The nickel is a five-cent coin issued since 1866 by the United States
Mint, composed of 75% copper and 25% nickel. The silver half dime,
also equal to five cents, was first issued in the 1790s. The economic
upset of the American Civil War drove gold and silver from circulation,
and the government at first issued paper currency in place of low-value
coins. As two-cent (in 1864) and three-cent pieces (1865) without
precious metal content had been successfully introduced, Congress
authorized a five-cent piece of base metal; the Mint began striking this
in 1866. The Shield nickel, the initial design, was struck until 1883,
when it was replaced by the Liberty Head nickel. As part of a drive to
increase the beauty of American coinage, the Buffalo nickel (shown) was
introduced in 1913; it was followed by the Jefferson nickel in 1938.
After using special designs for the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition in 2004 and 2005, the Mint reverted to using Jefferson nickel
designer Felix Schlag's original reverse (or "tails" side), although
substituting a new obverse. As of 2013, it costs more than eleven cents
to produce a nickel; the Mint is investigating using less expensive
metals.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_(United_States_coin)>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
As per the U.S. Constitution, the bicameral U.S. Congress
officially replaced the unicameral Congress of the Confederation as the
legislative body of the federal government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_Congress>
1899:
Cyclone Mahina struck Bathurst Bay, Queensland, killing over
400 people, the deadliest natural disaster in Australian history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Mahina>
1933:
Frances Perkins was appointed United States Secretary of Labor,
making her the first female member of the Cabinet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Perkins>
1980:
Robert Mugabe of the Zimbabwe African National Union was
elected to head the first government in Zimbabwe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe>
2007:
Fourteen-year-old English schoolgirl Charlotte Shaw drowned on
Dartmoor, becoming the first person to die in connection with the annual
Ten Tors challenge.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Charlotte_Shaw>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
philtrum:
The shallow groove running down the center of the outer surface of the
upper lip.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/philtrum>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We know that with the very first awakening of knowledge, man is
confronted with two obvious facts: The existence of the world in which
he lives; and the existence of psychic life in himself. Neither of these
can he prove or disprove, but they are facts: they constitute reality
for him.
--P. D. Ouspensky
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._D._Ouspensky>