With the year almost over, I may as well continue with this series of posts even though it seems clear to me I no longer wish to. I'll admit this was a lot more fun in the 2010-2012 years when ATB mintages were quite low and it seemed that the total program might not even equal that of the first two years of the Statehood Quarters Program.
But as of 2016, nearly all of the State Quarter's 2000 mintage has been eaten up leaving 76.1% of Virginia's total to go. That's still rather impressive. After all, seven years into this program and we still haven't swallowed up the first two years of the program. Without even looking at the numbers, I feel assured that 2017's totals will be putting us into 2001's mintage totals.
Anyways, from where we last left off, 2016's ATB mintages swallowed up all but Virginia's contribution to the State Quarter's 2000 mintage which was also the largest single year State Quarter production.
The statistics were as follows:
Of the 2000 total: 81.25% with MA: 100% - MD: 100% - SC: 100% - NH: 100% - VA: 23.9%
To recap, 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
The total mintage from both Philadelphia and Denver (starting in 2012, S-mint business strikes have been made available to collectors but I am neither counting these nor the totals from Mint Sets and Proof Sets as part of the mintages listed in this entire program...just the business strikes from the Philadelphia and Denver mints) of the 2017 ATB Quarters was approximately 2,116 million pieces, about 240 million fewer than 2016's mintage.
Virginia's State Quarter has approximately 1,213.3 million pieces remaining in its mintage.
The first 2017 ATB quarter, Iowa's Effigy Mounds National Monument, had a mintage of 482 million pieces leaving 731.3 million pieces to go for 2000's Virginia. Next up is Washington D.C.'s Frederick Douglass National Historical Site. That quarter's mintage declined from Iowa's by 111.4 million pieces giving it a total mintage of 370.6 million quarters from both mints which is still insufficient to swallow Virginia's total. The total remaining mintage for that State Quarter is now 360.7 million pieces. 77.4% of the total has now been covered by 2016's and 2017's ATB Quarter mintages leaving the next quarter's mintage to finally surpass it, closing out the 2000 State Quarter mintage in the ATB Quarters program's eighth year after 38 of the program's 56 designs.
Missouri's Ozark National Scenic Riverways mintage total was 403 million pieces. Subtracting this from Virginia's remaining total gives us a 42.3 million coin surplus which will be deducted from the New York State Quarter's mintage total. But first, a breakdown...
The mintages for the 2001 State Quarters program were approximately 4.81 billion quarters at both the Philadelphia and Denver mints which broke down as follows:
Total mintage for New York was 1,275 million pieces
Total mintage for North Carolina was 1,055.5 million pieces
Total mintage for Rhode Island was 870.1 million pieces
Total mintage for Vermont was 882.8 million pieces
Total mintage for Kentucky was 723.6 million pieces
Taking into account the surplus of 42.3 million quarters from Missouri's ATB production, a total of 3.3% of New York's State Quarter production has been taken up leaving 1,232.7 million quarters to go.
New Jersey's Ellis Island (Statue of Liberty National Monument) ATB Quarter mintage was to the tune of 488 million pieces. Subtracting this from the balance of New York's State Quarter mintage leaves us with 744.7 million pieces to go. This brings us to the final ATB Quarter of 2017, Indiana's George Rogers Clark National Historical Park which, when all was said and done, ended up with a mintage figure of 372.4 million quarters. When this amount is deducted from New York's remaining balance, we are left with 372.3 million quarters (29.2%) of its mintage to go.
After 40 of the ATB Quarters Program's 56 designs, we are only now just starting to eat into the 11th of the 56 State Quarters Program's designs. At this rate it seems doubtful the ATB Quarter Program's final mintage will even exceed the State Quarters Program's third year.
In conclusion:
Of the 2001 total: 18.8% with NY: 70.8% - NC: 0% - RI: 0% - VT: 0% - KY: 0%
2017 dated quarters are:
Of total 1965-1998 quarter production (37,463 million pieces): 5.66%
Of total State Quarter production (1999-2009 : 35,451.2 million pieces): 5.98%
Of total clad quarter production (1965-2017): 2.50% [about 1 in 40 quarters will be dated 2017]
And of all quarters made from 1965-2017 (84,723.6 million pieces):
1965-1998 clad quarters make up 44.21% of the total [about 1 in 2 quarters; or to be more accurate, about 4 in 9]
State Quarters make up 41.84% of the total [about 1 in 2 quarters; or again, to be more accurate, about 13 in 31]
1999-dated quarters (4,430.8 million pieces) make up 5.23% of the total [about 1 in 19 quarters]
2000-dated quarters (6,470.9 million pieces) make up 7.64% of the total [about 1 in 13 quarters]
2001-dated quarters (4,807 million pieces) make up 5.67% of the total [about 1 in 17 quarters]
ATB Quarters from 2010-2017 (11,804.4 million pieces) make up 13.93% of the total [about 1 in 7 quarters will be an ATB design]
You're welcome to check my math both here, here, and here...
Thursday, December 27, 2018
Friday, December 29, 2017
I LOVE THE COLD...
Since and only because I get to come home to a heated box, I love when it finally gets cold out. And for me, cold is any day where the high temperature never goes above freezing. We're getting a string of them right now: the local rivers are already becoming choked with ice. It's wonderful.
And I love going out in it. Winter is the only time of year I get to feel my body struggle to stay alive. It's invigorating and it reminds me that I still want to be here even though my life affords me precious few days to actually enjoy it.
The Summer heat saps my will to live. I accept it only because Winter alone would destroy the food chain. The heat of Summer is necessary. I understand that...but with every heatwave, my body is all the more ready to surrender to death. It is only in the bitter, numbing cold that I feel myself remembering I still have things I want to do and that I'm not yet ready to give up on them.
And yet it is only in the Winter when pity is taken upon me and I find myself being offered more rides both home and to work. I look forward to these chills all year only to have them taken from me by some misplaced kindness. I just want to walk in it. I want to feel my body's aura of heat stripped away. I want to endure the pain of the wind on my face and fingers. I want to feel the cold creeping up my arms and legs. I want the hurt. I want my body to tell me it will not go down without a fight. I want to experience the desire to survive another day. It is the closest I come to knowing meaningful struggle.
I'm tempted daily to surrender on all fronts and return to the void but Winter reminds me to press on for there may still be a use for my being yet...
So if you see me walking in the cold and/or in the snow, leave me be. Don't deprive me of one of the few joys that still has not been taken from me...
And I love going out in it. Winter is the only time of year I get to feel my body struggle to stay alive. It's invigorating and it reminds me that I still want to be here even though my life affords me precious few days to actually enjoy it.
The Summer heat saps my will to live. I accept it only because Winter alone would destroy the food chain. The heat of Summer is necessary. I understand that...but with every heatwave, my body is all the more ready to surrender to death. It is only in the bitter, numbing cold that I feel myself remembering I still have things I want to do and that I'm not yet ready to give up on them.
