YOU COULD BE ON THE HOOK!
Did you know that the UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) regulations
place responsibility for forgery losses partially on bank
customers, rather than solely on the banks? But in addition to
this exposure, there can be significant expenses and lost time
investigating the crime, not to mention damage to your
credibility and reputation.
Your only defence is to show that you have taken due diligence.
One way to demonstrate this is by implementing careful practices
regarding your checks. Another is to use checks with well
implemented security features.
HOW BAD IS THE PROBLEM?
The problem is so serious that the banks don’t like to reveal the
extent of the problem. Estimates range from hundreds of millions
to 10 billion dollars annually.
In 1991, the FBI tracked over 26,000 cases, but this is just the
tip of the iceberg, because the FBI mostly focuses on cases where
the amount exceeds $100,000. Just one example comes from The
Green Sheet (a publication to the Financial Services Industry),
reporting an incident where a family had allegedly stolen more
than $1 million from area merchants since 1993 by writing checks
on closed and non-existent accounts at 11 financial institutions
in Indiana and Chicago under 25 different names.
In just 4 years, Northern Trust Bank has detected more than 3
million dollars worth of counterfeit checks.
WHAT KIND OF THINGS DO CRIMINALS LOOK FOR?
It is an endless list, but here are some of the types of things
that someone looking to counterfeit or tamper might look for:
* High volume bank accounts where a fraudulent check can easily
slip through.
* Checks that are easy to reproduce using a color copier.
* Checks that are easy to tamper with.
* Easy access to checkbook or check stock.
WHAT CAN I DO TO PROTECT MYSELF?
By protection, I mean reducing the chance of someone
counterfeiting or altering your checks, as well as reducing your
liability when it occurs.
Be aware that is is impossible to prevent fraud. But you can
significantly minimize the risk using a two-prong approach. It is
critical that good procedures related to your check processing
are put in place, and that you use a check that is difficult to
counterfeit or alter (see sidebar).
* Reconcile your bank statement promptly. Now that bank
statements are available online, you can do this as frequently as
you feel is necessary for your situation.
* Restrict access to your checkbook/check stock. Ensure that only
trusted staff that need access have it.
* Audit your checks. However, this can be difficult because often
checks are removed from the bottom or middle of the book or
stack.
* Use a custom design. While this isn’t an affordable option for
many businesses, look into it. The next best thing is to ensure
that your check supplier uses comprehensive security features.
Remember though that a custom design is not a substitue for
security features.
* Advise your bank branches’ officials of the security features
in your checks .. in person or in writing (and keep a copy of the
letter on file!).
* If you issue a large number of checks, particularly with a low
amount (eg. rebate checks), open a separate account and alert the
bank staff of an upper limit for that account.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Don’t take unnecessary chances. The more security you have
through procedures and choice of check form, the less likely that
someone will tamper with your checks.
About the Author
Les C. Cseh is the owner of ASAP Checks, Forms & Supplies, a
check printer operating out of Alexandria Bay, NY and Perth Road,
Ontario. He can be reached
at info@asapchecks.com and at 888-85-CHECK. In addition to a
variety of secure checks, the ASAP web site
(http://www.asapchecks.com?jayde offers a non-commercial section
related to check processing issues called the MICR Repository.
Take the Guesswork out of Web Site Analysis
ZY Computing has released 123LogAnalyzer v. 3.0, an easy-to-use multi-platform tool that turns your web logs into a comprehensive analysis of your customers and prospects. 123LogAnalyzer tells you how visitors browse your web site, which pages they view and which they ignore, how long they spend on your site, and where they come from. With its new Marketing Report, you can track, analyze, and measure results by marketing campaign; 123LogAnalyzer keeps track of costs, sales, and profits by visitors, by bandwidth, and by page views and downloads.
123LogAnalyzer’s web server activity report displays the number of visitors, the number of unique IP addresses, the amount of bandwidth used, and the number of hits the site received, broken down by time increment, day of the week, and hour of the day. To learn more about the information that visitors accessed, you can see which web pages were viewed, files were downloaded, directories were accessed, and images were looked at.
