4 Good Reasons to Buy Things at Government Auctions

Did you know that government auctions are a very good way of picking up all sorts of goods at reasonable prices? Many government agencies such as the customs, police, ATF or even FBI periodically confiscate goods from criminals because of various reasons. They conduct auctions from time to time in order to get rid of these goods and generate much needed cash.

One reason why you should certainly patronize these auctions is that you'll get to buy goods at really low prices. In fact, it is very unlikely that any retailer (including the ones that are famous for offering cheap goods) will be able to match the price of these goods. Since the auction is being conducted by the government there is no question about you having acquired cheap hoods in an illegal manner! Since government agencies are not running a business but merely want to get these items off their hands as quickly as possible, they are priced attractively low.

The second reason why it's a great idea to go to customs or police auctions is that you can get an amazing variety of goods at these places. As a matter of fact, there are very few other places where you can buy anything from electronics to jewelry to automobiles. Some government auctions also offer real estate (land as well as repossessed residential or commercial structures) and financial products at very low prices.

Another good reason to patronize these sales is that you can source a lot of products to sell to others with a markup. Of course you could just visit these auctions in order to pick up the occasional computer or perhaps some jewelry. However, if you can find customers for the goods you buy here you could easily walk away with attractive profits on a regular basis. For instance, you can source almost all your inventory from jewelry auctions because you'll find an immense array of products here.

Finally, you will also have the satisfaction of doing something to help the community. The money that the police department or other bodies make out of government auctions is then used for training or other purposes. This ensures that these bodies can reduce their need for public funding while still offering the public high quality service.

As you can see, there are many benefits of going to government auctions. Therefore, you should make it a point to visit as many as possible.

Government auctions can be a very good source of goods at low prices. Find out why you should visit customs or police auctions or indeed any others run by government bodies.

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A Spotlight on Natural Gas

The founder of clean tech research firm, Kachan and Co., Dallas Kachan says that, "There's a feeding frenzy." And that many manufacturers and sellers of technologies that may not even apply to the energy sector are "rushing to retool their products for the high visibility, high growth fracking, and oil-sands markets."

Natural gas is now in a position to be nearly half of the national fuel mixture by the year 2030. That number, according to the United States Energy Information Administration, is up 23 percent from 2009. The increase is not due to the shale-gas deposits, but rather, because of the fracking needed to get them.

Boutique research firm, Lux Research expects that the market for fracking-related water treatment will increase nine-fold-to $9 billion-in 2020.

The process of fracking produces a certain amount of wastewater, and it is this wastewater that has the potential to earn some tech companies some serious zhing.

"Flowback" water is the water that remains after the injection process, and "produced" water may be injected by the rock fracturing from within the shale deposit.

The waters, according to Lux analyst Brent Giles can be, "toxin-laced brine that can be more than six times as salty as the sea."

Perhaps mixing saltier water into salty water doesn't sound like such a horrific thing, but soon, companies will be scrambling to create innovative ways of disposing of and reusing the wastewater.

Previously, the wastewater was moved from the fracking site to be kept in inject-able wells, underground. However, the recent growth in northeastern Marcellus shale-gas field, ranging from parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and New York don't have as many available sources of storage. The water has to be treated and reused.

Giles says that the wastewater shows "a water treatment challenge on par with the most difficult industrial wastewaters."

Lux estimates that fracking needs 25,000-140,000 barrels of water per well. Of the more than 3,000 wells drilled in the Marcellus field, Kachan estimates that they produce about 15,000 gallons of water.

The cost of treating the wastewaters vary from well to well, depending on how deep they are drilled and what the quality of the shale is.

CEO of OriginOil, a biofuels company that now offers frack water treatment, Riggs Eckelberry says that wastewater handling at similar oil sites costs 11-22 cents a gallon.

However, in some other shale-gas fields, like the Barnett field in Texas, water may not always be readily available. In this field, and the Rocky Mountain region, fracking water requires groundwater aquifers or rivers that have been claimed for another purpose, like for water crops or drinking water. So, according to experts, treatment will become a high priority, and therefore, probably very expensive.

This article was written by Jennifer Nobles. Jen is a promoter of good business and solid financial advice. She believe that strong finances, possibly with the help of a Financial Advisor, can help people tremendously and smart investing is the real path to securing a fruitful and stable future.

