$ - Where did it come from?

No, not from a stork. It wasn't dropped down a chimney only to land in a crib. ... Yes, the currency sign. It didn't think about it before, but really, where the heck did that sign come from?

Apparently, the symbol was used in 1782 for the first time. And apparently the US government back then thought it would be ingenious to use the peso as the American currency. No, really!

The Spanish dollar sign, written as $, came from an ancient Phoenician sign (some ancient type folk who lived in the Mediterranean). The sign means strength.

Well, now you know, you won't be checking for storks in your wallet!

Just as puzzling is my puzzle origami fish!

Some random ephemera

For those of you who like your paper, you've probably heard of the term ephemera. If not, it refers to a range of objects that are made using paper; like postcards, magazines, newspapers, etc. Well, I've been tripping over some great ephemera collectors sites lately, and I thought I should share them!

Suzy, you are bound to love Do What Now, which has a lot of humorous posts about fifties-type advertisements and magazines. There's also a lot of really gross meal ideas (check out the Kidneypalooza... ewwwwww!). Even if ephemera isn't your thing, this blog has some of the best satire on the subject of 50s ads I've ever read!

Next, you can't go past the aptly-titled Ephemera blog. This blog interviews all sorts of collectors, from the collector of old passports, to the guy who collects Tolkien ephemera. And it doesn't just cover paper objects, but collectors of all sorts. A must read for anyone interested in finding out what makes a collector tick!

And lastly we have Kitschy Kitschy Coo, a blog for all sorts of random kitschness and kitchy collectibles (is that a word?). Actually, I came across a really great post about collecting for the family. There's a whole list of fun ways to collect; I personally wouldn't mind collecting the cookie cutters! :)

(Mom, don't get any ideas from the list - I think we all collect enough without making it a family thing!)

Diamonds are a collector's best friend

Here's my origami for today: a star box!

And the news for today....

Who would have thought that taking a walk in a state park would be a collector's dream day? The Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas is apparently the best place to go diamond collecting - for all you mineral geeks out there, mom included - with visitors allowed to pick up AND KEEP any diamonds they find.

James said he'd take me one day ;)

The park comes to attention after a young girl found a 2.93 carat diamond at the end of a long diamond-hunting day with her family. Apparently there have already been 332 diamonds found this year alone (!!), with one appraised between $15 000 and $60 000. Wow! Now James really does have to take me :D

Read all about it here.

DIY baseball memorabilia display

DIY Network has posted a video that shows the average person a creative way of displaying your sports memorabilia. I'm not really into collecting sports stuff, but the video is a neat reminder of rethinking the ways that you can display your collectibles. For instance, they show you how to turn all your trading cards into a nice picture frame. I may have to do this at some point in order to display my growing collection of origami cards and pieces!

Check out the video here.

And my origami piece for today is a bat - in homage to the baseball bats in this video!

Corrugated paper and the real link

In a recent post, I mentioned a great instructional video on creating corrugated paper, that was listed on Origami Tessellations.

Eric Gjerde, who runs Origami Tessellations, left me a comment on the post! Here's what he says:

"I'm glad you liked my little site- thanks for the mention! Although I have to say that Paul Jackson is the one responsible for the nice corrugated paper instructions, I just reposted it :)keep up the good work, and keep creating!"

Thanks Eric! And you are quite right; I didn't link to Paul Jackson, who made the video. So here it is:

Paul Jackson, origami artist. His gallery is definitely worth looking at; he puts my origami to shame. My favorite is the rhino. Although the organic abstracts comes in second! :)

And here's a lily to Eric for pointing it out, and being so encouraging! Thanks Eric!

Uncle Bob and his stamps

My uncle is a stamp nut. He collects all sorts of stamps (I guess it is in the family), but he is a big fan of airmail and anything stamps that include planes. Whenever my uncle sees me, he finds a way of "setting a task" for me to do - and that's what he did a couple of weeks ago.

I know, I know. He's a bit weird; but harmless, and actually quite sweet! (You know I mean well Uncle Bob :) )

Anyway, the task this time was to go find out something about the history of the Scott Catalogue. For those who don't know, stamp collectors use the publication as the industry-standard price guide and catalogue of all the latest stamps. Uncle Bob always goes on about some stamp or other from it, and has a huge stack of them at his house.

So in trying to complete my "task" (he never uses a different word, it's always a task), I went hunting on the net to find the info. And it took me all of five seconds.

Don Schilling, who writes the Stamp Collecting Round-up blog, posted on the very topic just a few days ago. The blog looks like it's an excellent resource for stamp collectors, and I bet Uncle Bob visits it every day (I bet he's going to ask me where I found the information, and he's going to say 'Oh, that good ol' place!'). Anyway, according to the blog, the Scott Catalogue developed in 1867, after John Walter Scott began circulating a price list of his dealership's catalogue. Read the full post here.

So next time I see Uncle Bob, I can tell him all about the history of the catalogue - and hope that he gives up on giving me these little tasks! :)

By the way - today's origami is a box. For Uncle Bob's stamps!

Harry Potter and the Wonderous Theme Park

If you're anything like me - and the rest of the reading world - you'll love the Harry Potter books. I fell in love with them a few years ago, and since then have been collecting whatever I can on the topic of HP wizardry.

The LA Times recently reported that a 20-acre Florida theme park will be created, with more than $200 million going into it. Hopefully the park will open in 2009. Disney apparently turned down the opportunity to create it, which I guess is kind of stupid on their part, since HP is big business. And even bigger for J K Rowling, the author, who's bound to get all sorts of royalties.

Wow! Imagine all the great things you could have there - train stations with invisible platforms, candy stores galore (with, of course, chocolate frogs!), wand stores, costumes, castles... flying cars! ... Strange creatures! The Times says there will be three areas, the Hogwarts Castle (of course!), Hogsmeade Village, and the Forbidden Forest (brrr... no creepy spiders for me).

Watch the video announcement here.

And in homage to that news, my origami for today is a popcorn box!