And yet it is only in the Winter when pity is taken upon me and I find myself being offered more rides both home and to work. I look forward to these chills all year only to have them taken from me by some misplaced kindness. I just want to walk in it. I want to feel my body's aura of heat stripped away. I want to endure the pain of the wind on my face and fingers. I want to feel the cold creeping up my arms and legs. I want the hurt. I want my body to tell me it will not go down without a fight. I want to experience the desire to survive another day. It is the closest I come to knowing meaningful struggle.
I'm tempted daily to surrender on all fronts and return to the void but Winter reminds me to press on for there may still be a use for my being yet...
So if you see me walking in the cold and/or in the snow, leave me be. Don't deprive me of one of the few joys that still has not been taken from me...
Friday, October 6, 2017
BLACK HOLE SUN...
This is undoubtedly something I should've written over a month ago while my memories of the event were still fresh but not only did I take my first real vacation in over 25 years last August, I also got to see what will hopefully not be my only total solar eclipse. Though I was primarily visiting North Carolina, staying with a hosting family, I traveled to a town called Blythewood in South Carolina to witness the event.
We really could not have asked for a better location to view it. Though we did not get the maximum totality possible for South Carolina, we did get about 1.5 minutes worth and as can be expected, that was a very quick 90 seconds...
The host family and I arrived about an hour before first contact. We found a nice park with good open space and a variety of land textures (it had a mix of grass, baseball fields, a playground for the kids, sand, asphalt, and trees for shade) which would later prove fortuitous.
I had originally planned on not taking pictures at all but the slow-motion nature of the event prompted me to experiment.
This was my first real good use of the digital camera my Mom had bought me back in 2014 for Christmas. Unlike my previous camera which only allowed certain features to be tuned manually, this camera allows all its features to be controlled manually. This proved important as setting a fixed shutter speed and being able to manually focus were very much necessary, especially near and during totality when the once slow-motion events proceeded at what now felt like a lightning pace. Simply put, there is no way my previous digital camera could've captured the kinds of photos I did get.
I had built a crude rig to fix the eclipse viewers to my camera and lens at maximum zoom and while it worked, it was cumbersome to remove and replace so I opted for simply holding the eclipse viewers in the path of my camera's lens. I didn't bring a tripod which, in retrospect, would have come in handy as it got darker but I'm nevertheless happy with what I did get.
I also brought my darkest moon viewer (13% transmission) hoping I could've used that instead to get a more proper white sun than the amber one the eclipse glasses show but that element proved woefully inadequate: the sun still looks like a diffraction spike explosion even at my camera's fastest shutter speed and highest f-stop setting. Eclipse viewers it would be!
The park wasn't crowded at all. Probably no more than fifty people chose this particular location which I'd have to say was a good thing as it allowed for much freedom of movement even though I found myself happy to stick to the shade in between photographs.
We were also lucky to have both relatively cloud-free skies throughout the event and temperatures which, while hot, were not the humidity hell the South is known for.
The sun's disk was unfortunately bland. There were no giant sunspot groups like could be seen a couple of years ago. It would've provided an interesting contrast but I guess one can't have everything ;-)
First contact happened some time after 1 o'clock. In the first sequence posted below, I was trying to find an appropriate focus and shutter speed. The first image told me I couldn't rely on autofocus so I switched to manual thereafter and I increased the shutter speed in subsequent shots, settling on 1/1000th of a second. I let the camera choose the f-stop and I noticed for all the shots taken through the eclipse viewer, it had selected an f-stop of 2.8.
I'm still not comfortable guessing an appropriate f-stop which is unfortunate as certain photos taken later that weren't of the sun but the darkening scenery around would've benefited I think from both a fixed shutter speed and f-stop. Oh well...
Things seemed perfectly normal during this part of the eclipse, its Pac-Man phase. The kids that were with us and with other families had already become predictably bored, some opting to return to the park's playground. In fact, I would say everyone who had come at this point in our group except me had become bored. But the adults at least stuck it out and were making friendly conversation with other families at the park.
During this part of the eclipse (the second sequence) I noticed that, while the illumination from the sun was still bright, it no longer felt hot to be out in.
However, even with more than half the sun blotted out, it is still painful to look at and shows no noticeable deviation from its round shape to the unaided eye (though some deviation could be seen in my eye's after-images for several seconds afterward).
It reminded me of an annular eclipse that happened while I was in school back in '94. I remember peeking up at the sun through a window I opened in the hallway maybe twenty minutes before the area around us darkened considerably. While for only a moment, I recall the after-image of the sun in my eye showing a large chunk taken out of it by the Moon.
But back in South Carolina, what could be seen by the end of the second sequence was a noticeable dimming in the sun's illumination. By this point, it looked as though someone had been fiddling with the contrast knob on an old TV, turning it to its lowest setting.
Throughout the third sequence, you could feel it growing noticeably cooler and the light continued to slowly fade...
I decided to take another shot of the sun without the eclipse viewers and while that sliver of sun was still too bright to look at for any length of time unaided, the light you could see was now deforming from the circular (even more so in my eye's after-images)...
What stands out to me in that photo is the string attached to my lens cap. It's normally not visible at all under a full sun. In the minutes before totality, I could see the hairs on my leg each casting their own shadow. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of that nor did I get a picture later of me in a similar pose under a full sun to show the difference so you'll have to take my word for it that yes, shadows get very well defined the smaller the source of the light becomes.
With the Moon's umbral shadow nearly upon us, things had grown considerably darker and everyone was getting excited, even those who had been bored or uninterested from the start.
By the end of this sequence, the sun was no longer painful to look at and everyone waited anxiously for totality. Our host had an app on her phone that alerted us to keep an eye out for shadow bands and sure enough, because we were on a bright patch of sand, we could see them. I got no pictures or video of them but they were cool to look at. These little wavy shadows were all around us but most plainly visible on the sand. It reminded me of the ripples of air you can see coming off a roadway on a hot Summer's day (or those from a radiator near frigid air).
And just like that they disappeared and the sun's light had shrunk to a pinprick.
The last two photos in that sequence used the camera's automatic settings for shutter speed and both used its maximum f-stop value of 16. The 2:40 p.m. one had a shutter speed of 1/3200th of a second while the 2:41 p.m. picture was 1/1000th of a second so a proper comparison of the sun's increasingly rapid dimming isn't possible. The leisurely pace of the eclipse was now giving way to blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments.
I'm not a professional and there simply wasn't time.
Suddenly everyone was in awe and I have to admit, the best part was that it was not a silent awe. The commonest refrain was, of course, "Oh my God!" but the excitement of everyone there was electrifying. The sky was like that of twilight but the camera would not capture that. It instead presented a picture of total blackness like that of night which wasn't the case. The now visible corona too, could not ever be properly captured...at least not in a single shot.