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The Flow of Trade Disputes Are as Solid as Steel - They Aren't Going Away Anytime Soon

Some things are worth protecting they say, and one could argue that the steel industry in the US is one of them, and the history to back up that argument is far and wide - trust me. Still, there is a difference between protecting something and protectionism. Okay so, let's talk about this because the politics here in the US when it comes to such things are also quite complex and serious.

It seems we are our own worst enemy 75% of the time, especially when it comes to steel. We've destroyed our mining industry and made it jump through almost impossible environmental hoops, many are way over the top and out of line when it comes to iron ore. But it also takes a special kind of coal to make steel, and that coal comes from many places where over regulation has made mining that coal completely unmanageable.

Now we are worried about foreign nations dumping steel on our markets, often steel which isn't even close to our real needs, mostly because our iron ore in the US is much more pure, but also our standards in manufacturing are higher as well. Nothing new, we went through this before with Japan also. Reuters had a piece recently justifying the tariffs we've put on Chinese steel pipes imported to the US; " U.S. Steel warns imports threatening pipe market," by Matt Daily posted on June 19, 2012. The article stated;

"Steel imports have jumped nearly 28% this year. U.S. Steel has been among the most vocal in the industry in pointing to potential trade violations, and DC has increased pressure on both China and India. It had determined that Indian companies were selling circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe in the US nearly 50% percent below fair market value. Cheap Chinese steel imports have also attracted punitive duties in the US. China made those US duties the subject of a trade complaint at the WTO."

We ought to also talk about the quality of that steel, and its long-term survival rate from corrosion and rust in this debate. Still, cheap pipe is a good thing. Maybe we need fewer regulations here at home so we can compete head to head - and insist that other nations also implement similar restrictions on coking coal soot and CO2 and if they won't maybe we need to add that cost in tariff and give that money to the oil and gas industry. That would solve the problem.

And a big problem it is too, in fact, as I was almost completed with this article another ominous piece appeared in the same business newspaper "Steelmakers Gird for a Downturn" by John W. Miller and Mathew Day on June 20, 2012 which cited a perfect storm - increased US regulations, increased employee costs (ObamaCare), slaughtering of the coking coal industry, vanishing of European steel demand, and a slow growth US economy with very little construction going on plus the Chinese and Indian dumping of below cost steel.

Maybe we need to invest in some innovation for our old industries to keep them clean, and at a low cost, not just new high-tech (perceived eco-friendly) sectors - next maybe, just maybe we need to consider the unintended consequences of attacking our major supply chains from raw materials forward with insane over regulation. And lastly, let's keep investing in pure research for carbon nano-tube construction to eventually replace steel - once it can compete efficiently on its own, and let the free-market entrepreneurs and their Wall Street Investors decide when that is, not some Washington DC crony that wants to score points with left-winger constituents.

Oh, and further more on this topic let's invest in clean coal fired electrical plants and capturing that CO2 for its carbon value to make the carbon nano-tubes. Let's allow these technologies to come together in a Singularity sort of way, with industrial capitalists seeing the value and re-designing that supply chain to compete rather than protectionism of older industries. We seem to be doing everything wrong, and we've completely taken our eye off the ball of free-market capitalism. Please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Politics and Economics. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

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Facing An Overcrowded World

The world's population in 1804, the year before the Battle of Trafalgar, was estimated to be one billion people. In 1927 when more accurate figures were available, it was two billion and last year, 2011 and only 84 years later, it was seven billion with nine billion predicted by 2050. Scary isn't it.

How will all these people live today and in the future? If they live at all most will not live very well.

As the world population grows we are using up more and more resources: water, food timber. Essential resources we need for eating, drinking, warmth and shelter.

The effect of these diminishing resources already is evident in sub-Saharan Africa where drought and the destruction of trees for fuel has led to serious famine and social unrest as more people complete for limited food. The United Nations has stepped in but even the aid provided by Western nations and many charities is insufficient to help everyone in need, even if corruption, poor transport, waste and general inefficiency is overcome.

With living conditions deteriorating and social unrest increasing large numbers of people are on the move. Most, mainly families, end up in squalid camps supported by international assistance but many single people risk their lives in dangerous ocean and desert crossings. Still more in countries at peace end up in overcrowded slums of already unsustainable cities.

Yet still the world's population grows. Infant mortality in countries without welfare services obliges the poor to have large families so someone will survive to look after the parents in old age, lack of birth control and too early marriage, limited education for females, more bodies to work the fields - a litany of reasons which add up to one result: more people.

