From the Internet:
Pull a buck from your wallet now and prepare to be amazed.
We’re serious. Did you know a dollar bill has hidden pictures, flecks of color, and mysterious symbols? And that’s just the beginning. What do all those seemingly random letters and Latin phrases mean, anyway?
The Basics: How much is a dollar worth?
The question seems simple, but the answer is quite complex. Since 1973, the dollar bill has had no value tied to it. You cannot trade in a dollar to the government for gold, silver, or any other commodity. The value of the nation's currency is related to the decree by the government that a dollar is legal tender for all debts. This means if someone attempts to pay a debt using dollars, the person being paid must accept the money or the law no longer recognizes the debt. This is important enough that the phrase is printed on every bill the government creates.
It is also vital for the nation's citizens to agree that the bills have value. If the members of a society decided that they did not believe in the currency, it would quickly be worth no more than the paper it is printed on. For the record, each bill costs the government 6.4 cents to print.
What kind of paper are the bills made from?
Bills are made from a blend of linen and cotton, which is why they don't fall apart in the wash the way paper does. If you look closely, you can see red and blue silk fibers woven throughout the bill. The threads are thought to be an anti-counterfeit measure.
Hint: Look in the white spaces on the face of the bill for little bits of the colored thread. They look like lint but you can't scratch them off!
On the face of a dollar, what does the letter inside the circular seal mean?
The black seal with the big letter in the middle signifies the Federal Reserve bank that placed the order for the bill. A = Boston, B = New York City, C = Philadelphia, D = Cleveland, E = Richmond, Va., F = Atlanta, G = Chicago, H = St. Louis, I = Minneapolis, J = Kansas City, K = Dallas.
The letter also corresponds to the black number that is repeated four times on the face of the bill. For example, if you have a bill from Dallas with the letter K, then the number on the bill will be 11 because K is the eleventh letter in the alphabet.
Can you find any tiny owls or spiders hidden on the front of the bill?
Many people believe they can see a tiny owl (some say it is a spider) next to the large "1" on the upper right of the bill. If you look at the shield shape that surrounds that "1," the tiny owl rests on the top left corner.
More than likely, the markings are nothing, just a point where the webbed design of the border varies. That won't stop some people from associating the peculiar detail with Masonic symbols, or with more practical things, like anti-counterfeit measures.
The Great Seal of the United States
The green back of the dollar bill features the two sides of The Great Seal of the United States. The founding fathers approved its design in 1782. Ben Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson all had a hand in devising it. The seal provides great insight into the values of the newborn nation and, like the Constitution, provides a direct link to its formative days.
What does Annuit Coeptis mean?
The first of three Latin phrases on the back of the bill is translated as "God has favored our undertakings." Many founders, Franklin and George Washington among them, believed that God's will was behind the successful creation of the United States.
Beneath the pyramid, what does Novus Ordo Seclorum mean?
These Latin words mean "New order of the ages." Charles Thomson, a statesman involved in the design of The Great Seal of the United States, proposed the phrase to signify the beginning of what he called "the new American Era," which he said began in 1776 with the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Why is MDCCLXXVI on the bottom of the pyramid?
The letters are Roman numerals for 1776. M is 1,000, D is 500, CC is 200, L is 50, XX is 20, VI is 6. Add the numerals on the pyramid together and you get the year 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed, and when the Novus Ordo Seclorum began.
Why is there an unfinished pyramid with a glowing eye?
Thomson explained the sturdy pyramid as a symbol of "strength and duration". He did not explain its unfinished state, but many believe it signified that our nation remained unfinished. The pyramid also stops at 13 steps, the number of the original colonies.
The "Eye of Providence" is a visual representation of the words Annuit Coeptis, and reinforces the founders' notion that God looked upon the endeavor of the new nation with favor. Many theorists mistakenly believe the symbolism of the eye is related to the Freemasons (a secret society whose members believed they were under the careful scrutiny of God), but the symbolism of the glowing eye is far older than any Freemason thinking. Scholars have traced versions of the symbol as far back as the ancient Egyptians.
