tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71420986818048182312024-02-08T18:13:39.874-08:00MrMoneyHustlerLearn the hustle, and put money in your pocket!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-90167092680517724422014-04-04T18:14:00.000-07:002014-04-04T18:14:32.107-07:00ECON 101 -- The Truth Behind the Con<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">There was a time, not too long ago, when money increased in value for the owner when saved. The longer he could wait to buy something with it, the more he could buy! The fancy name for that situation is "deflationary" money. A deflationary money system works really great for us common folks. Prices are usually falling and people get more for less because the money increases in value! I jest you not. We still experience this a little with products like electronics. The longer you can wait to buy a computer, the better and faster it is, or else it will cost less in a few months. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Wouldn't it be nice if everything got less expensive. What if it got easier to make a decent living, take care of a family, and still easily save up enough for when we are old? </span>Whole civilizations have enjoyed such conditions for generations throughout all of their economy. They didn't have electronics back then, but homes and food and transportation steadily got better and more obtainable for everyone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Unfortunately, about 100 years ago, some bright e"con"omists got together and figured out how to co-opt the above, completely natural, monetary system which utilized deflationary currencies like gold and silver. Their agenda was to "tighten the screws" and improve the productivity of society ... i.e. force more work out of the people doing actual work. We call these type of e"con"omists <i>Keynesians</i> today. So, in the USA for example, where once we had property owned mostly by individuals, now ownership is concentrated in the hands of bankers and those who are connected to them. What we see today is a natural result when one group of people can generate money for free, while another group of people (</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>we-the-borrowers</b></i></span>) must work for a little money whose value is always decreasing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">For a common man, the robbery is a three-fanged strike. First, the money he holds is always losing value. Second, efforts to use "deflationary" currencies, like gold, are met harshly with capital gains taxes. Third, whenever hard times hit, <i><b>we-the-borrowers</b></i> lose ownership of assets when payments are missed. I hope I can paint this picture for all how perfect of a trap this is for we common men -- they can cause as much inflation as they want, we either take the losses from holding their cash or we pay income taxes on imagined gains if we try to store wealth elsewhere. It would be easy for us to get out of the banker's trap if not for the income tax. These two together, income tax and <i>Keynesian</i> e"con"omics are the perfect combination that enable the central command and control over all people. The legal agreements on loans are the final blow which ultimately give bankers unearned control of the world's assets.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you don't believe me, answer one simple question. If you miss a few house payments, could a banker have a say in your ability to sleep there? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There was a time when men owned their homes fully and completely. Why is it that we all work harder, produce more, and yet we are stressed out over keeping up our payments to our landlords? At least if you did have to rent a space back in the day, you knew you were renting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The <i>Keynesians</i> will be all too eager to point out that wild crashes and fluctuations in the business cycle are the reasons that their policies are needed. Make no mistake, the <i>Keynesian </i>system is an effective system to make a productive society. It is also incredibly effective at robbing the common man of the fruit of his labor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So now they are setting yet another trap. They are inciting the frustrated working classes against the moderately wealthy. They say, "Look at these people that make so much money, they need to pay their fair share." We all seek justice, we all are frustrated, so we take the bait and raise taxes for everyone making $250,000 or more. Little do we know, while the bankers quietly print more free money and spend it, our money that we work for decreases in value and so we must work more to get more because prices are rising. Then one day we realize that we are working two jobs to make $250,000 and can't afford to buy real milk because the dang income taxes are so high.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is our future unless we learn to see through the scam. If we want life to be fair again, it is time for the income tax system to be replaced with a fair flat tax or consumption tax. That's really all we need. All the hoopla about minimum wages, monopolies, and regulations mean nothing as long as we are coerced into holding money that is losing value or paying taxes with money that we should be allowed to save for our own futures. It is our money after all. If you work for it, it is yours; and if you were smart enough to earn it honestly, you are smart enough to decide the best way to spend it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The only other way I can think to explain it is this: Collectivism is a scam that really rich people use to steal assets from the working class. The idea that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the individual is appealing. But, collectivism is a thin disguise these days, as it is more obvious than ever that the needs of the few who print the money outweigh the needs of the individual. The flow of money to an honest worker should not be impeded or confiscated in any way. Anyone who says otherwise is a con-artist. If </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>we-the-borrowers </b></i></span>are having hard times, it is because the bankers and politicians have combined forces to rob us. We can easily side step their grip with a renaissance of Individualism.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-3282521398323114442014-03-30T09:43:00.000-07:002014-03-30T09:53:47.682-07:00How Digital Currencies May Change Everyday Life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Try to imagine how many ways you and I lose money doing "life" events. I'm going to focus on one example: An older couple who sells their 4-bedroom house to buy a 2 bedroom condo so they can lower their monthly housing costs and maintenance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here are just a few of the costs:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">1. Repairs on the old home and customization on the new</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">2. Closing costs on both homes</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">3. Moving costs</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">4. Interest, fees, taxes, and time</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">5. Loss of closeness to neighborhood friends</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">6. Loss of personal features in current home</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now imagine a world running on digital currencies for a moment. I'll do my best to describe it for you. Here is a story about what Vern and Marge, retired seniors just trying to get by, might do in the future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After a lot of research, Vern bolted into the kitchen and exclaimed, "Marge, I've got it; I've figured out how we can make ends meet and not have to move!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Marge looked up with hopeful interest. "Did you invent something again, dear?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"No, no, this is for real. We can become HomeHotelCoin miners."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"HomeHotelCoin mining?" Marge's eyes glazed over as her hopes were dashed that Vern was really on to something this time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But Vern never lost one bit of his enthusiasm. He continued, "You won't believe how easy this is. It sounds absolutely too good to be true, but an old friend of mine and his wife have been doing it for a year now and it works great. They didn't have to front any cash, they don't have to do any work, they just signed up and collect the checks."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Vern and Marge had lived in their neighborhood for most of their adult lives. All their friends lived close, their church was close, her favorite stores were close, and Marge especially did not want to move. So, hearing that it worked for someone else got her attention.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Vern went on to explain how it works. "This is a commitment, it involves renovations, losing access to part of our house, and a lien against our equity for the renovations. Are you still interested?"</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOxXdlyCtvwdKiPZrDlXzYcMy4CfilzjPxLQ6OnWAuH_zYIFd8448SgBWbfS8j4EYuIkaHTqNNR8UqkKe3RkDt20kdKLaJr-0V_7kfHKIKpYFkH93Ef5qGWipSf7vACoIxGLC4rGBnplw/s1600/HouseatDusk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOxXdlyCtvwdKiPZrDlXzYcMy4CfilzjPxLQ6OnWAuH_zYIFd8448SgBWbfS8j4EYuIkaHTqNNR8UqkKe3RkDt20kdKLaJr-0V_7kfHKIKpYFkH93Ef5qGWipSf7vACoIxGLC4rGBnplw/s1600/HouseatDusk.jpg" height="282" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">Marge looked skeptical, but the thought of moving makes her heart sink and so she gave a hesitant affirmative nod.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"OK, like I say, renovations are required, and to pay for that we do have to sign a 5 year contract. If we break the contract or sell our home before then, we'll be responsible for the balance left to pay off the renovation costs. If we sign up, a contractor will isolate part of our house into a hotel-like room with its own bathroom and private entrance. When the work is done, the room gets listed on the HomeHotelCoin phone app. When anyone is traveling through town, they can book our room right on their phone. We don't have to interact with customers at all. They pay with HomeHotelCoin which they can buy at any digital currency exchange, like that <a href="http://www.dcxtx.com/" target="_blank">Digital Currency Exchange of Texas</a> I was telling you about. Once a customer books the room and pays, they get a code to get in the door, and we just get an email that someone is coming. We don't even have to be there to check them in."</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYbPXpffLzQhEvY_CiiILFkFqIPV7sEfVikFvaPnVRq6hH7uKdsiQirsWp2zDzoagCd4HLqAHzxVpBfoPecpJzpH4rI_XWf3Yio8xfRVBigiUy9TkhZEAFd5_J3qYTLLXAd2WJtrLUl4Q/s1600/BTC+Done640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYbPXpffLzQhEvY_CiiILFkFqIPV7sEfVikFvaPnVRq6hH7uKdsiQirsWp2zDzoagCd4HLqAHzxVpBfoPecpJzpH4rI_XWf3Yio8xfRVBigiUy9TkhZEAFd5_J3qYTLLXAd2WJtrLUl4Q/s1600/BTC+Done640.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Marge looked even more skeptical. "Who cleans the room?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Ohhhh, that's where this gets so amazing. First off, the contractor gets a cut of the coins for his work; that's his incentive. Second, housekeeping agents do their part for a portion of the coins as well. In fact, most anything needed to make this service work is built into the system. We don't have to do anything. If we wanted, we could include our pool as part of the amenities for the room, and then there are built in features to include pool maintenance as well."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Marge's mind immediately went on with all the things that could go wrong, obnoxious guests, damage to the room, psychopathic murderers trying to stay there, and on and on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Vern continued, "They've already thought of everything, private security, built in deposits, and biding systems to allocate the right amount of coin for each job. Everyone involved gets rated: our room, the customers, the contractor, housekeeping, maintenance, and security. If we say we don't want to deal with any customer who has less than 5 stars, the app doesn't even allow our room to show up for anyone with less than 5 stars. It is the same for the housekeeping; there are default settings, but we can adjust what rating we demand from the cleaners, as well as how much coin to allocate for them. Hah, but obviously if we demand 5 stars and only pay 1 percent, we might not get any takers on the cleaning. Everything is on a bidding system."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Marge was getting a little hopeful again, but this did sound like just another one of Vern's crazy ideas. She decided to play devil's advocate for a bit. "So, what about security? What if some crazy person is in there bothering our neighbors or playing loud music at 3am?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"There is a handbook the explains the recommended way to handle almost any type of situation. Obviously for some kind of emergency we might have to call 911. For loud music, we might simply put a ding on our customer's reputation rating so that future HomeHotelCoin miners will know that person likes to play loud music at 3am. The security team does monitor cameras outside our home for suspicious activity, and electronic security for our side of the house is included. If a security guard does have to come out to deal with a customer, the cost for that gets charged against their deposit just the same as if they damage something in the room or steal anything. Bob and Melony said they've never had anything like that happen though, just towels go missing once in a while. It's funny, Bob said there is a rating spot that says something like, 'we're not saying you stole the towels, we're just saying some towels were missing after you left.' I guess the theory is that if a trend shows up, people will know."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Marge thought of some more practical reasons why Vern's idea won't work. "What about taxes, regulations? Do we know what we are getting ourselves into?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Yes, yes, I checked into that too. The system integrates with our tax software and it is customized for our zip code. It files the right forms for us automatically, all we have to do is sign the forms it prints out. Bob said that they had all the needed licenses and approvals before the renovation even started. That app even sets us up with an exchange account integration so it can automatically convert the needed amount of HomeHotelCoin into dollars to pay the taxes and fees. Fortunately we don't have a crazy Nazi homeowners association here, that could be a problem for some, but we're lucky on that."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Do you really think we can do this, my power-puff man?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"I do."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The above story is completely hypothetical. I don't know if this particular example would work in the real world. The point is to illustrate how digital currencies might be used to help people allocate resources they already have in order for them to make extra money. The object is to standardize and automate the business processes so that we the people can concentrate on the task at hand, whether our task be sleeping, cleaning, or gun slinging. Digital currencies can help organize human activities in new ways to help customers get what they want, and service providers to get what they need.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-2331129565875087732013-08-23T14:19:00.001-07:002013-08-23T14:19:54.773-07:00Cashing Out Bitcoins for Gold<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bYy0kX5SUqg/UhfRx5sZWzI/AAAAAAAACi4/d5n83ISYBzA/s1600/20130815_121009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bYy0kX5SUqg/UhfRx5sZWzI/AAAAAAAACi4/d5n83ISYBzA/s320/20130815_121009.jpg" width="180" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">So slick ... I just transferred some bitcoins to my smartphone and bought 1 OZ of pure gold from Capital Coin and Bullion ... no cash, no credit card, and no hassle! Bitcoin is superior to everything. All we need is more and more merchants to accept them. Transaction fees to process bitcoin payments are lower for merchants than what credit card companies charge too. Word is getting out! Get some bitcoins! If you are a merchant, find out how to accept bitcoins for payment at </span><a class="ot-anchor" href="https://bitpay.com/" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.218s; background-color: white; color: #427fed; cursor: pointer; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.218s;">https://bitpay.com/</a><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-9637295969941900792013-08-13T13:47:00.001-07:002013-08-13T13:47:59.658-07:00The Love of Money is the Root of All Evil:<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">But... But... Bu' I really loooveeeeee money! I'm not evil ... muahhhaha, well ok, I'm a little bit evil, but not like ... central banker evil.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ok, well, if I think about it, what I really love is "making" money. I enjoy the money itself, but what I really love is making money. The only thing I love more than making money is my sweetheart ... and the only thing I love more than her is making a bunch of money without having to work for it!</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SoXSId9Ee1w/UgqY4rHSxmI/AAAAAAAACQM/jtcWcKIq-40/s1600/20130725_005319.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SoXSId9Ee1w/UgqY4rHSxmI/AAAAAAAACQM/jtcWcKIq-40/s320/20130725_005319.