Treasure Wiki

Groshan Fabiola asked:

is very tight schedule, Jared Padalecki, one of the leads in the CW paranormal series Supernatural, found time to sit down and do an exclusive interview with BuddyTV. Not only was he busy filming then, during breaks he was constantly on the phone trying to coordinate his travel plans.

First he was asked about the other genres he was considering apart from horror, where he is most known for at the moment. The 6’3 actor revealed there are a lot of genres he would like to explore, but it would depend on both what the industry is bent on doing and what kind of offers comes his way. He specifically mentioned being interested in doing westerns. After all, he is from Texas , along with co-star Jensen Ackles.

According to him, he would like to do comedy if it was offered to him, though he had doubts whether he was funny or not. Regarding this, Supernatural fans were quick to point out that Padalecki is in fact quite hilarious, citing several episodes where he made them laugh. He summed up that while he was having fun doing horror, he’d love to branch out and try other things.

He then revealed that one of the Supernatural episodes he is most proud of is “Heart” from season 2 and “Mystery Spot” from season 3. He said both were “Sam-heavy” and was very difficult to film. In “Heart” the brothers investigated a murder that turned out to be committed by a werewolf, and Padalecki had to do a love scene with the victim’s secretary. It was very tricky for him, he said, as he is already engaged to his girlfriend of three years.

“It just feels weird walking around in your underwear around people that you’ve known for three years. That was a strange episode,” he said.

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Emeka Esogbue asked:

Several of our authors including Prof Buchi Emecheta have centered their works on the Bride-price in Africa but only few have been in fervent advocacy for considerations literarily intervening to bring down costly requests usually put up by our elders in demand for bride-price and dowries. African writers and all friends of the continent who wish us well should openly speak against incessant and unreasonable demand for money which we term bride-price. We often neglect this aspect of our social life, which has become terribly demanding on us, and continues to waste the lives of our daughters who should be living happily with their heartthrobs.

The time has come when we shall all rise up against our elders in the village, who sit down and expect news of marriage of daughters they contributed nothing in rearing. No news excites our elders in the village more than that of someone is asking for the hand of our daughter, I think the war has begun already, with traditional marriages now taking place outside our hometowns, in current places of abode, the stronghold of our elders who sit down in villages and expect “settlements” (Money) is increasingly under threat.

Families who oppose traditional marriages taking place outside one’s hometown have no valid reasons to do so, after all, tradition in this sense simply means fulfilling the traditional aspect of the marriage not particularly with regards to where it should take place. People should made to get this clear, we should condemn the situation, our elders, vehemently reject the fulfillment of traditional marriages except it holds in the village for personal gains.

We also have a situation whereby people who know nothing about how a girl-child was reared would simply because he understands the child to have been educated up to tertiary level would demand for so much as a result of educational background. In the first place, educational background should not form a yardstick for determining how much bride-price should be paid for the head of a child. In first place, it baffles me on how the child nothing is known of by our elders now suddenly becomes a child of the entire village just because the issue of bride-price is at hand.

No matter how hard a single parent has worked to raise her daughter, when an issue concerns marriage she goes searching and begging elders who must not only preside over such a marriage but must also dictate how much should be involved for the workability of the marriage. Unhappy elders use the opportunity to make unrealistic demands insidiously to stall the marriage and tear the whole plan apart. High bride-price can be used to achieve this plan.

Our ladies are left with no option than to succumb to African insidious stall plans called bride-price. If the demand of bride-price must be made, our African elders must be thought to be reasonable after all, the era of slave trade is past, that is all we make them understand. Demand for non traditional items like umbrella, shoes, etc must become things of the past if our daughters are to become happily married to men of their choice.

Elders who want to live on bride-price, dowries, food and drinks from funeral should be taken care of by their own children, and must not be let lose to sit down to dictate how tradition demanded it in the past or series of precedents set in other communities. It particularly grieves me to listen to our elders ask questions on how it was when their sons went to that very village to marry a daughter of theirs. How much was demanded from them as dowries, why should there even be bargaining and haggling over a human being.