Never discount your eyes' ability to adapt to its surroundings as well as their ability to show contrasts. The solar corona was much bigger than anything I captured on my data card. I would say it was about 3 moons wide and 2 moons tall and while colors are not my thing, the sight was certainly ethereal and deeply moving.
I mean, when you think about it, all it is that you're experiencing is being caught in a shadow. It happens all the time when a cloud passes over the sun and every day at sunset and yet, while it's the same thing, it's so very different because it's a shadow that's not possible to cast from an Earthly vantage point. You can blot out the sun with just your finger but its illumination still fills the sky and it certainly does not make the corona visible. When the sun sets, its light is still reflected and refracted throughout the atmosphere.
But the Moon, when the Moon does it, the shadow is coming from a source above the atmosphere, something that no other shadow you've experienced can do. It's a surreal experience and it really does affect you. One particular joy I felt during totality was simply the ability to look directly at where the sun was supposed to be and not having it be blindingly bright. It felt subversive...like I was getting away with something :-)
During this time, I took a quick survey of the sky and caught sight of both Jupiter and Venus. I almost missed Venus because it was nearly obscured by the trees we were using for shade. I made no attempt to photograph them with the eclipsed sun: there simply wasn't time for something like that and both planets were well separated from the sun. I think a star or two showed up in some of my totality photos but I really can't be sure if they weren't random noise.
But I'm also ashamed to say I didn't take it in as much as I should have, choosing instead to photograph it both for my posterity (and aphantasia) and for the benefit of friends and family who could not see it for themselves.
Once I reached shutter speeds too slow for me to get a clear image of the solar corona, I switched it to video and recorded the sun's re-emergence. In retrospect, this is where my old camera would've come in handy. I could've set it upon our car and just let it record the people's reaction to totality in its entirety while using my good camera as I had.
I also feel, again in retrospect, that I should've chanced a higher ISO setting for my totality pictures. I almost always keep the setting at its lowest, in this case 100, but maybe if I had chanced a setting of 400 or 800, I could've gotten some of the nearby stars to show up and maybe have gotten a hint of color in the sky. But it's not important. What's important is that my photos of totality looked better than literally everyone's smartphone version of it on Instagram :-P
Again, I regret not simply watching. That was the reason behind my not wanting to take photographs in the first place. It was always the top recommendation for people for whom this was their first eclipse: just watch it. There's another one in 2024. Maybe I'll be able to see that one. Perhaps even with the same friends I got to see this one with. It'll pass through Dallas, Texas and I'd like to think they'd want to check that city out. It'll last longer too and I think that time, assuming I get it, I'll just watch...
The video was taken at 2:43 p.m. as the eclipse ended. I'm sorry it's shaky but I was really more interested in watching what was left of totality than making sure I was holding the camera steady. I'm sure you understand but it does capture a few fleeting moments in time when a group of strangers were all suddenly interested in something going on in the sky and I'm glad I got to share that with them.
Even that teeny-tiny little sliver at 2:45 p.m. was painful to look at. It truly was a reminder about what they say regarding solar eclipses: It's all about totality! Because yeah, that's the life-changing, looking into the face of a Vorlon moment. Everything else is merely changes in lighting...
Once the sun came back out, I knew there would be no persuading everyone to hang around for the official end of the eclipse so I didn't even try and like everyone else there, we all got back on the road at the same time.
The last picture I got after third contact was taken through both the eclipse viewers and the car's window. The show was completely over by the time we got home.
And while there certainly was traffic on the road heading back home, they all kept moving at a fair pace and did not jam up, a bonus I'm sure for the host family kind enough to drive us all the hour or so it took to get there.
All in all, I'm very happy to have gotten the experience and I hope to get to see another solar eclipse before I die. It's a shame they don't happen on a more regular basis. But I did get to see this one and that can't be taken from me :-)
We really could not have asked for a better location to view it. Though we did not get the maximum totality possible for South Carolina, we did get about 1.5 minutes worth and as can be expected, that was a very quick 90 seconds...
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| Blythewood Park in Blythewood, SC |
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| A friendly family we got to share the experience with made this |
The host family and I arrived about an hour before first contact. We found a nice park with good open space and a variety of land textures (it had a mix of grass, baseball fields, a playground for the kids, sand, asphalt, and trees for shade) which would later prove fortuitous.
 |
| courtesy of Google Maps |
This was my first real good use of the digital camera my Mom had bought me back in 2014 for Christmas. Unlike my previous camera which only allowed certain features to be tuned manually, this camera allows all its features to be controlled manually. This proved important as setting a fixed shutter speed and being able to manually focus were very much necessary, especially near and during totality when the once slow-motion events proceeded at what now felt like a lightning pace. Simply put, there is no way my previous digital camera could've captured the kinds of photos I did get.
I had built a crude rig to fix the eclipse viewers to my camera and lens at maximum zoom and while it worked, it was cumbersome to remove and replace so I opted for simply holding the eclipse viewers in the path of my camera's lens. I didn't bring a tripod which, in retrospect, would have come in handy as it got darker but I'm nevertheless happy with what I did get.
I also brought my darkest moon viewer (13% transmission) hoping I could've used that instead to get a more proper white sun than the amber one the eclipse glasses show but that element proved woefully inadequate: the sun still looks like a diffraction spike explosion even at my camera's fastest shutter speed and highest f-stop setting. Eclipse viewers it would be!
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| (12:45 p.m.) left: sun through moon filter - right: sun through eclipse viewers at same scale |
We were also lucky to have both relatively cloud-free skies throughout the event and temperatures which, while hot, were not the humidity hell the South is known for.
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| (12:47 p.m.) some revelers |
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| (12:47 p.m.) additional revelers |
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| (12:45 p.m.) pre-show: total sun at 3x magnification |
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| Giant sunspot group from October 2014 (even though, had it been there, the Moon would've blotted it out immediately) |
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| first sequence |
I'm still not comfortable guessing an appropriate f-stop which is unfortunate as certain photos taken later that weren't of the sun but the darkening scenery around would've benefited I think from both a fixed shutter speed and f-stop. Oh well...
Things seemed perfectly normal during this part of the eclipse, its Pac-Man phase. The kids that were with us and with other families had already become predictably bored, some opting to return to the park's playground. In fact, I would say everyone who had come at this point in our group except me had become bored. But the adults at least stuck it out and were making friendly conversation with other families at the park.
 |
| second sequence |
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| (2:15 p.m.) the halo and spikes are camera artifacts and were not actually visible |
It reminded me of an annular eclipse that happened while I was in school back in '94. I remember peeking up at the sun through a window I opened in the hallway maybe twenty minutes before the area around us darkened considerably. While for only a moment, I recall the after-image of the sun in my eye showing a large chunk taken out of it by the Moon.
