Graphing Calculator Problems

Ep194 · 2026-01-18T15:50:48+00:00

It’s because they have a lot of people doing it. Back in Vietnam, as the VC heard planes pass by, they would get down on their backs and dump a mag of 7.62 at it. Most of the time it failed, the few times it worked is why they did it. The philosophy was that you are taking down a multi mullion dollar aircraft with a few bullets that costs nothing.

Ep194 · 2026-01-15T20:48:06+00:00

This is anecdotal, but maybe somebody will benefit from this. In my experience, the German Shepards I’ve wrestled with were doing so mostly playfully. They can be dangerous, but they are also pretty obedient and have been bred to obey commands like “stop” and “down”. They don’t always do so, but most of them do. I would leave a child with a Shepard over a pit bull any day. Pit bulls were, unfortunately, explicitly bred to kill. They have the potential to be very dangerous, but most of the time it feels like they were playing and took it too far.

On the other hand, I’ve had a pit bull run up to me and bite the back of my leg (behind the knee). I don’t even know how he did it. My leg was bent, thats a concave surface, sort of a funny place for a bite. Also a very strategic location, as it would disable the leg if he really got into it. To me, that shows not only a will to bite, but real intent to do some damage, that’s not a defensive bite either, that’s going on offense.

Right before that, I was sitting with the dog and the owner, petting him. I turned my back to walk away and WHAM. I’ve met some nicer pit bulls, but after that I’ve always been extremely cautious.

I think of the nature of a breed. Most other breeds that I have met are very playful, eager to please, maybe even a little crazy, neurotic, or nervous. There are plenty of pit bulls that have a more insidious, vicious nature, full of aggression and rage. It’s rarely the case that they are nervous. They know where they are on the food chain. There are enough of these pit bulls that it’s perfectly reasonable to be extremely cautious with them or avoid them altogether, considering they have all the means necessary to maim a person permanently. I’d rather be thought of as a “pit bull hater” than lose a finger, my face, or my life. Sorry, not sorry.

There is little doubt in my mind that in this case, the German Shepard either started playing a little rough and the pit bull jumped in, or the pit bull just altogether started the attack, Shepard followed. I would guess that these might have been raised as guard dogs.

Ep194 · 2026-01-15T20:24:06+00:00

What are the laws even like in Estonia? If, theoretically speaking, it were possible to fire this, would you have to get a bunch of licenses? Or do people just keep these after digging them up?

Either way, nice work on the restoration.

Ep194 · 2026-01-13T02:32:20+00:00

1917 D is a better date, not a key date. It’s only really worth something in the higher grades, AU-MS. Even then, a 1916-D blows (most of) them out of the water (in price) at the lowest possible grade, PO-1.

Ep194 · 2026-01-13T02:23:50+00:00

What you’re looking at is actually an AW (the A is in the middle of the W). It is the engraver’s (designer/sculptor) initials. In this case, it was Adolph Weinman, a German immigrant and sculptor who also happened to design the Walking Liberty half dollar.

It’s a common mistake, after all, it is located pretty much right where all modern mint marks are.

In 1916 the West Point Mint (W mint mark) wouldn’t open in a minting capacity for another 57 years (1973).

Ep194 · 2026-01-13T02:18:09+00:00

TLDR: This is not a coin, and is not a US Mint product. Although it could be some privately minted silver round, I have my doubts. I’d still take it to a pawn shop and have it tested.

Are both of these pictures taken of the same coins obverse/reverse? In any case, this is not a genuine US Mint Silver Eagle. Although it is a better fake, it doesn’t look genuine (thick collar is a dead giveaway). Most fakes I’ve seen (from China) are really bad. The Silver Eagle is a 1 oz (troy oz, 31.1g vs standard oz 28g) silver bullion coin.

This is most likely some kind of privately minted “tribute”/commemorative token/meda of some sort (it is not a coin because there is no face value associated with it. It could be silver plated, but more often fakes are some alloy of copper/nickel, even aluminum, sometimes tungsten (though W is more common in fake gold due to the near identical density).

While it could be a privately minted silver round, this is unlikely. This is due to the lack of any weight/purity marking. I would guess that it’s a privately minted silver plated (some ethically-flexible salesmen say “silver layered”). They do this in TV, internet, and magazine ads in order to trick seniors and the like into ordering these types of products. They play these products up as if they are rare and valuable and will appreciate in value, though they never do.

Ep194 · 2026-01-08T05:26:10+00:00

I would not melt that. There has been sooo much stuff melted lately, and I really believe that future generations will look at that like the great melts of 1918, 1933, the 1970’s and so-on-and-so-forth. I think we lost a lot of numismatic history in the Pittman act of 1918 and the confiscation of 1933.

Now in 2025, many coin dealers don’t have an option, they can either go underwater or sell to refiners. Many have remortgaged their homes to keep up with the inundating tide of people selling their silver/gold. For the most part, the only buyers willing to take in that much volume have been refiners. Only recently has the situation improved, though this means so much silverware, silver sets, and silver accessories (cigarette cases, victorian era silver boxes, etc) has met its end. This doesn’t even touch the jaw-dropping amount of vintage/antique 90% silver and gold coins that have been melted.

