"He explored everywhere the seats of power,
and learnt of everything the sum of wisdom.
He saw what was secret, discovered what was hidden,
he brought back a tale of before the Deluge.
He came a far road, was weary, found peace,
and set all his labours on a tablet of stone.
See the tablet-box of cedar, release its clasps of bronze!
Lift the lid of its secret,
pick up the tablet of lapis lazuli
and read out the travails of Gilgamesh, all that he went through."
Epic of Gilgamesh I1–28
"Now he had learnt to see the great, the eternal, the infinite in everything; and therefore – to see it and revel in its contemplation – he naturally threw away the telescope through which he had hitherto been gazing over men’s heads, and joyfully feasted his eyes on the ever-changing, eternally great, unfathomable and infinite life around him. And the closer he looked, the more tranquil and happier he was. The awful question that had shattered all his mental edifices in the past – the question why? no longer existed for him."
Leo Tolstoi, War and Peace
The quotes above are from a lecture by Andrew R. George that I was watching today to escape the boredom and folly of the markets.
Stocks had a wide ranging day, with the SP futures doing the heavy lifting.
But alas, the markets did not seem to want to go into the US' three day weekend holding the longer side, and so stocks went out lower to unchanged.
Gold and silver lost some ground, largely because of a relief rally in the US Dollar, which took back the losses from yesterday.
There will be an option expiration for the precious metals on the Comex next Thursday, 22nd February.
Monday is the Presidents' Day holiday in the US, so the markets will be closed.
It was a drizzly, sleepy day here with temperatures still hovering in the mid 50's. It is supposed to get much colder for the weekend, with 2 to 6" of snow forecast for Saturday evening.
Please remember to feed 'the least of these,' especially during the harsh winter weather.
Have a pleasant weekend.
