Good Survey Sites, Unreliable Survey Sites And Scam Survey Sites

Earning money in life is difficult, everybody knows of that and it is the same on Internet as well. But people who dont have any idea of how Internet works and doesnt have the basic knowledge of Internet tend to think that earning money on Internet is rather easy than the available jobs and businesses in the outside world. This is not any presumption, talk to some people on the road, who knows nothing about Internet, but has heard of it and youd know the facts for yourself. I also thought on similar lines before taking the plunge myself. Statistics suggest that 97 percent of the netizens fail to make money online and only 3 percent succeed to do so. If this info is correct, then its staggering! I cant assure of the exactitude of this statistics available for anybody to see, but Ive seen people slog it out for hours, just for a few cents! It riles me that people stick out with sites that pay less than we pay beggars on the street! But then they can count them fortunate, becau se begging for a few cents seem to be more profitable than losing big chunks of money to the endless belly of an unscrupulous filthy scammer! The best way of earning on the Internet is by scamming people, you agree or not, it is the fact. People act with impunity, ambushing in the dark alleys of a virtual world in camouflage and it is very difficult to comb them out of their cosy cheat dens. Only if that scoundrel has done something to stir up the authorities, then he or she would land up in trouble, else they can yawn on their sofa and have booze while counting the bucks that were produced by our endless toil! Barring those forgettable fellows, lots of other people make money on the Internet, but it requires some kind of special skills, for example, I see web designing and quality article writing (by quality I meant something of the highest class and very much in demand of) a very much prolific way of earning on Internet. For the non-skilled or not-so-skilled persons, there are opportunities certainly, as not all sites are fraudulent ones, but those earnings wont generally make your ends meet and youd have to cling on to your day job or business to earn your bread.

Among the opportunities of earning online that is available for the average, attending surveys in a good option, but caution needs to be exercised here as well and Id tell you why as you read on. Many Companies want to know what their buyers or intending buyers perceive about their products and what kind of improvements or ad campaigning would make them leave their competitors behind. To get such feedbacks from a section of the people that relates to their products and businesses they hire market research agencies to provide the data required against the required cost for the service provided. These market research agencies either on their own or in partnership with other small agencies and firms invite people from certain Countries or Worldwide to take voluntary surveys through their respective websites and provide honest and thoughtful answers to the questionnaires related to the products and services of the Company, who is seeking the data, for which they are duly rewarde d. Since the costs of those are about a fraction of what these Companies spent on advertising in various media and is found to be very much informative, so more and more Companies are now engaging agencies and firms to carry out this service, as a result of which new firms and agencies are sprouting almost everyday to jump in this big pool. Since nationals of developed countries have greater purchasing power compared to the lesser-developed or under-developed ones on average, therefore it is quite natural that the cream of these rewards goes to inhabitants of those countries that are much in demand of. I remember about five to six years back there was hardly any site that would give rewards to International members, but now the field has opened up more than those times, yet the largest chunk of the booty goes to the elite club still.

Earlier, when there was no Internet, employees of these market research agencies used to approach people on roads or visit their homes to take surveys and it was not only inconvenient for all, but very much time-consuming as well and completely voluntary and non-rewarding mostly, but Internet seems to have solved this issue for once and all. Now people can attend the questionnaires at their convenient time and place and get rewards for those as well. Here I must add that all sites doesnt pay rewards in cash or cheques in dollars or euros or some other currency, many sites pay their responders through gift vouchers or prepaid gift cards or in some other form that are redeemable on the sites they are meant for, to make online purchases of products available within the price range of the vouchers or prepaid gift cards. On the other hand the Companies are also satisfied with what they are getting against the amount they are paying for such a service. It appears to be a happy-hap py situation for all, but it is far from it. Firstly there are lots of rogue Companies and secondly the middleman, those market research agencies and firms, may turn out to usurp the whole amount received without showing any appreciation for the hapless responder. That is the case and the scam bells start ringing to our peril. But that is not all, as Ive found out these bunch of ruffians has ingenious ways of depriving us. Sadly these crooks has outnumbered the honest guys by some margin and therefore we should be extra-cautious, lest we waste away our valuable online time, which doesnt come for free, for absolutely nothing! Id be discussing some of such bitter experiences I had with these bunch of scum Id like to forget and also of some rare good ones.

Before I start talking about various survey sites Ive worked with Id like to say that here Im talking only about those sites where registration is free of cost. There are lots of other survey sites on the Internet that charge a fee for joining and then promise to give big buck paying surveys, but most of them are scams basically, yet people join them in the lure of money and get scammed eventually. I try to follow a rulebook of Internet, Never pay somebody to get payment. So I dont even want to talk about those sites at all. I will only talk about sites that are free to begin with and their good and bad sides that were revealed to me while working for quite some time with them. Also not every survey site accepts International members, rather the fat paying sites are only meant for responders from U.S.A., U.K., Canada, Australia and some other countries of the European Union. Things have changed much more than it was say five years ago, when there was hardly any site that wou ld accept International members and particularly members from what they call, third World Countries. But now with the booming economies of Countries like India, China and Japan, more and more sites are accepting members from such Countries and International members as well. The sites therefore I would talk about in my article are only those that accepts International members.

A. W. Surveys

I am starting with a known scammer, as it was sadly my first stint with harsh reality on Internet! If you search Google youd find loads of complaints against this particular site. This site uses one of the most warped and wiliest of ways to scam people. Their payout is 75$ and they pay via U.S. Postal Service or paypal or alertpay. It was several years back and I dont remember the exact amount, but I received a few surveys promptly on joining and my account balance quickly jumped onto about 7$ or 8$, I guess. They also had the option of giving 1.25$ per referral. Strangely after the first boom it was a complete lull. No Surveys at all and that was it. I found the same thing happening with some other complaints posted on Internet; I was not alone. It appears that as if you are supposed to add up the remaining amount of the required payout limit with referrals. But even if you add up, dont expect to get paid, as the wicked ways would then start revealing in front of you. There are honest members whose accounts has been deleted just before payout without any prior warning and proper reason, members whose referrals has been rejected as fraudulent signups and their payment denied and many more as such. They pay once in a while though to make their site survive and if you are happen to figure in that exceedingly lucky list of people then only youd get your money, else just forget it! Even some people claim to have complained to the cyber police and other online law enforcing agencies, but this Guy seems to have his connections in the right places. It feels very bad not only to see such a notorious site up and running with lots of traffic, but people even advertising for them in lots of places. We need to ban such sites totally and make them suffer for their misdeeds, but we are hardly united to do so. Thus new chickens appear everyday for slaying and the purloiner gets both the meat and the egg!

Ciao Surveys India

This is one of the two websites that has led me to write this article. If you search for this site on the Google youd find many positive as well as negative reviews, just like any other site, but based on my own bitter experiences I had being an active member of this site Id have to say that this is a SCAM SITE. I will explain clearly in no uncertain terms why I am expressing such extreme views about this particular site. This site gave me the first happiness, the happiness of seeing your account balance growing to the point of payout level and the first heartbreak of being scammed, which Ive got used to by now. It was about one-and-a-half years ago and my memory is starting to fade away, but Id never forget how I completed the surveys answering battery of questions honestly and painstakingly and was scammed in the end! This site is the Indian branch of the renowned Ciao Group that has been in this field of market research for a long time. Today I find that the site has chan ged and now is known as Toluna. Whatever may be the changes Id still doubt about their honesty after my forgettable earlier experiences! This site used to pay and still do pay through Indiatimes Gift Vouchers and not cash, that are redeemable on the Indiatimes Shopping website, within the specified period mentioned in the vouchers. After completing many surveys with them perfectly and being rewarded in my account balance promptly I eventually reached the payout limit one day and requested for a payout. They informed me then that they are processing my Gift Vouchers and itd take a few days to arrive. It arrived rightly after a few days and I went to the Indiatimes shopping site to buy some electronics goods with those vouchers. But during checkout every time I submitted the voucher numbers it was rejected as Invalid! So I contacted their helpdesk to solve my problem. They were prompt in replying and after a few email exchanges they instructed me that since the vouchers were i nvalid I should contact the Ciao Group and they wont be able to do anything about it. It was understandable and I immediately contacted Ciao Surveys India with my problem. After sending innumerable help tickets I didnt get any reply. After the due dates were over the vouchers expired and I left that site feeling totally cheated! After about a month or so came an arrogant reply from them, which basically stated, your complaint has been received and the matter is resolved. But the matter was far from being resolved as far as I was concerned and I was duped of my hard-earned money! I was not very much net savvy then compared to the present and had it happened now Id have posted all over the Internet of how this site scams people and would have lodged complaints in every possible site that takes such complaints. I dont know why they did this to me, as many people seem to have been paid from this site, as per their testimonies posted on several forums that can be viewed by Google search. But based on what I went through, which Ive explained above to the best of my knowledge, Id have to say that this is a scam site, that probably chooses its victims rather than doing it randomly and Id not recommend this site to anyone. Work this site if you might at your own peril.

