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Organic foods have become more and more popular over the past couple decades. Even though its usually significantly more expensive, people still fork out the money. I’ve always assumed that most people do it for the health benefits. But lately there has been a growing market for clothing made from organically grown cotton. Obviously people aren’t buying these clothes for their health, unless they misunderstood what a ‘high-fiber diet’ means.

Organic Cotton: Good for the Earth

So, obviously the implications of organically grown cotton isn’t geared towards the body as much as it is geared towards the Earth. Organically grown cotton essentially refers to the way the cotton is grown and manufactured. Eco-friendly farmers try to find ways to limit the kinds of harmful chemicals that are put into the ground. Once those chemicals mix in with the soil, it effects future vegetation and animal life for years and years to come. The chemicals also find their way down into the water table (our natural fresh water supply deep down under the soil).

Substituting Chemicals with Brains

Instead of the lazy mainstream farming model where chemicals are used to maximize on profits, organic farmers substitute chemicals with innovation. Instead of using synthetic fertilizers which over time can throw off the soil’s PH and cause other problems for animals, organic farmers are using natural composting. Instead of pesticides which can throw off the food chain and effect larger animals, organic farmers are introducing beneficial insects and predators, and also using insect traps to pin-point a very small area for insect control. Instead of using harmful herbicides, organic farmers are coming up with innovative weeding techniques.

Market Driven Activism

The old model of standing on the street with signs just isn’t enough. The smart way to help people become aware of organic cotton is the capitalistic model. Many smart companies are jumping on the coat tails of the Earth-friendly trend. The more we support these farmers by spending money on organically grown cotton, the lower the prices will get and the smaller the human foot print will be on the Earth.

Cameron Postelwait is the admin for the forum about GoYin and works at Sewell Direct: a retailer of Organic Cotton Clothing

There are many different software being developed lately to automate trading in Forex. They are able to trade currencies without needing a person to execute trades. Automated trading is a field that began emerging not long ago.

Automated trading has number of advantages over manual trading. Such advantages for example are:

It is executed by computer. Today information technology and computer science are developed to a very high standards. Computer can perform thousand calculations while human performs only one. It work outs logical computations without error and stores memory at incredible speed.

Automatic trading takes emotions out of your trading. It will never make decisions driven by greed and fear. The software never hesitates to take a trade or close a position. All the trades are based on set rules and criteria that eliminate the human psychological errors.

Trading software can take trades day and night without weariness. It frees a trader from the necessity to be glued to his trading charts all the time. Once a successful trading system is developed and optimized into a trading robot it can be left to run independently.

On the other hand automated Forex trading robots have a major flow. They do not have the “feel” for market as a human trader does. If trading software is making profit once market conditions change it may start loosing money. That kind of change can be perceived only by a human eye. For example if behavior of the currency pair was predominantly trending and a trading robot was making profit. Once that currency pair becomes mostly ranging trading robot will lose money in such market.

Here is my personal experience with automated Forex robots. In the beginning of my trading experience with them I was constantly failing. My equity curve looked like a trajectory of falling rock. The only problem for me was that over time those programs and Expert Advisors stop making profit as they did it before.

I tried different kinds of software and Expert Advisors. Finally found what I was looking for. I have posted my trading results with this one at Forex automatic robots. I gave more detailed overview as well as trading results on Metatrader platform.

Also I highly recommend you to visit Forex-Opportunity.info to learn more about automated Forex trading. At least sign up for a newsletter to get a comprehensive trading advice

From early childhood and throughout the schooling system, we learn the “3R’s”: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic – the science of numbers. (Nowadays, you need to add a fourth “R”- gRaphing!).
Later, we reach a certain level in our education where were may feel rightly or wrongly (often complacently) that our levels of mastering reading and writing are satisfactory.

However… What about numbers? Generally, we do not fully realize the extent to which numbers control and regulate our lives. We are all identified by innumerable numbers from birth to the very last moments of our lives. Just reflect only on some of our important dates: birth, starting school, finishing primary school, finishing secondary school, the admission to university and then also with every stage of our education imprinted with our marks, marks and marks (percentages!). Then other numbers: the first love (the date, some of us remember!), dates of: marriage, birth of children, the first work, salaries, divorce, then blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar levels, the first operation, the passing away (not yet?) and so on. These numbers are unique to you and unique to me. They all identify you and identify me.

