Disclaimer: This article is filled with "facts" about state history and the U.S. Mint's 50 State Quarter Program. If you write a research paper using the information provided here you're likely to get an F. Don't write an angry email just because you're even lazier than the author to look up the real information.

In 1999 the United States Mint unleashed their 50 State Quarter Program on a confused public wondering why there was a guy on a horse on the back of their quarters. Eventually people caught wind of the plan to release quarters celebrating each state over the next ten years. (That's five new quarter designs every year in case you're bad with math and it's late at night and your solar calculator won't work.) Each state's quarter has it's own unique design filled with images and text detailing that state's history and accomplishments. Unfortunately there isn't much room on the back of a quarter, so that history and accomplishments may seem a bit cryptic. That's where I hope these articles can help.

But before we get into all of that I'd like to take a look the program itself. How did it come about? You only need to look at the fads sweeping the nation only a few years earlier, Beanie Babies. Yes, it seems far fetched that small plush toys caused the US Government to redesign one of it coins but consider this. Beanie Babies ignited a huge following of investing collectors, people willing to spend large amounts of money to hoard things that may not even interest them in hopes that they can eventually cash in on a big profit. The government saw an opportunity.

This is the point where thinking about how money actually works makes my brain ache but stick with me anyway. The cost of the materials in a quarter is five cents. The public is willing to pay twenty-five cents to possess a quarter leaving Uncle Sam with twenty cents in profit. Most of the time this isn't a problem because the public is inclined to spent that twenty five cents on something useful, let's say a vending machine rubber ball. But with the state quarters, people aren't going to spend them. They'll "buy" one to keep and another to spend. The collectors are likely to keep even more.

So there you have it, the truth behind the 50 State Quarter Program. If you don't believe me spend the day in a bank lobby and watch how many people come in waving a ten dollar bill demanding to know if the new state quarter is out. I'd be willing to bet you see at least one before the cops are called and questions are asked about why you're loitering in the bank's lobby.

cravipat escaped the blue labyrinth long enough to write this.

1 adventurer found their way to the golden castle.

Words uncovered in the catacombs : quarters

It wouldn't be the start of a new year without some sort of list either marking the best things of the year past or the best to look forward to in the future year so here you go.

• stick of butter


• jug of milk


• carton of eggs


• loaf of bread

Don't ask me what it means. I found it lying on the sidewalk. It could be a grocery list or maybe a French Toast recipe. I figure I have all of 2008 to find out.

cravipat escaped the blue labyrinth long enough to write this.

2 adventurers found their way to the golden castle.

Words uncovered in the catacombs : oddities

It's hard to believe it has been over a year since I posted anything worth while. There were a lot of reasons why I stopped, but only one why I'm starting again. My brain is full. Full of stupid stories and strange questions that I need to get rid of. I tried standing on a street corner and shouting to passersby but my comments sheet would get soggy when it rained.

Hopefully things will a a bit better this time, especially after I've gone through the painstaking process of updating my template to use Blogger's navigation and label features without having to resort to using one of their "my blog looks like everyone else's" templates. So instead of admitting that I don't have the best track record and this place will be dead in a month let me distract you with this.



cravipat escaped the blue labyrinth long enough to write this.

0 adventurers found their way to the golden castle.

Words uncovered in the catacombs : announcements

The time has come to accept the fact that I no longer have the time and effort to keep this site running. I couldn't even keep up a month of posting things that were already written. So it's time to close up shop at least for now. But before I go here are a few loose ends of things I never got around to finishing.

During the month of reruns I did post one new item, a photo of a very young me in a Planet of the Apes mask. At the end of the month my plan was to write another post apologizing that I was wearing a mask in the original picture and was going to offer an umasked version. That's my angry face.

The main contributing factor of giving up on my little corner of the digital realm wasn't that I've run out of ideas. I have a text file full of half finished articles. Here are just a few ideas you could have read about if I wasn't so lazy.

If you were to travel back in time to 1984 and ask any young boy what his favorite toys were he might respond with My Little Pony. Of course the more likely and slightly less embarrassing answer would be Transformers. Can you blame him? Those wacky robots were everywhere, toy aisles, televisions, even movie theaters. But did you know you could also find them at the book store?

This little introduction was the kickoff of an in-depth article discussing the differences between the cartoon and comic book versions of Transformers. Considering the purpose of both was to sell toys, it's amazing how different they were.

Growing up in a small town summertime meant one thing. Carnivals. If a school, church or fire company in a three town radius was hosting a carnival you could be sure that's how I was spending my Friday and Saturday nights. The magic wore off as I got older, but no kid could resist the chance at winning some loot. My only obstacle was the actual games.

Carnival games were only the lead in to what I was really planning on talking about, A-Treat soda.

Have you been to Boscov's? Considering it's a Pennsylvania based department store with only a few dozen locations in only a half dozen states I'm guessing you haven't. Let me fill you in on what you're missing out on. It's not because it's a great place to shop. To me Boscov's feels like a relic from an era where department stores ruled the Earth.

If you've never been in a Boscov's and you ever get a change don't miss out. Tacky chandeliers, neon signs everywhere, and a full sized candy department are just a few of the wonders you'll witness.

Farmers market. Those two words generally fail to conjure any excitement in most people. The image that comes to mind is of dilapidated wooden stands manned by even more dilapidated people selling things most people wouldn't even dig out of the trash. They're the kinds of places most people avoid. Those people haven't been to Zern's.

I was on a bit of a local pride kick for a while if you can't tell from the last three excerpts. I grew up right down the street from Zern's and calling it a farmers market doesn't even come close to describing why I didn't mind the Saturday morning shopping excursions that would take me away from my precious cartoons.

Things change. It's a fact of life you just learn to accept. Change is a little easier to accept now that practically anything you can think about is well persevered in digital deep freeze just waiting for your Google search, but growing up change was a force of evil especially when it came to amusement parks.

This one goes out to all the rides that are no longer with us, from local favorites Hersheypark's Coal Cars and Dorney Park's Journey To The Center Of The Earth to the well known Disney World's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

There have been quite a few video games based on the Simpsons. Some were not very good. Most were terrible.

Actually, I think this one may have been finished.

Finally, let me leave you with this bit of knowledge. I don't know what it means or what I was going to do with it but I like the sound of it.

crafting miniature replicas of seaworthy vessels constrained in glass containers

cravipat escaped the blue labyrinth long enough to write this.

0 adventurers found their way to the golden castle.

Words uncovered in the catacombs : announcements