Screw the Golden Years #7
Is gold mining any way to run a business?
It’s a vastly better bet to invest in numismatic coins than in gold bullion.
Point of sale reaps more benefits than investing in the process.
Similarly, paper is cheap, but if a 1938 Superman comic is printed on it, it might be worth $3,207,852 on eBay.
Andrew Jackson Utley (Bimetallism, 1899) wrote …
“Mr. Lewis Garnett, formerly manager of the San Francisco Refining Works, in a pamphlet published in 1869, says that the labor alone employed in the production of gold in California at that time [1869] cost more than two dollars for every dollar’s worth of gold produced, to say nothing about the expensive machinery used, salaries of officers, etc.”
According to the same source …
“From the above table [page 16 of the book] it will be seen that even in the flush times of California mining, gold was produced on the average at a loss, saying nothing about the great destruction of the forests and injury done to the land.
“A carefully prepared estimate of the cost of the production of gold in Australia makes about the same showing,”
According to the same source …
“That certain adventures afford enormous profits there is no doubt, but many more are operated at a loss. Del Mar’s ‘History of the Precious Metals,’ page 290, refers to two hydraulic companies, one of which, employing ten men at 16 shillings per day each, and 200 inches or 4,000 gallons of water, washed down 224,000 cubic feet of earth in six days, and though there was obtained from it only £600 in gold (about five-eighths of a penny to the cubic foot), £470 of it was profit. The other company referred to used ‘2,000 inches or 40,000 gallons of water for 100 days, and washed down 1,000,000 cubic yards of gravel (containing less than a quarter of a penny to the cubic foot), and obtained £6,400, of which £2,400 was profit. The cube of earth washed down was 1,100 feet long, 300 feet wide, and 80 feet deep.'”
According to the same source …
“Mr. [Horatio C.] Burchard (formerly Director of the Mint), in his essay on the cost of the production of gold and silver, takes certain selected mines and estimates the cost of production for a single year and assumes this to be the average cost of production. Mr. Burchard knew better. His conclusions are misleading and untrue. The cost of producing gold or silver cannot be determined from one year’s experience of certain selected mines; but only ‘From the average cost of the total production from all of the mines during a reasonably long period of time;’ and to this should be added the cost of prospecting, sinking useless and abandoned shafts, and various other incidental expenses incurred in locating mines whether productive or otherwise. Neither is it true as contended by certain pseudo economists that as the value of the precious metals fell it would result in closing all but the richest mines. Mines are not abandoned or closed when they cease to be profitable. If abandoned by one set of operators they are seized upon and operated by other men in the hope that they may be more successful than the former proprietors, and that they will reach the great bonanza which they are confident lies hidden in the rocks almost within reach. It is the gambling instinct of man that provokes the hazard.”
According to the same source …
“Mr Garnett in the essay hereinbefore quoted from is unquestionably correct when he says:
“‘The fact is, that the production of the precious metals has always been one of those fascinating pursuits which the love of venture as well as adventure inherent in man, seems to create, and which the romantic and exciting vicissitudes in individual fortunes, to which it not infrequently gives rise, continues to excite and sustain; and such seems to have been pretty much the case at all times and in all countries.'”
<>
One definition of a gold mine is “a hole in the ground with a liar on top.”
<>
Karen Emslie (“Gold Jewelry’s Dirty Environmental Secret,” Discover, Feb. 14, 2015) wrote …
“Researchers [from the University of Puerto Rico] examined high resolution satellite data between 2001 and 2013, and concluded that around 650 square miles of tropical forest was lost in South America as a result of gold mining in this period.”
On a smaller scale, subsistence miners (artisanal miners) are responsible for most of the worst pollution.
According to the same source …
“The Duke [University] team studied mercury concentrations in soil and fish downstream of known artisanal mining sites. They found that miners’ use of mercury not only contaminates local soil and water, it also creates hazardous levels of the neurotoxin hundreds of miles away. Fish found 350 miles downstream of a mining site were found to contain too much mercury to be safely eaten by children and women of maternal age.”
