"Knot With My Thread" - Stringing Choices For Beading & Jewelry Making.

One very important lesson I learned is that there is no one, all-purpose (Universal) stringing material.

Here are the major stringing materials along with how and when to use each of them.

SILK THREAD: Silk has a wondrous "hand" (a soft, flexible feel). This thread comes in many sizes and colors. It comes packaged on spools, and "carded" with an attached needle. This is a classic stringing material and forms beautiful knots between pearls and beads. But, silk tends to be relatively fragile. It can stretch, be cut by abrasive beads, rot when wet, and pearls strung on silk should be re strung every few years. It is best to use silk when stringing pearls and lightweight, smooth-holed beads, only. A needle is necessary.

NYLON THREAD: (Nymo): This thread also comes in many sizes and colors. It comes packaged on spools, on bobbins, and "carded" with a needle attached. Nylon can be used where-ever silk can and is not as fragile. This material knots beautifully and can be used for pearl stringing, in some strung jewelry, seed beadwork, loom weaving, for Peyote and other specialty stitches, and heishi. Nylon stretches much less than silk, and it won't rot when wet. Like silk, you shouldn't use beads with sharp edged holes or that are heavy. When you use nylon thread, I would recommend you coat your thread with bee's wax or "Thread HeavenTM " before use to prevent it from fraying. A needle is necessary.

BONDED NYLON: This is a much stronger form of nylon thread. The strands are physically bonded together for extra strength and abrasion protection. Although it knots well, it doesn't have the "hand" of silk. Bonded nylon comes in a variety of colors and smaller spools. Because of its abrasion resistance, you can use it with "hard", more abrasive gem beads; in fact this comes close to being a "Universal Thread". Brand names include: "Stringth" or "Silkon". A needle is necessary, although you can put "Super Glue" on the end to form a "Self-needle". This is a favorite beading material of mine.

FISHING LINE: This material is a hard, semi-rigid, single strand of plastic. It doesn't knot well, and in time sunlight or ultraviolet light can cause it to weaken and fall apart. Fishing line is purchased on small spools and is sold in sporting goods stores. Personally, I use fishing line for two purposes. I use it to do my preliminary stringing while I am designing a necklace (I transfer the beads to a better material for the final product), and to string together "raw" strands of beads. There is no needle necessary. I would never use this material for a final beaded piece.

Travel and Identity Theft - 10 Tips to Keep Your Identity Safe While Traveling

By David T Hindman

Travelers can be easy targets for identity theft, with empty houses, unattended hotel rooms and crowded tourist areas. Follow these helpful hints to prevent any suspicious activities while on vacation.

1. Pay your bills before you leave for vacation. Don't bring them with you on your trip. Bills left lying in a hotel room are easy targets for identity thieves. It is always a good idea to travel with as few personal documents as possible, and bills are something that you can easily take care of before any extended absence from home.

2. Hold mail and newspaper delivery. A pile of newspapers on your stoop alerts thieves that no one is home. Any unattended mail, including bills and credit card offers, contains all the information needed for something bad to happen.

3. Lock your checkbook and unnecessary credit cards in a safe at home. The less personal information you take with you on a trip, the less information thieves can steal. Keep everything locked up at home - a robber or a house sitter could commit identity theft too.

4. Carry credit cards and other personal documents with you on the plane. Do not leave these items in checked luggage, even in a locked suitcase. Keep them safely with you at all times. Lost luggage happens every day and can often take several days to be returned to you.

5. Bring a copy of important documents and store them in a separate place. If identity theft does occur, you'll want to have a copy of documents like your passport.

6. Use ATM machines in banks. One common threat while traveling is fake ATM machines placed in common tourist areas. Avoid the risk and withdraw your money at a bank.

7. Use credit cards instead of ATM or debit cards. Credit cards may offer better identity theft protection. It is often much easier to remove fraudulent charges from a credit card than an ATM or debit card.

8. Lock items in a hotel safe. Personal documents and other valuable can be stolen while you are out. Be especially careful with computers. Criminals can access your personal information on an unattended laptop. Since your computer has not been stolen, you may never know that anything has occurred.

9. Be aware for pickpockets and purse snatchers. Thieves frequent tourist areas, and they are not always after your money. They may be looking for useful information.

10. Report stolen cards immediately. Have a list of the cards you brought with you readily available so that you can report the information stolen. You'll also want to set up fraud alerts with the credit bureaus.

Of course, even if you take all of these precautions, identity theft may still occur, ruining your vacation and causing more problems once you return home. It's a good idea to purchase a prevention service before traveling. You only have to make one call if your wallet or purse is stolen, and their team will take care of the rest. Plus, they monitor your identity for threats, alerting you if there is a problem. They'll even take financial responsibility for getting your good name back should something happen.

If you are concerned about falling victim to identity theft while traveling you should take every precaution you can to make sure it doesn't happen. You might find David Hindman's identity protection blog to be of interest. Visit his Defend My Identity Blog to learn more.

Where Can You Buy Phone Records?

By Alex Andrews

Phone records have been used for years for many different reasons, some people want to find a particular person who they have lost touch with over the years or some might want to find out the history of a certain person. Say you want to find out what your ex-partner is doing you can track them down by using phone records and see where they live and more.

If you buy phone records you can have an even more comprehensive search and find out details such as - address, property records, neighbours and more. If you would like to buy phone records that are even more detailed you should head to "CellPhoneRegistry.com" who for a fee can provide you with various reports which can go into more detail on things such as - a person's criminal record, warrants, birth records, bankruptcy, court cases, business searches and more. This information can be invaluable if you are wondering about the new partner that you might have if you are unsure of their history and they are a little cagy about it. Now you can find out why Mr Perfect can't tell you what he did for 5 years during his life -he was in jail!

Obviously by buying phone records you must use the information that you get wisely and do not break any laws regarding data protection once you have it. But it can be a big help if you are looking for details on someone that seems impossible to find without help. Using such a search means that not only will you have your results in no time, you also get to perform your search from the comfort of your own home so no one need know what you are looking up - something that would be so hard in a public library.

Alex Andrews is a records search expert and director of popular blog GovernmentRecordSearchOnline.Com. Alex provides honest information and advice on things like how to get your hands on free phone records and more. Discover the awesome power that access to government databases puts at your fingertips when you visit his site today!