Monday, April 28, 2014

Notable Stamps

As a hobby that appeals to people of all ages from all over the world, the popularity of philately continues to grow today. Here's a list of the five most noteworthy stamps in the world, guaranteed to enamour the philatelist in you.

Among The Best-Known Stamps Are:

The Treskilling Yellow

This 1855 Swedish stamp, with only one surviving copy, is the most valuable stamp in the world. The Treskilling Yellow was auctioned in 2010 and bought by French businessman Armand Rousso for an undisclosed amount. At its previous auction, the Treskilling Yellow sold for about R 31,140,000! Why is it famous? It was mistakenly printed yellow instead of greenish blue. The stamp was cancelled by the Swedish government in 1857.

U.S. Ben Franklin Z-Grill

Issued in 1868 in the United States, this one cent stamp depicts Benjamin Franklin. Only two copies of the stamp survive today. One is privately owned while the other is owned by the New York Public Library. The stamp is famous because of its horizontal ridges (most other US stamps feature vertical ridges) and its tiny Z grill indentations. This stamp was discontinued in 1870 and is estimated to be worth about R93,420,000 today!

Penny Black

Issued in 1840 in the UK, the Penny Black is valued at about R51,900,000 today. It was designed by social reformer and inventor Rowland Hill and depicts a sketch of Queen Victoria by William Wyon, chief engraver of the Royal Mint. It is also the world's first self-adhesive postage stamp. The Penny Black was discontinued after only nine months of circulation because red cancellation marks were hard to spot on its black background.

Inverted Jenny

This stamp features probably the most famous mistake in the history of US philately. The stamp depicts an upside down image of a Curtiss JN-4 airplane surrounded by a bright red frame. Many experts believe that the image of the plane was actually printed correctly and that, in fact, it was the red frame was printed in an inverted manner. The Inverted Jenny was issued in 1918 and only about 100 of these stamps survive today, each estimated to be worth about R 10,000,000!

Olive coloured Queen Victoria's Head

Issued in 1864 in Hong Kong with a face value of about 96 HK cents, the olive Queen Victoria stamp is today worth about R8,823,000! The stamps were supposed to be grey-brown but about 52 sheets of the stamp were mistakenly printed olive instead. The watermark on these stamps was also not styled the way it should've been. Only 40 of these stamps exist in the world today.

As you can see, studying and collecting stamps can be a very enriching and rewarding hobby, both intellectually and financially!


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http://www.bidorbuy.co.za is South Africa's largest online marketplace. Buyers and sellers come to bidorbuy to buy and sell virtually anything in auction format or at fixed prices.

Contact details: bidorbuy Marketing Department; email promotion@bidorbuy.co.za, web site
www.bidorbuy.co.za

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

How Independent Schooling Can Help In Preparing Your Teenager For University

Copyright (c) 2014 Stratique Marketing, Design and PR

If there were such a thing as a job description for being a parent, then helping your child to prepare to live independently would definitely be one of the key objectives. If you have managed to raise a happy and confident adolescent who functions well without you, you have succeeded at the most difficult aspect of parenting.

There are many skills your son or daughter will need in order to prepare for higher education. The most obvious of these is good grades in order to pass the entrance requirements. Independent schooling is highly thought of in the academic world. In 2013 the Telegraph newspaper published the A Level results for 315 independent schools in the UK. Over half of these schools achieved at least 48% of their pupils attaining A and A* grades at A-level. The highest achieving school had in excess of 93% of its pupils awarded these top -level results. This was in a year when the number of students awarded the top marks at A-level had fallen for the second year in a row.

Whilst high grades are important to ensure your child gets into their chosen course at their preferred university, there are many other skills that they will need to really excel. At an independent school, these skills are taught from nursery age and are enhanced and enriched all the way through their education, right to the last day of sixth form.

Universities look for excellent all-round candidates. This means than in addition to the required grades, your teenager will need to be able to demonstrate a range of interests and extra-curricular activities that they participate in. Independent schools excel in the range of non-academic activities they provide for their pupils. These can include excelling in their sport, drama, dance and/or music. One of the major benefits of an independent school education is that very often they have the finances and the facilities to ensure that excelling in a wide range of extra-curricular activities is possible for each pupil.

Girls' schools in particular are beneficial for the development of the girls who attend for many reasons:-

Girls can focus on the learning experience. In a co-educational situation girls can lose out to boys who tend to dominate teacher time

Girls are more likely to take intellectual risks and be less passive in a single sex class especially in their teenage years. They prefer to solve problems by team work

Subject choices are not polarised into traditional male and female subjects

Girls grow in self-esteem and confidence without constantly being placed under social pressure from boys. They have the space and security in which to build up their self-esteem and confidence in their own abilities as individuals

Girls mature physically, mentally and emotionally earlier than boys and are not held back in a single sex environment

Girls can have many opportunities for leadership roles in single sex schools.

The confidence, self-esteem and an all-round education attained at an independent school should not be underestimated in importance. Having these skills in addition to excellent grades means that your child will go off to university, or wherever their life takes them after school with the skills to succeed along their chosen path.


