My Two Cents: The Dime Should Be the New Penny

Pennies and nickels cost more to mint than they’re worth. Source: US Mint data

The Costly Reality

Based on MoneyDigest's report on minting costs, pennies and nickels BOTH cost more to mint than their face value. In 2024 alone, we burned roughly $168+ million just to keep pennies and nickels alive. Here’s the table of coin/profit based on that article:

Coin	Face Value	Cost to Mint	Loss / Profit per Coin
Penny	$0.01	~$0.04	–$0.03 (3¢ loss)
Nickel	$0.05	~$0.138	–$0.088 (8.8¢ loss)
Dime	$0.10	~$0.052	+$0.048 (4.8¢ profit)
Quarter	$0.25	~$0.123	+$0.127 (12.7¢ profit)
Half Dollar	$0.50	~$0.34	+$0.16 (16¢ profit)
Dollar Coin	$1.00	~$0.1243	+$0.8757 (87.57¢ profit)

So... wisely, the US stopped minting pennies early this year (2026). But—unwisely—they're still minting nickels, which actually lose more per coin than pennies ever did. If we’re serious about cutting waste, the fix isn’t complicated.

Bad Jeopardy and random quantum physics. And ketchup.

A: What's the atomic number of cerium, is it naturally occurring? What impact does Kondo physics, Weyl nodes, and Weyl-Kondo semi metals have on me as a non physicist? Is it safe to use ketchup that's been sitting on a restaurant table all day?

Q: what'd I just ask Copilot while sitting at Foosackly's having a bite while awaiting prescriptions from an urgent care visit to show up at Publix.

Yeah, maybe I'm weird. If you're wondering, that wasn't the first question I typed into the Copilot chat box, it was "What is CeRu4Sn6?"

The line of questions originated out of glancing at this article and realizing I had never heard of the concepts and also wondering what atom Ce is. Not cesium, that's Cs. If you're curious, too, that compound is "a cerium–ruthenium–tin intermetallic compound with formula CeRu₄Sn₆" (per Copilot).

The ketchup part? I just put some on my plate for the fries. By the way, I recommend the kung-foo sauce for the chicken.

Just a foray into weird quantum physics while eating breaded, fried chicken fingers. And fries with ketchup that's been sitting on the table all day, but which should be perfectly safe to consume.

The Day Copilot Told Me to Chill — and My Fitness Streaks

I was deep in a session with Copilot, the kind of focused stretch where time gets weird and you only notice your body again when something pops or cramps. I was mid-thought, mid-prompt, mid-“just one more tweak,” when this banner slid across the top of the screen like a gentle intervention:

Copilot prompt: Time for a break? Copilot is an AI, but you're not. It might feel nice to take a breather.

That prompt — “Time for a break? Copilot is an AI, but you're not.” — made me laugh at first, and then made me wonder whether AI had just tried to look out for my well‑being.

On one level, it’s a cute little line. On another, it’s a browser tab gently putting a hand on my shoulder and saying, “Hey, man. You’ve been staring at this screen for a while. Maybe uncurl your spine.”

My first reaction was basically: nicely done, Copilot. Look at you, looking out for my mental health. And reminding me I’m human. (Technically, it reminded me I’m not an AI, which is not quite the same thing, but we’ll let that slide.)

Then the nerd part of my brain kicked in. I started wondering: is this actually “Copilot” talking to me, or is this just the website scaffolding around it? Is the AI concerned about my well-being, or did some product manager write this line in a Figma file six months ago and ship it as a timed banner?

So, naturally, I asked Copilot about it in a different session. And it answered:

What do YOU think of AI?

Exploring the digital frontier, one prompt at a time

If you’ve been following this blog, you already know I’ve had my share of AI adventures—mostly good, a few chaotic, all interesting. I started out pretty skeptical back in the early ChatGPT days, but somewhere between code generation, design help, blog proofreading, and producing videos for The Pancake Delivery Frog, AI won me over as a genuine time-saver.

