Actually, e-gold is a family of four currencies. Gold is by far the most popular (see stats.e-gold.com for details) and silver is next. Platinum and Palladium are both quite UNpopular (and probably either break-even-barely or lose money for us).
Anyway, I'd be shocked if Microsoft or any "major" internet business mentioned us just yet. All revolutions have to seem impossible before they appeared inevitable in hindsight. While it's not anonymous cash (the US Federal Reserve prints that variety, in green paper) e-gold IS more privacy-friendly than plastic cards are, not that people actually care as much as they SAY they care about privacy, if experience is any guide... JMR
There are, however, irrevocable internet currencies out there (I sell one, actually) and casinos... tend to gravitate toward Better Money, even if the news media ignore us (we don't spend much anything on ads, preferring to hire smarter nerds instead). I have seen this casino in operation over a few years, and they DO pay (instantly!) IF you win. (But it's a casino, so on average, you're gonna lose unless you're the house).
If anyone here wishes to try e-gold I'm willing to click you a SMALL quantity. Who knows? I once turned a half gram into a quarter ounce at the casino above, and I like their attitude a lot. (I pay all required Sealand taxes when I play! I tend to lose most times, but it's still fun.).
In truth, as others have commented, this is all about taxes, and when politicians couch it in terms of morality instead of their own raw greed, it's annoying -- but that's US politicians for ya! They're certainly not worried too much about REAL crime (the kind that involves actual victims, instead of willing participants). JMR
e-gold also does user to user, and has worked well (without media fanfare*) since 1996. The fees are lower than Amazon's, too. Amazon payments can be called back for a while, but with e-gold when you get paid, you'll STAY paid. The only problem is getting people to think about grams instead of dollars and to understand that an exchange transaction is therefore required to obtain the stuff. Once that's done, it's easy to use.
If anyone here wants to try the system, create a free account and email me the number so I can click you a bit of it. Thanks. JMR -- Speaking ONLY for me, as always.
I need to double check the rule book but I am pretty sure that is cheating.
I don't think there's one rule book for sailing races, but these were a common variety of 2-man small skiff maybe 14 feet long whose name escapes me at the moment, if that helps...
I used to sometimes leave the anchor out there with a float in order to reduce weight on calm days for very-informal races in high school. Our "rules" could be pretty much summed up as "no motors, but anything else (especially funnelators & waterballoons) goes!" JMR
My ex-boss was in a race where there was almost no wind, but then the wind reversed. He secretly anchored while everyone else drifted backwards for a while, and finally when the wind came back he hauled anchor and won. Low-tech, but it worked. JMR
e-gold shows as blocked from the Harvard computers, but either a LOT of Chinese use proxies to get around the blocking, or the filter-tester just doesn't work as they say/think. Chances are good that the Chinese government is big enough to pay for custom censorware, so maybe that explains it. JMR
(I think I would NOT take the same offer, but...) do you think the choice will be presented? Clearly they'll have limited payload, and propulsion+life-support for a return will cost a LOT more than the same thing from the moon, and IMO will take up space needed for scientific stuff. JMR
I suppose you're too young to have watched the Star Trek ("V'ger" -- an alien modification of Voyager & another alien spacecraft, tries to exterminate everything it can find) or you'd have probably made a joke about it here. I haven't read this thread carefully, but someone else surely has mentioned it by now.
I was lucky enough to watch both Voyager launches that summer in the '70s, from the Canaveral National Seashore, while surf-fishing. They've both been a testament to what robots can do for space exploration, but as a politician once said, "No Buck Rogers, no bucks."
I think, for cost reasons, that the first non-robotic missions to Mars should be one-way, and made by people who plan to die out there. The resources for trying to return someone to earth can better be spent on other things, heartless as that sounds. JMR
At NASA's previous incarnation (NACA?) one rocket's component was a wife's hairpin. This was before lots of money...
Also, http://www.heronaerospace.com/ if you contact 'em has interesting stuff about Gerald Bull's gun in extra-large form being used to propel humans(!) into space, and I know the CEO, he's only a bit nuts;) and knows his physics. Not that I want to be first person to try it... JMR
Maybe this will lead to that space-sex-tourism/prostitution business I keep wanting to own someday...
Last Sunday morning I was on a 3.5 hour drive, and listening to a radio show called "Flashback." They were doing 1973 rock songs, blended with news and ancient commercials from 1973 (and of course, modern radio commercials -- mostly for Florida's teeming personal-injury bar).
