MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

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This is about as taboo as it gets.  In fact it is so taboo that we're going to have to go to the Bible to try to exorcise it.  I rather like going to the Bible to talk about secular stuff.  Surprisingly there is a lot to be learned there.  Yes even about ------------->>>>

Sometimes it makes me think about the movies though.  You know, like James Bond, for instance.  How does he do it?  Never runs out of mo... resources.  Of course he is a government employee.  But, then there is the guy, the doctor who is running away to escape from the police so that he can catch the real killer.  I forget who that is.  I'll try to look it up.  
Kimble, that's who, Dr. Richard Kimble.  He was portrayed by Harrison Ford.  I could never figure out how he could do all that escaping and never do a lick of work.  Where did he get the mon...uh, wherewithall?
That never happens in real life.  In fact it is the other way around.  The Bible, oh yeah, I almost forgot.  I've noticed that Abraham never runs short.  I don't know how many stories you can read about him and he's always flush with the green.  My favorite is the story where he buys his burial ground from Ephron.  Amazing!  He doesn't bargain or anything, he just tells the guy, take the money. The guy says, in front of all his people, "OK, four hundred shekels of silver is not too much between friends."  Done.  They count it out and they're happy.  Sheeeesh!  That Abraham, first he gives seven of his best heads of livestock to Abimelech and then the silver to Ephron.  No wonder I never met this guy.  He's too far out of my league. 
But it does give you an idea of how much of a rat-fink weasel Judas was.  30 pieces of silver.  I wonder what that was worth on the open market back then.  Heck, it was only 9 centuries after Abraham.  [It was worth 1 day's wages.  Or you could buy a slave for that.  About 30 shekels.]  Sounds like serious devaluation to me.  Maybe the shekel had taken a nose-dive because of the competition with the Roman "denarius."  But wow, what a cheap *&^%))__#@!
Back to the green.  The thought I had the other day was not green or any other color.  I was thinking about electronic money.  For a long time now I have never had more than $5.00 in my pocket at any given time.  That is simply because I sit at my computer, type some numbers on the keyboard, hit "enter" and know that suddenly my gross worth has declined.  It is rather depressing to work hard, sweat until "payday" only to find that the only way to ascertain what happened is to go home and check your computer to see if it really happened.  I was wondering if there really is any real money out there or whether it is all just a hoax.  I am going to be out of town for some four weeks or so shortly.  In fact I will be in Europe for nigh on to three weeks.  My mortgage payment is going to come due, as well as other electronic obligations.  No sweat.  I will just sit there and do what I usually do.  Type in the numbers and hit "enter."  Done.  Better yet. Just like James Bond, all I will have to do is go to the nearest Banque Nationale de France, put my piece of plastic between miss ATM's lips and catch the bills that she spits out in return.  That's only if I have to deal with some retrograde traditionalist cobble stone street merchant somewhere.  I have made confirmed hotel reservations in the space of five minutes from ten thousand miles away.  Are they crazy?  No?  Then maybe I'm the crazy one.  10,000 miles away in an unincorporated mountain village 4,000 feet in the air and they trust a message saying that they are going to  get money after I sleep there.  I think that we are both nuts.  it sure gives a new meaning to the expression, "Got no money, got no time, ain't got nuthin', not a dime."
I have no idea who invented money.  If it was the Romans, they were smart not to have a "zero" in their life.  That way, they always had something.  If it was the Mayan, they were lucky too because they could keep adding zeros after the "1" and really sock to it the poor unsuspecting Roman.  Can you just imagine that?  Some Roman noble comes to the West, buys three panther tooth necklaces and gets socked for about 10,000 Mayan-a-macallums.  HHeeee... Such a deal.  See, that's what you get for not having a "zero", tin-shirt, square pants boob!  Hey, is that an Arab Horse you got there?  It is!  Whoa!  Hey, how about 000000000005 for that sweetheart?  Really?  You're good to go for that.  Yeah, just a minute.  Hey ya know what?  How about I give you a deal and give you 075 for your sturdy steed?   Yeah, good, I feel better for you too.  Besides I don't have anything smaller than that on me.
Now, try that on your trusty megabyte grinder, Sir Brin.


I never believed I could have such an inane, inconsequential thought.  My gray matter must be loosing its wrinkles.

WHAT DID THE MAYANS DO THAT THE ROMANS COULD NOT?

No, it's not speak Mayan.  Smarty pants.  This, so it said in Google, is the 360 day Mayan calendar.  So that is mysterious in itself.  But that's not what got to me tonight.  What it is, is the wonderment that goes with not only the Mayans, the Aztecs, The Incas, the Egyptians and all those other pre-historic peoples who found out about all these things.  How could they know?  Is that all they had to do is to stay up and watch the stars to see where they were going?  How did they know what is Venus and what is Betelgeuse?  How did they come to figure out how to predict stuff?  How did they know that after 13 full moons the year was over?  How did they know that they could build a temple with a door that would tell them exactly what time it is every single cycle by the way the door let the sun come in?  Did they pay people to sit there and watch that stuff?  The other day we talked about scientists having to be ready to have their theory proven wrong.  Can you imagine being as Mayan and having some Aztec, blood drinking savage come up to you and tell you that you're wrong?  After all that observatory time?   If it were I, guess whose blood would be drunk?  In this case though,from what I heard the other day by a real, honest to goodness Mayan [yeah, they're still around.  They mostly inhabit the country called Belize.]  that the Mayans have an ace in the hole over the Aztecs.  See, the Mayans are the ones who came up with the "0" in the western hemisphere.  We know that it is the Phoenicians or some such people in that other corner of the world who got it over there, but the Mayans found it here too.  However, there are others who make the same claim.  Not the least of whom are our Indian friends.  So see, with all their engineering savvy and their ultra efficient armed forces, the Romans could not even think "zero."  How could they build roads without a "0"?  How could they measure anything without being able to mark the starting point, "0"?  Beats the life outta me!
Finally, I have to repeat what I once opined within these intellectual confines.  There has to be, even now in the age of cyber space, a spiritual communication between sentient beings.  The concept of "0" is a good example in point.  I personally do not doubt that the "0" could have been "invented", call it "discovered" if you wish, in different corners of the world.  Perhaps even in a fairly closely circumscribed amount of time.  Yes, even without travel and without man-made cyber space.  Don't ask me how they did it.  I think what probably happened is that someone got angry enough to sit down and invent one.  Maybe it didn't look like "0".  Then again, we know that in the Arabic system it sure looks like zero.  So, take that, you Romans.  Maybe that's why your empire fell.  You couldn't pay your debts because you had no way of figuring out how many zeros to put after the 999999999999999999999.9999999 denaria.  [That's a neuter, accusative plural for those who don't know the Roman language.]
Now you know what was keeping me awake.
Tomorrow, the forbidden subject.  Send your children to the baby sitter's house.