On today’s show we heard all about the Norwegian who really has made something out of nothing. I guess that many of us have heard about people who like to live in a virtual reality world. For them sitting in front of a computer screen and “living” in a make believe reality is more real than life is for the rest of us. And in that virtual world there is a cryptocurrency “bitcoins”. Inevitably the bitcoin became the currency de rigueur used in dodgy on line transactions but increasingly they have been used by legitimate products and services. Since once 21.5 million of these coins have been produced, issuance will cease there is considerable volatility in the value. Now it seems that this 29-year old Norwegian purchased £15 worth of the coins in 2009 and after reading an article on their soaring value, decided to check on his investment. It seems that his 5000 bitcoins were now worth no less than £430,000. After spending a whole day trying to remember his password, he cashed in a fifth of his newly-acquired fortune and has bought a flat in Oslo, one of the world’s most expensive cities.
From the cool air of Scandinavia we moved off to the warm waters off the Horn of Africa where the Royal Navy has employed the talents of Britney Spears in their fight against to the Somali pirates. It seems that the pirates find the sound of western music to be more intimidating than guns and rockets. Since Britney’s songs are also to be used in a new musical depicting the life of Christ, perhaps the pirates should be given free tickets. That should really go down a storm with them!
Enough from me. I’ll see you tomorrow.
Scott