Referrer information includes the domains and URL’s that the visitors came from. In addition to tracking visitors by country, the program’s new Geographic Reports let you track visitors by state and by major US city.
The search engine performance report displays the search engines which referred visitors to the site, and the words and phrases that visitors searched for. It’s easy to determine which search engines you’ve optimized your web site for, and which search engines require more work. In addition, 123LogAnalyzer provides information about which platforms and browsers people are using to visit your site. You can even identify missing files, broken links, and other errors that visitors encountered.
With its advanced filter options, 123LogAnalyzer lets you examine only those visitors who went to specific pages, or who downloaded particular files. You can also zero in on visitors who came from particular URL’s, specific countries, or who visited at certain hours of the day.
123LogAnalyzer’s power lies in its ability to perform deep datamining. You can easily create and combine filters to extract specific information. For example, not only can you see how many visitors visited the “Buy Now” page, but you can also see what other pages these people viewed, what their browsing sequence was, how many files they downloaded, what domain they came from, and what search engine keywords they used to get to your web site. Armed with this information, your can fine-tune your web site to be a more effective sales machine.
New features in v. 3.0 include Marketing Reports that let you track visitors by marketing campaign, Geographic Reports that let you track visitors by US city and state, a log file exporting feature that lets you trim unnecessary data before you perform your analysis (for example, “hits” on JPG and GIF files), the ability to track authenticated visitors, support for additional search engines, and enhanced command-line execution options.
123LogAnalyzer runs on Windows 95/98/Me/NT4/2000/XP PC, Linux, Mac OSX, Free BSD, and Sun Solaris platforms. Its intuitive interface requires no technical knowledge. The program supports and auto-detects major web server log files in all popular formats.
The program produces reports in real-time. On a 800Mhz PIII computer running Windows 2000, it can analyze 94,000 lines of log file data per second, or a little over 1GB of data per minute.
In the short term, 123LogAnalyzer pinpoints new opportunities to attract more visitors and customers by telling you which of your web pages are working and which aren’t. In the long term, the program lets you understand shifts in visitors’ browsing and buying behavior, and gives you the information you need to give your web site a sales tune-up.
123LogAnalyzer v. 3.0 costs $129.95(US), comes with an unconditional 60-day money-back guarantee, and may be purchased securely online at http://www.123loganalyzer.com/. There are no monthly fees or usage charges. You can download a 25-day trial version, with four of the seven advanced visitor-analysis filters activated. For more information, contact ZY Computing, 111 N. Market St., Suite 614, San Jose, CA 95113. E-mail: Support@123loganalyzer.com Internet:http://www.123loganalyzer.com/.
About ZY Computing, Inc.:
Established in 1991, ZY Computing has been developing and marketing Windows productivity and entertainment software. In addition to 123LogAnalyzer, ZY Computing also offers MP3 CD Maker, a Windows MP3 application that makes it simple to create normal audio CDs for your car or home CD player from your favorite MP3 files.
# # #
Evaluation Copy Available on Request
The Internet is connecting advertisers and marketers to customers from Boston to Bali. If you’re thinking about advertising on the Internet, remember that many of the same rules that apply to other forms of advertising apply to electronic marketing.
The Federal Trade Commission Act allows the FTC to act in the interest of all consumers to prevent deceptive and unfair acts or practices. The FTC has determined that a representation, omission or practice is deceptive if it is likely to:
1. Mislead consumers and
2. Affect consumers’ behavior or decisions about the product or service.
In addition, an act or practice is unfair if the injury it causes is:
1. Substantial
2. Not outweighed by other benefits and
3. Not reasonably avoidable.
The FTC prohibits unfair or deceptive advertising in any medium. That is, advertising must tell the truth and not mislead consumers. A claim can be misleading if relevant information is left out or if the claim implies something that’s not true. For example, a lease advertisement for an automobile that promotes “$0 Down” may be misleading if significant and undisclosed charges are due at lease signing.
