The title of this piece is an expression dating back to the decade of the Great Depression (circa 1930s). Although the origin of the use of coins minted of wood is not clear, it is reported that they were sometimes issued as promotions by merchants and redeemable for some specific product, similar to how we might currently use a grocery store coupon. It is also held by some that local banks and chambers of commerce minted wooden nickels in that era in order to facilitate change-making during unstable times. In any event, the adage is simply a reminder to take due care in one’s dealings””that is, if someone offers you a coin reputedly cast from actual nickel, you might be well advised to give it a bite to make sure it is as real as advertised.

Continue “Don’t take any wooden nickels”

Have you ever wondered what it is about sports that so excites our young progeny? Or, at least, many of them? I recall that, for some of us, one of the highlights of reaching middle school was the opportunity to participate in school-sponsored team sports for the first time. Unless, of course, one had already been indoctrinated into this realm of activity via little league baseball, or those strange, tiny-person football groups where parents sternly direct their toddlers to just get out there and block and tackle! (There is no way any one of these youngsters would do this of his own volition unless he had a disturbing personality disorder.)

Continue “The Gladiators”

Arched bridges have been around for a long time. According to Wikipedia, the oldest of these might be the Mycenaean Arkadiko bridge in Greece, which dates back to about 1300 B.C. It’s a motley looking thing, built across a culvert with stones that look as though they might prefer not being so close to one another. It looks a bit like something I would probably come up with if tasked with erecting a stone bridge.

It was the Romans who really got the hang of building arch bridges. The Spaniards’ bridges, such as the Alcantara (erected circa 105 A.D.) weren’t too shabby either, using multiple arches to create long spans to build their majestic, multi-level aqueducts.

Continue “Keystones”