WHEN IS A CZARINA LIKE A SNAKE?

No worries. With over 20,000 articles in our archive, I forget myself if or when we've touched on any given topic. Fortunately we have a Google Custom Search Engine (CSE) on the NBS web site, and The E-Sylum is incorporated into the Newman Numismatic Portal as well. But even with a search engine, finding answers to general queries can be hard. That search would only be easy if you already knew the woman's name, and "tsarina" came up empty because the article used the spelling "czarina". I remembered the article and knew it was in there, but even I took several tries before hitting pay dirt.

It's what I call the Pantry Puzzle. I'm looking for something, poke around a bit, and give up. Then my wife helpfully interjects, "It's right there, you idiot". So I open the door again and stare. "It's right in front of you, moron - what are you, blind?" This is why we don't keep loaded weapons in the house.

So now I start pulling things off the shelf, checking one by one looking for the thing I want. Now I hear, "YOU DON'T HAVE TO TEAR THE PLACE APART!!"

Well, yeah I do. When I started looking I had no idea if what I wanted was in even there, what size or color it is, or what it's next to. I wasn't the one who went to the store, took it from the shelf, brought it home and put it in the pantry. I don't have that level of certainty. So when I couldn't find it, I gave up. I'm not stupid or lazy, just practical. I'm not going to spend half an hour looking if I'm not even sure it's there in the first place. In this case I remembered the article came from the Kunker web site, so I looked for that word instead. BINGO - there she was, right next to "Künker" (thankfully the umlaut didn't impair the search).

Yes, if she'd been a snake she woulda bit me, but unfortunately groceries and Csarina articles don't jump out at you just because you're looking for them. They slither to the back of the closet and hide. -Editor