Category Archives: Guest Post

History of Russian diamond production

Because Russia is such a cold country, for many years it wasn’t really cost effective for Russian miners to go to the trouble of extracting diamonds from the cold Russian tundra. It is only in the last half a century that Russia has been mining and producing Russian diamonds, although the diamonds have, of course, been under Russian soil for much longer.

The impetus for the decision to mine diamonds – the ultimate symbol of luxury –was ironically that they were needed to boost the industrial output of the communist Soviet Union. As well as being sparkly, diamonds are important for use in industry – they make extremely hard and long lasting drill tips. They also have military uses, which made them extremely attractive to Soviet planners.

So, in the 1950s massive mines were started (the largest was the Mirny mine, an open cast mine that is over a kilometer wide and almost a kilometer deep and which has been made famous on the internet by people who circulate amazing pictures). The Soviet Union never did things to a small scale.

Diamond production in the Soviet Union was mainly aimed at industrial production, but it was quickly realized that many of the diamonds being mined were good enough quality to be sold as gemstones for jewelery. A top secret deal was agreed with De Beers to sell them outside of Russia, and the Soviet Union very quickly found it had another major source of income that it could use to support its ambitions.

Today, diamond mining continues in Russia – still on a grand scale. This year, in fact, it was reported that Russia is the world’s largest producer of diamonds – it produces almost one in every four diamonds in the world today, an amount which is worth well over $1billion dollars annually to the Russian economy.

Selecting the Right Folding Canopy for You

There are many good reasons to be considering purchase of a folding canopy. If you have a family that likes to use the backyard, or you like weekend outings to the beach, mountains or the local park, then you probably have seen other groups enjoying greater comfort and safety thanks to their canopy tent. You may have noticed how easily they put their canopies up and took them down–folding canopies collapse quickly to load in the car and take anywhere. They are available to all families thanks to their prices–from $50 to $200 according to size and features selected. Most home improvement stores, and retail stores that feature outdoor gear, have some versions in stock.

Swiss Gear makes a great 10 x 10 “Smart Shade” canopy. It is tough, easy to use and offers lots of shade-100 square feet. It is a superior example of products available in this category. The canopy is treated so that it will block ultraviolet radiation so that the shade provided is total, no matter how strong the sun. You do not need so much as a screwdriver to get it up and protecting you–it is available for use within minutes. This canopy set-up assumes you will be enjoying it in all kinds of weather, as it has been made water-resistant. The UV protection helps protect any of the six different colors you choose from fading. The interior room at the center is 9 feet. Yet with all this, is weighs only 36 lbs. and fits tidily in a nifty carrying case so you can take it anywhere and store it safely. The price for this much quality, size and features is $160. The price is above average, but owners give it good marks for important features such as keeping heat away from the interior better than similar models, and the fact it is made to withstand rain.

A bit more economical one, at $100 even, is the “Palm Springs Outdoor Pop-Up” model canopy. This also provides a 10 x 10 foot area of shade, large enough for most gatherings and special events such as weddings or graduation parties or just a big family get-together. Although is covers a large area, it is so easy to erect and take down that owners like to take it to other places to supply shade and comfort and protection from the elements. Perfect places are picnics, the beach or camping trips. It is ready to use in just a minute of effort, without need of special weights or supports to make it sturdy. This Pop-Up is constructed with steel for the framing poles, important for an outdoor product because that metal not only resists rust it provides the strength of steel to the structure. They do also add to the weight of the tent–it is 50 lbs. A clever technique to protect the material from tearing in the wind or from use is the employment of Velcro to secure the canopy and poles. The only knock that owners have put on this product is that it cannot stand up under a rainfall–too much rain can make the canvas sag and then collapse as water accumulates. The tent is not designed to handle rain—the material has not been treated to make it water resistant, and if exposed to moisture, does not resist mold.

Making Profits through Green Investing

Green investing, as the name suggests, involves investing in the companies that are committed to protecting the environment through eco-friendly policies. These companies, for example, might be utilizing methods to reduce environmental impact by utilizing alternative and renewable energy sources. More and more people are investing only in environment-friendly companies by buying their stocks, as well as buying eco-friendly mutual funds.

While generally green-related financial products currently come with a premium price and are relatively scarce as well, it promises a great future nevertheless. After all, investors do not do this solely for the environment, as a golden rule in investing for dummies, they also want to earn profits since this is still business.

