I'm not equipped to mine (Nvidia FX 5200), and won't be investing in a GPU just for the coins. I have some fundamental questions: who issues the coins to miners?  Whose are they before the miners get them?  And what "work" is being performed?  What is it achieving? Why is it worth anything? 

Hi, Brian H here.  First post.  No plans yet about how to acquire bitcoins or how I'd use them, just exploring.