Posted by janethector172 on January 15, 19113 at 13:21:39:
In Reply to: Uggs On Sale Uk posted by opWJgzXd on November 29, 19112 at 22:39:13:
The one of a kind Upper Deck baseball card featuring autographs from Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth, and Honus Wagner might not be so rare after all. The card was pulled from a pack of 2005 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts and features four of the five inductees into the inaugural class of the Baseball Hall of Fame (a picture can be seen at http://www.beckett.com/estore/news/?eskin=beckett&a=6520&s=1). A great pull – if it was real.This card first attracted attention back in November 2005 when collector Barry Scott of Guntown, Mississippi put the card up for auction and sold it for a cool $85,000. But then this story (http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20060222-2133-ca-autographfraud.html) surfaced recently. It seems that Kevin Demitros, the 50-year-old airport planner from Milwaukee who purchased the card, was watching an HBO Special on Sports Memorabilia Fraud and shockingly saw his card’s authenticity called into question. The same card that he had figured was a “retirement investment.” And why wouldn’t he? The card WAS from Upper Deck. Upper Deck! Below is an excerpt from the article:"Demitros watched an HBO special on fraud in the sports memorabilia industry and saw a scan of his card being scrutinized by someone convicted in connection with a federal forgery investigation. The man claimed two of the card's autographs were fakesDemitros is now involved in a dispute with the card's manufacturer, Carlsbad-based Upper Deck Co., which stands behind its products but said it is willing to have an independent third party look at the card to determine its authenticity. Three authentication companies that studied a scan of it said they believed the Ruth and Johnson autographs might not be genuine.“It's a huge question. It's an opinion,” Fitzsimmons said of trying to verify autographs that old."First off, I hope that the signatures are real. Any fake memorabilia is bad for the hobby. It certainly seems that Upper Deck will do the right thing here and take care of Kevin if the signatures in fact turn out to be fake (they better or they will have a PR nightmare and probably a lawsuit). There is, however, an important lesson to be learned from all of this - no one can ever say with 100% certainty that an autograph is real.Hopefully Kevin’s story will draw more attention to the topic. Upper Deck, the premier card manufacturer, a company that has it’s own authentication service that employs industry experts, still may have missed a forgery…on one of their most valuable cards ever! On the Upper Deck site they claim:"Autograph forgeries make victims out of unsuspecting fans. Upper Deck Authenticated ® became the first company to find an answer to the forgery problem by creating an airtight five-step authentication system that assures fans are getting genuine autographs. Today the company has autograph relationships with the game's biggest stars and produces some of the finest memorabilia on the market."And yet arguably their most important card ever, one that sold for $85,000, included 2 alleged forgeries!This is not a new thing - I was exposed first hand (on a much smaller level of course) to this last year when a buddy of mine obtained a Mike Vick autograph at the Pro Bowl only to be accused by the buyer of the item that PSA said that it was fake, costing him a sale and hurting his reputation. It illustrated to me first hand that you are never going to know for sure, that the best you can do is pay for an opinion. I went on to lay out an argument about the damage that autograph authentication is doing for the industry (found at http://www.sportslizard.com/article10.php) – not because experts are giving their opinion about the authenticity of an autograph, but because people were being led to believe that they should treat that opinion as a FACT, driving up autograph prices to unreasonable levels for the average collector.This story just adds to the argument laid out in that piece – the only way to truly know if an autograph in your collection is real is to get it yourself. Anything else – a certificate of authenticity or even a certification from PSA/DNA – does not guarantee an autographs authenticity, it merely increases the likelihood of it being real.
(A Poem From The Path: As The New Day Dawns)
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I�m co-leading a discussion session at Wordcamp about Monetizing Blogs, so I thought I�d also touch on it here with a post about 10 Ways to Monetize Your Blog.First, I should preface this discussion by saying you first need to seriously evaluate whether you want to work at monetizing your blog. Steve Pavlina has a very thorough post that goes over what�s necessary to really do this well, and why the majority of people who try end up not generating significant income.Second, you have to make sure that making money from your blog directly is your goal. For example, for this blog direct income isn�t my goal. I didn�t have ads at all untli recently, and the only reason I added them was to use the ad network management application I�ve been working on called RMX Direct. It�s quite possible that your blogging goals may just to network, write about something you�re interested in, or serve some business purpose that isn�t direct income generation.With that out of the way, let�s get started:1. Contextual AdvertisingSurprise, surprise. Advertising is easily the most popular blog monetization tactic, mostly due to it being the easiest thing to implement. Advertising comes in many forms, and contextual advertising is the most popular due to Google Adsense and it�s general success with blogs and niche sites.I�m going to assume everyone reading this is familiar with it, but I think it should be mentioned that too many bloggers assume that Adsense is the best solution for their blog. For some blogs and topics it works great, for others, not very well at all.My advice is to not limit your blog to one ad network or just one form of advertising. Other contextual options include the Yahoo Publisher Network, Chitika, Clicksor, AdSonar, and others. It�s not easy to manually test all these though if you�re shuffling ad tags around and randomly allocating your impressions to them, using a ad network management tool like RMX Direct can help you manage, evaluate, and control your various ad networks.2. Display AdvertisingAs I mentioned above, contextual networks aren�t always the best solution for blogs. In some cases there aren�t enough advertisers in niche topics, and in others the users just isn�t likely to click. In this case, you want to be working with ad networks that provide CPM display advertising. This means you get paid something for every ad viewed, opposed to only getting paid per click.Just like with contextual