US finds vast mineral reserves in Afghanistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/world/asia/15afghan.html?src=mv
The United States of America has found a new source of wealth, but not in the bank and not within its borders. It has been on a mission to claim the new honeypot under the guise of war.
In Kabul, Afghanistan, Government Officials sound heavily optimistic about their new found mineral wealth which, if the US has it's way, will soon end the the popular Taliban pursuit of what I will refer to as 'poppy power'.
With the intent of uncovering the facts and presenting them for public debate, the SCZITDAMN investigative journal sent their intrepid reporter, Spirukas Goblinono to the location.
Unfortunately, the brief that he had prepared became lost in translation, but we have managed to retrieve many crumpled and stained notes from the debris of his bombed apartment.
What follows is the exact transcript of his personal interpretation of interviews and articles that have appeared in the media over the last few days.
Q: The US has discovered nearly $A1.17 trillion in untapped mineral deposits?
A: I thought the US military was there to find Osama bin Laden, (remember him - a bloke with a beard, wears a sheet and celebrates his success of destroying those two tall posts in New York like almost a decade ago, by whizzing around his underground lair hooked to 3 life support machines that follow him around like shopping trolleys). Um, how come he only releases 2 videos a year and never looks any older - is it Aloa Vera?
Q: This may fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war?
A: Is their really a war here? Didn't the 3 superheroes, George W, Tony the Pom and Little Johnny unite to fight the axis of evil in some other desert called Iraq? They managed an amazing fireworks display and allowed pillaging of thousands of years of antiquities from the museums. But damn it, they couldn't find that pesky Osama (even though the Taliban originally offered him to Uncle Sam but their offer was declined) so they staged the destruction of a civilization as a red herring so they could sneak off elsewhere.
Q: How will it alter the economy?
A: Well, the Ministry of Commerce has calculated that if divided equally, each man woman and child would receive approximately $40,344.80. This is a good thing because everyone would be able to purchase a really good second hand Skoda, a Kalashnikov with 1000 rounds, a couple of pounds of pure poppy power and a years supply of Vodka. Unfortunately, once the Vodka's finished, the party's over so this sharing is not such a good idea. I suggest that if it takes 5 to 10 years before the country could begin to use the reserves they should probably not share it, but invest it with a reputable firm like Goldman Sachs where it can be quickly converted into a credit card system that will be shared with Afghans. Of course this means than no one gets anything because their economy will quickly follow the Zimbabwe principle and your 40 odd grand won't even buy you tyres for the Skoda before you even finish your first vodka.
Q: The deposits include huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and lithium - which seems to cover just about everything we need for manufacturing, money and power?
A: See, the US is well prepared, because the mineral wealth was found by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. But this is not one of the small teams who are getting kissy cuddly with all the kids in an effort to bring harmony to the disrupted culture. Nor is it one of those small teams sneaking around looking for Osama and eradicating innocent families. No, this is one of those small teams specially organized by companies like Halliburton, Monsanto and Santos who really only have their best interests at heart and just want to screw a teat onto the bottle of your wealth and suck it dry.
Q: President Hamid Karzai and the Afghan Government have recently been briefed on the situation but they believe that the wealth may be underestimated by as much as 30%?
A: As P.T. Barnum (the great showman and salesman) put it: "there's a sucker born every minute". Well, this is how the briefing went:
"OK dudes, it's like this. We found this shit, rich shit in your land, but remember, we found it. You do not have a developed mining industry, and your national mining laws have never faced a serious challenge, (which our mates at the World Bank helped you write). You have never had a well developed heavy industry and you have virtually no history of environmental protection and the size of the deposits dwarf the size of your war ravaged economy. Now we know you wanna play ball so why don't you let us be your police, after all we've already got heaps of troops here and they're getting a little bored and wanna' go home - hey this place is an oasis, once we rebuild it with our privately contracted mercenaries".
Q: But instead of bringing peace, the newly found mineral wealth could lead the Taliban to battle more fiercely to regain control of the country?
A: Well there is already enough corruption rampant in the current government which will probably be amplified because of some very well connected oligarchs that have personal ties to the president. And endless fights could erupt between provincial and tribal leaders over mineral wealth within their districts. Jesus mate, (sorry), I mean Mohammad mate, get with the program - that's exactly all you've had for hundreds of years anyway, now's it's going to be better, (remember, the US has successfully raped El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, South Africa, Grenada, Guatemala, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iran, Iraq, the Philippines, lots of other small indiscriminate countries and anyone else with their economic pants down; as well as it's own citizens for hundreds of years - why stop now)?
We have the troops here, we have the geologists here, we have the officials here, we are protecting your land for you and we have found your wealth and we want a share of it. Now, if you say no to our offer, we are taking our bat and ball and going home, and if we do, your sniveling little country will quickly revert to the poppy based economy and you'll never get your Skodas and your pathetic gross domestic product that is currently only about $18 billion will quickly shrink until your profits will fit comfortably in a camels ball bag.
Q: The Pentagon Task force has already started trying to help the Afghans set up a system to deal with mineral development.
A: We have taken the liberty of hiring international accounting firms that have expertise in Mining Contracts (our people of course) and technical data that is being prepared will be handed over to multinational mining companies and potential foreign investors. Of course we took this liberty because we just don't feel that that your peasant desert culture is organized enough to make wise decisions regarding our personal vested interests in your country.
Q: The Pentagon is helping Afghan officials arrange to start seeking bids on mineral rights by the next US Autumn.
A: No, I'm sorry, that is definitely a misprint. You do not understand the situation. You should be prepared to be raped. Your pants are down and we have emptied your wallet and you certainly aren't wearing protection! We led you to believe Osama is in your country hiding in a cave. Wrong! We unplugged his dialysis machine years ago, he's a vegetable on wheels, sorta' looks like a turnip - he ain't playing Mr. Potato Head no more.
P.S: Our editor has confirmed the last question is in fact a misprint.
The Pentagon actually is helping Afghan officials arrange to start seeking bribes (not bids) on mineral rights by the next US Autumn.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Marijuana for Dopes?
A Comment:
Thank you for an interesting article. I received a link to this via Twitter and the timing is auspicious.
It confirms something I already suspected.
I have been smoking cannabis for 35 years and have recently had to give it up because I just was not getting enough sleep. It was actually making me smoke more to try and get stoned and I was depriving myself of sleep awaiting a bigger hit - but it never came!
But what I have also noticed is that the effects of the new breeds of marijuana do not really get me as stoned as I used to get many years ago. It actually heightens awareness of my surroundings but no longer opens the doors of perception. It also seems to have a delayed 'trigger effect' that manifests itself as an emotional discomfort and makes me want more, about 18 hours later.
Yet, the strange thing is, I can still smoke most people under the table, and just have to laugh at all those younger people who say they can't have more than 3 or 4 without passing out or going to sleep.