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gold button from e-scrap</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I could see where some folks might think that is bad. After all, people should make money the old fashioned way and earn it ... right? Well here's my little insight on that ... people ain't gonna give you no money unless you've earned it. The trick is to earn it (i.e. provide value to others) without having to exert much effort. Simple example: you can dig a ditch with a shovel or you can dig a ditch with a backhoe. It's the same ditch and it adds the same value (or not) to the same customer, but one way takes a lot of effort and the other not much. And, the least effort method actually enables you to dig more ditches faster, creating more value for more people, and making more money for you for less effort. See how that works? Being lazy is actually a good thing!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Well, it is a special sort of lazy that works best. Laziness is best accompanied with a love of "making" money which is in essence a love of creating value for others in the most efficient (least effort) way possible. Creativity and imagination are your best tools for this sort of task. This way of thinking is what drives invention. Please don't say, "well, I'm no inventor" and stop reading here. Everyone is an inventor! Everyone has thought, "if only I had a such-n-such thingy that did this or that, this job would be a lot easier!" Also, inventions include more than physical products, inventions are new processes as well as the adoption of a product or process for a new task. Anything that helps produce a good or service in a more efficient way is an invention! So, please repeat after me: "I am an inventor!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">OK, now that that is settled, let's go on about making a bunch of money without having to work very hard for it. Now we need to talk about another facet of this topic, scale-ability. The idea is to do the work once and have it benefit many people. Suddenly, digging ditches doesn't seem like such a great career. The guy who makes the big money is the guy who buys the swamp and pays someone else to dig the ditch to drain it, and then sells the dry land. Environmentalists ... please don't hate me! That was just an example.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The point is that the guy digging the ditch is only helping one person, the owner of the swamp. The owner of the swamp has a bigger plan that will ultimately benefit many people when a neighborhood is built there. Our world is ripe with opportunity to create value in a scale-able way! Sometimes the processes involved are complex, and that is what we use our creativity and imagination tools for. The goal is to find a path: the steps, the recipe, the combination of services and products that will create value for a large number of people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Some careers are naturally scale-able Content creation like writing, art, or computer application development are great examples. You create the content once, and there is no limit to the number of people who can benefit from your content. The possibilities are endless! Another easy way to create value for others is to spot a revolutionary new idea that some genius came up with and then implement a niche for yourself to extend that person's idea towards some practical task. You won't need genius skills to do this. There are countless millionaires who don't have a clue about how to route data packets on the internet. They just know how to sell the hell out of used golf balls online. In a way, they are mooching off the genius skills of all the people who did invent the internet ... Al Gore was it? It's all good; the goal is to create goods and services as efficiently as possible. When you exploit the ideas and inventions of others, that actually adds value to their ideas too. It is a win win situation for all!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is a new revolutionary idea happening right now. It is at least as big as the invention of "email". It is so new that there is absolutely time for you to get in on the action. People have already become millionaires with it. There are both technical opportunities available as well as "down-to-earth" practical niches ripe for the picking. If you want to make a bunch of money without having to work very hard, I implore you to learn everything you can about this new technology. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTQQwaOU6kK0uNqHmP6oGnuX8xWgDYgUOCqgeLju6hl8MNygcl5iE09vgqipUH4P7gL9PaS4AEWZ1bfXADFzCfOOIjgj8ECb91sDikwHFEnsW0ARg2unHQVlC39mHKmviM-j0lRHhm2qM/s1600/Screenshot_2013-07-18-22-43-17.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTQQwaOU6kK0uNqHmP6oGnuX8xWgDYgUOCqgeLju6hl8MNygcl5iE09vgqipUH4P7gL9PaS4AEWZ1bfXADFzCfOOIjgj8ECb91sDikwHFEnsW0ARg2unHQVlC39mHKmviM-j0lRHhm2qM/s320/Screenshot_2013-07-18-22-43-17.png" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BitScavenger: Android phone app</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I personally started with $300 and have grown that into assets that are now worth over $20,000 in less than 2 years (with virtually no effort). This is only the beginning. I speak of Bitcoin. Please google that term and know that there are Bitcoin scams and Bitcoin bonanzas ... read all. Let the information percolate through your brain. Follow Bitcoin writers on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Never believe a word anyone tells you, but pay attention to every detail of every word. Become an expert and notice especially where people complain that they would like to be able to do "this or that" with their bitcoins. Therein lies your opportunity. Once you know this topic thoroughly, network and find others to swap ideas with. Find people willing to act and find people who can do things, like programming, that perhaps you cannot do. For a quick start to trading, please also check out my blog on the topic: </span><a href="http://crypto-daytrader.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: large;">http://crypto-daytrader.blogspot.com/</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In closing, be optimistic that the world is full of ways to make huge amounts of money with relatively little effort. The object is to scale your efforts such that many people benefit from your work. All you have to do is take the time to notice what other people need and want, and think up creative ways to provide it for them. Remember to focus on scale-ability of your effort, where you plant an orchard once to provide fruit for many people for years to come.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-32549282666599921112013-03-19T20:24:00.000-07:002013-03-21T09:33:15.545-07:00JamBit Crypto-Currency Design Proposal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The following is a non-technical overview of concepts that will be helpful to design a better Cryptography enabled virtual or electronic currency (crypto-currency) system.<br />
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Crypto-currency represents an amazing opportunity to bring fairness, prosperity, and freedom to all citizens of our planet. There is no limit to the number and type of crypto-currencies that may be implemented, and like any new invention, only the best implementations will thrive. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYbPXpffLzQhEvY_CiiILFkFqIPV7sEfVikFvaPnVRq6hH7uKdsiQirsWp2zDzoagCd4HLqAHzxVpBfoPecpJzpH4rI_XWf3Yio8xfRVBigiUy9TkhZEAFd5_J3qYTLLXAd2WJtrLUl4Q/s1600/BTC+Done640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYbPXpffLzQhEvY_CiiILFkFqIPV7sEfVikFvaPnVRq6hH7uKdsiQirsWp2zDzoagCd4HLqAHzxVpBfoPecpJzpH4rI_XWf3Yio8xfRVBigiUy9TkhZEAFd5_J3qYTLLXAd2WJtrLUl4Q/s320/BTC+Done640.jpg" width="320" /></a>The first examples of crypto-currency have been demonstrations of the viability of the concept. Some crypto-currency examples, like Bitcoin and Litecoin have proven that an electronic token, independent of any national government, can hold value and transmit that value fairly and securely among members of the currency network. Others, like BBQcoin or MMMcoin, had design or implementation flaws that led to their early demise. All of these first attempts were primarily focused on overcoming the engineering difficulties associated with creating and distributing the currency, and managing transactions securely. However, there is no limit to the features that a crypto-currency could have.<br />
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Eventually, the most successful crypto-currency will not only solve the technicalities of electronic funds handling, but it will also present more economic value to its users than any other system. Now is the time to ask the right questions to make newly designed crypto-currencies more economically viable for more people. If you have ideas, please submit them in the comments section below. Until then, here is my list of concepts that I believe should be considered in the design of a new crypto-currency:<br />
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1. How might we achieve a reasonable level of price stability?<br />
2. How might we promote productive behavior and discourage destructive behavior?<br />
3. How might we protect individuals who live under oppressive governments?<br />
4. How might we automate financial services like escrow, loans, insurance, and investments?<br />
5. How might we protect people from, or compensate them for, fraudulent activities?<br />
6. How might we provide probate services and protect against lost funds?<br />
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In the real world, we have governments to regulate and handle the issues mentioned above. I believe we can do a better job by designing a monetary system to handle these issues as an engineering problem rather than from a social or regulatory perspective. In fact, my goal is to remove people from the process as much as possible. People have self-interests, computers not so much, yet.<br />
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So, here we go off to build a better monetary mouse trap. First, in order to scale up a crypto-currency for worldwide usage by billions of people, we need to move away from "proof-of-work" reward/mining systems to "process transactions as efficiently as possible" reward systems. The idea is that new money will be introduced into the system as a reward for people who support the network with their hardware and processing power. Of course measures will be needed to assure that people aren't making bogus transactions simply to earn rewards (discussed in answer to question #2 above). Automatic adjustments to rewards for transaction processing and fees on transactions will be the primary tools used to implement monetary policy in the network.<br />
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<b>PRICE STABILITY</b><br />
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The first goal for a good currency is to achieve price stability, and some form of monetary policy will eventually be needed to accomplish that goal. The goal is to prevent hoarding, depressions, rampant inflation, and all the other monetary problems that keep repeating throughout history. One cool feature about crypto-currency is that all transactions can be known in real time. All the economic data that is painstakingly collected, submitted quarterly, and used for making real world monetary decisions would be instantly available to a crypto-currency network. So, it is simply a matter creating a system that can process the data and make adjustments to money supply as needed. Bitcoin is off to a great start, and it is now being propelled by investors and speculators. That's great for the beginning stages of a new currency, and that situation can be mimicked by limiting any increase of currency supply to a rate below the adoption rate by new users. <br />
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As the currency matures, it would enter a new "era" called the usage era. During the usage era, new currency would be introduced at a rate slightly higher than what is demanded by new users and crypto-economic growth. The idea is to get a very slight inflation rate such that the currency itself is no longer valuable as an investment item. If the system detects excessive inflation, currency would be automatically removed from the system. One method would be to lower the rewards paid out for processing transactions coupled with an increase of fees charged per transaction. Users will always be protected from that slight inflation rate by being able to freely convert their savings to a crypto-currency, like Bitcoin, which is designed to always appreciate in value.<br />
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<b>PRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR</b><br />
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We live in a world where one's reputation has been devalued by law, regulation, and government enforcement. There was a time when it wasn't safe to do business with someone that you didn't already know and trust. Today, we don't necessarily bother to check out a restaurant's reputation before we eat there. We trust the government, in part, to make sure that the restaurant is safe and/or to provide a means of recourse in court if we are cheated or poisoned. In the world of crypto-currency, there is no law, regulation, or government. The best crypto-currency networks will have built-in features to promote healthy and productive interactions among its users. The best networks will at least include a capability to log complaints and compliments. While any user could always get a new ID if there was a complaint against them, they couldn't fake compliments from other users with impeccable reputations, at least not without a lot of extra effort. Since every transaction is logged in a crypto-currency network, unique users with multiple IDs can often be isolated. For reasons listed in the section on protecting individuals from oppressive governments, a user's real world identity is not always wanted, but that user's "in-network" reputation is a very effective tool to help promote productive behavior. This is seen to be the case on sites like the silk-road.<br />
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The organizers of the MtGox exchange for Bitcoin already implement one strategy that will also be effective. That is to offer verified accounts which have more freedom, but which also are associated with a user's real world identity. There is a fine balance between offering user's new freedom, but also encouraging them to use that new freedom wisely. There are many options that the crypto-currency system might use. For example, higher rewards might be paid for transaction processing to verified account holders. Rewards could be offered for transaction feedback. Transactions which become suspect of fraud or (bogus transactions to gain transaction processing rewards) might be automatically categorized and charged higher transaction fees. Specific units of a crypto-currency could also be labeled as "dirty-money". The possibilities are endless, but we shouldn't get too carried away with them lest we end up with a monetary system that is more cumbersome than the one we have in the real world with its myriad of laws and regulations.<br />
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<b>PROTECTION FROM GOVERNMENT</b><br />
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Control of money is probably the most effective way a government has to control its citizens. Crypto-currencies have the potential to empower more individuals to live life as they choose more than anything since the Gutenberg Press. It is a lost concept that an individual may produce what others want, and that individual has the right to request from others a reward similar in value to that which was produced. It is a simple contract among individuals. No other entity deserves a portion of that value unless they were a part of creating that value. If another entity does contribute to the creation of value, like by providing roads for example, then it is the responsibility of the providing entity to monetize that contribution in a way that is voluntary to all parties involved. In other words, it is not OK to produce something that no one wants, and then force them to buy it at the point of a gun (the working mantra of most governments). It is OK to restrict usage to paying customers. Any system that threatens the power of governments over their citizens will meet with resistance by the people currently in power. The resistance will be more harsh in some countries than others, and so "real-world" anonymity is an absolute requirement for any crypto-currency network.<br />
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<b>FINANCIAL SERVICES</b><br />
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Think about how many people are employed in financial services. Now think about how much more productive our world would be if their jobs were all automated. Think about how much better off you would be if there were no closing costs associated with selling or buying a house. Imagine that interest was always paid directly to the lowest bidding lender and that there were no middle men in the process. This one aspect of potential for crypto-currency stands to improve the living standards for billions of people. How frustrating is it that banks can borrow money at 0.01% interest rate, yet we have to pay 5 to 6% if we borrow money from them? At the same time, if we keep savings in a bank, we would only make .01% interest on our savings while the money itself devalues at a rate of 3% per year. All of these shenanigans would become history with a properly designed crypto-currency.<br />
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Rates for insurance can be automatically calculated in real time based on claims history. As far as automating the process, imagine this scenario:<br />
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- someone buys a house with Jambits.<br />
- insurance is purchased<br />
- house is reported to have burned<br />
- claim is filed<br />
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The crypto-currency system is now tasked with the job of determining whether or not a legitimate claim is being filed, or a fraudulent one. Suppose that once a claim was filed the process was to auction off the property to highest bidder. The claim would only payout the difference between the purchase price of the house, and the amount received at auction. If the house really didn't burn, it would draw market value at auction. <br />
