Per the Oxford English Dictionary, alchemy is:
1. The chemistry of the Middle Ages and 16th c.; now applied distinctively to the pursuit of the transmutation of baser metals into gold, which (with the search for the alkahest or universal solvent, and the panacea or universal remedy) constituted the chief practical object of early chemistry.
A while back, I declared my willingness to support the barter economy by trading the wares of Funranium Labs to those who make things as well but who would not be otherwise able to afford my fine products. Today, I received an urgent missive from an unemployed gal who, in a fit of uncaffeinated foolishness, purchased some not-so-great supermarket flavored coffee. Lamenting this failure of judgment with internet wails & tweets, a member of the Funranium Labs Shadow Courier Network told her of the delights to be found in BBotE. She, in turn, spent a good 45min of her life digging through my blather as one thing you have plenty of when you’re unemployed is time. When she hit the barter economy post, she dropped me a line.
By trade, she had been an executive assistant and offered her services in barter if they would be of use to Funranium Labs. Sadly, I can’t make full use of them but I was struck by the opportunity. There are any number of things I don’t have the time/talent to do to improve the world but one that I have always wanted to do is to help out RAINN. I asked if, in exchange for a bounty of caffeination, she’d be willing to volunteer some time to a local affiliate of RAINN as my proxy.
She said sure and will report for duty at Bay Area Women Against Rape, BBotE in hand to give her strength. If the world is truly awesome, perhaps a job will soon materialize for her out of this.
I’ve transmuted coffee into help for an organization that has helped more friends and family than I really like to think about. That is golden. It’s alchemy.