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Saturday, December 4, 2010

Notary Public Seals

Notary public seals disclose that the documents are genuine, all parties agree to the terms and conditions, and that the identity of all persons signing them is confirmed. Important papers such as affidavits, mortgage documents or papers related to bankruptcy filing must be notarized so as to establish their legitimacy. Notary public seals found in birth certificates or identification cards guarantee that these documents are genuine.
In general, notary public seals include stamps, embossers and those created by electronic means. Only seals manufactured by a permit holder can be sold, duplicated or offered for sale. This requirement includes replacement seals for those previously manufactured. Permission for manufacturing notary public seals can be gained by submitting a completed application. The format of the application form is prescribed by the Secretary of State along with an issuing fee.
A notary public seal contains the name of the notary public, the state seal, the words ?notary public?, the filing county shown on the certificate of authorization, the notary public commission expiration date, the notary public commission number and the manufacturer identification number. Notary public seals are available in circular or rectangular shapes, with a serrated or milled edged border. The circular seal is not over two inches and the rectangular one is not more than one inch in width by two and one-half inches in length.
Notary public seals are unique to the person using it, capable of verification, under the sole control of the person using it, and accepted in the same format and appearance as transmitted. A manufacturer produces a notary seal only upon the presentation of a certificate of authorization issued by the Secretary of State for the making of that particular seal.
The lack of notary public seals shall not make the acts of a notary invalid if his official title is affixed. But, if the documents are to be filed in another state or used in another country, the seal is strongly suggested. Many states are unwilling to receive documents that do not contain a notary public seal.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Becoming a Notary Public

Notary publics are of very ancient origin. They first became prominent among the Romans, during the 1500s. Their activities have long been abided by the custom of merchants and by the courts of all countries. Notaries were initially selected by the Pope or the Archbishop of Canterbury. During that time, they were proficient in foreign languages, as well as the principles and practices of law.

A notary is now a public servant appointed by a state official. This position is important as he provides protection for business deals. Depending on the state, the notary has the power to acknowledge signatures, especially on court papers such as affidavits, conduct oaths and affirmations, and issue subpoenas in lawsuits. For these services, he receives a fee set by the state.

To become a notary public in the U.S, the applicant should be at least 18 years of age and a permanent resident of the state in which he wants to be a notary. Notary is a comparatively easy role to secure, in most cases only requiring the applicant to pass a simple test and undergo some form of background check. The rights and privileges of a notary are normally limited to the basic duties of an impartial witness. To be precise, notaries are not licensed to give any form of legal advice, prepare legal documents or otherwise perform law.

Becoming a notary public involves three important steps. Filling out an application form available in the state or from the nonprofit National Notary Association (NNA) is the first step. An important point to remember is that each state has different eligibility standards for its notaries. Second, a fee is paid to the commissioning authority. Finally, the applicant takes an oath of office in front of a notary public. This action may be incorporated into the application or filed with a county clerk.

Other possible steps include taking an educational course, passing a test and obtaining a notary bond. These requirements vary from state to state. Each notary in America has a legal right to know his state's notary laws, the distinction between notary laws and notary folklore, and the standards of sensible care for every notarial act. If the notary does not do his job correctly, serious legal problems can result.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Making Public Service Ads Serve You

Making huge sums of money with AdSense isn't brain surgery. You simply have to know what you're doing. If you know which types of ads to choose, where to place them on the page and how to use Google's options to design them so that they get the maximum number of click-throughs, you should find your site earning heaps of money very quickly.

But things can go wrong. Revenues can be disappointing, clicks non-existent and pages designed to put off users instead of encourage them to check out your advertisers. You know when one of the worst things possible has gone wrong when, instead of seeing ads on your page, you get public service ads. These turn up when Google doesn't recognize your keywords or can't find a suitable ad to put on your Web page. Instead of showing a blank box, it puts up ads for all sorts of charities, none of which you choose - and none of which earn you revenue.

You might like the idea of your site working for charity. But you might like it better if your site worked for you and you decided how much of that revenue to give to the charities you choose. That's why smart AdSense subscribers - the ones who understand how AdSense works and make giant revenues from it - make sure that they have alternatives set up to stop their sites being used to advertise Google's favorite charities.

There are lots of different ways you can do that. For example, you could create your own pseudo-AdSense ads and use those as alternate URLs to promote your other sites. Or you could use one of the several companies that will use that space to give you targeted paying ads.