IndiaSpeaks.Net

This is the other site of the two websites I talked about earlier, which led me to write this piece. This is an Indian market research site that Id best attribute as a rogue one! Id explain here as well the reasons behind my disparaging opinions. Im still a member of this site but I dont attend their surveys anymore, as I am absolutely fed up with them. They have ingenious ways of denying you your due rewards, the one that I talked about in the beginning of this article. Nobody does what they do in the name of producing accurate market data. You do a survey with them, replying every answer the honest possible way and after few days find out that the survey has been rejected for unknown reasons! That can happen once in a while, but when it happens again and again and when you find that everybody else accepts your completed surveys then you are bound to feel cheated of your time and since time is money, so it can be very rightly termed money as well. And what more, if you ask them the reasons behind the rejections, even after sending numerous emails you wont get a single reply from them, as was the case with me. They will only send you invitations to new surveys to torment you further! If Id been screened out early, Id have accepted it as it is natural that I may not tally with the target group for whom the survey was primarily meant, but rejecting honestly answered and duly completed surveys one after another, time and again is unacceptable. I attempted so many surveys on their site or their partners sites; they accepted probably one and rejected many completed surveys. I feel like slapping these people upside down for their utterly abhorrent and snobbish misdemeanour. Once I thought that Id bear with these rascals for a while till I reach the payout level and then withdraw the Gift vouchers, through which they make their payment and then forget this site for once and all, but Im unable to bear this torment, so Ive decided to kick away this site . Ive worked with many other survey sites and whether you believe it or not, nobody has rejected a single one of my duly completed surveys except this site. So what else should I make of this bunch of disgusting people except feeling indignant about the treatment meted out to me! Here also I find that many people got paid from them; I guess they had been in one of their primary target groups to begin with and secondly they took it in their stride probably, but here is where we make huge mistakes, we need to teach these scoundrels some lesson, so that they dont treat people like a bunch of beggars waiting eagerly to suffice with their sympathetic pittance when they feel like doing so! I repeat what I said about the earlier site, you work here at your own peril!

Corp Scan

This survey site is owned by the Corp Scan Group, which provides various solutions to the Companies of diverse sectors, including market research, project management, costing and valuation, etc. This site pays in cash and gifts as well and I believe does it honestly, from the look of things and more good news is that it does electronic transfers to your bank accounts in India if you provide the required codes like the MICR/IFSC codes and so far I havent seen any genuine complaints against them. I think electronic transfer is the best option, but there is the option of paypal as well for redeeming payments. For respective completed surveys they reward points; one point is equal to 20 INR and the rewarding of points generally vary from 3 to 20 and once you have accumulated 50 points, you can request for redemption from the available options. Though the more points you can accumulate the lesser would be the processing time for payments, according to the information provided on the site; for example, if you want to redeem more than 400 points, then the processing period will be one week, whereas when you want to redeem 50 points, itd take four weeks of processing time. So larger is the amount of redemption, lesser would be the time required for the money to reach you. They also maintain a passbook of every member and you can allocate part of your rewards to be redeemed as cash and the rest as gifts, that would be delivered to your home or office; so this site has several options as far as payment is concerned and Ive to admit that the options are one of the best! But there are problems with them of a different kind. All the surveys in their survey panel are not for Indians, there are surveys that target lots of other countries and some are for Indians with specified target groups. They do not have surveys for everybody, at least a few ones like most sites do. Their main target are people with some kind of technical or professional knowledge, like I T, Management, etc. or people from big cities possessing affluent items like cars, smartphones, airconditioners, etc. I wonder sometimes why would those affluent people take such surveys for a few thousand bucks a month, when they tread on lakhs and crores of rupees, but later I thought may be the stay-at-home-moms find this as a good source of earning a little more pocket money, else I cant see why this section of people would take such surveys. They have also surveys for teenagers and students, which I believe would really help them in supplementing their educational expenses. Since I dont figure in any of the above target groups I mentioned above I am yet to complete a survey with them; every time I attempt some survey I am screened out early. Well that is understandable and Id say it is much better than being scammed. Apart from the main target groups they have some surveys though for consumers of various items and I suppose Id figure in some of them some day and eventua lly be able to complete some surveys and then get payment from them. If you feel that you are one of those target groups then certainly you can try out this site and get regular payments from them as well, at least you can try as it costs nothing and this is certainly a good and reliable survey site for sure.

My View Survey

This survey site is a funny kind of site; Id better call it an unreliable site. There are reasons behind making this statement. They reward their responders with what they term as My View Points or MVPs. You get several hundred MVPs for duly completed and approved surveys and when those points stack up to a certain limit then you can exchange them for VISA Prepaid Gift Cards, which can used to make purchases at millions of Visa merchants Worldwide or you can make charitable donations exchanging those points and even get subscription to a magazine as well. They have three kind of VISA Prepaid Gift Cards presently: 25$, 75$ and 100$. As far as I can remember and also from the information that is available on Google searches they used to pay previously through Paypal, but now theyve altered their payment structure. Ive not reached the payout limit, so I dont know if it works or not, but Ive read of complaints where people have stated that they have not got their VISA Prepaid Gi ft Cards even when they had enough redeemable points and had applied for the same. But I must also add that there are lots of positive feedbacks as well, so what is amiss, if there at all is anything I can only find out once I reach the payout level for a particular option. They have good things as well though, as they say that they reward points even for screened out surveys and that is a very good thing that some survey site considers that Internet time doesnt come for free. Yet from my experiences with this site all I can tell you is that, I was getting regular surveys from them, but when they upgraded or altered their system, from that time whatever surveys I received the survey links were not working at all and would lead to a blank page. Later they send a survey invitation to me that asked questions about why I was not active and I replied in the appropriate reply box that the survey links are not working, but even after that things didnt change. So at the moment I can t give very high marks to this survey site and you can try it out to see how it goes for you.

Global Test Market

This is the best survey siteIve worked with so far and Id definitely recommend this one to everybody whoever wants to earn money doing surveys on Internet.It is one of the oldest survey sites and certainly one of the best. It provides an earning opportunity to responders all around the world, from 49 supported countries, which includes India, Pakistan, Thailand and China, providing them regular surveys and I have found it out to be true by myself. They reward the responders for attending to surveys with Market Points that can be redeemed to cash on reaching payout. Approximately they give about 30 to 80 points per completed survey and when the points tally reaches the 1000 mark then it can be redeemed for cheques in the currencies of the Nation where it is to be sent by mail. I can assure you of this fact, as Ive asked their helpdesk this question and they promptly replied to my query stating that they certainly do. It would require some time though to send a cheque and they say that it takes generally 6 to 8 weeks to reach the cheques to their International members, if the address provided in the profile is correct and accurate. U.S. cheques reach much faster though as is expected. As per their FAQs, 1000 Market Points are redeemable for 50$ cash! What is more rewarding is that this site also rewards you for screened out surveys and reward 5 Market Points for every screened out survey. I myself have earned a lot of points through such screened out surveys and it appears to be quite a good option when you dont count in the main target group. This bit of respect is shown by least of the sites and it is very refreshing to find that they are doing that. Presently I am a little less than 700 Market Points, so I hope to reach the 1000 mark in some months from now and then if I get a cheque mailed to me and then the money eventually deposited in my bank account, then Id give a full thumbs up to this site. Ive searched Google though and like with any site there are good reviews and bad reviews, but the overall impression was that people has got paid from this good survey site and I certainly would like to get paid as well. Also Id like to add that they provide the opportunity of Sweepstakes entries for completion of some particular surveys, if your Country falls in the allowed zone and sadly India doesnt fall in that zone, though China and Japan does, then you can win big prizes ranging from 300$ to 10000$, if you are drawn the winner. So if you want to join this site then you can try this one out, I dont think youd repent; as a matter of fact if you happen to figure in their target group then youd reach the payout limit in much quicker time than I could.

Game Play Surveys

This is a relatively new survey site and I had just joined it a few days ago. But what is good though it pays 5$ as signup bonus and also for completing the profile surveys; that is new to me as no other site has ever paid me for completing profile surveys. The payout is at 25$ and one of the options of redeeming the account balance is through paypal. Though there are other options of redeeming like Amazon Gift Cards and other goodies as mentioned on the homepage, but I found in my account only the paypal option, so maybe those options are not available for responders from India. Being a non-Indian site they have a unique way though of depicting things; they show the account balance and all the invitational survey amounts and profile survey amounts in Indian Rupees as well as USD, it is unique and no other non-Indian survey site shows such details. They generally provide surveys about the online games that many people, especially children and adolescents play and movies that people watch and if you are a game freak, then you have a greater chance of succeeding with this site. They also provide other surveys but that number is much less compared to the games and videos surveys. Since this survey site stresses so much on games it allows minors to be a member and children starting from the age of 14 can participate in attending surveys on this site, but parental consent is required for that. Since this is a relatively new site not much information is available as of now regarding the efficiency of their payments, but I dont think there would be much of a problem in this regard, as first of all you need nothing to join, on the other hand you get 5$ for free and they provide regular surveys that can be seen on your Dashboard on logging in (they say though they send survey invitations, but I havent received any; all the surveys I found were posted on my Dashboard) and by the look of the things they seem to be a good site and most importantly since th eyve started not so long ago, I guess theyd like to win over people first. So if your brother or sister is a kid who likes to play lots of online games, then maybe you can register him or her here and get some good rewards out of it and purchase them a nice gift with that money! My hunch is that this is a good site, so you can surely give it a try; you lose nothing for that anyway.

So these are mainly the survey sites that Id worked with in the past, working at the present and hope to work with some in the future as well. I had showered praises on those sites that deserve every bit of it and used choicest innuendoes for such sites that also deserve every bit of it. At the end Id like to say that the decision of whether to work with a particular survey site or not rests with the individual, as he or she would be benefiting or suffer from the outcome of those hard works done carrying out several surveys and offers made available to them by those sites over a length of time.

Jose Rizal: The Last Renaissance Man

A Renaissance man is a well educated person and one who excels in a wide variety of subjects or fields. There are only 28 men in the history of mankind who are recognized as such and Jose Rizal is the most recent and the last on the line.

If India has Mahatma Gandhi, the Philippines has its own Dr. Jose Rizal, the Philippine National Hero. He is a man of exceptional intelligence and gifted with extraordinary talents. Lets learn more about this amazing person of Malay roots.

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Heres a long list of interesting facts about Jose Rizal.

1.) Rizal was a Filipino nationalist and one of the few recognized Renaissance men in the world.

2.) Documented studies show him to be a polymath with the ability to master various skills and subjects.

