Ted Powers was born and raised 19 miles north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1953, at the age of 19, he entered the Army Security Agency . It was on or about the year after the peace agreement was signed ending the Korean conflict. Stationed at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, he spent one year learning morse code. While in Korea, he and four other cryptographers broke the enemy's code, for which he received the Meritorious Acheivement Award from the Far East commanding general. Leaving the service in 1956, he enrolled at Penn State University and graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor's degree in Landscape Architecture. While there, he attended many classes in writing composition and was nick-named… "the poet" by his professors and classmates. His talents took him beyond the field of architecture into music and drama. He excelled on stage playing lead roles in broadway musicals such as Guys and Dolls, Pajama Game, Kiss me Kate and Annie Get Your Gun. He helped write stage plays for the Thespian Club. He directed "Annie Get Your Gun" and in his last year, was elected president of the Penn State Thespians. After gradutation, he moved to Milwaukee and entered the business world. Within three years he was owner and operator of two companies and began an adventure that led to thirty five years of the nost unusual experiences one could imagine. He took notes for those thirty five years and therein lies the basis for this book, "The Dark Side of The Coin" and its sequel. Although the book was written with fictional overtones, it is based on a true story, one in which the names have been changed to protect the innocent. If you enjoy this story, you will be thrilled with the sequel, "The Other Side of The Coin".