What is Digg?199 Comments
- kirtap, on 11/18/2007, -10/+200It's down, but the reason is:
for her pleasure. - anareric, on 11/18/2007, -3/+163For the same reason Ruffles have ridges
- yourmightyruler, on 11/18/2007, -0/+111Server Down.
Google Cache got it:
http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:http://www.big ...
But slow, so:
Why Do Some Coins Have Ridges Around the Edges?
Submitted by big on Sat, 2007-10-27 18:19.
Perhaps you noticed that United States dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and silver dollars have ridges, or grooves, around their edges. They were not put there for decoration, but had a very important purpose at one time in history.
During our country's earlier years, all coins were made of gold or silver, and did not have ridges. Each coin's value was based on the amount of gold or silver in it. For example, a $10 gold piece contained ten dollars worth of gold, and silver dimes contained ten cents worth of silver.
But some dishonest people sought to make an illegal profit from these coins. They filed off the edges and sold them for their value in gold or silver. The smaller-sized coin often went unnoticed, but this dishonest practice decreased the value of the original gold or silver coin.
To prevent this, the government began milling, or grooving, the edges so a coin could easily be identified if it was trimmed.
Coins today are no longer made of pure gold or silver, but the milled edges remain because people are accustomed to seeing them that way.
At the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, one single stamping machine can produce 10,000 coins every minute of every hour of every day of the week! - allaboutdatiki, on 11/18/2007, -7/+77I have learned something new today and it's only 9:12 in the morning. woo hoo!
- PathDaemon, on 11/18/2007, -3/+62SPOILER/mirror:
Coins used to be worth their actual value in metal (imagine that!). Scammers would shave metal off the edges of all their coins and pass them on, eventually making a profit. The ridges would make it obvious if the edge was tampered with.
Something for allaboutdatiki to learn before dinner: The mints are starting to do away with ridges and instead print text on the edges of coins. First example: the new dollar coin, which the mint actually wants people to start using instead of a paper dollar. The coins are cheaper to make ("more profit for the mint!" -mint spokesman) and shinier to boot! - geoboy, on 11/19/2007, -3/+58Why would you want to blind people? Oh, you mean blind as an adjective rather than a verb. Stupid english.
- PhillyMJS, on 11/18/2007, -3/+45To make them stronger so they don't break off in the dip? Interesting theory.
- drewfer, on 11/18/2007, -6/+41Another fun fact: The reason we call a dollar a buck is because a buck skin was worth one dollar during the post revolution time.
- wisam, on 11/18/2007, -9/+39Well, I always thought thats why coins historically became grooved at edges in the Old World. After all, Americans didn't invent coins nor invented greed.
- ajchavar, on 11/18/2007, -0/+24how do you trick someone with that? by making them think its a *real* penny? thats not a trick/thats useless.
- ikrit2006, on 11/19/2007, -0/+23So people couldn't file off the edges and sell them for the original value?
- Monolith4, on 11/18/2007, -3/+26You are quite possibly the stupidest person on digg.
- diggduggok, on 11/18/2007, -4/+27"The Kit Kat candy bar has the name 'Kit Kat' imprinted in the chocolate. That robs you of chocolate! Kit Kat has come up with a clever chocolate saving-technique. I'm gonna go down to the Kit Kat factory, and say 'Hey, you owe me some letters.'"
--mitch hedberg - Giga, on 11/19/2007, -2/+22Strange, I thought the ridges were so blind people could feel the difference between the coins.
- tech42er, on 11/19/2007, -0/+20Why Do Ruffles Have Ridges?
Submitted by small on Sat, 2007-10-27 18:19.
Perhaps you noticed that Ruffles have ridges, or grooves, on them. They were not put there for decoration, but had a very important purpose at one time in history.
During our country's earlier years, all Ruffles were made of fried potatoes, and did not have ridges. Each chip's value was based on the amount of potatoes in it. For example, a $10 bag of chips contained ten dollars worth of potatoes, and sour cream and onion chips contained ten cents worth of spices.
But some dishonest people sought to make an illegal profit from these chips. They filed off the edges and sold them for their value in potatoes. The vending machine-sized bags often went unnoticed, but this dishonest practice decreased the value of the original family-size bag of chips.
To prevent this, the government began milling, or grooving, the chip so a chip could easily be identified if it was trimmed.
Chips today are no longer made of pure potatoes, but the milled edges remain because it makes a great marketing gimmick.
At the Ruffles factory in Philadelphia, one single chip machine can produce 10,000 chips every minute of every hour of every day of the week! - CraigJ, on 11/18/2007, -0/+20It's like in Office Space, and Superman 3, only different
- Strongo, on 11/18/2007, -1/+19Ruffles have ridges for the blind to tell the difference between them and pringles
- Celeron, on 11/18/2007, -6/+24Mirror: http://72.14.253.104/search?hs=sUq&hl=en&lr=&c2cof ...
- statc, on 11/18/2007, -0/+15you could shave a lot of coins, melt the shavings and sell the gold...
- JFetch, on 11/18/2007, -0/+14I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.
- inactive, on 11/18/2007, -2/+16Yeah...that is what you TELL people when you get caught fumbling around in your pocket.