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We can also suppose that an owner might file a claim if the value of the house dropped. In that case it becomes true that the insurance policy actually provides devaluation coverage also. That is in fact superior to currently available insurance; and when one factors in the cost savings of having the whole insurance system automated and "not-for-profit", the premiums are not likely to be much higher.<br />
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Of course, the whole process must start from an auction based approach on asset sales from the beginning. That is the only way to off-load the task of determining an asset's value and legitimacy to the network of users rather than paid appraisers, surveyors, agents, etc. All insurable items must be bought and sold in an auction format in order to accomplish any sort of automation. A system of auction based transactions for larger ticket items also lends itself to loan automation.<br />
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Since any user can always go get a new ID, individual bankruptcy should be expected to be a quick and easy process. Given that, credit should be approached with caution and only offered in amounts and terms comparable to the credit worthiness of a given ID. In other words, the system should not lend a 2 month old ID enough money to buy a house. Since algorithms and transaction fees can constantly be tweaked to root out bogus transactions, it will be somewhat straight forward to determine an ID's income and credit worthiness.<br />
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Escrow services are often used in external systems related to current crypto-currency transactions. It will be a value add to the users of the network to have escrow services built in and automated as fully as possible. It is a fact of life that mail gets lost and stolen. Cargo ships even still sink sometimes. The escrow services could also be combined with insurance services to protect users as much as possible; users must receive the items that they purchased, or a refund. Fraudulent claims must always be guarded against, and this is where having real time access to all currency movements will be useful to the system. Even in the Bitcoin world, suspicious activity is watched by the community. That information can be used to affect the ratings of suspicious ID's and to flag new ID's who appear to be related to suspicious ID's. I like the theme here though, any real person has the opportunity to turn a new leaf at any time. The past is always forgiven, albeit built into the cost structure that everyone must bear.<br />
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<b>FRAUD PROTECTION</b><br />
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Trust in this new crypto-currency system is a prerequisite to wide spread use of the system. The most important goal of the whole system is to protect value that individuals have entrusted to the system. Fraud that unfairly wipes out a single individual's value is the most damaging of all to their trust in the system. Many safeguards can be implemented at the client level. As the MtGox exchange limits withdrawals of Bitcoin based on their value, so can the Jambit client limit transaction sizes for various account ID's. Users must be educated on strategies to protect their assets. They could even be rewarded with insurance protections based on how well they comply with recommended best practices. In other words, if you use a hardware key device and a secure password, keep large sums in offline encrypted wallets, have a great community reputation for your ID; if you are defrauded, the system can automatically settle reimburse you for your losses. The information provided by the user on how they were defrauded could be used to improve the whole system.<br />
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Other helpful options might be to integrate transactions with shipping tracking numbers, or at least provide tools for vendors to do that easily. I'm dreaming now, but wouldn't it be cool if the network of users handled deliveries for packages within their cities. Everyone would have an easy way to earn JamBits by providing package delivery services.<br />
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<b>PROBATE AND LOSS</b><br />
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As crypto-currency usage grows, people will want to know that their assets are safe from loss and that they can be passed down to people of their choosing even in the case of their own demise. Currently, if a person encrypts their Bitcoin wallet and forgets their password, the funds are lost forever. If their computer crashes and they lose their wallet.dat file, their funds are lost forever. If they die and haven't told anyone else how to access their funds, the funds are lost forever. There is a simple solution for these situations that can be built into the JamBit client tool. When a new ID is created, a user should have an option to select an inactivity period and a beneficiary ID address. If an ID goes inactive for 5 years (or whatever time the user chooses), then the funds credited in that account would automatically be split as defined by the original user, and credited to the beneficiary account or accounts. This would help protect people from lost passwords and provide a means of transferring funds postmortem.<br />
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This article is just my brainstorm on the subject, so please do add your ideas to the comments sections below.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-60013104523797912552013-03-16T21:29:00.002-07:002013-03-16T21:35:37.119-07:00Making the most of a bad situation.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A car accident can be a traumatizing experience. Even if the accident was not your fault, it can end up costing you money if you are not careful about how you approach the situation. Insurance adjusters sometimes count on your emotional state and will use that against you when determining how much to pay out. A key take away here is good advice for all aspects of life, "Wait until your emotions are calm before you make any big decisions." Make sure you are in a calm a clear state whenever you talk to the adjusters, or else have someone else talk to them for you.<br />
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My second thought on this topic is that there is usually more money available to you in an accident payout situation than will be initially offered. A little patience on your part can get you a bigger check. Let's look at a real world situation that I just went through and see how everything played out. My one of past girl-friends got backed into in a parking lot. Parking lots can be a strange place as far as traffic law goes, and the other person would not claim full responsibility even though the accident was totally her fault. The other person's insurance would only offer to cover 80% of the damages to my girl. That meant she would have to make a claim with her own insurance and pay a $500 deductible. My girl was more distraught over that than the accident or the damage to her car. Fortunately, she was too broke to pay the $500 and she followed my advice and haggled with the other driver's insurance company.<br />
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She did get some work done on her back and the lady who worked on her spine said that the stiffness was definitely from the accident. Armed with a potential bodily injury claim, we began to haggle with the insurance company and threatened to hire a lawyer if they didn't at least send someone out to assess the dollar amount of damage to my girl's car. After two months of crawling in from the passenger side, we finally got the other insurance company to cave. They assumed 100% liability for the accident which was fair based on the way the accident occurred. Their adjuster gave an estimate of about $3000 to repair the damage to both doors on the drivers side of my girl's car.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/PhPUdGpCSJ8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Now, there were two options for making repairs to the car. One, we go to a body shop that works with the insurance company on a regular basis, and they would bill the insurance company directly, or two, we take a $3000 check and get the car fixed our-self. We went shopping at various body shops and we found some that would fix the damage for slightly less, but they wouldn't make any promises if they found more damage than what was visible on the outside. This was a little intimidating for us and we almost went with option 1. Option 2 is where you can pocket some money though. You just have to make sure you can get the car fixed cheap ... and if you are willing to do some work yourself, you can save even more money.<br />
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For parts, I recommend <a href="http://www.car-part.com/">http://www.car-part.com/</a> for any parts that you can't find off Craigslist or local pick-part businesses. Again, only because my girl was broke did she let me talk her into fixing it our-self. I drove about 200 miles to get two doors that were the wrong color, and they cost $500 each, but we still pocketed $1100 after the whole job was done. I did all the work that I was capable of doing ... removing panels and trim and test fitting the doors. Then I shopped for a body shop that wouldn't turn his nose up to me bringing in my own replacement parts. He was a guy that understood we were on a tight budget, and he gave us a very competitive quote to paint and mount the replacement doors. We got the body work done for only $900, and the car is back to original condition.<br />
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My last tip is to save any parts that you have left over and then resell those after the job is done. I have a side mirror for a 2008 Saturn Aura, two glass windows, and the electric window regulators to sell now. I should be able to recover a couple more hundred dollars once I sell those parts.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-90868045728326418622013-02-27T12:33:00.000-08:002013-03-02T15:04:33.098-08:00New Government Study Concludes: Regulations Don't Cost Jobs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
New Government Study Concludes: Regulations Don't Cost Jobs<br />
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Can you feel me cringe? If only you guys knew me better, you'd know how much it hurts me to read stuff like that. To add insult to injury, I had to read that article knowing full well that most people in America have never tried to start their own business. That means most people have no clue about the malaise of federal, state, and local regulations that restrict almost any form of business. They don't understand how regulations keep us "little people" out of so many trades, and keep us from working independently as business owners.<br />
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In order to stay positive about this reality, I must remind myself that this is my niche. The harder the government makes it for people to earn an honest living, the more demand there will be for unique ideas to get around the government. The ultimate purpose of "MrMoneyHustler" is to present new ideas for people to make money honestly, but also without all the hassles and regulations placed on established forms of business. As frustrating as it is when the government restricts people from working independently, we should all be reminded that everyday brings a new way to make a little pay.<br />
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My strategy is to present new ways to make money that are honest, but not regulated. Mostly, only new ways to make money are unregulated. If it's been around for a while, someone will have lobbied for regulations to impede new competition. If you have any ideas for new ways to make a buck, please share. <br />
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Ultimately, this is a quest for freedom. We live in a world where money is required to survive, and people who control money use that as a means of control over us. We will do what we have to do to make the money that we need to make to survive. This is the mechanism that causes us to allow our government to make us contribute to actions that we find immoral, because our own survival is tied to compliance through the use of money. <br />
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Some people are upset that their tax dollars might be taken and used to perform abortions. Others are upset that their tax dollars are taken and used to kill innocent people in foreign lands. The Occupy Wall Street folks are upset that money is used to keep wealth and power in the hands of a few. We can take much of their power away, by reducing our dependence on what they control, money. We have to be wily with our views on "money" in order to preserve the power that we are rightfully entitled to, and to stand up for morality in our world. <br />
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In order to re-establish our power, we need to get back to the basics of what is "money" and what is a "fair exchange". Money is an abstract concept after all. If someone is abusing that abstract concept to control us, then it should be fairly easy to shift that abstract concept a little in our favor. The key is to convince a lot of other people to go along with the plan. When the system is rigged this heavily against the people, the people need to come up with a new system. Anytime you set out to re-design a system, the first step is to identify the basic principles at work.<br />
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We the people create "value" in the form of goods and services. One feature of "money" is that it is a tool to allow different people to exchange their goods and services in a way that is fair to everyone involved. So, one of the first ways we might consider a new system, is to focus on "value" creation as the goal, and money as a secondary concept that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with actual value. Many great systems spawn from a focus on "value" creation: co-opts, charity, partnership, and off-grid living just to name a few. In all these systems there is exchange of goods and services that are not always tied to an exchange of money.<br />
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The main point about "value" creation is that when you are broke, sometimes the wrong question to ask is: "How can I make some money today?" The right question is: "How can I create some value today?" Of course, the next question to ask is: "How do I get what I need to keep creating value?" The simplest answer to that is to create value for yourself, but this has a lot of limitations. You will always have to go beyond that in order to thrive. We all must figure out how to create value for others and make sure that we eventually derive some benefit from that as well. Let's take an example at this point.<br />
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We all need a place to live. Because of the way the world works, it costs money to reserve the use of a shelter. However, some creative thinking on how you can add "value" to yourself, and then others might make it possible for you to occupy the space for free. Suppose you rent or buy a run down old house and fix it up to be more comfortable for yourself. This is a simple example of creating "value" for yourself. Your effort to improve your living standards was not taxed nor was it devalued by inflation or other monetary meddling of the government. Simply put, you have a nicer place to live.<br />
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That "value" creation also has potential for you to create value for others by letting others live with you. Perhaps that other person would be so grateful as to buy the groceries and pay the electric bill. Now you have added value to someone else and they have added value back to you, and no money was exchanged between. If you have other practical examples, please submit them in the comments section.<br />
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Another feature of "money" is its ability to store value. So, how can we store value without using money? Again, please submit your ideas.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-44421104778767123682013-02-19T05:35:00.002-08:002013-03-13T13:43:59.678-07:00Get Pure Gold From Electronic Scrap in One Place<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The following presentation will describe the process of refining gold from electronic scrap. The descriptions and instructions given in text below are supplemented with video taped demonstrations of the process. The videos are closed captioned, so be sure to click the "CC' in the lower right of the YouTube viewer.<br />
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The "no duh" first step is to collect a bunch of electronic scrap. In this series we focus on simple gold fingered computer connector cards. Simply shear off the part of the electronic card which contains the visible gold connectors. Other scrap sources include processor chips and connector pins. It is best practice to keep each specific type of scrap in separate batches at least until you've gone through the whole process a couple of times.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">The cards can still be sold to a scrap yard minus the gold fingers. Watch out for the occasional high end electronics that have gold plated traces under the green paint.</span></div>
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For the second step, here are the materials you will need:</div>
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1. 32% HCL (muriatic acid). This can be found at any pool supply store and some hardware stores.</div>
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2. Two clean five-gallon buckets with lids</div>
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3. PC cards with only the gold connector strips</div>
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4. Safety gear, goggles, latex gloves, eye wash bottle, and baking soda</div>
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5. Filtering station ... for small scale a 12 cup coffee pot and coffee maker will do</div>
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6. Filters and paper napkins</div>
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7. Container to collect paper filters (with gold)</div>