It’s helped in the kitchen, in the Google Play Store, and even in building my "personal fitness tracker" web page (which reminds me: I should probably go walk today). And yes, it’s powered some sillier projects too—looking at you, Joe's Land Fishing.

But that’s my AI journey. What about yours? Any AInecdotes you’d like to share with me (and the 1.5 people who read this blog regularly)? Any concerns over "AI's Big Red Button Not Working"? What's one thing AI has helped you with that surprised you? Drop them in the comments!

Wasted Credits and French Frogs: My AI Video Odyssey

It's Arten, the Pancake Delivery Frog!

What's green, hoppy, and delivers delicious golden circles? Why, The Pancake Delivery Frog, of course! Never heard of him (Google search results here)? Well, you should check him out at his channel or, even better, go look at the playlist which includes The Pancake Delivery Theme Song as well as Episode 1 (Pancake Delivery Frog in: The Mayor) and Episode 2 (Pancake Delivery Frog in: The Contraption). Hopefully you'll enjoy the delicious videos (at least the theme song one). But as it turns out, the "making of" story behind these videos is just as much of an experiment as the episodes themselves... so read on for a not‑quite‑excruciating recap of occasionally‑excruciating AI techno‑wizardry.

The Heart of the Matter: Style vs. Life-Saving Stats

Withings Scanwatch on my wrist

This is my Withings ScanWatch, a hybrid “smart” fitness watch. I’ve been wearing the 42mm black version (the original model, not the ScanWatch 2) for a long time now, paired with the metal oyster band, and it’s become part of my everyday routine.

What I love most is the balance it strikes: classic analog style with just enough smart features. The tiny digital display scrolls messages, calls, and notifications, and while you can’t reply from the watch, it’s great for deciding whether something needs immediate attention. The battery life is phenomenal—measured in weeks, not days—and it tracks steps, heart rate, sleep, and offers on‑demand ECG and SpO2 readings. It even does occasional automated SpO2 checks during sleep.

The ECG feature has been genuinely useful. It once captured an episode of afib when I felt palpitations and ran a recording. I sent the PDF to my cardiologist, which led to a follow‑up evaluation. So this watch has absolutely earned its place on my wrist.

But there’s one thing it doesn’t do: continuous heart‑rate monitoring. It only tracks continuously during a manually started workout session. And that’s where my dilemma begins.

Ai and Automation and ... Exercise?

AI can't walk for me. Nor can automation (at least not yet, although Electromyostimulation is a topic of recent interest, and interestingly enough I had some of that when I was in rehab after shoulder surgery in December of 2024). So why do I talk of AI and automation in the same breath as exercise? Because I'm automating the reporting of my exercise. You may recall from my last post (Ripples, Resolutions, and Walking Shoes) that I was reporting my exercise journey daily on Facebook all year, and even had a full results sheet available for anyone to view. Well, I'm not reporting it daily this year. Nor am I manually updating a google sheet every day. 

What I am doing, though, is kinda cool:

Ripples, Resolutions, and Walking Shoes

So, last year, I resolved (I think - I didn't actually so much call it that, but that's what it was) to walk a mile each day. I started on Jan 1, 2025, and walked a mile (1.04 to be exact). I posted it on Facebook, saying I planned to walk a mile a day in 2025. Repeated on the 2nd, 1.39 miles. I was pretty consistent in January, only missing a couple of days. I got the flu in February, and that derailed me for a while, but eventually I got back to it. Overall, I hit >40% of the days for walks, and >46% of the days with either walks or some alternate, non-walk cardio. You can see the full results of 2025 here. December, August, and April were the weakest months in terms of "non-exercise." 234 recorded miles of walking, with an average of a little over 5k steps per day. (I did do a mile on the last day of the 2025 at a rest stop on the way back from post-Christmas family vacation.)