Some numbers quantify information. These are essential to understanding facts, events, processes, laws etc… The US novelist, Nathanel West, 1903-1940, stated aptly: “Numbers constitute the only universal language”.

Studies have shown that even rhesus monkeys can understand the relation between numbers 1 to 9 i.e., they are able to judge whether the specified number is smaller or bigger than the other number.

So, what is the present state of arithmetic? Unfortunately, most of the people satisfy themselves on a very low level of its cognizance. (As an anecdote, I may tell you that I was approached by a lawyer who asked me: “I have to assign a plaintiff 15% of the amount demanded by defendant; how much is it?”). Most people fear numbers if they require any further calculations: making fractions, multiplying, using proportions or inverse proportions, converting to percentages or substituting to formulas. What are the implications of this fact? It often leads to impaired judgement of the average citizen regarding handling their home economics, investment and, as the case may be, the events in their own country and on our globe. As the citizens of a “global village”, we are all affected by events not only in our place or country but even in far-away-countries. Consider these numbers: people affected by HIV, bird flu, tsunami, price of a barrel of oil, tsunami in financial markets, increasing ozone hole, decreasing shoals of fish in oceans, decreasing number of polar bears, the increase in the average yearly temperature, increasing extinction of species of animals and plants. One can present endless number of examples.

The numbers can be puzzling, depressing, shocking, fascinating, mystifying or upsetting. Well, they can be… An educated, intelligent and honest person will perceive them this way. A Polish film director Jerzy Konwicki (renown for his “Ashes and Diamonds”) used to say: “only a cow does not care”.

True, a cow does not know, for example, about the “mad cow” disease and does not understand what it means that a certain percentage of cows are affected by foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue virus. There are however, unfortunately, also some examples among educated as well as decision making persons, institutions and governments who do not care. They have dubious motives to ignore some numbers (and related facts) they do not like. What will be the consequences of their arrogance to human beings in the future? A Japanese proverb says that more intelligent are those who see further…

Below there are several examples of numbers compiled from the Internet, Time and Trumpet. They may not be exact; however you may find them interesting and worthy of your attention:

65 000 – estimated population of Africa’s black rhinos in 1970
3 600 – estimated population of Africa’s black rhino in 2007
2 000 000 000 000 USD – US cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so far

3 500 000 – Jews murdered in Poland by German Nazis

32 000 000 – population of Poland before II WW; 24 000 000 after the war

1500 – new HIV infections a day in South Africa

1 000 000 – Americans killed yearly by heart attacks (cardiacnetwork.net)

7:2 – ratio of average number of TV sets to children in the USA

1500 – number of hours, the average USA teenager spends watching TV

67% – percentage of Australian and USA men are overweight

1 in 12- South Africans who had access to the Internet in 2007

15-30 000 000 – men suffering from erectile dysfunction (NIH, USA government statistics)

690 000 000 – number of Asians living on $1 or less per day (Asian Dev. Bank)

142.8 – number of women raped per 100 000 in South Africa; 150 per day

66 000 000 – number of people in the USA suffering with arthritis, the most common chronic health problem in the USA

3% – rate of the green gas increasing per year

7 600 000 – number of cancer death worldwide in 2007

5 200 000 – Americans suffer from full-blown diabetes and don’t know it…yet.

14 000 – dolphins killed annually in Japan

400 000 000 – number of people in the world suffering from depression and mental disorders (WHO).

Look again at the numbers. They alone are meaningless. However, together with the descriptive information, they carry powerful information, obviously to those who are intelligent enough to understand them. Unfortunately, it does not mean yet, that those who understand them and have authority to make decision/s to change some of the numbers/trends are willing to act…

Are you already feeling depressed? You should be… You are intelligent…
Till the next time… (2).

P.S.: While proofreading, my wife counsels me that I have omitted three other important R’s. During a whole life one should learn: Respect for self, Respect for others and Responsibility for your own actions. She is absolutely Right!