Anyway, during one of the "1973 news" segments, the host read something official from (a group like the RIAA but not the RIAA itself, I think it was some sort of musicians' union?) that forbade musicians from recording any more albums on vinyl, because record albums took jobs away from live musicians! Once he had read this very-brief news-piece, the announcer didn't comment at all, but he went right on to play what I'd call "album rock." (I forget the song.) I sat there, thinking about the RIAA, and Jack Valenti, etc. doing the same thing today.
I wish I could be more precise, but this is the best my memory can do. My point is that these groups, whose "generals" want to continually "fight the previous war," always end up doing their own side more harm than good.
IMO what's needed is more ways for fans to pay for individual songs they like (rather than entire expensive CDs) with LESS friction & more freedom-to-choose. This would benefit all consumers, and the productive people in the entertainment industry. JMR
I keep telling slashdot (and the readers here) about the possibilities of tipjars, and trying to get them to think outside the box WRT currencies, so far with 0 effect. I've been around for a while (user 36755) and so has e-gold. I've had ideas about things like selling mod points (the most-evil of my ideas) and talked endlessly here about tipjars for musicians to solve the "Napster problem," all with little or no effect.
I'm not going away, or giving up, or even surprised or complaining (well, all that much) but it's odd that they and other companies don't embrace the opportunity I bring to cut out the financial middleman (ok, at least make multiple middlemen compete, if you call e-gold a middleman instead of just a currency based on grams of gold). While I doubt/. will go down the tubes anytime soon, I do think they've missed an opportunity (but I'm biased as hell). Maybe someday, someone will do for slashdot what www.bananagold.com did for Amazon, and permanently shut me up.:) JMR
(It's possible to make it about 5% better with real salsa, but the hell with it, I use Pace because I DON'T want to chop for an hour!)
1 large jar Pace brand medium picante sauce (yellow lid, the red lid stuff's too hot even for me!). Use the thick variety for dips if you can find it, as the lime juice makes it drippy otherwise. 2 large (Florida) avocados, ripe so they peal easily. Celantro, about 1 tablespoon, finely chopped. Parsley, same quantity (optional, but the celantro is necessary!). Juice of 2 limes or lemons (use one if you can't find the dip kind of Pace Picante). Salt, pepper, and red hotsauce, to taste. Fritos "Scoops" brand chips (no other kind will do!)
Mix Celantro, salt, pepper, hotsauce, and parsley with peeled avocados using a fork, while it is still too chunky add the picante sauce and keep mashing the mixture with a fork. Remember, you can easily add more picante, but it's tough to subtract, so make it for the person who likes "spicy" the least, if you're being polite. This recipe is great to modify slightly, my last batch was "garlic guac" because I had some roasted garlic left over -- delicious. Have fun. JMR
I unfortunately missed this conference. One session I really wanted to see was John Young and Deborah Natsios of Cryptome.org & Cartome.org which happened on Friday (probably before Michael got there, I'd guess).
John slings information (in his spare time, he's an architect!) and makes trouble better than most people who claim to do it for a living. (Proof is in the form of an NSA robot which combs his site every morning.) Anyone who saw the talk, please post! John isn't a boring guy, so I'll bet it was good. JMR
I don't think it'll take lots of money to out-do what the RIAA gives musicians. What it WILL take is a new way of looking at how-to-get-paid (and how-to-pay) that can eliminate the bottleneck between artist and consumer. (Yes, as always, I have a financial interest in a certain way to do this.) It shouldn't take a giant corporation's help to let a musician ask for money (either tips, or pay-per-download) because our side doesn't have layers of management who require (as Courtney Love puts it) all those trips to "Scores."
For an example of what I'm talking about, see www.radsfans.net (and hopefully others soon). I again offer anyone here a small click of e-gold (not much, but enough to test) so you can try it for free. I want programmers to use e-gold, so please take advantage. Thanks. JMR
(I speak only for Jim Ray, nobody else wants to admit this stuff anyway.)
The ironic part is, if they ditched the record companies and made a *real* effort to come up with an internet-based music distribution system with micropayments, they'd all probably make more money, AND get more direct control over their work...which is a much more 'real' power than the record companies' 'fame' they peddle.
I keep offering the micropayments ingredient (and I'll even throw in worldwide, instead of just-USA) but I lack the proper hype-budget. (Actually, there's both irony and profit-opportunity there, too, since e-gold shares the spend-fees, but I'll resist doing that math this early...)