What many people don't know, or remember, is the great effects of really good dope.
Unfortunately, they probably never will because whilst the lawmakers have been encouraging debate on the issue they still refuse to actually take a concerted stand.
And they refuse to take a stand because they are quite happy to have a large portion of the population totally doped out, happy and complacent, uncommitted and uncaring, whacked out of their tiny brains, with only one thing on their minds - scoring their next bag!
This all contributes to the despairing state of our current uncaring, apathetic society.
So I found my own answer. After fighting psychosis, depression,sleep deprivation, nightmares and bouts of insecurity, I decided to stop being a Canniboholic and become an Alcoholic. Which is quite ironic considering that the only thing that ever kept me away from alcohol, was marijuana, and there aren't many drugs I haven't imbibed since I was 18 years old.But you know what? Now I have got my appetite back, now I want to go to sleep because I am naturally exhausted from dealing with all the crap that I used to just ignore because I was too stoned to care.Now I have a point of view, and I'm awake to the stoners.
Dope is for dopes. The growers know it and the politicians know it and the police know it because it's quite a pleasant little money spinner for them and it helps to keep the smokers all in line - because they're too stoned to care, and in that condition - no one is gonna' rock the boat.
A reply:
Jeez,
Calm down son, it'll be OK. It seems like you may have had a few bad experiences that you attribute to marijuana smoking. But, let's be fair to all the other smokers and tokers out there - you were probably going to have a bad trip no matter what drug, legal or otherwise, that you used.
Face it, some people can't handle reality, some can't handle drugs and some can't handle alcohol in a responsible manner. You need to ask yourself, which group do you belong to?
It's not fair to go slinging off at other people just because they have a habit or an addiction and you've also managed to cast rather a large net to capture and highlight your prejudices.
Yes, I am well aware of the theory that dope smoking causes psychosis but I am also aware of a few other things:
People who are inherently introverted seek solace in marijuana use because it tends to reaffirm their identity and gives them a place of harmony to nurse themselves,
and, there is evidence to suggest that those persons who are predisposed to excessive use suffer from heightened anxiety,
but,there are also people who are drawn to dope because they already suffer from problems of insecurity and paranoia and it alleviates the symptoms,
then, only later do they realize that their problems have not been fixed, only heightened by regular usage not to mention all the people who need to smoke marijuana because it keeps them away from all the other addictive substances so easily available from a local GP, a local bottle shop or a local drug dealer.
Some people actually do use it for relaxation or sleep therapy, as well as a medication used for pain relief.
However, I think I hear where you are coming from with your reference to "dope is for dopes". What you might be saying is that you regret your long term usage and now realize that your self-medication may not have really helped your situation.
You may also aware of how the dope culture has changed since the hippy hey-days, especially with the proliferation of more potent dope caused by genetic engineering, cross pollination and use of strange chemicals in the growing process, and the repeated overuse of bad seed stock.
Finally, I would just like to say, that if all else fails you should be surrounding yourself with good friends, dogs and the beautiful things in life - but not drugs!
I wish you good luck.
Here is a link to the aforementioned article:
http://www.psypost.org/cannabidiol-cbd-enhances-wakefulness-in-rats-329
Monday, March 29, 2010
I Twit Therefore I Am
"I think therefore I am".
Rene' Descartes said that.
What was that about?
Maybe Rene' was a little concerned about the justification for his existence. It didn't seem sensible to him that as a living creature he was indistinguishable from animals and amoeba purely because religious dogma dictated that he was one of God's created creatures and therefore subject to the same laws that reduced all creation to subservience.
He believed that the only difference between all other living creatures and humanity was that he had the ability to make decisions. This, and this alone separated him from the fate that awaited all descendants of the Garden of Eden.
As a man, he concluded that he was able to consider choices and make decisions based on HIS assessment and understanding of all the facts the universe presented to him. To his chagrin, he decided that HE, and he alone was responsible for his destiny and not GOD.
Flip forward almost 360 years and witness the embodiment of that ideal.
"I Twit therefore I am."
Which just begs me to ask : What is a Twit ?
And, just for the record; may I say that no Google's were harmed or accessed during this experiment - all this information is obtained from BOOKS. (remember them, the things that Ray Bradbury so highly praised in "Farenheit 451")!
To Twit................To Do...............What?
Twit is the verb of Twat.
What is a Twat?
A Twat is a word derived from the old Norse language. In its original context it conveyed an image of a forest clearing. It came to mean a cut through a swathe, as in a gash in the bush.
In fact, you wont find it in most dictionaries because it's sort of a dirty word.
A twat soon came to mean a description of the predominate female sexual organ.
And yet, an alternative meaning of the word is a reference to an idiot or imbecile.
In fact, Benny Hill often used it in his dialogues.
But I hear your say; "how can you put a reference to an imbecile as pertinent to Descartes?"
Well, I say; "purely because I can."
If you have a better reason to justify your existence, please; I wanna' know about it!
You spend so much time trying to get your message out, that you don't have time to listen to what anyone else is saying.
Face it dude. You are just one of many who post a cry in the wilderness, and all you are going to hear is an echo.
No one is really listening - you just like to think they are - you justify it by saying "I think therefore I am".
Hey man, get a life.
Do you think anyone really cares. Nup. Not me, not you, not a god, not a dog.
No one really cares about anything unless it is something they can take off you.
Rene' had already figured that out.
He was damned sure that he was going to BE.
He wasn't gonna' be 'Mister Goody Two Shoes' just so he could be nice to everyone and win friends, die happy, be placed in a pine box and get eaten by worms. Shit no! The afterlife was not the answer. He wanted to make a stand NOW. No pussyfootin' around, no countin' your eggs before they're hatched.
Goddamn, there is no afterlife!
Rene' was not not going to live in fear of the Lord. He was not going to be indoctrinated to acquiesce to a far greater being and succumb to the power of the 'almighty."
Hell no. He was a man, and proud of it! This was exactly what made him distinct from divinity.
He carried the eternal burden of Adam and Eve's fornication and as far as he was concerned - it was fun.
How dare God intervene in his madness. It was his choice. Isn't that exactly the purpose that God had placed him here for - To make decisions!
How dare God and others judge, because they claim the right to possess an ability to understand and to know the wrath of the lord.
I THINK THEREFORE I AM.
There, I said it.
Be gone with you Beelzebub. Come into the temple and cast the money makers aside!
I dare you.
...................
Oh Gee. I'm still waiting - where the hell are you -did you miss the train?
Thesaurus is the new God, not Google, not Geeks.
Please refer to your dictionaries -
TWIT : ass, berk, clown, divvy, halfwit, idiot, nerd, nurd, nitwit, numskull, numbskull, pillock, prat, schmuck, ,simpleton, wally, (or, as many would say: you stupid c..t).