Although some promise is offered by increasing Third World education and contraception for women it is a race against time and societal beliefs which humanity will not win and we can anticipate with concern large scale population shifts of a millennium ago, except now there is no more empty spaces to move into.

As populations increase and liveable space decreases civilised society will come under threat. Safety and security will become paramount as the world shrinks to the narrow dimension of medieval times. As always however there will be those who are better off than others; those whose lifestyles are more comfortable, more protected than most. And there will continue to be those with ambitions whose optimism rises above the shabby future facing everyone.

The above scenario is not far fetched because academics have been warning of world overpopulation for many years. Unfortunately their concerns largely have been ignored, not least because their worries have been expressed in learned journals of little or no comprehension to the layman - the ordinary man and woman to whom the issue should be addressed if only in the interests of their grandchildren who will face the problem in the crowded future.

This need to alert if not educate our non-academic community encouraged me to write "Shangri-la... when the world is overpopulated" - a fictional novella about the future available from Bookpal (http://www.bookpal.com.au/) or Kindle.

Greg Cornwell

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Christopher Burkett Biography

In 1975, Christopher Burkett became interested in photography when he entered an Orthodox Christian religious order in which he served as a brother for seven years. He first got interested in using the craft to express the beauty, grace and light which he saw present in the world of nature. It was also his way of expressing himself spiritually.

After four years, he left the Order and decided to dedicate more of his time and resources on perfecting his craft. He left the Order to devote himself in sharing the light he could see in the world with others. It was also during this time he married his wife, Ruth. He learned the offset printing process and ran four color printing presses and laser scanners to produce detailed color separation. His experience in printing industry helped him develop his fine discernment of color and also gives him a very deep understanding of the principles of reproduction of colors and tones.

Today, Burkett and his wife Ruth travel extensively throughout United States and taking different photographs of nature. He strives to share with his audience the paradise he glimpses. His very masterful hand printing and numerous exhibitions made him a very famous photographer known internationally. His photographs are featured in numerous public and private fine art collections. He continues to inspire and reaffirming to many the divinity inherent in the world of nature.

Christopher Burkett's most famous work is the book entitled Intimations of Paradise, which features a monograph of his popular photographs. This is a collection of some of Burkett's most popular landscape and subject photographs which presents exciting and awe-inspiring landscapes. This book was awarded as the Book of the Year under the Art and Photography category by the North American Bookdealers. Burkett also received an award from Hasselblad for his work in the same book.

Burkett is now widely regarded as best color photographer in the world. He is best known for his landscape photography made in large formats. He has been credited for raising awareness on the beauty of the American landscape, capturing them in its best and printing them in most vivid print quality. He is also regarded as an authority in Cibachrome or Ilfochrome printing. He is an expert in sophisticated and unique masking techniques which he had mastered in the past two decades. Above all, he is known for individually hand printing all of his prints.

Browse other biographies at Famous-Photographer.net and be inspired with the life of world's most famous photographers.

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The Benefits of Bartering

Possibilities and assumptions apart, the most simple, effective and beneficial method of resource trading for mutual benefit traces its origin back to 6000 BC and is believed to be introduced by the tribes of Mesopotamia. Known as barter, this system of trade exchange involves two parties, each possesses products or service the other one doesn't. So, they mutually benefit each other by exchanging the resource without having to rely on any cash or tangible mode of payment. In short, bartering is the cashless exchange of goods and services between two standalone parties who want to help each other in lieu of something rewarding.

In the ancient times people used to exchange vegetables for milk, teas for spices, goods for weapons, salt for salary. But because there were no criteria to determine the value of exchanged goods, the system saw a slow but steady decline despite being practiced for hundreds of years. With the arrival of money, the problems of barter have been fixed, but this ancient form of trade exchange exists even today in one form or the other and has been propelled by people and companies who found out innovative ideas to effectively rule out its shortcomings. There're many benefits why experts believe bartering is still awesome. Here we cover a few

It encourages more accuracy in trading for improved and valuable service. Take the example of two neighbours, one loves cleaning cars and the other one mowing yards. Both can trade the two tasks for common benefit. While doing the same, they ensure accuracy and perfection since this is something they love to do and not that they have to do. The outcome is one gets a shiny, clean car he never had seen before because of lack of time and the other one enjoys a perfectly mowed yard that he considered a tedious task before.

The system of bartering opens up possibilities to find alternative options to accomplish a task in exchange of something beneficial.

