistakes. It will be quite rare that you will encounter one. But, the states of USA commemorative quarters were so popular that they followed that with national parks commemorative quarters. The quarter is the largest USA coin that you are likely to encounter in circulation. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 2019-06-29 9:15 a.m., Nemo Nusquam via cctalk wrote: On 06/29/19 06:39, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote (in part): US currency is very confusing to me. All the notes seem to be the same size and colour, so you can't readily sort them. Some countries also put Braille dots (besides the different colours). Does the US have any such plans? N. Canada has had braille dots on its notes. In late 2011 Canadian notes switch from cotton/paper to plastic which makes braille dots easy and durable. Each denomination of note is also a different colourCanadian coins are the same denominations as US coins and are mostly the same size. In Canada the five cent piece was likely called a nickel because when the original silver 5 cent piece, that was smaller than a dime, was replaced by a larger coin of base metal, it was nearly pure nickel. Canada also has a 50 cent piece, but like the US they are not circulated much. The last time I relieved one in change was 40 years ago when crossing the international bridge at Cornwall ON. the toll was an even half dollar increment so when you got change for the toll gates they gave you 50 cent pieces. I still have one or two of them. Paul.
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 6/29/19 3:39 AM, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote: > You use nicknames for 2 denominations which most of us foreigners > don't know -- I still don't know which is a "nickel" (which is a metal > to me) and which is a "dime" (which is a Swedish chocolate-covered > sweet bar, of which I'm very fond but can't eat because I'm > overweight). There we share a culture with the British (e.g. "tanner", "quid", "nicker", "guinea"). However,I'll also say that younger Americans are unfamiliar with older US slang for various denominations. For example, "bit" = 12.5 cents hails back to the Spanish custom of dividing the Real (milled dollar--wonder how many young Spaniards know about that?) into eight pieces, hence, "pieces of eight". So "two bits" is a quarter dollar (our term "dollar" hails back to the Bohemian "Joachimsthaler"). Fin = 5 dollars, sawbuck = 10 dollars, double-sawbuck = 20 dollars, frog = 50 dollars, C-note = 100 dollars... --Chuck
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
"Silver dollar" used to be a large coin. (38.1mm) It was the standard for casinos. When it was discontinued (1935), the casinos started to mint their own chips/tokens as a replacement. There was a brief attempt to revive the silver dollar in 1971 with the "Eisenhower Dollar". It is quite rare that you will encounter one of the "large dollars". On Sat, 29 Jun 2019, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote: This I had never heard of. Thanks. Go to Las Vegas, and find one of the few casinos that still has coin clot machines (Circus-Circus? El Cortez?) (where's the excitement in scanning a credit card, and winning a piece of paper to take to the cashier's cage?), and buy a dollar coin. It is the casino's imitation of a silver dollar. Put it into a slot machine, and you will never see it again. Unless the machine malfunctions and spits out one or more into a bowl that is optimized for making loud noise.
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On Sat, 29 Jun 2019, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote: US currency is very confusing to me. All the notes seem to be the same size and colour, so you can't readily sort them. I mean, I know America doesn't believe in helping people when they're sick, but it wasn't until I visited that I realised you saved up particular hatred for the blind and partially-sighted and went out of your way to make life more difficult for them. USA makes a pretense of accommodating disabilities, but is actually pretty hostile to the disabled. The "new" paper currency, that is s'posedly good for blind people has slightly different shades of the same colors. USA paper currency used to be the size of punchcards. So, if one were to have a LOT of it, you could use the same trays, and counting machines, etc. Do you suppose that Hollerith had a lot of paper currency? "If Hollerith were alive today, how many birthdays would he have had?" requires being aware that 1900 was NOT a leap year. You use nicknames for 2 denominations which most of us foreigners don't know -- I still don't know which is a "nickel" (which is a metal to me) and which is a "dime" (which is a Swedish chocolate-covered sweet bar, of which I'm very fond but can't eat because I'm overweight). A "Dime" is one tenth of a dollar. Or ten cents. Or $10 worth of drugs. The coin is 17.91mm diameter, and the smallest coin in circulation. A "Nickel" is five cents. or $5 worth of drugs. The coin is 21.21mm, and is between a penny and a quarter in size. "Silver Dollar pancakes" are actually larger than a silver dollar, but nobody complains. And the base unit is a cent, but you call them "pennies", the base unit of _my_ old country's currency, and you didn't even put the symbol into ASCII. Pennies used to be copper. Now, they are mostly zinc, due to copper costing more than a penny. But, they managed to maintain the copper color. During WW2, pennies were briefly made out of steel. 6 decades ago, pennies said "One Cent" on the back, with pictures of wheat; then they changed to a picture of the Lincoln memorial, which is at the end of Memorial bridge in Washington, DC. Very weird. Our parent country taught us to make currency weird, and we have carried on the tradition. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 06/29/19 06:39, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote (in part): US currency is very confusing to me. All the notes seem to be the same size and colour, so you can't readily sort them. Some countries also put Braille dots (besides the different colours). Does the US have any such plans? N.
