<p>I like it. I just check out S2’s Facebook account (he leaves it oen most days on the family computetr) to catch up on whatever S1 is doing at college. They both know and don’t really mind; they both keep bugging me to set-up my own account, so they can “friend” me. Maybe I will someday. For now it’s easier to use their’s. And S1 also has Twitter, so that’s another way to check into his life, without phonecalls and emails.</p>
<p>“What do you think their data is stored on? How many people have access to it? What happens if your account gets hacked? What happens if someone steals a set of backup tapes of their databases?”</p>
<p>You can ask the same question about your bank, your insurance company, your employer, the federal government, your doctor, your hospital, the local library, etc. If you are that worried, then you should live in a cabin in the woods with no electricity and put all your money under the mattress and never leave your house. </p>
<p>Onto another point: If you don’t want a compromising photo of you put up by your friends, then just un-tag it. You are notified when you are tagged in a photo, and have the option to remove that tag.</p>
<p>“You can ask the same question about your bank, your insurance company, your employer, the federal government, your doctor, your hospital, the local library, etc.”</p>
<p>I do. But there are certain needs in life so I balance threats with pragmatics. But that doesn’t mean that I need to go out and needlessly take risks with those things that are entirely optional.</p>
<p>“put all your money under the mattress and never leave your house.”</p>
<p>Gold has gone from $250 an ounce to about $914 an ounce. Silver has gone from $4 an ounce to about $18 an ounce. Platinum has gone from very cheap to over $2,000 an ounce. I did buy at the bottom (or pretty close to it) and recommended that others do the same.</p>
<p>“Onto another point: If you don’t want a compromising photo of you put up by your friends, then just un-tag it. You are notified when you are tagged in a photo, and have the option to remove that tag.”</p>
<p>Once something is on the web, it is in the wild.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It’s always good to find out what’s causing the demand – is it actual industrial uses of it, or people who are buying it for the same reason you are (supposedly “safe” speculation)? </p>
<p>I get very suspicious of companies trying to sell you gold and telling you how great the buyers’ market is – if it’s so great, why aren’t they buying it all for themselves? If they need capital, why not encourage you to buy their shares?</p>
<p>I smell bubble.</p>
<p>“It’s always good to find out what’s causing the demand – is it actual industrial uses of it, or people who are buying it for the same reason you are (supposedly “safe” speculation)?”</p>
<p>It’s the reckless expansion of the money supply.</p>
<p>Silver does have a lot of industrial uses. The story on silver is interesting as the US used to have a massive stockpile of it in the 1940s and then worked it down to nothing.</p>
<p>“I get very suspicious of companies trying to sell you gold and telling you how great the buyers’ market is – if it’s so great, why aren’t they buying it all for themselves? If they need capital, why not encourage you to buy their shares?”</p>
<p>The companies trying to sell you precious metals make their money on commissions. The sell above spot and buy below spot and have to be very careful during price volatility as they can, of course, lose money. I’m unaware of precious metals retailers that are publicly listed. In fact many dealers are simple mom and pop stores.</p>
<p>There are juniors and pink sheet stocks that do require capital from time to time and they can do secondaries, or try to go private equity or look for investment money from larger miners. Many of these suffer from naked short selling problems (I hear it’s a big problem in Canada) where the regulators turn a blind eye.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>So you’re short gold?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I do know people who’ve dealt with serious repercussions for photos in which they weren’t tagged, and were only debatably causing ‘real’ trouble. I do agree that</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>…but unfortunately, whether or not you’re actually a facebook member yourself doesn’t change the fact. Being one at least let’s you monitor the content that other people are sharing about you.</p>
<p>“…but unfortunately, whether or not you’re actually a facebook member yourself doesn’t change the fact. Being one at least let’s you monitor the content that other people are sharing about you.”</p>
<p>Through that one venue. Of course you could just be careful about avoiding getting your picture taken too.</p>
<p>^^ I really, truly don’t mean to offend you, but that’s just getting to the point of being unquestionably ridiculous</p>
<p>Really? When you see someone taking your picture, just duck. I’ve seen women, in particular, do that in public to avoid being captured in otherwise public photos.</p>