17 Nov
2009
17 Nov
'09
11:48 p.m.
Seth Morabito wrote:
Why is an ounce of gold worth $1000? Because
that's what people will pay
for it. It has no inherent use; you can't eat it, you can't live in it,
you can't keep warm with it. But someone will give you $800 for it and
come away feeling like they've got a great bargain indeed.
I was thinking about this while I was on the bus the other day. Diamond
I can see going for a significant amount (it has a fair few industrial
and commercial uses) though the only use I could come up with for gold
was the plating on edge connectors...
Then we get onto platinum.. Catalytic converters were the only use I
could think of for that. Didn't manage to think of a single commercial
or industrial use for silver at all...
All I came up with was the obvious one -- jewellery, aka "some people
think it makes them more attractive". A dog with a silver collar is
still a dog.
Then my thoughts moved towards "so what's the point of the universe?".
This happens more than you might think. Speaking of which I'd kill for a
clear sky, and a citywide power cut! Heck, even killing off the
neighbours' security lights would be a nice compromise... Missed the
Leonids last night, and it's been nigh-impossible to stargaze around
here for ages. You can sort-of see Orion's Belt (though not at this time
of year, obviously), but that's it. Even a long exposure on the DSLR
doesn't fare much better.
--
Phil.
classiccmp at philpem.me.uk
http://www.philpem.me.uk/