Wacek Kijewski is the author of stimulating and entertaining resource material on experimental science: “SI Units, Conversion and Measurement Skills” (the 2007 edition, IBN 0629340584, 186 pp, USD97. The book is recommended for students and lecturers science and engineering courses. Visit website: http://www.wacek.co.za and http://www.wacek.co.za/review.html Read seven reviews: UNESCO, UK, South Africa, Botswana, United States, Hungary. His other ezines:”The Travellers Temperature Tips”, “Is IQ a Metric Unit of Intelligence and…Stupidity”, “Al-Gebra and Illuminati Links Discovered”, “How to Measure Cultural Differences in Metric Units”, “The Traveller’s Temperature Predicaments (2). NB: The book is being sold by Amazon and other booksellers illegally.

You can of course buy one of the heavily advertised automated forex trading systems online – but this one is simple to understand, free and made savvy traders millions and all you need to know about it is enclosed…

Let’s start with the ones you can buy and most have nothing to offer apart from fancy packaging and hyped copy, to appeal to greed.

They lack the basic requirement you need and that’s having made a profit. Check the track records and there normally just paper simulations done backwards!

Well that’s not real dollars and if you want a robot you want one that’s Made real dollars and the free one we are going to look at has.

Real Profits for Over 20 Years

The system has been used since the late seventies by serious traders and was devised by Richard Donchian who is considered the grandfather of trend following.

He left some great free info for traders to use and his 4 Week Rule automated trading system, is simple – but don’t believe it doesn’t make profits it has and still does. Let’s take a look at it.

The Rule

This is a one rule trading system which holds a position in the market at all times and this is the rule to execute your trading signals to.

Buy a new 4 week calendar high and reverse this position to a short position on a new 4 week calendar low – that’s the rule and it’s very simple!

Now you may be saying that’s too simple to work but all the best forex trading systems are simple but it works on logic which is valid and here it is.

Trade Breakouts

Almost all the big trends start or continue from new market highs or lows and by getting in on them, you are getting in on the big trends.

Currencies Trend Long Term

They reflect the underlying health of the country they represent so this means long trends of months or years and this system will get you a good chunk of the profits they produce.

You then have a couple of other very important advantages:

- Its objective you don’t have to think about the signal you just do it

- Its extremely time efficient and only takes about 15 minutes a day

So is the system perfect?
Of course not all systems have a weakness and this one is no exception.

When currencies don’t trend, it will generate losing signals but you can add a filter and exit on a one or two week high or low, go flat and wait for the next signal or you can use a short term moving average. This smoothes the equity curve but whichever way you choose long term this system makes profits.

The best forex trading systems are simple and this one is and don’t believe the vendors who try and sell you software with fancy names, clever packaging and a made up track record, go for the real deal and that’s a system, that’s still used after 25 years and is at the heart of many a successful forex trading strategy.

You don’t get much for free in life but Richard Donchian has left something for free, that is valuable, easy to understand and can help any trader seek currency trading success in just 15 minutes a day.

NEW! 2 X FREE ESSENTIAL TRADER PDFS
ESSENTIAL FOREX TRADING COURSE

For free 2 x trading Pdf’s and more on the best FREE Forex Trading System and an exclusive risk free Currency trading Course visit our website.

These trends relate to the increasing cost of retirement which in turn is linked to longer life expectancy and the effects of a massive ageing population.

Firstly, as we know, most major employers are moving away from the final-salary pension schemes of old. The promises made by employers are proving to be very expensive to keep and as such, current corporate management is trying to lower or remove this burden.

The second major trend is the devaluing of state retirement benefits. Of course, this differs from country to country, but the trend is for pensioners to receive less, not more benefits.

Whilst the masses appear to be completely unaware of this trend, the clock to retirement age is ticking and each passing month without action is one less in which preparation can be made.

Suddenly, investors need to decide whether they want to focus on alpha or beta. For the lay person, this means either trusting in the skill of an investment management to outperform the market, or, relying on the market and investing passively in an index. This is a very difficult call to make.

Should an investor stick with the more traditional unit linked funds investing on the stock exchange and bond markets, or look to more adventurous areas such as hedge funds, property and commodities? Can an investor protect themselves from the potential swings in the market by diversification?

