Gold is a miraculous substance. Drop by a scrap yard and buy a thousand pounds of electronic scrap (circuit boards). Remove the gold "fingers" and dissolve the base metals out from under the gold plate with muriatic acid and a mild source of oxidation (bubble air through an aquarium aerator, for example). Remove the bare PCB material and wash the gold foil with warm muriatic acid. Now dissolve it in muriatic acid with a strong source of oxidation (peroxide works). This is the only common combination that dissolves gold, simultaneous chlorine and oxidation. Precipitate the gold as a brown powder by adding sodium disulfite. (This reduces the chlorine concentration. You can use Bonide's "Stump Out".) Wash with muriatic acid to remove impurities. Let it dry out. Use a welding torch to melt it and you will have a button of nearly pure gold. You can now hammer it thin and explore the various attributes of gold that has attracted man for thousands of years.
ideal form of money doesn't explain why it worth anything in current time. No one uses gold as real currency anymore.
I love this. Murray must have lived several thousand years ago when people still carried stuff around with them to the market. Hitch up the ox to the cart, load it with gold, wheat, cow dung or whatever and then journey 5 days to the market town to buy some goats. Then the Chinese invented paper money which is very, very portable. Then somebody invented debit cards and EFTs. But I'm sure Murray's descendants or his tribe are still carrying stuff and metal in ox carts. It cuts down on impulse shopping for sure!
why the hate? if you think it should be worthless, short it. personally, I love the action in cybercurrencies long or short. I would trade bottle caps if they were as fun.
That sounds like a fun project. I bet the fumes and waste products would be good on my vegetable garden. Those old gold tailings in the watershed of western towns are a real health blessing for people into heavy metal toxicity.
I don't hate ButtCoin. I just think it's about as funny and useful as tits on a bull. I did love that really fat ugly guy at Mt. Grox explaining how he lost hundreds of millions of other people's ButtCoins. Such a cool guy.