Recorded Statement vs Written Declaration

The recorded statement is not an easy replacement of the signed written declaration. It has its own techniques and advantages and disadvantages. The following is a list of some of the advantages and disadvantages of a recorded statement as compared to a written statement:

Advantages of a Recorded Statement

a. The statement is given in the subject's own words and his or her particular accent and phrase usage.

b. The recording will indicate a subject's emphasis and inflections and will give an idea as to whether he or she is forceful and positive or weak and vacillating.

c. Is probably the preferred method of obtaining a statement from an illiterate person.

d. Usually easier to read than a hand written declaration.

e. Generally takes less time to complete than a written statement.

Disadvantages of a Recorded Statement:

a. The statement is not signed by the subject at the time of interview (Unless the transcription is sent to the subject at a later date for signature).

b. Subject may "freeze" knowing the conversation is being recorded.

c. Faulty handling of the recorded interview can result in the statement being useless as evidence.

d. It is essential that the recording be clear and audible. Background noise not noticed at the time may prove to effectively "wipe out" much of the recorded interview by covering the voices, making it difficult or impossible to hear and understand the questions and answers.

e. Impressions of witnesses are more accurate in person rather the over the telephone (if it's not a personal interview).

Most statements are used in court for impeachment purposes only. However, in some cases, if you show up in court with a pile of witness statements in your favor, most likely the judge will take that into consideration when rendering a decision.

Remember, even if the witness does not want to cooperate and provide a statement (but will provide an interview), you can still use your notes for impeachment purposes. I suggest that you do not conduct investigation on your own behalf, but to hire a professional. Courts give more credibility to a 3rd party (or someone impartial) rather that someone related to the case.

Jay Rosenzweig is the owner of California Investigation Services and J R Investigations. He is a past president of the California Association of Licensed Investigators.

Points or No Points? A Good Mortgage Calculator Can Help

In order to get a lower monthly payment lenders will give the borrower the opportunity to pay an up front fee which lowers the interest rate thus, paying less on their month to month housing note.

A good online mortgage calculator will do all the computation and analysis for you but well explain it for you below.

Heres how it works:

The up front fee is called points. You typically pay 1% of the amount borrowed for each point:

Lets illustrate:

If the amount borrowed was $100,000 then 1 point would cost you $1000 ( $100,000 x 1%) This in turn will lower, or "buy down" your interest rate by .25%. For example, if you only qualify for a 6.75% mortgage rate on a $100,000 loan, paying your broker $1000.00 up front can reduce the rate to 6.5%.

Determining if this is a wise move finacially for your family depends on a few factors, mainly the length of time you are planning on staying in the home. Again, a good online mortgage calculator will compare the loan with and with out points. (The online mortgage calculator will ask you for principal, interest rate and number of points)

In another example borrowing $100,000 for 30 years at 6.75% with no points would result in a payment of $648 monthly ( Principal and interest only no tax or insurance in this example)

The same loan but charging the borrower 2 points :
-drops the interest rate to 6.25%
-lowers the monthly payment to $615.00 monthly
-save $11,880 in total interest repayment

The above scenario makes sense if you plan on stayng in the home for at least 5 years ( break even point).

Again a good online mortgage calculator will clearly let you compare a loan with points and without points so you can determine:
-total interest saved
-How many years break even

Break Even Point Huh?

The break even point is the number of years it takes to re-coup the expense of paying for the points upfront. To get a financial benefit from buying down your interest rate by purchasing points you need to stay in your house until after the total of the monthly savings realized is greater than the total amount of cash dished out on points.

To Illustrate...

The cost for 2 points above was $2000. Each month you save 33 bucks because you lowered your interest rate. So $2000/$33 = 125 ( payments or months) which is about 5 years

After about 5 years youve paid back all the cost of the points which now gives you the opportunity to avoid $11,880 in interest had you not purchased points.

So, points are not always bad if you want to lower your interest rate, It really depends on how long you plan on staying in your home and how much cash you have at the time of closing.

For 15 years Leslie Collins has been helping all types of borrowers get the loan information they need to make the best home buying decision . Please visit the easy to use mortgage calculator before you talk to banks or loan officers. Also see our easy online mortgage application safe, secure and takes about 2 minutes!

