The Wiki Weapon and the Future of 3D Printing

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 Update: I have just been told of a 3D printing exhibition coming up in London 19-21 Oct 2012. For details click here
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If you haven't heard of 3D printing then you can say you saw the future of life as we now it right here.

In the annals of history there are arguably several inventions of enduring significance:

• Wheel
• Steam Engine
• Printing Press
• Computer
• Internet
• 3D Printer?

The printing press liberated information from the State and Church. The Internet then distributed that information. Will the 3D printer combined with the Internet liberate both the knowledge and the means of production?

What would have Karl Marx thought about the 3D printer?

Marx, Letter to Weydemeyer (1852):

And now as to myself, no credit is due to me for discovering the existence of classes in modern society or the struggle between them. Long before me bourgeois historians had described the historical development of this class struggle and bourgeois economists, the economic anatomy of classes.

What I did that was new was to prove:

(1) that the existence of classes is only bound up with the particular, historical phases in the development of production,

(2) that the class struggle necessarily leads to the dictatorship of the proletariat,

(3) that this dictatorship itself only constitutes the transition to the abolition of all classes and to a classless society.

From defensedistributed.com

Link to videos of exhibitors at the up coming 3D Print Show here

Another video on 3D printing, this time for musical instruments:

By masseyuniversity

Last one: By FinancialTimesVideos

Swiss banking "whistle blower" paid $104 Million by IRS

Sep 22, 2012 by AdamKokesh

Buy Gold or Silver?

Fri 21 Sep 12 | 05:36 PM ET

Why Gold May Hit $2000 by Christmas

Now that is a Christmas present I would like! Along with some $50 silver action.

Pet Rocks

My geologist friend brought over his new pet rock to show me tonight, from Northern NSW, Australia.

The shiny side contains 3% copper, 700 g/tonne Silver, 9g/tonne Gold

The dark gray colouring is a mix of 5% Zinc, 700 g/tonne Silver, 9g/tonne Gold

James Turk on $400 Silver and $8,000 Gold

Sep 22, 2012 by SGTbull07

Don Coxe on Gold

Finally after all these years a precious metal commentator that agrees with me that the current bull market in Gold and Silver started on 11 September 2001.

Sep 21, 2012 by KitcoNews

GoldSeek Radio's Chris Waltzek with Pastor Lindsey Williams

Why $700 Silver is not Madness

I was listening to a Radio National discussion today about life in England during the late middle ages. The following story sparked my interest:

Peter Holbrook: (Reading)  Link to podcast
‘Agnes Terry’s recollections of her (alleged) extraordinary childhood as the ward of a dishonest guardian; from her petition to Chancery; c. 1450’

She claims that her mother and father arranged that after their deaths she would be left to the guardianship of John Bicombe, parson of Hatford, together with her inheritance of £40, goods worth £20, and rights over various properties, including a house in Farringdon worth £25. She was then ‘of right tender age’.

The mention of a house being worth only 25 pounds caught my attention. I wondered how much silver that represented.

Well in 1450 I belive a pound represented a troy pound of sterling silver.

A Troy Pound contains 12 Troy Ounces.

Therefore a troy pound of sterling silver is:

12 x 0.925 (purity of sterling silver) =   11.1 troy ounces of 999 silver.

So the house was worth:

25 x 11.1 = 277.5 oz of 999 silver.

Well at current (22 Sep 2012) prices that equates to:

277.5 x 21.26 (GBP spot price of silver) = £5,900

So the house was worth only £5,900?

But we know you can't buy a nice house in a rural town in England for GBP5,900 - such a house would cost at least £125,000

So to upscale the silver value from 1450 to present day we need to recalibrate it to current house prices:

125,000 / 5,900 = 21.18

21.18 x 21.26  =  £450/oz silver price or $730

Gold Seen Luring Wealthy as Central Bankers Expand Stimulus

From Bloomberg.com

Original source

More high-net-worth individuals are seeking to buy gold to protect their wealth from the risk of rising inflation after central banks boosted stimulus, according to Deutsche Bank AG’s asset and wealth-management unit.

Gold is in the 12th year of a bull run, 13 percent higher this year, as investors seek to hedge against weaker currencies and the threat of rising consumer prices. Photographer: Sergio Dionisio/Bloomberg

“Gold has historically been considered to be a store of value and an inflation hedge and increasingly it is being utilized as a monetary instrument,” said Mark Smallwood, head of Asia-Pacific wealth-management solutions. “There is a growing interest among our clients to gain exposure,” he said, with an increased preference for physical holdings.

Gold is in the 12th year of a bull run, 13.5 percent higher this year, as investors seek to hedge against weaker currencies and the threat of rising consumer prices. Holdings in gold- backed exchange-traded products expanded to an all-time high yesterday, and Bank of America Corp. and Deutsche Bank are among banks forecasting that the price will rally to a record.

Read more