Tag Archives: great

General Investing

Gold Eagle Coins- a Numismatists Delight And a Great Investing Option

Leave a comment

Right from the days of yore, gold and silver coins have been of great importance because of the two metals’ high intrinsic value and also because of the coins’ fungibility. While the ancient Egyptians gave gold coins only as gifts, Greek kingdoms of the Iron Age minted such coins primarily for circulation. Silver coins were popularly used as money for circulation because of their fungibility, liquidity, and durability. In the recent times, gold and silver bullion coins, such as the gold eagle and silver eagle coins are being used by investors to hedge against risks arising from price changes and also for capital appreciation.

The American gold eagle and silver eagle are the United States’ official bullion coins. Buying these coins is an easy way to diversify investment portfolios. Their widespread acceptability by collectors and investors from all over the globe and guarantee of their metal content and purity by the United States government itself, makes them safe investing options. Gold and silver eagle coins are also of immense value to the numismatists. The rarer the coin, the greater will be its value. These have remained premium collector items and have always found a large number of interested buyers; to the extent that many rare coins have been auctioned to the tune of millions of dollars. They have also been sold as uncirculated proof coins to coin collectors.

Counterfeit gold and silver eagle coins are an inseparable and unfortunate aspect of coin collecting. Counterfeit gold eagle coins are rarer than silver eagle coins because of difficulty involved in making fake ones owing to the fact that gold is one of the heaviest metals. However, there are a number of ways to establish whether a coin is fake or not. Since gold is a soft metal, the simple bite test is an easy way to establish its originality. In case of silver eagle coin, one can keep in mind certain points like the weight of the coin (if underweight, then it is fake), relying on your gut feeling about the looks of the coin (if the looks of a coin don’t seem right, don’t go for it) , the surface of the silver coin (in case the coin is missing the typical silver sheen, do not consider it), and checking it under magnification can go a long way in avoiding buying a fake eagle coin.

Numismatists treasure them and the investors value them simply because they know that an investment in silver and gold eagle coins would assure them safety of their investments and security even if the world’s financial systems collapse.

Market Analysis

Let Us Remodel Our Garden With Great Looking Copper Rain Chains

Leave a comment

In the present scenario, a well-established and well arranged home has become a statement for style. You identify the status of your neighbors you visit at their homes by seeing the overall look of their household projects. Therefore, it has become indispensable to decorate your home in a way that can complement the overall surroundings. Whether it is indoor or outdoor, you need to adorn both places to attain the fresh and attractive look. There are number of options available in the market today to choose from. However, to get the contemporary style, you can go with Rain Chains. These chains provide an artistic vision to the place where they are used.

This process becomes active when the minerals dissolve in the groundwater from where they are extracted through the springs and rivers after get deposited on the earth’s surface. These Rain Chains are used as a decorative material as well as filter rain water. They come under the category of those materials that can increase the value of your residential and commercial projects.

The kings of the ancient times preferred this material to adorn their palaces. These rain chains are also credited with the achievement of enhancing the value of the monuments and palaces, whether they belong from the Greeks or the Roman Empire, by giving these edifices an exuberant glaze.

The underground rivers, buried springs and other water sources are included with the Rain Chains They provide the sensuous and luxury look to your home and bring a lot of joy and happiness throughout the area. They can increase the beauty of both areas home and garden. Different techniques are used in rain chains to fit in the area.

You can purchase them through your nearest local Interior or Exterior Decor stores and outlets or you can go with the online shopping methodology. Once you purchase these, you need to undergo them through these processes – polishing, filling and brushing. Different kinds of finishes such as matte, brushed, shiny and tumbled of Copper Rain Chains are available in the market these days.

Market Analysis

Great Propaganda Tricks of Today

Leave a comment

In order to get people thoroughly upset with someone, just accuse that someone of something. You don’t have to prove your accusation. Just allege it. Repeat until it sticks in the public mind. The repetition of highly emotive words assists this process: for example by inserting the adjective “sinister” into every utterance.

To assist you in number one above, spread the falsehood that “there’s no smoke without fire.” This is a handy false datum that has been around a long time and “everybody knows,” and everybody misses the fact that a fire and a piece of information are entirely different things obeying entirely different laws. In any case, there is smoke without fire, as any chemist or movie special effects expert will tell you.

Use harmless sounding euphemisms to make your most horrible crimes sound innocuous. Examples: “a change of regime,” which means using military might to depose a dictator we originally installed and replacing him with a dictator who will do what we tell him; ” our democracy” when you mean, “our corporate oligarchy;” “freedom” when you mean “doing what we tell you;” and “new world order,” which actually means “profitable chaos.”

Or “collateral damage,” which means “we killed ’em but we don’t care.”

Accuse others of what you yourself are doing. Employ a great deal of moral outrage. That way everybody will be so busy looking where you have pointed your finger, they won’t be looking at you. Impressed by your moral outrage they will never suspect that you are doing whatever it is you are outraged about.

Get your media busy, cooking up one crisis after another so as to keep public attention thoroughly away from what they should really be worried about.

Flood the marketplace with conspiracy theories, many of which should sound completely barmy. Create such a bewildering storm of conflicting messages as to become intellectual white noise. Overwhelmed and confused, the public will sink into an apathy below understanding. This is called the “wood-for-the-trees-gambit.” The actual truth about what you are up to, should it surface, will become lost in the noise and discredited by association with all the half truths, blind alleys and exaggerations.