3.) This Renaissance man was an ophthalmologist, novelist, sculptor, painter, educator, farmer, historian, playwright and journalist.

4.) Besides poetry and creative writing, he dabbled, with varying degrees of expertise, in architecture, cartography, economics, ethnology, anthropology, sociology, dramatics, martial arts, fencing and pistol shooting.

5.) This polymaths complete name is Jose Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda. He was born on June 19, 1861 in Calamba, Laguna, Philippines.

6.) Jose Rizal was executed by firing squad on December 30, 1896 in Bagumbayan, Manila. Bagumbayan is now known as Luneta or Rizal Park.

7.) The anniversary of his death is commemorated as a Philippine holiday known as Rizals Day.

8.) This Renaissance man was the most prominent advocate for reforms in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era.

9.) Rizals 1896 military trial and execution made him a martyr of the Philippine Revolution.

10.) At age two (2), this polymath can already read and write. Jose Rizal was the seventh of eleven children born to a wealthy family in Calamba, Laguna.

11.) He finished is Bachelor of Arts at Ateneo Municipal de Manila.

12.) Rizal enrolled in Medicine and Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas or UST - the oldest university in the Philippines and one of the oldest in the world.

13.) He completed his degree of Licentiate in Medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid in Spain.

14.) Rizal also studied at the University of Paris in France and earned his second doctorate at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

15.) This great Asian Renaissance man was a polyglot conversant in at least twenty languages.

16.) This Filipino polymath was a prolific poet, essayist, diarist, correspondent, and novelist.

17.) This Renaissance mans most famous novels are Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo - social commentaries that inspired Filipinos to achieved freedom.

18.) Jose Rizal founded the La Liga Filipina, a civic organization that subsequently gave birth to the Katipunan led by Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto.

19.) Like Gandhi, Rizal was a proponent of institutional reforms by peaceful means rather than by violent revolution.

20.) Rizals father is Francisco Engracio Rizal Mercado y Alejandro (18181898) and his mother is Teodora Morales Alonzo Realonda y Quintos (18261911).

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Rizal's Monument at Rizla Park

21.) Rizals siblings were Saturnina (Neneng) (18501913), Paciano (18511930), Narcisa (Sisa) (18521939), Olympia (Ypia) (18551887), Lucia (18571919), Mara (Biang) (18591945), Concepcion (18621865), Josefa (Panggoy) (18651945), Trinidad (18681951) and Soledad (Concha) (18701929).

22.) Rizal was a 5th-generation patrilineal descendant of Domingo Lam-co, a Chinese immigrant entrepreneur who sailed to the Philippines from Jinjiang, Guangzhou in the mid-17th century.

23.) Lam-co married Inez de la Rosa, a Sangley native of Luzon. To free his descendants from the Sino phobic animosity of the Spanish authorities, Lam-co changed the surname to the Spanish Mercado (market) to indicate their Chinese merchant roots.

24.) In 1849, Governor-General Narciso Claveria ordered all native families in the Philippines to choose new surnames from a list of Spanish family names.

25.) Joses father Francisco adopted the surname Rizal (originally Ricial, the green of young growth or green fields), which was suggested to him by a provincial governor.

26.) Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, Jos dropped the last three names that make up his full name, at the advice of his brother, Paciano Rizal Mercado, and the Rizal Mercado family, thus rendering his name as "Jos Protasio Rizal".

27.) Aside from Chinese ancestry, recent genealogical research has found that Jos had traces of Spanish and Japanese ancestry.

28.) His maternal great-great-grandfather was Eugenio Ursua, a descendant of Japanese settlers, who married a Filipina named Benigna.

29.) Rajah Lakandula of Tondo is also regarded as ancestor of Rizal.

30.) This Renaissance man first studied under the tutelage of Justiniano Aquino Cruz in Bian, Laguna. He graduated as one of the nine students in his class declared sobresaliente or outstanding in Ateneo.

31.) He continued studying at Ateneo Municipal de Manila and obtained a land surveyor and assessors degree, and at the same time at the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters where he studied Philosophy and Letters.

32.) Rizal studied medicine specializing in ophthalmology at the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery but did not complete the program claiming discrimination made by the Spanish Dominican friars against the native students.

33.) In Berlin he was inducted as a member of the Berlin Ethnological Society and the Berlin Anthropological Society under the patronage of the famous pathologist Rudolf Virchow.

34.) He left Heidelberg a poem. A las flores del Heidelberg is a poem wrote for Heidelberg, Germany.

35.) At age 25, Rizal completed in 1887 his eye specialization under the renowned professor, Otto Becker in Heidelberg.

36.) A small version of Rizal Park with Rizals Bronze statue was built in Wilhelmsfeld, Germany. The street where Rizal lived was also renamed after him.

37.) A sandstone fountain also stands in Pastor Ullmers house garden where Rizal lived in Wilhelmsfeld.

38.) This Renaissance man from the Philippines was also a Freemason, joining Acacia Lodge No. 9 during his time in Spain and becoming a Master Mason in 1884.

39.) This Filipino polymaths life is one of the most documented of the 19th century due to the vast and extensive records written by and about him.

40.) During December, 1891 to June, 1892, Dr. Jos Rizal lived with his family in Number 2 of Rednaxela Terrace, 5 D'Aguilar Street, Central district, Hong Kong Island. This house was also used as his ophthalmologist clinic from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

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Tomb of Rizal

41.) Nine women with romantic involvement to Rizal were identified, they were:

42.) This Filipino Renaissance mans most famous works were his two novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. Noli was published in Berlin (1887) and Fili in Ghent (1891).

43.) He sculpted the Triumph of Science over Death and gave the sculpture to Ferdinand Blumentritt, his bestfriend. He made this sculpture for the sake of Filipino women to show how Filipino women were abused by the Spaniards.

44.) Rizal's first critic was Ferdinand Blumentritt, a Czech professor and historian whose first reaction was of misgiving. Blumentritt was the grandson of the Imperial Treasurer at Vienna in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and a staunch defender of the Catholic faith.

45.) This Asian polymath formed La Liga Filipina in 1892, a civic movement advocated for social reforms through legal means. It was disbanded by the governor-general.

46.) Rizals mother, with the approval of the Church prelates, and without a hearing, was ordered to prison in Santa Cruz, Laguna in 1871.

47.) Her mother was made to walk the 16km from Calamba. She was released after two-and-a-half years of appeals to the highest court.

48.) Rizal was implicated in the activities of the nascent rebellion and in July 1892, was deported to Dapitan in Zamboanga, a peninsula of Mindanao.

49.) In Dapitan, Rizal built a school, a hospital and a water supply system, and taught and engaged in farming and horticulture.

50.) One Muslim student of Rizal in Dapitan became a Datu, and another, Jos Aseniero became Governor of Zamboanga.

51.) Mi Retiro was a poem wrote by Rizal as a gift to his mother on her birth anniversary.

52.) Near the end of his exile he met and courted the stepdaughter of a patient, an Irishwoman named Josephine Bracken. He was unable to obtain an ecclesiastical marriage because he would not return to Catholicism and was not known to be clearly against revolution.

53.) Though Rizal and Josephine were not married, he considered her to be his wife and the only person mentioned in the poem, Farewell.

54.) Rizal volunteered to serve in Cuba to minister to victims of yellow fever. Rizal was arrested en route to Cuba, imprisoned in Barcelona, and sent back to Manila to stand trial.

55.) Rizal was tried before a court-martial for rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy. He was convicted on all three charges and sentenced to death.

56.) Blanco (Governor-General of the Philippines during those times), who was sympathetic to Rizal, had been forced out of office, and the friars had intercalated Camilo de Polavieja in his stead, sealing Rizal's fate.

57.) His poem Mi Ultimo Adios or Farewell (Huling Paalam) was hidden in an alcohol stove and later handed to his family.

58.) Exhumation of Rizals remains in August, 1898 revealed he had been un-coffined. His burial was not on sanctified ground.

59.) In his letter to his family he wrote: "Treat our aged parents as you would wish to be treated...Love them greatly in memory of me...December 30, 1896."

60.) In his final letter, to Blumentritt - Tomorrow at 7, I shall be shot; but I am innocent of the crime of rebellion. I am going to die with a tranquil conscience.

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Josephine Bracken

61.) Rizal had reassured Blumentrit that he had not turned revolutionary as he once considered being, and that he shared his ideals to the very end.

62.) He also bequeathed a book personally bound by him in Dapitan to his 'best and dearest friend.' When Blumentritt received it in his hometown Litomerice he broke down and wept.

63.) Moments before his execution by a firing squad of native infantry of the Spanish Army, backed by an insurance force of Spanish troops, the Spanish surgeon general requested to take his pulse; it was normal.

64.) This Asian Renaissance mans last words were those of Jesus Christ: "consummatum est",--it is finished.

65.) Rizal was secretly buried in Paco Cemetery in Manila with no identification on his grave.

66.) His sister Narcisa toured all possible gravesites and found freshly turned earth at the cemetery with guards posted at the gate. Assuming this could be the most likely spot, there never having any ground burials, and she made a gift to the caretaker to mark the site "RPJ", Rizal's initials in reverse.

67.) The monument of Rizal in Rizal Park, Manila was designed by the Swiss Richard Kissling, the creator of the famed William Tell sculpture.

68.) The statue carries the inscription "I want to show to those who deprive people the right to love of country, that when we know how to sacrifice ourselves for our duties and convictions, death does not matter if one dies for those one loves for his country and for others dear to him."

69.) After Rizals execution, Josephine Bracken joined the revolutionary forces in Cavite and helped operate a reloading jig for Mauser cartridges at the arsenal at Imus.

70.) Josephine married another Filipino, Vicente Abad, a mestizo acting as agent for the Philippine firm of Tabacalera. She died in Hong Kong in 1902 of tuberculosis, buried in an unknown grave, and never knew how a line of verse had rendered her immortal.