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8. Container for all napkins and used gloves</div>
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9. Jugs to store fluids in.</div>
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10. Hot Plate -- MOUNTED OUTDOORS, AWAY FROM ANY METAL</div>
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11. 24" plastic stir rod ... half of a wand from mini-blinds will do.</div>
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Simply put the IC cards with the gold fingers into the five-gallon bucket and cover with acid. Some distilled water can be added to raise the level of fluid if needed. Swish the stuff in the bucket around every day for a week or so. Of course, be careful with all the fluids. Once copper starts to dissolve, the fluid will turn green and it will be toxic to people, animals, and especially to fish. Make sure to keep everything locked away where no neighbor's kid can get to it.</div>
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After inspection of the cards reveals that there is no gold on any card, remove the cards. Squirt them off with distilled water to wash gold as much gold as possible down into the acid bucket. Now filter the acid in the five-gallon bucket to separate the gold flakes from the copper chloride acid solution. </div>
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Put all filters and gold flakes into a coffee pot and cover with clean 32% HCL. Bring this to a boil and stir vigorously to break up the paper filters. Now pour off the acid (save for re-use) . Only gold, paper goo, and a few small fragments remain now</div>
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Now we need some more materials:</div>
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1. A second filter station</div>
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2. A small jug for the gold solution</div>
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3. Clorox bleach</div>
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4. (Ice cubes made with distilled water) ...not needed in cool weather</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/4cN7sW3UZz4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe>With all the gold foils and insoluble junk in one coffee pot, add more clean 32 % HCL. If the temperature is over 75 deg in your work area, add a few cubes of ice made from distilled water to help chlorine stay in solution. Now dribble small amounts of Clorox bleach into the coffee pot while stirring. Stop with the Clorox if excessive fizzing begins or if the fumes bother you. Swish it around, let it sit, swish it around again, let it sit overnight, swish it around again. If it is hot outside, you can set the coffee pot in a cooler with regular ice in it. The object is to keep chlorine gas, which is released with the Clorox, in your solution. The chlorine is what reacts with the gold to dissolve it.<br />
<br />
Make sure all the gold flakes are dissolved into a golden to golden green solution. Now we can filter this solution to separate the gold in the solution from all the paper goo and any other insoluble fragments. Now we have clean clear liquid with AuCl dissolved in it.</div>
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Now it is time to get back to a solid form. Here are the materials we must add to our list now:</div>
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<div>
1. Sodium Metabisulfite powder -- Na<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span>S<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span>O<span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span> (readily available on eBay or restaurant supply store).</div>
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2. 95% tin solder wire</div>
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You can test for the presence of gold in the solution using the stannous chloride test. It's easy, just allow a strip of tin solder wire to dissolve in a "tiny" cup of HCL ... you only need a few drops really. Wet a paper napkin with the gold bearing solution, and then dab the stannous chloride solution onto the napkin with a q-tip. A purplish-brown splotch should appear quickly if gold is present in good concentration. If the gold test reaction is weak, you should consider trying to dissolve more gold into your solution.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/LjQtGvwR4pY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Transfer the solution back to a good coffee pot, preferably an old-school flame proof glass coffee pot. Bring the solution to a boil for a couple of minutes to drive off excess chlorine gas. Then double the volume of your solution with distilled water. Now the solution is ready to precipitate the gold back out of solution as a solid brown powder. Now add a few table spoons of the Sodium Metabisulfite to the gold solution. There needs to be room in the container to allow for fizzing. Be sure to go outside for this step, as it releases noxious fumes. </div>
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Stir the pot until everything turns cloudy brown and ugly. The Na<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span>S<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span>O<span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span> reacts in solution to steal the chlorine ions away from the gold, leaving the gold behind as solid metal. So, let the gold settle and you can pour the liquid off and leave the gold powder in the coffee pot. Filter the fluid in case any gold floats out with it, and save the fluid too, in case more gold is in solution. Now it is time to refine the purity of the gold powder. It may be disappointing to know that over half of the powder could still be copper.</div>
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Add more clean HCL to the powder, not a lot, just enough to swish it all around in. Bring this to a boil while swishing from time to time. Let it cool and pour off the acid. Be sure to filter lest any gold float out, and save the acid for re-use. Repeat the swish, boil, swish routine two more times with HCL and then 3 more times with distilled water.</div>
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<div>
The gold powder is now mostly pure. We will also use potassium nitrate when we melt it to help burn off any remaining atoms of base metals like copper, nickel, iron, tin, and zinc. The following materials are required at this time:</div>
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1. Graphite crucible</div>
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2. Borax</div>
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3. Potassium nitrate.</div>
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Transfer the gold powder to the graphite crucible. For every spoon full of gold, add one spoon full of potassium nitrate and five spoon fulls of borax. The crucible should not be over half-full at this point. The borax does expand and bubble as it is heated.</div>
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To melt the gold, have these items ready:</div>
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1. Leather gloves</div>
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2. Furnace, acetylene torch, or my "<a href="http://mrmoneyhustler.blogspot.com/p/microwave-kiln-kit-melt-gold-and-other.html" target="_blank">microwave kiln kit</a>" and a microwave oven</div>
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3 Graphite ingot mold, or carbonized iron mold</div>
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4. Tongs to handle and pour the hot graphite crucible</div>
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The microwave kiln is made from a light weight refractory fiber board. It comes in two inch thick panels. Aluminum silicate works well, and so do other similar refractory materials. It can be easily cut into the correct shape with a drywall hole saw. Two inches is a sufficient thickness of insulation around all points of the crucible to protect the microwave oven.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/9gRiNM2P3dA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe>All metal melting should be done outside as well. The insulation may off-gas worse on it's first time use. It takes about 30 minutes to melt about 5 grams of gold in a regular 1000W kitchen microwave. Be sure to watch closely and check frequently to make sure your microwave is not getting too hot.</div>
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If you need to stir the mixture of gold and borax, use a clean graphite rod. Give the gold plenty of time to heat up in the microwave, and then have you tongs and mold ready so that you can flip the crucible quickly to pour out your gold into a graphite ingot mold. A less expensive alternative is a piece of angle iron or cast iron depression. Be sure to coat the surface of the iron with a layer of soot (from acetylene torch or candle.</div>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Project End: Proper Waste Disposal and Recycling</h3>
Please dispose of all materials, leftovers, acids, metals, and toxins appropriately. This will help you get more gold out and save the little fishes of the sea.<br />
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Here is a list of additional items that are needed to recycle and dispose of the waste stream materials:<br />
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1. Plastic storage bin<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/XDabGbx8AlQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe>2. five-gallon bucket with lid<br />
3. UPS power supply (or other source for 2 to 3V)<br />
4. Wire, electrical clips<br />
5. tywraps<br />
6. strong plastic bag<br />
7. 10' x 1/2" PVC pipe<br />
8. graphite anodes - maybe be recovered from some D-cell batteries<br />
9. stainless steel straps and screws<br />
10. PC fans<br />
11. plastic mesh washable home A/C air filter<br />
12. coffee pot (glassware capable of boiling fluids)<br />
13. hotplate<br />
14. 2' x 3/4" Copper pipe <br />
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The first step here is to verify that there are no precious metals remaining in the CuCl acid solution using the stannous chloride test. If there is any suspicion that precious metals remain, a large scrap of copper can be added to the solution to make sure that all precious metals precipitate out of solution. After some time is given to allow solids to settle, the waste fluid can be siphoned off the top and base metals can be removed via electrolysis. Any sludges that form at the bottom of the bucket should be treated as if they contain precious metals, and they should be run back through the whole process with the next batch of gold bearing electronic scrap.<br />
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Video: Making a graphite anode rack</div>
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A high-end UPS backup power supply can be used as the power source for the electrolytic tank, but do verify that the voltage settles in the 2V to 3V range when everything is hooked up. If the voltage goes higher, gases will be generated, electricity will be wasted, and the surface quality of the copper plate will be jagged and unsalable. A plastic five-gallon bucket can still be used as the tank although a secondary containment system is recommended to catch spills and drips. A plastic storage bin is adequate. <br />
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An anode rack should be made from graphite rods because the acid bath is too corrosive for any metal to exist on the anode (+) side of the electrolytic cell. Graphite anodes can be recovered from some used D-cell batteries. Besides the method shown in the video above, stainless steel screw clamps are
another handy way to attach a lead wire to the graphite anodes. In
order to keep the solution free of solid particles, simply wrap the
anodes with coffee filters since they will eventually deteriorate. In
the case of an electrolytic cell, the anode should be attached to the
positive terminal of the power supply. <br />
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Video: Prepare a copper starter plate to serve as the cathode.<br />
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The cathode, a flattened piece of copper pipe, should be attached to the negative terminal of the power supply. Metal from the solution will accumulate on this copper starter plate. If the rate of accumulation is too fast, and a rough surface develops, the voltage should be lowered and/or a physical barrier should be placed around the pipe to slow the ions in solution from getting access to the copper pipe.<br />
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On my first attempt, the rate of deposition of copper got too high at some locations on the starter plate. That led to rough formations of copper deposits. The copper would flake off in places, and that is not a desirable form to sale it in. The first thing to check is voltage if that happens. If the voltage is staying between 2 and 3 volts, then you will need a physical barrier around the pipe to control deposition rates. Cut the ends off flexible plastic drinking bottles and slide them over the copper plate. It will be good if the plastic tubes are deformed into an oval shape in order to fit around the copper plate as that will prevent deposition on the edges of the copper plate. Holes can be drilled into the plastic tube as needed to increase deposition if a higher rate is needed.</div>
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Video: Electro-cell operation and copper recovery </div>
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If you are starting with solution that is saturated with copper, it will be dark, opaque, and chemically it will have one copper ion associated with one chloride ion -- Cu(+)Cl(-) or just CuCl. As electric current is run through the system, oxidation and reduction reactions occur and the result is that soon there will only be one copper ion available for every two chloride ions -- Cu(+2)Cl(-)<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2 </span><span style="font-size: small;">o<span style="font-size: small;">r CuCl<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2<span style="font-size: small;">. The extra <span style="font-size: small;">co<span style="font-size: small;">pper</span> <span style="font-size: small;">ions </span>come out of solution as<span style="font-size: small;"> solid metal on your cathode plate. </span></span>You will know when that process is done beca<span style="font-size: small;">use the solution will turn <span style="font-size: small;">in</span>to a beautiful emerald green<span style="font-size: small;"> li<span style="font-size: small;">quid that you can see through.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The solution can now be reused with a new batch of gold bearing electronic scrap. This process helps save you the need to buy more clean HCL, and it reduces the volume o<span style="font-size: small;">f metallic salt bearing solution that must be <span style="font-size: small;">disposed of in an <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">environmentally</span> friendly way later.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Video<span style="font-size: small;">: <span style="font-size: small;">CuCl solution ready for reuse.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: small;">continue to run <span style="font-size: small;">current through the electrolytic cell, the rate <span style="font-size: small;">of copper deposition wi<span style="font-size: small;">l<span style="font-size: small;">l be<span style="font-size: small;">gin to fall sharply. When the amount of copper ions drop<span style="font-size: small;">s below the number of chloride ions, the chlorine will begin to associate with hydrogen in the water, and regener<span style="font-size: small;">ate the HCL in solution. But<span style="font-size: small;">, other reaction<span style="font-size: small;">s also <span style="font-size: small;">occur w<span style="font-size: small;">hich can lea<span style="font-size: small;">d to the generation of H<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: small;">and Cl<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span> gases.<span style="font-size: small;"> That could possi<span style="font-size: small;">bl<span style="font-size: small;">y result in a fire risk<span style="font-size: small;">, but also chlorine gas is very corrosive to tools or anything you ha<span style="font-size: small;">ve in the area. There is no need to run the el<span style="font-size: small;">ectrolysis for that long however<span style="font-size: small;">. Simply run it until the solution goes emerald green a<span style="font-size: small;">nd clear, and it will be ready to dissolve more copper.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">A<span style="font-size: small;">fter your last batch, you must dispose <span style="font-size: small;">of everything in a safe way<span style="font-size: small;">, or find a market for all wa<span style="font-size: small;">ste stream. All solid material<span style="font-size: small;">s must be washed repeated<span style="font-size: small;">ly <span style="font-size: small;">with clean water to get all the metal<span style="font-size: small;"> salt<span style="font-size: small;">s out. <span style="font-size: small;">To deal with the volume of water, you will need a dryer unit. <span style="font-size: small;">Fans from computers can be used with plastic buckets and plastic air filter mesh materials to evaporate t<span style="font-size: small;">he solutions. As the solutions are re<span style="font-size: small;">-concentrat<span style="font-size: small;">ed, <span style="font-size: small;">metals can be electroplated ou<span style="font-size: small;">t again. Finally as the solutions are dried completely though, only metallic salt crystals will remain. These can be sent off for <span style="font-size: small;">assay <span style="font-size: small;">to a precious meta<span style="font-size: small;">l refiner. <span style="font-size: small;">For a fe<span style="font-size: small;">e, they will let you know exactly what metals are pres<span style="font-size: small;">ent. Th<span style="font-size: small;">en you can plan best how to <span style="font-size: small;">s<span style="font-size: small;">ell</span> or dispose of the salts once the<span style="font-size: small;">ir comp<span style="font-size: small;">osition is known.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com77tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-78758805315794544172013-02-14T20:33:00.000-08:002013-03-02T15:12:53.735-08:00A Tale of Two Currencies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Throughout history humans have had two types of currency. The purpose of the first type of currency is to provide a handy and available medium of exchange. Cash is an example of this type of currency. It is what we use everyday to buy stuff. The purpose of the other type of currency is to be a safe store of value. Silver coins are an example of this type of currency. The buying power of this type of currency holds steady or even increases with time. All matters concerning money are relative, but in general, there are two needs that money provides solutions for: a medium for exchange, and a store of value.<br />
