Clever Genius

Teenagers sexting nude images leaving it open for paedophiles

2009-12-01T21:30:00.001Z

Shocking figures show teens texting nude pictures to each other of themselves. The are many dangers they refuse to take into consideration in doing so.

I was reading a report today about teenagers texting naughty pictures to each other and it actually really shocked me.

It never surprises me to read about celebrities getting caught out with nude pictures or a video of them having a romp in the bedroom appearing on the Internet.

The study revealed more than a third of teenagers have used mobiles to send sexually-explicit snaps of themselves and more than a quarter do it on a regular basis.

They send naughty snaps to their boyfriend or girlfriend despite more than half of those polled knowing of instances where the photos ended up being shared with others and or even on the Internet.

Once the pictures or video clips start to get distributed, especially when things become sour between a couple it ends up leaving someone embarrassed.

Experts warned humiliated victims are often taunted or bullied. There is also the danger of the snaps ending up in the hands of paedophiles.

Dr Andy Phippen said: "This is a significantly larger problem than we had first imagined. "It shows a population who are unconcerned about intimacy or privacy yet are ill-equipped to understand the implications of their actions."

The survey by the University of Plymouth, in Devon, and the South West Grid for Learning found 40 percent of teenagers saw nothing wrong with sending topless pictures. An astonishing 15 percent actually thought naked shots sent to be harmless.

In all, 39 per cent had shared intimate pictures or videos. Dr Phippen added: "Such practices lead to a desensitisation of young people to issues of intimacy. What is particularly worrying is the somewhat bias attitude to the subject."

Poll organiser David Wright called for schools to warn pupils of the dangers and how they can find them in a situation which may go out of control and is defiantly irreversible once they start getting distributed. He added: "We suggest sexting awareness is adopted into wider education schemes."

All this may be partially to the advance technology you get these days with your mobile phone.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you sent a picture or a video you now hope you didn't?

Are you now constantly looking around on the Internet to see if an ex of yours has posted a picture or a video you know would leave you embarrassed?

How to grow your brain

2009-12-01T20:40:00.000Z

Did you know a study says you doing cardiovascular can make you more intelligent?

We all know exercise is good for the body and it helps you to relax once the pain wears off. But now it is being claimed by some new researchers who have carried out the study that it is also good for your brain.

A study revealed that the fittest young men showed increased intelligence, better performance on thought process tests and higher educational achievements.

However, the link was only found with cardiovascular fitness and not muscular strength. Cardiovascular exercise is a form of exercise which is designed to work the cardiovascular system, improving lung, heart, and along with improving the condition of the musculoskeletal system.

The primary goal of cardiovascular exercise is to get the heart rate up and keep it up for a sustained period. Jogging, cycling, and aerobics classes are some common examples of cardiovascular exercise.

Neuroscientist Dr Maria Aberg of Gothenburgh University studied the data of over 1 million Swedish men born between 1950 and 1976 who joined the army at 18.

She said “These results support the notion that physical exercise could serve as a public health strategy to optimise educational achievement.

My thought

This could be good news for all the students starting their college or university. They can do as much cardio exercise as possible in their spare time and sharpen their brain a bit to get better marks and grades. It is also something teachers should consider doing more of with youngsters in schools and giving them a better chance.

So what happens next?

We have the world’s students doing cardio
Everyone becomes more bright and intelligent
Everyone has better educational achievement
Too many people pass
Not many get jobs due to high demands
Employers struggle with employing as they cannot decide with tons of graduates with excellent marks applying
Schools, colleges, universities make their test papers more difficult.
Students fail to pass
A survey carried out say’s the country you live in has the lowest pass rates and lacks intelligent people
Cardio no longer helps you pass.

That was just a little bit of fun. It is truly a great thing for us to be able to do things to sharpen our brain. Exercise is always good, and we all should be doing it regardless.

But as we know, the students are the worst at doing anything healthy, so this maybe something to motivate them. It is not only for students, but anyone who thinks they could do with a better and sharper brain.

If you know any students or have some in your family, then maybe you should tell them about this or even better forward this to them.

Just remember it is cardiovascular exercise that helps.

Tire puncture at speed can kill

2009-11-30T05:49:00.000Z

What to do if you get a puncture at speed and how. Having a puncture at any speed can have some serious consequences.

I have personally experienced a puncture at 70mph. At the time I had no idea as to how a vehicle responded to a sudden puncture.