71.) In the Noli he stated that if European civilization had nothing better to offer, colonialism in Asia was doomed.

72.) Such was recognized by Gandhi who regarded him as a forerunner in the cause of freedom.

73.) Jawaharlal Nehru, in his prison letters to his daughter Indira, acknowledged Rizal's significant contributions in the Asian freedom movement.

74.) Monuments in his honor were erected in Madrid, Spain; Wilhelmsfeld, Germany; Jinjiang, Fujian, China; Chicago, Cherry Hill Township, San Diego, Seattle, U.S.A.; Mexico City, Mexico; Lima, Peru; Litomerice, Czech Republic; and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

75.) Several titles were bestowed on him: "the First Filipino", "Greatest Man of the Brown Race," among others.

76.) The Order of the Knights of Rizal, a civic and patriotic organization, boasts of dozens of chapters all over the globe.

77.) There are some remote-area religious sects who claim this great polymath as a sublimation of Christ.

78.) A two-sided marker bearing a painting of Rizal by Fabian dela Rosa on one side and a bronze bust relief of him by Philippine artist Guillermo Tolentino stands at the Asian Civilizations Museum Green. This marks his visits to Singapore (1882, 1887, 1891 and1896).

79.) A Rizal bronze bust was erected at La Molina district, Lima, Peru, designed by Czech sculptor Hanstroff, mounted atop a pedestal base with 4 inaugural plaque markers with the following inscription on one: Dr. Jos P. Rizal, Hroe Nacional de Filipinas, Nacionalista, Reformador Political, Escritor, Lingistica y Poeta, 1861-1896

80.) The cinematic depiction of Rizal's literary works won two film industry awards more than a century after his birth. In the 10th FAMAS Awards, he was honored in the Best Story category for Gerardo de Len's adaptation of his book Noli me Tangere.

Image Source

Rizal's Execution

81.) The recognition was repeated the following year with his movie version of El Filibusterismo, making him the only person to win back-to-back FAMAS Awards posthumously.

82.) Noli and Fili novels were translated into opera by the composer-librettist Felipe Padilla de Len: Noli me Tangere in 1957 and El Filibusterismo in 1970; and his 1939 overture, Mariang Makiling, was inspired by Rizal's tale of the same name.

83.) Several films were produced narrating Rizal's life. The most successful was Jose Rizal, produced by GMA Films and released in 1998. Cesar Montano played the title role.

84.) The film "Rizal sa Dapitan" produced by Viva Films starred by Albert Martnez as Rizal and Amanda Page as Josephine Bracken was the top grosser of the 1997 Manila Film Festival and won the best actor and actress trophies.

85.) A documentary called "Bayaning Third World" directed by Mike de Leon and starring Joel Torre was released in 2000.

86.) This Renaissance man also appeared in the 1999 video game Medal of Honor as a secret character in multiplayer, alongside other historical figures such as William Shakespeare and Winston Churchill.

87.) Rizal and Josephine Bracken lived together in Dapitan. Josephine bore a stillborn child with Rizal, Francisco Rizal y Bracken, who was buried in Dapitan, Mindanao.

88.) USS Rizal (DD174) was a Wickes class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I. She was named for the Filipino polymath - Jose Rizal, the Philippine national hero.

89.) A province, numerous municipalities, barangays, streets, schools and other institutions were named Rizal in honor of this great Filipino Renaissance man and polymath.

90.) Articles and statements stating that Mao Zedong of China and Adolf Hitler of Germany were illegitimate sons of Rizal were pointless and baseless.

See also

Choose San German, Puerto Rico, For Your Next Vacation

San German, Puerto Rico, was one of the first settlements on the island after the discovery of the New World by Columbus. It was attacked many times by the Taino natives, the French and the British, until the Spanish authorities decided to combine the two settlements of San German and Santa Maria de Guadianilla into one city. The official name of the city was Neuva Villa de Salamanca, but the residents continued to call it San German and so the name stuck.

There are plenty of accommodations to choose from when you decide to make this city your Caribbean vacation destination. Whether you want to stay in a hotel or a parador, you will have all the amenities of home at your fingertips. Plus, you can enjoy the ocean playground just outside your door and warm temperatures throughout the year. The best time to visit it during the winter months because this is when the weather is at its best. Other times of the year bring hurricanes and the rains of the rainy season.

Although you can immerse yourself in the culture of the island at any time, the best time for this is to visit when the carnivals and festivals take place. July is the month when you can take part in the Patron Celebrations and the Festival de la Pana. In September, San German celebrates the Anon Festival, but the most elaborate one of all is the Christmas Festival in December.

Take a walk back in time by visiting the historic district of the city. There are many homes here built in the Victorian style of architecture. Take a tour of the vaulted brick sewer system that dates back to 1835 and still is in excellent working order.

Porta Coeli, a convent church built by the Dominican Order is one of the oldest churches in the Western Hemisphere. This church is also the location for the Museum of Religious Art with paintings and relics dating back to the 17thand 18thcenturies. Another popular tourist attraction is that of San German de Auxerrre, a church that straddles two plazas. It was originally built in the 16thcentury but was restored following damages it sustained in an earthquake in 1737.

You certainly wont be hungry in San German with the extensive collection of restaurants that it boasts. You do have to sample the churrasco offered on the menu of Mikes Steak House, an institution in the city because it has been in operation for three decades. Whatever cuisine you crave, you will find it here.

Travel destinations: Santiago, Chile

The capital of Chile, Santiago is a city which is lively and offers a wide variety of attractions for its tourists. With artsy cafe culture, chic suburbs, and a pulsating nightlife, Santiago is a city worth visiting for your next vacations. Apart from a wide variety of attractions in this magnificent city, the main heart of all attractions is the extravagant Andes mountain ranges which are the second highest mountain range of the world.

The best time to visit Santiago, Chile is between the months of September to April. During these months, the weather is perfect with consistent pleasant milder temperatures that allows to you fully explore this metropolitan city. Though this city also offers a number of festivals around the year which can also be visited during your stay. The Feria de Libro or the book festival, takes places in early November. Another popular festival leading up to the Easter is the holy festival of Semana Santa.

Santiago is a city that can be easily visited and linked with flights from many major cities across theSouth America, as well as United States cities such asNew York, Los Angeles, and Miami.

The epicenter of the city of Santiago, Chile is El Centro. This is the place where major public buildings from the colonial era, as well as shopping malls are situated, all around the Plaza de Armas. Santiago has extravagant shopping. From modern boutique shops to trendy designer outlets, all can be found in Santiago and can be experienced during your trip. Popular in Santiago are the craft markets that can be found all over the city, where you can find exceptional pottery and jewelry. However the largest selection of craft is available at Dominican monastery in Las Condes.

Visit to Santiago is incomplete without a visit to a wide selection of museum all over the city. These museums are full of pieces from the pre-Colombian civilization. The National History Museum shows the ancient history of the unique geographic regions of the Andes. This museum is located in the old Royal Customs House that was built in 1805. A day tour to any of the museums of Santiago allows the visitors to explore fully the political as well as the socialist history of the regime of the General Pinochet.

Another attraction is the stunning, green gardens interspersed within the city. However most famous among the many is the Parque Metropolitano, having a botanical garden, pools, and an art museum.

Also exceptional is the experience of dining in Santiago. This city offers a wide variety of caf and restaurants serving scrumptious cuisine from all over the world.

Strangest Buildings Ever Built

Elbe Philharmonic, Germany, Hamburg Whats really freakish here is the contrast between the new buildinga liquidity-looking glass thingamajigand the old building it uses for its podium: a stolid, workaday 1960s waterfront warehouse. This odd couple, united by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron and scheduled for completion in 2012, will be a new cultural complex for Hamburgs harbor, featuring a public plaza on the old warehouse roof, a hotel, some apartments, and a wildly biomorphic philharmonic hall.

Odd Trend: This new building atop old building thing is a bonafide trend. See: New Yorks Hearst Tower by Foster + Partners.

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Fuji Television Building, Tokyo, japan It resembles something created with an Erector Set, but this buildingwhich took three years to complete and serves as the head office for Fuji TVisnt childs play. It was designed to be sturdy enough to call itself earthquake-proof. Studio toursthere are 10 studios in this officeare offered for about $5 (for adults) and grant visitors access to the 1,200-ton sphere on top, which houses an observation deck.

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The Bar Code Building, St. Petersburg, Russia Near the banks of the Neva River, this trade complex by Vitruvius & Sons transforms the worlds most ubiquitous symbol of commercethe bar codeinto a powerful architectural motif. It can be read as an update of American-style roadside classics like the giant Dixie Cup water tower of Lexington, KY, or Detroits giant Uniroyal Tire. The rust-red steel building brightens an otherwise bleak urban setting.

Strange Trend: Theres also a Barcode House by the Dutch architecture firm MVRDV on the outskirts of Munich, but its much more subtle.

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Bioscleave House, N.Y., East Hampton, Husband and wife artists Arakawa and Madeline Gins designed this intentionally unsettling house in 2008. With its bumpy, hilly floors and a wildly asymmetrical planeven the electrical outlets are at weird anglesits supposed to stimulate the immune systems of its occupants by keeping them from ever becoming comfortable. This relentless tentativeness, the artists believe, is the key to immortality.

Embrace the Strange: This house can be yours. Its currently offered by Sothebys Realty for $4 million.

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Ramot Polin Apartments, Jerusalem Polish-born architect Zvi Heckers experiment in multi-unit residential construction is not as well known as the Habitat housing Moshe Safdie designed for Expo 67 in Montreal, but at 720 units is much larger. It was also an exercise in using prefabricated components, at least in the first two of its five phases. With its crazy pentagonal design, the Ramot Polin Apartments resemble a housing project for honeybees.

