All that glitters is gold

I had to set the clock this morning so I could pick Kyle up from his overnight stay at Sachem East HS.   An ‘Awakeathon’ means the students participating at the school don’t sleep all night, but instead hang out chatting, playing games, fooling around, and maybe drinking some red bull, monster, or amp energy drinks.  Kyle looked pretty good when I picked him up at 7AM this morning, then he proceeded to sleep until late this afternoon. 

Fixed him some eggs for breakfast at around 4PM, and by 5:30 it was time to for dinner.  Thinking it was too cold and windy to risk getting a Cajun Roast Beef to cook outside on the BBQ, so in the oven it went.   10 minutes at 500, and then 20 minutes at 375.  This time, it came out rare.   I am guessing that the BBQ has some more direct heat and cooks even faster.  Anyway, it was great to have rare roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy and peas.

After dinner, Luke asked if we could make some Churros for dessert.  We mixed up a batch, and this time modified the recipe to use 2 eggs instead of 3.  Last time the mixture was not as thick as we would have hoped, and it was more like funnel cake.  Funnel cake is good too.  Deep fried dough cooked to a golden brown, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar. We will report on tonight’s batch of churros tomorrow.

This day in history “After being released from government control, gold reaches a new record price on January 14, 1980, exceeding $800 an ounce”

Gold is scattered sparsely throughout the earth's crust and since ancient times has been treasured for both its scarcity and metallurgic properties. Before the 19th century, most nations maintained a bimetallic monetary system, which often included gold but consisted mainly of silver. Beginning in Great Britain in 1821, units of currency were redeemable for a fixed quantity of gold, a change that Britain hoped would stabilize its rapidly growing economy. As the Industrial Revolution spread, other countries followed suit, and by the late 19th century most industrialized nations were on the gold standard. In the new global economy, the common standard facilitated international monetary transactions and stabilized foreign exchange rates.

In the United States and many other countries, currencies remained "pegged" to gold until the 1970s, when dwindling global reserves signaled the final death knell of the gold standard.

Gold used to back the almighty dollar, and later Silver.  Does anyone remember silver certificate currency ?   Fort Knox supposedly has a huge amount of gold reserves, but some believe that is not the case any longer.  To this day, only a handful of people have ever been inside Fort Knox, and fewer still have ever seen the gold.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/24/news/economy/ron_paul_gold_audit/index.htm

I remember the 1980’s when gold spiked and small gold shops opened up to cash in on the gold rush.  I remember a spike in robberies in those days as well, with gold chains, and rings, etc a target in my old neighborhood.  Who would have ever imagined that the price of gold would once again spike and reach the levels that it has today.  As a hedge against inflation, or a bipolar stock market, and housing bust, investors have sought this as a safe haven.

I can tell you that the commercial’s on TV to cash in old gold and jewelry have increased, as have the gold and pawn shops in neighborhoods all over the place.  Gold prices topped out at $1895 an ounce back on Sept 11, 2011.  Speculation, and the ups and downs of the oil, stock, and commodities market have kept it well over $1500 an ounce.

"Stairway To Heaven"

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying the stairway to heaven.
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.
Ooh, ooh, and she's buying the stairway to heaven.

Most of us 'can’t get we came for' with just a word, so it may be time to cash in and sell some of the old gold jewelry.  The stuff like rope chains, tri-color gold, broken gold, ugly earrings, stuff you would never wear again.  We don’t have too much to begin with, but a few items, mostly circa 1980-1990 may find their way to ‘Budget Buy and Sell’.  If I cash in some old gold, the price of gold will spike to a new all time high….

Cracked Mayan Code May Point to 8 Tons of Lost Treasure.  It's a treasure hunt even Indiana Jones would be proud of.

Buried beneath a lake in Guatamala sits a fortune in lost treasure -- Mayan gold to be precise -- and a group of German archaeologists has just set off to find it. Their only guidance, a freshly decoded ancient book containing a map to the treasure.

It sounds like a movie, but it's very much real, reported FoxNewsLatino. Joachim Rittsteig, an expert in Mayan writing who is heading up the mission to Guatemala's Lake Izabal, the site reported. Rittsteig claims to have cracked the famous Dresden Codex, a pre-Columbian Maya book possibly from the 11th century, and discovered in its pages specific information that leads to a treasure in the lake.

"The Dresden Codex leads to a giant treasure of eight tons of pure gold," said Rittsteig, who has spent more than 40 years studying the document.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/03/01/cracked-mayan-code-uncover-8-tons-lost-treasure/#ixzz1jTwPPgbB

Photo of the day “All that glitters is gold”