Books:

Discovered! 505
Odd Enterprises

Hidden Dollars

How to Make
Money at Home

Small Business
of Your Own

You Can Own
a Business

In the larger cities of the U.S.A. thousands of pet owners would welcome such a handy and clever service. Especially those living in congested areas, apartment houses, flats, etc. where it is not easy or convenient to obtain such exchange cleanings. Attractive decal designs could be transferred to such boxes in order to brighten them up a bit, and also add a humorous "touch" to the pet's very own toilet. Large routes could be built up, route men hired, a fleet of delivery wagons to carry the exchanges to and fro—and the profits would really start to pour in. A small fortune in this idea, I'm sure. Owners of pets spend millions of dollars every year on their animal friends!

Our Dutch correspondent also tells us about another unusual Holland enterprise. It seems that a bicycle repairman takes a riding repair shop to a point in the country where in summer many hundreds of cyclers pass. He caters to their repair business and gets it. This idea won't work in this country, but it will when we start building the many bicycle hostelries (overnight stops for bike vacationers) all over the country. There are plans for such a chain of bicycle stops from coast to coast. There are many such places in England and other countries.

One more unusual service is that operated by a Dutch photographer. He conducts a special service in a "sailing centrum", or yacht club, to us over here. The same idea might work well here in the U.S.A., taking photographs of the sailing boats under full sail! It would perhaps be necessary to have a motor boat in order to keep along side the boat so that "action" pictures could be taken of the "crew". The same photographer also does a big seasonal business by specializing on the making of sailing boat "portraits". These show the boats at their BEST. To this end he had a float whereon he works. The line of approach was marked by floating buoys. The ships sailed between the buoys in the direction of the float for "enface-sittings", and at a given distance the snap is made. The use of tele-lens is necessary in most cases so as to get a large image on the plate. #1-3

CANADA
In my companion book "Discovered—505 Odd Enterprises" there is a tale about a Canadian who started a clever enterprise that capitalized on waste. In this particular case the "waste" was bottles and jars that had been thrown away. The chap noticed the piles of waste bottles in all the alleyways and thought it was a shame for these useful bottles to go to waste. He decided to do something about it by opening up a small office and storeroom. He inserted some ads in the paper, secured a large number of youngsters to collect the bottles by paying them 10¢ a dozen for pint bottles, 20¢ a dozen for small jam jars, 30¢ a dozen for quart jars. Each boy had territory allotted to him. Waste bottles were picked up in the alleys and in some cases solicited at the back door. After the originator of this idea has a good supply of bottles and jars, he contacts bottle dealers who are glad to purchase wholesale quantities from him. The business prospered.

Recently a fellow over in London, England collected bottles, thousands of them in two weeks, by offering the kids a toy balloon for every five bottles they would bring in. This indicates that premiums could be used instead of cash in such a business. #4

SCOTLAND
Have you ever thought about the wives and mothers of the thousands of young men who fell storming the bloody battlements of Hitlerism? I mean lately? Of course, you may be one of these wives or mothers.

If so, you well know how great the sacrifice was on their part and on your part to a certain extent. You've probably longed for an everlasting, personal, memorial of these loved ones. Whether you have lost a loved one or not, I'm sure you'll find the following described service a fine one in which you fill a need for such a memorial which helps to ease the memory pain a bit, and at the same time makes a good living for the dealer handling them.

At least a chap in Scotland thinks so and he has sent us the following instructions for making one. First you require a sheet of clear glass, approximately 18 inches long by 8 inches wide. Procure a piece of heavy cardboard the same size as the glass and punch two holes in the cardboard 4 inches from the top. Run about 8 inches of black silk ribbon through these two holes, fastening securely on the inside of the cardboard.

Now take a sheet of black crepe paper. Paste it on the inside of the cardboard sheet. This is your background for the photograph of the departed one. Glue this photo to the crepe paper and then place a paper laurel wreath around the photograph, using glue to hold each side, the wreath going over each shoulder. Place an American flag of paper slightly above the photograph, or in the case of an English memorial photo, a tiny paper Crown is pasted in the same position. Any appropriate insignia or emblem could he substituted, of course.

The date on which the loved one entered the service, and that on which he died, is placed underneath. This can be printed, or stencil painted thereon, using silver or gold paint or ink. By having many different dates printed on gummed silver or gold paper, the proper printed line could be quickly fastened on the right place.