Behind the Scenes: This highly unorthodox complex was commissioned by the Israeli ministry of housing specifically for highly orthodox Jewish families.

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Columbus Lighthouse, Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, Under construction for some 40 years, and inaugurated in time for the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbuss initial landing in the New World (which was not on Hispaniola, but in the Bahamas), this monstrously spooky concrete monument, half a mile long and 688 feet tall, reputedly cost the impoverished nation some $70 million to build. The lighthouse contains what are purported to be the explorers bones.

Weird Wiring: When the lighthouse projects a cross-shaped beam into the night sky, its so bright that not only can it be seen in Puerto Rico, but it drains electrical power from surrounding neighborhoods. Its not turned on very often.

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Oriental Pearl TV Tower, China, Shanghai Nothing else on earth quite looks like the Oriental Pearl. It was once the tallest structure on the Pudong side of Shanghais Huangpu River until it was overshadowed by the Shanghai World Financial Center in 2007. Designed by Jiang Huan Cheng of the Shanghai Modern Architectural Design Co. and completed in 1995, it stands 1,535 feet tall and is easily the worlds greatest assemblage of habitable disco balls (11!), housing several sightseeing observatories, a revolving restaurant, and a space hotel.

Tall Tale: Both Shanghai towers have recently been dwarfed by the 2,001-foot-tall Guangzhou TV and Sightseeing Tower.

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Spittelau District Heating Plant, Austria Highly eccentric painter and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser, fond of bright colors, crooked lines, and overall visual cacophony, designed this garbage-burning heating plant on the Donau Canal to look like Viennas answer to the Magic Kingdom. With its crazy quilt faade, decorative columns topped with gold balls, and a pollution-scrubbing smokestack, it suggests a mirage rather than a working piece of urban infrastructure.

Odd Couple: There are two of these oddities. The Maishima Incineration Plant in Osaka, Japan, is an exact replica.

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The Atomium, Brussels A 1958 Worlds Fair leftover, the Atomium is far more eccentric than the 1964 Unisphere in New York or the 1962 Space Needle in Seattle. Conceived by an engineer, Andr Waterkeyn, it is a gigantic replica of an iron crystal molecule and was intended to symbolize the peaceful use of atomic energy for scientific purposes. Five of its nine spheres are accessible to visitors, as is its maze of interconnecting tubes.

Quirky Quote: According to the Atomium website: The completely steel-clad Atomium is a kind of UFO in the cultural history of Humanity, a mirror turned simultaneously towards the past and the future, comparing our Utopias of yesterday with our dreams for tomorrow.

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Kansas City Public Library, The south wall of the librarys parking garage resembles a bookshelf that would dwarf anything lining the walls of the 50-Foot-Tall Womans house: each book is around 25 feet tall and nine feet wide. It was constructed as an homage to 22 favorite literary titles, chosen by patrons of the library (then, of course, approved by the board of trustees).

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Container City II, UK There have since been many copycats, but this colorful addition to the original container city (the first modular live/work structure of its kind when it was built in 2001) at Trinity Buoy Wharf in Londons Docklands stands out as an example of sustainable architecture (80 percent of the combined building is created from recycled shipping containers and other materials). Completed in 2002, its ziggurat shape and brightly colored exteriors, not surprisingly, have attracted many artists, who live and work here today.

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House Attack, Vienna At first glance, the base of the MUMOK (Museum Moderner Kunst) is an unimpressive-looking stone slab, but look up and youll see the strange factor. Designed by artist Erwin Wurm, the installation piece is a sculpture of a one-family house that symbolizes the everyday, privacy, as well as small-mindedness.

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Edificio Mirador, Madrid Designed by Dutch architecture firm MVRDVknown for its unusual and striking constructionthis residential building, set in the northeast part of Madrid, was designed as a frame for the distant landscape, but more resembles a Borg spaceship. Oh, and that open middle section? It also serves as an outdoor meeting area for residents to take in the unobstructed views.

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Museum of Contemporary Art, Rio de Janeiro Fret not! Even though this building strongly resembles a flying saucereven more eerily true when its lit up at nightRio has not been occupied by aliens, but rather by the design prowess of Oscar Niemeyer. After making their way up the winding red path to the entrance, visitors can enjoy views of Guanabara Bay, Sugarloaf Mountain, and the surrounding cityscapealong with museum exhibitions.

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Druzhba Holiday Center, Yalta, Ukraine Overlooking a popular beach in the faded Soviet resort town of Yalta, this hotelbuilt in 1984 by Ukrainian architect Igor Vasilevskymay lack an imaginative name, but its hulking cylindrical mass is unmissable. Guests enter the property via a catwalk bridge surrounded by glass; inside the complex, which is supported by giant cement legs, a series of staircases and elevators connect public spaces and accommodationsmany of which have panoramic views of the Black Sea.

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Solar Furnace, Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via, France The ancient Egyptians and Greeks may have figured out how to harness the power of the sun using glass, but the solar scientists working in this sun-bathed town in the Pyrenees Mountains have perfected the process. The worlds largest solar furnace, on the exterior of this curious undulating building, uses some 10,000 mirrors to focus the rays and then bounce them off a gigantic concave mirror to produce temperatures above 5,430 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Cube Houses, Rotterdam, Netherlands Known locally as Kubuswoningen, these attached Piet Blomdesigned residences on Overblaak Street were unveiled in 1984 to oows and awws. The architect tilted the traditional house structure, a cube, some 45 degrees, placing it on a hexagon-shaped pylon; all the walls and windows are angled at 54.7 degrees, and each apartment is about 900 square feet, but only 225 square feet of that is usable space.

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Lloyds Building, London Also called the Inside-Out Building, the controversial headquarters of venerable Lloyds insurance at One Lime Street has doubled as a tourist attraction since its completion in 1986 (it even has a gift shop). The towering steel-and-glass-framed building was conceived by Richard Rogers (of Pompidou Centre fame), who wanted to place all mechanicals, elevators, etc. on the buildings exteriormuch to the amusement of passersby.

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Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, Canada This crossword puzzle checked box appears, at a distance, to be hovering Close Encountersstyle above an otherwise mundane Toronto neighborhood. As you approach, its improbability only increases. British architect Will Alsop planted this collection of galleries and studio spaces on brightly colored columns so insouciantly angled and skinny that they barely look like they can support themselves.

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Selfridges Department Store, Birmingham, England The Birmingham branch of Selfridges is a billowy mattress of a building, clad in 15,000 shimmery aluminum discs like that famous Paco Rabanne dress. It was designed by Future Systemsthe name tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the firmto be a landmark and a catalyst for the revitalization of a largely moribund city center. An ersatz urban cliff, a giant sea anemone, a friendly, blob-like alien, the mother of all magic mushrooms, wrote Guardian architecture critic Jonathan Glancey. This is the department store as unalloyed architectural entertainment.

Step Inside: The interior, with floaty white escalators crisscrossing in an open atrium, looks like a scene from Fritz Langs Metropolis.

Shakira (Isabel Mebarak Ripoll)

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born February 2, 1977), known professionally as Shakira is a Colombiansinger, songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer, and philanthropist who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s. Born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia, Shakira revealed many of her talents in school as a live performer, demonstrating her vocal ability with rock and roll, Latin and Middle Eastern influences with her own original twist on belly dancing. Shakira is a native Spanish speaker and also speaks fluentEnglish and Portuguese and is proficient in Italian.

After commercial flops with local producers on her first two albums, and being little-known outside Colombia, Shakira decided to produce her own brand of music. In 1995 she released Pies Descalzos, which brought her great fame in Latin America and Spain, and her 1998 album Dnde Estn los Ladrones? was a critical success. Since then she has gained many fans in semi-Hispanophone countries, and many non-Spanish-speaking countries, especially the United States. In 2001, aided by the extreme popularity of the music video for "Whenever, Wherever", she broke through into the English-speaking world with the release of Laundry Service, which sold over 13 million copies worldwide. Four years later, Shakira released two album projects called Fijacin Oral Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation Vol. 2. Both reinforced her success, particularly with the best selling song of the 2000s, "Hips Don't Lie".

She has won two Grammy Awards, seven Latin Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Latin Music Awards and has been Golden Globe-nominated. She is also the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, and the second most successful female Latin singer after Gloria Estefan, having sold over 60 million albums worldwide according to Sony Music. Her U.S. album sales stand at 9.6 million.

Additionally, she is the only artist from South America to reach the number-one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the Australian ARIA chart, and the UK Singles Chart. Shakira is to be given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as well. In the fall of 2009, Shakira released her sixth album She Wolf worldwide. Shakira was ranked the 76th artist of the 2000-10 artist of the decade by Billboard.

Shakira's "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)", was chosen as the official song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, along with its Spanish language version, titled "Waka Waka (Esto es frica)". The song has received generally positive critical reception, and has become a worldwide smash hit, selling more than 4 million copies worldwide, becoming the biggest selling World Cup song of all time. On YouTube, the English version of the music video is the fourth most watched video, and third most watched music video of all time with over 215 million views. Her seventh studio album, the bilingual Sale el Sol, was released October 19, 2010.

Shakira is Roman Catholic. Shakira currently lives in The Bahamas. In 2000, she started dating Antonio de la Ra, a romance that made headline news throughout Latin America. In March 2001, he proposed to her. There have been many rumours regarding the couple over the years. In June 2010, Latin American media speculated that the couple had finally split up. On the previous days, Shakira and Antonio were seen in a restaurant in New York City, facing and denying the rumours one more time. Shakira's future mother-in-law Ins Pertin claimed the wedding would take place in September 2010 in the mansion which Shakira owns in the Dominican Republic, but the wedding did not happen. She also said that Shakira has already ordered Argentine designer Mara Pryor to design her wedding dress. All this was denied by Shakira herself in Mexico.