"A TWITTER IS THE ECHO OF AN INCONSOLABLE TWAT WHO HAS A DESIRE TO TWEET."
(posted by an idiot. Bless you all. The Year of Our Lord, 2010)
Rene' Descartes said that.
What was that about?
Maybe Rene' was a little concerned about the justification for his existence. It didn't seem sensible to him that as a living creature he was indistinguishable from animals and amoeba purely because religious dogma dictated that he was one of God's created creatures and therefore subject to the same laws that reduced all creation to subservience.
He believed that the only difference between all other living creatures and humanity was that he had the ability to make decisions. This, and this alone separated him from the fate that awaited all descendants of the Garden of Eden.
As a man, he concluded that he was able to consider choices and make decisions based on HIS assessment and understanding of all the facts the universe presented to him. To his chagrin, he decided that HE, and he alone was responsible for his destiny and not GOD.
Flip forward almost 360 years and witness the embodiment of that ideal.
"I Twit therefore I am."
Which just begs me to ask : What is a Twit ?
And, just for the record; may I say that no Google's were harmed or accessed during this experiment - all this information is obtained from BOOKS. (remember them, the things that Ray Bradbury so highly praised in "Farenheit 451")!
To Twit................To Do...............What?
Twit is the verb of Twat.
What is a Twat?
A Twat is a word derived from the old Norse language. In its original context it conveyed an image of a forest clearing. It came to mean a cut through a swathe, as in a gash in the bush.
In fact, you wont find it in most dictionaries because it's sort of a dirty word.
A twat soon came to mean a description of the predominate female sexual organ.
And yet, an alternative meaning of the word is a reference to an idiot or imbecile.
In fact, Benny Hill often used it in his dialogues.
But I hear your say; "how can you put a reference to an imbecile as pertinent to Descartes?"
Well, I say; "purely because I can."
If you have a better reason to justify your existence, please; I wanna' know about it!
You spend so much time trying to get your message out, that you don't have time to listen to what anyone else is saying.
Face it dude. You are just one of many who post a cry in the wilderness, and all you are going to hear is an echo.
No one is really listening - you just like to think they are - you justify it by saying "I think therefore I am".
Hey man, get a life.
Do you think anyone really cares. Nup. Not me, not you, not a god, not a dog.
No one really cares about anything unless it is something they can take off you.
Rene' had already figured that out.
He was damned sure that he was going to BE.
He wasn't gonna' be 'Mister Goody Two Shoes' just so he could be nice to everyone and win friends, die happy, be placed in a pine box and get eaten by worms. Shit no! The afterlife was not the answer. He wanted to make a stand NOW. No pussyfootin' around, no countin' your eggs before they're hatched.
Goddamn, there is no afterlife!
Rene' was not not going to live in fear of the Lord. He was not going to be indoctrinated to acquiesce to a far greater being and succumb to the power of the 'almighty."
Hell no. He was a man, and proud of it! This was exactly what made him distinct from divinity.
He carried the eternal burden of Adam and Eve's fornication and as far as he was concerned - it was fun.
How dare God intervene in his madness. It was his choice. Isn't that exactly the purpose that God had placed him here for - To make decisions!
How dare God and others judge, because they claim the right to possess an ability to understand and to know the wrath of the lord.
I THINK THEREFORE I AM.
There, I said it.
Be gone with you Beelzebub. Come into the temple and cast the money makers aside!
I dare you.
...................
Oh Gee. I'm still waiting - where the hell are you -did you miss the train?
Thesaurus is the new God, not Google, not Geeks.
Please refer to your dictionaries -
TWIT : ass, berk, clown, divvy, halfwit, idiot, nerd, nurd, nitwit, numskull, numbskull, pillock, prat, schmuck, ,simpleton, wally, (or, as many would say: you stupid c..t).
"A TWITTER IS THE ECHO OF AN INCONSOLABLE TWAT WHO HAS A DESIRE TO TWEET."
(posted by an idiot. Bless you all. The Year of Our Lord, 2010)
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The Mona Lisa - Leonardo's Enigmatic Smile
*In 1956, US psychologist Leon Festinger became instantly famous by giving us "cognitive dissonance" - the theory that humans could not tolerate two conflicting perceptions; one would have to go!
Besides the possibility that Mona was probably Leonardo's lover and the fact that she has no eyebrows, she is also possibly one hell of a bitch because she presents a problem that begs to be answered by many men: "How does she know where I am?"
May I present - The Mona Lisa. Leonardo's enigmatic smile. A work of art that challenges our perceptions.
The Mona Lisa is a portrait where the object in the art is NOT supposed to be the point of view.
Looking at her eyes as she looks at me, I notice that I cannot focus on any particular eye whilst observing them as a pair.
Her gaze is directed at me but looking past me, to somewhere beyond. Each time I look at her eyes as if to engage her in conversation, I discover that I can never be far enough away from her or close enough to her. There seems not to be a place where her focal point meets my attention.
In fact, her gaze makes me feel uneasy.
It is not the uncomfortable feeling left by her knowing, cheeky smile and the false comfort it leaves, but the discomfort I feel because I am unable to focus on her gaze.
I keep flicking my eyes back and forth between her eyes as if trying to get her attention.
So I decide that the portrait delivers its message in two ways and for two different reasons. I am overwhelmed by the physical challenge and compromised by the mental perception of reality presented to me by her gaze.
Whilst watching her face I am almost hypnotized to dream, because my attention will never hold while I am so busy trying to get her attention. That is what is so enigmatic. The painting attracts me because I keep trying to get HER attention instead of giving her MINE.
To actually look at her face I need to try to locate the viewing triangle of body language - the familiar habit of looking at a person's face during conversation, that is, the inverted facial pyramid of eyes-nose-mouth.
But then I notice the unreality of the situation. I am trying to engage in dialogue with this woman and I am not able to get her attention. Does not this seem a strange way to look at a painting?
Yes it is, and that is exactly why Leonardo painted it like that - to compromise your sensibilities.
As I look at the portrait, I keep trying to get her attention, but the way she gazes back at me makes my eyeballs flick left and right as I constantly try to make eye contact.
By merely observing the portrait, I am drawn into a semi-conscious spiral of awareness that flips me back and forth between EMOTION and REACTION, and that demanding mental exercise continually threatens to break my concentration.
Which of course, begs the question. How did Leonardo paint the eyes to send such a powerful message?
The answer lies within the realm of geometry!
Here is how he did it!
The pair of eyes is actually composed of two pair of eyes. Each eye is seen as one of a pair, but not belonging to the pair in the painting. They belong to TWO pair of eyes but they do not belong with each other.
The portrait is painted as if the model posed twice, on each occasion looking in the same direction but with a different point of focus. It is as if she first looks at Leonardo and then focuses on a point just short of him, and then switches her gaze to focus on a point just past him.
