Long before people developed telescopes, the night sky has had an appeal to humanity’s hearts that can’t be compared to anything else in existence. Many superstitions have sprouted up from observing the sky, most notably things like constellations, reading the stars to tell the future, and good fortune bestowed by ‘falling’ stars. Amateur astronomy is a hobby that has been around for quite while. 

Even now, in this high technology and science era, the mystical fascinate of astronomy still keeping people to staring skyward to view the sun, the moon and the stars. Even though "hard" facts state that stars are simply huge suns billions of miles away, with no possible way to influence our lives and destinies, such logic gets blown away by the simple wonder of lying down on a blanket and looking up at a cloudless, star filled night. 

The instruments used by amateur astrologers are quite simple, inexpensive, and easy to obtain. The first and the most obvious thing you’ll need is a telescope, the tool that will let you view the night sky with even greater clarity. Modern stargazing scopes made especially for amateur astronomers even include light filters and built in digital cameras that let you record details that you want to preserve. 

Another simple device that every astronomy hobbyist need is a star chart. The star chart list all the known constellations, and most of the known celestial bodies aside from stars that you can view with a good telescope, like faraway galaxies and the other planets in our own solar system. Star charts sometimes come with books that give detailed dates and times when the said heavenly bodies are at their most visible, letting you plan ahead for your stargazing. 

The last thing most amateur astronomers need in terms of equipment is a log. Whether typing records on a computer or scribbling in a physical notebook using pen and paper, a log lets astronomers keep track of what they’ve viewed, when, and anything noteworthy that occurred while scanning the skies. For some hobbyist, this time of contemplation makes them turn their astronomy logs into something of a personal diary as well. 

With just these simple tools, telescope, star chart and log, anyone can begin astronomy as a hobby. But even without them and nothing more than a blanket to lie down on and look skywards, the most important thing is to hold a deep and abiding love for the skies in your heart, and to know that they can often defy logic science.

When I was a kid, before I started going to school, my mom used to buy me comic books to help teach me to read and keep me interested in reading once I learned. Most kids usually frown upon reading. Me on the other hand, I loved reading... as long as it was comic books. I can't even remember a time in my life that I didn't have any comic books. This fascination with comic books was my first step on my journey into toy collecting. 

The bulk of my toys growing up were action figures of my favorite comic book and cartoon characters. Early in my childhood, I had mostly G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Ninja Turtles figures. All these characters have comic book lines, and I had comics from all of them, but I've always associated them more with their cartoons than their comics, and therefore, I considered them toys based on cartoon characters, not comic book characters, and I was dying for some comic book toys. In my town, comic book toys were hard to find, so I had none. Finally, the first Batman movie hit theatres, and I got my first comic toys. 

Those Batman toys were played with so much, that every single one of them ended up broken. It was ok though. I re-bought a couple of my favorites, and a Batman sequel helped replace the others with even better toys. I had a new problem though. I was getting tired of having nothing but Batman toys. I wanted toys from all my favorite comic book characters, especially characters from Marvel. I love Batman, and I like other DC characters and characters from other comic lines, but my favorite characters (except Batman) have always come from Marvel, the most prominent being Spider-man and the X-men. 

I wanted some Marvel toys in the worst way, and for a while, I thought they'd never come out with any. But, a few years later, I got my wish. X-men and Spider-man hit the tv sets and their action figures hit the toy shelves. I remember the first one I got was the magneto with the magnetic hands and chest. I wanted Wolverine, but he was sold out, so I got Magneto instead. (I still have it.) 

We didn't have much money when I was growing up, so all my rosters from all my toy lines didn't consist of too many characters. But I always managed to get a hold of some really good ones, and I always had a blast playing with them. Still, I'd look at the back of the box, see all the awesome characters they were coming out with, and wish I could have them all. 

Eventually though, I grew up and I forgot about toys and comics. I hit my teens and started doing more social things like going to parties and what not. (We won't go into too much detail on that, this being a family friendly article and all.) But I still watched a lot of cartoons though, and one that I got sucked right into was Dragonball Z. I became a huge fan of the series and still am to this day. 