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| margin drawing I made of what I saw back on May 10, 1994 |
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| 2:19 p.m. |
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| third sequence |
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| 2:33 p.m. |
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| 2:21 p.m. - revelers checking out the ever-darkening sky |
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| 2:25 p.m. - shadows were becoming sharper too |
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| 2:28 p.m. - I felt bad for anyone stuck watching the eclipse under those clouds |
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| 2:38 p.m. - getting darker |
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| fourth sequence |
And just like that they disappeared and the sun's light had shrunk to a pinprick.
The last two photos in that sequence used the camera's automatic settings for shutter speed and both used its maximum f-stop value of 16. The 2:40 p.m. one had a shutter speed of 1/3200th of a second while the 2:41 p.m. picture was 1/1000th of a second so a proper comparison of the sun's increasingly rapid dimming isn't possible. The leisurely pace of the eclipse was now giving way to blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments.
I'm not a professional and there simply wasn't time.
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| 2:41 p.m. - I got lucky and snagged a diamond ring |
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| 2:42 p.m. - totality |
Never discount your eyes' ability to adapt to its surroundings as well as their ability to show contrasts. The solar corona was much bigger than anything I captured on my data card. I would say it was about 3 moons wide and 2 moons tall and while colors are not my thing, the sight was certainly ethereal and deeply moving.
 |
| 2:43 p.m. - totality: slightly longer shutter time and the most I could tease out with a photo editor |
But the Moon, when the Moon does it, the shadow is coming from a source above the atmosphere, something that no other shadow you've experienced can do. It's a surreal experience and it really does affect you. One particular joy I felt during totality was simply the ability to look directly at where the sun was supposed to be and not having it be blindingly bright. It felt subversive...like I was getting away with something :-)
During this time, I took a quick survey of the sky and caught sight of both Jupiter and Venus. I almost missed Venus because it was nearly obscured by the trees we were using for shade. I made no attempt to photograph them with the eclipsed sun: there simply wasn't time for something like that and both planets were well separated from the sun. I think a star or two showed up in some of my totality photos but I really can't be sure if they weren't random noise.
But I'm also ashamed to say I didn't take it in as much as I should have, choosing instead to photograph it both for my posterity (and aphantasia) and for the benefit of friends and family who could not see it for themselves.
Once I reached shutter speeds too slow for me to get a clear image of the solar corona, I switched it to video and recorded the sun's re-emergence. In retrospect, this is where my old camera would've come in handy. I could've set it upon our car and just let it record the people's reaction to totality in its entirety while using my good camera as I had.
I also feel, again in retrospect, that I should've chanced a higher ISO setting for my totality pictures. I almost always keep the setting at its lowest, in this case 100, but maybe if I had chanced a setting of 400 or 800, I could've gotten some of the nearby stars to show up and maybe have gotten a hint of color in the sky. But it's not important. What's important is that my photos of totality looked better than literally everyone's smartphone version of it on Instagram :-P
Again, I regret not simply watching. That was the reason behind my not wanting to take photographs in the first place. It was always the top recommendation for people for whom this was their first eclipse: just watch it. There's another one in 2024. Maybe I'll be able to see that one. Perhaps even with the same friends I got to see this one with. It'll pass through Dallas, Texas and I'd like to think they'd want to check that city out. It'll last longer too and I think that time, assuming I get it, I'll just watch...
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| 2:44 p.m. - some selected frame captures from the above video |
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| 2:44 p.m. - getting too bright to look at anymore |
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| final sequence |
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| 2:49 p.m. - ...and little sun crescents shining through gaps in the leaves |
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| The eclipse as seen from where I live was far less dramatic and nearly clouded out |
The last picture I got after third contact was taken through both the eclipse viewers and the car's window. The show was completely over by the time we got home.
All in all, I'm very happy to have gotten the experience and I hope to get to see another solar eclipse before I die. It's a shame they don't happen on a more regular basis. But I did get to see this one and that can't be taken from me :-)
Saturday, May 20, 2017
DELIBERATELY CIRCULATED: FOUR YEARS LATER...
Four years ago, I posted an entry about modern coins I've been carrying around to deliberately wear down via circulation as these coins either rarely did so or, because of inflation, were unlikely to ever do so. I mentioned that I would follow up on that post in a few years if I were still blogging. Two years ago I did just that as two years feels like enough time has passed to be able to show a definite difference in the wear on these coins. Since I still use this site (albeit rarely now) and yet another two years has passed, I thought I would continue with the update.
I tried taking these pictures with my new camera but I could not get them to come out right. I can't bring that camera as close to the coins as I could with the older, pocket-sized one I had. Thankfully I still have that camera and despite dust on its lens that I do not have the skill to remove, the thing still works and it helped me get new photos of these coins I've been carrying around all this time.
The more I look at these photos the more it seems the coins are not circulating in some proper sense. When I look at old coins I've found and bought over the years, their wear appears smooth. The coins I've been carrying, their wear seems more like a mushing rather than rubbing. Maybe it smooths out over time? But the copper coins especially. Their designs seem flattened rather than rubbed away.
Also on old coins I've found and bought, the reeding on the coin remains even when the design has fallen to Very Good. The reeding on the coins I've been carrying has long since smoothed away with only traces of it remaining.
I can only assume pocket circulation is a bit different than how coins typically circulated way back when.
I was hoping to recapture the magic of 2015's photos but they're just not as good. Despite multiple attempts (the photos you're getting are my third attempt), that grayness and lighting that made that year's photos so great just wasn't there. This may have something to do with me putting the nickel prop on the wrong side of the coin. Oh well. With luck, I'll've figured it out for 2019's set.
This year will also be when the 2017 New Jersey America the Beautiful quarter will be released. It won't be out for several more months, but it will be added to this patience project.
Without further ado...
This coin is prone to collecting gunk from the leather coin purse I carry these all in. Since the other coins don't exhibit this problem, I'm gonna have to assume it is some property of silver. For presentation purposes, I rubbed the gunk off with a pencil eraser (worked better than a rag) before photographing the coin. While the design shows definite wear, the rim remains strong, protecting the lettering to this day.
Washington Crossing the Delaware is rather blobby now. Some of his spaghetti hair on the obverse is showing smoothing. Some definite progress in the flattening of this coin's design.
The lettering is getting weak on the reverse of this coin. The area around UNITED seems especially prone to taking rub...
I like the ring of bluish tint in the coin's protected areas. The S mintmark is so mushed that it's almost impossible to tell which mint it came from now. And yet, with very old Lincoln cents (like ones from the 1910s), I have no trouble distinguishing the mintmarks even on heavily worn coins. Like I said above, I don't know why this should be...
The 2010 cent has gotten suddenly dark and it was difficult to photograph in a way that showed its details. There are plenty of noticeable gray spots on the high points of its design now.
The final 2009 cent, I can't tell if it's really mushy or if it was a little out of focus. All the "Zincolns" show noticeable gray spots from where the zinc is peeking through.
Again, and as before, if I am still here in two more years, I will update the progress of these coins' artificial circulation.
ADDENDUM: I've received a 2017 New Jersey ATB quarter and have begun circulating it on October 1st, 2017. It is the newest (and presumably last) addition to my deliberately circulated collection.
