READ FULL STORY ..By Sandra Grauschopf, About.com Guide
http://contests.about.com/od/improveyourodds/f/bestsweepstakes.htm

Sweepstakes are highly regulated in most countries. In the United States, many states have their own rules for sweepstakes, and a national sweepstakes must comply with each state’s laws. In Canada and other countries, Sweepstakes must be at least nominally a game of skill, to avoid being seen as gambling. Canadian sweepstakes will usually require entrants to solve a mathematical puzzle to enter.

On-line contests are put up by many different types of organizations, from mom and pop businesses to multi-national corporations. Many of these sites are on dedicated servers that are professionally managed while others are on free-site systems where thousands of sites are on the same server.

Most sweepstakes can be entered by mailing a postcard with your name and address to the specified location. Some contests require you to hand print your postcard. This is designed to stop automated entries. Other sweepstakes do not care and you can easily enter through various automated means. Other contests allow entry vie their website, which can be even more convenient.

There are countless world wide contests that have all kinds of prizes which may be won at some point. The cash sweepstake is a money lottery that may take place in an audience show or a television contest. There are lots of shops, restaurants, fast foods and several department stores that use a cash sweepstake as an evolvement for business. If someone is dining in one of these specific restaurants or fast foods, that certain individual may be put on a list in order to be drawn lots. The Internet is full of different cash sweepstakes, so any individual can make money online by just simply entering the web sites that have the prizes promotions.

Every day, thousands of Americans receive sweepstakes offers, but not all of them are legitimate. How can you tell the difference between a real sweepstakes and a scam?

Legitimate sweepstakes are fun and free. They specify that no purchase is needed to win and buying a product will not increase your chances of winning–you never have to pay to collect a prize. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), and the Postal Service’s Office of Consumer Advocate are sponsoring this consumer-awareness campaign to point out the characteristics of fraudulent promotions and help limit the number of victims of these scams.

Remember, you do not have to pay to enter a sweepstakes or collect a prize. If you’re asked to pay, the sweepstakes is a scam.

Postal Inspectors suggest you ask yourself these questions to prevent being scammed:

Does the promoter ask for your credit card number, checking account number, bank account information, or other personal account information? A legitimate prize company won’t ask for this to declare you a winner.
Do they ask you to wire money or make a payment in an urgent manner? Do you feel pressure to make a payment within a given time deadline to collect your prize? Take a step back and evaluate the offer. Contact a Postal Inspector to verify that you’re dealing with a legitimate sweepstakes offer.
Does the advertising copy clearly state that no purchase is necessary to win and a purchase will not increase your chances of winning? You never have to pay to play or to collect your prize when the sweepstakes is legitimate.

Some of the most popular places that offer sweepstakes contests on the online survey companies. What they do is instead of offering a cash incentive is offer you one entry into their daily sweepstakes. Usually you get one entry per survey that you take. Your chances of winning these types of surveys are very low however. The reason why is because there are dozens of people signed up with these survey companies. Your chances are better here than with some of the other online surveys. If you happen to be a fan of some of the morning or evening talk shows, you will see that on occasion they do offer sweepstakes. Most of these sweepstakes can be filled out online. The entry forms are on their websites. Keep in mind though that for a talk show sweepstakes, there are going to be a lot more people signing up, and your chances of winning will be slim.

The best and legitimate sweepstakes are the free ones. If they need you to pay a fee that probably means that they do not have the funds to reward the sweepstakes winner.

Derek Pliers is a writer for sweepstakes online.