'Screw the Golden Years #7' have 14 comments
September 19, 2016 @ 7:32 am Atom
Soon to be released — a new e-book explaining (in great detail) why the heart is not a pump.
The first chapter is titled “William Harvey’s Doctrine Is Absurd.”
http://solartiming.com/store–e-books.php
September 20, 2016 @ 9:19 pm John
Hello Atom! What is the title of your new e-book regarding “why the heart is not a pump”? You have provided some great information on the subject in your blogs and interviews, so we will be looking forward to your new work!
Dr. Tom Cowan has discussed why increasing the capillary blood flow is one of the things that keeps the heart going, and recommended Strophantin Mother tincture because it has ouabain, an agent that can assist that circulation. In your blog entry “What Are the Sources of Quabain” you revealed some other intriguing sources besides the Strophanthus gratus plant for ouabain, namely the brains and adrenal glands from cattle. Will your new e-book discuss some other ways people can improve the true manner by which the blood flows throughout the body?
Speaking of circulatory nutrition, it has been reported that vitamin E supports blood flow by softening the red blood cells, and you have spoken about how vitamin E can help reverse the damage PUFAs cause that can lead to Yellow Fat Disease, as well as how it is an estrogen antagonist. Are there any other important services rendered by vitamin E that are being overlooked or “forgotten” by way of Medical Amnesia?
There is some evidence that can be interpreted to show that vitamin E may positively affect issues of the skin such as photoaging, pigmentation disorders and wound healing. Ray Peat has said, “The so-called “advanced glycation end products” that have been blamed on glucose excess, are mostly derived from the peroxidation of the “Essential Fatty Acids”, and, “More recently, a variety of studies have demonstrated that ultraviolet light induces peroxidation in unsaturated fats, but not in saturated fats, and that this occurs in the skin…unsaturated fat in the skin is a major target for the aging effects of ultraviolet light.”
If one wanted to apply vitamin E topically to support the healing of skin issues, does Ray Peat’s information mean that using plant oils such as sunflower seed oil as a source of the vitamin would not be a good idea, because the negative effects of the PUFAs the oil contains would cancel out the positive effects of the vitamin E? Would the same hold for using almond oil topically for its vitamin E content? What would be the optimal source of the vitamin to use on the skin?
Thanks and have a splendiferous day!
September 22, 2016 @ 9:54 am Atom
Re: What is the title of your new e-book regarding “why the heart is not a pump”?
The title will be announced the day of the e-book’s release.
It’s 42 chapters are already written. All that remains is to write an Introduction and a Conclusion.
Most of the information in it is available in a series of 38 blog entries on our Sun Sync Nutrition website.
<>
Re: Will your new e-book discuss some other ways people can improve the true manner by which the blood flows throughout the body?
Yes.
<>
Bufalin, ouabain, bufalin, palytoxin, and digoxin are toxic cardiac glycosides.
The word “ouabain” is derived from a Somali word for “arrow poison.”
If the heart is not a pump, why induce ouabain intoxication on the heart?
A better choice is authentic Tai Chi (not New Age dancing), which slows down the heart while stimulating muscle metabolism.
Compare that to most forms of meditation, which slow down the heart and depress muscle metabolism.
Another choice is Positional Pandiculation — yawning + stretching + isometrics + reflexology.
<>
Incidentally, cardiac glycosides allegedly stimulate the sodium-potassium pump, which may not even exist, according to disputants like Gilbert Ling, Gerald Pollack, and Ray Peat.
A sodium pump would require as much as 35 percent of a cell’s energy to function, and since well over fifty solute pumps are hypothesized, where is all this energy coming from?
And potassium remains high inside a cell for hours after it’s poisoned by ouabain.
<>
Re: Are there any other important services rendered by vitamin E that are being overlooked or “forgotten” by way of Medical Amnesia?
It makes people as horny as a three-balled tomcat and as fertile as a rabbit ranch.