I tried taking these pictures with my new camera but I could not get them to come out right. I can't bring that camera as close to the coins as I could with the older, pocket-sized one I had. Thankfully I still have that camera and despite dust on its lens that I do not have the skill to remove, the thing still works and it helped me get new photos of these coins I've been carrying around all this time.
The more I look at these photos the more it seems the coins are not circulating in some proper sense. When I look at old coins I've found and bought over the years, their wear appears smooth. The coins I've been carrying, their wear seems more like a mushing rather than rubbing. Maybe it smooths out over time? But the copper coins especially. Their designs seem flattened rather than rubbed away.
Also on old coins I've found and bought, the reeding on the coin remains even when the design has fallen to Very Good. The reeding on the coins I've been carrying has long since smoothed away with only traces of it remaining.
I can only assume pocket circulation is a bit different than how coins typically circulated way back when.
I was hoping to recapture the magic of 2015's photos but they're just not as good. Despite multiple attempts (the photos you're getting are my third attempt), that grayness and lighting that made that year's photos so great just wasn't there. This may have something to do with me putting the nickel prop on the wrong side of the coin. Oh well. With luck, I'll've figured it out for 2019's set.
This year will also be when the 2017 New Jersey America the Beautiful quarter will be released. It won't be out for several more months, but it will be added to this patience project.
Without further ado...
(click on photos to enlarge)
 |
| 2007 Silver American Eagle: 6-7 years wear |
 |
| 1978 Eisenhower Dollar: about 5 years wear |
 |
| 1978 Kennedy Half Dollar: 3-4 years wear |
 |
| 1999 Susan B. Anthony Dollar: 7-8 years wear |
 |
| 1999 New Jersey State Quarter: about 7 years wear |
 |
| 2005 Jefferson Nickel [first issue]: 7-8 years wear |
 |
| 2005 Jefferson Nickel [second issue]: 7-8 years wear |
 |
| 2001-P Jefferson Nickel: 7-8 years wear |
 |
| 2009-P Jefferson Nickel: about 5 years wear |
 |
| 1974-S Lincoln Cent: 7-8 years wear |
 |
| 2010 Lincoln Cent: 7 years wear |
 |
| 2009 Lincoln Cent [first issue]: about 5 years wear |
 |
| 2009 Lincoln Cent [second issue]: about 5 years wear |
 |
| 2009 Lincoln Cent [third issue]: about 5 years wear |
 |
| 2009 Lincoln Cent [final issue]: about 5 years wear |
 |
| Angel Token: 4 years wear |
Again, and as before, if I am still here in two more years, I will update the progress of these coins' artificial circulation.
ADDENDUM: I've received a 2017 New Jersey ATB quarter and have begun circulating it on October 1st, 2017. It is the newest (and presumably last) addition to my deliberately circulated collection.
 |
| 2017 New Jersey ATB Quarter: no wear |
Sunday, March 26, 2017
ATB QUARTER MINTAGES: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (2016 update)
While the 2016 mintages for the America the Beautiful Quarters program had been released back in January, I've been a little lazy regarding updating this increasingly rarified blog. But I took the time to do the math yesterday so I figured I may as well get to it.
The idea behind this series of blog posts was me realizing the total mintage of these ATB quarters, while they will be in the billions upon billions, they will likely come nowhere near the total mintage of the State Quarters program which lasted from 1999-2009. The first three years especially were very low mintages from a late-20th/early-21st century standpoint. No year got as low as 1969's mintage, the current lowest production quarter (about 290 million pieces from both mints), but the ATB program did get off to a slow start from the deep recession that flushed the glut of State Quarters out of hiding, putting serious dents in 2009's and 2010's coin production. What I wanted to know was, when all was said and done, how would the two programs compare, not only to each other but to the previous clad eagle design (1965-1998) and as a whole?
Anyways, from where we last left off, 2015's ATB mintages were making some serious headway into the State Quarter's 2000 mintage which was also the largest single year State Quarter production.
The statistics were as follows:
Of the 2000 total: 44.8% with MA: 100% - MD: 100% - SC: 38.4% - NH: 0% - VA: 0%
To recap, 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
The total mintage from both Philadelphia and Denver of the 2016 ATB quarters was approximately 2,356 million pieces, about 640 million less than 2015's mintage.
South Carolina's State Quarter has approximately 805.7 million pieces remaining in its mintage.
The first 2016 ATB quarter, Illinois's Shawnee National Forest, had a mintage of 307.4 million pieces which means South Carolina is still in the game with 61.9% of its mintage covered and 498.3 million quarters to go. Kentucky's Cumberland Gap National Historical Park quarter had a total mintage of 438.6 million pieces which comes close, but not quite surpassing South Carolina's mintage. 95.4% of its mintage is used up, leaving those 59.7 million quarters for the third ATB Quarter of the year, West Virginia's Harper's Ferry National Historical Park.
Harper's Ferry had the highest production total of the year with 858.6 million pieces. This easily wipes out South Carolina's mintage and then some (161% of South Carolina's mintage now), allowing us to move on to the fourth State Quarter of 2000, New Hampshire and its 1,169 million quarter production total. Taking the surplus from the previous design and subtracting it from New Hampshire's leaves the state with 370.1 million quarters to go and 68.3% of its total mintage used up for 2016's fourth ATB design.
The fourth 2016 ATB design was for North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Seeing T.R. on this design is a somewhat painful reminder that numismatists failed to persuade Congress to put Teddy Roosevelt's bust on the obverse of the coin as he is most associated with our national parks system. Alas, it'll be George Washington forever on our 25¢ coin...
Mintages for this coin were nearly half of Harper's Ferry, finishing out at 454.8 million pieces. However it was enough to completely cover the remaining New Hampshire mintage and then some...84.7 million some (107.2% of New Hampshire's mintage).
This brings us to the final 2016 ATB Quarter design, South Carolina's Fort Moultrie quarter (also known as the Fort Sumter National Monument). Its mintage was the smallest for the year at 296.6 million pieces which means Virginia's State Quarter mintage - the highest in that series - will live to see another year. Fort Moultrie's design plus the remainder of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park design eats into 23.9% of Virginia's mintage, leaving the state with another 1,213.3 million quarters for 2017. Seven years into the eleven year ATB Quarter program and we still have not exited the second year of the State Quarter program.
Barring any precipitous declines in mintages in 2017 (which does not seem likely), 2017's ATB Quarter totals should see us moving into the State Quarters' third year. We'll see...