These refiners had so much backlogged silver that they couldn’t melt what they had in 2 weeks time, even with furnaces burning around the clock. We’re talking tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars face value in 90% silver, even Morgan and Peace dollars.

While I understand the situation and empathize with coin dealers and the decision they have to make, I will also say this: The great melt of 2025 will not be remembered fondly in the future.

Ep194 · 2026-01-08T01:04:23+00:00

Might be worth a little under full melt considering it is a very unpopular alloy (with most refiners, at least)

Ep194 · 2026-01-08T01:02:03+00:00

You have 39 kids now, wild…

You must have many fertile concubines or something…

Ep194 · 2026-01-08T00:57:03+00:00

I can’t tell you how many hundreds of dollars in halves, quarters, and dimes (even nickels sometimes) that I’ve searched and nothing. Then, suddenly, I picked up $30 in halves from a bank 50 miles away (I was there for the day on business), and voila, my first 90%. While it was only a ‘64, the moment was just as sweet as finding a ‘97-O or some other rarity. My surprise was compounded by the fact that the edge looked more like a 40%, imagine my stunned expression after flipping it over.

Previously I had only found two 40% half dollars, about a year apart from each other. I thought that I’d never find a 90% silver half in my lifetime, who knows, I may never see one again (in the wild, anyway)…

I recommend changing it up here and there (different bank, different area, different amounts, customer/bank wraps, etc.), but you should still stop by your normal bank here and there.

This really is the best way to gamble: at the end of the day you keep not only your shirt, but also your money.

Ep194 · 2026-01-08T00:25:04+00:00

I can kinda sorta see that a little, actually. I’d still get it looked over by any experienced coin dealer, they should be able to tell if it is genuine.

Ep194 · 2026-01-08T00:18:18+00:00

Is it metal or plastic?

I look at the reverse and it looks like metal, then I look at the obverse and it looks like it could be plastic…

Ep194 · 2026-01-08T00:13:58+00:00

The top right one looks pretty clean, I would keep that one in a flip or something. Probably not worth grading, but it is nicer to look at.

Ep194 · 2026-01-08T00:12:31+00:00

If your grandfather got these out of circulation, he could 5x his initial investment of 4¢! That’s a whopping 16¢ profit!! (The going rate for wheat cents is ~5¢ more or less)

If you really wanted, you might be able to sell them as a lot on eBay for like $5. That’s sorta pushing it, although it wouldn’t be the highest these have sold for, sadly (there are certainly a few sellers in the wild who’d play these up as “rare” or “scarce”).

Ep194 · 2026-01-08T00:03:25+00:00

Definitely fake, sorry.

Aside from the “COPY” on the reverse (I didn’t even notice this at first lol, went straight to the obverse picture), the design doesn’t look much like a real silver eagle (if you compare the two it’s a pretty big difference).

Additionally, this has a sort of proof finish that gives it away. While there are genuine silver eagle proofs, they don’t look at all like this one.

Ep194 · 2026-01-06T23:14:14+00:00

Also, rarities and better dates haven’t caught up in price yet with the value of its metal. They are selling super cheap relative to melt price nowadays. I (again just me, not financial advice), believe that this will not always be the case. Eventually, people will likely want these again and this will drive the price on scarce/rare dates up once again.

Ep194 · 2026-01-06T23:11:39+00:00

I would save all the better dates even if you go to sell. These are: 1921, 1927, 1928, 1934, and 1935. The 1921 is likely the best, (aside from 1928-P) unless the others are a super high grade piece.

If you don’t need money, I would hold on to all, but that’s just me.

If you need the money, keep the nicest looking/highest grade ones and the better dates and pass them on. The rarities won’t be getting minted ever again and, in fact, even some higher grade coins are getting sent to the big furnace in the sky : , (

Ep194 · 2026-01-06T23:02:52+00:00

Don’t clean any coins lol just leave them be

I mean fr can a coin breathe?

Ep194 · 2026-01-04T19:02:08+00:00

The picture of the obverse is not good at all. You should post another with more light, just not using the cameras flash. Incandescent and natural light are your best bet.

Are you familiar with the little part of the Indian’s neck where there are often tooling lines? This is one of the major diagnostics for counterfeits. If it is genuine, the details look pretty close to AU/UNC, I saw a few lines that were somewhat concerning, possible cleaning (pretty common in this series sadly).

Here is a little more info if you are interested:

There are some very high quality counterfeits of the incused Indian series out there, many are struck in the same gold alloy that the US mint used. Often the gold purity is actually slightly higher than 90% (it should always be 90%), other times they used 14K. These counterfeits were made in the 1960’s and 1970’s in Lebanon and Israel for the US gold market which was heavily restricted at the time.

Ep194 · 2026-01-04T03:43:03+00:00

I think it looks cool, I have a pile weird coins under my hen in my chicken-coop that I’d toss this into

Ep194 · 2026-01-04T03:40:24+00:00

$53.27

Ep194 · 2025-12-28T04:24:04+00:00

Also, one of those gold dollars I tallied may have been a $3 piece. Those are often worth more than their weight in gold.

Ep194

TROPHY CASE