Other beautiful "touches" can be created and added to the picture if you wish. The glass is placed on top of the finished photo and fastened to the cardboard with picture framing tape. Or a suitable plastic frame can be used instead.

Our Scottish friend tells us that the finished product is really beautiful and something that the relatives of the modern Crusader will treasure for life. #163

EGYPT
You may never be able to get your hands on the seeds mentioned in this story, and you may not be able to get any real benefit out of the following idea that comes from Egypt, but the tale is most interesting. Worth a minute of your time, at least.

Sesi Hakeem, a young Egyptian, has obtained a species of seeds, in fact six small urns of seeds, the urns coming from a newly uncovered ancient tomb located in the ruins of Egypt's sacred city of Heliopolis.

From their appearance Sesi has concluded that they are a species of peas, celery, beets, muskmelon, beans and cucumbers. Plans are now being made to plant them in an experimental garden and once the 6,000-year-old vegetable garden begins to flourish, Sesi will put his plan of distribution into force, which will include the coverage of a wide section of Europe and all of North America…selling the seed the world over!

He is confident of some success because he has heard of the case of a Mr. Holden living in Florida, who has been quite successful in raising peas from seed 3,300 years old taken from the tomb of King Tutankhamen. Reports tell us that the peas are of excellent taste, extremely hardy, and that their vines grow to the height of seven feet.

There are unusual seeds available to many who seek an outdoor enterprise in which they will raise something a bit out of the ordinary, and one doesn't have to use 6,000 year old seed either!

How about Chinese Date seed to start with? #160

MEXICO
In Mexico there is a dealer who specializes in jewelry for swimmers, or cork jewelry!

Unique bracelets, necklaces, etc. all made of cork are ideal for swimming purposes, and I suppose the woman feels she is in style, is wearing the correct thing for the beach, when she wears this novel jewelry.

Most of the stuff is made of small pieces of cork about the size of the pop bottle caps, which have cork liners. A man and wife, visiting Mexico, came back to the States with the idea that they too could make the same novelties, using these cork liners.

They secured a large quantity of old bottle caps, pried the cork liners out of them. A tiny hole was punched out of the center of each liner. A red nail polish was used in painting each liner, and then when dried, they were strung on a piece of fish line. Smaller strings for the bracelets and larger strings for the necklaces. Other color paint or an assortment of colors can be used.

The couple found that there was a market for such bathing suit costume jewelry, and other people interested in this project could do a bit of experimenting themselves and come up with something similar or even better. Perhaps you can think up other decorative pieces that can be made out of cork. You'll find the market still practically unscratched! #6

U.S.A. . . . . FISH & FELICITATIONS
The whole family took a part in the operation of this plan, and they picked a hard line of merchandise to sell, and a hard method of selling the merchandise. The line selected was greeting cards, and the method of sale, door to door canvassing.

Yet the twins who actually did the canvassing sold over half of the houses visited! In fact, it is claimed that they sold between 150 and 200 boxes of cards a day, and at a dollar a box.

Funny thing too, the greeting cards weren't exceptional. Just odd lots bought up at a good price by the father. Both old cards (last year's) and new cards were purchased, and these mixed together along with some Christmas tags and seals. No doubt at that time the whole box, complete, only cost around 25¢.

The reason why it was possible to sell so many cards was the extra gift they included with each box. This gift was a glass bowl full of water, and with a couple of goldfish swimming around. And this wasn't all. A free box of fish food went with the bowl of fish. Everything for a buck, and no more!

Grandfather drove the family car which served as a delivery wagon during their canvassing tours. Piled high in the back was a large supply of boxes full of cards. Also a tank full of goldfish and a lot of empty glass bowls. A couple of neighbor women helped the twins out at times, and the whole four of them would go along with Gramp. He'd park at a certain intersection while the canvassers would get out and quickly call at each home in the block, leave a box of cards for inspection, mention that they would be back within a half hour with the extra gift of goldfish, and collect for the cards, or take them back if the prospect decided not to keep them. Usually, the housewives kept the cards because they knew that sooner or later they would have to buy some greeting cards and they might as well take advantage of the offer and get a little something extra as a gift.

