Shari Hearn asked:


I must be the luckiest person alive. In the past three days I found out I won 1.5 Million Euros in the UK lottery, One Million Euros in the Winx International Lottery, 1.5 Million Euros in the 2007 E-Mail Lottery, and 500,000 Pounds in an e-mail lottery held by the Coca Cola Company. Wow! What did I do to receive all these riches?

The sad truth is there are actually people who fall for these schemes. For the promise of a quick buck (or million Euros as the case may be) people will turn over their bank account numbers, wire money in the hopes of getting more back, or give other information that could lead to identity theft.

These lottery and sweepstakes schemes have gone on long before the internet, with one of the oldest being the phony sweepstakes which required an entrance fee to claim your prize, which amounted to more than the “prize” was worth. Another variation of that scheme was requiring the potential “winner” to call a certain number to find out if he or she was a winner. The phone call cost the potential “winner” a certain amount per minute with an unusually-long wait time on hold. The real winner was the scamming company which made money off the phone calls.

Today’s thieves have a wide choice of scam-delivery mechanisms, including in person, the mail, phone and internet. However, the same holds true no matter how the scam is delivered: if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

How Can You Recognize the Lottery or Sweepstakes Scam?

There are certainly legitimate lotteries and sweepstakes offers. Who hasn’t bought a state or multi-state lottery ticket from their local lottery retailer? Or, who hasn’t seen one of those sweepstakes offered by a recognized company advertising in the coupon section of the Sunday newspaper? You fill out the entry form or reasonable facsimile (usually a 3”x5” card) with your name and address and send it off.

Therein is your biggest clue as to whether you’re the victim of a scam. In a legitimate lottery or sweepstakes you have bought the ticket or entered your name and address. In a scam lottery or sweepstakes you are notified you’ve won when you haven’t even entered or bought a ticket.

In addition, it’s illegal to use the mail or telephone to play lotteries across borders, whether national or state lines. Any lottery offer involving the purchase of lottery tickets for other state or country lotteries could end up with you being charged with illegal activities.

One ploy used by foreign scammers involving lotteries or sweepstakes is offering you an “advance” on your winnings. The scam artist will send you a check for part of your “winnings.” All you have to do is wire them payment for “taxes” or other official purposes. By the time you find out their check has bounced the money you wired is in their hands. And, because it was wired it’s harder to trace.

Lottery scammers don’t always use e-mail or the phone. Sometimes they do their dirty work in person. A typical scam would go something like this: You are approached in person by someone who claims he or she just won the lottery but isn’t eligible to claim it. They offer to split the money with you if you claim the prize. Sounds good, right? Except that before you claim the prize from the lottery retailer you are required to withdraw some money from your account and give it to the ticket holder as a good-faith gesture. By the time you find out you’re holding a non-winning lottery ticket, the thief is long-gone with your good-faith money.

In order to protect yourself from these scams, it’s important to remember the following:

Lotteries

• It’s illegal to use the mail or telephone to play lotteries across borders.

• If you ever receive a phone call, letter or e-mail announcing you just won a lottery, it’s a scam.

Sweepstakes

• It’s illegal for a company to require you to pay to win or claim a sweepstakes prize.

• It’s illegal for a company to suggest that buying something will improve your chances of winning.

• Companies cannot ask for money from you for taxes they say you owe on a sweepstakes winning.

• Be cautious when entering sweepstakes from displays you see in malls – often times these are people just wanting your name and address for a future sweepstakes scam.

• Only enter sweepstakes from recognizable companies, and never pay a fee to enter.

Avoiding being the victim of a scam takes a healthy dose of skepticism. If you are ever unsure about the legitimacy of an offer made to you, you can call the National Fraud Information Center’s Hotline at 1-800-876-7060.

Amit Bhalla asked:

Life is not a bed of roses and the same can be said about relationships. It would be unwise to expect the emotions between various individuals to remain at the same, steady level at all points of time and disagreements are bound to arise. In addition, when anger or jealousy raises its ugly head, then all love seems to fly out of the window. At times like this, we need a balancing effect to smooth out the ruffled feathers of the quarrelling couple. The ancient Chinese practice of Feng Shui can help in creating perfect harmony in every personal relationship, besides other aspects of life like health, wealth and career. Feng Shui love tips if properly implemented can help to balance the yang (male) and yin (female) energies and bring the elements in perfect harmony with each other.

Feng shui love principles can be applied for any situation, whether you are a single person waiting for love to enter your life, or even if you are already in a relationship with a partner and are looking for ways and means to enhance the bond. The south west area of our living space defines the personal relationship area and Feng shui love tips work towards enhancing that aspect of our lives. Colors like passionate red and pink in our bedroom or the southern area of the house help to bring the loved ones closer to each other. It is also advisable to keep a pair of mandarin ducks in the bedroom where the couple sleeps. It helps to bring about greater love and understanding among the partners.

If you want to attract love into your life you could try having peonies in your house. If the real flowers are not available, a photograph of the same will do equally well. However, peonies can cause infidelity in the case of married couple, so it is best avoided in that case. Hanging clear crystals in the south corner of the living room can also bring about harmony among the various members of the family. Certain precious and semi precious stones like pink quartz also have relationship enhancing qualities and they also look appealing when worn on the wrist as a charm. It can also be the ideal gift for your girlfriend when you want her to be in your life forever.