In addition, claims must be substantiated, especially when they concern health, safety, or performance. The type of evidence may depend on the product, the claims, and what experts believe necessary. If your ad specifies a certain level of support for a claim - “tests show X” - you must have at least that level of support.
Other points to consider:
Disclaimers and disclosures must be clear and conspicuous. That is, consumers must be able to notice, read or hear, and understand the information. Still, a disclaimer or disclosure alone usually is not enough to remedy a false or deceptive claim.
Testimonials and endorsements must reflect the typical experiences of consumers, unless the ad clearly and conspicuously states otherwise. A statement that not all consumers will get the same results is not enough to qualify a claim. Testimonials and endorsements can’t be used to make a claim that the advertiser itself cannot substantiate.
If your ad uses phrases like “satisfaction guaranteed” or “money-back guarantee,” you must be willing to give full refunds for any reason. You also must tell the consumer the terms of the offer.
Non-Compliance
If you fail to follow these rules, you run the risk of being prosecuted by the FTC. Successful prosecutions typically result in injunctions against your site and damages awarded in the amount of $11,000 PER VIOLATION.
Richard A. Chapo is a San Diego business lawyer with www.sandiegobusinesslawfirm.com - providing legal services and legal advice to businesses in San Diego, California.
In Putting there is definitely always room to improve, so take a look at the drill below and take some time to improve your feel and sense pace on the greens.
The short game is the most important area of your whole round. At least 70% of your shots during a round will be from 100 yards in.
So doesn’t it make sense to practise your short game?
You first of all need to start practising your putting, and I have come up with a drill that will help you improve your sense of feel and pace on your putts.
No Peeping
No Peeping is going to focus on helping you to obtain a good feel and to help you develop a smooth putting rhythm. And the way you are going to achieve that is to “CLOSE YOUR EYES”
Yes, that’s right, No Peeping!!!.
Now, take four golf balls onto the practise putting green and set them down about twenty feet (6 to 7 Yards) from the hole.
Take your normal putting stance and grip, and now just hit four putts with your eyes open to get a quick idea of the pace to the hole.
Now place the four balls down again and set one up ready to putt.
Keep your eyes open and look at the hole to get an idea of the distance. Take a look at the ball and position your putter behind the ball. Take one more look at the hole with your eyes open and then it’s
time to go.
Close your eyes and, with “No Peeping” make the putting stroke. Because your eyes are closed your stroke will be a lot slower but more crisp through the ball. Do not open your eyes until you hear the ball drop or until you are sure it has stopped.
Look up and see where the ball has gone. Is it short? Is it
long? or is it in the hole.
Now take the result of the first putt and use it to change
the pace and feel of the second putt.
Continue with the same procedure for the third and fourth
balls.
The result you should be aiming for here is to get all four balls either in the hole or within at least one foot (tap in distance) from the hole.
Now you must achieve this result of getting all four balls within tap in distance at least three times in a row before you move on toanother area of practice.
I’m sure you’ll be surprised how quickly you can achieve this target, and let me tell you, once you can do this with your eyes shut it becomes a breeze with your eyes open.
This is one exercise that will definately cut out those annoying three putts and it will soon have you getting that handicap down.
I’m sure you’ll enjoy this drill and have lot’s of fun with it.
Keep on practising
Richard
Richard Smith is the founder of the The Big Golf Lesson http://www.biggolflesson.com.
The website offers a FREE 14 part e mail course for golfers wishing to improve their golf game andlower their handicap
Mesothelioma Lung Cancer, also known as Pleural Mesothelioma Cancer, is caused by a change in the Mesothelioma cells that normally provide a protective coating around the Lungs. When the Mesothelioma cells become cancerous, they begin to change and form white nodules and later form into tumor clumps.
In the later stages of Mesothelioma Lung Cancer, the Cancer can invade the lungs and other organs contained within upper body area. The results of Mesothelioma Lung Cancer can lead to shortness of breath, chest pain, fever and other conditional illnesses.
