Jewelry

Jewelry is a form of personal adornment, manifesting itself as necklaces, rings, brooches, earrings and bracelets. Jewelry made from any material, usually gemstones, precious metals or shells. Factors affecting the choice of materials include cultural differences and the availability of the materials. Jewelry appreciated because of its material properties, its patterns or for meaningful symbols. Jewelry differs from other items of personal adornment in that it has no other purpose than to look appealing. Items such as belts and handbags are accessories rather than jewelry. Jewelry regarded as a way of storing wealth and might possess some minimal functionality, such as holding a garment together or keeping hair in place. It has from very early times regarded as a form of personal adornment. The first pieces of jewelry made from natural materials, such as bone, animal teeth, shell, wood and carved stone. Some jewelry throughout the ages may have specifically been as an indication of a social group. Exotic jewelry is often for wealthier people, with its rarity increasing its value. Due to its personal nature and its indication of social class, some cultures established traditions of burying the dead with their jewelry. Jewelry made to adorn nearly every body part, from hairpins to toe rings and many more types of jewelry. While high-quality jewelry made with gemstones and precious metals, such as silver or gold, there is also a growing demand for art jewelry where design and creativity prized above material value. In addition, there is the less costly costume jewelry, made from lower value materials and mass-produced. Other variations include wire sculpture jewelry, using anything from base metal wire with rock tumbled stone to precious metals and precious gemstones. In creating jewelry, gemstones, coins, or other precious items are often used, and they are typically set into precious metals. Alloys of nearly every metal encountered in jewelry - bronze, for example, was common in Roman times. Modern fine jewelry usually includes gold, white gold, platinum, palladium, titanium or silver. Most American and European gold jewelry is made of an alloy of gold, the purity stated in karats, indicated by a number followed by the letter K. American gold jewelry must be of at least 10K purity. Many precious and semiprecious stones used for jewelry. For platinum, gold, and silver jewelry, there are many techniques to create finishes. The most common are high-polish, satin/matte, brushed, and hammered. High-polished jewelry is by far the most common and gives the metal the highly reflective and shiny look. Satin or matte finish reduces the shine and reflection of the jewelry and commonly used to accentuate gemstones such as diamonds. Brushed finishes give the jewelry a textured look, and are created by brushing a material (similar to sandpaper) against the metal, leaving 'brush strokes'. Hammered finishes typically created by using a soft, rounded hammer and hammering the jewelry to give it a wavy texture. Some jewelry plated to give it a shiny, reflective look or to achieve a desired color. Sterling silver jewelry may plate with a thin layer of 0.999 fine silver or plated with rhodium or gold. Base metal costume jewelry plated with silver, gold, or rhodium for a more attractive finish. The modern jewelry movement began in the late 1940s with a renewed interest in artistic and leisurely pursuits. The advent of new materials, such as plastics, Precious Metal Clay and coloring techniques, has led to increased variety in styles. Other advances, such as the development of improved pearl harvesting by people such as and the development of improved quality artificial gemstones such as moissanite has placed jewelry within the economic grasp of a much larger segment of the population. Influence from other cultural forms is also evident; one example of this is bling-bling style jewelry, popularized by hip-hop and rap artists in the early 21st century. The late 20th century saw the blending of European design with oriental techniques. The following are innovations in the decades straddling the year 2000: Hydraulic die forming, anti-classic raising, fold forming, reactive metal anodizing, shell forms, PMC, photo etching, and CAD/CAM. Artisan jewelry continues to grow as both a hobby and a profession. With more than 17 United States periodicals about beading alone, resources, accessibility and a low initial cost of entry continues to expand production of hand-made adornments. Some fine examples of artisan jewelry at The Metropolitan Museum.

Poker Paigow

Paigow

Pai-gow poker is a banking poker game played in some of the California card clubs and casinos. The object of pai-gow poker is to make two poker hands that beat the banker's hands. The player is dealt 7 cards that he makes into a five card hand (high hand) and a two card hand (low hand). The hands are played and ranked as traditional poker hands (with one exception: A2345 is the second highest straight), and the 5 card hand must be higher than the 2 card hand. If both hands are better than the banker's hand, you win, if both lose, you lose, otherwise it's a push. The banker wins absolute ties (i.e. K Q vs K Q). The game is played with a 52 cards plus one joker. The joker can be used as an Ace or to complete a flush or straight.

