A lot of companies will give you a place on the web to build your own site absolutely free if you're willing to make sort of a devil's bargain. We give a free site, the bargain goes, if you let us plaster advertisements all over your webpages.
"Plaster" may be a bit harsh, because some services are pretty discrete in their ad placement. Still...they're the ones earning ad revenue. Not you.
But your good friends at Google offer something different. Visit Google Sites and build yourself a nifty-looking website absolutely free. Free as in no charge and free as in no advertising, either. The sites are template-based and are pretty flexible in terms of what you can do with them and your overall control of site design. Here's an example of one of my sites, if you want to get a feel.
Your url isn't necessarily pretty, and will initally be something like sites.google.com/site/hereismysiteatlast. But as you can see at my example site, you can switch it to your own url (Google Sites makes it easy!) for about $10 a year.
And if you want to put in Adsense ads of your own...or any other ads for that matter...feel free. There's no problem as far as Google Sites is concerned.
I definitely think Google Sites is the best option around for a free website, no ads, but they're not the only game in town. Check out these other options for free websites.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Is Microwave Cooking With Aluminum Foil Safe?
There's an almost mythical prohibition against using aluminum foil or aluminium containers in the microwave. Something bad will happen, right? Like the oven will explode!
Actually, aluminum can be used safely in a microwave oven. The key is to keep it away from the oven walls...at least an inch. Aluminum that is too close to the walls can cause electrical sparking which can cause a fire or damage the oven.
But aluminum away from the walls is fine, so much so that the Aluminun Foil Containers Manufacturers Association invented the lovely word tri-ovenable, to indicate that aluminum containers can be used in all three oven types -- conventional, toaster and microwave.
Microwaves don't penetrate aluminum, so remove any aluminum covers. But small cover patches of foil (to prevent foods from heating) or heating in open aluminum containers is fine. Just keep the metal clear from the walls.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Actually, aluminum can be used safely in a microwave oven. The key is to keep it away from the oven walls...at least an inch. Aluminum that is too close to the walls can cause electrical sparking which can cause a fire or damage the oven.
But aluminum away from the walls is fine, so much so that the Aluminun Foil Containers Manufacturers Association invented the lovely word tri-ovenable, to indicate that aluminum containers can be used in all three oven types -- conventional, toaster and microwave.
Microwaves don't penetrate aluminum, so remove any aluminum covers. But small cover patches of foil (to prevent foods from heating) or heating in open aluminum containers is fine. Just keep the metal clear from the walls.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Friday, August 26, 2011
How Can I Lookup Official Filings for 401k Plans, Pension Plans, and Other Company Retirement Plans?
If a company manages a retirement plan for its employees, it has to file some paperwork (surprise!) with the U.S. Department of Labor and the IRS as well. The plans are covered by federal law, chiefly the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The plan filings, generally known as Form 5500's (although there are actually a whole series of forms involved), cover retirement plans such as 401k plans, pension plans, defined benefit plans, defined contribution plans -- the whole ball of wax.
Form 5500's are public documents meaning you can look them up on the Internet. You might be surprised at how much financial detail you can find about a company (and sometimes, about individual employees) through their Form 5500 filings.
Take a look at the Department of Labor's Form 5500 Filing Search as well as DOL's Pension Plan Actuarial Information Search. Also run the same searches at BrightScope, as this site often has retirement plans listed that, for some reason, doesn't show up at DOL.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Form 5500's are public documents meaning you can look them up on the Internet. You might be surprised at how much financial detail you can find about a company (and sometimes, about individual employees) through their Form 5500 filings.
Take a look at the Department of Labor's Form 5500 Filing Search as well as DOL's Pension Plan Actuarial Information Search. Also run the same searches at BrightScope, as this site often has retirement plans listed that, for some reason, doesn't show up at DOL.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
What is the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) History?
When the folks on the financial news tell you that the stock market went up 200 points today, or down 350 points, they are often referring to the daily changes in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (abbreviated DJI or DJIA), or simply The Dow, as it's commonly known.
The Dow is the most widely-cited stock market index in the world. It was created back in 1896 by your good friends Charles Dow and Edward Jones, of Wall Street Journal fame, who tallied up the prices of the largest American industrial giants then listed on the New York Stock Exchange. At first, 12 companies were listed and they were all heavy-industry (you know...smokestacks, pollution) like the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company.
There are still giant companies -- the blue chips -- listed on the Dow, but the composition has changed innumerable times over the years as corporate fortunes rise and fall. These days, there are 30 companies and in addition to heavy industry like Exxon, you also have banks (Bank of America), tech companies (Intel), retailers (Walmart), media (Disney) and so much more.
