Prosimians in the Attic, Chewing on the Wires*
Screwtape is a loose collective of five prosimians. We have backgrounds in investing, precious metals, science, IT, diplomacy, academia, detective-ing, journalism, think tanks and James Bond-y-ness (really). We come from three different countries. We agree on almost nothing, except for the primacy of:
1. Facts
2. Rationality
3. Debate
4. Prosimians
Screwtape has no advertisements, no click-thru fees, and no donate button. We run at a loss. We do this for the love of blogging and the sport of a good hunt for the truth. We are neither perma-bears nor perma-bulls. Our views will change in a second, if you show us the evidence.
This is not Zero Hedge. All contrary views are welcome. We love them. Just be polite.
Please comment on our articles if you enjoy reading them. They take quite a lot of thought and time to produce, and we welcome the feedback and the discussion.
Enjoy Screwtape!
Louis, Warren, GrundleMaster, Jeanne and Larry
* as naturally inquisitive critters, by chewing away relentlessly at the evidence put before us we hope to frustrate the efforts of those who would seek to mislead or misrepresent. It's hard to get rid of us since we're just ... you know... kind of harmless, out of reach, doing what comes naturally and in a casual manner: chewing the wires and making a general mess of things. We can do this because we have no particular allegiance - we try and let the facts tell the story.
Screwtape Themes used at this website
Hall of Fame
With many contributing authors, Screwtape Files has built up a compendium of fun, evocative or controversial material (normally a combination of all three). These tend to get buried over time, so we figured we would highlight (in third person) the ones we liked the best, in no particular order or classification. Everything here has a unique point of distinction but is presented with no particular agenda and may change as time progresses.
Screwtape World News - Weekly Cheese Wrap, a once-off parody of King World News (KWN), complete with a selection of unbiased guest commentators and the inside story about movements in the cheese market. Jeanne D'Arc's unparalleled creative satire; top shelf metals-related entertainment.
On Gold's Intrinsic Value, Everyone talks about the gold price, but does gold by itself have any intrinsic value? The debate rages with some charts thrown in, Grundlemaster Jenkins attacks the issue head on. Enjoy the intelligent debate between Larry and GM in the comments section, this is a treat and covers every possible angle you thought possible on the topic.
Free Silver, Ever want to invest in silver on the cheap? See Gresham's law in action where Louis Cypher explains a practical way of fishing out coins with silver content, courtesy of the banks (suitable for American audiences). This got many hits, and still does - it is almost as popular as Louis' other article 'Urban Mining and Refining for Gold', so this is a double-feature.
Dave the Dung Beetle, Jeanne D'Arc pens a touching allegory of a field creature who toils and slaves for what he knows to be true faithfully led by the unerring dung beetle leadership. Folk familiar with the silver blogs of 2011 will recognize actual quotes.
Good Versus Evil, As a bull market in 'evil empire' references develops in the silverogosphere, Jeanne D'Arc explores the question of how promoting the 'us vs. them' theme can be useful if you're spruiking silver, and asks the serious questions like whether the popular demonization of Blythe Masters was appropriate or even justified.
How the PM blogosphere behaves like a Cult, Jeanne D'Arc at her devilish best, takes the knife to the metals community at large, and itemizes the similarities. This post got us largely condemned by the metals sites - no surprise there, but ironically that only served to strengthen the argument.
Eric's Delivery, where we dissect Eric Sprott's spin and rhetoric surrounding the initial PSLV silver delivery, and compare it against practical logistics. Did his 3 month delivery process really represent market tightness, or was there a simpler explanation? Warren James investigates with computer graphics and finds a less-remarkable story.
The Relative Sizes of the LBMA OTC Market and the COMEX/GLOBEX Futures Exchange, Did you think Comex was the be-all and end-all of the silver story? Not so fast. The size of the LBMA market is the biggest, despite what you've heard. Slow Loris Larry puts the case forward.
Vainly Willing the Return of the 2011 Silver Bubble, Not scared to ruffle any feathers, Jeanne D'Arc puts the case forward for silver being a 'mania' in 2011, from the perspective of the social media frenzy at the time. This article can be considered the third installment in a series, building on a framework of earlier articles which include 'Silver and the bubble curve: where is the Smart Money heading?' and the 2011 investigation into SilverGoldSilver's talking cartoon bears: The Bear Necessities (of silver life). The case against Jeanne's bubble argument was taken up by Grundlemaster Jenkins link.
