2015's mintages have been released so it's time, once again, to update my comparison chart of America the Beautiful (ATB) Quarters mintages with that of the preceding 50 State Quarters program (1999-2009).
As of 2014, the total mintage of the entire ATB Quarters program had still yet not exceeded that of the first year of State Quarters (though just barely). That would be left up to 2015's mintages, which would put a significant dent in the 2000 State Quarters' production totals.
To recap, the mintages from the 1999 State Quarters program were 2.23 billion quarters produced at the Philadelphia mint and 2.21 billion quarters produced at the Denver mint for a total mintage of 4,430.8 million quarters which broke down as follows:
Total mintage for Delaware was 774.8 million pieces
Total mintage for Pennsylvania was 707.3 million pieces
Total mintage for New Jersey was 662.2 million pieces
Total mintage for Georgia was 939.9 million pieces
Total mintage for Connecticut was 1,346.6 million pieces
Additionally, we last left off with the production percentages of ATB Quarters to date compared to State Quarters production as follows:
Of the 1999 total: 98.6% with DE: 100% - PA: 100% - NJ: 100% - GA: 100% - CT: 93.4%
The combined production totals for 2010-2014 were 4,341.6 million quarters. For Connecticut, an additional 89.2 million quarters will be needed to exceed that state's mintage in the order and, for that matter, the entirety of 1999's mintage.
As we will be moving into the second year of the 50 State Quarters program's mintages, now would be a good time to break down its production totals.
The mintages from the 2000 State Quarters program were 3.67 billion quarters produced at the Philadelphia mint and 2.81 billion quarters produced at the Denver mint for a total mintage of 6,470.9 million quarters which broke down as follows:
Total mintage for Massachusetts was 1,163.8 million pieces
Total mintage for Maryland was 1,234.7 million pieces
Total mintage for South Carolina was 1,308.8 million pieces
Total mintage for New Hampshire was 1,169 million pieces
Total mintage for Virginia was 1,594.6 million pieces
2000 holds the record for the highest production totals in the program as well as the individual title holder for the highest minted State Quarter, Virginia.
The total production of 2015 ATB Quarters was 1,417.6 million from the Philadelphia mint and 1,573.2 million from the Denver mint for a combined total of 2,990.8 million quarters, nearly double 2014's mintage.
The 463 million total mintage of the Homestead quarter more than provides the 89.2 million quarters necessary to push out of 1999's production totals and into 2000's (that only took five years and change!) and combined with Kisatchie's 776.8 million total, we're just 1% shy of Massachusetts's mintage.
The combined mintages of the Blue Ridge Parkway (830.8 million pieces) and Bombay Hook quarters (481.4 million pieces) not only quickly surpass the mintage of our union's sixth state, but also overtake Maryland's total by 5%.
The mintage for the Saratoga quarter, the final ATB Quarter for 2015, provided an additional 438.8 million pieces to combine with the 64.3 million leftover pieces from Bombay Hook that exceeded Maryland's total, thus eating into, but not overtaking South Carolina's production total.
In conclusion:
Of the 2000 total: 44.8% with MA: 100% - MD: 100% - SC: 38.4% - NH: 0% - VA: 0%
2015 dated quarters are:
Of total 1965-1998 quarter production (37,463 million pieces): 7.98%
Of total State Quarter production (1999-2009 : 35,451.2 million pieces): 8.44%
Of total clad quarter production (1965-2015): 3.73% [about 1 in 27 quarters will be dated 2015]
And of all quarters made from 1965-2015 (80,246.6 million pieces):
1965-1998 clad quarters make up 46.68% of the total [about 1 in 2 quarters]
State Quarters make up 44.18% of the total [about 1 in 2 quarters]
1999-dated quarters make up 5.52% of the total [about 1 in 18 quarters]
2000-dated quarters make up 8.06% of the total [about 1 in 12 quarters]
ATB Quarters from 2010-2015 make up 9.14% of the total [about 1 in 11 quarters]
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Sunday, January 10, 2016
POWER DYNAMICS AND FLIRTING...
I hate the lack of defined social etiquette when it comes to when it's okay and when it's not okay for men to flirt with women (and vice-versa). I say this somewhat ironically as I despise social conventions as unnecessarily restrictive but they have their purpose, especially in tense or otherwise in scenarios with too many variables. A defined social etiquette, or diplomacy if you will, helps take the edge off by allowing participants to follows established guidelines rather than risk accidental offense.
I accept, however reluctantly as a coward, that it is generally accepted that men make the opening moves when attempting to woo women ("woo" is a terrible word, isn't it?) however, while it is also generally accepted that not all situations are appropriate for male-initiated flirting, there is no clear-cut set of rules establishing when and where such behavior is appropriate.
I'm not sure I can define the scenarios mathematically but an obvious, all-too-cliché, example where it is perfectly acceptable to flirt is ye olde bar or a dance club. People, strangers, deliberately meeting up in a public place purveying in intoxication is the standard-bearer for male-initiated wooing via inviting female body language.
I'm not actually one to believe that the men are ever in control here. I feel, like in nature, women are generally always the ones holding all the cards and just make it look like the men are the ones doing so.
But I think it's also safe-to-say that people would agree that the supermarket or restaurant are not places where male-initiated flirting is acceptable. The difference being that the female cashier (and even customer) and waitress are not in positions of power like they are at a bar or club. They have to be nice to you. They can't get away. They can't tell you off. Etc.
Yet, as anyone can attest, guys still shamelessly flirt with such women all the fucking time. Now I'm not saying it's wrong, in of itself, for such flirting to happen. I'm saying it's wrong when the man initiates flirting when the power-dynamic does not favor the woman.