Here's the list as of 2012 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average:
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
The Dow is the most widely-cited stock market index in the world. It was created back in 1896 by your good friends Charles Dow and Edward Jones, of Wall Street Journal fame, who tallied up the prices of the largest American industrial giants then listed on the New York Stock Exchange. At first, 12 companies were listed and they were all heavy-industry (you know...smokestacks, pollution) like the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company.
There are still giant companies -- the blue chips -- listed on the Dow, but the composition has changed innumerable times over the years as corporate fortunes rise and fall. These days, there are 30 companies and in addition to heavy industry like Exxon, you also have banks (Bank of America), tech companies (Intel), retailers (Walmart), media (Disney) and so much more.
Here's the list as of 2012 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average:
- 3M
- ALCOA
- AMERICAN EXPRESS
- AT&T
- BANK OF AMERICA
- BOEING
- CATERPILLAR
- CHEVRON
- CISCO
- COCA COLA
- DISNEY
- DU PONT
- EXXON MOBIL
- GE
- H-P
- HOME DEPOT
- IBM
- INTEL
- J&J
- JP MORGAN
- KRAFT
- MCDONALDS
- MERCK
- MICROSOFT
- P&G
- PFIZER
- TRAVELERS
- UNITED TECHNOLOGIES
- VERIZON
- WALMART
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Insurance Scores vs Credit Scores...What's the Difference?
You know about your credit score, right? That number that credit card companies, mortgage banks -- even your landlord -- uses before deciding whether your a good or bad financial risk. Well guess what? Insurance companies take a peek at your insurance score for exactly the same reason -- to see if they want to sell you car insurance or homeowners insurance, and to figure out how much they're going to charge you.
You insurance score is based on the same information that's in your credit report, but with different weights and calculations because, well, insurance and credit are two different things, after all. As with credit scores, FICO is the 800-pound gorilla of the insurance score industry.
Are insurance scores fair? The FTC thinks they do a pretty good job...sort of!
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
You insurance score is based on the same information that's in your credit report, but with different weights and calculations because, well, insurance and credit are two different things, after all. As with credit scores, FICO is the 800-pound gorilla of the insurance score industry.
Are insurance scores fair? The FTC thinks they do a pretty good job...sort of!
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Can I Make and Post a Map Online Without Google Maps?
Sure you can! All you need is a spreadsheet file that lists your data in one column and your geography (from zip codes to states to country names) in another column.
Visit the very user-friendly TargetMap website and click the Create Your Own Map button. Then chose an option to either keep your map private or share it online, for all the world to see. If you choose Share, your map gets indexed by Google and other search engines and will show up in search results. Share or not, you do have to register at the site before going forward.
And just like that, you have a lovely state, country or world map, all without the (sometimes complex) interface of Google Maps.
Happy cartography, everyone.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Visit the very user-friendly TargetMap website and click the Create Your Own Map button. Then chose an option to either keep your map private or share it online, for all the world to see. If you choose Share, your map gets indexed by Google and other search engines and will show up in search results. Share or not, you do have to register at the site before going forward.
And just like that, you have a lovely state, country or world map, all without the (sometimes complex) interface of Google Maps.
Happy cartography, everyone.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Do I Have To Register a Sole Proprietorship in Pennsylvania?
Nope! Nah-hah! No way! The Pennsylvania government's Open For Business website is crystal clear on that point..."A sole proprietorship is not required to file organization papers with the Pennsylvania Department of State..."
A sole propietorship is essentially a business you operate under your own name. Legally, there's not much of a difference between you, the person, and you, the business proprietor, which may not seem worth worrying about but is actually quite important if one of you gets sued.
However, if you take on a fictitious business name (that is, if you opt for some dumb name for your business like Kyooenay), then Pennsylvania expects you to register your fictitious name with the state powers-that-be.
A lot of good background on sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLC, corporations and other forms of business is provided for you in a handy-dandy Pennsylvania state publication, Starting a Business in Pennsylvania -- A Beginner's Guide.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
A sole propietorship is essentially a business you operate under your own name. Legally, there's not much of a difference between you, the person, and you, the business proprietor, which may not seem worth worrying about but is actually quite important if one of you gets sued.
However, if you take on a fictitious business name (that is, if you opt for some dumb name for your business like Kyooenay), then Pennsylvania expects you to register your fictitious name with the state powers-that-be.
A lot of good background on sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLC, corporations and other forms of business is provided for you in a handy-dandy Pennsylvania state publication, Starting a Business in Pennsylvania -- A Beginner's Guide.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Where Can I Get a Free Website, No Ads or Banners?
