What do you guys think of the slow accumulation of gold by non-US central banks? It seems that they believe (as do many of us) that the dollar’s reserve currency role is unsustainable and that gold will return to its former role as sound high-powered money. I’ve thought that in light of Bitcoin and Monero the central bankers were betting on the wrong horse. Is it possible that it is we not them who are out of touch? What is most likely, a return to the gold standard, adoption of a cryptocurrency standard, or coexistence of both standards?
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value - zero.
-Voltaire
121 years ago, the Dragon was locked into a cursed, escape-proof Dollar Trap by the Eagle, the Lion, and the Bear.
This infernal device constricted more as Dragon used his might to struggle and resist, for all energy expended was via Carry Trade ceremonies transmuted into additional trapping power.
Eventually the Dragon stopped fighting and began considering how to use the trap's nature against it in order to escape.
Patiently and slowly, but with great determination, the Dragon
began to tunnel his way out of the Dollar Trap.
It turned out the Fiat Prison which contained the Dollar Trap was built on solid rock containing a few scant grams of gold per ton of ore.
But that was all the Dragon needed, for his Time Preferences were much lower than the Babylon Bankers who built the prison and his labor force could be made to work for little to nothing.
And so the Dragon assiduously toiled away the decades, quietly burrowing ever deeper into earth supporting the foundations of the Dollar Trap, and amassing a hidden horde of gold befitting his nature and stature.
Even the most gormless and degenerate guards of the Fiat Prison complex gradually began to notice the Dragon gaining strength with every passing boom and bust cycle. They also noted cracks appearing, then widening, in the walls and floors of their once polished and gleaming (but now shabby and ghetto) structures.
But they no longer possessed the power of their ancestors and could not again wield the Seal Of Solomon with the aptitude required to conjure demons powerful enough to subdue the resurgent Dragon.
Now the Dragon is no longer a prisoner in his Dollar Trap; it has become his headquarters and main office.
The Fiat Prison complex is maintained as a pious fiction at best and is at worst rumored to be some new devious type of Eagle Cage.
The Dragon has heard of a new kind of digital gold and has taken a substantial (perhaps leading) position in the novel commodity. But he will not underestimate or forget the impact of 5000 years worth of Lindy Effect backing analog gold, nor the more recent role the King Of Monetary Assets is playing in his own story of emancipation and liberation.
How did the Dragon know how to counter the hexes of Mystery Babylon? In two ways. First, the laws of economics are universal and independently discoverable/verfiable.
Second, the hidden wisdom of the ages is far older than Babylon and the Dragon is well versed in culture ranging from esoteric traditions to TV Tropes.
Vampires and Silver
by Vicky
(Tumkur, Karnataka, India)
Question:
I heard that vampires are injured when they come in contact with silver. If it's true, then like silver are there any more materials that vampires cannot touch? Can you give the list of them?
Answer:
Silver has a unique place in vampire mythology as the single, solid, naturally occurring substance that can injure a vampire. The ultraviolet rays of sunlight can harm a vampire, as can fire or holy water, but these are all substances that have to be "created" in order to be used. We can create machines that emit ultraviolet rays, we can bless water, and we can start fires, but all of these require planning, special spiritual connections, or specific chemical reactions in order to exist. Silver is a naturally occurring mineral that, in and of itself, can be dangerous to vampires.
Why silver and not, say, gold or copper or any other mineral? Well, no one can say, as we have not been able to sit a vampire down and do any scientific studies on the matter, but for whatever reason silver has been known for thousands of years across thousands of cultures to be a very potent material against several supernatural monsters, such as vampires and werewolves.
For whatever scientific or chemical reason, silver has a unique effect upon vampires when it comes in contact with their skin. Not only does it burn, but it also has a paralyzing effect, making it so a vampire cannot pull the silver off of itself. It's somewhat similar to the way humans become paralyzed by electrical currents - the muscles seize and the person becomes unable to disconnect themselves from the source. While in both cases this is not necessarily deadly in small amounts, there is the possibility of major injury with enough exposure.
The burns caused by silver are minor compared to those caused by sunlight. Silver has the effect, though, of slowing a vampire's ability to heal so greatly that over enough time it could effectively destroy a vampire. The paralysis effect makes it so much more dangerous than other materials in that a vampire could be incapacitated simply by chaining them up with silver chains, handcuffs, or wires. Despite a vampire's incredible strength, the paralysis effect makes it so that they cannot break free of these chains without outside assistance.
While there are other materials and objects that serve as vampire repellents, none come close to matching the effects of silver.
But I ran a business for nearly 20 years... And you get to know what sorts of personalities end up with which sorts of circumstances. Just an educated guess.