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
> US currency is very confusing to me. All the notes seem to be the same > size and colour, so you can't readily sort them. I mean, I know > America doesn't believe in helping people when they're sick, but it > wasn't until I visited that I realised you saved up particular hatred > for the blind and partially-sighted and went out of your way to make > life more difficult for them. Your knowledge is way out of date. US currency changed about twenty years ago, partially to benefit the blind. Other than the one dollar note, they all now have much larger portraits, big plain numbers on the back, and subtle color variations. There is a tradeoff in the design - the mint makes them distinctive enough for the blind, yet identical enough to force people to actually look at the notes. Additionally, the newer brass color dollar coins are fairly successful with the blind. They have a distinct color and edge, which does make them very easy to distinguish from the Quarter, unlike the earlier Susan B Anthony coin. -- Will
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On Fri, 28 Jun 2019 at 22:55, Steven M Jones via cctalk wrote: > > Two weeks ago I was in London, and had brought my pound notes/coins from > a visit a few years earlier. When trying to buy lunch, the cashier > refused my £10 note since new £5 and £10 notes had been issued over a > year before. I was advised I could change it at a bank... Yep. I had this at Easter last year. The first time I took my Czech girlfriend to visit England. The airport bus refused my "tenner". I have been away long enough, they've changed the money. This shook me as well as annoying me. -- Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 - ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On Fri, 28 Jun 2019 at 22:50, Warner Losh via cctalk wrote: > Yea, I'm just the right age to have seen them in circulation and have it as > a unit of measure for "just bigger than an inch". Sorry for the crazy > measurement... It's fine really. It's provoked an interesting if offtopic conversation. I was thrown because I'd never even heard of one before, I think. -- Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 - ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On Fri, 28 Jun 2019 at 18:57, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > > Oh, FAR FAR FAR less than 5%. *Chuckle* > Most residents of USA haven't seen a half dollar or "50 cent piece" in > decades. They are as much of an oddity as the $2 bill. They are > nominally still in circulation, most recent being JFK, but I think that > they stopped making them in 2002, and there are federal vaults full of > uncirculated pre-2002 coins. Most recent has a portrait of Kennedy. > They are 30.61mm diameter, which is the largest relatively recent > USA coin (not counting the long discontinued 38.1mm SILVER DOLLAR) Oh! Well, I thought I'd never seen one in my 3 visits to the USA. > You could have just ASSUMED THAT IT WOULD BE logarithmically between a > quarter[dollar] (24.26mm) and a dollar coin (26.5mm). That would be > completely WRONG, unless you use the 38.1mm ancient "silver dollar", but > hardly a problem. Oh heavens no. Coinage almost never makes that kind of sense. Nor banknotes. When I was a child I was shown an old British £5 note. As in, from my parents' childhood. Not kept as a souvenir but lost somewhere as it was a very significant amount of money. It was _vast_ to my child's eyes. It looked approximately the size of a pillowcase or something. It looked like linen, not money. More like a joke teatowel printed with a spare, fancy currency-like design I'd never seen. It was scored with deep lines as you had to fold them into eighths or something to put them into your wallet. Even as a kid this briefly excited me with the notion that pre-WW2 banknotes scaled for area by value, and I had visions of buying furniture or something with £20 notes the size of bedsheets, or £50 notes that needed to be unrolled outdoors like a carpet for inspection... Of course it wasn't *really...