networks, it�s important to use multiple display ad networks to get more variety from your ads, to not let any one network control your inventory, and to make sure you�re earning the most amount of money possible.3. Targeted AdvertisingThe most desirable form of advertising is having companies that wish to pay good rates to advertise on your blog directly whether it�s text or image ads. Many bloggers feel that this is a pipe dream, but I speak from experience from running a wakeboarding blog for many years that you can make solid income from targeted advertising without having insane amounts of traffic.There are a number of key things you have to do though in order to get this type of advertising: * Have a blog with leading content in your niche and a professional design * Create a �media kit� which is essentially a page on your blog that explains that you take targeted advertising, what your rates are, demographics of your users, your traffic levels, examples of the types of ads people can run, testimonials from any companies that have advertised with you, and a phone number and email address they can use to get more information. * Have obvious �Advertise On This Blog� links in key places on your blog. * Give a company or two in your niche free or very low-cost advertising in order to get the ball rolling. When advertisers see their competitors or companies similar to them advertising, they get the idea that it�s available. If all they ever see is Adsense ads, they might not realize it�s an option. * Be willing to be creative to help your advertisers achieve their goals, and lower your price to get the deals. * Provide statistics and results to your advertisers. Use an ad server like RMX Direct, phpAdsNew, or something similar which has the ability to create reports per advertiser.Once you�ve set your blog up properly, start approaching companies in your niche who will want to reach your traffic. You don�t need to go after the biggest companies, there are many small companies who are looking to get better results from the web, and they might not even know about your blog. You don�t need to be an ad sales professional, you just need to present your case well on why they�re missing out if they don�t advertise on your traffic. Make it easy on them to work with you, help them create ads, help them determine what sizes to use, and work with them to make sure they get the results they need. It seems like hard work at first, but after you get a solid base of advertisers going, it�s a great source of income and it starts to streamline.4. Text Link AdvertisingAnother somewhat unobtrusive form of advertising is using services like Text Link Ads or Adbrite to sell text ads directly to companies. This is pretty low effort and often doesn�t take up too much space on a site, so it�s easy to implement and try out. It should be noted though that you need significant traffic for it to be a big source of income.5. Affiliate LinksOne of the older web monetization methods is still as good today as it�s always been. If you�ve got a blog in a specific area, there�s a very large chance that there are companies out there that sell products or services your users are interested in. You can earn some nice income recommending or linking to those products.Amazon.com is probably the most common affiliate merchant used by bloggers, but I�d advise finding other unique merchants who may pay better and be more specific to your topic. Amazon is always there as an option, but you�re more likely to get more help from the merchant if you go with a smaller company.Another nice thing about affiliate links is that they fit well with quality content. Reviewing products and services for your users is valuable content, and if you can make money off it as well it�s a great combination. A word of warning though that you shouldn�t change your reviews or be biased due to the fact you can make money off a referral.While traffic also helps for affiliate links, it can sometimes be an easier way to generate income without high traffic levels like advertising requires. As an example I did a review of a web analytics application a couple of years ago, and this blog had very little traffic at that point. I referred two sales through that review though that still earn me $150 a month every month two years later.6. Selling Your Content (Ebooks, Videos, DVDs)If you�ve got great content, another option is to package it and sell it. There are numerous bloggers who have created ebooks and even real books based on their blog content and made great income selling them. You can also expand to infoproducts like videos, DVDs, audio CDs, and printed books on demand.This can take some significant work and it requires great content to actually sell, but it can be a nice income stream that lasts a long time.7. ConsultingDepending on your topic and your level of expertise, you can sell consulting services. If you�re a web analytics expert, you could offer web analytics consulting services on your blog for an hourly fee. This takes very little work to setup beyond creating a page outlining your services, getting a standard contract, and having a way to take payments from companies. Again though, it just takes a little bit of effort to let people know that consulting services are available.8. DonationsNot quite as common as it once was, it used to be fairly common for bloggers to ask for donations on their blog through Paypal or some other service. This only works if you have a dedicated userbase, and a large enough number of users that their donations add up. I wouldn�t recommend this if you�re also putting a lot of advertising and other monetization methods on your blog. You�ll come off as a bit too greedy in that case.9. Selling ProductsBesides infoproducts, you can sell real products like t-shirts, bumper stickers, clothing, or whatever other kind of merchandise makes sense for your topic. Companies like Goodstorm, CafePress, Lulu, and others make it easy by creating the products based on your design and letting you set up a shop. There is no risk to bloggers, which makes it a great opportunity.10. Selling Your BlogPerhaps the most extreme of the blog monetization methods, but it can be lucrative! If you aren�t attached to your blog and are willing to part with it, you can usually find a buyer for it. Your blog must be pretty good, and have a level of traffic worth buying, and it really helps if you already have some income streams going for it. Blogs usually sell for 12-24 times monthly revenues, and there are numerous places you can sell them like eBay and the Sitepoint Marketplace.ConclusionIt definitely takes some work to monetize your site well, and having good traffic really helps out. Work on building a blog with a solid userbase, and you should be on your way to generating income using any of the methods above. Good luck, and please share any blog monetization experiences you have in the comments.