How To Relieve Pain With a Gout Prevention Diet

A lot of gout suffers are interested in following a gout prevention diet. Someone with gout can sometime be the butt of jokes, but it is no laughing matter. It used to be called the disease of kings, as it seemed to effect only royalty and the upper classes, as they were the only ones wealthy enough to eat a meat-rich diet. Nowadays gout can strike just about anyone, which is why a lot of sufferers are interested in following a gout prevention diet to ward off that next attack.

As we have become wealthier, our diets have expanded (along with our waistbands). Gout seems to be a by-product of all this 'good living'.

Gout is a particularly painful form of arthritis that tends to effect the foot and ankle joints and comes on extremely suddenly. Most sufferers are either woken up with a hot, inflamed and painful joint in the middle of the night or wake up in the morning wondering how their joint got to be so painful overnight.

Gout can be painful, debilitating and embarrassing, as friends usually don't understand just how painful a condition it is and the teasing can be pretty harsh. It also can lead to days off work as it can really effect your ability to get around. So unless you have an understanding employer, it pays to find ways to stop further attacks from happening.

There are medications that you can take for the initial attack, but these are aimed at reducing the swelling and taking away the pain rather than tackling the root cause, which is a build up of uric acid in the blood - A condition called hyperuricemia.

Hyperuricemia is not dangerous, however what it can lead to is deposits of uric acid crystals between the spaces and connective tissues in the joints. It is these sharp, jagged needle-like crystals that cause the extreme pain and swelling and explains how gout can come on so suddenly.

Uric acid is produced during the breakdown of purine - a natural compound in our bodies and the food that we eat. Normally our bodies process uric acid fairly efficiently by dissolving it in the blood and excreting it via the kidneys in urine.

Problems occur when the body can't eliminate uric acid quickly enough or production is stepped up. This can be down to eating a purine-rich diet, drinking too much alcohol or becoming dehydrated.

This is where a gout prevention diet comes into it's own. To rebalance your body and get uric acid production and elimination back to normality you should do the following:

1. Lose excess weight.
Around half of all gout sufferers are overweight or obese. Losing the extra pounds will decrease the strain on your kidneys and allow them to process uric acid efficiently.

2. Drink more water.
We all know we should be drinking around 8 - 10 glasses of water a day. Our bodies need this amount of water to function properly. When we don't drink enough water, we become dehydrated and our organs struggle to keep up with all thats demanded of them. As a gout sufferer staying hydrated is vitally important as it helps to dilute uric acid in the blood, giving the kidneys an easier time of it during the elimination process.

3. Avoid or limit alcohol.
Ideally gout sufferers should avoid alcohol, however if you can't manage total abstinence then at least avoid beer. This contains high levels of purine that will elevate your uric acid levels. Keep all alcohol consumption to the bare minimum and alternate drinks with water.

4. Follow a low purine, low fat diet.
This is the key element to a gout prevention diet. By avoiding foods high in purine and sticking with low purine, low fat options you should return uric acid levels to a more normal level. This should stop crystals from forming and gout flare-ups from reoccurring.

For more information about following a gout prevention diet and other natural treatment options sign up for a free newsletter at our site - details below.

By Lisa McDowell. Sign up now for a free newsletter & discover more information on following a gout prevention diet as a natural cure for gout.

Vital Records Searches

There are many sites online that have information on how to find vital records. Most of them take you in circles and you never really find what you are looking for. This article should help with finding birth, marriage and death records.

Let's start with this page that has most of the links for where to find information about State and County birth, marriage and death records from around the USA - FreePRF.com's vital records page.

If you are trying to find the birth date of the person you are researching, I suggest trying this site that has a free birth date lookup - BirthDatabase.com. BirthDatabase.com is a pretty good resource of finding the exact year, month and day of a person's birth. The best part is that it's FREE. The only fallback with this site is that you can't narrow your search by state. The search results cover the entire USA for all the persons with the name you area looking up. Some names are omitted from this database.

RootsWeb.com has a very good death index. You can search by first, middle and last name. You can also search by social security number.

For birth information, Ancestry.com is another good resource. It also has a death information database.