One day I was checking out the toy aisle in zellers, which I still did from time to time to see what cool toys they were coming out with, and I saw they had released a Dragonball Z toy line. I saw a Vegeta action figure, and something came over me. It was that same feeling I had as a kid when I was in the toy aisle and saw a toy I wanted. I'm sure most of us, if we think back hard enough, can remember that feeling of wanting a toy so bad it felt like your happiness depended on it. I'd checked out the toy aisle many times, seen cool toys, and not cared anymore. This time though, when I saw that Vegeta toy, that feeling just washed over me and I knew I wasn't going to play with it, nor did I have any desire to play with it, but I wanted that toy in the worst way.... I had no Idea what I was getting into. 

I bought the toy, took it out of the package, (I take all my toys out of the package by the way) and set it up in my room. I had no intentions of buying another one, but every time I saw one, that feeling would come over me, and it wasn't long before I was once again buying toys on a regular basis. 

At first, I was only collecting Dragonball Z toys and I had managed not to go any further than that. But it wasn't too long before comic books started coming back into play. 

I'd never really stopped reading my comics over the years, but I stopped buying them and didn't mind just reading the old ones over again. (Because I didn't read them as much) But, after I started collecting the DBZ toys, I started getting that feeling again when I'd read my comics, and it wasn't long before I was hunting down back issues to pick up where I'd left off. 

Then, the Spider-man movie came out, and a friend of mine found one of the action figures for it on the school bus. He brought it with him when we went to see the movie and I was looking at it before the movie started. It was the coolest figure I had ever seen. It had so much articulation that I could pose it any way I could think of. A couple of days later, I bought Spider-man and the Green Goblin for myself and put them up in my room in the most detailed fight scene I had ever put together. 

Once again, I thought I was done. But a couple of weeks later, I saw a Hobgoblin toy that was fully articulated and amazingly detailed. I had thought they only made those kind of detailed toys for the movie. I didn't know the comic book line was getting the same treatment. I had to buy it. "Now I'm done" I said to myself..... I can be so naive sometimes. 

A friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go to a comic book convention in Toronto. I had been having a hard time finding back issues for my comics, so I jumped at the idea. That convention was the final nail in the coffin when it came to me becoming a hard core collector. Not only did I double my comic book collection while I was there, I started my favorite toy collection there, Marvel Legends.(Hobgoblin was technically a Spider-man toy, although now, I consider Spider-man classics the same as Marvel Legends.) 

I was walking around and I saw a Marvel Legends booth. At first, I tried not to get any, but one was so nice I couldn't resist. It was series 3 Ghost Rider. I'd always wanted a Ghost Rider toy as a kid, and this was the coolest Ghost Rider toy I could've Imagined. I bought it and walked away. 5 minutes later, I came back and bought 2 more, Wolverine and Daredevil. This time I knew, there was no stopping. 

Back home, I'd taken a job at a local call center, which was a nightmare to say the least, but it had one advantage; the local comic book shop was directly across the street. I spent almost every break there, and when I was working, I started dreaming about working in the comic shop. 

I tried to apply for a job, but they wouldn't accept my resume, and never are accepting resumes. So, I started dreaming about opening my own shop, but I had no idea how I could do it. I looked into business courses, but that just ended up confusing me, so I came up with another idea. If I couldn't start a regular store, I'd do the next best thing. 

I started an online toy / comic book store and it worked out even better than starting a land based store. Now I get to run the store of my dreams, and I get to do it from the comfort of my own home. Now I buy my toys and comics from myself. What more could I ask for.

Any serious guitarist respects his instrument as something very high in value to him. He does not treat it as a toy that is thrown around and left lying around if it is slightly inconvenient for him to put it way. What entails taking care of your guitar in the proper way? Well, let me tell you! 

I always like to keep my instrument well taken care of. I'm even a little hesitant to let other people play in fear they may accidently chuck it across the room or set it on fire. Well, maybe not but I definitely don't want them to drop it and knick it. 