After boxes of cards had been left at all the homes, the four of them would come back to the car, each one pick up two bowls of goldfish, which grandpops would have ready for them. As they re-called at the homes with the goldfish, grandpa would slowly drive the car on down the block, stopping at intervals so that the four canvassers could pick up more bowls of fish. The whole system was worked out to a science, and not a minute wasted. Some houses would buy two and three boxes of cards and get two or three bowls of goldfish. No doubt they would use one or two of these bowls as Christmas gifts to someone else!

When the twins and their two neighbor helpers finished with their town, they moved on to other nearby towns, working right up to Christmas Eve. It is said that they made over $2,500 in just ONE month's operation of this scheme! That's about as much as some folks make in a whole year!

Since the holidays, it is reported that this family team are working the plan on a year around basis, selling the every-day type of greeting card and other special occasion and holiday cards. They cover a group of nearby towns.

No doubt about it, here is a sure way to sell greeting cards. If you can duplicate their success, you'll be able to make enough around the holiday season to give you a living for the rest of the year, and an 8 month long vacation! On the other hand, there is nothing to stop one from working it on a full time scale, twelve months of the year. You figure the tremendous profits that the above family might have made for a whole year at the rate at which they were going! If you don't care for canvassing yourself, you could hire plenty of agents for a sure thing like this! Classified ads in the local paper would get them.

It wouldn't be altogether necessary for the operator to pick goldfish as the premium. He might be able to select a more easily handled gift that would be just as appealing. At any rate, one could test, as premiums, the goldfish and anything else, and compare the results.

If you think the above is an exceptional success, here is another similar success handling the same line with a different kind of a gift to go with the cards. This man hired four teen-aged girls as his canvassers, loaded his car with a hundred boxes of greeting cards and a couple hundred framed pictures. His greeting cards were a similar odd lot to the above, old and new combination, that he picked up at a special wholesale price. The framed pictures were made up of art pictures, appealing to the housewife, which he bought in large job lots, unframed. Wholesale quantities of embossed pulpwood frames were purchased for very little and sprayed with a bronze paint. This combination offer, when put together, cost about 40¢ a set, including the greeting cards.

The very same plan as outlined in the first story was used by his canvassers. The method produced about the same amount of sales each day as the first operator realized. However, this man had to pay all four canvassers a certain wage, which was about 20¢ on each box of cards sold, or around $8 to $12 a day. Even after paying his help, he still had around $70 or $80 left as clear profit for the day's work! And they worked the same deal 6 days a week. He's really making a pile of money, and he's not a young man by any means, but quite old.

The housewife prospect is allowed to make her selection of the picture she wants as her gift. Many purchased three and four boxes of cards in order to get the same amount of framed pictures, which could be placed in rooms all through the house! His greeting cards are for all occasions so he too can work the idea twelve months of the year if he cares to.

I sincerely hope that some reader will benefit from this plan. It is such a good idea, really good, that I'd hate to publish it and not have someone benefit greatly from the reading of these two experiences! #7-8

AUSTRALIA
This is such a good idea, so unusual, that I'd like to let the originator tell the whole story from start to finish, with just a little editing here and there, on my part.

I have reproduced the clever ad that was used by this originator, a Mr. Lang, way down in Melbourne, Australia and can only add to the whole story by saying that I am quite certain that there isn't any such service in this country today!

STAMP CLEANING SERVICE

It's a fascinating pastime looking through a bulk mixture of stamps and picking out the "high values" or an occasional "find" but the cleaning, sorting and bundling of many thousands of stamps can become both monotonous and tiring. Save yourself this arduous task by sending those "stamps on paper" to us.

Each lot is processed separately and ALL stamps are recovered and returned to you.

GOOD COPIES are counted out into multiples of 100 and neatly bundled.

REJECTS, which include torn, damaged or heavily cancelled stamps, are kept separate.

GOOD COPIES plus REJECTS represent the total number of stamps on which our service Charges are assessed.

SCALE OF CHARGES
3 lbs. weight or less, 3/9 per 1000 stamps recovered.
Over 3 lbs. weight, 3/4 per 1000 stamps recovered.
Or by contract for large quantities in spread deliveries.
NOTE.—Minimum Charge 5/-.

Our special process eliminates staining and creasing send us a trial lot—we will acknowledge immediately and, in a few days, advise you of the total stamps recovered. These will be forwarded to you promptly on receipt of our charges.