You don't have to have bad and worn tires to get a puncture, it can happen with brand new tires too. Sometimes things lying around on the road can damage a tire and cause it to lose air slowly.

It was a few years ago when I had a puncture while driving down the motorway (freeway as some call it) with my parents on board and my two younger brothers.

I suddenly felt my steering wheel starting to judder and becoming hard to control. I used my full strength to keep it straight. But a few seconds later, I made the worst possible move I could have made at the time. I went on to press my brake to slow down thinking I will have to move to a slower lane and then stop. The second I touched my brakes, it felt as though I had slammed my breaks on. It made the car spin 3 times hitting the centre barriers of the motorway.

It was the front right hand side tire that had punctured, therefore the front right had became like a pivot point making the car spin to the right.

When the car finally came to a stop, I rushed out taking my family out as quickly as possible. We were very lucky to have come out unharmed. One of the reasons was the time it happened. It was midnight, and the traffic was low. However, as I got my family out leaving the car on the middle of the motorway, I watched in horror as cars and lorries swerved away to avoid collision.

I thought I had got away from any harm. but it was only a year later I found out I had damaged some of my neck and back muscles. I suffer to this day from what I thought was a whiplash and now a confirmed muscle damage.

So what do you do when you have a puncture?

Put your hazard warning lights on to warn others. This will make them keep distance and be aware.
Avoid pressing the brake
Hold on to the steering wheel as tightly as possible.
Try and determine which tire has punctured
If it is a front tire, you steering will judder and pull to the side you have the puncture. (if so avoid braking)
If it is a rear tire, you will find your back swerving slightly from side to side depending on speed.
If it is your front tire, avoid braking, put your clutch in and reduce speed slowly. Also gear down. (if it is an automatic car, take it to neutral).
Steer towards a safe place making sure to not steer too much or too fast.
And slowly bring the car to a safe stop.
If it is the rear tire, then you may break but make sure to brake very gently and try and slow down slowly.
Again steer slowly towards a safe place to stop.

It all sounds easy, but when you are in that situation, you may not remember this. Just remember to stay calm. If you remain calm, then this will all come back to you. But if you panic, you will only do things and react in a manner that will endanger your life.
Although it doesn't sound very dangerous, punctures can have serious consequences. This is why you will find you car fails vehicle checks such as MOT when you tires are in bad shape.
Having done motor mechanics when I was in college, I got to learn how some things that seem so simple and petty can become life threatening.

Car accident videos
Motocycle accident videos

Blogger friends may not help you earn

2009-11-30T01:19:00.001Z

Does it help when friends from Blogger community visit your article?

Before I tell you a fact that will have you thinking, let me tell you some background information.

It is not good enough just being listed in Google. You have to try and get listed in Bing, Yahoo and minor search engines or directories used by people across the globe to make good money.

Saying that, it is very difficult to get listed high with Bing and Yahoo as they use different ways of selecting what is listed with them and where. Unlike Google which lists according to links, visit and the relevance of particular article (page) on the web.

Google is said to search for the keywords used by the person doing the search in your article. Depending on how many times it appears, it is then given a rating and it is that which determines where your page is listed.

Also in order for you to make anything, your visitor has to be on your page for a minimum of 30 seconds. It is only then you may make something either from PPC or CPC. Don't ask me how and why, but apparently this is what they do to make sure it is not people visting to click ads (people and sites taking part in exchanging clicks).

We all know Google monitors very carefully the people who click on their ads, the impressions that appear. Not only that, advertisers using Google to advertise are also able to monitor people who are clicking on their ads. They can actually prevent their ads appearing on a particular site/page and can even report sites or articles to Google if they suspect deliberate clicks. This can actually reduce your income. I am not saying it will, but a possibility. Let us all hope it doesn't. As long as we have new visitors, it will actually increase our income.

So what does this mean? Well you may have now figured out what I am trying to say, but for those who haven't here it goes:

Positive

Friends from the blog sites community can help increase the number of visitors by visiting our articles, this is true.
It will help us get better ratings with search engines and get listed higher
Comments left may help unique and new visitors to read and contribute

Negative

Repeat visitors are picked up by Google and other Affiliate companies, so you may not get paid for cpc or ppc every-time for the same visitor
Minimum of 30 seconds stay on any given page is required for it to be taken into account as a visit or for any chance to earn something. By saying visit and 30 seconds stay I mean something that will actually be beneficial. All visits are counted.
Repeat clicks by the same person can get you banned for life, although they do know that sites have genuine repeat visitors and they may click on ads for genuine reasons.

