This Day in History April 19, 1933

Well, this may have been the real beginning of our continued financial woes.  On this date in 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt made the announcement that America would be suspending gold exports to other countries.  In other words, we went off the gold standard.  No longer did our money have to be backed by gold.  It devastated the value of the American dollar abroad, but it stabilized it here at home.

For more info:
http://famousdaily.com/history/us-goes-off-gold-standard.html
http://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1933/april_19_1933_91943.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_1933#April_19.2C_1933_.28Wednesday.29
http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/other/april19.htm

This Day in History August 16, 1896

http://www.flickr.com/photos/royluck/5948556493/

Anyone up for some gold?  If you had been around on this date in 1896, you may have joined the 100,000 people who made their way towards the Klondike for the last big gold rush.  George Carmack (a prospector given to braggadocious claims and often not taken seriously)  and his two Native American comrades were salmon fishing near the Klondike River.  They happened to find a nugget of gold on the river bed.  His claim was not taken seriously at first, but in about a year, the area was swamped.  By the time most arrived in the Klondike, all the gold was claimed.

By Klondike_Gold_Rush_map.jpg: unknown derivative work: Borrow-188 (Klondike_Gold_Rush_map.jpg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

For more information, please check out:

http://library.thinkquest.org/5181/

http://content.lib.washington.edu/extras/goldrush.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_goldrush

http://famousdaily.com/history/klondike-gold-rush-discover-gold-tributary.html

This Day in History October 19, 1872

Okay, granted, this is probably a useless bit of historical fact, but maybe you'll be lucky enough to win a million dollars one day if you happen to know this historical fact which I shall reveal to you.  Did you know that on this day in 1872 that the world's largest single mass of gold was discovered?  Read on if you dare!  This is so exciting (and somewhat confusing).

On some sites, what I am about to report is called a gold nugget, but so many other places make it very clear that nugget is a misnomer.  It is instead a mass of gold.  Anyway,  this matrix, as it is called, was discovered in Australia (of all places!). Beyers and Holtermann were partners in setting up the Star of Hope Mine.  At 2 A.M. on the date written in the title of this post, a single mass of gold was discovered that was supposed to contain 3000 ounces of gold.  I don't understand all the measurements, so I am only listing what I understand.  It was crushed due to its immense weight, and some say it was actually larger than reported.

Here's the thing that fascinates me most of all.  Why on earth was this gold discovered in Australia?  Why not California or Alaska?  Shows you what I know about Australia--absolutely nothing.

Now, if you are totally confused, understand that I am writing at 11:00 P.M., I am very tired, and I wanted to find something just a little bit different to share with you.  Think of the people you can impress with this information today!  I'm sure your boss, your husband, your children, your neighbor, and the elderly lady at the grocery store will love this information.  Share it if you dare.

If you want to be really impressive, check out more information on this site.