The Jefferson nickel has been the five-cent coin struck by the United
States Mint since 1938, when it replaced the Buffalo nickel. Since 2006,
the copper-nickel coin's obverse has featured a forward-facing portrayal
of early U.S. President Thomas Jefferson by Jamie Franki. The coin's
reverse is the original by Felix Schlag; in 2004 and 2005, the piece
bore commemorative designs. The Mint conducted a competition for a new
nickel depicting Jefferson and his home, Monticello, which Schlag won,
but was required to submit an entirely new reverse and make other
changes. The new piece went into production in October 1938 and was
released on November 15. As nickel was a strategic war material during
World War II, nickels coined from 1942 to 1945 were struck in a copper-
silver-manganese alloy which would not require adjustment to vending
machines, and bear a large mint mark above the depiction of Monticello
on the reverse. In 2004 and 2005, the nickel saw new designs as part of
the Westward Journey nickel series, and since 2006 has borne Schlag's
reverse and Franki's obverse.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_nickel>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1315:
A 1,500-strong force from the Swiss Confederacy ambushed a
group of Austrian soldiers of the Holy Roman Empire on the shores of
Lake Ägerisee in Switzerland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Morgarten>
1688:
Prince William of Orange landed at Brixham in Devon, on his way
to depose his father-in-law King James II, the last Catholic monarch of
England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorious_Revolution>
1889:
Brazilian Emperor Pedro II was overthrown in a coup led by
Deodoro da Fonseca, and Brazil was proclaimed a republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_and_fall_of_Pedro_II_of_Brazil>
1943:
The Holocaust: Heinrich Himmler ordered that Romanies were to
be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porajmos>
1983:
Turkish Cypriots on the northeastern portion of Cyprus declared
the creation of a new state known as the Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus, which currently remains recognised only by Turkey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Cyprus>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
Easter egg:
1. A dyed or decorated egg, traditionally associated with Easter and
usually hidden for children to find.
2. A chocolate confection in the shape of an egg.
3. (computing) An undocumented function hidden in a program or video game,
typically triggered by a particular input sequence or combination of
keystrokes.
4. Any image, feature, or other content that is hidden on a video disc, in
a movie, trailer, or poster.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Easter_egg>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught
me — shapes and ideas so near to me — so natural to my way of being
and thinking that it hasn't occurred to me to put them down. I decided
to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught.
--Georgia O'Keeffe
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Georgia_O%27Keeffe>