There is a way around this. If the female cashier, waitress, or customer initiates flirting with the guy, she is granting him permission to do so in a venue where his advances would otherwise (and should) be frowned upon. In this way, the power dynamic of the bar/club is preserved in places where it may not simply be assumed by the male.
The trouble is, I don't see anything like this actually going on nor when I was in school (or from posts I read online) were we ever educated in such a manner of when are where flirting is appropriate. Feminist posts will occasionally broach this topic but I've only ever read complaints about creepy men, etc. taking advantage of the topsy-turvy power dynamic, not calls for social etiquette.
Admittedly, this sucks for me as only very rarely has a female customer even kinda-sorta flirted with me. It sucks because some of my customers are very attractive and from the ones who do speak, sometimes immediately appealing too. But it only seems fair to apply.
I think of sexual harassment videos and shit from school and work. They always told you what not to do, but never what to do leaving cautious folk like me without guidance.
Additionally, I think of the rather unnatural world of online dating and how the power dynamic perhaps ought to play out there as well. I regularly read complaints about creepy guys or overly sexual guys bothering women on these sites, ruining the experience for everyone. Sites like Tinder which require a mutual match before contact may be made and Bumble which require girls to initiate contact with men might help somewhat but what of simply the overall etiquette? What should it be?
My thoughts on this are that it's okay for men to initiate contact on sites like Plenty of Fish and OKCupid but that it is not okay for them to ask for the girl's phone number. I feel by asking for the phone number, the men are violating the power dynamic.
Online dating isn't like real life dating as there is no face-to-face communication and all its attendant body language, eye contact, smells, etc. that both consciously and subconsciously go along with face-to-face meetings. As women will readily admit, they're kinda sussing the men out to determine if they are creeps, sexual perverts, or the ever classic, serial killers and they're denied this pass/fail opportunity when the man is demanding her private contact information before she is willing to give it.
Unfortunately, like the cashier and waitress examples, there are no defined and socially accepted rules for these scenarios so they continue to go often violated by men, making dating that much harder for the rest of us. I wish there were a way to socially shun the power dynamic violating men, but as of now, there isn't and as of now, it's still very hard for me to get a date playing by rules that I've effectively made up and may ultimately be projecting an apparent lack of interest when nothing could be further from the truth.
It makes me hate my life...
I accept, however reluctantly as a coward, that it is generally accepted that men make the opening moves when attempting to woo women ("woo" is a terrible word, isn't it?) however, while it is also generally accepted that not all situations are appropriate for male-initiated flirting, there is no clear-cut set of rules establishing when and where such behavior is appropriate.
I'm not sure I can define the scenarios mathematically but an obvious, all-too-cliché, example where it is perfectly acceptable to flirt is ye olde bar or a dance club. People, strangers, deliberately meeting up in a public place purveying in intoxication is the standard-bearer for male-initiated wooing via inviting female body language.
I'm not actually one to believe that the men are ever in control here. I feel, like in nature, women are generally always the ones holding all the cards and just make it look like the men are the ones doing so.
But I think it's also safe-to-say that people would agree that the supermarket or restaurant are not places where male-initiated flirting is acceptable. The difference being that the female cashier (and even customer) and waitress are not in positions of power like they are at a bar or club. They have to be nice to you. They can't get away. They can't tell you off. Etc.
Yet, as anyone can attest, guys still shamelessly flirt with such women all the fucking time. Now I'm not saying it's wrong, in of itself, for such flirting to happen. I'm saying it's wrong when the man initiates flirting when the power-dynamic does not favor the woman.
There is a way around this. If the female cashier, waitress, or customer initiates flirting with the guy, she is granting him permission to do so in a venue where his advances would otherwise (and should) be frowned upon. In this way, the power dynamic of the bar/club is preserved in places where it may not simply be assumed by the male.
The trouble is, I don't see anything like this actually going on nor when I was in school (or from posts I read online) were we ever educated in such a manner of when are where flirting is appropriate. Feminist posts will occasionally broach this topic but I've only ever read complaints about creepy men, etc. taking advantage of the topsy-turvy power dynamic, not calls for social etiquette.
Admittedly, this sucks for me as only very rarely has a female customer even kinda-sorta flirted with me. It sucks because some of my customers are very attractive and from the ones who do speak, sometimes immediately appealing too. But it only seems fair to apply.
I think of sexual harassment videos and shit from school and work. They always told you what not to do, but never what to do leaving cautious folk like me without guidance.
Additionally, I think of the rather unnatural world of online dating and how the power dynamic perhaps ought to play out there as well. I regularly read complaints about creepy guys or overly sexual guys bothering women on these sites, ruining the experience for everyone. Sites like Tinder which require a mutual match before contact may be made and Bumble which require girls to initiate contact with men might help somewhat but what of simply the overall etiquette? What should it be?
My thoughts on this are that it's okay for men to initiate contact on sites like Plenty of Fish and OKCupid but that it is not okay for them to ask for the girl's phone number. I feel by asking for the phone number, the men are violating the power dynamic.
Online dating isn't like real life dating as there is no face-to-face communication and all its attendant body language, eye contact, smells, etc. that both consciously and subconsciously go along with face-to-face meetings. As women will readily admit, they're kinda sussing the men out to determine if they are creeps, sexual perverts, or the ever classic, serial killers and they're denied this pass/fail opportunity when the man is demanding her private contact information before she is willing to give it.
Unfortunately, like the cashier and waitress examples, there are no defined and socially accepted rules for these scenarios so they continue to go often violated by men, making dating that much harder for the rest of us. I wish there were a way to socially shun the power dynamic violating men, but as of now, there isn't and as of now, it's still very hard for me to get a date playing by rules that I've effectively made up and may ultimately be projecting an apparent lack of interest when nothing could be further from the truth.
It makes me hate my life...