So why do I say that? I have recently been reading a lot about how Google operates the AdSense programme and how they monitor from their Google AdSense help section .

I have also found some sites dedicated to finding out how to get listed high up in search engines. Not the sites that claim to be able to help you get listed high by charging you. But sites that have forums to share experiences and I suspect some may even be ex Google employees participating. Good for us.

My advice is to keep on trying to get unique visitors to your articles or site to help you grow your income.

A way to do that is to leave comments and visit blog sites outside of Blogger. Some blog sites allow you to leave your comment along with your name and your website address just like Blogger.

However, some sites also allow the blogger to accept or decline your comment. So try and avoid leaving your site name in the actual comment, as it may get your comment rejected. If your comment appears on that persons article, then people will be able to visit your site by clicking on your name. So make sure to leave an interesting comment. This will have visitors wanting to see who you are and may get them to click on your name. Which we know will bring them to your website.

I find leaving a few dots at the end of your comments leave the impression of your comment being longer. If your comment is an interesting one, then visitors will think the comment is longer and press on your name to see the rest of the comment. Which obviously will only bring them to your site.

In short and bullet points things to do to help each other.

Do read articles and leave good comments, preferably a couple of sentence. Not will it only help your friend but you too as this will have people wanting to make friends with you and see some of your blogs.
Try and stay on the page for at least 30 seconds. You don't actually have to be viewing it. As long as it is open in your browser.
Visit other blog sites where you can leave a comment along with your URL. Don't waste your time with the ones that don't allow you to leave your URL. By all means, you can leave your URL in the comment section of those sites if it relevant to the article. Or by simply requesting the author to visit your page or site and give their opinion. This sometimes make the other person feel good, because you are saying that they are intelligent indirectly.
When leaving your URL, try and leave it in places where the site or article is similar to what you are linking it to. This helps create back-links. Your article or blog should be an add on or an improvement to where you are leaving the comment. Don't say that in the comment section though.
Leave a link in your Facebook, Twitter, Myspcae, Bebo or whatever else you use and ask friends to visit. Ask them to help you by proof reading and by helping you fill in gaps or simply make improvements. This always works better.

Hope the above helps. Just before I finish this long article, which I thought was going to be a short one when I started. I just want to bring to your attention, those who use Google Analytics will be able to confirm some things I have said about repeat visitors and how Goolge monitors things by looking at their Analytics. A way to confirm the above is, you can log out of your account and visit your article a few time. You will be able to see, no matter how many times you do, it will not increase the number of visitors in your analytics. You normally have two figures. One will say number of visits, this will increase, but the one that says Visitors will not and it will remain the same.

So friends, please do visit my articles and leave genuine comments, even if they are negative. I would rather have you be honest then lead me to believe I am doing it right. I will do the same by reading your articles and leaving honest opinion. We are all here to make some extra cash, so may as well help ea other. Good luck.

How to promote your site
How the layout of your blog should be
Making money with blogs

Drink Fit

2009-11-27T02:53:00.001Z

As you are aware there are two components to losing weight. One is to burn more energy by increasing your activity level. The other is to take in less energy (fewer calories). This is where drinking water comes in. Unlike other liquids water has no calories. Drinking too much of any liquid other than water may give you too many calories.

Studies have shown that as much as 20 percent of the population can achieve the weight loss they desire by drinking more water and less juice, fizzy drinks etc. However, most people still need to increase their activity level (go out and play) and eat healthier.

So the solution to losing at least a few extra pounds sounds easy. Start with two glasses of cold water first thing in the morning. That's before you drink coffee or eat your breakfast. The reason I say cold water is as some research show, when you drink cold water, your works harder to warm it up to suit your body. Which means it is working out in a way. That in it-self is a form of exercise. But drink it as cold as you are able to without forcing yourself too much.

It is very difficult for the body to differentiate hunger from thirst. If you don't drink enough water throughout the day, you may mistake thirst for hunger and eat more than you really need, which can also impair weight loss. So staying well hydrated is important, particularly if you are trying to lose weight. And don't forget to eat lots of water-based foods like soups, vegetables and low-fat dairy, which are equally important for weight loss, as they lower the calorie density of meals. That can help you reduce calories without reducing portions.

