Robert Mix's Blog: May 2011

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Quick Note Re My Dear Readers

I just studied the stats of my blog that Blogger automatically keeps.

There have been over 1700 "views" ("hits") on my blog in total (about 400 are mine, so net of 1300 visits). But, perhaps more remarkably, there has been one or more Viewer every single hour since 9:00 PM on May 29. For the last 48 straight hours, somebody visited my blog.

Thank you very much. :)

Specifications of Popular Gold Bullion Coins

	gold	total	total
	weight	weight	weight	O.D.	width	gold
Coin	(troy oz)	(troy oz)	(grams)	(mm)	(mm)	fine

1 oz American Gold Eagle	1.000	1.0909	33.930	32.70	2.87	916.7
1/2 oz Eagle	0.500	0.5454	16.964	27.70	2.15	916.7
1/4 oz Eagle	0.250	0.2727	8.482	22.00	1.78	916.7
1/10 oz Eagle	0.100	0.1091	3.933	16.50	1.26	916.7

1 oz Krugerrand	1.000	1.0909	33.930	32.60	2.84	916.7

1 oz American Buffalo	1.0000	1.0001	31.108	32.70	2.95	999.9
1 oz Canadian Maple	1.0000	1.0000	31.103	30.00	2.80	999.9
1 oz Australian Kangaroo	1.0000	1.0000	31.103	32.1	2.65	999.9
1 oz Chinese Panda	1.0000	1.0000	31.103	32.05	2.70	999

Specifications of Popular Gold Bullion Coins

	gold	total	total
	weight	weight	weight	O.D.	width	gold
Coin	(troy oz)	(troy oz)	(grams)	(mm)	(mm)	fine

1 oz American Gold Eagle	1	1.0909	33.93	32.7	2.87	916.7
1/2 oz Eagle	0.5	0.5454	16.964	27.7	2.15	916.7
1/4 oz Eagle	0.25	0.2727	8.482	22	1.78	916.7
1/10 oz Eagle	0.1	0.1091	3.933	16.5	1.26	916.7

1 oz Krugerrand	1	1.0909	33.93	32.6	2.84	916.7

1 oz American Buffalo	1	1.0001	31.108	32.7	2.95	999.9
1 oz Canadian Maple	1	1	31.103	30	2.8	999.9
1 oz Australian Kangaroo	1	1	31.103	32.1	2.65	999.9
1 oz Chinese Panda	1	1	31.103	32.05	2.7	999

Gold Silver Platinum Palladium

This article is not meant to be a serious discussion of the precious metals (PMs). I am laying down some markers for upcoming articles. Today I provide the very basics on the PMs and mention some ideas I have.

Gold (Au)

Probably every one of you know that I am a gold fan. Some 9% of my net liquid wealth is in physical gold. Gold has for four thousand years been the most important way that humanity has kept much of their wealth.

"Gold is money, nothing else." J. P. Morgan

Gold has some industrial use, but very little is consumed by industry. It is held mainly by the central banks and the wealthy, but it is becoming more popular in some of the "BRIC" countries and in the Middle East. It is my opinion (not just mine!) that the price of gold will only go up vs. prices of most other things. Yes, in US$ terms the price will fluctuate. But, the trend is clear.

Silver (Ag)

The "Poor Man's Gold". Silver has also been used as money for thousands of years. Apparently, way back in the past silver was often priced very near to gold.

I am not an expert on silver. Because of that, I will probably invite two of my ZH virtual friends who are experts on silver to write a Guest Post on this PM. I hope one or the other (or both!) accept...

Silver has MANY industrial uses, so the "fundamentals" of silver are very different than those of gold. Silver also offers a very high price volatility.

Platinum (Pt)

Platinum is my second favorite of the PMs. It crossed $1800 / toz just today. Yay! Platinum is a little hard to find, particularly in American Platinum Eagles. Platinum is about the third heaviest metal of them all, heavier than gold.

Platinum has many industrial uses because it is a catalyst, it promotes certain chemical reactions (like in oil refining and petrochemical production). Catalytic converters use some platinum, and apparently platinum is the only acceptable catalyst for use in DIESEL ENGINE catalytic converters.