I think that widespread web-tipjars (see sci.e-gold.com for how) would not only help musicians, they'd help "our" side in the debate over music downloads. (Yes, as I've repeatedly said, I have a business interest in this whole idea, too.) Whether a tipjar or a pay-per-download model prevails, though, a closer connection between artists and fans is one of the things the web promised, and we can help deliver on a bit of that promise, IMNSHO. JMR
Speaking ONLY for Jim Ray, Userid nothwithstanding.
http://www.h2k2.net/ is about to happen in NYC. I wish I could afford to go (time and money probably don't permit). Listening at places like that can help in strange ways in the future... JMR
Disclaimer: I have a crass-capitalist-commercial interest in convincing folks to do as I say below. (IMO, it's also better for the artists' interests, too, but I'm told that's debatable.)
In a perfect world, we'd just send artists money directly. All sorts. Musicians, authors, actors, CowboyNeal.....
I can't offer a perfect world, but I've repeatedly offered a way of sending money directly to artists. www.radsfans.net is an example and I suspect others will pop up soon.
If you look at the typical online tip (of whatever sort) you might get as a musician compared to what you'd end up with from a RIAA-member-pressed CD being sold, this might make financial sense. I wish I had a huge, silly dot com budget to promote the idea all over college campuses, but I don't, and the idea of paying for something -- even voluntarily, for something you like -- isn't as appealing as "free" (as in beer).
If anyone wants to try e-gold, send me an acct.# and I will click you a bit of it (not much, though). Hopefully, you'll find it useful. Perhaps the idea of musicians online getting tips right now will also help "our side" in the broader "DRM" issue, too. I hope so. JMR
Micropayments can be done with e-gold, but it's not just one click to do a spend. (If any system were just one click, criminals would probably find a way to steal from the customers of any payment system that tried it, IMO.) While they're possible, stats.e-gold.com shows that micropayments are not popular compared to slightly larger spends.
Micropayments are also very small compared to the average tip tossed into a guitar case, so rather than pay-per-view as a model I'd prefer to see a more-voluntary system spring up, but I'm an idealist. Now that there are tiphat-style interfaces like clicktwocents.com and fastsci.com I think things will improve for us, but I doubt that any micropayments-only system will ever emerge. Nobody wants them enough to make it pay to produce it. Micropayments will always be "just a feature," and one that few people actually use. IMO. JMR
I'm pretty sure he's spinning in his grave...OTOH, it's not like they were going to call it the Benedict Arnold Institute when they decided to enter the "get paid to troll!" business!
Actually, it might be interesting if someone researched how they were founded, in 1988. Their page reveals a bit of philosophy, but no names. JMR
Generally requires fewer steps than a "real" Amazon order, and Banana has "hacked around" Amazon's saying 'no' to accepting e-gold, by simply grabbing the e-gold Amazon could have had for themselves! Amazon goes along with this, though they seem to get the raw end of the deal, IMO. JMR
Speaking only for myself. I sell e-gold, but I own no part of bananagold.com, I'm just another satisfied customer who'll never need to use Amazon itself again.
I work for OmniPay, which was originally a part of e-gold Ltd. (or vice versa, actually) but has separated because exchange of grams for dollars is risky, and storing gold/running systems is (relatively) safe. It's an interesting job (see my other comments, if interested in my personal views).
Also, I have certain responsibilities (contractually, thru OmniPay) regarding the e-gold system, and I certainly have a lot of love for e-gold, for a number of reasons. I have absolutely no authority at either entity, and e-gold Ltd., in addition to having no employees, has no bank accounts, either! It's just a currency, denominated by weight in metal, period. Try it! JMR
That's their cost for pulling an oz out of the ground. It has gone down as they've gotten bigger and better at getting the gold out due to economies of scale, etc.. The price they can actually sell metal for is another thing, altogether (thankfully...). JMR
Slashdot Mirror
Heh.
Actually, e-gold is a family of four currencies. Gold is by far the most popular (see stats.e-gold.com for details) and silver is next. Platinum and Palladium are both quite UNpopular (and probably either break-even-barely or lose money for us).
Anyway, I'd be shocked if Microsoft or any "major" internet business mentioned us just yet. All revolutions have to seem impossible before they appeared inevitable in hindsight. While it's not anonymous cash (the US Federal Reserve prints that variety, in green paper) e-gold IS more privacy-friendly than plastic cards are, not that people actually care as much as they SAY they care about privacy, if experience is any guide...