When you drink all the water you need, you will very quickly notice a decrease in your appetite, possibly even on the first day! If you're serious about becoming leaner and healthier, drinking water is an absolute must. If you're doing everything else right and still not seeing results, this might just be what's missing.

Water is also the best beauty treatment. You've heard this since high school, and it's true. Water will do wonders for your looks! It flushes out impurities in your skin, leaving you with a clear, glowing complexion. It also makes your skin look younger. Skin that is becoming saggy, either due to aging or weight loss, plumps up very nicely when the skin cells are hydrated.

In addition, it improves muscle tone. You can lift weights until you're blue in the face, but if your muscles are suffering from a drought, you won't notice a pleasant difference in your appearance. Muscles that have all the water they need contract more easily, making your workout more effective, and you'll look much nicer than if you had flabby muscles under sagging skin.

So how much should you drink?

The minimum figures for the body's daily water loss are 500ml through urine and 700ml through breathing and sweating.

Doctors advise that to be on the safe side we should drink at least 1.2 litres of liquids (2.5 pints). So, remember, although water is essential, you don't need to become obsessed about drinking eight glasses a day!

More interesting health facts news

Work your brain to lose fat.

2009-11-27T02:38:00.001Z

There are many ways to lose fat, and I am sure you know of a good few. But how about use your brain to lose fat.

Have I got you thinking? Don't worry I am not saying you need to use your brain because I think you are dumb.

A recent research suggests that by doing crosswords, sudoku burns more calories than contained in a chocolate chip cookie.

The mental exercise uses up on average 90 calories an hour. More than what a cookie on conatins, which is about 56 calories.

Our brain is made up of millions of neurons which produce chemicals called neurotransmitters that relay signals around the body. Neurons take glucose, sugar, calories, and oxygen to create the neurotransmitters.

Mental activities such as doing crosswords, sudoku and other puzzles makes your brain need more glucose and calories. Mental agility expert Tim Forrester, the man behind the survey said "Our brains require 0.1 calories a minute just to survive. When we do something challenging such as a puzzle or a quiz we burn 1.5 calories a minute.

So ladies and gentlemen, you now have more reasons to work that brain out and not just punish yourself and your body in the gym. Start doing more puzzles on your way to work and back home on that train.

I always wondered why I never put any weight on and what the secret behind me being so skinny was. Now I know, its all these puzzles i keep doing. No more for me from today onwards.

Hot news:

Beat Stress

Pussycat Dolls Split

2009-11-27T00:21:00.001Z

Pussycat Dolls split up after an outbreak of jealousy according to a report. A source has told the New York Post newspaper.

The girl band have parted over lead singer Nicole Scherzinger. Nicole is the girlfriend of British Formula 1 racing driver Lewis Hamilton.

The 31 year old is the more well known and famous out of the five Pussycats who achieved worldwide fame and success with their single Don't Cha back in 2005.

The remaining Pussycats, Melody Thornton, Kimberly Wyatt, Ashley Roberts and Jessica Sutta were unhappy about the start status of Nicole.

Nicole is said to be working on her own debut solo album.

But the report was dismissed by their founder Robin Antin last night. Ms Antin is saying the Pussycat Dolls are still much alive and there is no truth in the rumour.

Only time will tell what is left of the Pussycat Dolls.

My personal opinion about the group has always been and I believe that Nicole has always been bit selfish and made sure she was always the one noticed and got all the credits. It was very rare to hear about any of the other singers from the group. Including the videos, where it was Nicole being all over it.

Read more latest gossip: Wikipedia to vanish

Wikipedia Going Going Gone?

2009-11-26T00:15:00.001Z

Wikipedia may vanish very soon. It is under threat after researchers found that thousands of contributors had deserted the Internet encyclopedia.

The English language version of the site suffered a loss of nearly 50000 volunteer editors in the first quarter of this year, compared to only 5000 the same period a year earlier according to a university study.

Wikipedia was founded in 2001 by Jimmy Wales and has now become the fifth most popular website in the world with about 325 million visits a month.

Wikipedia allows registered users to modify entries, but has always been feared to leave it open for abuse.
It also relied on experienced editors to correct mistakes made by more junior editors. An example of one is when the death of Senator Edward Kennedy was announced prematurely.

The research by Felipe Ortega at Universidad Rey Juan Carlso in Madrid, found that thousands of Wikipedia editors were no longer contributing and were not being replaced

The strict rules for editors is being said to be one of the reasons for the loss of editors. It could find it self in trouble if the trend carries on. Although it is in danger, it still has many volunteers to keep it alive.