Article Source: http://www.articlenorth.com

At any given time, there are tens of thousands of prize sweepstakes and giveaways available for people to enter. In order to make the sheer number of competitions more manageable, most sites – including this one – organize those sweepstakes by breaking them down into various categories. Categories let you focus on the sweepstakes that you really want to enter, while avoiding the ones that you can’t, or don’t want, to spend your time combing through.
To help make the various sweepstakes categories easier to understand, we’ll cover some different organization methods and examples of each type of classification. Read about what kinds of sweepstakes you can enter and decide which categories are the most important to you.
http://contests.about.com/od/sweepstakes101/ss/sweepstaketypes.htm

I’ve been having fun with and writing about freebies for over ten years. As you might guess, I have encountered my share of “unbelievers” who take the cynical stance that nothing is free. Here are many of the myths that the skeptics mistake for obvious truths and my considered views on them:
1. There is no free lunch.
This cliché is taken as truth by many people. The statement means you pay for everything one way or another. I will agree that this is technically true most of the time. I try to locate free offers and free services that require very little effort, but every request for free offers or registration for a free service takes some time and some effort as well as giving up some privacy. However, I contend that if you have the time, enjoy doing it, and are careful the “cost” becomes negligible.
2. You can’t get anything worthwhile for free.
I will admit that most free offers are not highly valuable. But then again, once in a while some pretty cool free offers show up. I’ve received free brand-name running shoes, free coffee makers, free software, free computer parts (after rebate), a free DVD player, and more. Even the little freebies are fun and often useful. I never have a shortage of travel size shampoo or toothpaste and I love collecting little trinkets like key rings, Olympic pins, and the like.
3. Registering for freebies is the surest way get spam.
Actually, the surest way to get spam is to have an email address at all. But, seriously, it is easy to avoid getting your main email address on spam lists due to registering for freebies. Never use your main email address for that purpose. When I select free offers to list, I filter out the high risk ones and warn you if they look a little iffy. I suggest having at least two junk email accounts. Use one for low risk offers that need verification and use the other for offers of higher spam risk.
4. A free offer is a free offer – you might as well go for all of them.
Unfortunately, there are many free offers out there that are not worth your time, I do my best to filter those out for you. You can read abut some of the nastier ones in the Scams and Shams section of the site.
5. Everything on the Internet is free.
Some people make the mistake of thinking any graphic or any text the find on the Internet is free for them use as they see fit. Unless the author states that the content is free, it is not. Be a good Net citizen and respect copyrights.
6. Free magazines are too much of a hassle because you have to cancel them.
That may be true of free trial offers, but I list only free full subscriptions. You should always check to make sure the offer has not changed since I listed it. Publishers frequently offer free subscriptions as a way to increase circulation to sell more and higher priced advertisements.
7. All the good free services ended with the dot com bust.
If you remember the days of the dot com boom you may remember all the free phone related services and other cool and valuable free services that were available. It is true that many of the best of these ended as financial reality set in, but there has been a resurgence. Take the Gizmo Project for example – new and interesting free services are popping up all the time.
8. Free software is not as good as purchased applications.
That may have frequently been true at one time, but we are in a new era where open source and other free software has gained much more respect. For example, I use the OpenOffice.org suite in my home office exclusively. Why pay Microsoft $400 for Microsoft Office, when I can get the same functionality and often less bugs for free? I also use countless other free programs for work and recreation.
9. There is no harm in requesting a free offer as many times as I want.
I hate to say it, but there are many people who think this way. Most offers either explicitly state, or imply that you may only make one request per person or household. Being greedy and requesting multiples is not only unfair to others, it is considered fraud and my land you in legal trouble. For more on this subject take a look at this article on Freebies Ethics.
10. If you want legal music you have to pay for it.
This may be true for many current popular artists, but there are tens of thousands of free music selections out there. Before you spend all your money on iTunes, you might want to check out some of these sources of free music

The lure of free stuff is a powerful marketing tool and is used to good effect by many savvy marketers. Unfortunately, not every free stuff offer is what it appears to be. There are lots of great free stuff offers out there, but you need to use some healthy skepticism and resist the temptation to fall for free stuff scams.
Evaluating free stuff offers is pretty easy if you use a little common sense mixed with some knowledge and a bit of experience. Below are some tips to help you avoid the free stuff boondoggles:
Too good to be true – Offers that appear too good to be true are. Examine the motivation for the free offer. A free trial size shampoo makes sense because they are trying to sell shampoo. A free vacation is unlikely, unless there are large hidden charges or other commitments attached.