For those that wish to avoid the complexities and rely on a managed fund, choosing a manager can be hard to do. Even the legendary Bill Miller who had beated the S&P 500 for an incredible 15 consecutive years has just had 2 poor years in a row.

In fact, the average US mutual fund investor averages much lower returns than are possible. This is in part due to the unfortunate habit of private investors to jump onto an investment bandwagon and buy into hot funds at the top of the market. Some studies suggest that this causes most investors to earn a massive five percent less each year than the S&P 500 index.

Such mistakes are primarily due to a lack of understanding. Private investors often lack economic, business, political, financial or stock exchange knowledge – and this can prove to be very expensive. This – of course – is understandable. Not everyone has the desire or capacity to become an expert in economics or geopolitics. And yet, this is what these changes essentially require. At the most extreme, this may prove to be the difference between a prosperous or a poor old age.

All these things really prove is that the private investor needs to understand the stock exchange and it’s workings more and more – and that an ever greater number of people need to become private investors. This will be a massive change in how individuals are responsible for their own affairs.

Stuart Langridge is a financial advisor and personal finance columnist. He shows people why they need to invest on the stock exchange and why we all need to Invest on the stock exchange for a more comfortable retirement.

The Japanese invented candlestick charts a few hundred years ago and they have been used extensively by traders ever since. They are basically like bar charts except they provide a lot more information. So how useful are they when used to trade the forex markets?

Well first of all I would say that it’s generally not a great idea to make trading decisions based solely on candlestick charts. Ideally you should also use other technical indicators as well in order to find high probability trading set-ups, before looking for additional confirmation from the candlestick charts. Some people do trade and make consistent profits by just trading forex candlesticks but they are definitely in the minority.

Before I discuss how you can interpret candlesticks let me first of all discuss what a candlestick actually is. In simple terms a candlestick is simply a visual display of how the price has moved during a particular time frame. It consists of a body which signifies the open and close price and two wicks which indicate the high and low point during that particular period. If it’s a green candle, the closing price was higher than the open price and if it’s red then the price moved down with the closing price ending up lower than the opening price.

This may sound fairly basic and you may well wonder how you can trade these candlesticks but there are a number of different patterns you need to learn because they can offer strong buy or sell signals.

For example, if you get several consecutive candles that all have very small bodies followed by a candle with a large body then you know that there is a strong chance of a breakout occurring either up or down depending on the colour of the bar.

Another strong candlestick pattern is the hanging man and hammer patterns. These are both strong indicators that a reversal is due to take place. They both look the same with a small body and a long hanging downside shadow. The only difference is that the hanging man is used to signify a reversal of an upwards trend and a hammer is found at the bottom of a downwards trend and indicates an upwards reversal. Used in conjunction with other indicators these are very strong signals that a reversal is imminent.

These are just a few patterns but there are many other candlestick patterns you should learn because you can gain some invaluable information from them, particularly when combined with other forms of technical analysis.

James Woolley runs a website which provides details about Forex Candlesticks Made Easy and other top selling forex products.

Fibonacci can be a very valuable addition to the tools in your Forex strategy, even if you are a reasonably new trader. Experiment with the guidelines below and learn to do the Fibonacci two-step. The level of success with this tool is quite amazing.

Fibonacci levels indicate more often than not how far price is going to go before it stalls and pulls back. It also provides a number of levels where price can pull back or retrace before moving on in the direction of the trend.

The Levels

The 4 most common retracement levels are (figures rounded off):

1. 38%
2. 50%
3. 62%
4. 79%

The two most common extension levels are:

1. 1.27%
2. 1.62%

Using the Fibonacci tool that comes with most charting packages, simply drag the tool from the most recent swing high/low to the previous swing/high or low and take special note of the 50% retracement level.

The Two-Step Strategy

In a nutshell, the Fibonacci Two-Step means you set an entry order to be pulled in if and when price touches the Fib50% retracement level, and you set your target at the Fib1.27% extension level.

However, for these trades to be high probability with minimal risk a couple quick calculations are necessary.

What is your stop value? 25-30 pips? If it’s more can your equity cover it if you lose the trade? For many traders 25-30 pips is a reasonable stop.