* Sadly... > "50 pence coin" would be CLOSE ENOUGH. Aha! > Actually, for THIS purpose, "large coin" is as accurate as you need. > Just as I am not at all familiar with British currency, that hasn't > dampened my appreciation of British TV, such as Doctor Who and a variety > of Brit-coms. :-D > "Silver dollar" used to be a large coin. (38.1mm) It was the standard for > casinos. When it was discontinued (1935), the casinos started to mint > their own chips/tokens as a replacement. There was a brief attempt to > revive the silver dollar in 1971 with the "Eisenhower Dollar". > It is quite rare that you will encounter one of the "large dollars". This I had never heard of. Thanks. > The Susan B Anthony dollar (1979-1981) > http://www.smalldollars.com/ > was never widely accepted, mostly because it was MUCH MUCH too close to a > quarter in size. (26.5mm V 24.26mm) Different edge milling is NOT > ENOUGH. It COULD have been widely accepted, if the gubmint were to have > given a tax incentive to have video games that took a quarter to provide > five games for a "Carter Quarter"; and the "quantity sale" would have > been so profitable that the tax incentive would only have to have been > short term. > It is quite rare that you will encounter one. > > It was later replaced with the Sacajewa dollar. Same problem. > It is quite rare that you will encounter one. > > Then there was a commemorative series (gold colored) of presidents of USA. > Change of COLOR is NOT ENOUGH. > It is quite rare that you will encounter one. Czech coinage does something unique in my experience. The _small_ denominations are silver. The larger ones are copper/brass/whatever. This is the reverse of I think every other country I've ever visited. > And, I understand that the gubmint is planning an "American innovation" > commemorative series. We are far too arrogant to learn from our mistakes. > It will be quite rare that you will encounter one. :-( > But, the states of USA commemorative quarters were so popular that they > followed that with national parks commemorative quarters. > The quarter is the largest USA coin that you are likely to encounter > in circulation. It's the biggest I've seen, which is in part why a half-dollar threw me. -- Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 - ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On Fri, 28 Jun 2019 at 21:47, Electronics Plus via cctalk wrote: > > Just for fun, I went to the bank and bought about $1000 in half dollar and > dollar coins. My son collects them, and we went through them all. We did find > some silver half dollars. The ones we are not keeping now go to whatever fast > food or corner store is needed. Some like them, some hate them! Most tell me > they have not seen them in years. So they're not made any more? Interesting. Any particular reason? I wonder if that is why I've never seen one. US currency is very confusing to me. All the notes seem to be the same size and colour, so you can't readily sort them. I mean, I know America doesn't believe in helping people when they're sick, but it wasn't until I visited that I realised you saved up particular hatred for the blind and partially-sighted and went out of your way to make life more difficult for them. You use nicknames for 2 denominations which most of us foreigners don't know -- I still don't know which is a "nickel" (which is a metal to me) and which is a "dime" (which is a Swedish chocolate-covered sweet bar, of which I'm very fond but can't eat because I'm overweight). And the base unit is a cent, but you call them "pennies", the base unit of _my_ old country's currency, and you didn't even put the symbol into ASCII. Very weird. -- Liam Proven - Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk - Google Mail/Hangouts/Plus: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/Flickr: lproven - Skype/LinkedIn: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 - ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On Fri, 28 Jun 2019, Cameron Kaiser via cctalk wrote: Oddly, I, too, will trade computer items for coins and currency. I like the green kind with presidents. ;) Those are nice, but I'd rather have the ones with a picture of Ben Franklin, who was not a president.