The artist then composes the face as a left/right montage of the eyes.
The eyes seem to look in my direction but also seem to look neither beyond me or before me. The instant I try to discover how she is looking at me, my attention is diverted as I try to look for her point of view and and ask of just where or what is her focus.
I begin to feel that she is not quite looking at me and I become worried as to why I cannot seem to get her attention. In fact, the portrait has got my attention because the observer becomes the observed. It is the paradox of this point of view that my mind tries to reconcile.
It is impossible for me to be physically far enough from, or close enough to the portrait to be in a position to look at the focus in her pair of eyes.
The enigmatic smile is a puzzle, a conundrum. The perfect cognitive dissonance.
It confuses my perceptions and it prompts me to ask myself where I must be positioned to actually be within the focal distance of her gaze at the moment she sees me.
The question of the puzzle is to consider 'points of view' as perceived by the artist:
* The eyes seem to follow me because each of them is looking elsewhere.
* The difficulty of perception is that I cannot look at her or into her eyes as I would a live person and that she is purposely depicted in this manner.
* The observer must keep moving, physically and mentally, to or from the picture in order to meet her gaze (is she looking 'this' way or 'that' way)?
The method to solving the puzzle is:
* The observer must find the POSITION of the ARTIST as he was when he painted. That is, the exact place he was when he caught her focus.
The answer to the puzzle is another question:
* How far away from the picture hanging on the wall do I have to be to catch the gaze of both eyes simultaneously?
That is why the portrait is so small - Leonardo is observing HER catch HIS attention from a great distance.
The observer is me. I am the point of view and Mona Lisa is asking where I am!
Besides the possibility that Mona was probably Leonardo's lover and the fact that she has no eyebrows, she is also possibly one hell of a bitch because she presents a problem that begs to be answered by many men: "How does she know where I am?"
May I present - The Mona Lisa. Leonardo's enigmatic smile. A work of art that challenges our perceptions.
The Mona Lisa is a portrait where the object in the art is NOT supposed to be the point of view.
Looking at her eyes as she looks at me, I notice that I cannot focus on any particular eye whilst observing them as a pair.
Her gaze is directed at me but looking past me, to somewhere beyond. Each time I look at her eyes as if to engage her in conversation, I discover that I can never be far enough away from her or close enough to her. There seems not to be a place where her focal point meets my attention.
In fact, her gaze makes me feel uneasy.
It is not the uncomfortable feeling left by her knowing, cheeky smile and the false comfort it leaves, but the discomfort I feel because I am unable to focus on her gaze.
I keep flicking my eyes back and forth between her eyes as if trying to get her attention.
So I decide that the portrait delivers its message in two ways and for two different reasons. I am overwhelmed by the physical challenge and compromised by the mental perception of reality presented to me by her gaze.
Whilst watching her face I am almost hypnotized to dream, because my attention will never hold while I am so busy trying to get her attention. That is what is so enigmatic. The painting attracts me because I keep trying to get HER attention instead of giving her MINE.
To actually look at her face I need to try to locate the viewing triangle of body language - the familiar habit of looking at a person's face during conversation, that is, the inverted facial pyramid of eyes-nose-mouth.
But then I notice the unreality of the situation. I am trying to engage in dialogue with this woman and I am not able to get her attention. Does not this seem a strange way to look at a painting?
Yes it is, and that is exactly why Leonardo painted it like that - to compromise your sensibilities.
As I look at the portrait, I keep trying to get her attention, but the way she gazes back at me makes my eyeballs flick left and right as I constantly try to make eye contact.
By merely observing the portrait, I am drawn into a semi-conscious spiral of awareness that flips me back and forth between EMOTION and REACTION, and that demanding mental exercise continually threatens to break my concentration.
Which of course, begs the question. How did Leonardo paint the eyes to send such a powerful message?
The answer lies within the realm of geometry!
Here is how he did it!
The pair of eyes is actually composed of two pair of eyes. Each eye is seen as one of a pair, but not belonging to the pair in the painting. They belong to TWO pair of eyes but they do not belong with each other.
The portrait is painted as if the model posed twice, on each occasion looking in the same direction but with a different point of focus. It is as if she first looks at Leonardo and then focuses on a point just short of him, and then switches her gaze to focus on a point just past him.
The artist then composes the face as a left/right montage of the eyes.
The eyes seem to look in my direction but also seem to look neither beyond me or before me. The instant I try to discover how she is looking at me, my attention is diverted as I try to look for her point of view and and ask of just where or what is her focus.
I begin to feel that she is not quite looking at me and I become worried as to why I cannot seem to get her attention. In fact, the portrait has got my attention because the observer becomes the observed. It is the paradox of this point of view that my mind tries to reconcile.
It is impossible for me to be physically far enough from, or close enough to the portrait to be in a position to look at the focus in her pair of eyes.
The enigmatic smile is a puzzle, a conundrum. The perfect cognitive dissonance.
It confuses my perceptions and it prompts me to ask myself where I must be positioned to actually be within the focal distance of her gaze at the moment she sees me.
The question of the puzzle is to consider 'points of view' as perceived by the artist:
* The eyes seem to follow me because each of them is looking elsewhere.
* The difficulty of perception is that I cannot look at her or into her eyes as I would a live person and that she is purposely depicted in this manner.
* The observer must keep moving, physically and mentally, to or from the picture in order to meet her gaze (is she looking 'this' way or 'that' way)?
The method to solving the puzzle is:
* The observer must find the POSITION of the ARTIST as he was when he painted. That is, the exact place he was when he caught her focus.
The answer to the puzzle is another question:
* How far away from the picture hanging on the wall do I have to be to catch the gaze of both eyes simultaneously?
That is why the portrait is so small - Leonardo is observing HER catch HIS attention from a great distance.
The observer is me. I am the point of view and Mona Lisa is asking where I am!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Why are you wearing a seatbelt ?
Why are you wearing a seatbelt ?
Because you're scared.
Why are you scared ?
I don't know, but you probably have your own reasons.
Well that's very fine, but really, please ask yourself, why are you scared ?
Are you scared of dying...........I certainly hope not !
Are you scared of living...........I certainly hope not !
So, what choice do you have ?
I don't have any choice, because the reasons to choose have been taken from me.
And the reason is ?...........I'm scared !
Good, that's a cool reason to be scared but what are you really scared of ?
Gee, I'm not sorta too sure ? - but I think it's something to do with the way I was bought up.
Excuse me ?
You say............bought up !
Are you saying you really mean to say that you were "bought"; does that mean you were "bought" here? and someone payed the price ?
Are you sure you were "bought" and not "brought".
There is a difference between being owned and being yourself.
Let's face the reality of the situation - go on, own up, you only know the reality of your own situation, no one else does !
What the fuck else did you expect ?
You are scared.