Lord Gordon William Humphreys Richardson ..., Who are the candidates for the identity of ANOTHER? Does it even matter? What is it about our psyche that compels some people to explore, and others not to? Robert LeRoy Parker's valiant article looks quickly at possible candidates.
The Bill Murphy Wager Update, Sometimes the luminaries of the metals blogosphere get their predictions wrong but are not often called to account. Louis Cypher gets serious with Bill Murphy on the 90-day gold doubling discussion, braving the sticky consequences of the new wager terms and conditions.
Is Someone Paying Zero Hedge to Post Propaganda? a landmark post from contributing author ', earns the distinction of being the MOST VISITED POST on Screwtape Files (and attracting over 100 comments), Brian asks the hard questions about the PSLV premium and why Zero Hedge would bother publishing blatantly incorrect information. This post still continues to get hits every week, we suspect this is search engine optimization at work for ZH but we're all quite jealous that it is the all-time #1 with well over 12,000 page views at time of writing.
Authors Past and Present
Appropriate for a precious metals blog, most contributing authors here choose to remain anonymous.
Louis Cypher (the man in charge):
Jeanne D'Arc (aka the scourge of tfmetalsreport):
Grundlemaster Jenkins:
Slow Loris Larry:
Warren James lives in Brisbane, Australia. My background is in Information Technology and works for a large multinational corporation. This is my Linked In Profile, but you won't find me on Facebook.
Generally I'm fascinated by the philosophy and rationales behind precious metals investing, the personalities involved in this space and the obvious social media manipulation which runs rampant not just in precious metals circles but in anything to do with the stock market.
My big project is the BullionBars database, which I hope will give me an insight into how the gold markets work. Along the way I will write about what I find from the data, and share it here publicly for anyone interested. You can contact me at bullionbars at hotmail dot com.
I am also appalled at the fraud and corruption of the modern banking system and government inefficiency and waste. I have recently discovered my views are mostly classified as Libertararianism. Oops.
(referring to Government) "... To the extent that the new spending causes a spending response from investors and consumers, this is more evidence of an uneconomic use of scarce resources. If the money is used to prop up failing companies, that's particularly bad since it is an attempt to override market realities, an attempt that is about as successful as trying to repeal gravity by throwing things up in the air." ~ Lelewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.
Screwtape is a loose collective of five prosimians. We have backgrounds in investing, precious metals, science, IT, diplomacy, academia, detective-ing, journalism, think tanks and James Bond-y-ness (really). We come from three different countries. We agree on almost nothing, except for the primacy of:
1. Facts
2. Rationality
3. Debate
4. Prosimians
Screwtape has no advertisements, no click-thru fees, and no donate button. We run at a loss. We do this for the love of blogging and the sport of a good hunt for the truth. We are neither perma-bears nor perma-bulls. Our views will change in a second, if you show us the evidence.
This is not Zero Hedge. All contrary views are welcome. We love them. Just be polite.
Please comment on our articles if you enjoy reading them. They take quite a lot of thought and time to produce, and we welcome the feedback and the discussion.
Enjoy Screwtape!
Louis, Warren, GrundleMaster, Jeanne and Larry
* as naturally inquisitive critters, by chewing away relentlessly at the evidence put before us we hope to frustrate the efforts of those who would seek to mislead or misrepresent. It's hard to get rid of us since we're just ... you know... kind of harmless, out of reach, doing what comes naturally and in a casual manner: chewing the wires and making a general mess of things. We can do this because we have no particular allegiance - we try and let the facts tell the story.
Screwtape Themes used at this website
Hall of Fame
With many contributing authors, Screwtape Files has built up a compendium of fun, evocative or controversial material (normally a combination of all three). These tend to get buried over time, so we figured we would highlight (in third person) the ones we liked the best, in no particular order or classification. Everything here has a unique point of distinction but is presented with no particular agenda and may change as time progresses.
Screwtape World News - Weekly Cheese Wrap, a once-off parody of King World News (KWN), complete with a selection of unbiased guest commentators and the inside story about movements in the cheese market. Jeanne D'Arc's unparalleled creative satire; top shelf metals-related entertainment.
On Gold's Intrinsic Value, Everyone talks about the gold price, but does gold by itself have any intrinsic value? The debate rages with some charts thrown in, Grundlemaster Jenkins attacks the issue head on. Enjoy the intelligent debate between Larry and GM in the comments section, this is a treat and covers every possible angle you thought possible on the topic.