There's nothing mean about using these strategies. The fact that Google makes it possible to use them shows that they understand that your space is for you not for them - and that you should earn from it.

With a little bit of reading, you'll find that it's easy to create a website that always serves high-paying AdSense ads. But even the smartest AdSense users make sure that they've got insurance should something go wrong. It's easy to do and your revenues deserve it.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Public Services on the Move: Mobility and Flexible Working in UK Local Government

This article looks at a trend sweeping the UK public sector currently. Investment in flexible and remote working infrastructure by local authorities is delivering significant cost savings, improved services and added value for money for the general public.

The need for local government to mobilise:

Reduced operating costs - The key result of effective remote and flexible working strategy within any organisation is significant cost savings.

Flexibility - on the move teams need to stay in touch and work collaboratively without the need for frequent return trips to the office.

Accommodation - a desire by local government to reduce as far as possible the overhead of legacy civic buildings. Large numbers of councils currently let or actually own numerous office buildings across the country - which amounts to tied up assets which could - if not required following the adoption of remote working - be sold, producing capital for more prudent use.

External drivers - A combination of UK government initiatives (see projectnomd.com) actively promoting remote and flexible working combined with EU regulation requiring that facilities to provide home working as an option for certain types of work have created a pressing need.

Getting it right

Providing the right resources for remote working staff

It is important to pay focused attention to the real communication needs of the staff being targeted for remote working deployment. A wealth of technology is now available for use by out of office staff, and the temptation is to equip the latest and greatest gadgets for remote workers - whereas the real area that needs to be understood and supported are the business processes and procedural responsibilities being

Meeting remote staff needs

Our TeamR methodology for remote working adoption is focused around ensuring that remote teams have the three key basic needs met. These needs are communication, collaboration and control. Without a clear strategy in place enduring that all three are provided, a remote team will not be effectively deployed and is likely to revert to office based working practices following significant expense, time and effort.

Access to Information

One common issue with all organisation is the distribution of duplicate, unmanaged data. The administration effort of the complexity caused by this duplication of data can itself be overwhelming, and distributes teams just compounds the problem. The approach that we find most effective is to adopt centralised organisational data with secure 'point of need' access to it from mobile devices by field workers.

Concerns

Security of public citizen data

There will always be justifiable concern expressed with regards to the security of mobile access solution. These issues can be addressed today though the use of encryption , secure connections and dedicated telephony services, and while it has to be admitted these solutions are not perfect today, this is an area constantly under continuous improvement and review by technology vendors.

Adherence to official business processes

Much of the function of public bodies is run under the guidelines of governmental or legal frameworks. It is important to ensure that workflows being carried out by remote staff still fall subject to due diligence in this regard. The requirement for controls to ensure that the workflow being done within a team is following due procedures could benefit from a work flow automation tool- which segments the whole flow of business down into manageable chunks and orchestrates the flow of information around the team.

Traceability of changes.. Who did what and why?

Audited compliance is becoming an everyday aspect of an increasing number of public service bodies. There exists a legal and institutional need for traceability of individual pieces of work, finalised decisions and formally prepared documents to

Summary:

Remote and flexible working give public sector organisations real opportunities to reduce operating overheads while increasing staff efficiency. The adoption of such practices required thought, planning and expert knowledge in order for them to be effective.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

London Notary Public Services - Five Top Tips

The services provided by a Notary Public are often misunderstood. Consequently this article provides five top tips to ensure that the notarial services are both understood and provide value for money.

Tip 1 - Obtain a fee quote in advance. For most notarial matters the London Notaries should be able to tell you the fees in advance of the meeting. If the Notary cannot give you an exact quote, the London Notaries should be able to provide an accurate estimate.

Tip 2 - Shop around. As the fees charged by London notaries is not fixed you can speak to different practices to compare prices. Expect to pay somewhere between £60 - £120 for any document notarized by a London Notary Public. Also check whether the Notaries practice charges VAT, as not all do.

Tip 3 - Send the Notary practice all of the documentation in advance of the meeting. To avoid any surprises or delays ensure that you fax or email all documentation to your London Notary in advance of the meeting. This will allow the meeting with your London Notary to run smoothly and also any further requirements or costs should be communicated by the London Notary Public in advance of the meeting.