These things are increasing the number of able men in our society who are denied of marriage because they are expected to throw a very big party. We also hear there is this community in Nigeria where DJs are never allowed to play at marriages except live bands. You are there advised to include live band in plan for marriage. My advice to the elders of this village is that they should be put a stop to it immediately, music is music, no matter where the sound blares from, it still makes sense and danceable too.

Unimaginable contents in what has come to be known as marriage list should also be reasonable; a situation whereby such list contains unnecessary items and unconceivable amount of alcohols and expensive wines should be given re-consideration if our children must become some of the married couples in our society. Remember that if you unnecessary make certain unattainable demands today because you are giving out your girl-child to another family tomorrow, your male child will require you to accompany him to another family from another background entirely where you will haggle over unattainable demands to get your son married, and if you have no male child, your cousin may become a victim tomorrow, so stop the high demand of this bride-price today and you will have discouraged prostitution, HIV/AIDS spread and irresponsible life-style in our African society.

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Jeff Gabbard asked:


Many people have dreamed of finding some lost treasure. Few people think that it would ever be possible to drop everything and go treasure hunting. Not only could it be very costly, but what about all the dangers involved? Many found treasures have come at great cost. Mel Fisher lost a daughter while searching for the sunken ship, Nuestra Señora de Atocha.

Today there is a way to go treasure hunting right in your own town. You might not find $450,000,000.00 like Mel Fisher did, but you could find some valuable treasures just the same. You may ask where you can find these treasures in Anytown, USA? Well they are located at you local Storage facility. More and more storages are being sold at auction for unpaid rent. As more and more homes are going into foreclosure, more and more storage units are being rented. And with times getting tougher, many storage units are not being paid for. The storage facility is forced to sell the contents at auction so that they can recoup their losses, and get the unit ready rent.

Just like every sunken ship was some ones misfortune, finding it was some one else’s good fortune. Just like every foreclosed home, is one person’s misfortune, it is someone else’s bargain home. It is just life. I know because I had my belongings sold at a storage auction years ago. That is how I found out about them in the first place. Now I enjoy urban treasure hunting for fun and profits.

You might find great home furniture, and completely furnish your home. You might get the contents of a restaurant that didn’t make it. I once found hundreds of pizza hut style pizza pans. I gave some to friends, and sold a lot on eBay, and I still use the ones I kept for my family every week. I love them.

I have found boxes of clothing that still have the new tags on them. You will simply be amazed at what you can find. Treasure hunting is as strong as ever. Urban treasure hunting can be a fun day spent with the family. Go to the auction, and buy a storage unit, and bring it home for everyone to go through. Don’t cheat and look through the boxes before you get home. Also, you only want to go to the auctions that have whole bin storage auctions. Avoid the storage facilities that have piece by piece auctions. You will end up spending the whole day there. At whole bin storage auctions, you will only be there for a little while, unless you win, then you will have to take time loading your truck.

If you would like more information, I tell all about the auction process at www.auctionbizforyou.com

Give urban treasure hunting for fun and profit a try. You just might get hooked.

Tankiso Letseli asked:

This article is intended to share with readers, particularly those who are not familiar with African marriage customs. My wife, Duduzile, comes from a Zulu culture (largely concentrated in Kwa-Zulu Natal Province, in South Africa) and mine is Sesotho culture. My late father, Pasha, came from Qwaqwa, near Harrismisth in the Free State Province, South Africa – and my great grand parents came from the Kingdom of Lesotho).

My mother, Buzelwa, comes from Xhosa culture – in Emdizeni, near Muddelsdrift, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. My family is a rainbow of three cultures. My family is still following African culture with regard to marriage ceremonies. We follow both Biblical and African practices of giving dowry or bride’s price (”lobolo” in Xhosa and Zulu cultures, “bohadi” in Sesotho, Setswana and Sepedi cultures).

I gave “bohadi” or “lobolo” of twelve cows for my wife, and my brother-in-law, Ayo, gave “lobolo” for my kid sister. This cultural practice has knitted our families together. In African culture marriage takes place primarily between two families, and secondarily between man and woman. The first question is not:  What is the name of the girl/boy who wants to marry our child?” but, “Who are his/her parents and relatives?” “Where do they live?” If the family discovers that you intend marrying a man/woman from your relatives or enemies’ family, it becomes a problem, and in many cases a love-affair is discouraged or disapproved, or even stopped.