What does E Pluribus Unum mean?
"Out of many, one." The 13 disparate colonies came together to form one nation.
Why a bald eagle? The founders wanted an animal native to America to be the new nation's symbol. In its talons the eagle holds arrows and olive branches, signifying war and peace.
Fun activities you and the kids can do with a dollar bill
Track your bills. Go to the website Where's George? and enter the serial number of the bill. If the bill has been in circulation long enough, you might be able to see where your bill has been as it travels from wallets to registers and back. After you enter your bills, check back later to see where they have gone.
Play dollar-bill poker. Each of you takes a dollar bill and examines the green serial numbers as if they were a hand of playing cards. Make your best poker hand and see who wins.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Shaving Type O Positive
I think it's important to take good care of my skin, so that it's in top shape when I go to Hatteras, fry it like bacon and add two years to my visual age.
So I Google searched around for skin care tips. The Mayo Clinic had a tidy article with several wise ones. For example, I should shave with a manual razor rather than electric one.
I am the Count Dracula of manual shavers. I'd tried it about five times in my life prior to this year. Every time, I nicked myself. Now it probably didn't help that I used no soothing shaving gel whatsoever. So this time I purchased shaving lotion, after shave lotion, and the impressively named Gillette Mach 3 razor. The Mach 3 is a futuristic looking sleek silvery metallic wonder. Tiny colored strips indicate when it's time to change the blade. I eagerly found my way into the package and the bathroom to try it out.
I nicked myself. And regrettably I had not thought to search for any Gillette Mach 3 Blood-Clotting Toilet Paper while at the store.
Six shaves later, five of them drew blood. I'm thinking of applying to the Big Brothers program so that a responsible adult can teach me. Otherwise, when the Pantagraph celebrates our 25th anniversary down the road, people will see all the scars and wonder what in the world Dena's been doing to me. Unless I cover myself with cooking oil and disguise them with Hatteras wrinkles. Then they'll ask "Why did she marry a guy twice her age?"
So I Google searched around for skin care tips. The Mayo Clinic had a tidy article with several wise ones. For example, I should shave with a manual razor rather than electric one.
I am the Count Dracula of manual shavers. I'd tried it about five times in my life prior to this year. Every time, I nicked myself. Now it probably didn't help that I used no soothing shaving gel whatsoever. So this time I purchased shaving lotion, after shave lotion, and the impressively named Gillette Mach 3 razor. The Mach 3 is a futuristic looking sleek silvery metallic wonder. Tiny colored strips indicate when it's time to change the blade. I eagerly found my way into the package and the bathroom to try it out.
I nicked myself. And regrettably I had not thought to search for any Gillette Mach 3 Blood-Clotting Toilet Paper while at the store.
Six shaves later, five of them drew blood. I'm thinking of applying to the Big Brothers program so that a responsible adult can teach me. Otherwise, when the Pantagraph celebrates our 25th anniversary down the road, people will see all the scars and wonder what in the world Dena's been doing to me. Unless I cover myself with cooking oil and disguise them with Hatteras wrinkles. Then they'll ask "Why did she marry a guy twice her age?"
High/Low Week 4 2010
Low:
This week Dena was hurriedly trying to get some graphic design work done for the Kiwanis Club. One design included a watermark to rest in the background of the relevant words on the page. The problem was that her customer was not getting a transparent image, but a solid one that masked the words. Could it be that the customer was using a PC instead of Mac? She asked if she could send me an e-mail, and for me to open it in a Word document to see how it looked. Being at the end of a long day of work, exercise and coaching, and having just settled in to check fantasy basketball stats at 10:00 at night, I agreed.
Ten minutes later she asked if I'd gotten it yet. And I was in a poor state of mind to be asked to move on something quickly. So following an apology for my slowness, I took the opportunity to go tit-for-tat and ask how much longer it would take for her to deliver me the photos of my studio that I'd asked for a week earlier, sending her scrambling back to her computer to work on it. Mind you, I was in no hurry to get them previously. And she was facing a deadline. In fact, I could've just as easily stepped away from the computer and let her do it. But tiredness sows the seeds of my impatience, and in this case I lost.
