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jep
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questions and answers
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Jan 6 20:35 UTC 2006 |
This item is for questions and answers of a general nature.
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| 139 responses total. |
jep
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response 1 of 139:
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Jan 6 20:49 UTC 2006 |
I just found a coin. A co-worker tells me it's Russian. It has milled
edges and is slightly larger than a dime. It's brownish/greenish colored.
On one side it has a small circle with a hammer and sickle in it, and
this circle is surrounded by what appear to be sheafs of wheat wrapped
in something. At the top is a tiny star. On the bottom are the letters
"CCCP".
The other side says "15" and what looks like "KOHEEK" but the "H" looks
more like a tall "pi" character. It says "1978", and the entire side is
bordered by two sheafs of wheat.
Is this a 15 kopek coin? I'll probably give it to my kid, but I'd like
to tell him what it is when I do so.
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klg
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response 2 of 139:
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Jan 6 20:50 UTC 2006 |
Do you like Ike?
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kingjon
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response 3 of 139:
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Jan 6 20:55 UTC 2006 |
Is there any way to check the terminal settings on the computer I'm SSHing or
telnetting in from, in my .profile here on Grex for example?
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mcnally
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response 4 of 139:
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Jan 6 21:11 UTC 2006 |
re #1: Yes, it sounds like a 15 kopek coin.
http://www3.tky.3web.ne.jp/~jafarr/USSR.htm
A friend who was born in the Soviet Union told me an interesting story
about the 15 kopek coin, which I've found a version of here:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.04/russnet_pr.html
Apparently all the payphones in Russia at one time were built to accept
15 kopek coins, but when the Soviet Union dissolved and the Russian govt
stopped controlling the economy, kopek-denominated coins were worth so
little they stopped minting them. However -- they still have millions
of pay phones throughout the country that are built to only work on the
old 15 kopek coins. Consequently, such coins trade at many times their
face value because they've essentially stopped being used as a currency
unit and have switched to mainly being traded as a phone token.
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