End of the Week is at Hand

Well that was a rough week! Hopefully things will get moving again with the kitchen next week. It has been harder to not have a kitchen than I thought it would be.

The BIS Gold Swaps
The only market item I wanted to discuss was some more color added to the BIS gold swaps that I covered a while back. Yes, I know I said I was not going to talk metals anymore, but this is important. Besides, why bother talking about GDP and all those nasty revisions down for the past years, that does not matter anyway.

Jesse was all over this from the beginning and so we can start with his commentary:
Financial Times says European Banks Lent their Customer's Gold to the BIS

The European Banks, including HSBC, Société Générale and BNP Paribas, were desperately in need of dollars because of a repeat of the eurodollar short squeeze which we had previously identified. Their customers were withdrawing dollars previously on deposit at the banks, which were unable to meet the demand because of the deterioration of the dollar assets they held, and because of the fractional reserve nature of their operations.

So the BIS stepped in, supplementing the swap lines the ECB has with the Fed, and swapped its dollar holdings directly for the some of the banks' customer's gold. Let us be clear about this. The gold is on deposit at the banks, in the same way that customer dollars had been on deposit. I do not wish to fuss too much about it, but at the time that the BIS swaps were revealed, a noted blogger pooh-poohed it with the toss off that 'everyone knows that the European commercial banks own quite a lot of gold.' Well, in this case, the ownership is greatly exaggerated. It is on deposit, owned by other people, but utilized as an asset by the bank. There is a difference.

You should read the rest of the article.

Zero Hedge had some more thoughts.

This is not too surprising, but I would wonder why any banks would need to use gold as an asset to raise cash with? Why not any other commodity? Why not MBS paper or other such "money". Maybe gold was the only thing they had on hand to use quickly, but surely a useless relic like gold is a silly thing to have on hand, yes?

Friday Night Entertainment
Ok, I need a break! Let's get insane like a looter in a riot.

This and That
Various things I thought you may find of interest.

-Lost in Arctic ice in 1853, the HMS Investigator was found this summer!
-This guy loses his stuff on the floor of the House of Representatives.
-The best essay answer to the question "Is Hell Exothermic or Endothermic?"
-George Carlin had it all figured out! (via C-T Hilltopper)
-Maybe the WORST FAIL ever (warning, a bit nasty!)

Photo Time
Because it's easier to just look at stuff!

Well, it is "as advertised" anyway:

Yup.

BOOM Goes the Dynamite on your head!:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Film Clips
Some cinema snippets to open your viewing parameters.

Well first off, for the boxing fans, here is the punch I discussed in the comments last thread; go to the 4:58 mark of this clip and see what I mean.

How about the Top 10 Moments from "Enter the Dragon" (via Watchtower):

Wow, the first guy was Jackie Chan!

Before Nicholas Cage made action films, he was a pretty good actor. Try out his explanation of losing his hand in "Moonstruck":

I love that scene!

This is an upcoming film, but this one I think will resurrect Ben Affleck's career. It is called "The Town":

That looks good!

Rock Blogging
Well, we do always hang in the Buffalo Stance, so away we go!

Sedentary State would like a little Tchaikovsky, "Serenade for Strings in C major":

Not my type of music in general, but that was a very nice composition.

Scharfy was looking for Bertie Higgins and the hit "Key Largo" and this was a song my Dad used to play on the guitar all the time:

That brings back memories.

From the year of my birth (the year of the Dragon also!) is Lurker's request for "Crazy on You" by Heart. I found a nice live version:

That was really great. See what REAL talent is, not the crap we are stuck with for the most part today.

A fun song is Georgia Satellites and "Keep Your Hands to Yourself":

The logic seems reversed here as compared to real life to me but what do I know........LMAO

The problem with new music is I hate most of it and the stuff I do like I already have played! I was going to play one of two songs I heard today (not really "new" but "newer") but I have played them fairly recently. Well what can you do! Toss up between Cracker and "Low" or the below tune of Shinedown and "Second Chance":

Sorry, had it on the mind!

Two songs left. Fret not, two to go and there is always next week or the archives!

The song every hopeful artist feels in his heart, Kenny Rogers and "She Believes in Me":

"While she lays waiting, I stumble to the kitchen for a bite
Then I see my old guitar in the night
Just waiting for me like a secret friend, and theres no end
While she lays crying, I fumble with a melody or two"

Ouch!

Last call! By now you must know what to do, so get to it!

Closing the show with "Still of the Night" by Whitesnake:

From 3:10 to 4:00 is really special. Sorry all the videos with Tawny Kitaen were disabled! I did try!

Have a good night.