Cash is a crucial concern for business. Having a perfect cash flow unaffected by economical imbalance is something very few enterprises actually achieve. In bartering, neither party participates in cash transaction process. Therefore, it reduces the tendency of economic instability and financial insecurity due to cash shortage.

Participating in bartering encourages people to develop and share practical skills. Rather than relying on easy to purchase but expensive products that we don't really need, we can focus our attention on learning skills to obtain what is truly of value.

Depending on bartering, when you know whom to trade a service or product for something you have, you reduce the likelihood of investing money on advertisements and promotional ideas such as heavy discounts.

Since there're no middle men or overhead involved, bartering helps lower the price of a product or service.

Other than the mentioned points, bartering can make slow-moving inventory sell easily and reach a potentially untapped source of revenues and income. Simply put, bartering when coupled with improved exchange ideas seem to be a thoughtful answer to many of today's economic crisis. Wait for our next set of articles on how to improve your bartering skills with reference to the improved exchange ideas that make it a practically better trading option for a cashless future.

The author is an avid blogger, permaculture practitioner, new media enthusiast and a member of Varanasi Estate, who believes there's a life beyond economic shakeout, social dogmas and mental stress. Here to share his views, learning achievements and observation on how to lead a happy, healthy and deliberate life.

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The Junior Members of the British Royal Family

Aside from the senior members composed by the Queen, Prince Philip and their children, the British Royal Family is also made up of its junior members who are the Queen's cousins, who also perform official duties and public functions and support dozens of charities in support of the Monarchy.

The Queen's cousins, who are also prince and princesses of the United Kingdom, are Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, Prince Michael, their wives and Princess Alexandra of Kent.

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester

Prince Richard was born in 1944. He is the second son of Prince Henry, fourth child and third son of King George V and Queen Mary, and of the Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott. He actually planned to pursue a career as an architect but the sudden death of his elder brother, Prince William, in 1972, and his father's death, made him his father's sole heir. Thus, he decided to set aside his career and instead carry on the burden of supporting the monarchy. In 1972, he married Birgitte van Deurs (b. 1946) and together, they performed an extensive round of public duties, official and ceremonial roles, charities that required them to travel around the world.

The Duke and Duchess of Kent

Prince Edward was born in 1935, the eldest son of Prince George, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece. Prince George was the fourth son of King George V while Princess Marina was a member of the Greek Royal Family. He inherited his father's title upon his untimely death in 1942. Eventually, the duke pursued an active and successful career in the military while devotedly supporting the Queen through the numerous public and official activities he's been up to. He married Katharine Worseley (b. 1933) in 1961, who recently took up a teaching position and is so far the only member of the Royal Family to convert to the Catholic faith.

Prince and Princess Michael of Kent

Prince Michael is the younger brother of Prince Edward and Princess Alexandra. His father died a few weeks after his birth in 1942. He and his wife, Princess Michael (b. 1945), are the only members of the Royal Family, who do not take on official duties, although for quite some time, they have represented the Queen on overseas visits. They also support hundreds of charities. Prince Michael has been an active officer in the military until his retirement in 1970s. In 1978, he married Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, who took the title Princess Michael after their wedding. She is a renowned author, lecturer and interior decorator while the Prince is a fluent Russian interpreter and manages his own consultancy firm (the Queen had given his cousin the permission to enter into business).

Princess Alexandra, The Hon. Lady Ogilvy

Princess Alexandra is the only sister of Prince Edward and Prince Michael and is known as one of the hardest working members of the British Royal Family. During her youth, she was already a familiar face, being a constant companion of her mother, Princess Marina, who herself was an active royal. Later, she took on her own role and travelled extensively, supported charities, and carried out official duties in support of her cousin The Queen. She married the Hon. James Ogilvy (1926-2004) in 1963, second son of the Earl of Airlie.

Christian's fascination to the glittering world of monarchy has started when he was like 12. Since then, it has never wavered but continued to flicker through the years. Aside from his hectic writing routine, he takes time to research and write about the lives of the royals. In fact, he could tell you anything about these people even while closing his eyes! Visit his royal blog, http://royal-splendor.blogspot.com/ and learn what he discovered recently.

Christian has been writing for the web since 2005. Since then, he has written thousands of articles for his clients. Check out more of Christian's articles at Helium and Suite 101.

Feel free to contact him at optimistic.writer@yahoo.com.

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