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
> If the note is in good condition, I'll buy it from you. I've been > collecting US coins on and off for years, and started on GB coinage when I > lived over there. Now I collect about everything, including currency, AND > WILL TRADE COMPUTER ITEMS FOR COINS AND CURRENCY! Oddly, I, too, will trade computer items for coins and currency. I like the green kind with presidents. ;) -- personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ -- Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckai...@floodgap.com -- The best things in life are sold out. --
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 2019-06-28 7:50 p.m., Nemo Nusquam via cctalk wrote: On 06/28/19 16:54, Steven M Jones via cctalk wrote (in part): On 06/28/2019 11:11, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote: Canada also replaced the $1- and $2-bill with coins (26.5mm and 28mm, resp.). Oh, I know. I was questioned by the RCMP for spending a $2 bill that was in my leftover Canadian cash from a previous trip years before. Two weeks ago I was in London, and had brought my pound notes/coins from a visit a few years earlier. When trying to buy lunch, the cashier refused my £10 note since new £5 and £10 notes had been issued over a year before. I was advised I could change it at a bank... Then there were those huge 10-franc coins in France before the Euro, large enough to have writing engraved on the edge. (I still have one or two somewhere) N. The Canadian 2 dollar coin has writing engraved on the edge. The largest coins I have encounter was when I was in Mexico in the early 90s. I think the smallest denomination at the time was 500 pesos it was about the size of 2or 3 quarters stacked up and worth nothing. Paul.
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
If the note is in good condition, I'll buy it from you. I've been collecting US coins on and off for years, and started on GB coinage when I lived over there. Now I collect about everything, including currency, AND WILL TRADE COMPUTER ITEMS FOR COINS AND CURRENCY! Paul On Fri, Jun 28, 2019 at 3:55 PM Steven M Jones via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On 06/28/2019 11:11, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote: > > > >> Canada also replaced the $1- and $2-bill with coins (26.5mm and 28mm, > resp.). > > > > Oh, I know. I was questioned by the RCMP for spending a $2 bill that was > in my leftover Canadian cash from a previous trip years before. > > Two weeks ago I was in London, and had brought my pound notes/coins from > a visit a few years earlier. When trying to buy lunch, the cashier > refused my £10 note since new £5 and £10 notes had been issued over a > year before. I was advised I could change it at a bank... > > So the next day I stopped at a Metro Bank outlet on my way to our local > office, but was told they'd only change notes for account holders -- > which I can guarantee you I will now never be. But I was told I could go > to the Bank of England and they'd change it. The BoE was probably only > 20 minutes away by Tube, but I wasn't trying to turn this exchange into > a side-quest. :^/ > > I still have the £10 note. In theory I might be able to exchange it by > snail mail, but haven't looked into it yet... > > --S. > >
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 6/28/19 1:54 PM, Steven M Jones via cctalk wrote: On 06/28/2019 11:11, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote: Canada also replaced the $1- and $2-bill with coins (26.5mm and 28mm, resp.). Oh, I know. I was questioned by the RCMP for spending a $2 bill that was in my leftover Canadian cash from a previous trip years before. Two weeks ago I was in London, and had brought my pound notes/coins from a visit a few years earlier. When trying to buy lunch, the cashier refused my £10 note since new £5 and £10 notes had been issued over a year before. I was advised I could change it at a bank... So the next day I stopped at a Metro Bank outlet on my way to our local office, but was told they'd only change notes for account holders -- which I can guarantee you I will now never be. But I was told I could go to the Bank of England and they'd change it. The BoE was probably only 20 minutes away by Tube, but I wasn't trying to turn this exchange into a side-quest. :^/ I still have the £10 note. In theory I might be able to exchange it by snail mail, but haven't looked into it yet... If I had realized that the Canadian $2 bill been withdrawn, I never would have spent it and would have instead added it to my collection of withdrawn currency.