The medical profession has documented that Mesothelioma Lung Cancer is a direct result of exposure to Asbestos related substances. Asbestos usually consists of fibers that can enter the body through the mouth, or the skin, and, subsequently, enter the lungs, or blood stream.
It is thought that these fibers then lodge in the protective lining around the lungs and after 10, or so years begin to change the Mesothelioma cells that the lining is made up from. Although, initially, the Mesothelioma cells effectively do their job, the Asbestos fibers are inherently a foreign substance within the body and often, eventually, they can no longer hold up the fight.
Although Mesothelioma Cancer can also develop in the abdominal area and around the heart, Mesthelioma Lung Cancer has been found to be the most common form of Mesothelioma Cancer.
However, unlike the other two forms of Mesothelioma Cancer, Mesothelioma Lung Cancer can be detected through the results of a CT Scan. It is this fact that allows doctors the possibility of detecting Mesothelioma Lung Cancer earlier than the other two forms of Mesothelioma Cancer.
Mesothelioma Lung Cancer should not be confused with Lung Cancer, as the two are entirely different. Where as Mesothelioma Lung Cancer develops in the lining surrounding the Lung, Lung Cancer develops within the Lung itself.
Also, Mesothelioma Lung Cancer is non-malignant, whereas, Lung Cancer tends to be Malignant in nature. Although some of the treatment methods that are used for both Cancers are the same, such as Radiation therapy and Chemotherapy.
Essentially, there are two pleural layers that surround the Lungs, with a gap in the middle, known as the pleural space, which contains a special liquid. These two pleural layers, plus the liquid, help to cushion the Lungs as the move within the chest.
It is the pleural that consists of the Mesothelioma cells, which are essentially where the Mesothelioma Cancer begins. Early detection of Mesothelioma Lung Cancer and appropriate treatment can often ensure extended life for the Mesothelioma Lung Cancer patient.
About the Author
Learn more about mesothelioma treatment and asbestos litigation go here: http://www.mesothelioma-treatment-center.com/mesothelioma-lung-cancer.htm
When you own a copyright to a photograph, you have complete and exclusive control of how it is reproduced, displayed and distributed. These rights may be assigned, sold, transferred or given away. If you decide to authorize others to use your copyright, also known as licensing, you may want to consider the following items:
a) Who are you giving the rights to?
b) What specific rights are you granting?
c) Are you authorizing print and/or electronic rights?
d) If you grant electronic rights, what kind? CD? Web?
e) For what time are you granting the rights?
f) Will the rights be exclusive?
g) How will the rights be used? What market or industry?
h) What territory is covered by the rights? North America? English-speaking countries? Worldwide?
i) Are there any work-for-hire implications?
j) How will you be paid? By a flat fee? By royalties?
k) If paid by royalties, how will the royalties be calculated?
l) When will you be paid?
m) Will you allow certain alterations of the work in the use?
n) Will you require certain items with the usage? Copyright notice? Photo credit?
o) Who is responsible for loss, damage or theft of the work?
p) Do you want samples of the use?
q) Specifically retain all other rights to your copyrights - you never know what future usage technology will bring.
r) Make the license subject to being paid in full.
While licensing rights like those referenced above can be done verbally, it is best to put them in writing. You will minimize confusion, and you will have something concrete to rely upon if a dispute arises. To be sure that every important aspect of licensing is addressed, ask an attorney who is familiar with these issues to review the license.
Take my advice; get professional help.
PhotoAttorney
Copyright 2005 Carolyn E. Wright All Rights Reserved
— ABOUT THE AUTHOR —
Carolyn E. Wright, Esq., has a unique legal practice aimed squarely at the needs of photographers. A pro photographer herself, Carolyn has the credentials and the experience to protect photographers. She’s represented clients in multimillion dollar litigations, but also has the desire to help new photographers just starting their careers. Carolyn graduated from Emory University School of Law with a Juris Doctor, and from Tennessee Tech Univ. with a Masters of Business Administration degree and a Bachelor of Science degree in music.
