Tuesday, November 14, 2000

Victory Junction – Adam’s Way

Victory Junction – Adam’s Way

#MyGivingStory @GivingTuesday 


#MyGivingStory is a social media storytelling contest created to foster a public conversation about giving and to inspire more people to give.

z & Paul Smith (Victory Junction – Indoor Sports Field)


Below is my entry: 

My devotion to the resilience of children stimulates me to give back. Every month, my husband and I donate to Victory Junction. We love how health challenged children entrusted to this camp gain a greater understanding of their own strengths and courage.

Victory Junction is a medically safe, yet exhilarating facility that challenges youngsters who have a serious medical condition to try things they never imagined possible. As they conquer activities like zip lining and archery or experience bowling, fishing or swimming, the children build confidence that will positively shape how they view the rest of their lives. You should see the “Adventure Tower” which stands fifty-five (55) feet tall and is covered in puzzling ways to get to the top!

We visited the Victory Junction a couple of years back and were thrilled to see how creativity and ingenuity came together to offer these kids the experience of their lives.

This transformative Camp has enriched over eight thousand young campers and thanks to generosity of donors, families never pay for their child to attend. How awesome it would be if we could donate that $10,000 prize to this charity.

“Come what come may, time and the hour run through the roughest day.” ― William Shakespeare, Macbeth. The camp began operation in 2004. It was the dream of Adam Petty, a fourth-generation race car driver from the famous Petty family. Adam died at the young age of nineteen in 2000 during a practice lap crash. It was his dream to help children and Adam’s family, fellow drivers, plus friends made it happen.

Victory Junction is part of SeriousFun Children’s Network (SFCN), an alliance of nine camps nationally and thirty camps worldwide that serve children dealing with serious medical condition and chronic illnesses. It is also an official charity of NASCAR.

If you are ever near Randleman, North Carolina, I highly recommend you arrange for a tour of the Victory Junction grounds. The insight you reap will enhance your life.

The twenty entries with the most votes will be sent to the Contest Judges. Voting is super easy. You just click on the entry link and then click on the green vote button on the top left of the screen. Bam you are done for the day.

You can vote once daily until December 10, 2019.

Please Click Here Daily
to Vote for My Entry


What are the prizes?

There are several streams of prizes:
  1. From among the 20 finalists with the most votes, the judges' rankings will determine the winners of 1st Place ($10,000 for your chosen nonprofit organization), 2nd Place ($5,000 for your chosen nonprofit organization) and 3rd Place ($2,500 for your chosen nonprofit organization).
  2. The four nonprofit organizations that are nominated by the most story submitters will each receive $2,000 grants. (Note that this will not impact individual stories' eligibility to be a finalist or winner of one of the larger prizes.)
  3. The five stories submitted by people between the ages of 13 and 17 with the most votes will receive the #GivingTuesdayKids award and $1,000 for their chosen nonprofit organization.
  4. The five Spanish-language stories with the most votes will be reviewed by judges. The two finalists with the highest scores will receive the #Yo Donoy Porque award and $12,500 for their chosen nonprofit organization.
  5. Two stories that touch the GivingTuesday team will each receive an Honorable Mention and $1,000 for their chosen nonprofit organization.
  6. Eight times throughout the voting period (twice per week), an entry will be selected at random to receive a $500 grant for their chosen charity. (Note that this will not impact individual stories’ eligibility to be a finalist or winner of one of the larger prizes.)
  7. Every day during the submission period (November 1st to December 3rd), an entry will be selected at random to receive a custom GivingTuesday gift. 

Tuesday, September 19, 2000

Why the Unlocator?

Why the Unlocator?

Unlocator is a Danish company that focuses on methods to help people get around internet restrictions, censorship, and geo-blocking. The company provides both Smart Domain Name System (Smart DNS) and a full-blown VPN service.

Smart DNS is a great way to access online services that are blocked, however in order to gain privacy it is necessary to use a VPN. The good news is that Unlocator provides access to both technologies to give subscribers everything they might need.

While VPN and Smart DNS might overlap in some cases they each shine in their own way. Let’s take a look at both of the products so you can better decide what is the right choice for you.

The Quick Comparison

VPN Pros

  • • Encrypts Data
  • • Adds Privacy
  • • Anonymous Browsing

VPN Cons

  • • Limited Device Support
  • • Need to turn on/off
  • • Adds Slight Overhead

Smart DNS Pros

  • • Made for Streaming
  • • Supports Most Devices
  • • No Software to Install

Smart DNS Cons

  • • Only Select Channels Supported
  • • No Additional Encryption
  • • Regular Privacy

Privacy on the Internet, or perhaps the lack of, is a much discussed subject. These days our every move online is monitored and tracked by governments, internet providers, ad networks etc. Profiling of individuals is happening on a larger scale than ever before.

Use VPN to Protect Your Privacy Online

Profiling happens via a range of mechanisms but the most important is your IP (Internet Protocol). Your IP is a number, which is assigned to you automatically when you go online. It’s much the same as a number plate on your car.

Every piece of data you send or receive when connected to the Internet is bound to your IP. By connecting to a VPN then your real IP address is hidden.

After connecting to a VPN then all the activities you perform online will be bound to the IP of the VPN server and not your real IP.

This is pretty much the online equivalent of that cool James Bond car where he can switch number plates at the push of a button.

How often have you come across a streaming service that did not work because you were not located in a supported country? The ability to use streaming service across borders is still a challenge. However, with Unlocator Smart DNS that is no longer the case.

How Smart DNS Works

No Tech Skills Required

The explanation below has been created to satisfy the knowledge hungry user. Unlocator Smart DNS is easy to use and no tech skills are required to set up your device. Create a free Unlocator trial and follow the setup guides and you will be ready in minutes. The explainer is not required reading.

DNS stands for Domain Name Resolution and it’s basically a phone book for every website on the Internet. A webserver has what is known as an IP address, which is a long number in the format xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx used for identification. However, since it’s easier for humans to write google.com in a browser instead of a server IP address then DNS handles the translation from domain name to IP address.

Whenever you try to use a streaming service then your location is revealed to the streaming service via your IP address. However, when you use Unlocator Smart DNS on your device then we make sure that all requests that, using a normal DNS server, would reveal your location are rerouted to our infrastructure in order to mask your real location.

Unlocator Smart DNS does this real time and on a pr. site basis. This means that unlike Unlocator VPN you will not get a new IP address or location when using Unlocator Smart DNS. This means that with Unlocator Smart DNS you can appear to be located in multiple countries at the same time. This will allow you to unblock a streaming service on your Apple TV from the UK while also unblocking a US streaming service on your laptop.

Unlocator Values Your Privacy

In order to provide you with the best experience Unlocator use cookies to optimize performance, preferences, usage & statistics, social media and marketing campaigns. For more information please see their cookie policy .

This Cookie Policy describes the way in which cookies are used on this website and how you can enable or disable cookies.

When you use the website unlocator.com, you also give your consent to them and their partners’ use of cookies in order to optimize your experience on the website and for marketing purposes. You can change your cookie preferences by referring to your browser’s documentation.

Find out more about the Smart DNS and Virtual Private Network (VPN) services of Unlocator by clicking here to go directly to the company's site.