- JonTheGoose, on 11/18/2007, -4/+18I thought it was to make coins easier to pick up when laying on a flat surface....
- andrewry, on 11/18/2007, -1/+14It's either slow or doesn't work. Text cache works fine.
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:http://www.big ... - BladeMelbourne, on 11/18/2007, -1/+14Just like your mother :p
- cerealman, on 11/19/2007, -0/+13Yes, they can.
Because of the ridges. =) - gavintlgold, on 11/18/2007, -1/+14Interesting, but shouldn't the ridges be rotated 90 degrees then?
- fantasmacanino, on 11/18/2007, -3/+14Seeming as you're finding out about the lies you were told as a child, I think I should tell you you're adopted.
- Tenoq, on 11/18/2007, -2/+13Fail. You still ended your sentence with a preposition. :P
- inactive, on 11/18/2007, -1/+12ummm...they DO do that you know...
- ZigVicious, on 11/19/2007, -0/+11no.
- chrisxkelley, on 11/19/2007, -0/+10Also, it could have been a completely unrelated reference to the people of England. Just a thought.
- MalDON, on 11/18/2007, -4/+14I was lied to as a child. All my school teachers said it was for the blind. I never really thought that was the case though. How hard would it have been to make your own ridges though.
- JavertHolmes, on 11/18/2007, -0/+9We're not talking $10 and $2 of today's currency. It would have been worth the effort at the time.
- anareric, on 11/19/2007, -0/+9Did you use the word stupid to describe the word English in reference to SpeakerCity's grammar or the language as a whole?
- PARAPA, on 11/18/2007, -1/+9I was miffed to see the site was down. But after reading the comments I now know why coins have ridges, posted by different people, over ten times!
YAY digg! - ZenFountain, on 11/18/2007, -1/+9The Romans had this same problem with their coins, except they killed coin shavers and counterfeiters.
- datamyte, on 11/18/2007, -2/+10But some dishonest people sought to make an illegal profit from these coins. They filed off the edges and sold them for their value in gold or silver. The smaller-sized coin often went unnoticed, but this dishonest practice decreased the value of the original gold or silver coin.
To prevent this, the government began milling, or grooving, the edges so a coin could easily be identified if it was trimmed.
Coins today are no longer made of pure gold or silver, but the milled edges remain because people are accustomed to seeing them that way.
At the U.S. Mint, some dishonest people sought to make an illegal profit from these coins. They made them worthless. Coins today are no longer made of pure gold or silver, but the milled edges and shiny surface remain because people are accustomed to seeing them that way. Thus providing the illusion that your money is worth something. - inactive, on 11/18/2007, -2/+10The real question is "Why do Ruffles have ridges?"
- anareric, on 11/19/2007, -1/+8Why, if they put ridges on coins to help the blind, is a $1 bill exactly the same size as a $100 dollar bill. I guess it's more important to get you 35cents in change correct than to pay $100 for a bag of chips.
- Endeavorer, on 11/18/2007, -2/+9Can't blind people jsut tell the difference in size...?
- iota, on 11/18/2007, -4/+10Site is down but the reason (stolen from another site):
This practice of reeding a coins edges goes back to a time when coins were made of precious metal.
More so with silver and gold coins than copper or bronze, people would shave a little bit of metal off each coin they handled.
Over a short time they would have a pile of silver or gold shavings and the coins returned to circulation would be light, but still, usually accepted at face value.
The ridges (known as REEDING) was one way to detect if the coin had been altered.
Some coins also used edge lettering but this is a more expensive than reeding. - TerrorByteX, on 11/18/2007, -3/+9I think a lot of people 'give a *****' about the loonie, which is stronger than the greenback right now, no?
- chobit, on 11/18/2007, -3/+9Hm.. i always thought it was another indicator besides size to help determine what coin that is in your pocket. In any case, I use it for that purpose.
- JavertHolmes, on 11/18/2007, -0/+6The $2 worth of shavings you removed from a coin are, in themselves, really worth $2. They're shavings of a valuable material such as gold or silver. They're not burned off or smelted or any such thing. They're physically removed from the coin. If you were to shave 100 $10 coins, you would then have $200 in raw material shavings and $1000 in "legal" tender.
- MrFunions, on 11/18/2007, -0/+5Now the federal reserve acts as the coin clipper! They have the monopoly on clipping coins! But wait you say, don't we not like monopolies? No we don't like monopolies - but the Federal Reserve helps to "regulate" the economy. Hooray!!!
- tech42er, on 11/19/2007, -0/+5That's just what they want you to think. ;)
- tpizz, on 11/18/2007, -2/+7Maybe the grooves were there to deter the activity. It could be easy to shave a coin but putting ridges back on may not be worth your time.
- gavintlgold, on 11/18/2007, -0/+5Meaning of "dollar" is 1856, Amer.Eng., perhaps an abbreviation of buckskin, a unit of trade among Indians and Europeans in frontier days, attested in this sense from 1748.
Nope, drewfer's right.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=buck&se ... - tech42er, on 11/19/2007, -0/+5I know what you mean. I could understand when a server went down after being dugg in the 19th and even the 20th century. But in the 21st century, this is unacceptable.
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