In conclusion:
Of the 2000 total: 81.25% with MA: 100% - MD: 100% - SC: 100% - NH: 100% - VA: 23.9%
2016 dated quarters are:
Of total 1965-1998 quarter production (37,463 million pieces): 6.29%
Of total State Quarter production (1999-2009 : 35,451.2 million pieces): 6.65%
Of total clad quarter production (1965-2016): 2.85% [about 1 in 35 quarters will be dated 2016]
And of all quarters made from 1965-2016 (82,602.6 million pieces):
1965-1998 clad quarters make up 45.35% of the total [about 1 in 2 quarters; or to be more accurate, about 5 in 11]
State Quarters make up 42.91% of the total [about 1 in 2 quarters; or again, to be more accurate, about 3 in 7]
1999-dated quarters (4,430.8 million pieces) make up 5.36% of the total [about 1 in 19 quarters]
2000-dated quarters (6,470.9 million pieces) make up 7.83% of the total [about 1 in 13 quarters]
ATB Quarters from 2010-2016 (9,688.4 million pieces) make up 11.73% of the total [about 1 in 9 quarters; or more accurately, about 2 in 17 quarters will be an ATB design]
The idea behind this series of blog posts was me realizing the total mintage of these ATB quarters, while they will be in the billions upon billions, they will likely come nowhere near the total mintage of the State Quarters program which lasted from 1999-2009. The first three years especially were very low mintages from a late-20th/early-21st century standpoint. No year got as low as 1969's mintage, the current lowest production quarter (about 290 million pieces from both mints), but the ATB program did get off to a slow start from the deep recession that flushed the glut of State Quarters out of hiding, putting serious dents in 2009's and 2010's coin production. What I wanted to know was, when all was said and done, how would the two programs compare, not only to each other but to the previous clad eagle design (1965-1998) and as a whole?
Anyways, from where we last left off, 2015's ATB mintages were making some serious headway into the State Quarter's 2000 mintage which was also the largest single year State Quarter production.
The statistics were as follows:
Of the 2000 total: 44.8% with MA: 100% - MD: 100% - SC: 38.4% - NH: 0% - VA: 0%
To recap, 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
The total mintage from both Philadelphia and Denver of the 2016 ATB quarters was approximately 2,356 million pieces, about 640 million less than 2015's mintage.
South Carolina's State Quarter has approximately 805.7 million pieces remaining in its mintage.
The first 2016 ATB quarter, Illinois's Shawnee National Forest, had a mintage of 307.4 million pieces which means South Carolina is still in the game with 61.9% of its mintage covered and 498.3 million quarters to go. Kentucky's Cumberland Gap National Historical Park quarter had a total mintage of 438.6 million pieces which comes close, but not quite surpassing South Carolina's mintage. 95.4% of its mintage is used up, leaving those 59.7 million quarters for the third ATB Quarter of the year, West Virginia's Harper's Ferry National Historical Park.
Harper's Ferry had the highest production total of the year with 858.6 million pieces. This easily wipes out South Carolina's mintage and then some (161% of South Carolina's mintage now), allowing us to move on to the fourth State Quarter of 2000, New Hampshire and its 1,169 million quarter production total. Taking the surplus from the previous design and subtracting it from New Hampshire's leaves the state with 370.1 million quarters to go and 68.3% of its total mintage used up for 2016's fourth ATB design.
The fourth 2016 ATB design was for North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Seeing T.R. on this design is a somewhat painful reminder that numismatists failed to persuade Congress to put Teddy Roosevelt's bust on the obverse of the coin as he is most associated with our national parks system. Alas, it'll be George Washington forever on our 25¢ coin...
Mintages for this coin were nearly half of Harper's Ferry, finishing out at 454.8 million pieces. However it was enough to completely cover the remaining New Hampshire mintage and then some...84.7 million some (107.2% of New Hampshire's mintage).
This brings us to the final 2016 ATB Quarter design, South Carolina's Fort Moultrie quarter (also known as the Fort Sumter National Monument). Its mintage was the smallest for the year at 296.6 million pieces which means Virginia's State Quarter mintage - the highest in that series - will live to see another year. Fort Moultrie's design plus the remainder of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park design eats into 23.9% of Virginia's mintage, leaving the state with another 1,213.3 million quarters for 2017. Seven years into the eleven year ATB Quarter program and we still have not exited the second year of the State Quarter program.
Barring any precipitous declines in mintages in 2017 (which does not seem likely), 2017's ATB Quarter totals should see us moving into the State Quarters' third year. We'll see...
In conclusion:
Of the 2000 total: 81.25% with MA: 100% - MD: 100% - SC: 100% - NH: 100% - VA: 23.9%
2016 dated quarters are:
Of total 1965-1998 quarter production (37,463 million pieces): 6.29%
Of total State Quarter production (1999-2009 : 35,451.2 million pieces): 6.65%
Of total clad quarter production (1965-2016): 2.85% [about 1 in 35 quarters will be dated 2016]
And of all quarters made from 1965-2016 (82,602.6 million pieces):
1965-1998 clad quarters make up 45.35% of the total [about 1 in 2 quarters; or to be more accurate, about 5 in 11]
State Quarters make up 42.91% of the total [about 1 in 2 quarters; or again, to be more accurate, about 3 in 7]
1999-dated quarters (4,430.8 million pieces) make up 5.36% of the total [about 1 in 19 quarters]
2000-dated quarters (6,470.9 million pieces) make up 7.83% of the total [about 1 in 13 quarters]
ATB Quarters from 2010-2016 (9,688.4 million pieces) make up 11.73% of the total [about 1 in 9 quarters; or more accurately, about 2 in 17 quarters will be an ATB design]
Friday, December 16, 2016
ODE TO STAPLES...
My body doesn't make any goddamned sense.
Sometimes when I take a week off from work, after resting for a few days, I'll go for a long walk around my area to take a look around...sight-see if you will. It'll be a long walk, maybe twelve or so miles, and I'll come home with my legs hurting. I'll sleep extra long that night and be sore the following day.
Yesterday, after eight hours of sleep I walked two miles to work. I then spent eight hours on my feet, cleaning, and walking around throughout the store on various tasks. I had intended that day, after work, to go to Staples to pick up some CD-Rs and jewel cases (I'm old...shut up) in an effort not to do all of my shopping on Amazon. It would be, at most, a doubling of my usual two mile walk home.
However, to my surprise, that Staples store had shuttered since I was last there (curiously for the same purchase...I was old then too so shut up). Since I had already made up my mind to do this, I walked a few extra miles to another Staples location that I had remembered only to find that it too had been shuttered.
Luck was not on my side nor was the weather as it had grown suddenly cold overnight and while my coats and shoes were up to the task, my pants were not.
Undaunted, but starting to wonder if Staples had gone out of business and I had somehow overlooked that fact in my internetting, and stubbornly I continued to one last place I knew a Staples to be. Thankfully that location was still there and they were not in the midst of a Going Out of Business Sale so I was more a well-intentioned victim of downsizing I'd say as well as about six miles from home and now in the middle of a snow squall.
Yeah, the weather was all kinds of cold and crazy that day.