<br />
In ancient times we might have seen this dynamic play out with gold and silver. Silver was used for everyday purchases, and gold was used as a more desired form to store large quantities of value and for longer periods of time. Today, many forms of investments are used to store value, or even appreciate value, over long periods of time. For example, real estate could be seen as this second type of money I'm referring to. Real-estate and many other forms of investment are sometimes used as a safe store of value, or a form of money that either preserves or gains in purchasing power. Other examples of items that are used to store and appreciate value are gold, stocks, antiques, and diamonds. These items often satisfy the need humans have for storing their efforts for production from one day, and reclaiming the value of their efforts on some day in the future.<br />
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When we think about how to design money or a monetary system, we might like to have a single currency that satisfies both the need to store value, and the need to have a handy and available medium for exchange. Because of human behavior however, this is not possible. If we try to make the currency that is used for daily exchange also satisfy the need for safe value storage, the result is that it will be hoarded under certain economic conditions. People will value the currency itself, and it will no longer be readily available to trade for goods and services as people begin to accumulate the currency and hold onto it. In order for a healthy economic system to operate smoothly, there is a need for a slight disincentive to hoarding the type of money that is used for everyday purchases.<br />
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The Federal Reserve System accomplishes this by slowly devaluing the purchasing power of the currency that is used for everyday trading. This is done fairly simply by introducing currency, US dollars for example, into circulation at a slightly faster rate than economic activity increases, or slightly faster than goods and services are made available to the economy. The result is mild but steady inflation, and that situation encourages people to seek to trade their dollars for assets that will not lose value. Those assets might be gold, real-estate, stocks, or anything else. The point is that it is not in the best interest of the average person to save dollars for a long period of time because they will slowly lose value. It is better to accumulate assets that will appreciate in value relative to dollars. This is the mechanism by which dollars become like a hot potato and people are eager to trade them for more tangible assets. This arrangement keeps the dollars flowing around in circles through the economy, and it helps keeps them handy and available for everyday transactions.<br />
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People have many choices as to what they want to use for the second type of currency, their "store of value". The best choices for a currency that is to be used as a store of value are currencies which are made available at a slower rate than the growth of the overall economy. The idea is to have demand for the currency outpace new supplies of the currency. So, in this case, the purchasing power of the currency will hold steady or even increase with time. Gold has been a good example of this over the last 10 years. Because of limitations on mining, supply is limited. The economies of the world have grown handily, and so the purchasing power of gold has grown also since supply is limited and demand increases.<br />
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Our current system has some problems though. Namely, people are in control of the system, and people have conflicts of interest. People don't always do what is best for everyone when they have to option to do what is best for themselves, or their friends, or their family. That's not to mention the potential for humans to screw up. Also, our current system depends on an incredibly complicated system of accounting which is used to get information to the decision makers. Error and delay are always possible along the way. These issues may be short lived however, because we are standing on the brink of a revolutionary solution to these problems. We now have the ability to design our two types of currency in a way that eliminates the human factor, and in a way that bases adjustments to money supply on real-time data from the economic conditions of the moment.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYbPXpffLzQhEvY_CiiILFkFqIPV7sEfVikFvaPnVRq6hH7uKdsiQirsWp2zDzoagCd4HLqAHzxVpBfoPecpJzpH4rI_XWf3Yio8xfRVBigiUy9TkhZEAFd5_J3qYTLLXAd2WJtrLUl4Q/s1600/BTC+Done640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYbPXpffLzQhEvY_CiiILFkFqIPV7sEfVikFvaPnVRq6hH7uKdsiQirsWp2zDzoagCd4HLqAHzxVpBfoPecpJzpH4rI_XWf3Yio8xfRVBigiUy9TkhZEAFd5_J3qYTLLXAd2WJtrLUl4Q/s320/BTC+Done640.jpg" width="320" /></a> Welcome to the era of electronic crypto-currency! We have one, thus far, successful example of a crypto-currency. It is a currency which is optimized to behave as a "store of value," and it is called Bitcoin. Bitcoins are designed to appreciate in value by virtue of limitations on the introduction of new Bitcoins. Demand is far outpacing supply, and as a result, the price for each Bitcoin is rising very rapidly. The effect of this situation is clear; people tend to hoard Bitcoins rather than buy stuff with them because they are appreciating in value so rapidly. As the world of crypto-currency matures, we will need another currency type that satisfies the need to have a handy, readily available medium for exchange ... ergo, a currency that people don't tend to hoard.<br />
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We can accomplish that goal by copying the Federal Reserve system in the context of a computer program. One cool feature of a crypto-currency is that every transaction is logged electronically. That means that the volume and velocity of monetary movement is known in real time. The actual amount of economic activity is known. With that information readily available, a computer program can easily control the introduction of new currency at a rate that is slightly higher than the increase in economic activity. A reduction in monetary supply could also be programmed to take effect as needed. The key thought here is that the human element of the Federal Reserve system is now expendable. We have better options at our fingertips.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-58768446061228778792012-11-09T14:59:00.000-08:002012-11-09T14:59:33.076-08:00Generate Advertising Revenue While You SellThis is a simple idea that I'm just starting to implement. Why sell stuff on eBay where they charge commission and earn advertising revenue off your postings? Why not post your items on your own webpage and earn advertising dollars along side of your sales?<br />
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The advent of free blog pages and other free web pages makes this possible to do without risking any cash out of your pocket. It becomes only a matter of promoting your webpage or blog sufficiently to get the traffic you need to make sales. Once you have traffic on your page, you can encourage others to post items on your page as you place ads on it. Opening up your page to others is a great way to build content,
traffic, and advertising revenue without any additional effort. This is especially a good idea if you've been wanting to start a blog but don't know what to write about, or if you have a blog but need easy fillers to add in content on a regular basis.<br />
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One great way to build traffic to your site is to make a Craigslist posting because you can still place a link in Craigslist ads that point back to a webpage. There are other free online stores that you can also use to build traffic on your own site. Even if you sell on eBay, you can encourage repeat customers to buy directly from your webpage. I do recommend that you focus on selling products that you can keep in stock at all times. For example, I sell used golf balls on one of my blog-pages: <a href="http://golfballheaven.blogspot.com/p/golf-balls-for-sale-in-austin-and.html">http://golfballheaven.blogspot.com/p/golf-balls-for-sale-in-austin-and.html</a><br />
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I get most of my customers from Craigslist and some from Facebook. I can link directly to my blog from both of those sites. When a potential customer contacts me through email, I always send a link to my blog page that has the appropriate products for sale. This builds traffic to my page and gives me a way to keep in touch with my customers and get repeat business. Perhaps they will see another product that they want to buy in one of my ads; I don't mind, the advertising revenue is easy money for me since I don't have to deal with products or customers. I just collect my check from Google adsense every month.<br />
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As you begin, you can focus on marketing only to local customers that you can meet in person to make the transactions. Later, you can add your own checkout tools to collect payments with PayPal or Google or Bitcoin.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-28712755403567720962012-08-05T15:38:00.001-07:002012-08-05T15:45:23.300-07:00Appliance Repair Equals Easy Money<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Craigslist abounds with people wanting to get rid of appliances that are broken. Many of these can be had for $5, a song, or less. I recommend that one focus on fairly new items so that they are easy to sell after they are working again. Here is a quick video to show how easily a dryer can be repaired. In this video, I'm replacing the heating element, but another common dryer repair, drive belt replacement, is even easier.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/dq9BFrWm8C4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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There are tons of good YouTube videos that cover common repairs for exact makes and models of appliances. Usually, only common tools are required and so there isn't much investment required to do this as long as you have a way to transport large items.<br />
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Remember, even if the appliance is too broken to repair, it is still worth money as scrap metal. Also, there may be parts that can be scavenged from some appliances and then used to repair others. One could potentially strip broken appliances and just sell the good parts online. Please comment below if you have any other information to share that would help someone make money off broken appliances.<br />
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Lastly, I found the best replacement parts prices at: <a href="http://www.appliance-parts-experts.com/131553900-dryer-heater.html">http://www.appliance-parts-experts.com/131553900-dryer-heater.html</a><br />
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-78808502736029505782012-08-05T09:41:00.000-07:002012-08-05T11:03:25.269-07:00Using Google Maps to Find Golf Balls<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It is easy to make extra money if you have a lot of used golf balls to sell. All you have to do is go see how much they sell used/refurbished balls for at Walmart, and then sell them on Craigslist for less. The trick is to find hoards of used balls. I'm getting pretty good at using Google's satellite images to find places to hunt for golf balls. Here's how I do it!<br />
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I start by looking for all the golf clubs that are in my town, or anywhere that I might be driving past. Then I zoom in on the golf course.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsmIzVoMctM1-n9LspAYRTccRVWOrkUOLZ5qWEYM8RM7jDdJ1xZ19HAxzGlHbaxwqsNSGgLxRoj_Los4REpVpd1tz6bXCOE7byrae7pbetoj84z8oDw8sEo256BPTKwnPlT9Vo31uzO0k/s1600/GolfCourse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsmIzVoMctM1-n9LspAYRTccRVWOrkUOLZ5qWEYM8RM7jDdJ1xZ19HAxzGlHbaxwqsNSGgLxRoj_Los4REpVpd1tz6bXCOE7byrae7pbetoj84z8oDw8sEo256BPTKwnPlT9Vo31uzO0k/s400/GolfCourse.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In the picture above, I have zoomed in on a golf course in a planned community that is not far out of my way when driving to work. I circled a place where there is a cul-de-sac next to one of the fairways on the golf course. Since there are no houses on the end of the cul-de-sac, this is a place where I could potentially get to the edge of the golf course without getting on the golf course. When zooming into this area further, I can see several other features that make this a good candidate location.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2EKs77WuS5gm-eFURheIElnArMjONKL8nb-A-nwhqFWNpMu8_Dmp0OmPf-7DlMDOUi9HrHNBNjyFOs4LMNEM2-uXY1Cp7JvAh0c2YFqGkvzz3yx21TmDpJpW-zwOXzLdHUM6w5y8rdmY/s1600/SliceZone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2EKs77WuS5gm-eFURheIElnArMjONKL8nb-A-nwhqFWNpMu8_Dmp0OmPf-7DlMDOUi9HrHNBNjyFOs4LMNEM2-uXY1Cp7JvAh0c2YFqGkvzz3yx21TmDpJpW-zwOXzLdHUM6w5y8rdmY/s400/SliceZone.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The first good feature is that this location is on the right hand side of the fairway as you look from the T-off spot to where the hole flag is. That means all the sliced shots will accumulate there. The other great feature is that there is a tiny stream running along the right hand side of the fairway. That means that there is an obstacle between golfers and their lost balls ... another good indication that there may be some accumulation in this area. Another great feature of this spot is that I can park close by. The red areas outline places I want to search. The round circle is where the sliced shots are likely to accumulate, and the oval area is where there may be balls that have washed out of the pond after a storm. That bend in the creek is a likely settle-out zone. However, I will mention now that I didn't find anything in the oval area. The last feature becomes apparent when you go to google street view:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib6LyMrjGP2fhL3IRhyrQMALVT8ugf1es9kJmfHqoi-Ik4RUmiTtZ4Df-vKRS0Rt4MnKxqhFMlNmyK5aIs5gO1-7tC4Wz35fpwstpSYvEo8segQXSDqK8Z9GjRGw7d4a8xnaYSF8iRZ0s/s1600/StreetView.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib6LyMrjGP2fhL3IRhyrQMALVT8ugf1es9kJmfHqoi-Ik4RUmiTtZ4Df-vKRS0Rt4MnKxqhFMlNmyK5aIs5gO1-7tC4Wz35fpwstpSYvEo8segQXSDqK8Z9GjRGw7d4a8xnaYSF8iRZ0s/s400/StreetView.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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It's the best feature, tall grass! Actually, the grass was even taller the day I went looking for balls here. That made it harder for me to find the balls, but it was crucial for discouraging other more casual golf ball hunters from searching the area. I've pulled over 300 golf balls out of this area in about an hour's worth of hunting. But, you need more than one spot if you're going to make any decent amount of money hunting golf balls. So, back to google maps.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGah6qCTiuLLXy4toJ3mvA81eMe7K4PaE9fsyFbg5ird0W7XoP32SjeG-QWi0LA3q4atceSNVfB8SceMmm4G1pNwX910hCxNux5My_dtAmt0j5jGJBCpc177Vb6E_L-Rmwegd_xkNrCg/s1600/ParkAccess.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGah6qCTiuLLXy4toJ3mvA81eMe7K4PaE9fsyFbg5ird0W7XoP32SjeG-QWi0LA3q4atceSNVfB8SceMmm4G1pNwX910hCxNux5My_dtAmt0j5jGJBCpc177Vb6E_L-Rmwegd_xkNrCg/s400/ParkAccess.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Other areas that I like to search are golf clubs that are adjacent to a public park or railroad track. You can see in the picture above that there is a wooded area between the Brushy Creek Regional Trail and the golf course. The red outline highlights another slice zone near the hole on another course. Again, there is a little stream that separates the golfers from their lost balls, and also there are usually high weeds there. Another great spot is often directly behind the hole on a course. A lot of balls sail past the hole when a golfer is trying to make a wedge shot but catches the ball with the leading edge of the club. So, you have to pay attention to where the holes are and which direction the golfers are swinging from. That's how you figure out specific areas where balls accumulate.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpSnADsQ8yV0umZZjyf5d-zm3unQPM3Byn5ehwWtnU28CUYw5ighi-rlwDyonbGtUz0F79rfQgG8s6VrbVmfTskUdngi_KAYn69IjB2UFsExZ9Z8bunKJC9qsf6C10ir_aLoCtMHgpKKA/s1600/Railroad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpSnADsQ8yV0umZZjyf5d-zm3unQPM3Byn5ehwWtnU28CUYw5ighi-rlwDyonbGtUz0F79rfQgG8s6VrbVmfTskUdngi_KAYn69IjB2UFsExZ9Z8bunKJC9qsf6C10ir_aLoCtMHgpKKA/s400/Railroad.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Above is another spot on the same golf course where I find balls all the way on the other side of the railroad tracks. The short red line in the cul-de-sac is where I picked to park, and the red outline area shows where I found the most balls. I did find a few in the ditch marked by the long straight line as well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRlR89tthv_RPLXyKVUdCiEZtQ3xl1Ba4Z2lvfzHfV3KrivKZIfYYqriRCrp-gR6CNrCejnr7bO9xxYx_nTeM-XePMMBrlxIBcrtHRlu-_o8hORA4uPU9AxfBA125iTX2fnUa3pTexCEU/s1600/Snake1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRlR89tthv_RPLXyKVUdCiEZtQ3xl1Ba4Z2lvfzHfV3KrivKZIfYYqriRCrp-gR6CNrCejnr7bO9xxYx_nTeM-XePMMBrlxIBcrtHRlu-_o8hORA4uPU9AxfBA125iTX2fnUa3pTexCEU/s400/Snake1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Be careful out there though! Watch out for snakes in the small streams and high weeds. Happy golf ball hunting, and please check out my youtube video that explains a little more about sorting and selling golf balls:<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PTUdT0iUsQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PTUdT0iUsQ</a>