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 06/28/19 16:54, Steven M Jones via cctalk wrote (in part): On 06/28/2019 11:11, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote: Canada also replaced the $1- and $2-bill with coins (26.5mm and 28mm, resp.). Oh, I know. I was questioned by the RCMP for spending a $2 bill that was in my leftover Canadian cash from a previous trip years before. Two weeks ago I was in London, and had brought my pound notes/coins from a visit a few years earlier. When trying to buy lunch, the cashier refused my £10 note since new £5 and £10 notes had been issued over a year before. I was advised I could change it at a bank... Then there were those huge 10-franc coins in France before the Euro, large enough to have writing engraved on the edge. (I still have one or two somewhere) N.
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On Fri, June 28, 2019 18:57, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: >>> I saw this half-dollar sized plastic fob on the desk and asked what it >>> was for. > > On Fri, 28 Jun 2019, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote: >> If I may just say -- only about 5% of humanity know how big that is. I >> don't. I don't even know if a half a dollar is a note or a coin, and >> that's without getting extra-pedantic and pointing out that about a >> dozen countries call their currencies the "dollar". >> :-( > > Oh, FAR FAR FAR less than 5%. > Most residents of USA haven't seen a half dollar or "50 cent piece" in > decades. They are as much of an oddity as the $2 bill. They are > nominally still in circulation, most recent being JFK, but I think that > they stopped making them in 2002, and there are federal vaults full of > uncirculated pre-2002 coins. Most recent has a portrait of Kennedy. > They are 30.61mm diameter, which is the largest relatively recent > USA coin (not counting the long discontinued 38.1mm SILVER DOLLAR) > snip snip snip > -- > Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com > How odd & funny! Being a Dutchman, I do have a few half dollars, 2 $2 bills and 2 Susan B. Antony 1 dollar coins. Oh, and a silver dollar which is pretty large. Where I got those? Well, Las Vegas for the half dollar coins (slot machines), change given back (the $2 bills), and a cable car ticket vending machine in SF (the $1 coins). Can't remember where I got the silver dollar from tough. Still have them because I just liked them. Ed -- Ik email, dus ik besta
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 06/28/2019 11:11, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote: Canada also replaced the $1- and $2-bill with coins (26.5mm and 28mm, resp.). Oh, I know. I was questioned by the RCMP for spending a $2 bill that was in my leftover Canadian cash from a previous trip years before. Two weeks ago I was in London, and had brought my pound notes/coins from a visit a few years earlier. When trying to buy lunch, the cashier refused my £10 note since new £5 and £10 notes had been issued over a year before. I was advised I could change it at a bank... So the next day I stopped at a Metro Bank outlet on my way to our local office, but was told they'd only change notes for account holders -- which I can guarantee you I will now never be. But I was told I could go to the Bank of England and they'd change it. The BoE was probably only 20 minutes away by Tube, but I wasn't trying to turn this exchange into a side-quest. :^/ I still have the £10 note. In theory I might be able to exchange it by snail mail, but haven't looked into it yet... --S.
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On Fri, Jun 28, 2019 at 1:40 PM Chuck Guzis via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On 6/28/19 12:18 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote: > > > > > FWIW, I just checked my "loose change" container that sits atop my > > bedroom dresser. There were two Kennedy half-dollars--one from 1968 and > > the other from 1983. I suspect that a great many are still in > > circulation. > > For those who have never seen a Kennedy half-dollar, it's a coin that, > according to my pocket tape rule is about 1 1/8 inch or 29 mm in > diameter, featuring a profile of JFK on one side and the Great Seal of > the US on the reverse. > Yea, I'm just the right age to have seen them in circulation and have it as a unit of measure for "just bigger than an inch". Sorry for the crazy measurement... Warner
RE: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
