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Do your boyfriends keep turning out to be criminals? Tired of finding out too late that your girlfriend is a compulsive liar and a kleptomaniac? In this day and age, you can never be too careful about you who date. Appearances can’t be trusted, and information new acquaintances give you could easily be false. How are we to know the whole truth about anyone we meet — and especially on a college campus, where people will say or do anything for personal gain or fulfillment.
Luckily for us, we have background checks. Of course, the information you have access to won’t be as comprehensive as if you went the legitimate government route (for which you’d need consent of the person you want searched), but there are several private companies that offer access to certain records, such as criminal records or marriage licenses, at the right price.

Ok, it might be a little paranoid, but what really is the harm in investigating your new beau? A criminal record obviously isn’t the kind of thing your sweetheart is going to wear on her sleeve, so why not do a little digging, just as insurance for your safety and your belongings?

The truth is that it’s hard to know who people are, and as time goes on, it seems like desires get darker, fetishes get stranger, and criminal behavior spreads to even the most unexpected corners of society. Wouldn’t you rather know if the guy who asked you out has a history of theft convictions or has a demonstrated tendency toward violence? What if he was married and you were just a new fling?

For most background checks, you’ll need your subject’s Social Security number, in addition to other basic personal information, such as first and last name (providing a middle name is a great help to the agencies that run checks), address, phone number, DOB. Any previous names your subject may have used will be beneficial as well.

A comprehensive background check will cost around $100 and will typically return results in about 24 hours. Now, if you only just started dating, it’s unlikely you will know your S/O’s SSN, or whether they have used any aliases or married names in the past. There probably wouldn’t be much point in running a background check on them if they trust you enough to give you their SSN.

There are less comprehensive background checkers, though, that only require a full name and state and city of residence. After inputting this information, you can refine your search to be certain you have identified the right person, and then you have the option of purchasing reports with different levels of completeness, generally ranging in price from about $15 to around $75. These reports will provide you with the kind of information you would want to know about your darling:

• Marriage & Divorce records
• Bankruptcies
• Civil Judgments
• Lawsuits

As good as it is to know who your acquaintances are, however, be prepared to find some things that might unravel the relationship. You can’t un­-discover something, so know that you’ll have to deal with whatever you find in the darkness. Good luck, and be safe!

Jane Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. She writes about free background checks for Backgroundcheck.org. Questions and comments can be sent to: janesmth161 @ gmail.com

This may be an innovative new way to market a company. Very NSFW:

An Easter egg from the Lord of the Rings DVDs shows Elijah Wood pranked by Dominic Monaghan. Hilarity ensues:

This Easter egg is located on the Return of the King: Extended Edition DVD.

Here is how to find it according to eeggs.com:

1. Insert Disk 1 (Part One)

2. Go to “Select a scene”

3. On the right-hand side of the screen are the groups of scenes. Highlight the last group (33-36) and press “Enter”

4. Once in this group, highlight (don’t press enter) scene 36 “The Siege of Gondor”

5. The press “down” once on your remote and a little ring will appear next to *New Scene (which is written down the bottom of the page next to **Extended scene)

6. Press “Enter” and Elijah Wood will come onto the screen congratulating you on finding the Easter Egg.

Open University gives us 6 philosophy lessons in under one minute each:

This review is based on a review copy of the Belkin Wireless Dual-Band Travel Router.

Before we get to the Belkin Wireless Dual-Band Travel Router, let’s talk about why would you want a travel router? When travelling with friends, you will often run into situations where there is only one Ethernet outlet in your hotel room. You will need a router to be able to have more than one person use the Internet at once. Also, if you are into playing games with your friends or any other type of intra-network (LAN) activity, you will need a router. Even if you just invite friends to your dorm room, you can quickly bust out your Belkin Wireless Travel Router to allow everyone to use the Internet at once.

The Belkin Wireless Dual-Band Travel Router is basically a tiny wireless router, perfect for travelling due to its size. It is the smallest router we have ever seen.

The included Ethernet cord and power cable are all you need to bring along with the router when you travel. A travel case comes with the unit which is nice if you want to keep everything organized in a nice little package (also it can help you not lose anything). In my opinion, you can leave the case to save some space in your suitcase.

There are no passwords to remember or configuration to set-up. The password and network SSID are written on the back of the unit.

The dual-band capabilities means that the router can work at speeds up to 150Mbps (with wireless n) on all modern wireless standards (n, g, a, or b). If your computer has a wireless card or wireless capabilities, this router will work with it.

Final Thoughts

We were really surprised at how small this router is. Even the power cord and Ethernet cable are made to take up as little space as possible. The router is clearly created for travelling purposes and for “taking your wireless network with you when you travel”. It is perfect for that purpose or for college students who need to pack up all their belongings at the end of every school year.

The MSRP of $80 is on the higher side but coming from Belkin, one of the top network equipment companies, a higher price is expected. You can also easily pick up the product for about $65 on Amazon.com.

Our final opinion: If you can find it for a good price, it is highly recommended as your only router for home, dorm, or hotel room.