You are scared because you are trying to adhere to the rules.
What rules ? I hear you say !
The rules you accepted because you let other people make rules for you.
You wear a seat belt only because you are scared of your life !
It is synonymous with allegiance and ownership.
But excuse me, I'm a little concerned about being owned, can you explain that ?
Yes. What ever happened to you ?
Do you really have any choices ?
Hey dude, you didn't even have a choice to be here.
You're just some sperm that got lucky and got fertilized. So what makes you think you are so important ? You coulda' been some dried up bit of creamy white shit on a blanket !
Hell, get a life !
And may I ask what makes you feel important ?
Well, I seem to think that I matter because I have kids, but I really can't justify it more than that.
Wot ! Is that all ?
Yeah, sure, having kids is great. I can pass on my knowledge into the future and ensure a better future for mankind.
Wake up and smell the roses dude.
You were owned.
Face it. Someone fucked you over and you think that the best way to protect yourself is to play by the rules and pass on your survival instincts to the next generation.
Get a life ! Yep. YOUR life. It's to late when you're in a box. Wot you gonna' do - send Morse code!
It's too fucken' late then !
Do something now !
THERE ARE NO RULES DUDE !
The rules are only made by idiots to protect the idiots because the rule makers believe that it is not safe for you to be an idiot on your own.
Safety in numbers dude.
Come on and face it. When did the rule makers ever do anything for you ?
All they ever did was prey upon your insecurities.
And you, in your confusion, decided the rest was the best !
Woops, come on dude. You been thinkin' like them, not you.
A democracy starts from a few, not many !
You wanna roll over and play dead ?
You already are.
It's too late too stop now - unless you don't wanna' wear a seat belt.
Choices, wow !
Shouldn't that not that be what you wanted to teach your kids ? !
Just because they didn't listen, does that mean that you should stop now !
*Please wear a seat-belt and feel relaxed.
Someone is lookin' out for you and hoping you don't make a great big claim against a great big idiot who was stupid enough to bend the rules.
*Democracy protects the innocents and favours the rich.
Whose side do you want to be on ?
Or are you sure you want to take sides ?
Because you're scared.
Why are you scared ?
I don't know, but you probably have your own reasons.
Well that's very fine, but really, please ask yourself, why are you scared ?
Are you scared of dying...........I certainly hope not !
Are you scared of living...........I certainly hope not !
So, what choice do you have ?
I don't have any choice, because the reasons to choose have been taken from me.
And the reason is ?...........I'm scared !
Good, that's a cool reason to be scared but what are you really scared of ?
Gee, I'm not sorta too sure ? - but I think it's something to do with the way I was bought up.
Excuse me ?
You say............bought up !
Are you saying you really mean to say that you were "bought"; does that mean you were "bought" here? and someone payed the price ?
Are you sure you were "bought" and not "brought".
There is a difference between being owned and being yourself.
Let's face the reality of the situation - go on, own up, you only know the reality of your own situation, no one else does !
What the fuck else did you expect ?
You are scared.
You are scared because you are trying to adhere to the rules.
What rules ? I hear you say !
The rules you accepted because you let other people make rules for you.
You wear a seat belt only because you are scared of your life !
It is synonymous with allegiance and ownership.
But excuse me, I'm a little concerned about being owned, can you explain that ?
Yes. What ever happened to you ?
Do you really have any choices ?
Hey dude, you didn't even have a choice to be here.
You're just some sperm that got lucky and got fertilized. So what makes you think you are so important ? You coulda' been some dried up bit of creamy white shit on a blanket !
Hell, get a life !
And may I ask what makes you feel important ?
Well, I seem to think that I matter because I have kids, but I really can't justify it more than that.
Wot ! Is that all ?
Yeah, sure, having kids is great. I can pass on my knowledge into the future and ensure a better future for mankind.
Wake up and smell the roses dude.
You were owned.
Face it. Someone fucked you over and you think that the best way to protect yourself is to play by the rules and pass on your survival instincts to the next generation.
Get a life ! Yep. YOUR life. It's to late when you're in a box. Wot you gonna' do - send Morse code!
It's too fucken' late then !
Do something now !
THERE ARE NO RULES DUDE !
The rules are only made by idiots to protect the idiots because the rule makers believe that it is not safe for you to be an idiot on your own.
Safety in numbers dude.
Come on and face it. When did the rule makers ever do anything for you ?
All they ever did was prey upon your insecurities.
And you, in your confusion, decided the rest was the best !
Woops, come on dude. You been thinkin' like them, not you.
A democracy starts from a few, not many !
You wanna roll over and play dead ?
You already are.
It's too late too stop now - unless you don't wanna' wear a seat belt.
Choices, wow !
Shouldn't that not that be what you wanted to teach your kids ? !
Just because they didn't listen, does that mean that you should stop now !
*Please wear a seat-belt and feel relaxed.
Someone is lookin' out for you and hoping you don't make a great big claim against a great big idiot who was stupid enough to bend the rules.
*Democracy protects the innocents and favours the rich.
Whose side do you want to be on ?
Or are you sure you want to take sides ?
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Governmentium - A new Element
A newly discovered element is soon to added to the Periodic Table:
Medicare Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has 1 neutron, 1 assistant neutron, 58 opposing neutrons, and 60 deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 120.
These 120 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take between 4 days and 3 years to complete.
Governmentium has a normal half-life of 3 years. It does not decay, but instead it undergoes a re-organization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each re-organization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isotopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration.
This hypothetical quality is referred to as "critical morass".
When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administration (Ad), an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons. This whole process is used to keep the populace in a state of disbelief and constant bewilderment.
(* with thanks to an anonymous contributor - Greenduck)
Medicare Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has 1 neutron, 1 assistant neutron, 58 opposing neutrons, and 60 deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 120.
These 120 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take between 4 days and 3 years to complete.
Governmentium has a normal half-life of 3 years. It does not decay, but instead it undergoes a re-organization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each re-organization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isotopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration.
This hypothetical quality is referred to as "critical morass".
When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administration (Ad), an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons. This whole process is used to keep the populace in a state of disbelief and constant bewilderment.
(* with thanks to an anonymous contributor - Greenduck)
Sunday, February 28, 2010
The Disappearance of my Cents.
One percent of one hundred equals one - one hundred multiplied by one equals one hundred.
I was thinking this when I bought an item in a shop and it cost me $9.99. So, I considered asking for my change from a $10 dollar note. Of course I never would have received it, One cent coins disappeared in 1990 along with their piggy bank chum, the 2 cent coin. Even though they they were no longer minted, they were still legal tender but they were just too expensive to produce and distribute compared to their worth.
Whatever happened to my original one cent - where did it go?