JMR
There are, however, irrevocable internet currencies out there (I sell one, actually) and casinos... tend to gravitate toward Better Money, even if the news media ignore us (we don't spend much anything on ads, preferring to hire smarter nerds instead). I have seen this casino in operation over a few years, and they DO pay (instantly!) IF you win. (But it's a casino, so on average, you're gonna lose unless you're the house).
If anyone here wishes to try e-gold I'm willing to click you a SMALL quantity. Who knows? I once turned a half gram into a quarter ounce at the casino above, and I like their attitude a lot. (I pay all required Sealand taxes when I play! I tend to lose most times, but it's still fun.).
In truth, as others have commented, this is all about taxes, and when politicians couch it in terms of morality instead of their own raw greed, it's annoying -- but that's US politicians for ya! They're certainly not worried too much about REAL crime (the kind that involves actual victims, instead of willing participants).
JMR
e-gold also does user to user, and has worked well (without media fanfare*) since 1996. The fees are lower than Amazon's, too. Amazon payments can be called back for a while, but with e-gold when you get paid, you'll STAY paid. The only problem is getting people to think about grams instead of dollars and to understand that an exchange transaction is therefore required to obtain the stuff. Once that's done, it's easy to use.
If anyone here wants to try the system, create a free account and email me the number so I can click you a bit of it. Thanks.
JMR -- Speaking ONLY for me, as always.
* Compared to both 'beenz' & 'Flooz' -- RIP.
I need to double check the rule book but I am pretty sure that is cheating.
I don't think there's one rule book for sailing races, but these were a common variety of 2-man small skiff maybe 14 feet long whose name escapes me at the moment, if that helps...
I used to sometimes leave the anchor out there with a float in order to reduce weight on calm days for very-informal races in high school. Our "rules" could be pretty much summed up as "no motors, but anything else (especially funnelators & waterballoons) goes!"
JMR
My ex-boss was in a race where there was almost no wind, but then the wind reversed. He secretly anchored while everyone else drifted backwards for a while, and finally when the wind came back he hauled anchor and won. Low-tech, but it worked.
JMR
I believe it does not.
e-gold shows as blocked from the Harvard computers, but either a LOT of Chinese use proxies to get around the blocking, or the filter-tester just doesn't work as they say/think. Chances are good that the Chinese government is big enough to pay for custom censorware, so maybe that explains it.
JMR
Speaking ONLY for myself!!!
(I think I would NOT take the same offer, but...) do you think the choice will be presented? Clearly they'll have limited payload, and propulsion+life-support for a return will cost a LOT more than the same thing from the moon, and IMO will take up space needed for scientific stuff.
JMR
I suppose you're too young to have watched the Star Trek ("V'ger" -- an alien modification of Voyager & another alien spacecraft, tries to exterminate everything it can find) or you'd have probably made a joke about it here. I haven't read this thread carefully, but someone else surely has mentioned it by now.
I was lucky enough to watch both Voyager launches that summer in the '70s, from the Canaveral National Seashore, while surf-fishing. They've both been a testament to what robots can do for space exploration, but as a politician once said, "No Buck Rogers, no bucks."
I think, for cost reasons, that the first non-robotic missions to Mars should be one-way, and made by people who plan to die out there. The resources for trying to return someone to earth can better be spent on other things, heartless as that sounds.
JMR
Speaking only for myself (as always).
At NASA's previous incarnation (NACA?) one rocket's component was a wife's hairpin. This was before lots of money...
;) and knows his physics. Not that I want to be first person to try it...
Also, http://www.heronaerospace.com/ if you contact 'em has interesting stuff about Gerald Bull's gun in extra-large form being used to propel humans(!) into space, and I know the CEO, he's only a bit nuts
JMR
Maybe this will lead to that space-sex-tourism/prostitution business I keep wanting to own someday...
Last Sunday morning I was on a 3.5 hour drive, and listening to a radio show called "Flashback." They were doing 1973 rock songs, blended with news and ancient commercials from 1973 (and of course, modern radio commercials -- mostly for Florida's teeming personal-injury bar).
Anyway, during one of the "1973 news" segments, the host read something official from (a group like the RIAA but not the RIAA itself, I think it was some sort of musicians' union?) that forbade musicians from recording any more albums on vinyl, because record albums took jobs away from live musicians! Once he had read this very-brief news-piece, the announcer didn't comment at all, but he went right on to play what I'd call "album rock." (I forget the song.) I sat there, thinking about the RIAA, and Jack Valenti, etc. doing the same thing today.