But I made my purchases which seemed a lot more expensive than they ought to have been (Amazon may yet win this war...) and set off for home. Boston Chicken would prove the beneficiary of my hunger as McDonald's, while it will offer all-day-breakfast, still does not sell hamburgers and McNuggets in the morning. I work overnights: morning is dinnertime for me! No respect for the graveyard shift...
Unlike my vacation walks, I made this unexpected journey laden for half of it. Based on my walking speed and the amount of time I was out there, I estimate I walked about twelve miles not including the two I did to get to work and the unknown amount of distance I covered on the clock doing returns so maybe fifteen miles total for the day. I then ended up staying awake for thirty hours before finally crashing, sleeping for less than eight.
And yet now, despite all that, not only did I not arrive home sore, I feel fine now and like I could do it all again today.
I don't get it either...
Sometimes when I take a week off from work, after resting for a few days, I'll go for a long walk around my area to take a look around...sight-see if you will. It'll be a long walk, maybe twelve or so miles, and I'll come home with my legs hurting. I'll sleep extra long that night and be sore the following day.
Yesterday, after eight hours of sleep I walked two miles to work. I then spent eight hours on my feet, cleaning, and walking around throughout the store on various tasks. I had intended that day, after work, to go to Staples to pick up some CD-Rs and jewel cases (I'm old...shut up) in an effort not to do all of my shopping on Amazon. It would be, at most, a doubling of my usual two mile walk home.
However, to my surprise, that Staples store had shuttered since I was last there (curiously for the same purchase...I was old then too so shut up). Since I had already made up my mind to do this, I walked a few extra miles to another Staples location that I had remembered only to find that it too had been shuttered.
Luck was not on my side nor was the weather as it had grown suddenly cold overnight and while my coats and shoes were up to the task, my pants were not.
Undaunted, but starting to wonder if Staples had gone out of business and I had somehow overlooked that fact in my internetting, and stubbornly I continued to one last place I knew a Staples to be. Thankfully that location was still there and they were not in the midst of a Going Out of Business Sale so I was more a well-intentioned victim of downsizing I'd say as well as about six miles from home and now in the middle of a snow squall.
Yeah, the weather was all kinds of cold and crazy that day.
But I made my purchases which seemed a lot more expensive than they ought to have been (Amazon may yet win this war...) and set off for home. Boston Chicken would prove the beneficiary of my hunger as McDonald's, while it will offer all-day-breakfast, still does not sell hamburgers and McNuggets in the morning. I work overnights: morning is dinnertime for me! No respect for the graveyard shift...
Unlike my vacation walks, I made this unexpected journey laden for half of it. Based on my walking speed and the amount of time I was out there, I estimate I walked about twelve miles not including the two I did to get to work and the unknown amount of distance I covered on the clock doing returns so maybe fifteen miles total for the day. I then ended up staying awake for thirty hours before finally crashing, sleeping for less than eight.
And yet now, despite all that, not only did I not arrive home sore, I feel fine now and like I could do it all again today.
I don't get it either...
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
LINE OF THE DAY, part XLI
(from wendigo, a commenter on Cracked.com)
The spiders had been acting odd.
As far as I was concerned, everything about the damned pests was strange. This was different, though. On the first morning, day one, they started emerging from their hiding spots and abandoned their webs.
Black Widows, Orb Weavers, they all exposed themselves to any number of would-be predators.
You could barely walk through your yard without entangling yourself in the near-invisible threads they'd cast out into the breeze. It was as if a thousand tiny, inverted fishermen had dropped their hooks into the sky.
The web (of course) lit up with chatter. It was happening anywhere you'd expect to find arachnids. Within minutes, all the "Ask" sites and insect expert message boards filled up with annoyed queries.
"What are they doing?"
"Is this happening to anyone else?"
"Is this happening everywhere?!"
The true shock was still to come, as the creatures simultaneously reeled themselves UP those threads. It was an Indian Rope Trick to stupefy entomologists the world over.
The consensus at that point? Well, at least they're gone.
Then the sky began to cloud over.
Some caught on quicker than others. A few folks in my neighborhood, not necessarily ignorant folks, looked upward and determined a storm had set in. Myself, I immediately recognized the wrongness of it all.
The sunlight was being blotted out, ever so slightly, by one tremendous dome of webbing.
A plane came down over the hills near my house, its engines clogged with soft gauze and mashed spiders.
Five days in, birds started disappearing. Their songs all but ceased, and the only sign of their existence was the stray tiny, hollow bone that would drop from high above.
Dark spots could be observed with the naked eye. Using powerful binoculars or a telescope showed the viewer a myriad of small, cocooned bodies floating motionless in a lofty, darkening haze. Sparrows, Crows, Hawks, and even Bats became entangled in the grim construction.
Flights were cancelled soon after the original rash of crashes. Pilots thought they could simply break through the paltry web-work of such insignificant beings. Nearly ten thousand dead passengers and crew said otherwise.
The last plane to be cleared for take-off was the rare exception. There was a roar, a violent shrieking of engine blades, and then it just stopped.
It hung there, diagonally, until the entire thing was cocooned above our heads.
The bones that fell to the ground after that did not belong to birds.
It was after a week that "Arachnocalypse", as a term, had been officially coined. Newspapers and television networks spat the phrase out at every opportunity, and it took its rightful place alongside "Snowmageddon", and the rest.
For what it's worth, I think we could've made do, as a species, without use of the sky. Even though the haze grew thicker and our world grew darker every day, there were rain storms and natural collapses to give us small breaks in construction.
The rain, by the way, would come through cloudy and slick. I didn't want to know why.
The real problem, the one we couldn't work around as easily, was the spiders that remained on land. The jumping spiders, the hunting spiders, the tarantulas, all of those who seemed to have evolved past web-weaving.
They could produce some silk, but beyond that they were at a loss. You could almost feel sorry for them, standing tall on leaves and branches, preparing for an ascent that was never coming.
I heard stories about scorpions doing the same thing, but I never saw any proof for myself.
It was almost as if they knew. It seemed to drive them mad. When they weren't stoically waiting for their strands to take root above, they attacked and bit without any sense of reason.
I lost my pet, a loyal and loving Bulldog. She came in one night covered in clinging spiders, bites all over her body. Within moments, before I could even think of who to call (Vet? Poison hotline?) she collapsed and stopped breathing.
Daddy Longlegs... I don't even know if they were in on the plan, whatever it was. They seemed to cluster in homes, crawling over people as they slept, creating vast hordes of staring, though seemingly eyeless little horrors positioned on faces and chests.
When the things weren't engaged in frightening us to death, they would simply gather on ceilings and randomly "squat" upward as if it were some elaborate spectacle the human brain couldn't comprehend.
On the thirty-second day, when the Governments finally began working on possible solutions, everything changed yet again.
The Widowers crawled out from places unseen.
A Widower, about the size and shape of a man, seemed to have no interest in joining the growing, breeding masses in the skies. The black, armor-plated arachnid creatures only displayed one common goal.
Ensnaring us.