I'll start with the first thing you should do, even before you pick up your guitar. Wash your hands. I'm serious here. The oil from your hands not only corrodes the strings but it shortest the life of the guitar neck (the wood). You're also going to want to wipe the guitar strings down when you are done playing to remove any dirt or oil from your hands that was left on the guitar when you played. This will greatly increase the lifespan of your strings, which is recommended to be changed about once a month but will always differ depending on how often you play and how clean you keep your hands and the strings 

Keep you guitar in an environment that will be free of constant temperature and humidity change. That means don't keep it in your garage because it clutters up your room, as it can warp and damage your guitar. 

Every time I change my strings I like to wipe it down with a nice coat of wax that I bought at a guitar center. This will help keep it clean and will also give it a nice shine to show off its beauty. It will also give it a semi protective coat. 

If you're looking to keep all the scratches off your guitar I'd suggest investing in a back guard. When you stand up and play the back of the guitar rubs all over what you are wearing, and if you're wearing a metal belt buckle that could result in some nasty gouges on the back of your guitar. 

Considering guitars can be very expensive, that would be most unfortunate. 

It can also be good every once in a while to put some type of oil on your fret board when you're changing your strings. I've seen some older guitars with dry dry fret wood, and it isn't a pretty sight. Try to keep it moisturized with a lemon oil to keep it from becoming rough or even worse, cracking. 

Other than keeping all the nuts and bolts snuggly tightened, that about does it for basic guitar maintenance! Keep those guitars in good shape so they can keep on a blazin'.

If you are passionate about poker, and are looking to build or purchase a custom chip case to house your chips, consider incorporating a few woodworking extras to take it up a notch. Here are a few design recommendations that will make an ordinary wooden chip case extraordinary. 

Use Solid Wood not Veneer 

When designing a poker chip case, you have to take into account the weight of the chips, which can approach 50 lbs for a 1000 poker chip case. The advantages of using solid wood include durability, strength, and practicality. There are also numerous exotic wood types to choose from. 

In woodworking, veneer refers to thin slices of wood, usually thinner than 3 mm (1/8 inch), that are typically glued onto core panels (typically, wood, particle board or medium density fiberboard) to produce flat panels for cabinets, parquet floors and furniture. Veneer is cost effective and strong, however, it can blister, delaminate, or peel back at the edges. Also, since veneer is glued to a plywood or medium density fiberboard substrate the edges must be covered. 

Hardwood plywood veneer selection is often limited, and you may have to special-order and still be limited to a dozen or so of the most common wood types. Veneer plywood is usually not available in exotic woods. Veneer panels also can vary in thickness from their stated dimension due to the foreign origin of much of this material and the resulting metric thickness measurement. U.S.-made hardwood plywood has face veneers averaging 1/30? in thickness. Some species, such as black walnut, are sliced thinner, to 1/32?. Foreign veneers are thinner still and can be tough to saw without splintering, and sand without destroying. The variation in thickness also impacts your joints. If you really want a good-fitting joint, the solution requires extra work. You need to mill the plywood edge that fits in the dado of your project. 

Use Dovetail Joints not Butt Joints 

Joinery involves joining together pieces of wood, to create furniture, structures, toys, and other items. The strength, flexibility, and toughness of wooden joints derive from the properties of the joining materials and from how they are used in the joints. Therefore, different joinery techniques are used to meet differing requirements. When designing a poker chip case, you again have to take into account the weight of the chips. The joints have to be strong, or the case will fall apart under the weight. 

A butt joint is a joinery technique in which two pieces of wood are joined by simply butting them together. The butt joint is the simplest joint to make since it merely involves cutting the wood to the appropriate length and butting them together. It is also the weakest because it relies upon glue alone to hold it together. Because the orientation of the wood usually presents only an end grain to long grain gluing surface, the resulting joint is inherently weak. 

A dovetail joint is a joint technique most commonly used in woodworking joinery. Noted for its resistance to being pulled apart (tensile strength), the dovetail joint is commonly used to join the sides of a drawer to the front. A series of pins cut to extend from the end of one board interlock with a series of tails cut into the end of another board. The pins and tails have a trapezoidal shape. Once glued, a wooden dovetail joint requires no mechanical fasteners. 