Simple things like the décor and furnishings of the house can also make a deep impression on your mindset and the related behaviour. In order to promote harmony among family members, it is important that the furnishings in the living room and bedroom have round and soft edges rather than hard and pointed ones. Choose soft colors like soothing pink for your bedroom and light scented candles and incense sticks in the house to ensure the flow of chi (energy) smoothly among the many rooms. An important point to be considered while implementing any Feng Shui tip is that it should be done only under the guidance of an experienced professional. Keeping this in mind you can safely implement Feng Shui love tips to build harmonious and loving relationships in your life.

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Sarika Kabra asked:


A Graphics Design Contest may be in respect of any kind of graphic design; such as slogan and logo design, graphic poster design, website design, or just about anything. What is more, anyone not even trained in graphic design can send their entry and participate in all these online competitions.

How would you like to design a t shirt for instance? How would you like to wear a tee shirt that has been designed by you? Well this is a trend that is getting more and more popular on the internet these days. It works like this: tee shirt design contests are held by a lot of sites, where anyone can enter and participate by giving their own entry or tshirt design. These graphic design contests are a great way to express creativity. It gives people a chance to express their creativity, sense of humor, or even their existential angst! There are many sites that hold such contests. Inkfruit.com is an interesting one with attractive cash prizes for winners and fame in the form of their name being printed on the label. Contests2Win.com is another one that holds design and photography contests regularly.

Many of the sites that conduct graphic design contests have some very substantial prizes in cash or sometimes in kind which are up for grabs for the winning entry which are a great incentive. Another interesting thing about design contests is that you can visit the site and check out the forums that are often set up for likeminded people to hang out and exchange thoughts, ideas, news, banter or just chat and make friends.

Design forums or t shirt forums are places where you can view and post questions, communicate publicly or privately with members or moderators of the community etc. You can also set up or respond to or participate in polls. You can also sell and buy items of interest or from the classifieds that are set up on the forums. As a member of the forum you can take part in all the contests and giveaways and access many other special features. This is a great way to become part of a community where you can learn, share tips and experiences and get help from likeminded people as well as network for your own benefit.

Forums are a great networking tool and a way to keep abreast of what is going on in terms of new contests, announcements as to winner and prizes etc. Seeing other peoples’ designs, especially the winning entries can be inspiring and give you ideas for creating your own graphic design.

The great thing about these forums is that you can learn a lot and take the benefit of other people’s experiences. Marketing, business and finance are other matters which can be discussed which can be very beneficial. So don’t hide away your creativity, express it! And don’t think that you cannot do it, you can! Original ideas always get a lot of appreciation and perhaps it may be you that gets the appreciation as well as the prize money next time!

Ling Tong asked:

When you look for free tattoo designs, it is important to know which ones are the most popular if you are in the tattoo business. The most popular designs today are:

 

* Stars

 

* Butterflies

 

* Fairies

 

* Flowers

 

* Dragons

 

* Celtic and Christian crosses

 

* Angels

 

* Skulls

 

* Hearts

 

When choosing a tattoo design, you should know about the design and what it means. It is very cool to add a heart or a love symbol, but you should think twice about adding a name. This is especially true if you want to add your girlfriend name. What will happen if you break up? You are stuck with this name on your arm or whatever part of your body you have the tattoo for the rest of your life and your next girlfriend may not take too kindly to it. It is fine for a parent or grandparent to have the names of their children or grandchildren on a tattoo because these will last forever.

 

Tribal tattoos are also very popular today. They come in many different designs and contain a lot of black ink. This is advantageous in that black ink doesn fade as fast as other colors. These tattoos are very visual and you can easily create your own design. Because of the use if lines and interlocking designs, they are excellent for use on broad areas of the body such as the shoulders and upper arms.

 

Celtic tattoos with their intricate knots and crosses are quite popular as tattooed armbands. In addition to the Celtic cross, Celtic butterfly tattoos are also in demand. The butterfly is a symbol of rebirth and a person with such a tattoo is showing the world that he/she has gone through difficult times and is now ready to face life anew. Although you mat love the look of this butterfly design, it is important for you to know the meaning behind some of the various designs so that you don’t project the wrong image of yourself to others. For example, the Celtic knot is a symbol of eternity, while the Celtic trinity knot can have Christian, pagan or new age symbolism. The Celtic shamrock is not only the symbol of Ireland, but is also the symbol of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Each leaf of the shamrock has a particular meaning in a tattoo: Hope, Faith, Love and Luck.

 

Ci-Shen is the Chinese word for tattoo. While tattoos were traditionally used as a mark of punishment, many people now like to have small Chinese symbols tattooed on their body. When you choose one of these symbols, it is important that you thoroughly research its meaning before you get the tattoo. Make sure your translation source is reliable as some sources may use a loose translation that has no relation to the actual meaning. Japanese tattoos are usually small tattoos that can be completed in one sitting. Like the Chinese tattoos, the dragon features predominantly in the tattoos of this culture and the Phoenix is widely popular. This is a mythical creature that symbolizes justice and fidelity.

 

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FlavaDave965 asked:

Radio Bit

Cheating Girlfriends