Ignore unsolicited offers – Just take it as a given that spammers have nothing of value to offer. Variations of the advance fee scam like the email from Nigeria saying they want to use your bank account to get money out of the country are on the rise. Just delete these without giving them a second thought.

Don’t pay for prizes – If you get email or postal mail proclaiming you the winner of a great prize and all you have to do is pay a fee or provide sensitive information to claim it, don’t. It’s a scam and the only winners are the scammers.

Free with shipping and handling – These offers are generally OK as long as the shipping and handling fees are reasonable and you get something of value. $4.95 for a CD-ROM you are interested in is fine, but $4.95 for a cell phone antenna booster (which does not work no matter what they tell you) is a waste of money.

Beware email collection scams – Most of the sites that consist of nothing but a form offering free stuff are there to collect email addresses for spammers. These sometimes have long lists of offers or “newsletters” you can subscribe to. If you are tempted to sign up for these, be sure to use a disposable email address.
Just put these tips together with your own common sense and you can enjoy the legitimate offers and avoid the free stuff scams

The Free Blogging Program

The most popular blogging platform is WordPress. This is a powerful program and also a content management system, know in short as CMS.

A content management system does exactly that. It manages the content of your site. You may well ask why this is so important. The answer is that it makes it so simple for anyone to set up a website, submit content, and then have no need to worry further as the program will manage the content for you storing it up in categories, archives and the like.

Hundreds if not thousands of free plugins are available to enable you to use WordPress powerfully and easily. You will find a great selection of these at wp-plugins-dot-net.

Along with the plugins there are numerous free of charge WordPress templates available many of which can be located at the WordPress-dot-org site under the heading of Themes. Themes are available in every color and design, of two or three columns, which accept widgets, making sidebars easy to modify.

Free HTML Editors

Of all the HTML editors the two most popular free ones are NVUdev-dot-com and Notetab Lite (available at Notetab-dot-com). NVU is comparable to Dreamweaver and even though it might not be as powerful it provides enough power for most of us who just want to create basic websites.

Whether you use NVU, Dreamweaver, or Frontpage, it is highly recommended to have Notetab Lite on your computer. You can use it to edit HTML files. Not only is it quick and easy, but its free.

Graphics Programs for Free

The program that most people find ticks all the boxes is the powerful GIMP. With this program you can edit photographs along with other graphics and it supports the most popular file formats such as GIF, TIFF, PNG, PSD, and JPEG. It works with Windows XP and Vista, Mac, Linus, and Sun. You can view all its attributes at GIMP-dot-org.

Tutorials for HTML, WordPress, NVU, and GIMP

All the above mentioned programs have tutorials to help you. Some of the websites above host tutorials or you can carry out a search for “nvu tutorial,” “gimp tutorial,” or “wordpress tutorial.” A much used HTML tutorial can be found at BoogieJack-dot-com. One of the great things about the Web is all of the free tutorials available. If, however, you prefer a book format there is also a Dummies book for WordPress.

Get Going Today

Even if you are a complete novice, start by setting up a WordPress blog first of all. Its free, its easy and it won’t be long before you are creating your own website using some if not all of these powerful tools which are right here at your fingertips.

Why online gaming is popular
The flexibility and diversity of online gaming are the two important factors make them so popular. It began with individuals must maintain and de-stress themselves in their own convenience in the comfort of their home, in front of their computers. But now, online gaming is no longer a means to entertain him, but is gradually becoming a platform to promote social networking.

Types of games
The Internet offers a variety of games on players from high-level strategic games to simple word games. Here is a non-exhaustive categorization of available games.

Action games: As the term suggests, these types of games, as well as his colleagues film, with a lot of struggle, everything from duels in the air-bombs. These games normally a story of survival or with a mission. The popular in this category include Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Stagnate, Battlefield, and Team Fortress Classic.

Adventure games: How action games, these games, usually have stories. Some are popular Lone Faction; send various stealth games, simulated games, and point-and-click games.

