July 6, 2007
In the world of online dating, one of the issues that keeps coming up is the photo issue. Surveys conducted by dating sites have shown that you are 10 times more likely to get contacted if you have a picture on your profile, regardless of your looks. Still, many people prefer to leave their photo area blank. There are many reasons why you may choose not to upload a photo. Some people are insecure about their looks and think a photo will actually damage their chances of finding a date, while others are ashamed of the fact that they are looking for love online and don’t want their friends or colleagues to find out. Still, if you are considering trying your luck with online dating without adding a picture to your profile, there are some very good reasons why you should reconsider.
People will think you are not serious
Most dating sites will require you to register in some way before being allowed to run full searches. This leads some people to set up a profile just so they can have a quick look around. If you’re just having a look and are not necessarily interested in making contact just yet, you may not want to go through the trouble of finding a good photo and uploading it. However, if your profile contains little information and you do not upload a picture, people may assume you are one of those people who are just looking around, even if you are more serious. If the person looking at your profile is serious about finding a partner or a date online, they may not bother contacting you at all because he/she may think it would be a waste of time. It’s worth keeping in mind that even if you are only having a look, you will get a much better response if you upload a photo.
People will think you have something to hide
While there are some perfectly innocent reasons why people may not want to upload a picture (as stated above) it’s also quite common for the reasons to be less than innocent. For example, people who are married or in a relationship often turn to the Internet in order to find people to cheat with. For obvious reasons, such people do not want their picture to be publicly available. Many online dating guides advise their readers to watch out for profiles without pictures exactly for this reason. Putting up a picture shows you have nothing to hide.
People will think you are hideously ugly
Harsh but true. While different people have different tastes, if you deny them of the chance to see what you look like, they may end up assuming the worst. Even if you are insecure about your looks, you may be exactly what the other person is looking for. Why not let the other person decide for him or herself?
People will not see you come up in the search at all
For the reasons detailed above, many people prefer not to be contact and be contacted by people who have not uploaded a picture to the site. Some dating sites offer their user the choice of specifying this when searching for people. This means your profile will not even show up in their searches, even though you fit their other search criteria perfectly.
Suzy Allen works for Pocado.com -
Online Dating
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The human body uses two types of vitamins: water-soluble and fat-soluble. In the debate over the necessity of vitamin supplementation, nutrition experts generally agree that there may be a need for water-soluble vitamins supplementation. These vitamins are called water-soluble because they are dissolved in water. This property of the vitamins means that the body does not easily store them. You must consume foods with these vitamins on a daily basis.
The vitamins that make up water-soluble vitamins include the B-complex vitamins (B1-thiamine, B2-riboflavin, B3-niacin, B5-pantothenic acid, B6-biotin, B12-cobalamins, and folic acid) and vitamin C. The B-complex vitamins provide various bodily functions, including energy production, nerve cell, and carbohydrate, protein, and fat metabolizing. Most people who eat a normal diet containing a variety of foods should have no problem getting enough of these vitamins everyday. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that is essential for preventing the accumulation of free radicals in the system. Having a sufficient amount of vitamin C is associated with a low risk of heart disease and cataracts.
Depending on where you live, there are standards for what is required for both vitamins. There are varying recommendations for the B-complex vitamins. In general, you need 50 milligrams of vitamin C each day. This amount is lower or higher depending on your age, sex, health status, and if you are pregnant or breast-feeding. This amount is only a guideline. You should discuss your personal needs with a health professional that can make a proper assessment of your dietary needs.
The most common foods that contain vitamins C include green vegetables, organ meats, and citrus fruits. The B-complex vitamins are a large group. Following a diet that includes a variety of foods including nuts, beans, whole grains, organ meats, fish, and poultry should give you the amount of B-complex vitamins your body needs.
Vitamin C and the B-complex vitamins are available in mega doses. Although excessive amounts of water-soluble vitamins are excreted in the urine, doing so can also result in stomach upset and other unpleasant side effects. You should never consume large doses of vitamins with approval from your medical doctor. If you and a health professional determine that you are not getting enough of these vitamins, supplementation may be a consideration.