Tip 4 - Ensure you bring the correct ID documents. A London Notary Public will require sight of your current and up to date passport and also a bank statement or utility bill which is less than 3 months old and confirms your UK address. Please remember that they will not be able to accept mobile phone bills as proof of address.

Tip 5 - Don't be afraid to ask your Notary questions. Any professional and approachable practice should make themselves available to answer any questions and provide any further information in advance of your meeting. Therefore if you have any questions either phone or email these in advance of your meeting.

London enjoys a higher concentration of notaries than any other city in the UK and therefore customers should use this to get the best deal. For further information and to find a London Notary Public refer to The Notaries Society website.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

OECD Report on Fostering Diversity in the Public Service

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) held an Expert Meeting on Fostering Diversity on 1st October 2009. It was produced by the Public Employment and Management Working Party.

There seems to be a growing consensus among OECD countries that pursuing diversity may help to preserve core public service values such as fairness, transparency, impartiality and representativeness. The search for efficiency gains is another driver as one of the main expected benefits is an increase in innovation. Diversity may also contribute to the raising of the quality of public services by improving the understanding of community needs and social dialogue and communication with the wider population. Diversity can also help to achieve important outcomes in major policy areas by tackling challenges such as ageing populations.

Diversity principles should be part of public management reform as these initiatives cannot succeed in isolation. The challenge of pursuing diversity is how to do it in a sustainable, responsive and professional manner. Policies should be coherent and intelligible to all stakeholders and demand strong leadership if they are to maintain the impetus for reform through persuasion, negotiation and influencing people's values and culture. Achieving diversity is a long term process that must be thought of as an integral part of strategic planning.

Diversity policies are usually formulated by a central Human Resources Management (HRM) body which is responsible for developing the strategy, monitoring progress, promoting the benefits, linking diversity issues to strategic workforce planning and providing guidance and support to agencies for the implementation of their own diversity policies. There is a need to address discriminatory practices that permeate all aspects of the HRM process. Many OECD countries have agreed that the following measures will help to redress the balance in relation to recruitment of candidates

1) diversify the communication channels to reach a wider audience
2) motivate people to apply for vacancies in the public service
3) relax the selection process and criteria to make them more inclusive but still focused on analysing skills, qualities and competencies required for the job
4) facilitate the integration and retention of new recruits to the workplace

The benefits of diversity are likely to emerge slowly and be less apparent to the outside world. It is necessary to push for a change of attitude towards diversity. If discrimination and intolerance are not properly treated diversity will be harder to attain.

If the public service is to be efficient and effective in delivering public services to a socially, ethnically, culturally and economically diverse society it needs to reflect society. Despite being a long term project diversity may produce some benefits for the short term. Fostering diversity could help strengthen trust in government by portraying it as responsible, responsive and legitimate.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The Public Service Commission of Kenya

The public service commission of Kenya is charged with the recruitment of the civil service and the local authorities. Its vision is "to be a world class constitutional body in the provision of a globally competitive human resource that serves the needs of Kenyans." It is led by a chairman and secretary who oversee the functions of the commission. These functions include: Recruitment of civil service staff local authority, managerial functions such as the hiring, firing, promotion or demotion of the staff and handling all disciplinary matters. Moreover it handles the retirement and human resource auditing of the civil service and all local authorities.

The Kenyan constitution states that "the commission shall, in the exercise of its functions under this constitution, not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority." Thus the constitution empowers the public service commission of Kenya to appoint persons to hold or act in public service offices and local authority positions. Kenyans therefore have to have confidence the appointments made will have a positive impact in their lives.

It is the job of the public service commission to issue and administer the code of conduct and ethics for all civil servants including police force, national youth service and employees in all state corporations. The police force does not have the reputation of always upholding the law and this has been a great problem for the commission. Corruption in Kenya is said to be at its highest among the police force. The corruption can be attributed to the low salary the police claim is not reasonable. The commission does not have the mandate to solely determine the payment of salaries. This is credited to the Finance Ministry which accepts negotiations through the commission.

The public service commission consists of a chairman, a deputy chairman and fifteen members. All these members are appointed by the president and can therefore only be relieved of duty by the president. The commission has setup a website that allows people to check for vacancies in the civil service and state corporations. The commission also uses the local newspapers to advertise vacancies.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Notary Public Training

Notary public training courses are designed to provide applicants the basic knowledge and skills necessary to meet the highest ethical and professional standards of the notary profession. Students can also obtain an in-depth understanding of the duties and responsibilities of a notary public.