Academia doesn’t give much lip service (pardon the pun) to sexual arousal except when selling toxic drugs like sildenafil.
<>
Re: What would be the optimal source of vitamin E to use on the skin?
I still haven’t found an optimal source, so alpha-tocopherol in a base of mixed tocopherols remains the best bet till I find out otherwise.
<>
The Truth Is Out There,
At-OM
September 19, 2016 @ 7:35 am Atom
“There are no ‘advanced souls.’ You’re either there or you’re not there.”
http://www.solartiming.com/
September 19, 2016 @ 12:40 pm sebastian
i bought a couple of vintage gold rings because adano said it operates on the delta level of the brain. my sleep has improved, so keeping it within the aura seems to suffice. colloidal gold is supposedly used to treat sleep issues.
atom, the whats and nots of iodine? i read somewhere that it’s a vit a antagonist? do you know if this is true? eating lots of kelp improves my concentration but can sometimes rile me up and make my joints sore (a homeopathic indication for the iodatum personality is “tearing at the meridians”). other than fluorine (tea) and bromine, what do you suggest to complement iodine? kelp is a keeper for me as it seems like one of the most nutritious things for the modest price.
thank you as always.
September 22, 2016 @ 10:01 am Atom
Kelp is OK but not because of its iodine.
I’m in the minority by being way north of the cheering section when it comes to the virtues of iodine.
I walk big circles around the entire halogen family (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, & astatine).
September 22, 2016 @ 5:41 pm John
Hello Atom! As Ray Peat has said that Dr. Guy Abraham’s 24-Hour Iodine Loading test kit, “contains iodine overdose pills. The test is completely irrational. It implies that the body should be saturated with iodine,†and that painting the skin with iodine to observe the rate it disappears to test iodine status is “unscientific” because “the iodine is converted to colorless iodide by reductants, including vitamin C, glutathione, and thiosulphate”, do you know of a safe, accurate way to test for iodine levels within the body?
In past interviews you have mentioned “tree iodine”: what exactly is that? Would that be iodine from Black Walnut Hulls? If someone were to accurately test as iodine deficient, would using this tree iodine to address the issue be preferable over seaweed due to the concerns of bromine concentrations that certain species of seaweed may contain?
September 23, 2016 @ 5:57 pm Atom
Only trace amounts of iodine are needed by most people.
Black walnuts provide it in the morning, eggplant at midday, and sea vegetables at night.
Even these sources are unnecessary for anyone living near the seashore and eating a minimum of goitrogenic foods (mostly cole crop vegetables like cabbage and cauliflower).
Polyunsaturated fats gobble up iodine — the higher the iodine number (iodine value), the more iodine is consumed by lack of saturation.
It’s impossible for anyone eating kelp to be deficient in iodine unless they have a ~qualitative~ iodine deficiency, something that can’t be solved with a ~quantitative~ iodine sufficiency.
Bromine’s single-color spectral predominance is purple, making it an acceptable evening Growth Zone 3 element.
September 21, 2016 @ 6:36 am sebastian
plus: more adano. this time to the beat of (somewhat) mindful hip hop classic “hip hop” by dead prez. synchronicity seems to sync up the grooves to match his voice well when i make these.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFdIG-loR5I
September 22, 2016 @ 10:05 am Atom
Sebastian, that is AWESOME !!!!! !!!!! !!!!! !!!!! !!!!! !!!!! !!!!! !!!!! !!!!! !!!!!
September 22, 2016 @ 12:50 pm sebastian
thank you atom :)
September 22, 2016 @ 5:20 pm Atom
It’s interesting that Adano’s words are more distinct with that hip-hop beat in the background. :)
September 21, 2016 @ 6:25 pm Matt
Are feijoas zone 1 or 2?
And bentonite clay, zone 3?
September 22, 2016 @ 10:10 am Atom
Feijoas are in Growth Zone 1. It grows on an evergreen that reach over 20 feet in height.
Bentonite clay is neutral, Growth Zones 1, 2, and 3. It shouldn’t by used on an ongoing basis; only when needed.