To check out the supplement we take daily and highly recommend, be sure to check out http://www.nutritional-supplement-guides.com/what-we-use.html
John Gibb manages Multivitamins
www.nutritional-supplement-guides.com
The site dedicated to optimising health.
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Around 60% of drivers of the 31 million cars on Britain’s roads
travel alone, and with the number increasing every year, the
idea of car sharing as an option is being promoted by County
Councils as well as Friends of the Earth and Carplus.
Car sharing, also known as carpooling, is when two or more
people travel together by car, and the passenger generally makes
a donation towards running costs. There are a number of
organisations, such as www.liftshare.co.uk, that enable people
living in the same area who make similar journeys to make
contact with each other, encouraging more participation in lift
sharing.
The number of people taking part in car sharing arrangements is
relatively small but increasing, and supporters of car sharing
initiatives hope that this will become a much more popular way
of travelling in the future. Why car share? - Car sharing
reduces your travel costs. By car sharing for a year, the
average driver would save £1000 on fuel and parking costs. If
car sharers alternate with whose turn it is to drive, the amount
of wear and tear that happens to both cars is halved and the
cars will better keep their value. - Car sharing reduces
emissions. Sharing a car with 1 other person would save 648 kg
of carbon dioxide emissions a year, and if half the drivers of
the UK shared a lift just once a week, pollution would be
reduced by 10%. Emissions are a serious problem for both people
and the environment.
90% of the population in London is caused by cars, and the cost
of that pollution in human lives is high, with estimates
suggesting that more people die from pollution than from car
accidents. 70% of asthma sufferers believe that pollution makes
their condition worse, and with 5.1 million asthmatics in the
UK, anything that can be done to reduce emissions should be
encouraged. - Car sharing reduces congestion and parking
problems. There are massive congestion problems on Britain’s
motorways and in and around many towns and cities across the UK,
and car sharing would help alleviate the situation. Congestion
costs British businesses a staggering £15 billion every year in
lost work hours, and parking presents a problem for many
employers.
If the average car occupancy were to increase by half - from
1.58 people per car to 2.37 people per car - there would be a
third fewer cars on the roads. Many employers who encourage car
sharing have found that their car parking problem has
disappeared with their employees coming to work in one car
rather than three.
- Car sharing increases transport options for rural areas. Rural
areas often have little or no access to public transport and it
can be very difficult for people without cars to get around. Car
sharing would provide options for these people, who may be able
to share a journey with someone in their neighbourhood.
There have been taxi-sharing initiatives arranged in some
villages, which have had some success, but have yet to widely
catch on.
- Car sharing is a good way to meet new people. It often works
best in situations such as travelling to and from work or doing
the school run where there are lots of people entering and
leaving the area at the same time. People can get to know
colleagues that they would not otherwise have met, as well as
neighbours and other people who live nearby.
- Car sharing can reduce car insurance. If two people alternate
who drives and who is a passenger, they can both get cheaper car
insurance because they will be doing fewer miles a year.
The reason for this is that, although the car occupants are just
as likely to be in a car accident, both cars are less likely to
be involved in an accident if they are being driven less. Thus,
car insurance companies appreciate this lower risk and lower
their prices appropriately.
Car sharing is good for health, money and the environment, and
is a good way to meet more neighbours. Trials of new lanes just
for car sharers are being introduced on motorways such as the
M1, as similar principles have been successfully applied in
America and Australia, so car sharing could get people to work
quicker too.
- ends -
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When you are choosing a domain name you will probably be looking for a .com or maybe a .net. This on the whole is sensible advice, but if you are offering something a little bit different on your website and you want to stand out then there is another path you can take.
First let me give a quick and simple explanation of the different parts that domain names are made up of. Let us start with the top level, this is the end part of any web address such as .com or the myriad of other top level names that are now available. The part next to the top level domain is called the second level domain. The second level domain is the part that you register with a domain name registrar. For my site the second level domain is NameSearchDomain.