In the United States, a notary is an officer selected by a state government to serve the public as an impartial witness. Compared to other common law countries, U.S notaries are much less closely regulated. Applicants generally require no special training to get a notary license. They need to pass a simple written test, undergo a background check, and attain a notary bond or insurance to guarantee their honesty. To organize a person to hopefully pass the test, he may need a correspondence, online or classroom notary training course.

Many community colleges and universities offer notary public test preparation courses. But it is to be made sure that they fulfill the state?s notary public requirements for receiving a notary license. A good training enables applicants to become responsible, skilled candidates for notary public commission. It coaches individuals on legal terminology, and concepts and clauses contained in the framework of the state notary booklet. Careful introductions to the statutes that regulate the acts of notaries are also provided.

Applicants learn their responsibilities, the federal document restrictions, misconduct and penalties, oaths and affirmations, notary bond and insurance, notary seals and stamps, notary license requirements and deposition proceedings in a short course in a school of notary public training. It is recommended that the trainer be an active commissioned notary public.

All notary public classes offer a complete sketch of how to generate yourself in your new position as a notary public. This information is very important for everyone as it helps them learn to identify with their market and start building their business successfully.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

How to Find Book Publishing Services

Every good writer knows that writing a book is one thing but publishing is another thing entirely. There are several publishing houses out there but how do you find them? There are two ways to find book publishing services, but before you begin your search for book publishers, you need to figure out the following:

- Do you want to publish an electronic book? (e-book)
- Do you want to publish your book the old fashioned way? (hard copy prints)
- How much do you want to spend?

Answering the above questions will help you determine what kind of publishing service you should be looking out for. The two ways to find publishing service are:

1) The Internet

Thank goodness for modern technology, with the internet you have information at your fingertips, and all you have to do is search for it online.

With the internet, you get to sit in the comfort of your home and search for whatever information you are looking for. We all hope a simple click - 'search' would get the job done, but knowing the vast publishing services that are available in the web space, you need to prepare and do your homework. You will find there are publishing services that have different packages to accommodate your budget, even publishing services that will help you publish and market your books effectively and some would even still allow you to retain the ownership of the rights to your book(s).

A Tip to find a good publication service from among crowed is from the testimonies of people who have published with that company. Take time to read the feedback and reviews of the publishing service to understand if this is the kind of service you are hoping to get. After much research you should find the Book publishing services that will suit your publishing needs to a T.

2) The Old Fashioned Way

This is quite simple really, all you need to do is ask questions. You can ask people who are published writers and they are sure to tell you all you need to know. Remember to look around you, head on down to your local independent book stores, and browse through the books on the shelves. Look for the books that are selling, and note down the local publishers name and give them a call.

Remember you don't have to commit to any publisher just yet, again the word is 'RESEARCH'. Don't think that great writers like Danielle Steel, Steven King, John Grisham etc ever had it easy, they also had to do their research and come to think of it, these guys didn't have it easy because they didn't have simple access to information like we do now.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Public Service Announcement (PSA) Radio Copy Writing Success

What if the Super Bowl television commercials were all public service announcement (PSA) advertisements rather than beer, cars and soda commercials? Imagine, The Red Cross followed by the Make A Wish Foundation and the Shriners Hospital. Would the world still remained glued to the television? If the writers approached the copy for these PSA with the same creativity as the beer commercials, we believe the answer is yes. Why? Because a good commercial, is a good commercial. Period.

Radio voice and copy writing experts at http://www.scottradio.com know that the assignment of writing a PSA is often put on the back burner in most copy departments. The paying customer is first in the cue. When the time arrives to write the PSA copy, the energy and enthusiasm has often expired. But it should have never evolved this way. Thanks to misguided copy departments of the past, we all suffer today with less than stellar radio public service announcements. The time to change is now.

Radio stations are required to air a certain amount of PSA's each year. Because the quality is often second rate compared to other commercials in the rotation, a station cannot air these on prime time. If given the opportunity, they will. In fact, scottradio.com has experienced such results. Write a good commercial, be it for soda or Cancer research and it will makes its way into the rotation. Why? Because radio stations are begging for quality public service announcements.