One of the reasons said to have angered many volunteers is the fact that, they realised the work they do can be re-written, edited leaving their hard work to go waste.

The question I am asking myself right now is, if there is a new plan to make it work differently or is it seriously in trouble. Not replacing editors isn't something a big website like Wikipedia would do.

Maybe they have some new plans. Who knows, they could possibly be looking at using adverts on their site to generate income. Maybe they are planning to let editors make some money from their articles. If they do will they actually be very strict in selecting who they accept to write article for their site?

I guess we have to wait and see.

Read more

Womens version for Vigra now available

2009-11-19T22:52:00.002Z

Flibanserin a drug produced by Boehringer Ingelheim for depression was heralded as ‘Viagra for women’. The drug was ineffective at treating depression but one of the side effects was that it helped women with low libido. It was trialed as an antidepressant and patients were reluctant to return the unused medication once the study concluded. Diminished libido is the most common female sexual problem, like erectile dysfunction is in men.

The drug has proved controversial among sex researchers. Some argue pharmaceutical companies are exaggerating the number of women affected by low libido to expand their market, and are pushing a pill that will not deal with psychological issues that might put someone off sex, such as poor body image or stress.

Viagra was originally developed as a treatment for high blood pressure and the heart condition angina, but men who took part in early trials realized the drug had an interesting side effect. The drug arrived in 1998 and has since been prescribed to 25 million men creating a multibillion pound global market.

If you are getting excited about this new found drug, don’t be. Flibanserin won’t be on sale any time soon as it still needs to get approval from the FDA and other regulatory bodies around the world. This could take many months adding up to years for it to be approved.

But it is like seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Many treatments are available for women to improve their sexual disorders, but not many that are effective. If this can be the answer and the Viagra equivalent for women, then what else can you ask for?

Read funny but real health facts articles

Drinking milk helps reduce stroke and blood pressure

2009-11-18T19:34:00.002Z

A glass of milk a day could help reduce strokes and heart disease scientists say. People over 50 with low levels of vitamin D, which is found in milk had double the heart failure risk.

They were also 78 percent more likely to have stroke, a study of nearly 28000 over 50s found.
Experts at intermountain Medical Centre, Salt Lake City, Utah, said “a moderate” vitamin D deficiency posed great risks.

Milk is a drink not liked by everyone, but has always been beneficial. This is one of the reasons why we are now asked to feed babies breast milk.

Breast milk which has many benefits for babies including making them stronger to fight normal day to day colds and flu’s are being ignored by many parents. If you want to see your baby healthy, then you should breastfeed them as long as possible within reasons.

As for us adults we should stick to our cow’s milk. A glass a day can go a long way to help you with some of the most common health problems we suffer these days. Also to add, it helps reduce blood pressure.

It may not be for everyone and not everyone can drink it. My own daughter has difficulties in trying to drink it and she is only 3. Yet when she see’s a can of coke, she will wrestle me to the ground for it. But you can try to have a glass with anything you wish. For example your morning cereals, or a light milk coffee. Of course you should try and avoid adding too much sugar or coffee. This is to change the taste of the milk a little if you have a problem with it that is.

So get going and get yourself a glass of milk.

More on health

Now that emailing is going out of fashion, what is next?

2009-11-18T19:30:00.001Z

Experts are estimating for emails to be extinct within a decade as the new younger generation switch to texting (SMS), instant messaging and social websites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Compared to a couple of years ago, email is the first choice to only 51 percent of people in their teens or early 20s according to a study by the University of Kent’s Prof David Zeitlyn.

One of the reasons emails are dying out is because it is slow, inconvenient and unfashionable. Using some of the above means you can get in touch with a larger group of people including people who may not exactly be a friend you know physically at once and instantly.

Young people prefer alternatives such as Twitter because they allow them to send one message to all their friends at once and can be used remotely.

This could mean in a few years we may not be getting a lot of junk emails, and having a mobile phone with internet access will be a necessity.

This is good news for the mobile phone industry and could possibly be a new business idea for a lot of us.
One of the things email extinction will take away with it is email advertising (marketing). That’s going to be huge gap for advertising and the market will not be looking to put up with it. It is used mostly by the smaller businesses but we do have a lot of the big fish who use email marketing too. This will defiantly have the advertisers looking for better ways of getting to their potential customer.