I wish I could be more precise, but this is the best my memory can do. My point is that these groups, whose "generals" want to continually "fight the previous war," always end up doing their own side more harm than good.
IMO what's needed is more ways for fans to pay for individual songs they like (rather than entire expensive CDs) with LESS friction & more freedom-to-choose. This would benefit all consumers, and the productive people in the entertainment industry.
JMR
I keep telling slashdot (and the readers here) about the possibilities of tipjars, and trying to get them to think outside the box WRT currencies, so far with 0 effect. I've been around for a while (user 36755) and so has e-gold. I've had ideas about things like selling mod points (the most-evil of my ideas) and talked endlessly here about tipjars for musicians to solve the "Napster problem," all with little or no effect.
/. will go down the tubes anytime soon, I do think they've missed an opportunity (but I'm biased as hell). Maybe someday, someone will do for slashdot what www.bananagold.com did for Amazon, and permanently shut me up. :)
I'm not going away, or giving up, or even surprised or complaining (well, all that much) but it's odd that they and other companies don't embrace the opportunity I bring to cut out the financial middleman (ok, at least make multiple middlemen compete, if you call e-gold a middleman instead of just a currency based on grams of gold). While I doubt
JMR
Speaking only for myself, as always.
(It's possible to make it about 5% better with real salsa, but the hell with it, I use Pace because I DON'T want to chop for an hour!)
1 large jar Pace brand medium picante sauce (yellow lid, the red lid stuff's too hot even for me!). Use the thick variety for dips if you can find it, as the lime juice makes it drippy otherwise.
2 large (Florida) avocados, ripe so they peal easily.
Celantro, about 1 tablespoon, finely chopped.
Parsley, same quantity (optional, but the celantro is necessary!).
Juice of 2 limes or lemons (use one if you can't find the dip kind of Pace Picante).
Salt, pepper, and red hotsauce, to taste.
Fritos "Scoops" brand chips (no other kind will do!)
Mix Celantro, salt, pepper, hotsauce, and parsley with peeled avocados using a fork, while it is still too chunky add the picante sauce and keep mashing the mixture with a fork. Remember, you can easily add more picante, but it's tough to subtract, so make it for the person who likes "spicy" the least, if you're being polite. This recipe is great to modify slightly, my last batch was "garlic guac" because I had some roasted garlic left over -- delicious. Have fun.
JMR
I unfortunately missed this conference. One session I really wanted to see was John Young and Deborah Natsios of Cryptome.org & Cartome.org which happened on Friday (probably before Michael got there, I'd guess).
John slings information (in his spare time, he's an architect!) and makes trouble better than most people who claim to do it for a living. (Proof is in the form of an NSA robot which combs his site every morning.) Anyone who saw the talk, please post! John isn't a boring guy, so I'll bet it was good.
JMR
(As always, speaking ONLY for Jim Ray!!!)
I don't think it'll take lots of money to out-do what the RIAA gives musicians. What it WILL take is a new way of looking at how-to-get-paid (and how-to-pay) that can eliminate the bottleneck between artist and consumer. (Yes, as always, I have a financial interest in a certain way to do this.) It shouldn't take a giant corporation's help to let a musician ask for money (either tips, or pay-per-download) because our side doesn't have layers of management who require (as Courtney Love puts it) all those trips to "Scores."
For an example of what I'm talking about, see www.radsfans.net (and hopefully others soon). I again offer anyone here a small click of e-gold (not much, but enough to test) so you can try it for free. I want programmers to use e-gold, so please take advantage. Thanks.
JMR
(I speak only for Jim Ray, nobody else wants to admit this stuff anyway.)
A 4-assed lobster would be pretty cool, but I'd want them to concentrate on making an 8-clawed stone-crab! YUM!! :)
Anyway, i'd been thinking one of you'd mention the new blue M&Ms (hey, around me these occur naturally!)
JMR
The ironic part is, if they ditched the record companies and made a *real* effort to come up with an internet-based music distribution system with micropayments, they'd all probably make more money, AND get more direct control over their work...which is a much more 'real' power than the record companies' 'fame' they peddle.
I keep offering the micropayments ingredient (and I'll even throw in worldwide, instead of just-USA) but I lack the proper hype-budget. (Actually, there's both irony and profit-opportunity there, too, since e-gold shares the spend-fees, but I'll resist doing that math this early...)