Palladium (Pd)

Palladium is chemically somewhat similar to Pt. It is in the "Platinum Metals Group" as some chemists call it. This PM is lighter than the very heavy Pt. Palladium as an investment metal is even harder to find than Pt. The only coin / bullion dealer I know who has any has it, but only in 100 oz Russian bars. Palladium is also used as a catalyst, but has more limited as such. A small jewelry demand (China).

.....

I want to publish most of the below articles in the days and weeks to come:

-- an article on silver (again, I would like to have an expert write this one as a Guest Post)
-- the gold to silver ratio, which can be found at the home pages of kitco.com and 24hgold.com
-- physical ownership, "It ain't in your hands, you don't own it." vs. paper gold
-- more on platinum and palladium, I will have to research these for awhile though
-- discussion of how much "paper gold" is OUTSIDE of the USA, this might weigh on FOFOA's position

and of course:

-- gold vs. silver!

Ideas for articles on the PMs from you are welcome, either by Comment or by email.

Thanks again for stopping by!

How to Comment via Open ID

Virtual friend Thomas M. provides the below instructions on how to use Open ID to comment. It does seem to have some hoops to jump through, alas. Almost EVERYTHING has gotten much harder to do, requiring more and more time (See my earlier article "Too Busy...").

Thomas M. writes (and, yes, Blogger sometimes "eats Comments"..., FOFOA recently had 140 comments eaten on his blog):

Weird, I posted it in the thread before this, but the comment disappeared. Wish I had cut and pasted it, as it was a bit involved.

Anyways, here it is again: start by going to openid.net Click on "Get OpenID". There you will find a list of services that are compatible with openID. Make sure you have an account with one of them. You can click on the link to the service you want to use for more detailed info regarding that particular one.

After that, come to this or some other blogspot blog. Type out your comment (and copy it into your clipboard just in case!). Below the comment field, click "Select profile" and hit "OpenID". It will ask you for a URL. For most services (I think--it is for yahoo), it is the homepage, IEwww.yahoo.com The link from openid.net should have the specifics.

After you have typed that, it should appear in the "comment as:" box. Hit "Post comment". You will be taken to the website you will be logging in under to confirm. Once you do that, you will have to fill out a captcha. That should be all you have to do.

---

Thank you very much! I hope that this makes it easier (?) to Comment here.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Developing News re Commenting!

UNEXPERT Robert passes along the below info as to how one might comment on my articles, THANKS tmosley!!!

I will likely have other questions in the near future as I am NOT (by ANY MEANS) a computer expert... LOL...

by DoChenRollingBearing
on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 23:40
#1324412

akak my virtual friend. What great timing for this article, as I earlier today put up an article named the "Tinfoil Hat Brigade". Go and check it out at my blog!

So far 100 ZH-ers have jumped through the hoops and now can look at their leisure. 100 ZH-ers can't be wrong.

Any ZeroHedge people can send me a gmail with an assurance that you will play nice and I will let you in too!

I put out a special call to ZH member tmosley as to how one can comment via Open ID (or anyone who knows how to do this, my blog is a Blogspot / Blogger blog). Please mail me with instructions or please comment at my new article (where I address this issue), thank you. Many of my readers are having trouble trying to comment even when they have a gmail account.

by akak
on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 23:49
#1324422

Thanks DoChen --- I will try it again.

I just didn't want to have to go through the rigamarole of setting up some whole new account somewhere if I could possibly avoid it.

by tmosley
on Tue, 05/31/2011 - 00:14
#1324458

OpenID is surprisingly easy to use. If it had been at the top of the posting options, I would have started posting comments on blogspot blogs long ago.

Just google "OpenID", and you should be able to find a list of compatible pre-existing logins, which most people probably already have.

by DoChenRollingBearing
on Tue, 05/31/2011 - 00:16
#1324465

PLEASE, PLEASE send me those (detailed) instructions via email or Comments at my blog!!! Details would be even better... I could not figure out how to comment to fofoa.blogspot.com via ANYTHING (inc. Open ID) before I switched from AOL to gmail.