Just for fun, I went to the bank and bought about $1000 in half dollar and dollar coins. My son collects them, and we went through them all. We did find some silver half dollars. The ones we are not keeping now go to whatever fast food or corner store is needed. Some like them, some hate them! Most tell me they have not seen them in years. Cindy -Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of TeoZ via cctalk Sent: Friday, June 28, 2019 2:36 PM To: Chuck Guzis; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR I have not seen any half dollars in circulation in some time. They are just too big to fit in people skinny jeans these days. -Original Message- From: Chuck Guzis via cctalk Sent: Friday, June 28, 2019 3:18 PM To: Fred Cisin via cctalk Subject: Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR On 6/28/19 9:57 AM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: >>> I saw this half-dollar sized plastic fob on the desk and asked what >>> it was for. The big failure of the Susan B. Anthony coin was that it was about the same size (slightly different shape) as a quarter-dollar coin, causing people to mistake them as such on occasion. It was *extremely* unpopular. FWIW, I just checked my "loose change" container that sits atop my bedroom dresser. There were two Kennedy half-dollars--one from 1968 and the other from 1983. I suspect that a great many are still in circulation. --Chuck --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 6/28/19 12:18 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote: > > FWIW, I just checked my "loose change" container that sits atop my > bedroom dresser. There were two Kennedy half-dollars--one from 1968 and > the other from 1983. I suspect that a great many are still in > circulation. For those who have never seen a Kennedy half-dollar, it's a coin that, according to my pocket tape rule is about 1 1/8 inch or 29 mm in diameter, featuring a profile of JFK on one side and the Great Seal of the US on the reverse. --Chuck
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 6/28/2019 11:59 AM, Nemo Nusquam via cctalk wrote: On 06/28/19 13:18, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote (in part): One big problem with dollar coins is cash trays need to be redesigned for them. Maybe if the US got rid of the penny (like Canada has) there would be somewhere to put dollar coins in a register and they would be used more often. Canada also replaced the $1- and $2-bill with coins (26.5mm and 28mm, resp.). I like $1 bills better than coins here in CANADA. The lack of pennies is real pain, as 3 cents rounds up to 5 cents for cash. but credit/bank card is still in cents. Will trade new $1 coins for old dirty $1 US bills. :)
Re: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
I have not seen any half dollars in circulation in some time. They are just too big to fit in people skinny jeans these days. -Original Message- From: Chuck Guzis via cctalk Sent: Friday, June 28, 2019 3:18 PM To: Fred Cisin via cctalk Subject: Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR On 6/28/19 9:57 AM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: I saw this half-dollar sized plastic fob on the desk and asked what it was for. The big failure of the Susan B. Anthony coin was that it was about the same size (slightly different shape) as a quarter-dollar coin, causing people to mistake them as such on occasion. It was *extremely* unpopular. FWIW, I just checked my "loose change" container that sits atop my bedroom dresser. There were two Kennedy half-dollars--one from 1968 and the other from 1983. I suspect that a great many are still in circulation. --Chuck --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 6/28/19 9:57 AM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: >>> I saw this half-dollar sized plastic fob on the desk and asked what >>> it was for. The big failure of the Susan B. Anthony coin was that it was about the same size (slightly different shape) as a quarter-dollar coin, causing people to mistake them as such on occasion. It was *extremely* unpopular. FWIW, I just checked my "loose change" container that sits atop my bedroom dresser. There were two Kennedy half-dollars--one from 1968 and the other from 1983. I suspect that a great many are still in circulation. --Chuck
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
> On Jun 28, 2019, at 10:59, Nemo Nusquam wrote: > > On 06/28/19 13:18, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote (in part): >> One big problem with dollar coins is cash trays need to be redesigned for >> them. Maybe if the US got rid of the penny (like Canada has) there would be >> somewhere to put dollar coins in a register and they would be used more >> often. > > Canada also replaced the $1- and $2-bill with coins (26.5mm and 28mm, resp.). Oh, I know. I was questioned by the RCMP for spending a $2 bill that was in my leftover Canadian cash from a previous trip years before. alan > > N. >> alan >> >> >
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