The family members are interested in gaining information about the other family more than information about their prospective daughter/son-in-law. Assuming that the prospective family-in-law is known for its good manners, reputation, and “ubuntu”, and a thorough research has been done about them, then the next step is to invite the girl/boy by the family – just to see him/her.  My folk even made contact with my prospective family-in-law, and became friends. My mother invited my fiancée.

The next step will be to announce to the host or prospective bride’s family that they should anticipate a delegation on a specific date. The chief-negotiator who, in many cases is the uncle, leads a delegation. If the uncle is deceased, then an elder or trusted, reputable family member is appointed to lead a delegation. The purpose of this visit is to negotiate the size or amount of “bohadi” or “lobolo”. The delegation is often skilled in negotiations, and the host family is also led by a skilled chief-negotiator uncle or trusted relative. Part of the negotiations is to pass or share cultures from both families seeing that both families might come from different tribes with different cultures and traditions.

The two delegations would become bonded by and through a process of negotiations, and would be used in future to resolve conflicts between the newly wedded couple. These negotiations symbolise two families forging a long-term relationship. The two families, including members who were involved in negations, would be invited to support each other whenever there are ceremonies or occasions such as death or marriages or etc. This bond becomes permanent regardless of the divorce of the couple that brought them together. We will continue in African Marriages – Part 2.

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David Cowley asked:


Benitoite polished

Benitoite is a rare blue silicate mineral, found in hydro thermally altered serpentinite.  Hydro thermally altered serpentinite is science speak for a type of rock that formed by cold submarine volcanoes that rose from the ocean floor.  This layer of rock is full of faults and is weak and easily eroded.  When mineral laden water fill the cavities the minerals dissolved in the water sometimes crystallizes and is left behind when the water leaves.

Benitoite was named after the county where it was first found, San Benito County, in 1907 and to this day San Benito County is the only place in the world that you can find this gemstone, making it among the rarest gems on the planet.  Benitoite became California’s official state gemstone in 1985.  The price of this gemstone is between $500 and $3,000 per carat depending the quality of the stone and most of the gems found are less than one carat in size.

Benitoite rough

This crystal is often confused with a sapphire and if the jeweler that is cutting your stone does not know the difference, he can damage the stone with the heat from their torch.  The gemstone will turn orange or in the worst case break.  Always use a jeweler that is familiar with this type of gemstone.

Another unique characteristic of this rare gemstone is its has a very unusual crystalline shape called ditrigonal-dipyramidal (pyramidal).  It is the only known crystal to take this shape naturally.  Benitoite fluoresces very strongly under short wave ultraviolet light (UV), appearing light blue in color.  Treasure hunters search at night for this glowing gem with UV lights but beware, scorpions also glow at night under UV lights and some hunters have been stung by them.

Benitoite rough

Benitoite have a very high dispersion which makes them very bright.  They have a refractive index of 1.757 to 1.804.  This characteristic makes sparkle brighter than diamonds.  They have a hardness rating of about 6.5 on the Mohs scale which is not nearly as hard as a diamonds that has a rating of 10.

The Benitoite Gem Mine has field trips open to the public.  You will need to make reservation in advance and in the winter or rainy season, because of the bad roads; you will need to reconfirm your reservations 1 or 2 days prior to your trip.  No services other than a porta-potty are on site and the nearest food and water is at least three hours away.

Benitoite rough

The mine opens at 8:00 AM and closes at 4:00 PM.  For about $100 per day per person you are allowed to take home a five-gallon bucket of material.  Night field trips are also available where you can hunt for benitoite with black lights.  A mine guide there to help and explain what to look for, how to operate the screens, how to night hunt using a black light and other information.

The roads to Benitoite Gem Mine area are very rough and suitable for 2WD vehicle with a high clearance during the dry season.  A 4WD is always the preferred automobile and never try to make the trip in the family sedan.  Campsites are available on the surrounding BLM land except in the summer months when camping is prohibited on BLM land.  If possible drive in one day and camp overnight and then take the full day treasure hunting.

Happy Treasure Hunting.