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-9219881685994074872012-02-21T14:34:00.000-08:002012-02-21T14:34:48.810-08:00Imagine if you will...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">...a financial world designed like this:<br />
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1. Banking services are reduced to a commodity, and every person has only one loan account. They can borrow as much money as they want up to a certain amount which is based on several factors<br />
-Down payment multiplied by a loan amount factor <xSkinFactor><br />
-Payback time frame of a set number of years <numYears><br />
-Loan insurance fee <loanFeePercent><br />
-Zero interest<br />
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For example, if a person or business makes a down payment of 100 units then they would be able to borrow 100 times <xSkinFactor> units. <xSkinFactor> would be a variable that would be managed as needed to provide a stable economy. Let's say <xSkinFactor> = 10, then 1000 units would be the available credit units yielding a down payment of 10%.<br />
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The payback time frame is also adjustable as needed to provide a stable economy. If the person or company falls behind on payments, they would be barred from additional borrowing until they catch up, pay off the loan, or proceed through appropriate bankruptcy. There is no other penalty for falling behind as it could result from a reduction in the payback time frame. So, if <numYears> = 10, then the person would have to make payments totaling 100 units per year or more in order to maintain the ability to place another down payment and borrow more money. If <numYears> were changed to 6 after the person had been paying on the loan for 2 years, then the person would have to pay 200 units per year or more in order to maintain the ability to place another down payment and borrow more money.<br />
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The loan insurance fee would be continually updated like any other insurance system. It would be charged as a percentage of the loan amount, but unlike interest, it would be a 1 time fixed fee. It would be set as needed to cover losses from bankruptcies. If <loanFeePercent> = 5% then on a 1000 unit loan, 50 units would go into the insurance fund. So, the person would only actually walk out with 950 units.<br />
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NO legal protection for personal or any other "off grid" loans!!!<br />
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2. Investment services are completely separate and based on equity in a particular person, trust, or business. In case of bankruptcy, claims on assets are secondary to the loan account, if any exists. Only an individual may have a loan account. Businesses must always raise funds by selling a stake in the entity's equity to an individual. No margin allowed. The amount of stock they are allowed to sell would be based on several factors:<br />
-Base equity (A down payment gathered by the initial investors)<br />
-BondFactor (A multiplier set as needed to provide some safety for secondary investors)<br />
-Business operating profit factor <OPF> (Another multiplier based on the proven profitability) = 1 if no profits yet<br />
-BondBuyBackTime (Set number of years)<br />
-RedemptionAmount<br />
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For example,<br />
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Venture Capitalists get together and put 1000 units into a business, the BondFactor is 20, no profitability yet, so they can sell 20,000 units of bonds. If <OPF> = 1.5 then they could sell 30,000. <br />
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3. Regular banking services like savings, checking, and debit cards would be charged a nominal transaction fee for these services. Anyone could start a bank, but each account must be fully vested at all times. A bank would be a custodian of funds and a transaction clearing house only. With zero interest rates, money in accounts is of no value to the bank. Banks would derive all profits from service fees. High degree of competition is needed to keep fees low.<br />
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4. To prevent fraud, bio-metric authorization of transactions is a must. There would also be a system wide fraud insurance fee on all transactions that would be set as needed to refund losses and maintain user trust in the banking services.<br />
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The goal here is to reduce the ridiculous cost structure associated with our current system of Central Banking and Financial Services. Bitcoin, or some other form of digital currency would be particularly handy for this system as well.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-18977549283819348522011-10-05T14:05:00.000-07:002011-10-06T13:07:48.339-07:00BitCoin usage rejected because they "could" be used for illegal activity.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Today's topic strikes right at the heart of my greatest concern for the way law is approached in the USA today. It's the idea that we should blind the poor monkey because he "might" see something evil. Not only do some people want to outlaw "Hip/Hop" music, they want to outlaw i-pods because they could be used to listen to "Hip/Hop" music. This type of thinking not only leads to a lack of personal freedom, but it also leads ultimately to a state of economic servitude as well. Unfortunately, people think like this in all sorts of situations.<br />
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I've been a big fan of a website that is a competitor of eBay. I love the site, and I've plugged them here many times. Alas, it has become apparent to me that the owners of that site think we should blind the monkey lest it see any evil. Here is a email I got from the site administrator yesterday:<br />
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<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Title: <b>3 Foot Computer Power Cord ... Bitcoins Accepted</b><br />
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All of your items have been suspended due to the fact we do not allow Bitcoins as a form of payment on the site nor do we allow them to be sold. You will need to edit those items in order to relist them on the site.<br />
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You may relist the item only after the above items have been corrected. Any attempts to relist this item without making the above corrections may result in Webstore account suspension.</span></blockquote><br />
I'm always careful to peruse 'terms of service' whenever I open a new account with anyone, so I found the above note a bit curious. They don't have any written policy against BitCoin anywhere that I could find. So, I wrote them back:<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"></span><br />
<table border="0" cellspacing="1" class="borderhelp" style="background-color: #f3f6dc; border-bottom-color: rgb(137, 160, 4); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(137, 160, 4); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(137, 160, 4); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(137, 160, 4); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px;"><tbody>
<tr><td colspan="2" style="font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><b>Message:</b></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" style="font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Ok, I will remove references to BitCoin in all my postings. Can you give me any information about when this policy was enacted, or why?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
To which they replied:<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"></span><br />
<table border="0" cellspacing="1" class="borderhelp" style="background-color: #f3f6dc; border-bottom-color: rgb(137, 160, 4); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(137, 160, 4); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(137, 160, 4); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(137, 160, 4); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px;"><tbody>
<tr class="helpcontent" style="background-color: #f8f8f8;"><td colspan="2" style="font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><b>Message:</b></td></tr>
<tr class="helpcontent" style="background-color: #f8f8f8;"><td colspan="2" style="font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Hello James,<br />
<br />
It was enacted shortly after Bitcoins became available. After researching this the owners of the site were not comfortable with them due to their use on the black-market and for the ease of use for illegal activity. Because of this we have banned them from the site. We do realize that some people may use them for legitimate purposes such as yourself, but unfortunately the risk was too great for us to feel comfortable allowing them on the site.<br />
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We appreciate your cooperation and understanding.<br />
<br />
Best Regards,<br />
<br />
########<br />
Webstore Staff</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
So, there you have it, their reason for not allowing BitCoin is because bitcoins could be used for illegal activity. I don't quite follow the logic since any currency could be used for illegal activity. Really, I think there are other reasons that they don't want to allow BitCoin, but still, it's this false logic they are trying to sell to justify their decision that I have an issue with.<br />
<br />
That same logic is used by our politicians to push a lot of bad laws on us that are not in our best interest. The laws are written to favor large corporations and wealthy individuals, and this false logic is used to get the people to accept it. In Texas for example, it is illegal for an individual to own most basic chemistry glassware. The reason is because the glassware "could" be used to brew illegal substances. People accept the laws because very few care about having an awesome chemistry set in their garage, and drugs are really bad.<br />
<br />
Well, I care. As your resident money hustler, I've been racking my brain to figure out how to purify scrap gold without using any equipment or chemicals that are considered to be "the monkey's eyes" ... the other stuff that's been made illegal along with the drugs that the government wants to outlaw. There are all kinds of cool businesses that people could start in their backyards if it weren't for so many regulations against accessory items. There is one reason people don't have jobs, and that's because life is over regulated in the USA. Try to see this connection next time you want to vote for a noise ordinance in your neighborhood. Regulations kill jobs. Do you want the right to work and buy food, or starve in peace and quiet?<br />
<br />
The effect of a lot of regulatory laws, and financial policy, is to monopolize the labor force (us) for large corporations. People generally don't care when times are good. But, when times are bad, the myriad of regulations make life more difficult for regular people, and harder for them to find alternative ways to make a living. We need more economic freedom. One step in the right direction is to stop outlawing things like Bitcoin that are merely associated with some illegal activity.<br />
<br />
Here's my take on this in video:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/gNUsgX-ZTZM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote> Let me know if you all like the catchy tune at the beginning ... I played that myself.</blockquote>For more information on BitCoin, please see my previous post: <a href="http://mrmoneyhustler.blogspot.com/2011/06/future-of-banking-finance-and-monetary.html">http://mrmoneyhustler.blogspot.com/2011/06/future-of-banking-finance-and-monetary.html</a><br />
<blockquote></blockquote></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-55105875406710790832011-08-31T21:09:00.000-07:002011-09-28T19:33:23.957-07:00Many ways for a regular person to make money in music.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">You don't even have to know how to read notes to make money in music, but if you do, all the better. In this quick post, I'll throw out some old and new ideas. New technology brings new ways to make money.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">One tried and true way to make some extra cash in music is to give lessons. If you sing or play, don't get down on your abilities. Do perform some research so that you're not teaching your students bad habits, but then just go for it. Teach the little buggers as much as you can and graduate them on to another teacher who can take them to the next level. I'm sure some parents are snooty and expect you to have at least one platinum album out, but others are just trying to introduce their children to new things. If you are concerned about your ability, only offer beginner lessons and practice up so you can be the best beginner teacher out there.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Suppose you don't even know how to read notes, but you like to tinker on a guitar or the piano. Can you make up a tune in your head? Could you write a jingle for a commercial? Could you play some ambient background music for people to use in their YouTube videos? </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">There are many websites that are always looking for new musical content. Here's one: <a href="http://www.freesoundtrackmusic.com/">http://www.freesoundtrackmusic.com/</a>. Now, perhaps you noticed the word "free" in there and you're wondering how you're going to make any money at this. If you check out the site, you'll see that artists must offer some of their songs for free, but they can also sell others. If you're smart, you'll put some teaser work out there for the free stuff and save your best sound tracks for paying customers. Of course, if you can produce some quality content, you can pound the pavement and sell your tracks directly to end users. The hosting website method is just a quick easy way to get started.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">If you are good at making up a tune on the fly, consider offering your services to video production studios. With YouTube getting so popular, there are many small time producers that do not have the ability to produce sound tracks that custom fit their videos. It's kinda like the old days again where someone would play on the piano at the theater to go along with the silent movie. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Of course you could also produce your own videos, and the corresponding music. Working up a YouTube partner channel will be the subject of another blog entry, but good music can certainly help your video endeavors. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I'm not good enough to sell my music, but I do make background sound tracks to use in my own YouTube videos. Here's a quick view into the process:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object height="292" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Tz3jDxe3E4A&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Tz3jDxe3E4A&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"
type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="480" height="292"></embed></object></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And then if you care to see the "how to" video where I used the sound track:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/tn-VIGESbvU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Here's another great link to give you more information on this topic: </span><a href="http://zirconmusic.com/tutorials/text/how-to-make-money-from-music-licensing/">http://zirconmusic.com/tutorials/text/how-to-make-money-from-music-licensing/</a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">What ideas can you think of to make money doing music? Please leave comments below!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-12219840239460156752011-08-23T17:16:00.000-07:002011-08-23T17:16:48.250-07:00Why pay to exercise somewhere when you can make money exercising?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I really don't get the appeal of a treadmill or fake bike in a gym. Wow, how boring can you get? OK, the gym is in A/C, but even in Texas in August where the highs are 104 plus, at 7am it's pretty nice outside. As it turns out, 7 to 8 am is a perfect time to hunt for treasure in parking lots. There aren't any cars in the rows. Monday morning, in particular, is a great time to search the parking lot of a busy mall or weekend venue.<br />
<br />
Now, honestly, the odds of finding any real cash are too low to justify this activity solely on the premise of making money. But, there's always the potential of scoring a gold tennis bracelet or a signed portrait of John Wayne. The trick is to cover a lot of ground fast, and to be able to quickly inspect and retrieve found items. The best way I've found to do this is on roller blades.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/C4mxD17Hiho?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Roller blades are great because they give you the option to get between parking lots quickly, and to slow it down when searching back and forth across the parking rows. There's no blockage to your visibility and with a little practice you can pick stuff up without even stopping. <br />
<br />
After a busy weekend, you can find more stuff roller blading than by metal detecting because you can cover so much ground and you don't have to stop to dig. Although I have yet to search a grass parking lot with a metal detector after a large event scenario, I'm guessing you won't find as much stuff as I did in an hour in the video above. I will try the grass lot/metal detector next and offer data on items found per hour as compared to a roller blade/parking lot search. Stay tuned, but for now my preferred treasure hunting technique is on wheels.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-16392536098311026882011-06-29T12:21:00.000-07:002011-08-26T17:58:22.630-07:00Plants<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">My sister has opened a plant nursery in her front yard, so this is a good time to mention the money making potential in plants.<br />