Role-Playing Games: These games are typically multi-player games. The popular include Dungeons & Dragons, World of War craft, City of Heroes, Fallen Earth, Xian, and Urban Dead.

Simulation games: These games are simulations of flights, space ships, submarines, trains, etc. They also simulated combat. Some popular simulation games are War Birds 2004, Air Attack, Astro Battle.

Strategy games: As the name suggests, these games are real-time games, in which a large amount of planning. Some are popular Allegiance, OGame, Earth 2025, King of chaos and warlord.

Racing Games:- These games are vehicle-simulation games. Some of the games are known Speed Devils, Rural Racer Super car racing, Tokyo Extreme Racer and Midnight Club.

Shooter games: They are basically action games, but because of the variety it offers, it is usually as a separate category. Some popular shooter games are Rained X, Metal Slug, and Space Harrier.

Sports Games, Sport game is simulating sports environments and offers pleasant gaming experience. The popular include Madden NFL Football, Tiger Woods Golf, on-line kicks, and super bike X.

Board games and puzzles: Some of the players are more interested in non-simulated, non-action games. Online, computer versions of popular board games appeal to this segment of players. Many games portals and online sites offer several single-and multi-player-player puzzles.

Card games: card games have gained popularity over the Internet as well. Card games such as Solitaire, Rummy, Poker, Blackjack, Bridge, and can now be played online.

Casino games: Online casinos are gaining popularity day by day. However, the online game is restricted by law in some countries, such as it is about money transactions.

Apart from the above, there are also other genres, such as family games, children’s games, arcade games, music, games, programming games, games for adults, educational games, board games, and in die games.

FAMILY EVENTS & NEWS

“United We Stand” art exhibit: Through May 22 at AIT, 421 Maiden Lane. The exhibit is a collaboration with The Fayetteville Art Guild, Pope Air Force Base and Fort Bragg, to include Wounded Warriors. Call 868-9533 or go to http://www.theartscouncil.com.

31 Days of Glory: Special events around Cumberland County are planned for each day in May to honor military members and showcase the region’s military history. For specific events and times, go to http://www.31daysofglory.com

Field of Honor: Hundreds of American flags will go up on the Airborne & Special Operations Museum parade grounds from Saturday to May 25. The 3-by-5-foot flags may be purchased for $25 in honor or memory of someone. For more information: 580-2904 or clubine2@yahoo.com.

4th annual Expo/Safety Day: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Coast Guard Station Oak Island. The American Red Cross, recruiters, law enforcement agencies and other organizations will be in attendance. There also will be helicopter and other equipment on display. Admission is free, but non-perishable food items to the food bank are appreciated. (910) 278-1133, Matt.J.Margelot@uscg.mil, http//safetyday.synthasite.com.

Pet Day: Saturday from 8 a.m to noon at the Fort Bragg Vet Clinic on Reilly

Road. The day includes a pet photo contest, vaccinations, microchipping, military

working dog demo and adoptions to help celebrate National Pet Week. 396-9120.

Confederate Memorial Day: Saturday starting at 10 a.m. with a raising of the Confederate flag at the Columbus County Courthouse. The program will continue at 11 a.m. at the Whiteville Memorial Cemetery and will include Confederate re-enactors and Civil War era weapons. An invocation will be offered by NCSCV CAMP Chaplin the Rev. Russel Long. Todd Collins, of the N.C. 20th re-enactors, will read the names of the Confederate veterans buried in the cemetery and the audience will be asked to call out names of their Confederate ancestors for recognition and honor. Lt. Cmdr. Bill Ghent, of NCSCV Camp 794, will speak in honor of the Confederate veterans. “The Mourning Ladies” will be in attendance, in period dress, and they will place flowers on the graves of the Confederate veterans. A number of dignitaries from the United Daughters of the Confederacy will make brief remarks in honor of the Confederate veterans. The ceremony will end with a Musket Salute, “Taps” will be heard from a distance as the soldiers bow and kneel, and Camp 794’s Chaplin, the Rev. Russell Long, will close the event with the benediction. The event is free to the public due to sponsorship by the North Carolina Sons of Confederate Veterans, Camp 794 of Columbus County. Nearly every family that’s native to the county has a Confederate ancestor in the cemetery.

