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Posts published in “Day: February 5, 2016”

No more mining writing

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Why I'm quitting writing about mining:

First and foremost, I've lost interest. I find tube hi-fi much more interesting.

Second, I have been connived and fooled by the best in the business and passed this tomfoolery off to my readers. 

Justin Rice and the Russell Brothers took me and many friends into near-bankruptcy on the Azteca Gold project up Two-Mile just northeast of Wallace. I republished many of their lies and I am ashamed of it. I trusted them. Their lies seemed true at the time.

Secondly, I've been hauled into federal court involving a lawsuit between shareholders and Bob Genovese over a mine I wrote about, the Liberty Silver Trinity silver property near Lovelock Nevada. I still think it's a good prospect, discovered by US Borax and heavily and positively reviewed by a respected mining evaluator, SRK, but after my writing a positive article the stock tanked and the longs lost, well, their shorts and have dragged me into their shit. Never owned a share of Liberty. I did lose $7,000 on Justin's gambit, long after I wrote about it, and I could probably sue Justin for his lies, but really, why sue because I'm stupid or gullible. Maybe Ralph Nader could knock some sense in to me.
Whatever happened to, You pays your money and you takes your chances? Ain't that the American way?

Capitalism is by nature creative and destructive. What do we taxpayers owe the buggy-whip makers for going out of business because of the auto mobile, which did not require horses? Precisely nothing. But then in steps the modern federal government, to sue Henry Ford for buggy-whip-maker damages. This latter mind-set prevails today and it's why your kids can't read. But that's another rant.

I am not abandoning in spirit the hard-rock miners for what they do, which if you think about it, is magnificent. But having been conned twice, and having passed along bad advice, it's time to move on. And I have some very precious vacuum tubes I need to sell.

First take/maniacs

There's another way to take the debate over the prospective Idaho vehicle license plate bearing the image of the "Maniacs."

The origin of this is clear enough, and most of the discussion centers around it. Orofino is home to State Hospital North, a psychiatric facility. Decades ago, when the local high school was looking for a distinctive team mascot, they came up with something a little more original than the timber-related name they might have chosen, and went with "Maniacs." Over time, criticism of the name grew as derogatory of the people at the hospital.

I'm not generally inclined to take too seriously the names of sports teams; the whole idea of most of them is to suggest something unruly or even dangerous. (My college's teams were the Vandals.) Putting them on state vehicle license plates may be a little different, though; that's putting on the state imprimatur.

The proposal by Representative Paul Shepherd did include a compromise of sorts: The words "Orofino" and "Maniacs" would not be included, only the image of the mascot - a genuinely unruly, open-mouthed character who looks like he's coming right at you.

An Orofino city council member was quoted as saying, "In 2016 our mascot, the maniac, continues to be a symbol of unbridled enthusiasm and a symbol of overcoming odds. It's about a positive image to win and keep fighting."

I just wonder about what a driver from another state will think upon seeing the maniacal image, unexplained, on the Idaho license plate: "This is Idaho. You've been warned." - rs