So before entering the trade, measure the distance between the Fib50% retracement level, your possible entry point, and the Fib79% retracement or even the 100% level. If it is more than 25-30 pips, pass on the trade. The risk is too great. If price pulls back further than the Fib50% level even all the way back to the last swing high/low, you will be in trouble.

However, if the Fib79% or 100% level are within 25-30 pips of your entry at Fib50%, you have a possible trade.

Now calculate how many pips from Fib50% to the extension at Fib127% – this will be your profit ratio. Supposing your stop is set at 25 pips, perhaps somewhere between the Fib79% retracement level and the swing point, and your target at the Fib127% extension is 36 pips, that’s a good risk/reward ratio! You are risking 25 pips to get 36.

It is often advisable to set your target 3 or 4 pips above the Fib127% level as sometimes price doesn’t quite make it before it pulls back.

Use this strategy in line with your other indicators and trade in the direction of the trend for minimal risk.

The Secret Of The Two-Step Strategy

Why is this strategy so successful? Because it’s not too ambitious.

Price will often pull back to the Fib50% level and no further. It will often go to the Fib127 and no further. So using these two levels puts one on middle ground with a higher chance of getting taken into the trade with the target successfully met.

So if you are looking to improve your Forex strategy, remember the Fibonacci Two-Step – In at Fib50 – Out at Fib127 – and dance all the way to the bank.

For an illustrated example of the Fibonacci Two-Step click here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/two-step.html

For a free Fibonacci calculator plus a pivot point calculator and the best free economic calendars click here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/tools.html

For a free candle & chart pattern recognition reference tool click here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/Candle-Chart-Patterns

Envy is part of human nature. People envy other people’s success, looks, and even their creativity. Creative types often “get inked”, and with celebrities making the process more and more popular, people are getting body art done who are just trying to imitate a trend.

Unfortunately, people are fickle, and what was once a fun and cool tattoo will now become the subject of laser tattoo removal. The ways that people have obtained their tattoos are really interesting. Of course, getting a tattoo by a professional at a tattoo parlor is the most mainstream way. Even tattoo artists themselves sometimes have laser tattoo removal done.

In the United States, a person has to be at least eighteen before they can get a tattoo. However, that hasn’t stopped some minors from tattooing themselves with India ink. Those who are lucky enough to have not gotten ink poisoning end up with a tattoo that’s just asking for laser tattoo removal.

However, India ink is a particularly potent kind of ink, and once it is injected into the epidermal layers, its goal is to stay there. The laser tattoo removal process is known to be painful anyway – with each pulse of the laser being akin to suffering a quick burn. So, that pain is only magnified when a tattoo made of India ink needs to be removed. So, if you are a teenager who thinks it would be cool to get a tattoo, don’t get a homemade one – be responsible and wait until you’re maturely ready to get a tattoo.

More information on laser tattoo removal and a Blue Springs tattoo removal in Missouri is just a click away.

I love it when I read forum entries from people suggesting trading strategies along the lines of:

- Enter long when the RSI(14) is above 50, the stochastic (14,5,3) has crossed positive, and the Williams %R(14) is rising from the oversold area
- Enter short when the RSI(14) is below 50, the stochastic (14,5,3) has crossed negative, and the Williams %R(14) is falling from the overbought area

(Disclaimer: I just made up that strategy, so don’t trade it without testing it first – the fact is though – I seriously doubt it works)

Look, there are many problems with calling something like this a strategy, but the one I want to discuss today is simply that each of these indicators belongs to the same class of indicator. The RSI, the stochastic and the Williams %R are all oscillators.

An oscillator is a momentum based indicator that moves above and below a horizontal axis representing a position of neutral momentum.

Now each of these three oscillators measures momentum slightly differently. RSI measures it through comparing the magnitude of higher closes to lower closes over a set period of price bars. The stochastic measures it showing where the current close fits relative to a high/low range over a set period of price bars. The Williams %R works on the same concept as the stochastic, showing the relationship between the current close and the high/low range set over a period of price bars, however it does so through a different formula.

Basically, all are measuring the same thing. Quite likely, you’ve added some extra complexity to your strategy that serves no useful purpose at all.