The part at the from of the web address is the third level domain, this is excluding the www part. The third level domain is often referred to by your web host as the sub-domain, it is just a sub-domain of the second level domain name. You can set this part up with your web host if it allows you to use sub-domains.
This is a very high level overview of how a web address is made up, there is more to this but for our purposes this is all we nee to know. To clarify here is an example using Google.
You do not need to enter the www part of the address in your browser, just typing in Google.com will take you to the website.
Now you know how a web address is made up you can use your imagination to come up with a clever and distinctive web address. If you take a look at del.icio.us you can see an interesting use of the available domain names to spell the word delicious. Here they have registered the domain name icio.us, the us part is the top level domain that represents North America. A sub-domain of del has been created on their web server which completes the creation of a catchy web address.
Why not use the same principal to create your own web address, there are many top level domains to choose from, far too many to list here. As many of the less well known top level domains are not used there will be a lot more domain names to choose from. You can use this method to create a distinctive web address and become more memorable to your visitors.
Allan is the webmaster at NameSearchDomain.com where you can find out all about Domain names.
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In a perfect world, we would never get an injury. But unfortunately, injuries are often inevitable, especially if you are extremely athletic, physically competitive, or an avid exerciser. Simply put, the more you use your body, whether in exercise or everyday tasks, the more you put yourself at risk for injury. Lying on your bed all day may sound like a simple solution, but that only leads to a variety of other problems!
So how can you continue being active after you’ve suffered an injury? After some injuries, you really shouldn’t be active at all. Depending on the nature and severity of your injury, you may need to take a good, long break from your exercises or at least modify. The most important step you can take is to check with your physician and heed the proper medical advice.
The worst step you can take is to ignore it. Many people mistakenly assume that all injuries just disappear after time. What really occurs is that the body attempts to heal but may “heal” completely out of place, creating an asymmetry in the bone structure of your body and changes in your muscle that may create a lifetime of tightness in that area. You have probably heard (or even said), “My wrist (or knee or elbow or whatever) just hasn’t been the same since I injured it. And that was years ago.” Sadly, that persistent bothersome body part could have been less bothersome had you treated the injury properly in the very first moments it occurred. But even the best of us stubbornly expect too much of our bodies and deal with a persistent bad knee, shoulder, wrist, or elbow.
If your injury is minor, you can continue exercising, but you will have to modify your regimen and again heed the advice of your doctor. Here’s a basic rule of thumb for post-injury exercise:
1. During the first 72 hours, REST! If you continue exercising with a new injury, you will inhibit your body’s natural healing mechanisms and possible exacerbate the initial injury. Don’t make it worse than it already is. Apply RICE- Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.
2. After the first few days, you may begin slowly increasing your activity, modifying your routine as necessary. The body is an amazing thing—if you listen to it, you will know exactly what activities you can and cannot perform.
3. Expect to feel post-injury pain and discomfort for weeks and even months. Take the appropriate measures to allow your body to continue healing—modify your exercises, keep the body part (wrist/elbow/knee) wrapped during activity, seek physical therapy, such as massage or adjustments, if that is recommended by your physician. There is also a new physical therapy technology out that uses laser to speed the healing of injured muscles. While it doesn’t perform miracles, it can aid in the healing process.
Above all, try to avoid getting injuries by exercising properly. Use control and correct form always. Let your personal trainer or group fitness instructor know of your injury so that he or she can offer appropriate modifications. And if, during a workout, any exercise causes discomfort, discontinue that specific exercise and opt for one that offers similar benefits without the impact or strain. Never “work” through a cramp or a pain, no matter how much pride you have. Stop, stretch, and modify. Remember, your body is the only one you’ve got, so be good to it!
Christy Stevenson, FiTOUR ProTrainer and author of Get on the Ball—A Swiss Ball Workout, has been teaching group fitness classes for several years, earning her AFAA certification in 1999 and her Fitour certification in 2000. Visit her website at http://www.swiss-ball-workout.com.
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