Daytime, as dark as it had become, was the only time it was relatively safe to go out. At night, Widowers could be all around you... in the trees, in crevices... and you'd never suspect. The last thing you'd see was the red hourglass on their abdomens.
That, and not-quite-human hands scrambling for your hair, your loose clothing, anything within reach.
Abandoned buildings were just as bad as the outdoors. I was with a group... I want to say this was about two months along... and we all took shelter in an old doll factory when it grew dark and we couldn't walk any longer.
The dismembered baby dolls, with their dark streaks of venom and plastic flesh wounds should've turned us away. Still, the webs they levitated in seemed old and abandoned. We figured the Widowers had their run of the place and long since moved on.
I didn't wake up to screaming.
It's weird to say that.
I wish I had woken up to screaming.
Instead, I lazily opened my eyes around what I assume to be Midnight. I reached out for a bottle of water, only to draw back a hand covered in burning, dark yellow venom.
I don't know if you've ever seen a bug trapped in a spider's cocoon. All they can do is silently rock. Back and forth, back and forth, bending at the middle. Sometimes there'll be a single free limb or antenna that waves around, trying to feel out any sign of help.
It's the same with people.
I'll have to live out the rest of my days remembering that sight. I'll have to live with the fact I ran away and left them there. People who had pulled me out of a burning truck. People who fed and clothed me when I had nothing.
There was nothing I could do. Logically, I know that.
The red hourglasses were already descending around me, and no matter what form it takes, an hourglass means time is running out.
My time.
Everyone's time.
The spiders had been acting odd.
As far as I was concerned, everything about the damned pests was strange. This was different, though. On the first morning, day one, they started emerging from their hiding spots and abandoned their webs.
Black Widows, Orb Weavers, they all exposed themselves to any number of would-be predators.
You could barely walk through your yard without entangling yourself in the near-invisible threads they'd cast out into the breeze. It was as if a thousand tiny, inverted fishermen had dropped their hooks into the sky.
The web (of course) lit up with chatter. It was happening anywhere you'd expect to find arachnids. Within minutes, all the "Ask" sites and insect expert message boards filled up with annoyed queries.
"What are they doing?"
"Is this happening to anyone else?"
"Is this happening everywhere?!"
The true shock was still to come, as the creatures simultaneously reeled themselves UP those threads. It was an Indian Rope Trick to stupefy entomologists the world over.
The consensus at that point? Well, at least they're gone.
Then the sky began to cloud over.
Some caught on quicker than others. A few folks in my neighborhood, not necessarily ignorant folks, looked upward and determined a storm had set in. Myself, I immediately recognized the wrongness of it all.
The sunlight was being blotted out, ever so slightly, by one tremendous dome of webbing.
A plane came down over the hills near my house, its engines clogged with soft gauze and mashed spiders.
Five days in, birds started disappearing. Their songs all but ceased, and the only sign of their existence was the stray tiny, hollow bone that would drop from high above.
Dark spots could be observed with the naked eye. Using powerful binoculars or a telescope showed the viewer a myriad of small, cocooned bodies floating motionless in a lofty, darkening haze. Sparrows, Crows, Hawks, and even Bats became entangled in the grim construction.
Flights were cancelled soon after the original rash of crashes. Pilots thought they could simply break through the paltry web-work of such insignificant beings. Nearly ten thousand dead passengers and crew said otherwise.
The last plane to be cleared for take-off was the rare exception. There was a roar, a violent shrieking of engine blades, and then it just stopped.
It hung there, diagonally, until the entire thing was cocooned above our heads.
The bones that fell to the ground after that did not belong to birds.
It was after a week that "Arachnocalypse", as a term, had been officially coined. Newspapers and television networks spat the phrase out at every opportunity, and it took its rightful place alongside "Snowmageddon", and the rest.
For what it's worth, I think we could've made do, as a species, without use of the sky. Even though the haze grew thicker and our world grew darker every day, there were rain storms and natural collapses to give us small breaks in construction.
The rain, by the way, would come through cloudy and slick. I didn't want to know why.
The real problem, the one we couldn't work around as easily, was the spiders that remained on land. The jumping spiders, the hunting spiders, the tarantulas, all of those who seemed to have evolved past web-weaving.
They could produce some silk, but beyond that they were at a loss. You could almost feel sorry for them, standing tall on leaves and branches, preparing for an ascent that was never coming.
I heard stories about scorpions doing the same thing, but I never saw any proof for myself.
It was almost as if they knew. It seemed to drive them mad. When they weren't stoically waiting for their strands to take root above, they attacked and bit without any sense of reason.
I lost my pet, a loyal and loving Bulldog. She came in one night covered in clinging spiders, bites all over her body. Within moments, before I could even think of who to call (Vet? Poison hotline?) she collapsed and stopped breathing.
Daddy Longlegs... I don't even know if they were in on the plan, whatever it was. They seemed to cluster in homes, crawling over people as they slept, creating vast hordes of staring, though seemingly eyeless little horrors positioned on faces and chests.
When the things weren't engaged in frightening us to death, they would simply gather on ceilings and randomly "squat" upward as if it were some elaborate spectacle the human brain couldn't comprehend.
On the thirty-second day, when the Governments finally began working on possible solutions, everything changed yet again.
The Widowers crawled out from places unseen.
A Widower, about the size and shape of a man, seemed to have no interest in joining the growing, breeding masses in the skies. The black, armor-plated arachnid creatures only displayed one common goal.
Ensnaring us.
Daytime, as dark as it had become, was the only time it was relatively safe to go out. At night, Widowers could be all around you... in the trees, in crevices... and you'd never suspect. The last thing you'd see was the red hourglass on their abdomens.
That, and not-quite-human hands scrambling for your hair, your loose clothing, anything within reach.
Abandoned buildings were just as bad as the outdoors. I was with a group... I want to say this was about two months along... and we all took shelter in an old doll factory when it grew dark and we couldn't walk any longer.
The dismembered baby dolls, with their dark streaks of venom and plastic flesh wounds should've turned us away. Still, the webs they levitated in seemed old and abandoned. We figured the Widowers had their run of the place and long since moved on.
I didn't wake up to screaming.
It's weird to say that.
I wish I had woken up to screaming.
Instead, I lazily opened my eyes around what I assume to be Midnight. I reached out for a bottle of water, only to draw back a hand covered in burning, dark yellow venom.
I don't know if you've ever seen a bug trapped in a spider's cocoon. All they can do is silently rock. Back and forth, back and forth, bending at the middle. Sometimes there'll be a single free limb or antenna that waves around, trying to feel out any sign of help.
It's the same with people.
I'll have to live out the rest of my days remembering that sight. I'll have to live with the fact I ran away and left them there. People who had pulled me out of a burning truck. People who fed and clothed me when I had nothing.
There was nothing I could do. Logically, I know that.
The red hourglasses were already descending around me, and no matter what form it takes, an hourglass means time is running out.
My time.
Everyone's time.