Use a Polyurethane not Oil Finish 

One thing to consider when finishing a wooden chip case is to use a chip friendly finish. Polyurethane or a non-soluble varnish is an ideal choice, as it does not stain or seep into your chips. You should especially avoid any type of Oil finish such as Tung or Danish oil, as these oils can penetrate into the clay poker chip over time. 

Use Inlays to Step it Up a Notch 

Inlay is a decorative technique of inserting pieces of colored materials into depressions in a base object to form patterns or pictures. Inlays frequently use wood veneer, but other materials like stone or shell may also be used. 

Inlay differs from marquetry, a similar technique, in that marquetry is applied over an entire surface of an object, whereas inlay consists of small pieces inserted into cut spaces in the base material. 

Inlay is frequently used in production of decorative furniture, where pieces of colored wood or metal are inserted into the veneer. Using this technique can create a one-of-a-kind piece suitable for display. 

Use a Raised Panel or Glass Top 

Adding a decorative lid to your poker chip case can also create a unique custom effect. 

Frame and panel construction (also called "rail and stile") is a woodworking technique commonly used in the making of doors, wainscoting, and other decorative features for cabinets and furniture. The basic idea is to capture a 'floating' panel within a sturdy frame, as opposed to techniques like slab drawer fronts which are simply single pieces of material with exposed end grains. Usually, the panel is not glued to the frame - it is left to 'float' within it so that seasonal movement of the wood comprising the panel does not distort the frame or crack to wood. 

The same technique can be used with a glass insert instead of a wood panel. The glass can be left clear to display of your chips, or etched with a decorative design or perhaps the name of your home casino. 

So whether you are building or purchasing a custom wooden poker chip case to house your chips, consider incorporating these few little extras to take it up a notch and make your ordinary wooden case extraordinary

Poker is the most popular cards game in the world, known as a celebrated skill game, and sport. Since it's humble origins in the 14th century, The game's jargon has become a part of English and American culture. 

Poker chips are almost synonymous with the game of poker itself. Early poker players sometimes used jagged gold pieces, gold nuggets, gold dust, or coins as well as "chips" primarily made of ivory, bone, wood, paper and a composition made from clay and shellac. Several companies between the 1880s and the late 1930s began making clay composition casino chips. 

Casino chip collecting also became increasingly popular beginning in 1988, with the establishment of the Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club (CC&GTCC). Poker chip collecting is the practice of intentionally taking chips from Casino premises, trading or collecting online, or in person, for the purpose of collection. Casino chip collecting is a part of numismatics; a variation of exonumia, or coin collecting. Before it became a more serious hobby, chip collecting was simply a case of people keeping chips as souvenirs from a casino they had visited. Some poker chips are now worth up to $50,000. 

Whether a serious collector or a weekend gamer, some equipment will be needed in order to store or display your chips. The best way to store or display your poker chips is very subjective, and will ultimately boil down to personal preference. 

There are several alternatives to storing and displaying your chips. Frames specifically for displaying poker chips are available, or you can buy special mounting "backer" board to hold the chips and frame them yourself. Another display option is easel-mounted frames for one or more chips. For that extra-special or lucky chip, you might want to consider a poker chip Key Chain Holder. This is typically a clear plastic air-tight holder attached to a key chain. 

Storing your chips can range from very inexpensive to extravagant, depending on the type of chips you own, and whether you want them on display or not. Several vendors offer "Poker Chip" binders that are basically a padded binder with the words "Casino Chips" printed on the front and spine. These binders are designed to hold the three-ring binder pages that are in-turn specifically designed to store casino chips. 

Flips are typically stored either in binders or flip boxes. The former offer the convenience of being able to view your chips much like viewing a photo album. The flip boxes on the other hand, allow you to store more chips in a small space and are more efficient and practical for those of you who don't have a lot of shelf space for chip albums. 