I understand that I can't hold it in my hand as change but somehow it should be mine. It was unjust. The shopkeeper assured me that it was not his profit because many of the items in his shop carried a lower price and the total stock sales averaged out. But I noticed that there were never prices of $9.91 or $9.96. Every transaction is rounded off to the nearest 5 cents. So 1,2,9 and 8 become 0, 3,4,6 and 7 become 5, so who's got the change and where is my one?
It doesn't seem to exist as real tender except when it appears on paper as a digit. Very clever accounting. It's counted but not accounted for.
It was initially considered that the original range of coins introduced in Australia in 1966, at the change to decimal currency, represented the least number of coins required to make any given amount. They were the 1,2,5,10,20 and 50 cent coins. Take any of these out of circulation and out of your pocket and and you must either carry more money or spend more money to get change.
How has my cent disappeared?
The Cent ceased to become significant with the introduction of plastic card money. Bankcard was the first mass produced credit card in 1974 and at its peak membership in 1984, the $1 coin was introduced. The $2 coin came in 1988 and then 'eftpos' in 1989. One and two cent coins stopped in 1990. Bankcard ceased operation in 2006 even though it was created and supported by the largest banks in the country.
What a strange thing that is. My coin cent went missing when plastic money arrived! It no longer counted in my pocket but still added on a receipt, and it had piled up with all the missing others in endless accounting balance sheets for the last thirty years.
But maybe there is a way to get my cent back.
But I need to buy in bulk to increase the value of my dollar whereas the seller makes more profit from selling things individually. If I buy 10 things at 99 cents for $9.90 I get 10 cents change from $10. The shop sold 10 things. If I only buy one thing I lose one cent. They sell 10 things singularly and make ten cents profit over the sale price. There is actually an automatic 1% profit margin in everything that is sold and the only way I will get my one cent change is if I buy 3 things and get 5 cents change. But if I don't, the money disappears.
Who gets the money if I only buy one thing?
Obviously I'm being encouraged to buy in bulk and buy with plastic but there is also something else going on here. If all my cents and your cents are not being repaid and being hoarded somewhere, isn't that theft or fraud or deception? And if all these accumulated cents are being spent some how or where, shouldn't I know about it?
Maybe I do, but I have become so accustomed to the large frivolous money movements orchestrated by banks, countries and economies that I barely notice the small details. Of course there is only one big problem at the moment - it's called a RECESSION and it's the one we had to have to return a semblance of balance back to the economy.
The Great Depression of the 1930's has since been followed by a few minor recessions. But now, the common thread is the inability of the banks to call in loans when the borrower does not have time or money to pay. Worsening future prospects cause the banks to begin refusing loans and start hoarding money and then the downward spiral begins. As Irving Fisher said in 1933, about the mechanics of boom to bust : "A fall in nominal interest rates and a rise in deflation adjusted interest rates."
It is possible that key decisions made by central banks to re-establish the Gold Standard following its abandonment after the First World War was the primary cause of the great depression *(see: Ahamed 2009). The financial crisis that preceeded the great depression began with a stock market crash and spread to the banking system. Whereas the current financial crisis began in the credit markets and then spread to the banking system and the stock market.
A few comparisons indicate some similarities between the severity of the 1933 and the 2007 depressions.
World trade volumes fell by 30% over three years then, but now they have already quickly dropped by 20%. An extended period of strong growth in stock prices before both crises and the falls during the current downturn are of a similar size to those in the first 12 to 18 months of the Great Depression. Gross Domestic Product in OECD countries during the first year of this current depression fell only slightly less than in the first year of the GD *(see: Gruen and Clark 2009).
Highlighting a few comparisons between in actual money value for the same periods will help to illuminate the insanity of the current situation.
Australian Net Debt in 2009 = $647 Billion
USA Net Debt in 2009 = $11.4 Trillion
Australian Exports in 2009 = $123 Billion
USA Exports in 2008 = $1.84 Trillion
Australian Exports in 1933 = 98.7 Million Pounds Sterling
USA Exports in 1933 = $1.7 Billion
$25 in the USA in 1969 would buy the equivalent of $150 in 2010.
In 1969 Richard Nixon abolished the USA Gold Standard. This effectively turned the USA economy into a FIAT economy, ie: no backing for money.
The USA is the only country in the world that enjoys the luxury of paying off its debts in the same currency that it alone can print. It has enjoyed this privilege since 1971 because of its military and economic dominance and because the rest of the world needed to do business in a stable currency and the USA dollar fitted the bill. (*1).
In the 1980's, Reaganomics preached that greed was good and science was no good. At the same time Australian Banks were deregulated. Coincidentally, The $1 coin was also introduced to the currency at that time and was soon followed by the introduction of EFTPOS plastic money transactions.
The price of gold has been rising since 2000 but gold production has not. In late 1998 the gold price was in the mid $200 and annual global production was just under 2500 tonnes per year. Since then the gold price is now up 340% yet production in 2010 is set to be just over 2400 tonnes. (*2).
Compare this chart of Gold versus major currencies over the last ten years: www.bullionvault.com
Commodity currencies, high-saving countries, managed floats, large debt-to-GDP ratios.....none of it mattered, real money beat paper money over the last ten years. (*3).
Has anyone yet noticed a pattern to economic fluctuations in the periods since the Great Depression, the 1960's, the 1980's and 2010?
When Ronald Reagan moved into the White House, total U.S. debt equaled 168% of GDP. The next 27 years took the total to 370%; it was heralded as a triumph of the Anglo-Saxon free enterprise system, but it left people with an additional $27 trillion of debt. (*4).
There are two important factors at play here, INFLATION and DEREGULATION.
Bankers and Accountants the world over know how to manipulate the figures to their advantage. (they really don't deserve to have a capital letter attached to their title, but they are so important people - they like to think!)
How is it that entire countries are hitting the wall?
The list of casualties continues to increase: Iceland, Dubai, United Kingdom, Greece, Spain, Italy. How many more "P.I.G.S." will fall before the entire world needs to re-structure and re-finance?
(Remember: the USA net debt in 2009 was $11.4 Trillion dollars. The UK has just announced cuts in public sector spending by $36 Billion dollars. Please say those figures slowly to realize the true size of the amount of money that is being lost. Also consider that the Europeans and the Americans have differing definitions of Billion and Trillion!).
I keep wondering where all this money is coming from and going to. I am amazed that there are still some people who are actually making fortunes from government mandated schemes such as superannuation, internet banking, investments and the stock market. ( In Australia there is a $1.4 Trillion dollar 'super' honeypot just waiting to be milked).
With plastic money (invisible money) so readily available for everyone to spend over the last 20 years it has been easy to be conned into a false sense of security regarding our actual individual worth. Most individuals, economies and governments don't know how much money they have or even where that money actually is.
The often respected financial accountants are the wizards of the 20th century!
Be very wary of the emperor's new clothes!
Watch out for delusion by stealth and the illusion of wealth.