<br />
For me, part of the idea of making money from plants is that I enjoy working with plants. They're so kewl. Seriously, it is quite relaxing work for those of you who, like me, are somewhat of a spaz when we're not working on something that relaxes us. Whatever, the point is that working with something that makes you feel good is totally awesome, only to be out-awesomed by something you enjoy AND you can make money doing it. That's the subject of a future post, finding that sweet spot where your talent, your passion, and financial viability come together ... stay tuned for, "Being on Mission!"<br />
<br />
There's one drawback with starting a plant business though. Plants take time. It would really help if you plan ahead ... you know, like get started before you're dead broke. I mean really, plants don't grow overnight. So, start now ... fill that yard up with fruit trees and hardwoods and <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=mrmo03-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000SQWB7Q&fc1=112211&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=1098BD&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>hedges and Seiko palms and ... all in pots of course. Haha, I just got that.<br />
<br />
... listening to YouTube channel .. I'm gonna just go ahead and pulse this a minute ... ah never mind ...haha, never mind the mess. That's definitely "yeehaw". Wow, guess you had to be there ... <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5eTq9-mThQ">it was a cooking show</a> ... no, really, I promise.<br />
<br />
I'm just throwing the idea out about growing plants. It is a quick little business you can start up with the hardest part being to find wholesalers willing to work with you and get you stock for a price low enough for you to turn a profit. That just takes leg work and research. I thought it was interesting some of the suppliers that my sister found. Houston is an amazing city in that it has no zoning laws. So, right up in a regular neighborhood, she found this really cool high-tech, but family run, grower/supplier.<br />
<br />
If you don't live where you can just pop up a business in your front yard, and I assume most of you don't, there's always the option to sell online. You could root cuttings on the balcony of your apartment if that's all you have to work with. If space is limited, try to specialize in something rare / niche market and then market your items online through eBay, <a href="http://www.webstore.com/53847,owner_id,other_items">Webstore</a>, Amazon, etc.<br />
<br />
There's already tons of great YouTube videos out there on how to do plants. If you're too lazy to google it, here are some good links:<br />
<br />
1. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EwtyO16dFg">Grafting fruit trees<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=mrmo03-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001ACNWVQ&fc1=112211&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=1098BD&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></a><br />
2. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBvSn4PE54E">House Plants from cuttings</a><br />
3. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCo0jPSn4Dw">Rooting tree cuttings</a><br />
4. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKf7eFLskFM">Orchids</a><br />
5. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPnZINs3o9w">Starting a Plant Nursery</a><br />
<br />
I'm working on a video to show just how easy it is to get some plants going. I have over 50 healthy hedge plants that I pulled up by their roots after a rain. To keep them fresh, I put 20 to 30 of them in a 1 gallon zip-loc bag with some wet paper towels. They kept fine for a couple of days like that until I could pot them. Now, all I have to do is plant them in ever bigger pots and water regularly.<br />
<br />
In closing, I have three tips on where to get free stuff you can use in your nursery:<br />
<br />
1. Free plastic pots from local landscape businesses. They often have tons built up over the years and if you make friends, you might get a customer and a source of free pots to start your new plants. <br />
<br />
2. Free potting material. It's a kill two birds with one stone idea; offer to clean out people's gutters. The composted leaves in gutters is perfect potting mix. I've also thought of offering a clean out service for parking lots and gas stations, but I haven't actually tried that yet. The bonus potential of a parking lot drain is that there may be lost items in there also. Of course, if you can't find free mulch, plan ahead and start a compost pile in your backyard now.<br />
<br />
3. Free tree / hedge / ornamental seedlings. While you're scouting for places that you can get free mulch, keep an eye out for plants too. Lot's of interesting things get started near streams. Also, I've noticed that office buildings that back up to a wooded area often have a landscape dumping area. These areas may have all sorts of cool plants that have been uprooted by the landscapers and tossed into the woods. Sometimes these plants survive long enough for a watchful opportunist to benefit.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-59340555890727830052011-06-15T11:59:00.000-07:002011-06-15T11:59:54.081-07:00Update, selling scrap<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Whenever I see a discarded hot water heater, I pick it up. I can't help myself. In fact, I keep an old truck bed trailer just for picking up stuff like that. I pick up small stuff too, screws, washers ... old ovens out in the woods. At $0.12 dollars / pound, any little piece of scrap steel is worth a penny or better. And as for old appliances, to me they look like a $20 bill sitting on the curb waiting for someone to pick up.<br />
<br />
It's not hard to get 1500 lbs of scrap iron in the back of a pickup, and that's enough to go home with $180.00 in your pocket.<br />
<br />
Waste not want not.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-67302610569505664122011-06-03T14:56:00.000-07:002011-06-03T18:20:02.104-07:00The Future of Banking, Finance, and Monetary Transactions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The vision has arrived, but the first implementors of the vision are dropping like soldiers on a D-Day beach head. <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=mrmo03-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=145550145X&fc1=112211&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=1098BD&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>In a way, money doesn't really exist. Most of our money is already in a bank account and represented by a few 1's and 0's in some computer. Money is really just two bits of information: who has it, and how much. Financial transactions are simply a bit of communication wherein the name of "who has it" and "how much" get updated in that record book in the sky.<br />
<br />
Those darn people who control that money book in the sky should just give us all some money ... well, not really. But, what they shouldn't do is get greedy, or lustful for power. It seems they always do though, and us common folk get screwed.<br />
<br />
Because of the repeated "screwings" many people dream of a financial system that is free from the abuses of the privileged. Ron Paul is out there touting a return to the gold standard, but others have recognized that money is really just a form of communication. It is an abstract idea that doesn't need a physical form at all. Money has always simply been a representation of the "value" that someone has added to the world around him. The only reason money needed a physical form throughout history is to combat fraud and dishonesty in the form of someone claiming that they have added more value than they ever actually had. Gold is a good proof that you have added value ... at least you can't just say you have it (like the Federal Reserve); you have to start a war or something to get your hands on it. What we need is "money" that has all the protections from fraud inherent in a physical amount of gold, but all the ease of transfer as a bit of information on a computer network.<br />
<br />
Several companies have popped up and pooped out over the years while they made their attempt to solve the world's "money" problem. Some of them, like eGold, had some help pooping out courtesy FBI. They were like the 1st soldiers on the beach, and the governments of the world will protect their financial beaches to the bitter end. But, the vision is in sight, and others will keep coming and coming with better and better ideas. Eventually, someone is going to implement a solution that is so much better than what we have today, that no government on earth will be able to stop it.<br />
<br />
The latest, most ingenious, solution is the <a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">BitCoin</a>. It is a first stab at some revolutionary new concepts on how to handle the "money" problem. Here are some features of a BitCoin:<br />
<br />
1. No physical form<br />
2. Not backed by any physical entity<br />
3. Internet / computer / open source base<br />
4. Secure transactions<br />
5. Available to anyone with internet connection<br />
6. Predictable growth of money supply<br />
7. Complete records of activity<br />
8. Transactions are private<br />
<br />
There are pros and cons of each feature above, but the ingenious aspect of this system is the method by which it automates the process of increasing the supply of money as the economy grows. It takes people, with their bad judgement and selfish ways, out of the process. (The FED system is an effort to remove decisions about sizing money supply out of the political realm because history has shown that common people don't know how to make good decisions on money supply). Anyway, BitCoin takes the concept further and takes all decisions about money supply out of the hands of any people. The odds of BitCoin having the formula completely right on the first try are low, but the concept is what's interesting.<br />
<br />
Specifically, it uses a complicated scheme of encryption to produce a predictable level of scarcity to the money supply. In the beginning, anyone could use their computer to "mine" for a new block of encryption codes that could be used for BitCoins. While more powerful computers are needed today, users are still given BitCoins when they find a new block. Wouldn't it be nice if the Federal Reserve gave out $100 bills whenever they needed to increase the money supply? <br />
<br />
The value of the BitCoin is increasing as more and more people become willing to provide goods and services in exchange for BitCoins. The easiest way to get some now is to sell stuff online on sites like Craigslist. Just take the time to learn all about it because it is money, and money attracts thieves like flies to dead meat.<br />
<br />
If you google BitCoin, you can find out more about it than you ever wanted to know. Some people like the idea, some people hate it. If it gets popular, the FBI / CIA / IMF / US Military / NATO will probably figure out a way to shut it down. Hopefully, the BitCoin economic experiment lasts long enough for everyone to learn some better ways to handle money. Hopefully, banking services and our global financial system will evolve into a system that is as cheap and fair as it can be. One key to making this so is competition. Governments have a monopoly on money, and that is the only reason they can get away with doing what they do to part us from so much of our personal "value". Systems like BitCoin will eventually challenge government monopolies, and that is good for all of us.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-84648974040043018552011-05-27T17:11:00.000-07:002011-05-27T17:11:01.821-07:00Update: Selling Junk Online<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I sold my 1st item on <a href="http://www.webstore.com/">www.webstore.com</a> last night. I only made $3.16 selling an <a href="http://www.webstore.com/8847141,auction_id,auction_details">NVIDIA GeForce AGP FX5200-DV128</a> video card, but that was pretty good for a test run. This Webstore site is similar to ebay, but they don't charge commissions on sales. That's a big plus for both buyers and sellers. There are many "free listing" sites, but most sites don't have the customer base to secure much visibility for what you are selling. I'm excited because Webstore seems to be different. Ebay is still better, has more items for sale, and more people looking there to buy, but Webstore is gaining ground. More and more vendors are moving items over to "free listing" sites where they can afford to list items for less since they don't have to share any of the proceeds with the website.<br />
<br />
If you are looking to make extra money working from home, or running a full time sales business, your profit margin may stand to gain if you give some of the "free listing" sites like <a href="http://www.webstore.com/about_us,page,content_pages">Webstore</a> a try. You can accept payment via <a href="https://www.paypal.com/">PayPal</a> and <a href="http://checkout.google.com/">Google Checkout</a> as well as direct methods.<br />
<br />
Here are a couple more great websites that I've found lately that will help you buy and sell online:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://claspics.com/">http://claspics.com</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/6155">http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/6155</a><br />
<br />
The 1st link above can save you a ton of time when inserting pictures into your ad postings. You can upload whole folders of pics from your computer and always have your pics "online" when and where you need them. It's really fast and you don't have to worry about the MB size of the pic when you start the upload. The site gives you a handy HTML text line that you can copy and paste directly into your online ad listing. When someone views your ad, they just see the pics. The site also gives you a link to the entire album, so it's easy to share an unlimited number of pictures with your potential buyer.<br />
<br />
The 2nd link above is handy if you are looking for stuff to buy on <a href="http://www.craigslist.org/">Craigslist</a>. When you go to <a href="http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/6155">http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/6155</a>, look for a link on the left of the page that says: "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.jeffpalm.com/craigslist/0.8.1/craigslist.user.js" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #0066bb; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Remotely hosted version</a>" </span>and click it. Then allow it to install the plugin. Then, when you view listings on Craigslist, you will automatically see thumbnail pics of items that are for sale under each items title. It saves you from having to click on a listing to see the pics. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but for anyone doing a lot of surfing on Craigslist, the time saved does add up.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-44762142520731467072011-05-10T21:26:00.000-07:002011-05-10T21:30:10.613-07:00Tax Deed Property Sales<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> I'm always intrigued by any chance to acquire property at a cost far below its true value. Consequently, I'm a sucker for auctions. I buy abandoned cars at auto auctions, pianos at school surplus auctions, and houses at county tax deed auctions. Buyer beware, some things are pretty worthless, and they won't take it back!!!<br />
<br />
If you want to get into auctions, please always assume that what you are buying is about as worthless as an 8-trac tape collection. Do research the items as much as possible, but even then, avoid getting into a bidding war. Just let it go and wait until you find a jewel no one else is dead set on buying. <br />
<br />
Especially before bidding on real estate, know what you are getting. You need to look up all the info you can on the property before the tax sale. Find out who the owners are, and even talk to neighbors to find out why the taxes aren't being paid. Check to see if there is a probate case associated with the property, mortgages, quit claim deeds, or any disputes over ownership. Many counties have quite a lot of info on-line, and it is best to start there. Find out all you can on several properties on-line, and then set out to visit your best prospects. Google maps and street view can also come in handy to save some driving.<br />
<br />
Most tax deed investors are looking for properties that are likely to be redeemed. In these cases, you would earn a very respectable 8 to 12% annual return on your investment. It is a fairly safe investment if you make sure that you haven't bid on a worthless toxic dump. Your investment is ultimately backed by an interest in the property that you have bid on. If the owner's don't pay, after a time, you can take possession.<br />
<br />
I actually look for properties that are NOT likely to be redeemed. My favorite type of property to bid on is a vacant house or trailer home where the owner has died recently. You can usually find properties of the recently deceased by cross-referencing the list of delinquent tax owners with the probate records for the county. Then, to find out the whole story, go visit the properties you found and talk to neighbors to find out what is going on. I don't usually tell people who I am exactly when I'm out and about.<br />
<br />
If you successfully purchase a property at auction and it is not redeemed during the redemption period, you will be issued a Tax Deed. You can take possession of the property at this time, but that is not recommended if someone is actually living there. Your next step should be to Quiet Title the deed to secure full uncontested ownership for yourself. If no one challenges you in court for clear title to the property, a lawyer might be able to get the process done for you for about $3500. Lawyer fees ~ $2000, 3rd Party fees ~$1500.<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="240" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=34.017804,-81.082004&panoid=7jkD_xjxeY837vxrZp4_6g&cbp=13,55.47,,0,7.71&source=embed&ll=34.017804,-81.082004&spn=0,0.00456&z=17&output=svembed" width="425"></iframe><br />