'Is that a toonie in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?' From: "cctalk" To: "Alan Perry" , "cctalk" , "Fred Cisin" Sent: Friday, June 28, 2019 10:59:36 AM Subject: Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR On 06/28/19 13:18, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote (in part): > One big problem with dollar coins is cash trays need to be redesigned > for them. Maybe if the US got rid of the penny (like Canada has) there > would be somewhere to put dollar coins in a register and they would be > used more often. Canada also replaced the $1- and $2-bill with coins (26.5mm and 28mm, resp.). N. > alan > >
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On 06/28/19 13:18, Alan Perry via cctalk wrote (in part): One big problem with dollar coins is cash trays need to be redesigned for them. Maybe if the US got rid of the penny (like Canada has) there would be somewhere to put dollar coins in a register and they would be used more often. Canada also replaced the $1- and $2-bill with coins (26.5mm and 28mm, resp.). N. alan
Re: OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
On Jun 28, 2019, at 09:57, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > It is quite rare that you will encounter one. > > It was later replaced with the Sacajewa dollar. Same problem. > It is quite rare that you will encounter one. > > Then there was a commemorative series (gold colored) of presidents of USA. > Change of COLOR is NOT ENOUGH. > It is quite rare that you will encounter one. It depends on where you are in the country, I guess. Around here (Seattle area) lots of vending machines give out dollar coins when returning change. But, with more vending machines having payment card readers, there is less opportunity to get dollar coins from them. One big problem with dollar coins is cash trays need to be redesigned for them. Maybe if the US got rid of the penny (like Canada has) there would be somewhere to put dollar coins in a register and they would be used more often. alan
OT: "half-dollar"/"50 cent piece" Was: Recovering the ROM of an IBM 5100 using OCR
I saw this half-dollar sized plastic fob on the desk and asked what it was for. On Fri, 28 Jun 2019, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote: If I may just say -- only about 5% of humanity know how big that is. I don't. I don't even know if a half a dollar is a note or a coin, and that's without getting extra-pedantic and pointing out that about a dozen countries call their currencies the "dollar". :-( Oh, FAR FAR FAR less than 5%. Most residents of USA haven't seen a half dollar or "50 cent piece" in decades. They are as much of an oddity as the $2 bill. They are nominally still in circulation, most recent being JFK, but I think that they stopped making them in 2002, and there are federal vaults full of uncirculated pre-2002 coins. Most recent has a portrait of Kennedy. They are 30.61mm diameter, which is the largest relatively recent USA coin (not counting the long discontinued 38.1mm SILVER DOLLAR) You could have just ASSUMED THAT IT WOULD BE logarithmically between a quarter[dollar] (24.26mm) and a dollar coin (26.5mm). That would be completely WRONG, unless you use the 38.1mm ancient "silver dollar", but hardly a problem. "50 pence coin" would be CLOSE ENOUGH. Actually, for THIS purpose, "large coin" is as accurate as you need. Just as I am not at all familiar with British currency, that hasn't dampened my appreciation of British TV, such as Doctor Who and a variety of Brit-coms. "Silver dollar" used to be a large coin. (38.1mm) It was the standard for casinos. When it was discontinued (1935), the casinos started to mint their own chips/tokens as a replacement. There was a brief attempt to revive the silver dollar in 1971 with the "Eisenhower Dollar". It is quite rare that you will encounter one of the "large dollars". The Susan B Anthony dollar (1979-1981) http://www.smalldollars.com/ was never widely accepted, mostly because it was MUCH MUCH too close to a quarter in size. (26.5mm V 24.26mm) Different edge milling is NOT ENOUGH. It COULD have been widely accepted, if the gubmint were to have given a tax incentive to have video games that took a quarter to provide five games for a "Carter Quarter"; and the "quantity sale" would have been so profitable that the tax incentive would only have to have been short term. It is quite rare that you will encounter one. It was later replaced with the Sacajewa dollar. Same problem. It is quite rare that you will encounter one. Then there was a commemorative series (gold colored) of presidents of USA. Change of COLOR is NOT ENOUGH. It is quite rare that you will encounter one. And, I understand that the gubmint is planning an "American innovation" commemorative series. We are far too arrogant to learn from our mistakes. It will be quite rare that you will encounter one. But, the states of USA commemorative quarters were so popular that they followed that with national parks commemorative quarters. The quarter is the largest USA coin that you are likely to encounter in circulation. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