Some one of my readers WILL make a living, a pleasant enjoyable kind of living without a boss to mar the scene, with this ingenious idea! Remember, please, that the stamp business is tremendous in the United States and Canada, Millions are engaged in this hobby or business, and it can also be worked into a world-wide mail-order business. I don't believe that there is a country today, no matter how war torn or close to the "Iron Curtain", that hasn't some stamp hobbiest or traders merrily engaged in business with other hobbiests or dealers in other countries! There may be no other mail-order business or no other contact with the outside world, except among these exchange stamp enthusiasts! This particular market is probably the only one today that would allow a mail-order service to deal with EVERY country in the world!

There are now 15,000,000 stamp collectors in the U.S.A. alone. The magnitude of the world's grand total is hard to realize, but it must be several times the above figure!

"Used postage stamps on the original pieces of envelope or wrapping paper are collected and saved by banking institutions, offices and missions all over the world. In quantity, stamps gathered in this way have a certain value and they are usually sold to stamp dealers who specialize in buying and selling mixtures of 'stamps on paper'. They are bought and sold at so much per pound weight. Depending on the amount of paper adhering to each stamp and the size of the stamps themselves, (large commemoratives or ordinary) an average of 2500 stamps per pound weight can be used as a guide.

When a dealer buys a mixture of stamps on paper he may or may not attempt to do the cleaning and sorting himself. Normal practice is to sell the mixture as received to collectors who pick out the best stamps and probably discard the balance because of the task involved in cleaning all the stamps.

I conceived the idea of offering a stamp cleaning service to the stamp collecting fraternity and two years ago placed an inch advertisement in a local stamp journal.

This brought 16 replies, one from as far away as Africa and if I had accepted all the work which was offered, I would have been tied for years to come. I had intended this to be merely a spare-time activity and as a means of supplementing my normal income. Under these circumstances, I accepted a contract from one firm only and wrote to all the others who had replied to my advertisement stating that the response had been much greater than I had anticipated but that the service would be extended at a later date to meet all demands. Reasons for rushing the service were two-fold—firstly it absolved my prospective customers from a somewhat weary task and secondly my charges were reasonable to say the least.

CLEANING: This consists of immersing the stamps on paper in warm water until the stamps free themselves from the pieces of paper to which they are adhering. If a large tub or bath is used, up to two pounds weight of stamps on paper can be soaked and washed at the one time. It is necessary, however, to keep the water moving during the process of soaking, otherwise the stamps may become stained. It will be found that as the stamps become freed from the pieces of paper, the stamps themselves have a tendency to sink to the bottom of the tank or container while the pieces of paper float to the top of the water. This paper should be picked out until there is nothing left but stamps in the water. The water by this time will be dirty and discolored and it is advisable to run this off and rinse the remaining stamps in cold clean water, after which the stamps should be recovered from the bottom of the tank and spread out to dry on a floor, covered preferably with pieces of newspaper.

SORTING: Once the stamps are dry, they are sorted out into their different types and values. Any stamp which is torn, damaged, defaced, stained or very heavily cancelled should be put to one side. Good copies are counted and if there is more than 100 of the one kind it is usual to bundle these into multiples of 100 of the same stamp. The very common stamps can be counted out into multiples of 500 or 1000 and placed into envelopes. The total number of good stamps plus the rejects represent the sum total on which service charges are assessed.

I send my client a list of all stamps "recovered" both good and bad, together with my account for services rendered and on receipt of payment, the stamps are returned to the client promptly.

The capital necessary to start a business of this kind is negligible. It is a wanted service and a person's earnings are governed entirely by the amount of time he or she is prepared to devote to the work.

EARNINGS: There is no fortune in an enterprise of this nature but it is possible to make wages without the shadow of a boss at one's shoulder all the time. I may say at the outset that I found my original charge much too low and consequently at the beginning of this year I revised my price scale.

TIME ANALYSIS: Cleaning—which includes soaking in water, freeing from paper and spreading out to dry—ONE HOUR'S WORK per pound weight of stamps on paper (about 2,500).

Sorting—which includes separating the stamps into different types and values as well as putting aside any rejects—ONE HOUR'S WORK per 1000 stamps handled.

Counting and Bundling or Placing Into Envelopes—HALF HOUR'S WORK per 1000 stamps handled.