Is there ever a need for more than one oscillator? Possibly, yes. It depends on what you’re trying to achieve. You might use one for indicating oversold or overbought price areas, and a different one for indicating increasing or decreasing momentum. You might even use one indicator twice, with different parameters, to represent momentum over both a shorter and longer time period. In this case, it’s fine.

However, I suspect many traders when developing their trading approach don’t really think about it to this degree. I suspect most just slap an indicator on their chart for no other reason than their platform provides it, and then look through the price history to see whether it shows potential for profits.

In this case, they can probably benefit from removing any redundancy.

So, what indicator classes are there? With some exceptions, the majority will fit within one of these four classes:

1. Trend indicators, such as moving averages, directional movement or trendlines.
2. Volatility indicators, such as bollinger bands, average true range or standard deviation.
3. Oscillators such as RSI, stochastics and Williams %R.
4. Volume / Market Strength indicators, such as volume, on balance volume or money flow index.

Generally you shouldn’t need more than one indicator to determine trend, one to determine volatility, one to determine momentum, and one to measure volume. In many cases, through a study of price action, you can even eliminate those single indicators and determine trend, momentum and volatility through price alone. Of course, that’s not for all people.

What I encourage you to do is to look carefully at the indicators you’re using. Do you have more than one indicator from any of the indicator classes? If so, is there a valid reason for it, or is it simply redundancy that has slipped unnoticed into your trading strategy? More often than not, I’d suggest your strategy could benefit from removal of that extra redundancy. Trading is one business where ‘simple really is best’.

Happy trading,
Lance Beggs

Would you like to learn more about how I trade the forex and equity index markets? Check out the articles, videos and trading resources on my website right now at http://www.YourTradingCoach.com

A good credit score is your key to the best deals during this uncertain financial climate. A decent credit score can win you the best rates for financial loans and can place you on that job that you have been wanting.

You can negotiate for bargains for almost any deal when you have a good credit score. A FICO score of at least 700 is considered a good one. For example, a 760 FICO score may translate to a very competitive 6.11% interest rate on a 30 year fixed three hundred thousand dollar home loan. Compare it to a deal if you have a score of 620, banks will give the same loan for 7.42%.

A very good credit score will provide you leverage to get what you need and want.

What a Good Score can Bring

When you have a score of 700 up creditors and lender consider you as a low risk borrower. Here are some of the perks that your good FICO can give you:

• Job Offers- Companies see a good credit score as a reflection of one’s overall character. A credit report may be pulled by employers as part of their screening process. It is not a favorable picture therefore when an Ivy League graduate goes out of the real world with a messy student debt. According to studies, financial stress affects the productivity of employees.

• Lower Interest Rates- this is true for credit cards, home loans, and auto loans. A 30 point raise in your credit score can save you a lot of money on those finance charges

• Insurance- Auto and home insurers evaluate an applicant’s credit score to study the risk of issuing a policy at a certain monthly premium. Trending has shown that people with good credit score tend to make lesser claim over the years. This can be attributed to good financial habits leading to more careful driving or paying house bills on time.

• Utility Service- Credit scores may affect how utility companies can consider waiving some of those deposits to avail of their service. Even cable and phone companies consider a good credit score as a lower risk for their business.

Using your Credit Score to Your Advantage

You deserve to utilize a good credit score to your benefit. If a card company calls you to offer a balance transfer for a lower interest rate, evaluate the offer first and see what the total picture is. If you know you have a good credit score, negotiate for the best deal that you can get.

Be savvy when dealing with credit card companies or other lenders who may be doing business with a lot of bad credit histories. A business will be more than willing to gain or retain their good client.

If you are shopping for the best rates, do not look for too long or too often. In some way, this will hurt your credit score since multiple companies will be pulling your report even if you’re just looking for one loan.

Safeguards have been devised such that multiple inquiries for home loans and auto loans will just be considered as a single inquiry if done in a fourteen-day span.

Maintaining a good credit score can be a tough task. A single decision error can drop you credit score by the tens or hundreds. To avoid that be careful with your dealings and read every fine print in any contract before signing.

The author of this article was Benedict Yossarian. If you have taken a loan out in the UK within the past 10 years it is quite possible it could be classed as an unenforceable loan agreement if any clerical errors have been made. Consumer Credit Claims can help receive financial compensation for these incorrectly drafted loans.