Aurora and aurum approximately mean the same thing. One means dawn in Latin and is also the name the goddess of dawn. The other means ‘shining dawn’. The colors of some of the auroral lights seen over the polar regions can resemble gold in its many different hues. Aurum, incidentally is the Latin for gold and it is identified as Au-79 on the periodic table.
And the point of all this is? Well, the price of aurum or ‘shining dawn’ has risen to an eight-week high of $1240 an ounce.The rise is being attributed to the continuing depression in the US real estate market. Gold still remains about $20 below its all-time high price on 1264.90 on June 21 this year.
It is shining dawn time for all those who buy and hoard gold. It is quite obvious that the US home sales are going to remain unimpressive for quite some time and that could continue to inflate gold prices.
While “researching” to write this post I turned to a source which only I have access to. It is known as Wikipedia which informed me after guaranteeing it complete anonymity that “A total of 165,000 tonnes of gold have been mined in human history, as of 2009.” That incidentally is the figure maintained by the World Gold Council. Hence it must be accurate. Even if it is not, who is going to check? And why would it matter?
Something tells me that of the 165,000 tonnes mined, at least 164,000 ought to have been bought and hoarded by Indians and the remaining 800 by gangsta hip hop guys. The final 200 tonnes hang around Bappi Lahiri’s neck. From aurora and aurum to Bappi Lahiri, that is random even by my standards of randomness.
Gold interests me as much as diamonds, that is to say not at all. As a family we do have some gold that got inevitably gifted to us as part of one’s marriage. I don’t know how much I have but it could not be all that much considering my home, which has lost 35% of its value, has not been broken into yet. Prospective burglars must have figured that if we continue to live in a home that has lost its value, why would we have anything valuable inside it?
PS: ‘Shining dawn’ sounds like the street name of a particularly potent narcotic.