For a really free website, one with no ads, no banners, and no gimmicks of any kind, I recommend Google (yes, Google!) and their Google Sites offer.
You can build a handsome, flexible website. You don't need to know HTML coding...just use the site templates to get started, and modify them to your heart's content as you get familiar with the website-building process.
If you opt for free hosting at Google Sites, then your website will have a pretty ugly but ultimately livable url like sites.google.com/site/yourwebsitename. But for a small cost, about ten bucks a year, you can easily host your free site at yourwebsitename.com. Here's an example of Digital State Archives, a free Google Site that I've been slowly building. One day, it will be done. I promise.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
You can build a handsome, flexible website. You don't need to know HTML coding...just use the site templates to get started, and modify them to your heart's content as you get familiar with the website-building process.
If you opt for free hosting at Google Sites, then your website will have a pretty ugly but ultimately livable url like sites.google.com/site/yourwebsitename. But for a small cost, about ten bucks a year, you can easily host your free site at yourwebsitename.com. Here's an example of Digital State Archives, a free Google Site that I've been slowly building. One day, it will be done. I promise.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Monday, August 15, 2011
What Is Mortgage Fraud?
If you're a criminal, mortgage fraud is great stuff! Big profits, short-term return on your investment, and very little chance of getting caught. The FBI says mortgage fraud is a big and growing business...no one knows quite how big, but it's well over $10 billion a year.
There are two main classes of mortgage scams. One defrauds the banks providing mortgage loans, and typically involves giving false information on a loan application, such as inflating one's income with false tax returns or pay stubs, or working with a crooked appraiser to overstate the value of a house. This type of fraud is known as loan origination fraud.
The other type of mortgage fraud, such as illegal property flipping and embezzelment of escrow funds scams the potential home buyers. This type of fraud can actually involve 'selling' the same house to more than one person!
Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Tampa, San Francisco, New York, Phoenix, Sacramento, Atlanta, and Las Vegas reported the largest number of mortgage fraud cases in recent years, so be careful out there!
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
There are two main classes of mortgage scams. One defrauds the banks providing mortgage loans, and typically involves giving false information on a loan application, such as inflating one's income with false tax returns or pay stubs, or working with a crooked appraiser to overstate the value of a house. This type of fraud is known as loan origination fraud.
The other type of mortgage fraud, such as illegal property flipping and embezzelment of escrow funds scams the potential home buyers. This type of fraud can actually involve 'selling' the same house to more than one person!
Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Tampa, San Francisco, New York, Phoenix, Sacramento, Atlanta, and Las Vegas reported the largest number of mortgage fraud cases in recent years, so be careful out there!
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Where Can I Get a Free Disposable Email Account?
Ah, the joys of the Internet. You can't get the information you need until you give the annoying website your email address and then verify the address by clicking a link they send you. But once you do that...it's spam for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of your life.
But there's hope. You can get a disposable email address for free. You don't even have to do anything...just make up whatever temproary email address you like. Mailinator provides just such a free service for throw-away email addresses. Just type in anything at all, followed by @mailinator.com. That's your disposable email address.
For instance, I could be david@mailinator.com or nonsense@mailinator.com or asdfljk@mailinator.com or any other email name I desire. Then...just visit mailinator.com, type in the made-up address, and voila...there's the message with the verification link. The "account" disappears in a day or so and you'll never have to see any spam sent to that address ever in your whole life.
Ah, the joys of the Internet.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
But there's hope. You can get a disposable email address for free. You don't even have to do anything...just make up whatever temproary email address you like. Mailinator provides just such a free service for throw-away email addresses. Just type in anything at all, followed by @mailinator.com. That's your disposable email address.
For instance, I could be david@mailinator.com or nonsense@mailinator.com or asdfljk@mailinator.com or any other email name I desire. Then...just visit mailinator.com, type in the made-up address, and voila...there's the message with the verification link. The "account" disappears in a day or so and you'll never have to see any spam sent to that address ever in your whole life.
Ah, the joys of the Internet.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Friday, August 12, 2011
How Can I Email a 1GB File for Free?
This one's easy. Your own email program might be just the ticket, even though it cuts off most attachments at some weenie number like 25MB. Look for a "Large Files" option (really!). For instance, Yahoo! Mail has a "Send Large Files" button over on the right-hand menu that lets you send attachments up to 2 GB. Perfect for sending videos, hi-rez photos, spreadsheets, databases or any other humongous files you care to transmit.
Or use an online large-file email service like YouSendIt or DropSend...you can try them both out for free.
Also, you can post a file to an upload service like Google Documents or SkyDrive, both of which accept pretty big files, but they do have some constraints on file size, so make sure you're not over their upload limits.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Or use an online large-file email service like YouSendIt or DropSend...you can try them both out for free.