Marriage records are tricky, especially if you want information from California. Most recent marriage records in California are confidential. You can obtain some information from www.vitalsearch-ca.com/gen/ca/_vitals/camarrin.htm; however, the records only go up to 1986.

Also try www.vitalsearch-ca.com/gen/tx/tx_/txmarrim-go.htmfor their Texas marriage database. Their Texas marriages database is comprised of over 6 million groom/bride entries from 1967-2002 displayed in straight text form. In addition they have a Kentucky marriage database - www.vitalsearch-ca.com/gen/ky/_vitals/kymarrim-go.htm - from 1973-2002.

Clark County Nevada (Las Vegas) www.co.clark.nv.us/recorder/mar_srch.htm - has a great marriage records database. Marriages are indexed on-line from 1984 through the present. This marriage inquiry system is also FREE to use.

If you cannot find the vital records information online, try The National Center For Health Statistics page on "Where to Write For Vital Records," www.cdc.gov/nchs/howto/w2w/w2welcom.htm. It lists the mailing addresses, phone numbers of all the states vital records offices and how to obtain such records.

Jay Rosenzweig is the owner of California Investigation Services. He has located thousands of people over the past 25 years. He is also a past president of the California Association of Licensed Investigators.

Supplement Review

So, you've figured out your diet. You're eating frequent small meals that are high in protein, whole grains and vegetables. Now, you'd like to add a few supplements to your diet. (Make sure your diet is rock solid before adding supplementsbecause a supplement is just that an add on, not a base). However, with so many supplements out there and a limited budget, how do you know what to purchase and what should be disregarded as marketing hype? Well, below is a list of supplements in order of importance:

Daily Multivitamin

A lot of people may overlook this supplement, but it is nonetheless the most important. Vitamins and minerals contained in multivitamins are essential to many functions of the human body. These include regulating hormones, metabolism, proper digestion, and immune functions.

Whey Protein

We know that a high protein diet is very helpful in gaining muscle and losing body fat. Whey protein is great post-workout because it enters the bloodstream the fastest when your muscles need that protein the most. On the other extreme, casein (which is found in diary products) is a slow release protein and is great before bed because you are not getting any nutrition during the seven to nine hours you're asleep. I would not recommend a casein or nighttime protein supplement though, because it would be much more cost effective to drink a glass of skim milk.

Creatine

If you are looking to get stronger, creatine will definitely help. It is used in muscle to store energy for explosive movements such as weight lifting. It enhances recovery and ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate is the primary energy currency of the body) replenishment, which will allow for the creation of an anabolic state in your body. The efficiency of creatine delivery is greatly increased if it is consumed with simple carbohydrates, which spike the insulin. In turn, insulin helps to deliver the creatine to your muscle where it can be used to hydrate and replenish ATP levels. I recommend five to ten grams post training with a generous serving of simple carbohydrates. Creatine should also be cycled (try eight weeks on, four weeks off) as oppose to protein which you can take continuously.

Glutamine

What is the most abundant amino acid in your muscles? That's right glutamine, and it supports protein synthesis and immune function, enhances recovery, glycogen & glutamine replenishment and reduces catabolism (muscle breakdown).

Thermogenetics

I personally do not take any of these supplements as I am an ectomorph. However, they do increase your base metabolic rate and help burn body fat.

ZMA

If you want to try it zinc magnesium aspirate, research has shown that it may aid in sleep and increase growth hormone. Many athletes are deficient in zinc and magnesium, and this supplement will help correct that issue.

Other supplements

Some other supplements you might consider include BCAAs (Branch Chain Amino Acids), essential fatty acids, and nitrous oxide. BCAAs are essential amino acids, however, I personally have not seen any improvement when supplementing with these. Essential Fatty Acids are healthy fats such as flax seed oil. I try to keep my diet high in fish, nuts, and olive oil, but you might consider this supplement as well. Lastly, I've heard mixed reviews about nitrous oxide (which supposedly gives you a better pump when lifting) but I have never tried it myself, so I can not attest to if it actually improves performance or not.

Well, there you have it. In order of relative importance, these are the supplements you might think about taking after you've solidified a rock solid diet.

I have been working out for nine years and I want to share my experiences and research. I can be found at http://www.workoutreview.blogspot.com