Dude--You're Not Going to Get Rich With That Thing

I don't know where I wrote it, since I'm nuts, but here's something just for fun. When the price of gold rose to $1,000 an ounce, I harkened back to 1980 when the price of gold was about what it is now (if you adjusted for today's dollar, I'm sure you could find variance). I said something to the effect that the price of gold sparked an interest in the metal detector. That's what happened--someone got the bright idea to market metal detectors at a time when precious metals were on the increase in price and they probably made their own fortune.

And, yeah--you see stories all the time about people who get "rich" from the treasure they find. The only problem is, if you go to Gettysburg, PA, you'll see that they had to put up signs on the battlefield, telling people to NOT try to dig up buried treasure.

Now I see this article out of Florida:

Central Florida dealers said they have been selling out of metal detectors, Local 6's Ramin Khalili reported.

Beachgoer Fay Powell said she's been using a metal detector to search for gold items that now sell for more than $1,000 an ounce.

"I thought about getting some gold or some Spanish coins or something like that," Powell said.

Piles of gold have been pouring into beachside pawn shops in recent weeks, Local 6 has learned.

Some residents are selling items they already have for cash.

"The jewelry was a luxury to have, but I'm selling it for necessity reasons," resident Marie Savickas said.

Experts said the previous high-water mark for gold was $800 an ounce in the 1980s. They said they don't expect prices to drop any time soon.

"No one in history has ever seen it like this," said jeweler Jesse Ross. "It is the highest it's been in the world history."

Hell, why not cash in that 401K and buy two metal detectors, just in case one breaks?

A Shout-out to Our Pals in Florida

If anyone has any more info--please pass it on. We're thinking about you folks.

MIAMI - Florida's largest utility shut down a nuclear reactor south of Miami Tuesday, causing sporadic power outages affecting more than 3 million people across the southern end of the state.

Authorities did not specify the cause of the shutdown but said there were no safety concern.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that the two Florida Power & Light nuclear reactors at its Turkey Point power point 30 miles south of Miami automatically shut down. Two other power plants farther north — the Crystal River reactor and St. Lucie twin reactors — in the state continued to operate, although officials at those two facilities noticed the grid disturbance.

Kenneth Clark, a spokesman at the NRC regional office in Atlanta, said the two reactors were automatically shut down and in safe standby.

He estimated that power should be up statewide within 10 hours.

The outages trapped people in elevators, caused traffic accidents and prompted hospitals to rely on backup electricity shortly after 1 p.m..

Jaime Hernandez, a spokesman for Miami-Dade County Department of Emergency Management, said the county had partially activated its emergency operations center. No injuries were reported, he said.

Cascading outages appeared to be concentrated in the southeast, including areas of Miami, Doral, Westchester and Pembroke Pines.

Police officers directed traffic at intersections in downtown Miami, but many drivers were left to negotiate the jams on their own. Many stop lights were not working and some stores closed for the day.

UPDATE I - Blue Girl

Deb-TUD, the Florida correspondent at our sister blog, Watching Those We Chose, is following the story, and putting todays special election in context.