Also, you can post a file to an upload service like Google Documents or SkyDrive, both of which accept pretty big files, but they do have some constraints on file size, so make sure you're not over their upload limits.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
How Can I Do a Stock History Lookup
Some days you just wake up and ya need to know: What was IBM selling for on February 12, 1974?
Well, good news. The Internet makes it super-easy to look up stock price histories. You can get tables of prices, pricing graphs, and even detailed histories of dividend payments and stock splits. My favorite resource is Yahoo! Finance because it's simple, comprehensive and flexible. You can adjust it to show daily prices, or average weekly or monthly price for long term charts. Google Finance (no exclamation point) also does a good job with its cool little click-and-grab slider graphs, but truth is, there are dozens of stock price history lookups you can find on the web. Pick the one that works best for your needs.
IBM on Feb 12, 1974? It opened at $228, hit a high of $230, a low of $226.50 and closed at $228.25 on volume of 489,600 shares. How's that for details?
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Well, good news. The Internet makes it super-easy to look up stock price histories. You can get tables of prices, pricing graphs, and even detailed histories of dividend payments and stock splits. My favorite resource is Yahoo! Finance because it's simple, comprehensive and flexible. You can adjust it to show daily prices, or average weekly or monthly price for long term charts. Google Finance (no exclamation point) also does a good job with its cool little click-and-grab slider graphs, but truth is, there are dozens of stock price history lookups you can find on the web. Pick the one that works best for your needs.
IBM on Feb 12, 1974? It opened at $228, hit a high of $230, a low of $226.50 and closed at $228.25 on volume of 489,600 shares. How's that for details?
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
How Can I Find the History of Calls Made on a Cell Phone?
Cell phones, like elephants, never forget. Or hardly ever. Your phone keeps history records of all incoming and outgoing calls, and even has a record of missed calls that were never answered.
You can find your cell phone history on the phone itself, usually by accessing Call Records (or something similar) in your phone's main menu. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Cricket and most other mobile phone service providers also list call records online on your billing account. Log into your phone account and click on View Full Bill rather than just the summary bill, to see a list of your calls. Some sites even offer a download function so you can store the list permanently on your PC.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
You can find your cell phone history on the phone itself, usually by accessing Call Records (or something similar) in your phone's main menu. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Cricket and most other mobile phone service providers also list call records online on your billing account. Log into your phone account and click on View Full Bill rather than just the summary bill, to see a list of your calls. Some sites even offer a download function so you can store the list permanently on your PC.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
How Do I Find a Lost Pension?
Your pension can be an awfully big pot of money that you and your employer set aside for your retirement. So it's kind of amazing how often people lose track of their pensions. Or maybe not so amazing. After all, when you spend four or five decades in the workforce, moving from employer to employer, it's not hard to lose records for a pension you started many years ago. Add to that the fact that companies merge, break up, change names or simply disappear through bankruptcy...and the situation gets even more complex.
Happily, there are are several tools you can use to track down a missing pension fund. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC, the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits (NRURB) and a few other online and offline resources can help you lay claim to any retirement money and pensions that are owed to you. And don't forget...next of kin can also claim pensions for a deceased worker, so it's worth searching for missing accounts if you're an heir.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Happily, there are are several tools you can use to track down a missing pension fund. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC, the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits (NRURB) and a few other online and offline resources can help you lay claim to any retirement money and pensions that are owed to you. And don't forget...next of kin can also claim pensions for a deceased worker, so it's worth searching for missing accounts if you're an heir.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Where Can I Find Solar Energy Grants?
Solar energy technologies -- to make electricity or provide heat directly from the energy of the sun -- are getting more affordable and more efficient, and some of them are danged good looking as well. As if that weren't enough, there are a number of government and private sources for solar energy grants. Free money for your solar projects.
Don't be fooled...grants are competitive and not easy to come by. But there are grants aplenty for solar projects in homes, schools, communities, farms and other places. You can fund photovoltaic projects (sunlight to electricity), energy storage, solar space heating, and solar water heating projects. You'll never know what's possible until you look. Check out the online grants resources at the Database for State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency, or DSIRE as it's known, along with Grants.gov and Foundation Center for funding oppotunities.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Don't be fooled...grants are competitive and not easy to come by. But there are grants aplenty for solar projects in homes, schools, communities, farms and other places. You can fund photovoltaic projects (sunlight to electricity), energy storage, solar space heating, and solar water heating projects. You'll never know what's possible until you look. Check out the online grants resources at the Database for State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency, or DSIRE as it's known, along with Grants.gov and Foundation Center for funding oppotunities.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Who pays more income taxes, people or corporations?