I invite my readers to send in their own suggestions. The best will be printed. The very best will receive a free book.

Market Analysis

Step Into The Flea Market For Finding Great Bargains

1 Comment

Even the designers on TV are doing it; finding great furnishing at flea-markets, charity shops, and yard sales. Often, a wonderful piece of furniture can be had for mere dollars, especially if its finish is in desperate need of some TLC. Unfortunately, the design shows on TV don’t show you all the proper steps for refreshing your finds. Take the time to do it right, and your “new” furniture will have friends wondering where you shop!

1. Safety first: Before you disturb any painted surface, you should think about the possibility of lead. Lead paint additives were phased out in the 1970’s and 80’s. If you suspect lead is present in any paint, you can find information about safety precautions and testing at www.epa.gov/lead, or by calling the National Lead Information Center at 1-800-424-LEAD. Even with newer surfaces, I find that a dust mask is always in order when sanding. Your lungs will thank you.

2. Sanding: Not all pieces will require sanding before repainting. My mantra is to leave well enough alone when dealing with old paint surfaces. If, however, the paint is chipped, peeling, crackling, or has other problems, you might not be able to avoid the sandpaper. A small electric hand sander is my best friend for these situations. A very light sanding (really just scuffing) can help your new paint adhere to old oil paint or a glossy surface.

3. Prep, prep, prep: The number one reason for paint failures is incorrect preparation. Time spent on prep will ensure you get a good result in the end. Make sure the surface is completely clean and dust free before you ever get the paint out of the can. If you have sanded the surface, remove dust with a tack cloth. This is a small piece of cheesecloth soaked in wax, available at your local home improvement store in the paint section. They cost around one dollar…get several to keep on hand for the next project! If you can’t find one, several thorough passes with a damp cloth followed by another pass with a dusting cloth can do the job. Most importantly, don’t rush your prep work.

4. Taping: Carefully tape off any areas you don’t want painted, and burnish the tape edges down once, firmly, with a fingernail. If you think you might have to leave the tape on for more than a day or so, use a lower adhesion tape made for delicate surfaces.

5. Priming: If the piece is unpainted, consider a coat of primer before you paint. There are excellent primers specifically made for stone and metal. Tell your paint store rep what you’re painting and follow her advice. Use a good latex or oil-based primer for wood surfaces. Some wood grains (pine or cheaper grades of oak, for example) may “rise” after a first coat of latex, and priming improves the chances that you can avoid this. The raised grain will feel rough. If this happens, you’ll need to sand the grain down lightly and prime again. Don’t worry; it’s not as bad as it sounds when you know what happened!

6. Painting: Finally, time to paint! Use a good quality paint brush. Be careful not to overload your brush with paint and put it on too thickly. This is a common mistake. Painting in thick layers can lead to ugly drips, cracks, or drying delays. Instead, paint in thin coats, allowing time for each coat to dry completely before recoating. This will give you a beautiful and strong surface.

7. Curing: Follow the instructions on your paint can to make sure your new furniture is safely cured before you begin to use it or place objects on top of it. Paints, latex in particular, can feel dry well before they really are. When in doubt, I like to wait 24-48 hours before I place my newly painted flea-market beauties into service.

Now, enjoy your new furnishings. Use them well and never fear; if they get chipped or you tire of the color, you know how to fix it!

Market Analysis

Two Great Speaker Systems in Market

Leave a comment

There are tons of speakers available in the market and it is really hard to choose amongst them the range is quite intimidating. I wanted a speaker set for my iPod, to listen to music while I am at home. The Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere 2 that I got has excellent value for money with the great sound quality and lot of useful features. It has a travel friendly design with understated looks and the speaker is compatible with both iPod and other music players. But for the latter, you will have to plug it through the auxiliary line in. The iPod is connected directly through the dock provided in the center of the unit. The sound quality of the Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere is really good for an iPod speaker. I won’t say that it is the best one out there but for the given price range, the quality is certainly worth noting. The speaker is powered by rechargeable battery so you can take this with you while traveling. However, if you are looking for a compact, I would recommend you to look elsewhere because this set is a bit big. The wall charger is quite innovative.

Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere comes with a remote control and its range is not that good. The main reason to have a remote control is to control the speaker from a distance but if you have to move closer to the unit for controlling it, then the whole purpose is defeated. This is the only problem that I had on this device. Other than that, it is pretty good. On the other hand, if you want something to play music in the car, check out the Alpine car audio alpine ida-x305 which I got a couple of weeks ago. It has some cool features like quick search function which make it really easy to search through the large music libraries very quickly. The manufacturer offers add on modules for extending the feature set of this device. Here too, I have a complaint; there is no optical disc player. This means if you have a huge CD collection, it won’t be of any use on the Alpine car audio alpine ida-x305. The music will have to be copied to a thumb drive through a computer first but this needs extra time. Plus, if you have a really big collection, then converting the music will take ages.

On the bright side, I was impressed by the audio support on the Alpine car audio alpine ida-x305. The player supports AAC, WMA, and MP3 formats for audio and thus it covers all the important ones. To sum it up, I’d recommend the Alpine car audio alpine ida-x305 to people who listen to music via thumb drive. I will again reiterate that searching through loads of music is really easy on this player and this is a big plus. But if you have a big audio CD collection, there are other players in the market. Before you purchase them, make sure what all features they have to offer. Also check their audio quality.