As an alternative, the operator of this plan could confine his service to cleaning only, which means that the stamps are removed from all paper and returned to the customer as an unsorted mixture "off paper". In this case, I charge a flat rate of 4/- per lb. as the number of stamps is immaterial" #9

U.S.A. . . . . BILL DELIVERY
Two young college boys who were confronted with the necessity of making some real money during their vacation, solved their problem in this manner.

Going to the local Electric, Gas and Telephone companies, they offered to deliver all their monthly bills for 1½¢ a bill. This meant a clear saving of 1½¢ per bill as the method used by the companies of sending the bills by mail cost 3¢ per letter. The three companies were sending out a total of 15,000 bills per month so they were quick to see how considerable the saving would be. The boys got the contract. All three bills were delivered at one and the same time. 90% of the families in this community received all three kinds of bills.

After the boys had demonstrated their ability, they solicited the business of the two largest department stores and also secured the delivery business for their monthly bills. Eventually, the stores let the boys distribute their advertising material in the same manner and the volume of business was so large that they were compelled to employ two high school boys as helpers. They cleaned up more than $1,000 during this particular vacation period. At that time they sold their clever enterprise to a couple of veterans and now these successors are just as busy, making several hundred dollars each month.

Every city and town, regardless of its size, offers a fine opportunity to some reader who would like to offer this type of service to the community. #10

U.S.A. . . . . WINDOW WEEDS
There is a market for gilded and painted weeds of various sorts. Stores buy them for their window displays. Other businesses for general decorative purposes. One young woman paid her way through college by collecting such weeds, spraying them with paint with an ordinary insect spray gun. After her classes each day she toured the book stores, tea rooms, and shops, restaurants and specialty shops. The weeds sold readily at $1.00 a dozen.

Her college friends would help her collect many of the weeds on their weekend hiking trips. A story in "Discovered" tells about the success of a man who made a fortune selling the same type of painted weed. #11

SOUTH AFRICA
There is a hotel in South Africa where most of the guests are children under five.

A Mrs. Paterson runs the odd place and started it several years ago after some deep thinking. She remembered what a problem holidays are for a couple with children. She knew that most hotels failed miserably when it came to welcoming children and making their stay a pleasant one, not only for the children, but for the other guests and the hotel in general.

Children aren't popular anywhere nowadays, it seems. It is difficult to rent a cottage, motel, summer apartment, boarding-house room, etc., during the vacation period if you have children. Everywhere we see that familiar sign "No Children". Even when a spot is located there is always the problem of boiling milk late at night, children's cots, baby cribs, bedding, etc.

Mrs. Paterson decided that there was a great need for a hotel dedicated to serving children. A hotel for children!

When she opened up her Hotel a sign at the front read: NO GUESTS WITHOUT CHILDREN HERE. Instead of makeshift chairs, there are plenty of highchairs; every bed-room in the hotel has a cot specially made for children.

Enough prams (or baby buggies) to go around, if needed for outdoor promenading. Playpens in many of the rooms, plenty of attractive toys, wall papers and pictures in each room. Lots of color in the foods that are served the kiddies. For instance, the jellies are in glorious Technicolor. Plates, cups, glasses, silverware, milk mugs, etc., are all colorful and small. Ideal for children. These little touches mean a great deal to the average child. Sometimes it means the difference between a bad child and a good child, an upset nervous child or a happy child.

Yes, this place, was really planned for children and I can readily understand why Mrs. Paterson made a huge success out of the unusual venture. There should be hundreds of such hotels throughout the United States, don't you think? It doesn't necessarily have to be a hotel. Any enterprise, vacation type or otherwise, can make a small fortune if they cater to children and their particular needs. Parents, am I right or wrong? Oh yes, one thing more.

Mrs. Paterson also provides an additional attractive service wherein the parents can leave their children in the hotel rooms and go out and enjoy their vacation. How? The hotel has a trained nurse. The nurse is on duty at certain hours during the day or evening…in the corridors. She checks up on each guest at regular intervals, and generally looks after the older children, keeping them out of trouble and setting things right if they are unhappy about anything in particular. #12

U.S.A. . . . . GINGERBREAD ORNAMENTS
Little gingerbread people make a living for Helen, her 80-year-old father and her 17-year-old daughter.