People pay way more income taxes than businesses as this Debt and Taxes article makes clear.
In 2010, individual and family taxpayers anted up a bit more than $898 billion in taxes, while business paid a mere $191 billion...just about a five-fold difference. Put another way, for every five dollars in taxes that people pay, corporations pay a dollar.
It wasn't always so. Back around the time of World War II, business income taxes and individual income taxes contributed about equally to federal revenue. But by 1960, individuals were paying twice as much, by 1970, three times as much and by 1980, you and I (OK...your parents and grandparents) were paying four times as much taxes as businesses. The ratio hit five times as much around 1990 and never looked back.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
In 2010, individual and family taxpayers anted up a bit more than $898 billion in taxes, while business paid a mere $191 billion...just about a five-fold difference. Put another way, for every five dollars in taxes that people pay, corporations pay a dollar.
It wasn't always so. Back around the time of World War II, business income taxes and individual income taxes contributed about equally to federal revenue. But by 1960, individuals were paying twice as much, by 1970, three times as much and by 1980, you and I (OK...your parents and grandparents) were paying four times as much taxes as businesses. The ratio hit five times as much around 1990 and never looked back.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
What is a Split-Interest Agreement?
Admit it. You think it has something to do with two people splitting the interest income on an investment. Sorry...that's not it.
A split-interest agreement is a way of giving money to a nonprofit organization (also called not-for-profits, or NFPs) where the organization gets some benefits now, and some later. In other words, their interest in the arrangement is split into a lead interest (now) and the remainder interest (later). If I was a rich old guy donating a gazillion dollars to my favorite NFP, I might set it up as an irrevocable split-interest agreement, where they get dividend income now and the full amount of the investment capital at some future date, like when I die. Irrevocable means we can't change the terms of the deal once it's been set up. It's all explained in excrutiating detail in Embedded Derivatives: Application of Statement 133 to a Not-for-Profit Organization’s Obligation Arising from an Irrevocable Split-Interest Agreement, from the FASB (the same folks who brought you GAAP).
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
A split-interest agreement is a way of giving money to a nonprofit organization (also called not-for-profits, or NFPs) where the organization gets some benefits now, and some later. In other words, their interest in the arrangement is split into a lead interest (now) and the remainder interest (later). If I was a rich old guy donating a gazillion dollars to my favorite NFP, I might set it up as an irrevocable split-interest agreement, where they get dividend income now and the full amount of the investment capital at some future date, like when I die. Irrevocable means we can't change the terms of the deal once it's been set up. It's all explained in excrutiating detail in Embedded Derivatives: Application of Statement 133 to a Not-for-Profit Organization’s Obligation Arising from an Irrevocable Split-Interest Agreement, from the FASB (the same folks who brought you GAAP).
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
How Do I Sign Up for PACER (and what is PACER, anyway)?
The Public Access to Court Electronic Records, or PACER as it is affectionately known, is the online access system for dockets and other filings in U.S. courts. PACER includes filings from bankruptcy court as well as civil and criminal proceedings. Anyone can sign up. You don't need to be a lawyer, but it sure helps, as the PACER information contains a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo. But if you're willing to dig through it, you can find some pretty amazing information, or use the PACER Case Locator to see if your new business partner ever filed for bankruptcy.
You can sign up for PACER for free. There's a charge of 8 cents a page for every page you download (and that can add up for some of these dockets), but the fee is waived for minor users of the site.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
You can sign up for PACER for free. There's a charge of 8 cents a page for every page you download (and that can add up for some of these dockets), but the fee is waived for minor users of the site.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
What's the Legal Definition of a Full Time Exempt Employee?
There isn't one! "Exempt employees" are those exempt from the overtime pay provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, usually known as FLSA. If you're a manager, or belong to one of the exempt worker categories such as sales employees, no time-and-a-half for you! Some employees, like farm workers, aren't covered by FLSA at all!
FLSA requires overtime pay for nonexempt employees after they have worked 40 hours in a week. But there's no definition in FLSA for "full time". So technically speaking, there's no legal definition of a full time exempt employee. In common parlance, though, it means a full time (about 40 hours per week) worker who is not entitled to overtime pay.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
FLSA requires overtime pay for nonexempt employees after they have worked 40 hours in a week. But there's no definition in FLSA for "full time". So technically speaking, there's no legal definition of a full time exempt employee. In common parlance, though, it means a full time (about 40 hours per week) worker who is not entitled to overtime pay.
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Need more information? Newspaper archives are one of the best online research tools. If you're searching for information on people, try Intelius.
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