Free Silver, Ever want to invest in silver on the cheap? See Gresham's law in action where Louis Cypher explains a practical way of fishing out coins with silver content, courtesy of the banks (suitable for American audiences). This got many hits, and still does - it is almost as popular as Louis' other article 'Urban Mining and Refining for Gold', so this is a double-feature.
Dave the Dung Beetle, Jeanne D'Arc pens a touching allegory of a field creature who toils and slaves for what he knows to be true faithfully led by the unerring dung beetle leadership. Folk familiar with the silver blogs of 2011 will recognize actual quotes.
Good Versus Evil, As a bull market in 'evil empire' references develops in the silverogosphere, Jeanne D'Arc explores the question of how promoting the 'us vs. them' theme can be useful if you're spruiking silver, and asks the serious questions like whether the popular demonization of Blythe Masters was appropriate or even justified.
How the PM blogosphere behaves like a Cult, Jeanne D'Arc at her devilish best, takes the knife to the metals community at large, and itemizes the similarities. This post got us largely condemned by the metals sites - no surprise there, but ironically that only served to strengthen the argument.
Eric's Delivery, where we dissect Eric Sprott's spin and rhetoric surrounding the initial PSLV silver delivery, and compare it against practical logistics. Did his 3 month delivery process really represent market tightness, or was there a simpler explanation? Warren James investigates with computer graphics and finds a less-remarkable story.
The Relative Sizes of the LBMA OTC Market and the COMEX/GLOBEX Futures Exchange, Did you think Comex was the be-all and end-all of the silver story? Not so fast. The size of the LBMA market is the biggest, despite what you've heard. Slow Loris Larry puts the case forward.
Vainly Willing the Return of the 2011 Silver Bubble, Not scared to ruffle any feathers, Jeanne D'Arc puts the case forward for silver being a 'mania' in 2011, from the perspective of the social media frenzy at the time. This article can be considered the third installment in a series, building on a framework of earlier articles which include 'Silver and the bubble curve: where is the Smart Money heading?' and the 2011 investigation into SilverGoldSilver's talking cartoon bears: The Bear Necessities (of silver life). The case against Jeanne's bubble argument was taken up by Grundlemaster Jenkins link.
Lord Gordon William Humphreys Richardson ..., Who are the candidates for the identity of ANOTHER? Does it even matter? What is it about our psyche that compels some people to explore, and others not to? Robert LeRoy Parker's valiant article looks quickly at possible candidates.
The Bill Murphy Wager Update, Sometimes the luminaries of the metals blogosphere get their predictions wrong but are not often called to account. Louis Cypher gets serious with Bill Murphy on the 90-day gold doubling discussion, braving the sticky consequences of the new wager terms and conditions.
Is Someone Paying Zero Hedge to Post Propaganda? a landmark post from contributing author ', earns the distinction of being the MOST VISITED POST on Screwtape Files (and attracting over 100 comments), Brian asks the hard questions about the PSLV premium and why Zero Hedge would bother publishing blatantly incorrect information. This post still continues to get hits every week, we suspect this is search engine optimization at work for ZH but we're all quite jealous that it is the all-time #1 with well over 12,000 page views at time of writing.
Authors Past and Present
Appropriate for a precious metals blog, most contributing authors here choose to remain anonymous.
Louis Cypher (the man in charge):
Jeanne D'Arc (aka the scourge of tfmetalsreport):
Grundlemaster Jenkins:
Slow Loris Larry:
Warren James lives in Brisbane, Australia. My background is in Information Technology and works for a large multinational corporation. This is my Linked In Profile, but you won't find me on Facebook.Generally I'm fascinated by the philosophy and rationales behind precious metals investing, the personalities involved in this space and the obvious social media manipulation which runs rampant not just in precious metals circles but in anything to do with the stock market.
My big project is the BullionBars database, which I hope will give me an insight into how the gold markets work. Along the way I will write about what I find from the data, and share it here publicly for anyone interested. You can contact me at bullionbars at hotmail dot com.
I am also appalled at the fraud and corruption of the modern banking system and government inefficiency and waste. I have recently discovered my views are mostly classified as Libertararianism. Oops.
(referring to Government) "... To the extent that the new spending causes a spending response from investors and consumers, this is more evidence of an uneconomic use of scarce resources. If the money is used to prop up failing companies, that's particularly bad since it is an attempt to override market realities, an attempt that is about as successful as trying to repeal gravity by throwing things up in the air." ~ Lelewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.