Antonio de la Rua and Shakira remain engaged. A Twitter update from her on September 4, 2009 stated (translated from the Spanish) "We are neither married nor fighting [contrary to rumours]. We are very together and very good. 9 years!" Shakira has stated their relationship already works as a married couple, and that "they don't need papers for that."

Shakira is interested in world history and frequently studies the history and languages of the countries she visits. After her Oral Fixation tour ended in summer 2007, Shakira attended a class in Los Angeles at UCLA, on the History of Western Civilization. She used her middle and last names, Isabel Mebarak, and told the professor she was visiting from Colombia so as to avoid being recognized as a celebrity. Shakira is a cousin of model and 20052006 Miss Colombia, Valerie Domnguez.

Holiday Food Poisoning

Holiday food poisoning is no joke and not only can it ruin your trip, but it can also leave you out of pocket and facing expensive medical bills. If you are staying in a hotel which is part of a package tour and you suspect your illness is linked to poor standards of hygiene at the resort, you can make a claim with a regulated personal injury solicitor when you return to the UK.

Never eat food in a holiday hotel which is undercooked, particularly chicken or pork and, if you are staying in an all-inclusive hotel, ensure that food is cooked fresh, kept covered and at the correct temperatures. Salads should be kept on ice when served and hot food should always be piping hot.

Holiday barbecues can also cause food poisoning if meats such as chicken and burgers are not cooked thoroughly.

If you are worried about the standards of hygiene at your holiday hotel, you should complain to the hotel management and the holiday tour rep. If you make a written complaint keep a copy of anything you sign which will help you claim compensation when you return to the UK. If other holiday makers have been taken ill with similar symptoms to yours, take their contact details which, again, could prove useful if you plan to take action against the tour operator.

All tour operators have a responsibility not to expose holidaymakers to Salmonella food poisoning or E-coli in Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, the Dominican Republic, Spain or at any destination throughout the world and if you have suffered illness because of the negligence of the tour operator or the hotel then you are well within your rights to make a claim.

Whether you have suffered mild symptoms of holiday illness or serious vomiting and diarrhea, you should seek urgent medical help as Salmonella and E-coli can cause serious illness if they go untreated. Dehydration is one of the biggest dangers of food poisoning and, if you lose more fluids than you can replace, you may need hospital treatment and an intravenous drip to rehydrate you.

Children, pregnant women, older people and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to suffer serious effects of Salmonella, E-coli and other food poisoning. You should make sure you are seen by a doctor as soon as possible. It is also worth a check up with your GP on return to the UK to make sure you are no longer carrying the illness, even if you no longer have symptoms.

Food handlers in particular are at risk of passing on Salmonella to clients and colleagues if they are not clear of the disease before they return to work.

Contact a regulated personal injury solicitor with experience of dealing with holiday illness compensation claims and one who works on a no win, no fee basis to help you claim the compensation you deserve.

Ideal Honeymoon Destinations

Top Honeymoon Destinations for 2010

1. Dubai, United Arab Emirates

If you want to spend sometime in luxury then Dubai is the best place to be. You will be greeted to a cosmopolitan lifestyle and lavish hotels to put up. Stay at the much talked about Burj Al Arab which is "sail -shaped". Apart from a famous architectural landmark the hotel is provides you high quality service. Pamper yourself with the relaxing spas, message parlors, fine dining and guided city tours.

2. Bahamas Islands

Bahamas Islands have a way of their own to weave a fairytale element in your honeymoon. Bahamas, with 700 islands ranks as one of the best island honeymoon destinations for 2010. The honeymoon package trips are reasonably priced. You are going to enjoy your stay with the Calypso music, coral reefs, Bahamian Goombay, historical background and an active nightlife. The setting with sands and sun is idyllic.

3. New York

Have you always dreamed about the perfect "movie-like" setting for your honeymoon with a romantic boat on lake? If yes, then New York is the place for to be. The place has a metropolitan charm about it. Create you own Hollywood movie scene atop the Empire State Building. Both of you can try skating in the Central Park and visit the Brooklyn Bridge.

4. Venice

Known for the romantic Gondola rides, Venice offers you several honeymoon spots and attractions. Whether you visit the beautiful architectural buildings or skim the Venetian Canal, you will love your stay in Venice. It is also well known for sumptuous cuisines and "candle light" dinner.

5. Paris

Here comes the city of love and romance. Paris is rated as the most preferred honeymoon destinations for 2010. You can spend some lone time together by taking the river cruises, visiting the small villages in Ile Saint Louis, taking a trip to the Eiffel Tower and take some really romantic photographs as Torcadero.

6. Botswana

Looking for a Safari holiday for your honeymoon? Botswana is the place to visit. The wildlife here is in abundance and undisturbed. Camping is something that most newlyweds take part in. There are various locations that you can choose for the same. You can choose from luxury and exciting camps like Vumbura Plains Camp, Mombo Camp, and Jao Camp in the Okavango Delta

7. Dominican Republic

For the ones searching for a blend of romance and adventure in your honeymoon, Dominican Republic is the answer to your question. The Saona Islands offer you a dream like romantic setting with its clear blue lagoons. You can visit the Indigenous Eyes Ecological Park together. If you love shopping, then indulge yourself completely in a shopping expedition in the Palma Real Shopping Center. The hotels and resorts offer spa, and wellness treatments to the honeymoon couples.

Tourist Attractions in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Tourists flock to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic to relax at one of the large resorts and take in the sun, the beach and the calm waters. Although you may want to do nothing but sit by the side of the pool for the first few days, once you get your strength back, you really do need to see what other things this Caribbean location has to offer to visitors.

Puerto Plata is the site of the oldest fort built in the New World by the Spanish Fort San Felipe. This fort dates back to 1564. It took 33 years to complete the construction with walls that are 6.5 feet thick. The Spanish had sharpened swords around the top to prevent invaders from climbing over the walls. The doors are also shorter than normal at 3.5 feet in height. This fort lay in ruins for some time until it was restored in the early 1970s. Today it is one of the most popular attractions of the area.

For the best panoramic view of the countryside, you just have to visit the Isabel de Torres observation tower. At the top you are over 2500 feet above sea level. A cable car will take you to the top a trip of only ten minutes. There are 3 hectares of botanical gardens at the top. It is best if you check at the front desk of your hotel to make sure the cable car is running before you head out to this attraction.

Rare amber specimens are on display at the Museum of Dominican Amber. This museum is located near Central Park in Puerto Plata and is open from Monday to Friday from 8 to 6 and on Saturday from 9 to 5. Guided tours are available in English.

Another main tourist attraction in Puerto Plata is the shopping destinations. Just next to the Museum of Dominican Amber you will find a dense collection of boutiques. There are about 80 stores in the Plaza Turisol Complex, which is the largest shopping mall on the northern coast of the island. However, if you are looking for handmade crafts to take back home with you, the best shopping destination for these products would be Playa Dorado Plaza where you will find about 80 shops specializing in these items.

Puerto Plata has become the vacation mecca for many tourists from Canada and the United States looking to escape the cold winter climate for a short period of time. As such, the town is geared up for tourists during this peak season, but the attractions and shopping venues are open all year long.

How to Plan a Puerto Rico Vacation

Decide where on the island you would like to stay. Most tourists visit the San Juan area. Yet, there are many places to visit around the island. There are three airports to choose from: International Airport Luis Munoz Marin(SJU) in San Juan, Ponce's Aeropuerto de Mercedita(PSE) on the South, or Aquadilla Aeropuerto Rafael Hernandez(BQN) on the northwest side.

Decide where to stay. This will depend on your budget. I was able to take a 10 day trip for 2 for less than $1,000 by staying with relatives and friends. There are about 18 Paradores or Inns around the island. There are rental cottages or guesthouses too. If your budget permits you can always find a Sheraton, Hampton Inn or Hilton.

Rent a car. Public transportation isn't very good. If you want to tour the island this is the best way to go. Caution, islanders are traffic bullies. Some streets you think are meant for one car but are actually a two way street. It's a very interesting experience specially in the San Juan area. Signs at times will not be seen until you get to them for tree branches cover them.

There are many things to do so I will list a few things at the bottom in the section tips to your article.

If you like Whale Watching. Vikins Starship 300 passenger vessel with Reservations will take you for $25 adults $12 children. From January to Mid April 10am-5pm.

Places to go:

Best vacation destinations of Caribbean

Anguilla

Anguilla in the Caribbean is a top vacation destination in the Caribbean, as this quiet island has no dearth of white sandy beaches. This top vacation destination possesses a wide range of luxury resorts, villas, apartment hotels, condos and beach clubs to spend top vacations here.

As one of the top vacation destinations in the Caribbean, Anguilla possesses 33 picture-perfect beaches as boat racing is famous at this top vacation destination, and the island is a host to countless regattas. This Caribbean island also proffers opportunities for sailing and cruising, and sunset cocktail cruises, picnics both on board as well as ashore, snorkeling trips and that of excursions to experience the exotic sand cay restaurants are some of the itineraries that delights the vacationer at this island.

Diving and snorkeling thrives at this top vacation destination, and this vacation destination is also known for the spas, restaurants and luxurious hotels, and this cuisine capital pertaining to the Caribbean delivers diverse gastronomic delights to receive a nod of approval from even the gourmands. The gourmet eateries, bars and the beachfront bistros at the island provide novel dining experiences. There are fishing charters available at the island which take the vacationer to some of the best fishing spots that can be found in the Caribbean. This top vacation destination in the Caribbean is a wonderful choice that renews your spirits, mind and body.

Aruba

The Caribbean island of Aruba is a paradise for the beach-lover as these sun drenched beaches, warm tropical breezes and the perfect weather makes this top vacation destination in the Caribbean an idyllic choice for the vacationer to enjoy his Caribbean vacations. This vacation destination has all that a vacationer needs to relax during his Caribbean vacation, as the fantastic weather experienced all through the year facilitates windsurfing, scuba diving, snorkeling, hiking and horse riding all through the year, and the vacationer is also proffered with opportunities to tee off.