Inflation, inflation, inflation - the price of everything keeps going up, automatically indexed in tandem with some unknown long since forgotten benchmark.
A case in point. Please let me illustrate by considering the real value of one of the oldest currencies in the world, the Lire, and one of the newest currencies in the world, the Euro.
The smallest coin in the Italian currency is 50 Lire. This is equivalent to USA 2.58 cents. The smallest banknote is 1000 Lire which is equivalent to 0.5 of the Euro (the Lire originally represented 1 pound weight of silver, like the pound sterling).
1 Euro = 1.58 $ Australian dollar.
$100 Australian dollars = 127,297.88 Italian lire before 1999.
$100 Australian dollars = 0.08 XAU gold ounces.
Do you see what is really happening here?
Because the government economies are slaves to inflation, they need to continually adjust their exchange rates to stay in the race. Your money is always not worth what you thought it was!
Plastic money, ie: any card transactions, is a very clever instrument for disguising the real value of what you just spent.
Clearing times for cheques and internet banking transactions are illusory.
The wizards of finance have perpetuated a myth that financial transactions are not instant. The reality is that they are instant, but just not for you or me.
You better believe it - someone, somewhere, somehow, has found a way to spend those cents, make a profit on them and return the original amount to your account.
This should not be a legal way to do business - it is fraud and deception.
If $1 AUD = 1272.9788 Lire before 1999, how much of this value actually disappeared with the conversion to the Euro? And where did it go and who has it? It has to be somewhere. Those anally obsessed accountants would not let such a trifling amount slip through their fingers. Or would they if they could? It's very likely they found the way to disguise the loss by clever manipulation of one of the basic Keynesian principles of generating economic growth for governments: "Hire people to dig holes and fill them up."
We were conned! Governments have enforced inflation and taxation by stealth so as to manipulate the false economies presented by the bean counters. Stock markets, the Dow Jones Index, time zone differences, daily fluctuations in exchange rates, the abolition of the gold standard, easy credit plastic card money and the obsession with turnovers instead of profit, and the policies of greed have catapulted all of us into the greatest recession the world has ever experienced.
Do not be deceived by the spin doctors. The economy of the entire world is sick, and the medicine that our governments pump into the ailing patient is still called HELP but it is really only CREDIT.
The patient cannot be revived with bad medicine - it is not dead - but in limbo, where it will stay until democracy realizes that BIG BROTHER is manipulating us all.
Where is all the money that is being promised that will revive our economy coming from?
Yep, now I know. All those cents that have been rounded up or down. All that money that is counted but not accounted for. All that credit card plastic money. All that money that doesn't really exist but we are encouraged to spend - complacent as we revel in the luxury of greed.
Someone knows were all those missing cents are and they are hell bent on spending them.
I'm as mad as hell and I want MY cents back!
Do you want YOURS?
.....................................................................................
(References:
*1 - Daily Reckoning, 16.03.10
*2 - Daily Reckoning, 16.12.09
*3 - Daily Reckoning, 06.01.10
*4 - Daily Reckoning, 11.05.09).
And finally, I would like to suggest the address of a web-site that will help you keep track of your missing cents :
http://www.atn.com.au/info/banking.htm
I was thinking this when I bought an item in a shop and it cost me $9.99. So, I considered asking for my change from a $10 dollar note. Of course I never would have received it, One cent coins disappeared in 1990 along with their piggy bank chum, the 2 cent coin. Even though they they were no longer minted, they were still legal tender but they were just too expensive to produce and distribute compared to their worth.
Whatever happened to my original one cent - where did it go?
I understand that I can't hold it in my hand as change but somehow it should be mine. It was unjust. The shopkeeper assured me that it was not his profit because many of the items in his shop carried a lower price and the total stock sales averaged out. But I noticed that there were never prices of $9.91 or $9.96. Every transaction is rounded off to the nearest 5 cents. So 1,2,9 and 8 become 0, 3,4,6 and 7 become 5, so who's got the change and where is my one?
It doesn't seem to exist as real tender except when it appears on paper as a digit. Very clever accounting. It's counted but not accounted for.
It was initially considered that the original range of coins introduced in Australia in 1966, at the change to decimal currency, represented the least number of coins required to make any given amount. They were the 1,2,5,10,20 and 50 cent coins. Take any of these out of circulation and out of your pocket and and you must either carry more money or spend more money to get change.
How has my cent disappeared?
The Cent ceased to become significant with the introduction of plastic card money. Bankcard was the first mass produced credit card in 1974 and at its peak membership in 1984, the $1 coin was introduced. The $2 coin came in 1988 and then 'eftpos' in 1989. One and two cent coins stopped in 1990. Bankcard ceased operation in 2006 even though it was created and supported by the largest banks in the country.
What a strange thing that is. My coin cent went missing when plastic money arrived! It no longer counted in my pocket but still added on a receipt, and it had piled up with all the missing others in endless accounting balance sheets for the last thirty years.
But maybe there is a way to get my cent back.
But I need to buy in bulk to increase the value of my dollar whereas the seller makes more profit from selling things individually. If I buy 10 things at 99 cents for $9.90 I get 10 cents change from $10. The shop sold 10 things. If I only buy one thing I lose one cent. They sell 10 things singularly and make ten cents profit over the sale price. There is actually an automatic 1% profit margin in everything that is sold and the only way I will get my one cent change is if I buy 3 things and get 5 cents change. But if I don't, the money disappears.
Who gets the money if I only buy one thing?
Obviously I'm being encouraged to buy in bulk and buy with plastic but there is also something else going on here. If all my cents and your cents are not being repaid and being hoarded somewhere, isn't that theft or fraud or deception? And if all these accumulated cents are being spent some how or where, shouldn't I know about it?
Maybe I do, but I have become so accustomed to the large frivolous money movements orchestrated by banks, countries and economies that I barely notice the small details. Of course there is only one big problem at the moment - it's called a RECESSION and it's the one we had to have to return a semblance of balance back to the economy.
The Great Depression of the 1930's has since been followed by a few minor recessions. But now, the common thread is the inability of the banks to call in loans when the borrower does not have time or money to pay. Worsening future prospects cause the banks to begin refusing loans and start hoarding money and then the downward spiral begins. As Irving Fisher said in 1933, about the mechanics of boom to bust : "A fall in nominal interest rates and a rise in deflation adjusted interest rates."
It is possible that key decisions made by central banks to re-establish the Gold Standard following its abandonment after the First World War was the primary cause of the great depression *(see: Ahamed 2009). The financial crisis that preceeded the great depression began with a stock market crash and spread to the banking system. Whereas the current financial crisis began in the credit markets and then spread to the banking system and the stock market.
A few comparisons indicate some similarities between the severity of the 1933 and the 2007 depressions.