Chip or coin, wallets are small vinyl albums that typically hold anywhere from 24 to 80 chips depending on their size. Air-tights are transparent plastic coin holders that store a single coin. An air-tight consists of two halves that snap-together around a coin to form a snug, air-tight fit. Air-tights are great storage solutions to show-case your best poker chips, but tend to be pricey, so it can be cost-prohibitive to store your entire collection in them. 

Coin tubes are hard plastic tubes that can store approximately 20 chips in a small space. The coins are tubular on the inside but are molded square on the outside to prevent rolling and allow stacking. When ordering coin tubes, you should order the 39mm, or "medallion" size. Coin tubes are a good storage solution to store your many traders, but you should be aware that the poker chips are not separated from contact with each other in the tubes. As a result, if not handled properly, it's theoretically possible that the chips could mar each other. For well used or older chips, this may not be a concern, but you may want to think twice before storing your mint-condition chips in a storage tube. 

There are several varieties of cases available from aluminum to leather to vinyl to wood. Your budget is your only limit! These cases usually store anywhere from 300 to 500 chips although there are some 1000 chip models. There are several varieties of special presentation cases that are excellent to showcase your most prized poker chips. 

Wooden poker cases may include chip trays that can be used to protect and store your chips, or can be removed to stack each players chips at the poker table. There is a shallow groove on the back of the trays to permit you to stack the trays at the poker table. When buying or ordering wooden poker chip case and trays, it is important to specify the finish be polyurethane or a non-soluble varnish. Specifically, avoid any type of Oil finish such as Tung or Danish oil, as these oils can penetrate into the clay chips over time. 

Again, be certain that your chips are appropriately sized for the chip case. Generally speaking, the majority of chips are of the 39mm size. Large denomination chips, as well as chips based on the Paulson Inverted Hat and Cane (IHC) fractionals mold, are of the larger 43mm size. 

Another measurement that may be referenced is the mold size - 66.7 or a 67.7 rack. This number is an indication as to the length (in millimeters) that is required to house a stack of 20 chips. Paulson chips require a 66.7 rack, others are on the 67.7 size. This may not be a major concern, but it is worth mentioning. Poker chip thickness can also impact how difficult it is too add or remove chips from a tray. As a chip begins to show signs of wear, edges may become less crisp and the chip becomes a bit thinner. Over time, chips may wiggle a bit in the case

So you have decided to invest in a poker chip case to store all of your poker chips. There are a multitude of chip cases and trays on the market, from inexpensive plastic trays to outrageously expensive sets. If you have your heart set on a wooden poker chest, here are some things to consider that differentiate a fine poker chip case from just a plain wooden box. 

JOINTS 

Joinery is a part of woodworking that involves joining together pieces of wood, to create furniture, structures, toys, and other items. The characteristics of wooden joints - strength, flexibility, toughness, etc. - derive from the properties of the joining materials and from how they are used in the joints. Therefore, different joinery techniques are used to meet differing requirements. When designing a poker chip case, you have to take into account the weight of the chips, which can approach 50 lbs for a 1000 chip case. The joints have to be strong, or the case will fall apart under the weight of the chips. 

Most pre-made cases bought on the market utilize a butt joint. A butt joint is a joinery technique in which two members are joined by simply butting them together. The butt joint is the simplest joint to make since it merely involves cutting the members to the appropriate length and butting them together. It is also the weakest because unless some form of reinforcement is used, it relies upon glue alone to hold it together. Because the orientation of the members usually present only end grain to long grain gluing surface, the resulting joint is inherently weak. 

When ordering a custom chip case, you can specify a dovetail joint. A dovetail joint is a joint technique most commonly used in woodworking joinery. Noted for its resistance to being pulled apart (tensile strength), the dovetail joint is commonly used to join the sides of a drawer to the front. A series of pins cut to extend from the end of one board interlock with a series of tails cut into the end of another board. The pins and tails have a trapezoidal shape. Once glued, a wooden dovetail joint requires no mechanical fasteners. 