Uhh, it is after midnight and the Bearing is a little drunk...

Thanks tmosley! And best to you and yours!

Notes for Readers on my Blog

I am really very happy with the response to my blog, especially from the large number of readers from ZeroHedge (about 100 now).

(1) I put out a Call to Arms re Commenting! Many of my readers are having problems posting comments, even when they have Google accounts (something like 1/2 from ZH are .gmail). I especially ask my virtual friend T.M. who was able to comment via Open ID to show us how. I do not know how to do that. Would you (or someone else) tell us how to do that? I will write a special post with such instructions... Thanks in advance! The above Call to Arms is the closest color, FYI, I could get to gold...

(2) The people writing in my Comments sections are almost all via ZH. Two people have asked to be removed from my email list (and I did just that). Although I would encourage you to stay on the list, I am perfectly OK with people even more paranoid than I am, and will take you off the list if you request, although it might take a day or two to do it (the list is at home and at my office). But, I will comply with all such requests.

(3) Similar to (2) above, I will not abuse the email list or any of you in any way. Zero Hedge was set up especially for those wanting to comment in an anonymous way, and I will not violate the trust you have shown in me, especially by having made you jump through the hoops to get here.

(4) I am not going to take ads. Nor donations.

The Tinfoil Hat Brigade!

Update: 10:38 PM ET. I have had the below votes so far as to which Battalion to join:

1 for The Space Battalion (via email)
3 for The Lunatic Fringe Battalion (via comments)

Email or comment votes equally valid.

---

As many of you know, some three weeks ago I announced at zerohedge.com that I had enlisted as a Space Cadet in the Tinfoil Hat Brigade (THB). That was the day that President Obama refused to release the photos of bin Laden with his brains blown out, and after they put his body into the ocean (so where is the proof we got him?). That was the tipping point, when I could not take all the lies anymore.

From wikipedia, a guy wearing a tinfoil hat!

The above is from wikipedia’s article on the tin foil hat. Wikipedia has a nice (and kind of serious) article on the tin foil hat, but nothing on the Brigade.

Some of you know that I even had my first test while in Basic Training. My Blue Cross – Blue Shield (BCBS, oh how appropriate) insurance bill arrived. They jacked up their rates 15%! I passed the test by opting for a plan (with a high deductible) that was almost 50% cheaper.

I must say, things are pretty disorganized here in the THB. My main effort to date to get into the spirit of things here in the Brigade has been to listen to Pink Floyd. Two of their songs have helped some.

As I write, I have had only one Superior offer any guidance. He ordered me to start my own Division. And asked me for 10 oz of silver. This guy is clearly a High Ranking Member of the THB, as HE asked ME for money… Also, a Division is larger than a Brigade. But, in my email back to him I wrote that we may be Legion…

I am hoping for more input from the Superiors whom I know.

But, now I must ask for suggestions from any of you Superiors out there who I do not know:

1) I would like your opinions on which battalion to join: The Space Battalion (my original intention, looks like a fun one) or perhaps The Lunatic Fringe Battalion (also promising) or any other suggestions would be very welcome.

2) I need some help in finding ways of getting more into the spirit of things around here.

3) A map or Order of Battle of our Brigade.

If I get Comments or emails from any of you, there will likely be a Part 2…

---

In the meantime (boy, do I hope all of this works).

Update, below coding no good re The Tin Foil Hat Brigade. I am really having trouble with this HTML stuff...

<div><embed style='display:inline;' quality='high' wmode='transparent' id='FlashDiv' FlashVars='songId=35098386&pid=4912749406810784011' AllowScriptAccess='always' src='http://www.myspace.com/music/song-embed?songid=35098386&getSwf=true' width='400' height='77'/><p>Find more <a target='_blank' href='http://www.myspace.com/thetinfoilhatbrigade/music/songs'>The Tin Foil Hat Brigade</a> songs at <a target='_blank' href='http://www.myspace.com/music'> Myspace Music </a></p></div>

^---- Song from The Tin Foil Hat Brigade band! Google them, they are at myspace.com.