The nocturnal fun at this top vacation destination in the Caribbean gets enhanced by means of the Vegas-style shows and casinos, and dancing excitement at the island takes the vacationer by surprise. The restaurants at this Caribbean vacation destination are second to none in providing scrumptious cuisine, as the inveterate shopper also finds the shopping experience at Oranjestad, the capital, to be a rich experience. Surfboarding can be staged to perfection at this top vacation destination in the Caribbean.

Barbados

The Caribbean island of Barbados provides a friendly and a warm welcome and this top vacation destination in the Caribbean is just a charming and natural destination to spend your top vacations. The white sandy beaches, attractive climate of sunshine and sea breeze all round the year and the botanical gardens are few of the features that lure scores of vacationers to this top vacation destination. Options galore in the form of surfing, swimming, snorkeling or relaxing under the sun on the powdery and white sandy beaches, as this top vacation destination in the Caribbean also proffers opportunities to take a submarine tour, cruising on that of a catamaran as well as to explore the natural wonders pertaining to Harrisons Cave.

Duty-free shopping at Bridgetown is a novel experience at this top vacation destination. The gardens and the heritage homes, star-lit dinners and to be a spectator watching live cricket matches are some of the other possibilities that this Caribbean island offers. The many types of clubs and bars further your excitement during your best vacation time at this top vacation destination.

Curacao

Curacao, tropical paradise in the Caribbean hosts Willemstad, a vibrant city, which provides the idyllic alternative to that of a beach vacation in the form of cultural attractions and varied choices of places to eat and shop. This top vacation destination possesses many restaurants, high-end retailers and night spots to add value to your Caribbean vacation. Snorkeling and diving thrives at the island as the many beaches and the dive spots belonging to this Caribbean islands lures scores of tourists from across Europe and America to spend their Caribbean vacations.

Curacao, as one of the top vacation destinations in the Caribbean is known for the crystal clear waters, friendly locals and the clean, glittering beaches. This top vacation destination with sunny and warm climate all through the year encompasses ruggedly beautiful landscape as the fun diversions also are available at this Caribbean vacation destination in various forms. Vacationers can enjoy enlivening biking, hiking and ATV tours, as relaxing on the secluded beaches is also an option that this top vacation destination proffers, and working on your tan is made easy as vacationers neednt hunt for spots. This island with many interesting possibilities and it promises an enchanting Caribbean vacation.

Know more about snorkeling at Curacao and other destinations in the Caribbean by accessing /articles/195159_best-snorkeling-in-caribbean

Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic plays the role of an enthralling Caribbean vacation destination to perfection as the many resort towns like Boca Chica, Puerto Plata and la Romana provides opportunities to get soaked in the warmth of splendorous beaches and offers explorative possibilities through the reefs and the sunken galleons that are found offshore. This Caribbean vacation destination with picture-perfect beaches also proffers top vacations through the wide range of resorts and hotels, as that fits the purse strings of various kinds of vacationers.

This Caribbean island also is a party-loving island as the many carnivals, festivals and parties stand testimony to the claim, and the two carnivals at Santo Domingo features floats, parades, live music as well as street dancing.

This top vacation destination in the Caribbean with Victorian gingerbread houses, lush interior with caves provides perfect weather conditions to spend top vacations and is also reckoned as a family-friendly vacation destination. The cable car that provides a ride up on Mount Isabel de Torres to drink in spectacular delights offered by Saona Island is a unique experience. This preferred, top vacation destination in the Caribbean is an idyllic spot for honeymoons, as experienced divers are known to make merry at this vacation destination.

Jamaica

Jamaica is another of the jewel in the Caribbean crown as this top vacation destination in the Caribbean lives up to expectations of various sorts. This Caribbean island is a grand destination for honeymoons, family vacations and sabbaticals. The beaches are as varying as the Doctors Cove Beach found at Montego Bay to the renowned 7-mile beach in Negril, and Jamaica also unveils varied landscapes with the rivers, waterfalls, streams and the springs enhancing the beauty of this top vacation destination, and youll be hard-pressed for time as activities in the form of waterfall climbing, river rafting and horseback riding vie with the vacationers time as well as energy. Thats not all, as this gorgeous Caribbean island proffers shopping, river rafting and fishing opportunities to glorify Caribbean vacations.

This top vacation destination also proffers opportunities to be a part of regaling events, as the Reggae Sunfest, carnivals pertaining to Kingston and other places are some of the popular events of this Caribbean island. The tasty Caribbean cuisine as well as the seafood provides a virtual treat to your taste buds. The friendly warmth of the Jamaicans and most importantly the reggae music, steel drums and the dancing are reason enough to elevate this top vacation destination in the Caribbean to be looked upon as one of the most-sought vacation destinations in the Caribbean.

Read more about Caribbean beaches at /articles/192598_the-best-beaches-of-caribbean-caribbeans-top-beaches

US Virgin Islands

A vacation paradise in the making, US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean proffers smorgasbord of opportunities to enjoy your Caribbean vacations. The islands of St John, St Thomas and St Croix have plenty of hotels, resorts, condos and villa rentals to aid your stay during the vacations, as the US Virgin Islands offers cherishing moments of sun and fun. Deep sea fishing, chartering a boat, teeing off on a golf course provides samples of an adventurous vacation at this Caribbean vacation destination.

St Thomas is a top vacation destination to drink in the spectacular panorama, as the best of beaches in the form of Magens Bay Beach and the festive shopping complex of Mountain Top adds charm to your top vacations at the island. The Paradise Point is another attraction and you can also come by quaint guesthouses, watering holes, premiere hotels and restaurants that dish out international cuisine at this vacation destination, as you can even opt to visit the bowling center and the marine park.

St Croix is second to none in being recognized as one of the top vacation destination in the Caribbean as you can plan your sightseeing tours, cocktail cruise, twilight sail or that of Buck island cookout at the island. The Estate St. George Botanical Gardens, Cramer Park and the Buck Island Reef offer further explorative stints as when you plan to spend your Caribbean vacations at this island. The island of St. John with the many trails as that of Lind Point Trail, Francis Bay Trail and the Cinnamon Loop Trail keeps you occupied during your Caribbean vacations.

St. Kitts

As an exotically beautiful island, this top vacation destination in the Caribbean is a tropical paradise as St. Kitts is palpably luxuriant and the invigorating blend of sea, sunlight and air makes your Caribbean vacation lively and enticing at the island. The natural beauty, warm waters, sunny skies and the white sandy beaches make St. Kitts a seductive destination to spend heartwarming Caribbean vacations. As a top vacation destination, the island provides opportunities for scuba diving expeditions and boating tours, as nature lovers can grab their share of fun through tours exploring seaside lagoons, tropical forest areas and lava formations. The charming shopping areas and the colonial architecture at the island lure many tourists to pay a visit, and this alluring Caribbean island promises a quiet vacation as when you set out to spend a sedate Caribbean vacation.

St. Lucia

St. Lucia is a fabulous Caribbean vacation destination that strikes a chord with honeymooners and families as when they visit this Caribbean island to embark upon their top vacation. As one of the top vacation destination in the Caribbean, this small island offers relaxing opportunities in the form of sunbathing on that of the golden sand beaches, getting soaked in thermal baths and vacationers can also look to spend active moments through windsurfing, dormant volcano climbing and in paying a visit to the colonial villages. The walk taken between sulphur springs pertaining to volcanic Mt. Soufrire is a unique experience, and the Friday nights at this vacation destination proffer opportunities to enjoy seafood dinners and outdoor dancing. This Caribbean island with plenty of accommodation facilities proffers good family vacations.

Vacationers get spoilt for choice, as snorkeling, diving, yachting, hiking, wind surfing and trial riding galore at this top vacation destination, and relaxing at a spa or having a massage at full-service facilities that are world-class are other options that a vacationer might come across as when he is spending vacations at this top vacation destination. The pristine beaches, dramatic countryside, international cuisine, all-inclusive resorts makes the island a revered Caribbean vacation destination, and the vacationing shoppers can find the Casteries, a good hangout, as it possesses duty-free stores and even that of a bustling market that is hundred years old.

British Virgin Islands

The idyllic British Virgin Islands is a top vacation destination in the Caribbean as diving, sailing, fishing and getting soaked up in the sun on that of picture-perfect beaches add charm to the Caribbean vacations at this destination. There are no bustling shopping endeavors, glittery nightlife and it is all about experiencing quiet family vacations at these islands. Diverse outlets await you at the British Virgin Islands as Tortola possesses white sandy beaches, rum distilleries and lush green mountains, Virgin Gorda unveils underwater caverns and Jost van Dyke, sporting a laid-back atmosphere, proffers scintillating island time with the swim-up bars, where the delicious rum concoctions provide a unique experience.

The serene beaches of the British Virgin Islands are hailed as best cruising spots found in the Caribbean and this top vacation destination also proffers unparalleled snorkeling and diving experiences. You can choose to stay at a private island, luxurious resort, hotel, villa, and spend relaxing days under the palm trees found on the pristine beaches, savor the exotic Caribbean cruise, swim in the luxurious turquoise waters, and experience romantic evenings by getting glued to the stunning island sunsets. You are sure to come back from this Caribbean vacation destination with renewed energy and vigor.

