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Once a novelty, dream-home raffles are becoming a popular but risky way for nonprofit organizations to raise money.

The concept marries two of America's favorite obsessions -- gambling and real estate -- with that good feeling you get from supporting a worthy cause.

"Dragon Age: Origins"

Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC

Genre: Role-playing

Publisher: EA Games/BioWare

ESRB Rating: M, for Mature

Grade: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Fibs. Fabrications. Falsehoods. No matter what you call them; they don't belong in a resume. It's simply not worth the risk. More often than not, applicants who fudge the facts are found out. Many organizations conduct reference or background checks, and just one exaggeration or half-truth can lead an employer to question your ethics and eliminate you from consideration.

There are thieves on the loose in offices across the country. They're called idea thieves, taking the best from their colleagues and claiming those ideas for themselves.

Though they may not go to jail for their crimes, those who have been their victims probably would love to sentence them to some hard time in an unemployment office.

LAS VEGAS - As a real-time indicator of how confident American consumers feel about spending their money, earnings of the big casino operators on the Las Vegas Strip haven't inspired much confidence lately.

Dear Debt Adviser,

Norma Desmonds of the YouTube age, get ready for your close-up.

Consumers may love 60-inch plasma televisions, but when it comes to personal electronics, it's the age of the incredible shrinking camcorder. The pictures are still big, it's just the cameras that got small.

A number of factors go into setting a sale price and they aren't all location, location, location. Sellers consider improvements they've made, the original purchase price and how much profit they want -- or need -- to make. The market may say something else. Here are some of the factors that set a house price:

It's time for a confession: Every time a neighbor puts up a For Sale sign with an information tube, we're one of the first to pull a flier.

It's not that we're looking for homes for sale, we just want to see how much the neighbors are asking. Given expertise gained from too much time spent on Zillow.com, the real estate site, we feel we have a good idea what the price should be.

After an American soldier died in Iraq five years ago, his father wanted to save copies of his son's e-mails sent through a Yahoo! account. But the Internet company's privacy policy allowed access by only the soldier, triggering a legal fight.