Wrapping The Impossible To Wrap Christmas Gift
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Accidents and prolonged sickness can be a drain both emotionally as well as financially. Sometimes money crunch is caused by the inability to hold a job, or when the medical bills escalate and it becomes increasingly difficult to balance expenses. Further, medical insurance may prove insufficient or will not cover long term medications. Life has become such that one needs to think about and plan for any eventuality. Experts recommend the following:1.Ask your doctor for samples of medication.2.Often an older drug is effective and cheaper. Request the doctor to write a prescription for a drug that is more affordable. According to studies you can save up to 75% this way.3.Find out the generic name of the medication and choose to purchase it instead of branded medication ---the saving can amount to as much as 70%.4.Very often companies sell higher dosages of medication for a marginally higher cost. Be prudent, buy the higher dosage and spilt the medication in half, one-third, or quarters. The savings you can make are almost 50 %.5.Order 90-day supplies in bulk from discount mail order pharmacies or online services. The savings are considerable and many doctors help long term patients reduce costs by putting the patients in touch with distributors.6.If a particular medication is very expensive ask the doctor to recommend a substitute. This is known as therapeutic substitution. 7.Do try comparison shopping. You will find that the same medication is priced differently in local pharmacies, online outlets, and chain stores. Online pharmacies like http://www.walgreens.com/, www.costco.com , or http://www.drugstore.com/ offer medications at affordable prices. 8.There are several patient-assistance programs that offer free or discounted medication to those who cannot afford long term illness. Companies like Merck have programs that benefit uninsured patients. Medicines are given at discounts of 10-40%.9.If you or a family member travels frequently you could buy your medicines abroad. Often the same medicine manufactured by the same company is much cheaper overseas. One can also order medicine by mail from Canada where medicines cost 30-50% less than the US. But do check the laws before you attempt this.10.Start a health saving account where you can save pre tax dollars towards unforeseen medical expenses. This has a high deductible. Find out if you or other family members are eligible.Use an insurance broker who always thinks of you. He must keep you updated on all new developments as far as health schemes are concerned and make sure you reap all the benefits of the insurance scheme. You could also consider a critical illness policy in addition to a regular health insurance.
One of the major concerns in the world today is depletion of energy. As concerned citizens all of us must make a concerted effort to be conscious citizens and save electricity. Electricity has become integral to life but imagine having to live without power.Conservation of electricity benefits you personally as you will pay lower bills. Consider:1.Doing an energy audit. This will tell you how and when you use energy and where the wastage lies. You will be able to make an �energy savings plan� by pinpointing exactly how you can cut back on energy consumption. Some ideas may be as simple as don�t leave the coffee machine on at all times. 2.Think about resetting the thermostat ten degrees lower during the night. If you can do this for say approximately eight hours a day you will save 10% on electricity without sacrificing comfort. Insulate the home in winter by drawing shut the drapes.3.Check all insulation in the house. If you increase attic insulation to around 12 inches the electricity consumption will reduce by 20 percent.4.Plant more trees around the house these will cool the house in summer and insulate the house in winter. Studies show that a green cover benefits in many ways.5.Have all electricity wires and outlets checked for leakage. Check all fuses and appliances.6.Fluorescent light bulbs are energy efficient. They use 75% less energy than ordinary light bulbs. These have a longer life and contribute to great savings.7.Use energy efficient appliances. These use less energy and believe it or not a high efficiency refrigerator uses less electricity than a light bulb.8.When you are away even for a few hours or days you should turn off and unplug all electrical appliances and turn settings on the thermostat, water heater, and refrigerator to the lowest setting.9.Ensure that you use a water-saving shower head. Water heating costs for a family can be lowered by at least US$ 250 a year.10.Weatherize your home. This helps reduce heating bills by 20% and cooling by at least 10 percent. Even when building a home or decorating it use weather friendly materials�those that are not good conductors of heat and cold. Install windows and glass panes in the roof in such away that you use sunlight to light up the rooms during day light hours. Make an effort to switch off lights and fans when leaving a room. Ensure that the filters in air conditioners and heaters are always cleaned and free of clog and dust.If you live an energy efficient lifestyle you will see the numbers on the energy bill actually reducing. The power to cut energy costs is well within your control. It is as simple as only washing full loads and that to in cold water. Use the hot wash option only for very dirty clothes. Cook food only just before you are ready to eat that way you can save reheating costs as well as refrigerating costs of storing the food. Turn the thermostat of the refrigerator to minimum in cold or cool weather. Switch off freezers if they are not in use. Small contributions can all add up to significant amounts of power saved. And, power saved means money in the bank.
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