All American Week: The 82nd Airborne Division will hold scaled-down activities May 18-21 year due to deployments and training demands. There will be no Division Review, which traditionally included a parade. There will be a Division Run on May 18 at 6:30 a.m. at Longstreet Road and Ardennes Street. Regimental events will be May 19 and 20, but details have not been decided. The division and 82nd Airborne Division Association are holding a picnic on Pike Field on May 21 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for paratroopers and veterans and their families.

All American Week events at the the 82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum: The museum will be open May 17 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and May 18 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. On May 19, the museum will host the division’s memorial service at 2 p.m. The museum is on Ardennes Street near the intersection of Grave Street. The museum is free to the public, but donations are welcome. 432-3443.

Living History event: The 82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum will host a living history event May 17 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and May 18 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Visitors will be able to see people dress in World War I, World War II and other uniforms demonstrating how the soldiers lived and worked. The event will be in front of the museum. The museum is on Fort Bragg on Ardennes Street. 432-3443.

Free child developmental screenings for birth to 5: May 20 at the Casablanca Neighborhood Center and May 21 at the Hammond Hills Neighborhood Center. By appointment only, the screenings help parents determine if a child’s growth and development are appropriate for his or her age. Held by Educational and Developmental Intervention Services and the Fort Bragg Schools. For an appointment, call 907-7048 or 907-3347.

Laptops for Flat Tops essay contest: The essay contest is sponsored by AllAmericanDirect.com. The company will award families every other month through 2009. Each family will receive a laptop with embedded Web cam for the home and a second Web cam for their deployed family member. Families must submit a 400-word essay that explains why they deserve to win and how a laptop can improve their lives and communication with their loved one serving oversees. Families must be able to verify the military enlistment. To submit an entry, go to allamericandirect.com /military Submissions must be received by e-mail by Friday. Winners will be notified by May 18. Families who don’t win the first contest may submit a new essay for each bimonthly contest through the year’s end.

Dragon Lanes closing for renovations: Dragon Lanes will be closed for renovations until about October or November. It will receive a complete facelift, new layout and new restaurant. Airborne Lanes will extend operating hours during the renovation. 432-6899.

SPECIAL EVENTS & NEWS
4th Wing Fighter Wing speech: Dr. Roy W. Heidicker will speak about the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base during World War II today at 7 p.m. The event will be held at the Wayne County Museum, 116 N. William St., Goldsboro. (919) 734-5723.

“Oldest Living Confederate Widow: Her Confession”: The play will be performed Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. by actress Jane Holding on the grounds of the historic Shaw House in Southern Pines. Character Lucille Marsden tells the truth about her long marriage to a war-haunted veteran. Cost is $20 and tickets may be purchased by calling 692-2051. Live music from the Civil War era will start at 6 p.m.

Veterans, record your history: Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Raleigh Elks Lodge 735, 5538 Lead Mine Road. The “Veterans History Day Celebration” is co-sponsored with the National Veterans History Archival Institute, offering each veteran an opportunity to record military histories from all the wars of our country. Both active and reserve duty veterans are encouraged to attend during Veterans Open Houses. Veterans’ families are encouraged to witness the recording sessions, hosted by trained Elk interviewers. A copy of the DVD will be forwarded to the families at no cost. A copy of the completed DVD is also forwarded to the Library of Congress and the NVHAI for permanent retention. Veterans who have maintained copies and complementary awards and citations, such as letters, diaries, maps. photographs, and home movies of the experiences are also welcome. To sign up for an interview time, e-mail dmilidonis@aol. com or call (919) 449-5440.

VA center hosts Asian Pacific Islander observance: The Veterans Affairs Medical Center will host the event May 16 at noon at in the Geriatrics Park of the center, at 2300 Ramsey St. The event includes martial arts exhibitions, a fire dance troupe and food samplings from the Asian Pacific culture. Minh Courtney is the mistress of ceremony. For information, call 822-7923.

