At Christmastime an article in the newspapers noted that there was an increase in the price of gold.... it had just risen to $800 per ounce , and bearing in mind the visit of the Magi with presents of gold ,frankincence and myhrr (?) I thought how little commerce has changed in relation to gold over the past 2000 years . We would all still be delighted by a present of pure gold .
I remember when first reading the novel 'Goldfinger ' and Ian Fleming's description of Fort Knox . Just imagine, a whole town , to simply store gold . But what was the purpose of holding this precious metal ? Apparently to give backing to the national Treasury of each country .
Of course we have moved on from 'the gold standard ' , as it was called .The USA moved away from the standard in 1971 and the UK moved about 30 years later under Gordon Brown .
We are now seeing (23 rd Jan) that , because of the severe problems on international Stock Exchanges , the price of , our old friend , gold is rising rapidly , $900 heading towards $1000 per ounce .
It is said that central Bankers hated the idea of the gold standard , probably because it worked , but despite the sophistication of world finances and the interlinking of the worlds stockmarkets the commodity most in demand as a hedge is still .......gold . Oil , diamonds are also in great demand ,but oil and diamonds are useful in their own right....energy and engineering...but gold apart from wedding rings and teeth does not seem to have a useful purpose ....except that it is rare.... it shows that we are still puny in our thinking .....when trouble comes calling we depend for our salvation on a commodity buried deep in a hole in the ground , millions of years ago to somehow , rescue us ....
They also say that historically the value of gold has fairly kept in touch with rises and falls of economies .
For example a 'decent suit for a gentleman ' would cost an ounce of gold at the following points in American history : during the War of Independence , the Civil War , the presidency of FDR , and of course today.
That would be about right , one could expect to pay $900 for a ' good suit '....today...
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
The 'Dead Zoo' , swordfish
Recently my six-year-old grandaughter asked me a question about a swordfish. Having answered her to the best of my ability I thought it would be a good idea to take her to see the one in the Museum of Natural History . Then I remembered it was no longer open. Apparently a staircase had collapsed when a group of teachers were using the non-public area and a decision was subsequently made by the Office of Public Works that the whole place was to be shut down indefinitly .
It is still unclear whether the whole premises was a danger to the public or whether the OPW took the opportunity of closing it down for some reason best known to themselves .
I remember visiting the 'dead zoo' as we called it at the time , when I was very young , seeing the swordfish , sawfish , hammerhead sharks and indeed the whole toolbox of exotic creatures , re-created rockpools that children could study in detail and at lenght , from the smallest insects to the huge whale skeleton hanging fron the roof . A place to go on wet Sunday afternoons .
Now this invaluable amenity is no longer available to the public .
There have been comments recently from represetitives of the OPW regarding the good works they undoubtly did at Farmleigh and the Collins Museum , and how the numbers visiting have increased following refurbishing .
Of course this is a good thing , but the OPW should remember that a museum is a place for learning and reflection , and expressions like throughput and footfall are more appropriate to shopping centres and supermarkets .
All we , as taxpayers , wish the OPW to do is to ensure that the place is kept secure , clean , structurally safe and the the giant gorilla's testicles are dusted from time to time .
Just because the place dates from the Victorian time does not mean that therefore everything about it is automatically out of date .
Children can , of course ,get all the information they require from the internet , but this does not , in my opinion , make natural history museums redundant . Seeing the actual physical creatures , up close and at leisure is important .
The excellent work that was done in the Collins Museum had a flaw . The Collins Museum was converted from an army barracks and because of that access and egress to and from the individual exibits is difficult , especially if one is in a hurry .
So please OPW return our 'dead zoo' as it was , as soon as possible .
It is still unclear whether the whole premises was a danger to the public or whether the OPW took the opportunity of closing it down for some reason best known to themselves .
I remember visiting the 'dead zoo' as we called it at the time , when I was very young , seeing the swordfish , sawfish , hammerhead sharks and indeed the whole toolbox of exotic creatures , re-created rockpools that children could study in detail and at lenght , from the smallest insects to the huge whale skeleton hanging fron the roof . A place to go on wet Sunday afternoons .
Now this invaluable amenity is no longer available to the public .
There have been comments recently from represetitives of the OPW regarding the good works they undoubtly did at Farmleigh and the Collins Museum , and how the numbers visiting have increased following refurbishing .
Of course this is a good thing , but the OPW should remember that a museum is a place for learning and reflection , and expressions like throughput and footfall are more appropriate to shopping centres and supermarkets .
All we , as taxpayers , wish the OPW to do is to ensure that the place is kept secure , clean , structurally safe and the the giant gorilla's testicles are dusted from time to time .
Just because the place dates from the Victorian time does not mean that therefore everything about it is automatically out of date .
Children can , of course ,get all the information they require from the internet , but this does not , in my opinion , make natural history museums redundant . Seeing the actual physical creatures , up close and at leisure is important .
The excellent work that was done in the Collins Museum had a flaw . The Collins Museum was converted from an army barracks and because of that access and egress to and from the individual exibits is difficult , especially if one is in a hurry .
So please OPW return our 'dead zoo' as it was , as soon as possible .
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
2008
So, starting a new year , my 68 th ,there is always a feeling of worry or concern about what the year ahead will bring to oneself and all those close to us .But of course a new year or should I say , New Year , is only an arbitrary event which only exists as a marker , agreed by us humans , in what we call time and therefore this exercise of celebrating a new year could be carried out by any of us at any given day of the year , our very own individual new years day.
Anyway we have started with the usual series of bad news stories , concerning tragic events which have happened and indeed those which are expected to happen or those which may happen.
These events are broken down over , environment , politics , financial , etc.
The most notable aspect of this years news is how much of this is being devoted , under all headings , to international events.
At the moment under the heading of politics , most of the world is concerned with the preliminaries of the coming US presidential election next November , under the heading of finance the state of the global economy is being discussed 24/7 on TV and radio .
And the environment is the most discussed because it effects all other aspects of life in this world.
But despite all the looming problems the most positive thing about the year ahead is that this world of ours is getting smaller and we are starting to understand one another more and more each day , of course we still have a long , long , way to go .....but even the possibility of Barack Obama becoming the next president of the USA , as things stand at the moment , he being of mixed race , only about 60 years after Adolph Hitler shows us all that this old world is going inthe right.......Happy New Year everyone.....
Anyway we have started with the usual series of bad news stories , concerning tragic events which have happened and indeed those which are expected to happen or those which may happen.
These events are broken down over , environment , politics , financial , etc.
The most notable aspect of this years news is how much of this is being devoted , under all headings , to international events.
At the moment under the heading of politics , most of the world is concerned with the preliminaries of the coming US presidential election next November , under the heading of finance the state of the global economy is being discussed 24/7 on TV and radio .
And the environment is the most discussed because it effects all other aspects of life in this world.
But despite all the looming problems the most positive thing about the year ahead is that this world of ours is getting smaller and we are starting to understand one another more and more each day , of course we still have a long , long , way to go .....but even the possibility of Barack Obama becoming the next president of the USA , as things stand at the moment , he being of mixed race , only about 60 years after Adolph Hitler shows us all that this old world is going inthe right.......Happy New Year everyone.....
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