World trade volumes fell by 30% over three years then, but now they have already quickly dropped by 20%. An extended period of strong growth in stock prices before both crises and the falls during the current downturn are of a similar size to those in the first 12 to 18 months of the Great Depression. Gross Domestic Product in OECD countries during the first year of this current depression fell only slightly less than in the first year of the GD *(see: Gruen and Clark 2009).
Highlighting a few comparisons between in actual money value for the same periods will help to illuminate the insanity of the current situation.
Australian Net Debt in 2009 = $647 Billion
USA Net Debt in 2009 = $11.4 Trillion
Australian Exports in 2009 = $123 Billion
USA Exports in 2008 = $1.84 Trillion
Australian Exports in 1933 = 98.7 Million Pounds Sterling
USA Exports in 1933 = $1.7 Billion
$25 in the USA in 1969 would buy the equivalent of $150 in 2010.
In 1969 Richard Nixon abolished the USA Gold Standard. This effectively turned the USA economy into a FIAT economy, ie: no backing for money.
The USA is the only country in the world that enjoys the luxury of paying off its debts in the same currency that it alone can print. It has enjoyed this privilege since 1971 because of its military and economic dominance and because the rest of the world needed to do business in a stable currency and the USA dollar fitted the bill. (*1).
In the 1980's, Reaganomics preached that greed was good and science was no good. At the same time Australian Banks were deregulated. Coincidentally, The $1 coin was also introduced to the currency at that time and was soon followed by the introduction of EFTPOS plastic money transactions.
The price of gold has been rising since 2000 but gold production has not. In late 1998 the gold price was in the mid $200 and annual global production was just under 2500 tonnes per year. Since then the gold price is now up 340% yet production in 2010 is set to be just over 2400 tonnes. (*2).
Compare this chart of Gold versus major currencies over the last ten years: www.bullionvault.com
Commodity currencies, high-saving countries, managed floats, large debt-to-GDP ratios.....none of it mattered, real money beat paper money over the last ten years. (*3).
Has anyone yet noticed a pattern to economic fluctuations in the periods since the Great Depression, the 1960's, the 1980's and 2010?
When Ronald Reagan moved into the White House, total U.S. debt equaled 168% of GDP. The next 27 years took the total to 370%; it was heralded as a triumph of the Anglo-Saxon free enterprise system, but it left people with an additional $27 trillion of debt. (*4).
There are two important factors at play here, INFLATION and DEREGULATION.
Bankers and Accountants the world over know how to manipulate the figures to their advantage. (they really don't deserve to have a capital letter attached to their title, but they are so important people - they like to think!)
How is it that entire countries are hitting the wall?
The list of casualties continues to increase: Iceland, Dubai, United Kingdom, Greece, Spain, Italy. How many more "P.I.G.S." will fall before the entire world needs to re-structure and re-finance?
(Remember: the USA net debt in 2009 was $11.4 Trillion dollars. The UK has just announced cuts in public sector spending by $36 Billion dollars. Please say those figures slowly to realize the true size of the amount of money that is being lost. Also consider that the Europeans and the Americans have differing definitions of Billion and Trillion!).
I keep wondering where all this money is coming from and going to. I am amazed that there are still some people who are actually making fortunes from government mandated schemes such as superannuation, internet banking, investments and the stock market. ( In Australia there is a $1.4 Trillion dollar 'super' honeypot just waiting to be milked).
With plastic money (invisible money) so readily available for everyone to spend over the last 20 years it has been easy to be conned into a false sense of security regarding our actual individual worth. Most individuals, economies and governments don't know how much money they have or even where that money actually is.
The often respected financial accountants are the wizards of the 20th century!
Be very wary of the emperor's new clothes!
Watch out for delusion by stealth and the illusion of wealth.
Inflation, inflation, inflation - the price of everything keeps going up, automatically indexed in tandem with some unknown long since forgotten benchmark.
A case in point. Please let me illustrate by considering the real value of one of the oldest currencies in the world, the Lire, and one of the newest currencies in the world, the Euro.
The smallest coin in the Italian currency is 50 Lire. This is equivalent to USA 2.58 cents. The smallest banknote is 1000 Lire which is equivalent to 0.5 of the Euro (the Lire originally represented 1 pound weight of silver, like the pound sterling).
1 Euro = 1.58 $ Australian dollar.
$100 Australian dollars = 127,297.88 Italian lire before 1999.
$100 Australian dollars = 0.08 XAU gold ounces.
Do you see what is really happening here?
Because the government economies are slaves to inflation, they need to continually adjust their exchange rates to stay in the race. Your money is always not worth what you thought it was!
Plastic money, ie: any card transactions, is a very clever instrument for disguising the real value of what you just spent.
Clearing times for cheques and internet banking transactions are illusory.
The wizards of finance have perpetuated a myth that financial transactions are not instant. The reality is that they are instant, but just not for you or me.
You better believe it - someone, somewhere, somehow, has found a way to spend those cents, make a profit on them and return the original amount to your account.
This should not be a legal way to do business - it is fraud and deception.
If $1 AUD = 1272.9788 Lire before 1999, how much of this value actually disappeared with the conversion to the Euro? And where did it go and who has it? It has to be somewhere. Those anally obsessed accountants would not let such a trifling amount slip through their fingers. Or would they if they could? It's very likely they found the way to disguise the loss by clever manipulation of one of the basic Keynesian principles of generating economic growth for governments: "Hire people to dig holes and fill them up."
We were conned! Governments have enforced inflation and taxation by stealth so as to manipulate the false economies presented by the bean counters. Stock markets, the Dow Jones Index, time zone differences, daily fluctuations in exchange rates, the abolition of the gold standard, easy credit plastic card money and the obsession with turnovers instead of profit, and the policies of greed have catapulted all of us into the greatest recession the world has ever experienced.
Do not be deceived by the spin doctors. The economy of the entire world is sick, and the medicine that our governments pump into the ailing patient is still called HELP but it is really only CREDIT.
The patient cannot be revived with bad medicine - it is not dead - but in limbo, where it will stay until democracy realizes that BIG BROTHER is manipulating us all.
Where is all the money that is being promised that will revive our economy coming from?
Yep, now I know. All those cents that have been rounded up or down. All that money that is counted but not accounted for. All that credit card plastic money. All that money that doesn't really exist but we are encouraged to spend - complacent as we revel in the luxury of greed.
Someone knows were all those missing cents are and they are hell bent on spending them.
I'm as mad as hell and I want MY cents back!
Do you want YOURS?
.....................................................................................
(References:
*1 - Daily Reckoning, 16.03.10
*2 - Daily Reckoning, 16.12.09
*3 - Daily Reckoning, 06.01.10
*4 - Daily Reckoning, 11.05.09).
And finally, I would like to suggest the address of a web-site that will help you keep track of your missing cents :
http://www.atn.com.au/info/banking.htm
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