High:
Besides the nice date that Dena and I had on Friday night (see Jesse's Grille post), I started to catch up on things at the office. It seems like I've been ten projects behind for the last month, but by the end of day Friday I'd whittled down my e-mail substantially. I use my e-mail inbox as my to-do list, working each to completion and then moving the valuable ones into storage and deleting the rest. So far, it's allowed me to have a nearly paperless office.
Oh, and I got rim again, this time on the main court. So my max reach is officially ten feet. It was nice, at the beginning of the pickup game as the other team figured out their defensive assignments, to hear someone say that I had "hops." Maybe soon that sentence will end in "skill"!
And as a final note, I think I'll be able to help Coach Goldman in the most useful way yet. I offered to manage the playing time rotation of our posts, and he accepted. It's exciting to not only be able to contribute strategy that directly affects the team's success, but to take some weight off Coach's mind following the tough loss this week.
This week Dena was hurriedly trying to get some graphic design work done for the Kiwanis Club. One design included a watermark to rest in the background of the relevant words on the page. The problem was that her customer was not getting a transparent image, but a solid one that masked the words. Could it be that the customer was using a PC instead of Mac? She asked if she could send me an e-mail, and for me to open it in a Word document to see how it looked. Being at the end of a long day of work, exercise and coaching, and having just settled in to check fantasy basketball stats at 10:00 at night, I agreed.
Ten minutes later she asked if I'd gotten it yet. And I was in a poor state of mind to be asked to move on something quickly. So following an apology for my slowness, I took the opportunity to go tit-for-tat and ask how much longer it would take for her to deliver me the photos of my studio that I'd asked for a week earlier, sending her scrambling back to her computer to work on it. Mind you, I was in no hurry to get them previously. And she was facing a deadline. In fact, I could've just as easily stepped away from the computer and let her do it. But tiredness sows the seeds of my impatience, and in this case I lost.
High:
Besides the nice date that Dena and I had on Friday night (see Jesse's Grille post), I started to catch up on things at the office. It seems like I've been ten projects behind for the last month, but by the end of day Friday I'd whittled down my e-mail substantially. I use my e-mail inbox as my to-do list, working each to completion and then moving the valuable ones into storage and deleting the rest. So far, it's allowed me to have a nearly paperless office.
Oh, and I got rim again, this time on the main court. So my max reach is officially ten feet. It was nice, at the beginning of the pickup game as the other team figured out their defensive assignments, to hear someone say that I had "hops." Maybe soon that sentence will end in "skill"!
And as a final note, I think I'll be able to help Coach Goldman in the most useful way yet. I offered to manage the playing time rotation of our posts, and he accepted. It's exciting to not only be able to contribute strategy that directly affects the team's success, but to take some weight off Coach's mind following the tough loss this week.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Jesse's Grille
Dena and I headed over to Normal's new Mariott hotel restaurant and had a super experience! 7:00 on a Friday night and the place was 10% full, which made for an unusually relaxing atmosphere. The place is set just off the lobby, but carpeted and curtained in a way that is spacious and quiet. Hidden Bloggers know that I'm no artist, but I appreciated the bold color schemes and comfy furniture. The staff was cordial. The menu selection was a step above average, with fancy specials and salt/pepper grinders, and $9 half-pound burgers to cover the cost of the ambience (not to mention that it was, you know, in a hotel). No children were there, it seemed mostly retiree-aged people, actually. A great place just to sit and talk, and we had a lot of fun. Thumbs up for a couple on a date night looking for a hidden place to go!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Dr. Friendly on Foul Tips
Dr. Friendly is a non-certified medical amateur, whose advice column appears exclusively in Hidden Blog.