So the big question is how?

Are phone companies going to start selling short text ads like Google at the bottom of a text messages?

Will you see pop ups before or after you open your text message?

For those of us who cannot see life without email, better start getting used to the new style of communication soon. Saying a decade, you never know it maybe sooner than we can imagine.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

How do you think advertising is going to change when emails go out of fashion?

Do you have an Idea you could possibly use to cash in on when it happens?

Are you already working on it right now?

Leave your comments below. It would be very interesting to know.

Read more technology news at 4jokerz

Men shouldn't do any housework if they want children

2009-11-18T19:19:00.002Z

Good news for men but a bad one for women. A new study reveals housework is bad for men’s health. Using electrical appliances such as microwave, vacuum cleaners can seriously harm a man’s chances of having children.

Volunteers who were exposed to high levels of electromagnetic fields pumped out by household appliances had a poorer sperm quality.

Fertility expert Dr De-Ken Li of California’s Stanford University said the link could explain the decline in the sperm quality over the past century.

He also advised couples trying to have a baby to reduce their exposure to electromagnetic fields if they are to increase their chances of having a baby.
Women have always been advised to give up drinking, which we all know is not the easiest thing to do and were seen to be unfair. But it’s not all bad news for women. You can now use this study to get your men to stop watching too much television (football) and also from playing games on their Playstaion/Xbox and Nintendo Wii.

So all in all, a happy ending for both the sexes and let’s hope they keep it that way.

Read more on mens health

How to test your websites loading speed.

2009-11-17T22:49:00.001Z

The layout of your website is very important for it to load fast. Test your sites loading speed with this online stopwatch. Potential visitors can turn away if your site takes too long to load. Learn how to design your site or blog/article.

At the bottom of the page is a stopwatch site where you can check the loading speed of each and every page of your site. By doing so you can re-arrange things until you can get the page to load faster.

We all spend a lot of time designing and creating our website or article. But have you ever thought to yourself how often visitors turn away from your site because it takes too long to load?

There are many reason why a site or article takes longer to load.

To list a few:

•Pictures (too many or too large, also where on your page makes a difference)
•Javascript website
•Too many video's or songs.
•Too many adverts (third party html codes)
•Flash
•Big files

The list can go on forever.

So how can you make sure your website or article is user friendly and loads fast?

I recommend you try and keep your homepage (the page visitors land on when they type in your website address) as simple and less cluttered as possible. This will allow the site to load fast.

As we all know that majority of the time visitors land on your home page, this makes the homepage the most important of all.
To give you some examples, below are some of the ways visitors end up on your homepage:

•When someone recommends your site to someone, they will give your home page address. For example http://4jokerz.com or just your site name.
•If you advertise, you give your home page address
•If someone types in your website name in a search engine for example Qoolweb (most of the time your home page is at the top).

There are many more reasons as to why people are more likely to land on your home page, and if you use Google analytics, you may even see the proof. Once you have your homepage sorted, you can then try and improve all your other pages.

But generally if visitors are on your homepage then they are a bit more patient and don't mind waiting for other pages to load. Your landing page is the face of your site. This is the first impression, and as we all know, first impression is the last.

I understand that, there a certain things that you have to have on your site, but by having them in your inner pages will mean your visitors are a bit more patient for those pages to load. I'm not saying that you should overload them, but if the visitor is clicking to view other pages, then it means you have what they are looking for. Which is what we all want. But if they are unable to see what you have to offer because they clicked the back button due to your site taking too long to load, then that's one visitor lost.

Use the stopwatch to test your pages, and then you can try and re-arrange things to get your page to load faster. It will help you build and create a perfect site allowing people who have little time to waste when they are browsing to enjoy their experience visiting your site.

Stopwatch

Truth About Making Money Online – Working From Home

2009-11-16T01:06:00.001Z

So you are just like the rest of us, here thinking you want to know the tricks of becoming a millionaire overnight working money onlfrom home.

Before you read on, let me tell you a very important fact and truth about making money online.

You will never become a millionaire or make a good enough income from writing blogs, owning your own website, Adsense, and other affiliate programs and so on. That is the truth, and anyone who claims to be making it, ask them to give you from their earnings an hours or months earning to you and watch them run.