<small><a href="http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=34.017804,-81.082004&panoid=7jkD_xjxeY837vxrZp4_6g&cbp=13,55.47,,0,7.71&source=embed&ll=34.017804,-81.082004&spn=0,0.00456&z=17" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>IMAGE:</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Google street view can save you much driving, but sometimes it is difficult to be certain of an exact address. Always do a drive-by before you bid on a place. The house above is one that I was trying to Quiet Title. I bought it in the auction for $2000. House not withstanding, the lot has much potential.</span><br />
<br />
Issues that you may run into however are that the current owners fight you in court to keep their claim to the property. If there were any technicality errors at any step, the sale of the property might be completely overturned. Even if just one heir could prove that he or she was never notified of the tax delinquency, the whole deal could be blown. You would get the original amount you bid back plus interest, but you would lose any court fees and lawyer costs. In my example, I have more to lose ( $3500 potentially ) than I originally bid on the property. But, there are some strategies to strengthen one's case and increase the chances of obtaining a marketable Warranty Deed to the property, or at least get a good return on your investment.<br />
<br />
1. Knock on the door and meet the person living there. Have an open mind and don't be confrontational. The object is just to find out what the situation is. They could be renting from an owner who stopped paying the taxes, and might be perfectly happy to pay you rent instead.<br />
<br />
2. Always be open, upfront, and flexible in your dealings with the former owner. You don't want to incite them into fighting you in court.<br />
<br />
3. Find out what the current owners want to do. If the property went through probate, be sure to research who all the owners are.<br />
<br />
4. Find out if they will pay you rent, or if they want to buy your interest in the property off as soon as they get their money together.<br />
<br />
5. Tell them about the money at the county tax office that was paid in for the property ( your bid at the auction ). Any amount in excess of the back taxes is due to the owners. If they take that excess money, it strengthens your claim to the property in the Quiet Title hearing if they later decide to challenge you for ownership.<br />
<br />
6. Offer a sum of money in exchange for their signing of a Quit Claim Deed granting you that person's share of the property. If there are feuding heirs to a property, you may be able to secure signatures of all but 1 or 2 of the heirs. That dilutes the value that the remaining heirs have in the property, and that makes it more difficult for them to find a lawyer to take the case when such a low amount of value is left.<br />
<br />
7. Remember that you are in the driver's seat. They can never sell or borrow against the property as long as you own the Tax Deed to it. Ultimately, you can also have them evicted, but exhaust all other possibilities first. You don't want to end up paying out more for court costs than the place is worth.<br />
<br />
As it turned out, the owners redeemed the property at the very last minute. I got a good safe 12% interest off the deal, and no hassles after all. Of course, no windfall profits either. If any of you have any real experience in this area, please post your ideas in the comments section.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-84635403921741494592011-05-05T15:15:00.000-07:002011-05-06T06:50:58.217-07:00Back Yard Blacksmith ... really, you can do it!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Blacksmithing does take some time to learn, but it is fun, and you can make money at it. Youtube is a great source for ideas for stuff to make and how to make it. Here are a couple of videos to get you started. <br />
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/KystRt2sZG4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm not big on looking cool, or having all the "right" tools for a job. I'm more interested in finding the cheapest way to get started. That said, here is a list of items that you may need to acquire or make:<br />
<br />
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://3.gvt0.com/vi/E_IuJeErb78/0.jpg" height="266" style="clear: left; float: left;" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/E_IuJeErb78&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/E_IuJeErb78&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object>1. Forge -- steel box with a hole for the blower, and another, grated hole, for the air to exhaust through the coal to keep it hot.<br />
<br />
2. Squirrel cage blower or reversible shop vac -- it's good to have a foot switch so it is easy to turn it on and off<br />
<br />
3. Fuel -- Coal, charcoal (optional), wood (optional) -- the later items will give enough heat to bend and shape, but coal lasts longer and gives enough heat for welding.<br />
<br />
4. Workbench -- sturdy wooden table, and bolt down all sorts of heavy pieces of steel to use to shape and form your works of art.<br />
<br />
5. Small and large hammer<br />
<br />
6. 2 pair of pliers<br />
<br />
7. poker stick<br />
<br />
8. At a scrap yard, you can buy scraps of pipe that have a flange welded to one end. These are easy to bolt to your table and are great for forming curved shapes. Use different sized pipes for different curve radii<br />
<br />
9. Anvil -- any thick heavy piece of steel will work. I used a 1" thick x 12" dia pipeline head cap that I got as scrap.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/eQtho22j3PU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
10. Watering can to reduce coal waste due to unwanted burning.<br />
<br />
11. Bucket of water to quench the steel.<br />
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Once you've got a fair sized cache of finished items, you can get a booth at any small town art festival for $25 to $50. In my experience, items that were priced in the $5 to $10 range sold the best. It also pays to have a wide variety of products for sale. I made easier money mixing in some dollar store items with my finished iron works. I would hang a little (made in china) birdhouse on a $75 iron work. People would admire the iron, but buy the $5 birdhouse. That's ok, I was making $4 off each one and didn't have to spend a day working at it.<br />
<br />
More expensive items sell best in a real store ... around Christmas no less. I sold the candle stand in the above video to a shop owner in a mall. He paid me for items after they sold in his store.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-83821275696531791142011-04-28T20:45:00.000-07:002011-04-28T20:54:46.920-07:00Selling Junk Online<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I'm a big fan of buying stuff on ebay. I've gotten some good deals there. But, when I checked their fees, I wasn't too impressed with the idea of trying to sell stuff there. So, I googled "ebay competitors" and after checking all the results out, I found one that I liked. It's at www.webstore.com and it is free to list your items there. The format is very similar to ebay, and you can receive payments via paypal. I'm just getting started, so I have no idea how you get your money from paypal. I'm not worried though, whatever I get in paypal credit will just go towards whatever I buy.<br />
<br />
My very first item is listed here: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1304046767_1" style="color: #366388;"><a href="http://webstore.com/id=8241333" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://webstore.com/id=8241333</a> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1304046767_1" style="color: #366388;"></span>I found two brand new video cards in a dumpster near my work. They were both still in their original boxes with the driver CD and all. Like a dummy, I pitched the boxes thinking that I was just going to scrap the cards out anyway, but I did save the driver disks. If I had saved the boxes, I could have listed the items as "new" on webstore. They are both new and were wrapped in static bags, but you can't list them as new without the original packaging.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Of course, I have sold many items on craigslist also, but it can be a pain meeting people to close the deal. I almost wish there were Craigslist stores. So, when you list something you just drop it off at the store when its convenient. Then the person goes to the store to pick it up and pay. I guess the store would have to charge a commission though ... and then the tax-man would want a cut ... ah, never mind.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Anyways, I see a lot of potential in this webstore site. The market place is international there, and with corresponding variety of products always available ... and a lot more people looking at your products. Ebay is still huge compared to some of these other sites, but sellers can sometimes build their reputations and customer base up on ebay, and then move to webstore for their repeat customers.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">No matter what venue you choose, selling stuff online is definitely something that anyone can do. Just start with your junk/dumpster diving finds, and let your imagination take you from there.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-16759169478693080812011-04-27T08:14:00.000-07:002011-04-27T08:18:15.116-07:00Are you planting gardens or orchards?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Gardens are great, but they require constant effort to get anything out of them. Then, every year you have to start over, cultivating, planting, fertilizing, and weeding. Having a garden is a little like having a job. There is a steady requirement for work, as well as a steady supply things you need, assuming all goes well.<br />
<br />
Orchards are much different in terms of when you work, how you work, and when you are rewarded for that work. Orchards require most of the effort upfront, planting all the vines or trees. Then you are stuck pruning and watering for years before anything gets big enough to produce fruit. I like to think of an orchard as a small business. You can put tons of work into it and never really know if you are building up something that will reward you in the future. Still, orchards can produce fruit years into the future with little or no additional effort on your part.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, we like to eat everyday, and so we tend to spend most of our time in the garden, aka job. That's fine, but hopefully you can find some time in the day to work on a business venture that will produce a benefit for yourself years into the future with little additional effort. <br />
<br />
This site is dedicated to any ideas on how to make money. Some of them, while not a job, still fall into the garden category, constant work for any reward. The ideas I'm really interested in however, are ideas on how a regular person can work on an orchard like venture. Not everyone can buy up 50 rental properties for cash and hire a management company to rent them out ... or invent an amazing machine that pays royalties for life. What are ventures that anyone can do, that once they are set up and running, will make money without any additional effort? Please comment below with your best ideas for us all to share.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05098127331684338857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142098681804818231.post-22760914017456858542011-04-25T19:09:00.000-07:002011-04-26T12:46:55.840-07:00Smelting Aluminum<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">I'll have to admit that this was a whole lot more work than any money I ever got out of it. Still, times are tough, and the price of metals are going up a lot faster than minimum wages. At one time, I had a larger furnace to melt aluminum, but this one was a better design and easier to operate. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"></span></span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Materials:<br />
<br />
1. squirrel cage blower (from a home A/C distribution unit for example)<br />
2. metal ducting<br />
3. 55 gal steel drum<br />
4. wire mesh<br />
5. fire brick (special bricks that don't crack at high temps)<br />
6. silicon carbide crucible (the melting pot)<br />
7. Four 50lbs bags of refractory cement (special cement that doesn't crack at high temps)<br />
8. Refractory mortar<br />
9. Various scraps of angle iron / bolts / screws<br />
<br />
Steps:<br />
<br />
The wood burner-<br />
<br />
1. Find a good refractory supply warehouse to get the firebrick, and refractory cements<br />
2. Cut a hole in the side of 55 gal drum big enough to insert the metal ducting.<br />
3. Also, at the top of the drum, make 2 1 ft. cuts straight down about a foot apart to open an exhaust port at the top.<br />
4. Screw wire mesh to the inside of the 55 gallon drum<br />
5. Coat the mesh w/ some of the refractory cement, but of course, leave the hole open<br />
6. Bury the drum if you can, attach the ducting (running it underground about 4 feet)<br />
7. Put an upwards bend in the ducting and set the blower on top.<br />
8. Use more refractory cement to make a door for loading fuel 1ft x 1ft x 3in thick, with wire mesh in the middle to add strength and bolts stick out of the top so you have a way to attach a handle later.<br />
9. Use heavy steel angle iron to build a square frame over the top to support the door in step 8<br />
10. Cover the rest of the top of the 55 gallon drum (around where the door goes) with firebrick, but leave that one side open for the exhaust port.<br />
11. coat the steel angle with firebrick mortar to protect it a little from the heat.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgxhi_AyfgbgjZZJT259SsqPz1SGZYypJuQYHojg7nghK9ZKRCtr9j2qeJSCboRF2Qrp_8xVsytiEYcD50RiYsd7fvXUEyNXjRO8NRSnZb4B2LYiBBfETuFtCj7hJpYEPq_-yAmxIS1M0/s1600/AluminumFurnace.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgxhi_AyfgbgjZZJT259SsqPz1SGZYypJuQYHojg7nghK9ZKRCtr9j2qeJSCboRF2Qrp_8xVsytiEYcD50RiYsd7fvXUEyNXjRO8NRSnZb4B2LYiBBfETuFtCj7hJpYEPq_-yAmxIS1M0/s640/AluminumFurnace.bmp" width="640" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
Furnace -<br />
<br />
1. Build a foundation on the side of the drum w/ the exhaust port - ~3ft x 3ft<br />
2. Build the walls up with firebrick about 2ft high, leaving one side open for door.<br />
3. Build the door ... mine was angle iron hinged to a post w/ firebrick attached.<br />
4. Build the 'top' (what holds the aluminum scraps while they are melting). It's going to be a large block of refractory cement with a depression to collect the liquid metal and a hole in the middle to allow the metal to drip into the pot below.<br />
-make a cement form 2ft by 3ft by 5in deep<br />
-make another wooden form that's 1ft 8in x 2ft 8in by 1.5in deep and cover it with plywood.<br />
-place the 2nd form (plywood side up) in the larger form.<br />
-set a short scrap of 3" pvc pipe on top of the smaller form<br />
-drill 4 holes into to smaller form around where the pvc pipe is ... 1/2" from the pipe and equally spaced around<br />
-set 4 bolts into the smaller form around the pvc pipe ... the threads need to be down, with the head of the bolts sticking up a couple of inches. These bolts will hold a steel plate over the top of the hole to prevent big impurities from dropping down.<br />
-fill the form with refractory cement<br />
-when the cement sets up a little, remove the pvc pipe<br />
-when completely dry, remove the forms and flip it over<br />
-drill holes in a 6in.x 6in. x 1/4in. steel plate to match the bolts sticking up<br />
-put several washers on each bolt, and then attach the steel plate. It should be sitting off the bottom ~1/2 in.<br />
<br />
5. Put the top over the walls of your furnace. There should be a gap in the back.<br />
6. Build the walls up another 2ft with firebrick, but leave a 1ft wide window on one side. This is so you have access to clean out junk and slag that will accumulate on the 'top'.<br />
7. Rig up a steel grate to prevent pieces from falling down the gap between the back edge of your 'top' and the back wall of the furnace.<br />
<br />
<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=mrmo03-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B003TFSBBS&fc1=112211&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=1098BD&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>Operation:<br />
<br />
Sometimes I used a bigger crucible and just tilted it to pour the metal rather than picking the whole crucible up. Also, if you want to melt copper, bronze, or iron, you have to pack coal around the crucible. Still just fill the 55 gal drum with wood, but adding coal right around the crucible will raise the temp there enough to melt copper, etc. But, only add clean copper directly to the crucible ... it won't melt over the 'top'.<br />
<br />
For aluminum, you can bust up old transmissions or whatever and add the pieces to the top. Oils and paint burn off while it melts. You will need to regularly scrape out junk and slag that can block the flow of metal through the hole.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Additional notes:</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> I designed the form for the "top" a little better than what I described above. On the clean out side, I had the side wall shaped like a ramp to make it easier to drag irony bits and slag out of the pool of aluminum. I also had a little lip around the edge of the hole to prevent </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> irony bits from </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">washing into the crucible.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkIqC51XwzdM7HUKR2Ko39ZYNi-zg0jyzAOwOih5YMkg9bJWpRHZBEHcxDLlZSJMxIcKAQMDJ2omF1hd9BoB3bShliEoKlt2BlQWNKkjGQoz2fPejKykpBgGaNrEl5unXgxS5_2dWcX9Q/s1600/furnaceInternals.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkIqC51XwzdM7HUKR2Ko39ZYNi-zg0jyzAOwOih5YMkg9bJWpRHZBEHcxDLlZSJMxIcKAQMDJ2omF1hd9BoB3bShliEoKlt2BlQWNKkjGQoz2fPejKykpBgGaNrEl5unXgxS5_2dWcX9Q/s640/furnaceInternals.bmp" width="640" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
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