Gemstones come in a variety of categories - not just diamonds and pearls - and understanding them is an essential start to increasing your consumer knowledge about stones.

Because stones are so unique depending on how they’re formed, their chemical composition and their basic structure, they’re divided into broad categories. In this article, we’ll cover each one with a brief, but informative, overview.

Beryl: Beryl stones were historically used by warriors to protect them against foes in battle. These beautiful and clear gemstones are known for their brilliance and clarity (except in the emerald variety). The beryl is similar to chrysoberyl and quartz, but is an essentially transparent stone imbued with distinctive hues and tones.

Chrysoberyl: The chrysoberyl family of gemstones is interesting because its three variants (alexandrite, chrysoberyl and cat’s eye) are all chemically alike but have distinctly different optical characteristics and actually look nothing alike. Chrysoberyl stones typically come from Russia and Sri Lanka, though cat’s eye can also be found in China and Brazil.

Corundum: Corundum gemstones are typically composed of aluminum oxide and other trace minerals. As the second hardest category of gemstone, corundum stones are known for their versatility and durability. Rubies and sapphires, two of the world’s most popular gemstones, are both corundum.

Diamonds: Because of their unique characteristics, diamonds are their own category of gemstone. They are known as the hardest naturally occurring substance and are prized for their brilliance, translucency, and fiery color. At a base level, diamonds are created from carbon crystals that have been fused together under intense heat and pressure.

Feldspar: With a base material that’s tectonic, feldspar is remarkably unique. Typically found in areas with a high occurrence of earthquakes, feldspar is created by the heat and pressure present in these regions.

Jade: Though similar to beryl, jade is a unique category of gemstone known for its soft pliability and silky texture. Jade stones are typically composed of magnesium and calcium elements.

Organic Gemstones: Organic types of gemstones include amber and pearls. These are gems created not from mineral sources, but rather natural ones. For example, amber comes from the sap of trees while pearls are created from oysters in the sea. Organic gemstones are typically replicated using high-quality plastic rather than synthesized crystals.

Quartz: As the most common type of mineral in the world, quartz is typically used for scientific purposes, as a base gem or in costume jewelry. However, there are valuable quartz stones, including citrines, amethysts, onyx and carnelians. Colored quartz or flawless quartz can often command a high price on the jewelry market.

Kingsdown Mattress has been manufacturing high-quality mattresses for over 100 years. They have been around much longer than more contemporary competitors such as Select Comfort, Tempurpedic, and more inexpensive mattresses, but have a lengthy history of popular models.

To learn more about each of the company’s six major product lines and designs, keep reading.

Body System

The Kingsdown Mattress Body System mattress features a full surround and edge-to-edge comfort layer, a cushion cloud construction and a full coil box spring, meaning it’s engineered to work with your mattress to provide give, support and weight distribution in the right places that would help most people.

Body Blend

The Body Blend sleep system from Kingsdown offers consumers the company’s patented full coil box springs, their edge-to-edge comfort layer and a conforming mattress that both cradles you and supports you.

Body Essential

The Kingsdown Mattress Body Essential system is the company’s entry-level mattress system. Traditional and classic, it’s comfortable, durable and very supportive. Customers still get the benefits of all the features of a Kingsdown higher quality mattress, but not the pillow-top or extra height found on most deluxe models.

The Kingsdown Body Duet Mattress

The Kingsdown Duet sleep system was engineered for couples. Basically, the bed is custom built with two different sleep surfaces, each customized for you and your spouse. Because the bed is divided into separate sleep sectors, you’re also less likely to disturb one another’s sleep or experience discomfort due to movement in the bed.

Body Caress

This is the Kingsdown Mattress company’s luxury and deluxe mattress model. The coils inside this mattress are a triple-coil design, meaning there are three coils inside each individual spring. This unique design is engineered to offer conforming support that’s geared to be responsive to your body movement.

Because the Caress is a luxury mattress, it’s outfitted with a memory foam comfort layer and high-quality fabric construction.

The Kingsdown Body Motion Mattress

The Body Motion Mattress is a motorized bed that can be individually adjusted for extra comfort. In addition to that adjustability, the Body Motion includes a coil box spring, edge-to-edge comfort layer, conforming support and the cloud comfort Kingsdown system.

Sleepers can elevate their head or feet, with both sides of the bed separated to ensure each can control their own preferred settings.

Background on the Business

Kingsdown Mattress was founded in 1904 in Mebane, North Carolina, though it was originally called the Mebane Bedding Company. Back then, and still today, the mattresses and box springs are hand-constructed to help ensure quality and durability.

Today, you can find more information on the Kingsdown Mattress company by visiting their website at kingsdown.com or a local, high-end mattress retailer. None of their mattress offerings are cheap, but all have a good historical reputation.

The search for basic office furniture and appropriate chairs as part of your overall home furniture can be a bit time consuming when you try to take ergonomics and comfort into account. It is even more difficult when your body frame is either big or tall.

The Boss B990 Big Man Chair was designed for the big and tall customer who wants an office chair that can comfortably handle their size and weight while still keeping them comfortable. So, if you’re tired of squeezing your tall frame into a microscopic office chair, this may be a product you want to look into.

For a helpful overview of the chair, including an assessment of its value, keep reading.

Specs

The Boss Big Man Chair is designed for both weight and size, promising to hold the larger individual. The chair back on the standard B990 measures 25 inches wide and 26.5 inches high. The seat is 23.75 inches wide and 20 inches deep. The seat height has an adjustable range of 19.5 inches to 22.5 inches.

Other features on the chair include a pneumatic lift that allows the user to comfortably and easily adjust the seat height, a double-paddle tilting mechanism and a metal base that’s significantly sounder and stronger than basic plastic models. The chair also comes with heavy-duty wheels, designed to balance a heavy weight load.

Style

The Big Man B990 is definitely designed for functionality rather than style. The chair comes in a basic black and has an optional metal or black painted metal tubing. Buyers don’t customize, play with colors or get fancy looking features like a mesh back. This is clearly a chair that has a purpose, and it achieves it with a very utilitarian style.

Cost

At full retail price, most consumers can expect to pay around $300 USD for the Boss B990. However, it can often be found online at a fraction of the price and even for less than $200 USD. Price and value are the two major selling points for the Big Man chair. It essentially offers the same product as its ergonomic, specialty competitors, but for a fraction of the price.

Will It Hold the Weight?

The one, major drawback of the Boss Big Man B990 chair is that it only supports 350 pounds. For a small person, that may seem like a lot of weight, but for the 6′7″ tall man, 350 pounds isn’t very much. While the chair company doesn’t have to get into the bariatric chair market for those over 500 pounds, it could do with increasing its weight capacity to at least 400 pounds.

Summation

In general, the B990 Big Man Chair is perfect for the larger individual who simply needs a strong and durable office chair that will last for years and isn’t concerned with a flashy appearance. The value is great, especially considering the competition. However, the chair doesn’t offer enough customization, and customers who want a mesh fabric back to avoid overheating may need to look elsewhere.

Putting together Easter baskets for your children to find on Easter morning is a long held tradition. The typical Easter basket usually includes one hollow chocolate bunny, a few marshmallow peeps, a decorated egg or two and some jelly beans. The whole concoction is placed in one of those multicolored plastic baskets that have been filled with pink or green plastic “grass”. These are the same grass pieces that you will find still embedded in the carpet months later along with last year’s Christmas tree needles.

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The types and styles of clothing we wear are important, not only for what they say about us as individuals, but also for their pure durability over time. Whether your interest is in pants or shirts or some other attire, a time honored company like Carhartt is a “can’t miss” option.

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