Thanks for dropping by dear readers!

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Which is the Best County in Texas?

I lived in the great state of Texas for seven years when I was much younger. I really liked Texas, both while in college and working in the oilfield when I got out of school (I was a "Mud Engineer" at the drilling rigs).

I believe I have JUST ENOUGH people here who either live now, have lived there before and maybe some others who have logged some "quality time" there.

So, for those interested in Texas, I want to stir up the pot.

Which is the best county in Texas?

Name it! And argue your point if you wish. You may choose whatever criteria you wish (how friendly the people are, the scenery, a county with a big city if you like that, where the nicest looking women (or men) are, etc.) And for this post only, I am suspending my pleas for behaving well! In the Comments section of this post it is:

Fight Club Rulz!

Since I host this blog I will wrestle first with this weighty question. For me, it comes down to two scenic counties:

Goliad County (where for a few years I had some rural property)

or

Llano County (scenery)

Goliad / Llano. Llano / Goliad. Oh, what a choice... Agonizing...

The best county in Texas?

Llano County

Learning More About Getting Data out of my Database and Into my Blog

EDIT: I do not know why this is the only post now showing on "Page 1", maybe it's a Blogger thing... You can see all my older posts by clicking the Older Posts button at the bottom of the post, or look along the right side to view any article. Hey, I'm still trying figure out all this stuff here!
.....

The closest thing I have to a "day job" is that I get weekly sales data from our company in Peru (via email on MS Excel), pour into my database (MS Access, an SQL database) and look for helpful trends so that our company can better buy bearings (anticipate sales, etc.). The below took me awhile to figure out how to do. Since I do not know any HTML jazz, I just try to do the simplest thing possible. I sent the below to Excel, and I did not see any simple solutions there, so I re-sent on over MS Word. There is a way to save the information "as it will look on the Web". Banzai.

Codigo is our internal reference for each bearing we sell. Bearings prefixed with "02" (KBC brand) and "11" (Iljin brand) are from KOREA! We are their Exclusive Distributors for their products in Peru. This is the kind of thing I do when not thinking about, writing about or buying gold! These bearings are ranked from best selling down. I mentioned to you earlier that all that we had no May sales of our "02-6007-RS" bearing, which was really bad because it is our top seller (front wheel bearing for the "Daewoo Tico", a very small car popular in Peru -- for those interested). Blanks below signify no sales in that month. But, it came out of Peruvian Customs and over to us on May 19. 7030 pcs sold in three days! I can hardly wait to get last week's sales data...

Codigo	Total_Qty	Total_Sales	01-Jan	02-Feb	03-Mar	04-Apr	05-May
02-6007-RS	20670	$67,450.74	2400	8361	2879		7030
02-6204-2RS	5681	$11,900.32	664	1291	1388	696	1642
02-6000-2RSC	7620	$11,059.69	1472	2603	1805		1740
02-6205-RSC3	4682	$10,767.89	774	1018	1347	443	1100
13-38BWD22	731	$9,814.06	74	122	229	306
11-IJ-113002	172	$7,901.89	38	23	62	14	35
11-IJ-111001	395	$6,264.88				276	119
02-6002-2RS	4031	$5,561.41	316	1002	536	217	1960
C3-RCT283SA	503	$5,044.97	231	61	112	99
02-68149G/11	1164	$4,870.87	292	449	270	153
03-12649/10	1026	$4,840.10	40	415	195	132	244
03-DAC3872-8	299	$4,616.50	46	28	113	91	21
02-6302-2RS	2300	$4,562.72	30				2270
11-IJ-111003	210	$3,970.23	65	35	56	28	26
03-48548/10	679	$3,624.09	30	256	105	137	151
11-IJ-113015	75	$3,471.30	26	3	26	20
02-38KW01CG5	686	$3,373.18	196	60	225	108	97
11-IJ-111009	231	$3,100.15				174	57
02-TR285216G	605	$3,019.14	100	52	251	130	72
13-M3874W	243	$2,966.17	47	43	42	90	21