The story starts many years ago when the daughter was three years old. At that time they didn't have enough money to buy Christmas tree ornaments so Helen filled up the empty spaces on the tree with little ginger bread figures.

The following Christmas five mothers came around asking for the same kind of novelties to hang on their Christmas trees.

Now, years later, these same ornaments are turned out the year around, but still at home in a special kitchen. They sell from 10¢ to $1 apiece. Ornaments, toy figures, novelties, all made of gingerbread are adapted to ALL seasons.

Kitchen enterprises can turn into profitable businesses. Take the case of a woman in Illinois. She craved sweets so invented a "fatless" icebox cookie for her own consumption. Neighbors started placing orders for the cookies and the business grew so big that her husband had to take over.

A New Jersey woman offered her favorite vegetable relish to the neighborhood stores. Soon it was selling so well, that her children at home had a busy time of it pasting on the labels. Dad helps with the bookkeeping. Another woman liked to serve herring in wine sauce. She started selling the stuff, turning out a couple dozen jars at a time. Today a modern plant turns out 700 to 800 jars a day. Thirty-five people work for her. Two sisters in North Carolina have made a big thing out of a specialty called "Dixie Dames" or a kind of fancy pickle. One of the sisters looks after the kitchen end of the business and the other sister supervises the growing of the pickles on their farm. Some of the pickles have been shipped to faraway places all over the world, it is claimed.

A brother and sister started such a kitchen enterprise during the depression, preparing and selling a Virginia water-ground corn meal and farm style sausage. Calling their foods "Memory Foods" the list now includes a black buckwheat flour and a special New Orleans molasses.

There may be a career right in your own home, Mrs. Housewife, with the help of the hubby, of course. #13-17

AUSTRALIA
I believe the originator of this Australian project can tell the story of his success better than I can, so here it is…in his own words. Let me add one thing, though; when this enterprise proves successful, agents can be hired to build up the routes and the promoter can stay home and handle the promotion and bottling end of the business. Ideal for a backyard shop, upstairs for bottling, downstairs for shell crushing:

"One day I happened to be down at the railway goods depot giving a friend a hand to load a truck with some goods that had just arrived from the country. While in the depot I noticed a railway car filled with large sacks of oysters. Up to this time I had never realized that so many oysters were being sold.

Being out of work and looking around for some way of making a living for myself and family, I thought why not sell oysters. I knew that most oysters were sold in Sea Food stores and restaurants. If these were put into a bottle I thought they would be easy to sell. I decided then to go into this business so I purchased a sack of oysters for $12.00, an oyster opener at 25 cents, 5 dozen second hand bottles at 2 cents each and some corks to fit the bottles.

The oysters were opened and put straight into the bottles, nothing else was added, just the juice of the oysters was used as a pickle. The bottles held about a dozen good sized oysters. The bottles were, I think, made to pack herbs into. They are a narrow type about 7 inches high and about 1½ inches in diameter. After packing they were corked and packed into a basket.

I put on a clean white shirt and a clean white apron and started out to sell them. The best place I thought to sell goods of this kind were places where people drank beer. There were two dozen bottles in the basket. The first tavern I went into I sold the lot at 50 cents each. I went back home and opened more oysters and filled another two dozen—back to the same tavern and sold another dozen bottles. From there I walked about a mile to another tavern and sold the other dozen as soon as I got inside.

For the four dozen bottles I had received $24.00 and expenses had been—Bottles, 88 cents—Corks, 30 cents—Opener, 25 cents, and oysters $12.00, making a profit of $10.50 on one sack of oysters.

Here I knew I had the means of making a good business. The next week I bought two sacks and went further afield. These were also easily sold. A regular route was soon worked up and at the present time I am selling five sacks a week. I have had a neat label printed with my name and address on it together with a name "Fresh Port Stephen Oysters". My customers keep the bottles for me and as soon as they are emptied return them. This saves a little on bottles.

After a few weeks the oyster shells began to accumulate. I began to look for a way to dispose of them. A friend told me that chicken farmers used shell grit for their flocks. So I contacted a poultry farmer and he said he would take it if it were crushed. A corn crusher was purchased and my shells were crushed and sold at 5 cents a lb.

I have been in this business for some years and am doing fine. I have bought a utility truck and call at the sea food restaurants and collect the oyster shell which they give me free. This is a nice side line for me.