I think that widespread web-tipjars (see sci.e-gold.com for how) would not only help musicians, they'd help "our" side in the debate over music downloads. (Yes, as I've repeatedly said, I have a business interest in this whole idea, too.) Whether a tipjar or a pay-per-download model prevails, though, a closer connection between artists and fans is one of the things the web promised, and we can help deliver on a bit of that promise, IMNSHO.
JMR
Speaking ONLY for Jim Ray, Userid nothwithstanding.
http://www.h2k2.net/ is about to happen in NYC. I wish I could afford to go (time and money probably don't permit). Listening at places like that can help in strange ways in the future...
JMR
Speaking ONLY for myself, as always.
Disclaimer: I have a crass-capitalist-commercial interest in convincing folks to do as I say below. (IMO, it's also better for the artists' interests, too, but I'm told that's debatable.)
...
In a perfect world, we'd just send artists money directly. All sorts. Musicians, authors, actors, CowboyNeal..
I can't offer a perfect world, but I've repeatedly offered a way of sending money directly to artists. www.radsfans.net is an example and I suspect others will pop up soon.
If you look at the typical online tip (of whatever sort) you might get as a musician compared to what you'd end up with from a RIAA-member-pressed CD being sold, this might make financial sense. I wish I had a huge, silly dot com budget to promote the idea all over college campuses, but I don't, and the idea of paying for something -- even voluntarily, for something you like -- isn't as appealing as "free" (as in beer).
If anyone wants to try e-gold, send me an acct.# and I will click you a bit of it (not much, though). Hopefully, you'll find it useful. Perhaps the idea of musicians online getting tips right now will also help "our side" in the broader "DRM" issue, too. I hope so.
JMR
I speak only for Jim Ray, userid notwithstanding.
Micropayments can be done with e-gold, but it's not just one click to do a spend. (If any system were just one click, criminals would probably find a way to steal from the customers of any payment system that tried it, IMO.) While they're possible, stats.e-gold.com shows that micropayments are not popular compared to slightly larger spends.
Micropayments are also very small compared to the average tip tossed into a guitar case, so rather than pay-per-view as a model I'd prefer to see a more-voluntary system spring up, but I'm an idealist. Now that there are tiphat-style interfaces like clicktwocents.com and fastsci.com I think things will improve for us, but I doubt that any micropayments-only system will ever emerge. Nobody wants them enough to make it pay to produce it. Micropayments will always be "just a feature," and one that few people actually use. IMO.
JMR
Speaking ONLY for myself!!!
I'm pretty sure he's spinning in his grave...OTOH, it's not like they were going to call it the Benedict Arnold Institute when they decided to enter the "get paid to troll!" business!
Actually, it might be interesting if someone researched how they were founded, in 1988. Their page reveals a bit of philosophy, but no names.
JMR
Speaking ONLY for me!
All that's needed for a viable model is a viable way to pay with no RIAA bottlenecks, and one major artist to figure that out, IMO.
Needless to say, I'd love to help (yes, this is partially motivated by profit for my company, and not just love for music).
JMR
www.radsfans.net is trying it, but the Radiators (while a great band, IMO) aren't "major."
http://www.bananagold.com
Generally requires fewer steps than a "real" Amazon order, and Banana has "hacked around" Amazon's saying 'no' to accepting e-gold, by simply grabbing the e-gold Amazon could have had for themselves! Amazon goes along with this, though they seem to get the raw end of the deal, IMO.
JMR
Speaking only for myself. I sell e-gold, but I own no part of bananagold.com, I'm just another satisfied customer who'll never need to use Amazon itself again.
I work for OmniPay, which was originally a part of e-gold Ltd. (or vice versa, actually) but has separated because exchange of grams for dollars is risky, and storing gold/running systems is (relatively) safe. It's an interesting job (see my other comments, if interested in my personal views).
Also, I have certain responsibilities (contractually, thru OmniPay) regarding the e-gold system, and I certainly have a lot of love for e-gold, for a number of reasons. I have absolutely no authority at either entity, and e-gold Ltd., in addition to having no employees, has no bank accounts, either! It's just a currency, denominated by weight in metal, period. Try it!
JMR
That's their cost for pulling an oz out of the ground. It has gone down as they've gotten bigger and better at getting the gold out due to economies of scale, etc.. The price they can actually sell metal for is another thing, altogether (thankfully...).
JMR
My opinions != those of any employer.
I'm sorry, you're right, my bad, I had them reversed/confused.
My pals tell of great deals there lately, apparently exchange rates work well for US tourists there at the moment.
JMR