To glean more information on diving at the British Virgin Islands and in the Caribbean destination, refer /articles/184361_the-best-dive-sites-of-caribbean

St. Thomas

The Caribbean vacation destinations swell further in the form of St. Thomas, as this Caribbean island is known for the gorgeous beaches as well as for duty-free shopping. The calm waters of this Caribbean island are a perfect companion for diving, snorkeling and windsurfing. Charlotte Amalie, the capital city, proffers a rich experience as you can shop for clothing, jewelry and handmade wares, with the street vendors and the gift shops catering to your shopping needs. At this top vacation destination, Coral World Park proffers opportunities to enjoy a banana daiquiri, touching marine life, and drinking down the panoramic spectacles at the Mountain Top enriches your top vacation time at the Caribbean island. As while you embark upon a vacation at this top vacation destination, options further galore in the form of a ferry ride to that of Cruz Bay, open-air safari riding to that of the underwater snorkeling trail found at Trunk Bay, a guided tour to explore St. Thomas and sp ending relaxing sessions on the white sandy beaches of the island.

Trinidad and Tobago

The natural wonders of the islands have elevated Trinidad and Tobago into a strong contender to be looked upon as one of the top vacation destinations in the Caribbean. This vacation destination that proffers opportunities to soak up the glorious sun on a secluded beach, breathtaking vistas from palm-bordered beaches, as snorkeling possibilities enchant the vacationer during his Caribbean vacations. Your vacationing scope at the islands get broadened by a visit to botanical garden, a wildlife sanctuary, zoo or that of a natural reserve, and the intrepid of the vacationers do have the option of exploring the captivating caves at this vacation destination. For gambling fun, the gambling clubs, hotel casinos provide opportunities to exhibit your prowess at blackjack, play slots and even to roll the dice. These sister islands are a paradise of opportunities as the vacationer soon discovers the secret behind the captivating charm of these Caribbean vacation destinations.

STAR, ITS partner to offer payroll cards - Finance - Banking

Enid, Okla. - Employers all across Indiana will soon have the option of offering the convenience of an ITS Visa Payroll Card to their employees because of a recent agreement between Interactive Transaction Services and STAR Financial Bank.

The agreement allows ITS to issue and process FDIC-insured Visa Payroll Cards for STAR, headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The bank holds assets of $1.7 billion and operates 46 banking centers throughout the state. ITS is a transaction processing subsidiary of Central National Bank.

"Payroll cards are convenient for our business customers, who no longer have to issue paper checks. They can reduce payroll processing costs and potential check fraud," said Jim Marcuccilli, President and CEO of STAR Financial Bank.

Payroll cards have become an effective mechanism for serving individuals who are typically unbanked and underserved by the financial world. STAR's entrance into the payroll card market makes it the newest bank to be served by ITS.

"Payroll cards allow us to reach out to workers within the communities we serve who may not otherwise need a bank," said Marcuccilli.

"Community banks all across the country are being proactive in their methods to enter the prepaid space," said Brud Baker, president and CEO of Central National Bank. "With the ITS Visa Payroll Card, they can brand the card as their own and begin offering it immediately while earning revenue."

"Financial institutions realize the value of having a cost-effective and turn-key solution to recommend to their commercial accounts," Baker said. "All the bank has to do is market the cards. We handle everything else, from compliance to collection, distribution, settlement, and other complex operational requirements."

The Visa Payroll Card offered by ITS has many features that make it unique, including a built-in remittance capability that allow cardholders to send money to family members in Mexico and 13 other Latin American and Caribbean countries at a price of $6. This is far less than the national average. ITS will also begin offering Bill Pay and Mobile Banking to cardholders. It is these features that make it particularly attractive in STAR's area.

"STAR's footprint consists of both urban and rural areas across east central and northeast Indiana. This diverse market area encompasses local residents, immigrants and migrant workers who don't have a bank account. Instead of having to use expensive check cashing services, they can now use their payroll card which functions just like a debit card, allowing them to make purchases and pay bills. Funds can also be withdrawn using an ATM," said Marcuccilli.

About Interactive Transaction ServicesAs subsidiary of the Central National Bank of Enid, Interactive Transaction Services was established to provide marketing, sales, delivery, and processing services for the prepaid card products of CNB. This model will work for banks, credit unions, and savings banks. For more information about any of the ITS products, contact Jerry Baskin at or by phone at (918)254-0099.

About Central National BankCentral National Bank of Enid is an FDIC-insured financial institution headquartered in Oklahoma and is held by Central Services Corporation. There are eight branch locations throughout the state. The bank reported assets of $518 million as of June 30, 2009. CNB has been providing electronic services to other financial institutions for over 20 years and issuing and processing prepaid cards since 2002.

STAR contact information:Trois HartSenior Vice President Marketing and Strategic PlanningSTAR Financial Bank(260) 479-2548

About STAR Headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, STAR Financial Bank holds assets of $1.7 billion. It operates 46 banking centers throughout Indiana, including the communities of Anderson, Angola, Carmel, Churubusco, Columbia City, Elwood, Fishers, Fort Wayne, Gas City, Gaston, Greenfield, Hamilton, Indianapolis, Kokomo, Marion, Muncie, New Castle, Noblesville, Pendleton, Shirley, South Whitley, Tipton and Upland. The bank's parent company, STAR Financial Group, provides professional services in insurance, trust and wealth management. For more information about all of STAR's services, visit the company's web site at

Can I get a U.S. visa for my foreign fiancee or spouse without the help of an attorney?

If you are a U.S. citizen who married an offshore spouse, it is imperative that he/she gets a U.S. spouse visa. There are two ways by which you can go about the U.S. fianc(e) visa application process. You can either file the U.S. spouse visa application with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on your own, or you can decide to obtain professional help from an immigrant visa attorney or a representative who is accredited and comes from an authentic organization.

The entire process of applying for a U.S. fianc(e) visa is very complex. It requires an accurate legal paperwork and mistakes can cost a lot to your spouse. Unlike other legal paper works, mistakes in a U.S. spouse visa application cannot be rectified and might even result in your spouse having to leave the United States. Therefore, many woul d suggest you to approach a visa attorney to avoid such disastrous mistakes. But, before narrowing down on an immigrant visa attorney, there are many issues to be taken care of, so that you and your spouse do not become victims of fraudulent activities.

The immigrant visa attorney you hire will have to complete a NOTICE OF ENTRY OF APPEARANCE AS ATTORNEY OR REPRESENTATIVE (Form G-28) and file it with your spouse application for a U.S. fianc(e) visa. Following this process, only your visa attorney will be contacted by the USCIS.
If you decide to seek guidance from an immigrant visa attorney, you should verify whether they are approved to legally represent your spouse before the USCIS. This visa attorney must be a member of the bar of a U.S. State and not under any court order that confines their practice of law. This immigrant visa attorney will have to select the first block in the Form G-28 and should present withal vital information with respect to their admission to practice. An easy way to verify the authenticity of the immigrant visa attorney is to ask him/her to produce the current attorney licensing document. You should then make a note of the number and communicate with the State Bar admission authorities to check whether the license is authentic. Any visa attorney who is lawfully admitted, should have no problem disclosing this information to you, because the State Bar practice rules allows the disclosure of this information to clients. If you are unable to contact the State Bar admi ssion authorities, you can verify the license through the States Bar website. Only after verifying the authenticity of your attorney, should you hire the visa attorney for the application of US fianc(e) visa application process.

To prevent any further frauds your spouse should not sign blank applications, petitions, incomprehensible documents, or documents that provide false statements or wrong information. Also, you should get copies of all documents prepared or submitted and must not make any payment to the visa attorney without obtaining a receipt. If you prefer to employ an attorney to help you in the visa process, you also have to pay their fee.

But, it is not always mandatory to have an attorney to help you U.S. fianc(e) visa application process. You can very well do it on your own, provided you understand the requirements and guidelines correctly. If you cannot afford exorbitant attorney fees and feel it is better to acquire a U.S. spouse vis a on your own, you can get help online. There are many websites that offer online guidance on how to obtain U.S. fianc(e) visa at affordable rates. One such website is USAMarriageVisas.com, which has come out with an e-book that provides information on how to fill up a U.S. spouse visa application form and how to go about the entire process without committing any mistake.

The bottom line is that you can get a U.S. spouse visa for your foreign fiance or spouse without acquiring the help of an immigrant visa attorney. The e-book from USAMarriageVisas.com will help you in the application of U.S. fianc(e) visa and will surely make things easier for you.

Factors to be considered before selecting a green card lawyer

The success and failure of your green card marriage case totally depends upon the green card lawyer. An experienced and professional lawyer can make your application successful. Following factors should be considered before selecting a lawyer.

If you are applying for a green card marriage case, it is important for you to consider all the immigration laws and citizenship laws. Every green card marriage case differs from other in involved risk and uniqueness. It is a better idea for you to choose a good lawyer at the initial stage of the process. A good green card lawyer can make your application successful and can show you a right path for future. As he is experienced and professional in that field and have all the knowledge of laws regarding immigration, he can make a correct judgment of your application. As he is responsible for the success or failure of your application, following points should be considered before selecting a green card lawyer.

Good reputation: A reputed lawyer can make a correct judgment about your application. It is better to select an experienced lawyer in stead of a new lawyer. You can take the help of local people or news paper for that purpose.

Cooperative and open communication: Your lawyer should be cooperative and helpful towards you. He should answer the entire preliminary question and should discuss with your spouse freely regarding green card marriage process. Some lawyers are very cooperative and comfortable to work with while some are not.

Green card marriage experience: If you are going to select a lawyer for the entire process you can select an experienced lawyer as he knows all the laws regarding green card marriage. As he has handled a lot of green card application, he knows how to complete the whole process effectively.

Member of AILA: The green card lawyer should be a member of American immigration lawyers association. As immigration law includes a huge amount of rules and regulations, the lawyer should be professional in that field. He should have all the knowledge about immigration laws.

Fees of the lawyer: If you belong to a middle class family, you can search a good lawyer in your locality, which can provide qualitative service in an affordable price. You should discuss the fee structure of the lawyer in advance, whether he is charging hourly rate or flat fee rate. The charge varies from lawyer to layer as per their degree of service level.