She wrote the book on photography law. “88 Secrets to the Law for Photographers,” by Carolyn and well-known professional photographer, Scott Bourne, is scheduled for fall 2005 release by Olympic Mountain School Press. Carolyn also is a columnist for PhotoFocus Magazine.
Carolyn specializes in wildlife photography and her legal website is http://www.photoattorney.com
The United States Soldiers have a new useful tool in the battles space, one which allows them extended battlespace situational awareness. A bird’s eye view via robotic unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV, which are launched by hand and fly around like a little remote control model aircraft taking pictures of the ground below and the enemy too. They are almost impossible to shoot down and many can fly for hours protecting our troops.
I propose a new model of the UAV. A micro-air vehicle commonly called an MAV, which can be deployed faster, quicker and reach it surveillance area immediately and efficiently. How about a UAV, which is the size of a hand thrown UAV but the wing is folded along the fuselage while being launched and is shot into the air. The forward momentum keeps its wing from clicking at a 90-degree angle until it slows down.
The Wing is attached to the fuselage with a center bolt and is aligned with the fuselage for firing into the air. It is shot out of a tank almost straight up as it arches slow down and return to earth the relative wind slows down and the spring loaded wing pops into place and then it has altitude, and can glide trickle charging the battery and using solar to keep the motor going.
Instant altitude and distance at the speed of a round, then use the same guidance system for the mortar rounds we now have to steer it to a single mission target and home in on enemy? If you have great ideas which can help our troops in Iraq then let’s hear them, as my brother is a US Marine and we need to be thinking here.
“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/
The digital camera is in reality a great possession with many facets of its utilities and not only that knowing these utilities makes the understanding the digital camera complete. The utilities are also so very diverse that they too offer further introspection of details in their varying applications. Such an area is digital camera exposure compensation. Only knowledge of digital camera exposure is not enough, so the digital camera exposure compensation requires some amount of exposure in itself! This discussion is focused towards that cause itself.
Looking at different digital cameras, even temperately costing digital cameras have arrangements for exposure compensation settings. To explain in a bit detail, the exposure compensation allows the users to control the amount of light entering the lens. And thereby the illumination of the photograph is decided. Exposure compensation can be altered manually or by the help of a digital camera’s exposure compensation setting that lets one override the metered exposure set inside the digital camera itself. Strictly speaking, the exposure values provide an expedient line of attack to put a figure on the available light intensity and therefore exposure.
As per general norms of the users of digital cameras, certain standards exist for selecting such values. These values are specifically known as Exposure Values (EV). Selecting an up to standard Exposure Values (EV) helps maintain the details contained in dark areas of a photo, or diminish the more than usually bright areas. Again, looking from technical point of view, the Exposure Values are numbers that refer to an assortment of combinations of apertures of lenses and shutter speed respectively. They have a selective range of values, ranging between -2 to +2 Exposure Values (EV). As a general rule positive exposure settings are used for cases where bulky areas of a scene are especially bright such as taking pictures of a snow scene and also during times of photographing when the background is a good deal brighter than the focal area under consideration. Also, negative exposure settings are used for cases where bulky areas of a scene are especially dark and also during times of photographing when the background is a good deal darker than the fore area under consideration.
One point that is worth noting is that light meters cannot see color. They deliver every scene as 18% middle gray and become accustomed to the exposure accordingly. And most digital cameras will allows a photographer to compensate the exposure by 1 to 2 EV plus or minus in 1/3 or 1/2 stop increments. A very important realization for any photographer is that the right exposure is only “correct” in the eye of the photographer; Exposure Value compensation can also be used as a creative tool.
With this information available to the users of the digital camera, the knowledge of digital camera exposure as well as digital camera exposure compensation becomes. But it is only knowledge, the proper acquiring of the whole feel comes only from personal experience.
Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.snapjunky.com. Visit his digital camera guide and learn how to take better pictures with your digicam.
Thousands of avid snowboarders will shortly be looking for their salopettes and dashing off trying to find the heaviest snow conditions.
And undoubtedly the affect of our carbon footprint will be close to as far down the list of holiday musts as a xmas cracker after the Christmas vacation.
Just last Christmas, a late snow was in the broadsheets and holidaymakers were panicky about the smattering of snow disappearing nearly as soon as they landed.
Skiing company Chalet1802, located at the bottom of Mont Blanc in Chamonix France in the French Alps, is one of the first independent firms to go carbon negative and offer snowboarders an environmentally friendly selection while organising their ski trip.
Chalet1802 proprietor Eldrid stated: Last season was quite a shock with the most warm winter in sixty yrs in Europe. Mountain skiing areas such as Les Deux Alpes, Auron and Flaine has difficulty.It was warm and the snow didnt settle so much of the early season ski season in the French Alps was limited. We decided to become carbon neutral to help preserve the skiing resort.
Eldrid said: We’re not assaying to prescribe to guests but we believe it’s of import to give the guests the alternative without raising the price of the holiday. When the client book with us and goes to our chalet Chamonix they may more than off-set their carbon output and we absorb the added costs. Of course we still have a sauna and a hot tub - clients desire opulence but not at the expense of the environment, so we considered methods of decreasing the affect of a skier driving over here for a ski holiday.”
The firm have moreover partnered with organisation Climate Care, who deals with climate change by making carbon dioxide deductions on behalf of people and businesses.
Many modern gamblers should have come across the expression “offshore sports betting”, though most of them maybe aren’t completely sure what it really means. A foreign gaming website primarily runs extrinsically to the authority of any given nation on the other hand it can be a machine-accessible betting internet site running its computer servers inside the boundaries of a state where internet based gambling is not forbidden. Concisely then, it is a gambling business running extraneous to the nation of the bettor. Machine-accessible gaming internet sites are now regulated with the assistance of three councils. They are OSGA (the Offshore Gaming Association), IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) and the Fidelity Trust Gaming Association FTGA.
The OSGA are a self governing body which presently watches the thriving overseas gambling business, they want to also supply sports gambling lovers access to choose honorable internet enterprises to play gambling games on, without stress. It endeavors to assure client’s rights, and in addition they do not impose any membership expenses.
The agency is a professional and impartial third party company who assert neutral information, suggested by customer feedback, objective study, calls, insider prompts also to dispense industry information.
The Interactive Gaming Council are a nonprofit council. The council has been created to allow a forum for curious individuals to discuss topics and in addition to boost collective interests in the world-wide web-based gaming business, to ensure equitable not to mention level-headed trade instructions and procedures which strive to heighten client confidence in online gaming merchandise and functions, and in addition to assist as the trade’s extensive strategy adviser and it acts as an info depot.
The IGC have developed a regard for advocating reliability, stability and also solidity by virtue of its tough ideals, also its allure to concerns of principled ethics. The Interactive Gaming Council monitors offshore gaming through employing a distinctive ten point operational process and in addition bills gambling internet sites fees to feature the council’s logo. Vexed betting buffs can additionally disclose their arguments to the Interactive Gaming Council.
The Fidelity Trust Gaming Association was established in an effort to compose a benchmark which will upgrade the policies of machine-accessible gaming web sites. The IGC hope that through affiliating with credible enterprises, they are able to fabricate a federation of the most sportsmanlike and most professional internet gambling operations globally.
So, in brief there are governing bodies which work to manage the conduct exercised by world wide web based sports betting and which should assist to assuage a lot of the apprehensions felt by numerous betters. Networked gaming web sites are actually trustworthy, in as much as private details are not required and also the compensation and the odds are exactly as balanced and reasonable as in a regular Vegas-type bet. These web sites lower traveling expenditure, but nonetheless maintain of a casino, however today you may play in your own home.
Diamondbacks place Big Unit on 15-day DL
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