Silver Is On A Tear Today

I really don't think it's required to have an education to be a coach. Deon Sanders is coach of Colorado, and I know people who were in school during his time at FSU and they said he never darkened a classroom with his shadow.

 

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Its funny, at our last Christmas Dinner, my brother in law thought of a novel game. Most at the Dinner had university degrees.
The challenge was this, in 5 minutes, jot down as many African nations that are on the current maps. The second challenge ID as many elements of the Periodic table.

I won in a landslide, named 65 African nations, 101 Elements. Closest runnerup had 12 African countries, 32 elements
I tend to read a lot, collecting coins is excellent tool for learning historical facts, like I know all my Roman Emperors from Augustus to Romulus Augustalus. That thing between our ears is incredible and stores vast amts of facts and figures.

 

Good for you. I've always felt that formal education to be a bit overrated. I dropped out of high school in the 10th grade and went on to own a business. I'm not rolling in dough but I'm happy and have everything I need. Everything I ever needed to know I learned through life experience.

 

I was in Iowa when I passed the CPA, old school two and a half day exam all at once. I think back then if you showed X years working for a CPA you could sit for it, or a bachelor in Accounting.

 

So here is the ? Of the day. If you were flat broke but was given a Coupon for $50.00 off JM's Sight what would you do?

 

List it in the classified section.

 

Running your own business is key. I worked for a lawncare outfit, and found my boss made more in one day, then I was paid for a month. So, once I learned the ropes, I started my own business. And at first, its a tough go, but once you establish a clientelle base, its then up to you to succeed. My motto always was and still is, be on time, work comes before pleasure, do the work as if it was your property, have good P. R. with your clients, makes $$$ while the sun shines, never hire staff, do the work yourself. Like, I really stick to those rules, last year I was so overbooked, I never even got to drive my 58 vette once. But, I ended up adding 89 gold coins to my collection.

 

Same for me. I had a BBA in accounting. I passed the exam in 1983, got my certificate after working at a CPA firm for a year in 1984. And yes, that 2 and a half day exam was grueling. A week after they issued my certificate, I left public accounting for a job in private industry and doubled my salary. Never looked back at public practice.

 

Up again

 

I'm college-educated (I know, not impressive with 30% having a BA or higher) and I've come to realize that, unless you are in a highly specialized job like Medoraman, or work as an engineer, doctor, lawyer, etc., formal education is overrated. One thing they don't teach you in school is social skills - and oftentimes those without formal education are the best in this area. There are lots of booksmart people who can't do a basic interview because they are too nervous or don't know what to say - or how to dress. From my experience (maybe others disagree), they don't teach these important skills in school. So you people who don't have degrees should be proud you did not waste the time I did in college! Believe me it's hard for me to recall learning anything, other than math which over time got more fun for me.

 

Good Lord, what little I do have that passes as "social skills" was almost entirely acquired in college.

 

Again, your mileage may vary. There are lots of high-IQ guys who struggle socially - I think the statistics bear this out (above IQ 120 virginity nowadays spikes - not a pleasant discussion, I know). In my case, there was never any emphasis on social skills in school. Now, when I got into the club scene later on - the fights, puking, seeing kids snort lines in the dorm - whether you want to call that social development is debatable. But again, your mileage may vary.

 

OK, I was internally debating whether to post this, but since we are on the subject of education and life skills, I will present some scientifically-informed material. I'm just showing some of you older chaps that no - education does not suggest any social advantages, or at least not to the degree that is commonly assumed. Don't believe the 1980s movies that told you the nerds win in the end (that's true maybe occasionally). Here's some material to digest:

New psychology research shows a genetic link between higher intelligence and never having sex

[...]

"The overall pattern we observe among sexless people – intelligent, academically successful, with less physical strength and more social isolation – aligns with existing stereotypes of lower romantic success, especially in adolescence."

There's also plenty of other material online that jives with lots of anecdotal experiences. I'm merely pointing out here that academic success does not necessarily imply success in other spheres of life, and this is less true even today. Yes, in the past - the distant past - an education was more of a key to success. It's not clear to me that when post-secondary education levels rise above a certain threshold, that that still remains true.

 

Here in Canada, most tradesmen/ women make way more money then college graduates. Another bonus, in the trades, more deals are done with cash, no one wants to pay the 13% HST tax.

 

Those who work in the trades are the main guys - besides the engineers of course - who keep our society running (I know I am oversimplifying a bit here - we all have a role, actually). Society cannot do without people in trades - but it can do without paper-shufflers working behind cubicles, who sometimes look down upon those in the trades.

 

Setting aside for a moment the "virginity" side-quest (which is unlikely to be well-received under the rules of this site), I see that your college experience was very different from mine.

While you were at a club, I was with the Frisbee Club, which was almost entirely Deadheads. The first time I went to one of their parties, I found myself sitting in the middle of a couch when the bong came around. I took it, kind of shrugged apologetically, and passed it to the next person without partaking - and there was not a bit of negative reaction. I took away a few lessons from that:

1) Drugs don't turn people into beasts. At least, not all drugs, and not all people.
2) It's okay to pass on drugs. It's even okay with the people who are using them and offering them to you.
3) It's good to hang out with mellow people.

Now, not all of those lessons may have been good ones. But they worked out well for me, and helped very much to keep me out of trouble during my remaining years there.

 

Absolutely. I also note with some glee that there's basically no talk about "AI destroying jobs" in the trades.

 

I agree. I was introduced to LSD by Deadheads - it spawned my interest in Eastern cultures, which by extension got me to discuss Thai silver in this thread. Also, I am aware that some people may have drastically different experiences in life and in college, which is why I wanted to introduce a meta-picture via some statistics - supported anecdotally and in common culture. A former friend of mine in MENSA and who does software development for the military fits this mold I presented, which is commonly observed in society. Yes, it's uncomfortable, and sure go ahead and report the post about virginity. Again, mileage may vary.

 

I just bought a roll of Franklin half dollars. It's a hedge in case we have the dollar collapse the conspiracy types have predicted. Franklins are underrated. Let's go silver!

 

What if silver tracked inflation in 1980 (it did to an extent) and then didn't in 2011 (it was a debt issue and the Euro) ?

Inflation isn't really the issue with silver today....it's a supply/demand issue and whether the Chinese or other big buyers (speculators ?) will keep buying.

Without China buying oil to overstock their inventories, my old colleague Paul Sankey notes it would probably be $20 cheaper. Ditto other commodities.