You have the best search engine at your fingertips: the internet. When searching for someone’s history, be sure to put quotation marks around the person’s name. A number of websites allow free searches:  Google.com, Whitepages.com, Friendfeed.com, Facebook.com, LinkedIn.com, Twitter.com, nsopw.gov, Glassdoor.com, and Bing.com. Always be mindful of the fact that the information found by performing a basic internet search may not be verified and could easily be false. To uncover information about arrests, convictions, and incarcerations (a criminal background check), most information will be in the public record. To find this information, visit court and other government websites to access these documents. Type “criminal records” and then your state in a search engine.  Remember to search documents in all states where your subject has lived. If you do not know where a person has lived, you can search on a website such as Intelius.com, which will often list the states a person has lived in. Don't forget to search county and city websites for records of convictions on the local level. Additionally, some counties do not maintain online databases: in this case, you will need to pull the records from the county courthouse, where there should be hard copies. Some counties charge a small fee for copies of the records, while some offer copies for free. There are a lot of records you cannot legally access without the permission of the subject—such as a credit report, school records, or military records. If you want to obtain certain information about someone, you may need to ask them to provide you with the information.  If you are considering a new roommate, for instance, you may want to simply ask if they have ever been arrested or in trouble before making your decision. Understand that they do not have to give you access to or copies of their information. However, if they are not forthcoming with information, then you can certainly base your decision on your lack of information. For example, if a potential roommate refuses to state whether he or she has been arrested, then you can choose not to live with that person based on the lack of information. Many online companies, such as Intelius, US Search, and Net Detective, will search for someone’s address as well as their criminal background records. You can search by typing in the person’s first and last name, as well as current city and state.  Prices vary, but you can expect to pay over $30.  These companies may return “false positives.” For example, a bankruptcy filing might appear although the person never filed for bankruptcy protection. Unlike landlords and employers, a private citizen is allowed to hire any legal service to run background checks, including criminal background checks. Nevertheless, you should research any company before hiring them.  You can find investigators on the web by typing “private investigator” and the name of your city. There are a lot of scam artists out there. Read online reviews of any background check company that you may want to use and see if people are satisfied with the results.
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One-sentence summary -- Search online. Pull public records. Ask for information directly from the person. Use a commercial web-based search engine. Hire a professional.

Article: Counting the front and back of each sheet, this method will make a sixteen-page origami book. Start by taking the 8.5”x11” piece of paper and folding it in half “hamburger style.” This means folding along the 11” side, leading you with a 5.5”x8.5” paper. Take the folded piece of paper and fold it in half one more time in the same direction. This will leave you with a very narrow paper approximately 2.75”x8.5” in size. Now that you have marked those two creases, you want to unfold the paper entirely. The unfolded page will be 8.5”x11” again, and it will have creases separating the paper into four rows. With the page still fully unfolded, you want to turn the direction 90 degrees and fold the paper in half again but “hot dog style” this time. The folded sheet will be 4.25”x11”. Just like you made the second fold in the same direction with the “hamburger style” fold, you want to do it again with the “hot dog style” fold. When you fold the paper in half again, it will be roughly 2.125”x11”. Now that you’ve made these two fold, unfold the paper completely until it’s 8.5”x11” again. This time the creases will form sixteen evenly sized little rectangular boxes across the page. With all of the creases made, you’re ready to start forming the paper into a book. Start by folding the paper along the very first “hamburger style” fold so that it is 5.5”x8.5”. Turn the spine of the folded paper toward you and use a pair of scissors to cut the creases that run perpendicular to the spine of the fold. There should be three such creases and you want to cut each halfway down the paper. The halfway point down the paper will be easy to see since it’s where the next crease that runs parallel to the spine intersects along the creases you’re cutting. With the three cuts along the creases done, open the page again. It will now be the 8.5”x11” page but with two slats in the middle of the page. With the page open, turn it so that the slats in the page look like an equal sign, and then make a perpendicular cut along the pre-existing crease in the equal sign. This will form four separate flaps in the middle of the page. Once you have made the flaps, fold the flaps outward toward the edge of the page. There will be pre-existing creases at the edge of the flaps from the earlier folds, and since all of the rectangles earlier were of an equal size, when you fold the flaps over, they should be roughly flush with the edge of the page. When you fold the flaps back, there will be a gap in the middle of the page that makes it look a bit like a window. With the flaps still folded over, you want to turn the entire page over. This will put the flaps side of the page facedown on your work table. Take the top row of the paper and the bottom row of the paper and fold both of them in toward the center of the page. After you make the folds, the page will be the same size as though you had folded it “hot dog style,” which is 4.25”x11”. ” With the top and bottom folded toward the center, you now want to fold the entire sheet “hot dog style.” The sheet will be roughly 2.125”x11” in size and the flaps you folded over earlier will be on the outside edges of the page. Lift up the paper off the table and push the two ends of the paper toward each other without folding it. When looking at it from the top, this will make the middle section bow out along the pre-existing creases into a diamond shape. As you continue to push the ends toward each other, the diamond shape will get smaller and the ends you’re holding and the bowed out ends will form an X shape. The pages will be sort of fanned out as though you had opened a book the entire way until the covers touch. To finish the book, you simply need to fold from the center as though you were closing the book.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Fold the paper in half. Fold a second time in the same direction. Unfold the paper. Fold the paper in half in the opposite direction. Fold the paper in half again in the same direction. Unfold the paper completely. Fold the paper in half “hamburger style” again. Cut along the three creases on the spine. Unfold the page. Cut the slats. Fold the four flaps back. Turn the page over. Fold the top and bottom to the center. Fold the sheet in half “hot dog style. Push the left and right sides together to form a diamond. Gather it into an X shape. Fold in half at the center.