Dear Dr. Friendly,
In baseball I think it’s wrong that a zero- or one-strike foul tip which is caught by the catcher is not an out. Every other scenario where a batted ball is caught in the field of play before hitting the ground is an out. It’s not the defense’s fault the hitter couldn’t hit the ball solidly. There’s no logic to it being a strike, just the emotional argument that “he didn’t REALLY hit it, it’s just a tip.” I think that’s like taking a strike away from a bowler if the 10th pin only fell because another pin rolled into it at the last second, or giving a basketball player another attempt at a free throw if their previous attempt rolled all around the rim and really looked like it was going to fall, but didn’t. Does this foul-tip thing irritate you?
Foul Mood
--------------------
Dear Foul,
It does not irritate me. It's a stretch to think that this rule will be changed so drastically as to be ruled an out. But I do think that any one of the following alternatives are reasonable:
1. If he subsequently hits it and there's a close play at first, the tie should go to the fielder.
2. If he subsequently reaches base, that doesn't count either - he has to go back and start over again. And a substitute pitcher may come in to finish the at-bat, and then exit the game and re-enter later.
3. The batter must finish the at-bat without his helmet.
4. The batter must finish the at-bat without his bat.
5. The batter must conduct the rest of his at bat from outside the batter's box.
6. The pitcher may move as close to the batter as he wants for the rest of the at-bat.
7. If the batter chooses to continue the at-bat, the opposing team gets an "out" to be used like a get-out-of-jail free card whenever they need it.
8. If the batter continues the at-bat and fails to reach base safely, he is ejected from the game and must retire.
9. The catcher is allowed to interfere with the batter however he chooses for the remainder of the at-bat.
Dear Dr. Friendly,
In baseball I think it’s wrong that a zero- or one-strike foul tip which is caught by the catcher is not an out. Every other scenario where a batted ball is caught in the field of play before hitting the ground is an out. It’s not the defense’s fault the hitter couldn’t hit the ball solidly. There’s no logic to it being a strike, just the emotional argument that “he didn’t REALLY hit it, it’s just a tip.” I think that’s like taking a strike away from a bowler if the 10th pin only fell because another pin rolled into it at the last second, or giving a basketball player another attempt at a free throw if their previous attempt rolled all around the rim and really looked like it was going to fall, but didn’t. Does this foul-tip thing irritate you?
Foul Mood
--------------------
Dear Foul,
It does not irritate me. It's a stretch to think that this rule will be changed so drastically as to be ruled an out. But I do think that any one of the following alternatives are reasonable:
1. If he subsequently hits it and there's a close play at first, the tie should go to the fielder.
2. If he subsequently reaches base, that doesn't count either - he has to go back and start over again. And a substitute pitcher may come in to finish the at-bat, and then exit the game and re-enter later.
3. The batter must finish the at-bat without his helmet.
4. The batter must finish the at-bat without his bat.
5. The batter must conduct the rest of his at bat from outside the batter's box.
6. The pitcher may move as close to the batter as he wants for the rest of the at-bat.
7. If the batter chooses to continue the at-bat, the opposing team gets an "out" to be used like a get-out-of-jail free card whenever they need it.
8. If the batter continues the at-bat and fails to reach base safely, he is ejected from the game and must retire.
9. The catcher is allowed to interfere with the batter however he chooses for the remainder of the at-bat.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Fantasies Coming True
Let it be known today that a Joe McDonald fantasy basketball team has climbed into first place. I have never been in first place this late in a season, by a loooooooooooooooooong way. Usually by the end of November I've lowered my goals to trying to capture third place in a ten-team league. And now my team has steamrolled into first place on the strength of good old-fashioned opportunistic buy-low shopping. Two high-profile guys were simply dropped from other teams because they were struggling. Meanwhile I cast off good players in bad situations, and snapped up the discarded stars on the rebound (no pun intended).
Bring it on!
Bring it on!
Rad Pad
My home studio for voice over recording is functional! A picture's worth a thousand words. If you need a script read, let me know and I'll get you a track laid down free of charge. That's what start-up companies do, right? Make no profit.
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