Another simple and strong joint is the mortise and tenon joint, which has been used for thousands of years by woodworkers around the world to join pieces of wood. This is commonly used when the pieces are at an angle close to 90°. Although there are many variations on the theme, the basic idea is that the end of one of the members is inserted into a hole cut in the other member. The end of the first member is called the tenon, and it is usually narrowed with respect to the rest of the piece. The hole in the second member is called the mortise. The joint may be glued, pinned, or wedged to lock it in place. 

HARDWARE 

Hardware for a poker chip case must also be durable. A variety of hinges and hardware are used in commercial cases, but usually a stamped hinge is used which is the weakest type of hinge. When ordering a custom case, there are a variety of hinges you may request. 

A full length piano hinge is a long narrow hinge that runs the full length of the two surfaces to which its leaves are joined. This imparts additional strength to the hinge when a solid wood lid is used. 

Concealed Hinges are used for furniture doors (with or without self-closing feature, and with or without dampening systems). They are made of 2 parts: One part is the hinge cup and the arm; the other part is the mounting plate. Also Euro/cup hinge. This gives a cleaner look to the case. 

FINISH 

One thing to consider when choosing a wooden chip case is to specify that the finish be 'chip friendly.' Polyurethane or a non-soluble varnish is an ideal choice, as it does not stain or seep into your chips. Specifically, avoid any type of Oil finish such as Tung or Danish oil, as these oils can penetrate into the clay chips over time. 

CHIP SIZE 

Commercial chip trays are usually 'one-size-fits-all', so be certain that your chips are appropriately sized for the chip case. If ordering a custom chip case, be sure to specify the size of your chips. The majority of chips are of the 39mm size. However, large denomination chips, as well as chips based on the Paulson Inverted Hat and Cane (IHC) fractionals mold, are a larger 43mm size. Casino Chip thickness can also impact how difficult it is too add or remove chips from a tray. As a chip begins to show signs of wear, edges may become less crisp and the chip becomes a bit thinner. Over time, chips may begin to wiggle a bit in the case. 

So when investing in a wooden poker chip case to store your chips, remember to consider the type of joints, hinges, and finish used in the design of you case.

Since gaining notoriety as an overnight Harrods success, the beehive compost bin has grown in popularity in the United Kingdom. Now, gardening suppliers in the United States are starting to offer beehive compost bins too. But, what are they? 

The thinking behind these garden composters is that while garden composting is a worthy pass-time, it is often not very aesthetically pleasing to look at. That is one of the main reason not more gardeners make their own compost. They just have no desire to site a huge plastic eyesore in the garden. For those with huge gardens any type of garden compost bin is easy to hide, either by siting it behind an existing structure, or with imaginative planting. 

For those with less space to play with, the ugliness of most commercial and home-made garden compost bins has made finding something suitable really difficult. The beehive compost bins play into our love of an imagined ideal of rural English life. All, church spires, cricket lawns and beehives. There is something just really comforting about the traditional beehive shape. 

Now, there are lots of people making compost bins that look very much like old fashioned, wooden beehives. The design is very simple, and to be honest you really would not need an awful lot of carpentry skill to make one yourself. But, back to reality, the chances are most people who end up with one of these pretty garden composters will do so by purchasing, rather than making one. 

Each bin is a basically a pretty box, with an apex roof. The sides are wood slats which overlap in a shingle effect. The idea is that your new garden compost bin will be so pretty you can site it anywhere in the garden without it spoiling the view. 

Anyone considering buying a beehive compost bin should double check how practical it is. There are some fantastic designs, which allow easy access. You need it to be easy, both to deposit garden waste and kitchen scraps, and to access the finished garden compost for turning and using. Some come with hinged roofs and removable front slats as well as one side which comes away completely. This really is critical. If you find it difficult to access the finished compost, chances are you are not going to continue recycling your garden and kitchen waste in this way in the future. 

Also, consider the finish for your new garden composter. The idea, is that they are more attractive than conventional plastic garden compost bins, so are made of wood. But, as lovely as natural wood is, you can actually turn one of these into a real feature of the garden, with imaginative use of paints or stains. My ideal beehive garden composter would be painted in red and white stripes to resemble an English Beach Hut, but that's just me! 

For more information on beehive compost bins and other garden composters visit the Garden Composter site.