65th anniversary of D-Day gathering: The National D-Day Memorial is inviting all D-Day veterans to gather at the memorial in Bedford, Va. in June. Admission to the memorial is free on June 6, but reservations by veterans are requested. A commemoration ceremony will start at 11 a.m., featuring wreath-laying, recognition of D-Day veterans, USO shows, displays, book-signings by D-Day authors and a nighttime illumination of the memorial with thousands of luminaries. Contact the foundation at (800) 351-3329 or e-mail dday@dday.org. For full details, go to http://www.dday.org.

Sports, tickets & recreation

Home run derby: Friday at 6 p.m. at Pike Field.

Boss golf tournament: Friday at 9 a.m. at Stryker Golf Course.

Fitness Fest: Friday from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Tolson. The Fort Bragg Fitness Department has new offerings related to health, fitness and wellness. The Fitness Fest is free and open to all valid ID card holders and includes prizes and giveaways. 432-6493.

Ongoing
Insurance settlement: Members of the military may be entitled to compensation stemming from a 2006 multi-state settlement agreement over improper life insurance sales practices targeting servicemen and women. Investigation officials involved claim that companies targeted young recruits and misled them into believing they were buying an investment product, when in fact they were buying a term life policy coupled with a side fund. State Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin suggests any servicemember who purchased a Horizon Life insurance policy from 2000 to 2006 should go online to see if he or she is due money from the settlement. To see who qualifies, go to http://www.ncdoi.com under the Consumer Services Division or call (800) 546-5664.

Fort Bragg Blood Donor Center needs donors: All blood types are needed and used for military locally and around the world. The center is in Bldg. 8-2809 on Knox Street. Walk-ins are welcome from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. 396-9925, 396-9895, http://www.militaryblood.dod.com.

Signing up is very simple, easy and free. It only takes few minutes to complete the signing up process. Only your basic information is required to sign up, like your name, email address, you have to choose a user name and a password for your sweepstakes account. Once you register you can log on and choose from over 6000 listings available. Sweepstakes entry is unlimited and you can participate in many contests simultaneously.
You can enter into many instant sweeps and win fabulous prizes daily. There are links and details on the websites of the sweeps or contests expiring soon. Make sure you participate or grab opportunities in these listings first. There are different categories of contests based on the sweeps such as, sweepstakes and giveaways, daily, weekly, instant sweeps, online freebies, and so on.

You can browse the website further to check for the latest news and tips to get luckier. There are many winners featured on the websites. You can read about their experience and get to know what they won. There are many travel related sweepstakes as well. You can enjoy 3 day 2 night stay at luxurious 5 star hotels and resorts. You can also win free passes to concerts and shows. Meeting celebrities is always a dream come true, isn t it? Sweepstakes make these dreams come true because you can meet your favorite celebrities and enjoy a lunch or dinner with them.

Sweepstakes can make someone rich in a day. Imagine winning a sweepstakes cash offer worth $10000, or imagine winning an apartment in sweepstakes clearinghouse contest. You can get lucky any time any minute. All you have to do is log on to your sweepstakes account, choose from the listings of various contests and apply online. Once you participate keep track of the winners list. You never know you might be the next lucky winner. You can win a car, a house, or even a fabulous holiday package or trip round the world with your family.

Sweepstakes are always free promotions and offers. You do not have to pay to enter a sweepstakes contest. If you are asked to pay a certain amount to participate in sweepstakes, make thorough enquiries of that particular site. There are many sites, which are also scams. Online sweepstakes are also filled with scams and frauds. Make sure you only go to reputed sweepstakes websites and register properly. You can get lucky everyday. The chances of someone winning is certain however, who will be the lucky winner is never known until the contest results are displayed. Sweepstakes is a good opportunity to start dreaming that someday you might be the lucky one to win a prize worth millions. To find the best sweepstakes online visit Sweepsadvantage.com.

Kenneth Carlos is author of this article on Sweepstakes.
Find more information about Online sweepstakes here.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com