There has been a constantly growing interest on the alternative and renewable energy. People have also become more conscious of the consequences of the use of fossil fuels. As a result, this has opened a great opportunity for green investing. Many people believe that green investing can provide sustainable and long-term income. It won’t be long until this will be a common entry for financial and business references for all investors.

Green investing covers a wide array of areas–green stocks include different sectors, company range and value. A lot of potential green investments are small, young, and uncertain, but an investor can make an environment-friendly portfolio out of big name companies. For example, an individual may invest in an electronics company that provides cooling system for buildings to help lessen their power consumption.

To put it simply, green investing will be the trend of the future. Many industry leaders of today are poised to lead the changes towards investing for the benefit of the environment. Making profits is good, but it will be much better if the business is helping nature first–and this can be made through green investing.

A hand juicer as a survival tool

Many people are familiar with the practice of juicing fruits and vegetables, to make nutritious and tasty drinks. Everyone is probably aware that increasing your intake of fruit and vegetable matter (and this includes fresh juice) is very healthy, and can improve the quality of your life. But how can a juicer machine save your life?

I recently read an interesting discussion claiming that grass – not wheat grass, but plain old lawn grass – is an overlooked source of food in times of famine, war, and other times of need. Now before the scientifically minded amongst you jump up and down and say “no no grass can’t be eaten – you need a rumen, or the enzyme cellulase to break it down”, this is how it works:

Although grass fibre ( mainly cellulose, and it’s true you DO specifically need the enzyme cellulase to break it down to a simpler form) is of very little use to humans, it is still possible to crush the juice out of the grass and drink this. What does it taste like? It tastes like wheat grass apparently, and although it is not the best flavour in the world, it still contains a mixture of simple sugars that are sustaining enough to potentially get you through an emergency.

So, you need some way to crush lawn grass. Of course an electric juicer is a great way to juice, but an electric machine isn’t going do much good to as if electricity grid is down! In this case, the best option is a hand juicer. A hand juicer is any juicer which is powered manually, and the most common types are those which you clamp to a surface like a kitchen bench, and then turn a crank handle while feeding in ingredients. Hand juicers are generally used to juice wheat grass, so they aren’t really going to struggle when juicing lawn grass.

This information probably sounds quite wacky, and you should probably be careful when applying it! However, whichever way you look at it a compact hand juicer does sound like a useful survival tool. There are many things that you could find that you could juice if you had to,  which would not be very palatable to eat. Think of edible native plants such as thistles, which are edible but very stringy and difficult to chew. A hand juicer can be purchased for as little as $50, and could be an excellent investment one day.

Cold climate survival: How and why thermal underwear can save your life

When people think of outdoor survival situations under adverse conditions they tend to think of survival knives, maybe guns, and other iconic tools of the action-hero survivalist. But the fact is that one of the greatest dangers you will face in the wild will not be from wild animals or head hunters…cold will kill you faster than anything else.

Experienced outdoors men and women like to talk about the rule of 3’s: A person can go for 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water, and 3 hours without warmth.

There is a lot of truth in this old rule, and you need to prepare carefully if you are setting out on any expedition. It might just be a camping trip, it might be a white water rafting trip, or you may be going searching for fossil bones. In any case, it’s better to be prepared than to face a situation without the necessary survival equipment.

Thermal underwear is a fantastic invention which seriously can save your life. Many professional athletes and adventurers wear thermal underwear not just to stay comfortable, but also to avoid injury. If you’ve never worn thermal underwear before you may suspect that it is itchy or uncomfortable, but modern thermals are smooth and in fact barely noticeable once you have them on. There are three main types of thermal underwear that you can obtain:

The cheapest kind of thermal underwear is usually of the acrylic fiber type, which is a synthetic fiber. Acrylic fibers  are relatively inexpensive, and also quite hard wearing. The downside can be that synthetic fibers absorb body odor, and can be difficult to refresh.

Also fairly affordable, is cotton thermal underwear. You need to be careful with cotton underwear though, as cotton has a distinct disadvantage in the field. When it gets wet, it completely loses its ability to insulate you, and is in fact worse than useless. Cotton thermal underwear is only appropriate for fairly light duty applications, and should not be worn into serious survival situations.

By far the best type of thermal underwear is pure wool. It might surprise some people to learn this, but wool has been used by civilizations all around the world for countless thousands of years for a good reason – it has amazing natural insulating properties, and it is also naturally antibacterial. Even when wet, wool maintains the ability to insulate your body, and as such is the best choice when you are embarking on a quest into the unknown.