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For more information, please contact Saint Martin's Girls' Schools, Solihull by visiting http://www.saintmartins-school.com/who-we-are/heads-welcome or calling 0121 705 1265.

Getting To Accurate Budgeting Of Expendables For Industrial Manufacturing

Copyright (c) 2014 John Merk

One of the biggest challenges in forecasting accurate expenses is the predictability of production consumables. Not only does this inconsistency with production consumables affect job costing, budgeting and forecasting but it also affects scrap and production efficiency. There are some companies that I have run across that have this ability to expense materials accurately but it is very few. As a specialist in many areas of production consumables over the past 25 years, I have been involved in some of the significant strides in solving this dilemma. One in particular that I have specialized in for over a decade is inventory management through software and control devices.

The advancement of inventory management software can now control the usage and access of materials that will immediately stop the excess consumption condition. With conventional tool cribs utilizing software and an onsite crib associate; the software can inform the crib personnel as to the allowance of additional tools or the allowance of a specific tool to a specific individual for a specific job.

The customization of the software parameters are only limited to your imagination and logic. The logic to accomplish anything that you can think of, is available through the support of the software manufacturer and experienced inventory management distributors. This ability is not available through all inventory management software. One that I subscribe to, have worked with for many years and recommend is AutoCrib. The AutoCrib Software is very powerful yet one of the most user friendly on the market.

Not by software alone will you succeed! Traditional tool cribs are being modernized through the implementation of vending machines coupled with inventory management software. Advanced implementations include RFID cribs which utilize radio frequency identification on the products barcode when being checked out. The solutions are virtual person less cribs. These cribs require minimal personnel assistance to manage and are often managed by the distributor remotely.

Software and a control device such as a vending machine provides the highest capability to implement accurate expenses per job or operation. (Cost justifiable that is) The capabilities in many cases are not instantaneous due to many unknown and previously unrecorded consumption by shift, machine, or job. After, typically a month, the reporting that is generated from transactions can begin to provide the parameters that can be established for specific jobs, shifts, machines or other user defined fields. It is implementing this previously unknown information into the control aspect of the machine that will lead to consistency and budgeting capabilities by item, job, or other defined field. If data does exist that is accurate on usage per shift on a specific job, then these items can be programmed with limits at the time of implementation. The better the information, the further down the line in in-depth utility of the software capabilities one can implement.

When one can control the amount of material that is dispensed for a job, then excess consumption can be halted before other associated negative effects can take place. Effects such as: scrapped parts, loss of production time, delayed parts processing and job completion time. When excess materials are required, that is a red flag. It is an indicator that something is wrong. It can be a number of different variables but it requires immediate reference to a supervisor or production engineer to review the conditions that is leading to excess consumption. Usage limits will refer the user to a supervisor for additional tools. In other words, the software and equipment solution will stop the significant contributor to loss production, scrap and delays. So, not only will an inventory management software and equipment solution provide you with the ability to budget what has been accepted as a common variable but you will also be minimizing a menacing condition within manufacturing.

Many companies today are jumping on the bandwagon of installing vending machines that has an inventory management software. It seems like some companies are dropping them off at every street corner. However, what I experience and see is an anemic implementation and support of the solutions. Unfortunately, what could be a significant benefit to a manufacturer is only scratching the surface of the capabilities, both cost savings and productivity. It is like having a Swiss Army knife and only using the scissors.

DGI Supply is one of the most experienced inventory management focused industrial distributors. With over 15 years, with hundreds of installations, DGI Supply with AutoCrib provides all the advanced capabilities that literally can produce over time, 80% or more in reduction in consumption and expenditures of production consumables. It is a given, that putting production consumables in a control device is like putting the lid on a cookie jar. It will reduce your consumption 20% or more. DGI's been doing that for years and have grown beyond that feature alone. DGI and AutoCrib focus on the advance capabilities that eliminate the budgeting issues, misused tools, excess usage, unauthorized tool use and many more variables that plague effective inventory management.

My recommendation to industry is to seek out suppliers with the most experience, who have learned from experience, the best and most effective installation practices. Seek out distributors who not only talk about the advanced capabilities but understand and illustrate how to implement them to your needs.


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This article was written by John P. Merk, the Director of National Accounts for DGI Supply, one of North America's largest industrial distributors focused on inventory management solutions. Mr. Merk brings over 25 years of industrial knowledge and specialist capabilities. For additional information on inventory management solutions, consulting, webinar signup or specific need, go to http://www.maximizedsavings.com or email at jmerk@dgisupply.com.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Tribute To Mandela

His Legacy Will Live

On 6 December 2013, South Africa woke up to the sad news of the passing of a great icon, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. President Jacob Zuma announced Mandela's' death on SABC just 9PM on 5 December 2013.

"He passed on peacefully in the company of his family around 8.50pm on December 5. He is now resting, he is now at peace. Our nation has lost its greatest son," President Zuma said in an official statement.

Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in the village of Mvezo in Umtata in the Eastern Cape. Given the forename Rolihlahla, a Xhosa term colloquially meaning "troublemaker"; Nelson was given to him by his school teacher. In later years he became known by his clan name, Madiba. He went on to dedicate 67 years of his life to the struggle for human rights, human dignity, gender and racial equality, a struggle which has changed the lives of each and every South African.

"We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity - a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world." These are the famous words from his 1994 inauguration speech. Tata will always be remembered worldwide as someone who firmly believed in the integrity of people.

He always strived to unite. Who could forget the 1995 Rugby World Cup when, following South Africa's victory, Mandela wearing a Springbok rugby shirt and cap, presented the Webb Ellis Cup to the South African captain Francois Pienaar. That day, he truly showed South Africans the true meaning of a rainbow nation.

"I believe that his example will live on and that it will continue to inspire all South Africans to achieve his vision of non-racialism, justice, human dignity, and equality for all; Tata, we shall miss you, but know that your spirit and example will always be there to guide us to the vision of a better and more just South Africa," said Former South African President F.W. De Klerk.

Mandela's tireless fight to end apartheid in South Africa and his stature as a global icon has made collectables associated with the icon extremely popular. Let us take a moment to appreciate the man through books, coins, autographs and all manner of collectables and stamps.

Most importantly, the spirit of Madiba's legacy will live forever, woven into the fabric of human kind all over the world. We love you Tata, may your soul rest in eternal peace.


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http://www.bidorbuy.co.za is South Africa's largest online marketplace. Buyers and sellers come to bidorbuy to buy and sell virtually anything in auction format or at fixed prices.

Contact details: bidorbuy Marketing Department; email promotion@bidorbuy.co.za, web site
www.bidorbuy.co.za

Monday, April 14, 2014

Types And Models Of Online Advertising

Eyeball… Click… Action!

There are many ways to drive the internet traffic to a business website that are free of charge. However, they are as a rule time consuming. Paid online advertising campaign can be a good option, as long as the business owner has a reasonable budget.

The three main types of online advertising are search engine marketing (SEM), banners and advertising on social media.

Search engine marketing is by and large associated with Google AdWords, and to a lesser extent with Bing Ads as well as other search engines.

This type of advertising uses CPC (cost per click), also known as PPC (pay per click) model. The ads, in the form of text, are served in the search results page at the very top and on the right-hand side of the "organic" search results. The advertisers pay per click, every time a visitor clicks on their ads, as a consequence visiting their website. The reasoning behind this type of advertising is that businesses are talking to the internet users who are already half- converted: the visitors are looking for exactly the products or services that the advertisers offer, with the ads displayed after they initiate a search for specific key terms in the search engine.

Google AdWords, Bing Ads and similar self-service platforms also offer content marketing, usually based on CPC model. In this scenario, ads - which may be either text ads or display banners - are not served in the search results pages, but on a variety of big and small websites that have subscribed to showing third-party ads.

The ads are (at least notionally) served next to relevant content, on the assumption that someone interested in reading about benefits of physical exercise will be receptive to an ad promoting a yoga studio. Banner advertising proper is older than search engines and entails advertising directly on a relevant (usually high-traffic) website, as opposed to going though AdWords or Bing Ads, though the results can look similar.

Banner ads can be static images, flash animations, videos, and so on. While some host websites (publishers) are ready to sell the space on their web pages on CPC basis, most go with the CPM (cost per thousand impressions), or PPM (pay per thousand impressions) model.

This means that the advertisers pay for their ad to show up a certain number of times, regardless of whether anyone actually clicks on it. As the advertisers pays for exposure based on visitors to the website or the number of "eyeballs", this type of advertising is considered better suited for branding than for promoting a specific product.

Affiliate marketing uses a CPA (cost per action) or PPA (pay for action) model. In this type of advertising, the advertiser only pays the publisher if someone clicks on the ad and completes a specific transaction, which can be a purchase, a subscription to a newsletter, and so on.

The success of this type of marketing depends on the advertiser's ability to develop a good network of affiliates. The bidorbuy affiliate programme is an example of this type of online advertising and marketing.

Social media type of online advertising is gaining popularity in recent times, because many people are using such websites, and because a person who viewed an ad may talk about it to the people they are connected to, thus widening the ad's reach. Social networks, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, have opened their platforms for advertising and are (naturally) doing their best to limit free exposure for businesses in favour of paid promotional campaigns. At the end of 2013, Google+ also started moving towards paid "social advertising" (though the ads will be not be served on Google+, but on Google's display network).

Typically, advertisers on social media platforms can choose either CPC or CPM model to see which ones work better for them, or which ones work better for specific campaigns and for specific groups of users.

Online videos, newsletter advertising, mobile advertising are some other popular types of online advertising. Every method may not work for every business, so it is worth your while to explore several advertising strategies


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http://www.bidorbuy.co.za is South Africa's largest online marketplace. Buyers and sellers come to bidorbuy to buy and sell virtually anything in auction format or at fixed prices.

Contact details: bidorbuy Marketing Department; email promotion@bidorbuy.co.za, web site
www.bidorbuy.co.za