Each player spot has spaces for a bet, low hand, high hand and sometimes the house commission. The dealer deals 7 7-card hands in front of the chip tray. The banker can be a player, but is usually the house. The banker designates which hands go to which player by shaking a dice cup with three dice; the banker's position is either 1, 8 or 15 and the hands are passed out counterclockwise. So, if the dealer is the bank and the dice total to 6, player 5 gets the first hand, player 6 gets the second, the dealer gets the third and so on. The dice mumbo-jumbo appears to be ritual stuff --- you don't need to worry about anything until you get your hand.

In pai-gow poker, the only strategic decisions are how much to bet and how to set your hand. The simple basic strategy for setting your hand is to make the highest 2-card hand that is less than your five card hand. If you can't figure out what to do, you can show your hand to the dealer and they will tell you how the house would set it.

In the California card clubs, all wagering is between players, so the option to be the bank rotates among the active players. The rule differences from the IP rules are that the Joker is wild, and the house commission is a flat $1 per hand ($10 minimum bet).

Pai-gow poker is an easy game to play, and since each hand takes a while to play (dealer has to shuffle for each game) and most hands push, you can play on $20 at a $5 table for quite a while.

Gambling

Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value as the stakes on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and or material goods. Typically, the outcome of the wager is evident within a short period.

Gaming refers to instances in which the law permits the type of gambling. Gaming and gambling are not mutually exclusive. A gaming company offers legal gambling activities to the public and a gaming control board may regulate the gaming company, like the Nevada Gaming Control Board. However, the English-speaking world does not acknowledge this distinction often. For instance, in the UK, the regulator of gambling activities is called the Gambling Commission not the Gaming Commission.  In addition, the word gaming describes activities that do not involve wagering, especially online.

Gambling is also a major international commercial activity, with the legal gambling market totaling an estimated $335 billion in 2009.

Under United States federal law, gambling is legal in the country and states are free to regulate or prohibit the practice. Gambling has been legal in Nevada since 1931, forming the backbone of the economy of the state. The city of Las Vegas is perhaps the best known gambling destination in the world. In 1976, gambling became legal in Atlantic City, New Jersey and in 1990, under state law, gambling became permissible in Tunica, Mississippi; both of those cities have developed extensive casino and resort areas since then. Since a favorable United State Supreme Court decision in 1987, many American Indian tribes have built their own casinos on tribal lands as a way to provide revenue for the tribe. Because the tribes are sovereign nations, they are often exempt from state laws that restrict gambling and are instead regulated under federal law.

Gambling Disorders Studies

The beliefs of a society about a health condition can have a huge impact on the people who suffer from the disorder. Public opinion can influence public health policy, public and private harm minimization efforts, research funds and treatment support. At the individual level, negative public views of a disease and the stigma it creates can strongly discourage individuals from admitting that he or she has the problem and seeking treatment for the condition. There is little data available on public opinion of gambling disorders; however, a new study published in the Journal of Gambling Studies fills this void with a systematic examination of public opinion on gambling disorders.

Researchers conducted telephone surveys with 8,467 adults in the Toronto area and questioned people about their opinions of how to best understand gambling disorders. Researchers asked if gambling disorders should be treated as a disease or illness, a wrongdoing, a habit, not disease or an addiction similar to drug addiction. Researchers also inquired if people with gambling disorders can get well on their own or must seek treatment to improve and polled adults on whether people with gambling disorders can reduce their gambling to that of a social gambler or if they need to quit altogether. The survey also gathered information on the gambling behavior and demographics of the respondents.

The researchers found that most people viewed gambling disorders as an addiction similar to drug addiction, with one-third seeing gambling as a habit and 17 percent viewing gambling as a form of wrongdoing. Responses to whether gamblers needed treatment to recover showed a split jury, and three out of four thought that abstinence from gambling activities must happen for recovery. Examining the demographics, the researchers found that being female, married, younger and without gambling problems paralleled believing that treatment and abstinence were necessary. In addition, people who viewed gambling problems as a disease or addiction also believed that treatment and abstinence for recovery are necessary.

The researchers noted that public perceptions reported in their study mimic the results of a 2003 study that examined the views of the public on alcohol use, with 71 percent of respondents saying that abstinence must occur for recovery. This popularly held belief is also the view of much of the scientific community as reflected by the upcoming changes the American Psychiatric Association is making.

Finally, researchers concluded that people with gambling disorders were less likely to think that treatment and abstinence were necessary for recovery. This may be because many people who meet the clinical guidelines for a gambling disorder do not think they have a problem and even those who believe they do have a problem are unlikely to seek treatment.