All that glisters is not gold; Often have you heard that told …
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Food for thought from William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice — quoting legendary fable and proverb collector (plagiarist?) Aesop and forebears.

Fool’s gold

The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the formula FeS2. This mineral’s metallic luster and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool’s gold because of its resemblance to gold. — Wikipedia

Pyrite (fool's gold) 'flower' on display in an Arizona casino.
Is it just my imagination? Do you see FACES? *

About the photo above, Flicker user Colbalt123 writes:

From the Asarco Mining Company, on display at the Desert Casino south of Tucson, Arizona. This gold “flower” was about 4″ in diameter! … There are about 4 of these pyrite beauties on top of slate (at least I think it is slate). I was happy to get permission to photograph them inside the casino tonight.

To quote Alanis Morisette: Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think? that the fool’s gold flower is on display in a gambling den?

Hold out for the steak knives?

As we discussed in my post Calling all gullible gamblers!, some marketers seem to be continuously honing their sales pitches — e.g. ‘One day only: Two tickets for $29 (83% discount! You save $145!) Plus get our spruiker-in-chief’s new book!’ Oh dear me.

Operators like this, it seems to me, reveal themselves as endeavouring to attract people susceptible to ‘83%’ discounts, prize draws and lucky giveaways. Is that how they go after their target market? How long, I wonder, before they offer punters the chance to go into a draw for a chance to win a ‘gold flower’? (ahem)

See the face? (pic: mugsy 2009 - click)

– P

* If so, here’s a link to the Virgin Mary on grilled cheese…