Most of these people who have sites caliming to teach you how to get rich will no doubt have no contact details. And if they do, then it’s because they want to charge you for some information you already know and make money from you. This is exactly how they make their money. From fools like you and me who go onto buy their idea for only $2 so we think. It maybe only $2 for you, but for them it’s a lot of $2. This is what they will teach you to do and you will never succeed, because many clever people know, and others have got caught in it before and will not fall for it again.

Another good one people use is where they advertise how to make thousands from Google. It’s Google Adsense for Gods sake. They want you to pay $2 for postage and packaging to get some leaflet telling you to have your own website and use Google Adsense and Adbrite and so on to make money. That $2 goes into their pocket and on top of that, you will be asked to pay another $80-$100 every month. You may not even be fortunate enough to make that.

And funnily some of these people don’t even have their own website. They make money from you.

It’s free to join Google Adsense and Adbrite and alike, so don’t pay. Read about ideas and tips you can get free from other genuine people and join them yourself. It is very simple. The people who are genuine, will not be selling anything to you, but share their experience and ideas.

It is true you can make money online. But it is also true that, it takes a long time to start earning a good amount of income from your own websites and blogs. So you have to be patient and be ready to put some time and effort in.

If you are new into the field, then I would recommend you start of with blog sites. There are many blog sites that will have your work on the net for you and share their income with you. The percentage varies from site to site. There is no harm in joining a few once you start off.

The advantage is that, they will do all the hard work for you. And if the blog site is a popular one, then your work can get picked up quiet easily. You will not have to worry about getting your sites noticed by search engines and advertising it. Although there is no harm in advertising yourself and getting noticed by friends and family. If you can get your friends and family to read your articles and make comments, then it will help you and your blog get noticed more. So don’t be shy and tell all your Facebook, Myspace and Orkut friends.

This will also create a lot of backlinks. Backlinks are something Google, Yahoo and Bing look at to rate your site or blog. This is what helps to get your site or blog onto the first page of a search engine.

However, if you are thinking of having an online business, then having your own website is very important and that is what you should be thinking about.

So in short, don’t expect to get rich overnight. Spend a good amount of time writing good articles. And be patient. It will take time and hard work before you will see results, so don’t give up that easily. And if you are the type to give up easily, then don’t waste anytime even trying it.

Must have toys for the rich

2009-11-15T13:22:00.000Z

Just when you thought you had it all, we bring you the most expensive and the most wanted luxuries dreamt of by everyone. These are things most of us can only dream of. The top five toys for the billionaires.

The world’s most expensive diamond sold for an astounding US$7.98 million, or about $US1.32 million per carat. It was sold by Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong.

The world’s most expensive car is The Bugatti Veyron. Hits 60 mph in 2.5 secs., does the quarter mile in 10.5 seconds. and reaches a top speed of 252 mph in just 55 secs. If you are dreaming of owning one, then dream on. It will set you back around $1.25 million and only a limited number of them were made. So you will be very lucky to get hold of one.

Owned by the Dubai Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. It is 531 foot long, and the Dubai has interiors designed by Philippe Starck. It boasts space for 115 guests and 88 crew members, six guest suites and five VIP suites. It all comes with a price tag of $350, and I won’t even bother telling you the cost of maintenance and how much a full tank of fuel costs. This is the world’s most expensive Yacht

This is the picture of the worlds most expensive private jet rumoured to be owned by Saudi royalty. It costs approximately $300. The Airbus 380 is to be entering the normal fleet of airlines operated by airline companies. But this individual decided to have his own one.

The world’s most expensive house costs nearly a staggering $750m (£390m). Its owner is believed to be a Russian oil tycoon, but his identity is a closely guarded secret. The villa is located on the French Mediterranean coast.

Above are the 5 most important toys for the mega rich billionaires. The all have one of each, but if you can get all the above, then you can say you are at the top of the list.

The Apple iPhone Alternative - HD2

2009-11-15T13:08:00.000Z

With an 11cm (4.3) touch screen and a 5 megapixel camera, this new handset is the perfect rival for Apples iPhone. The HD2 is manufactured by Taiwanese company HTC and goes on sale from today. The beautiful phone is on sale with Vodafone today!
HTC’s claims their £550 HD2’s glass screen being scratch-resistant. Russian Mobile Tech world site decided to test it for themselves with a knife, keys and scissors, Surprisingly the HTC HD2 comes out completely unscathed. I wouldn’t however advise you try this with your iPhone.
The HTC HD2 is still the best Windows Mobile 6.5 phone. It is simply effortless to use and the browsing experience is to match the Safari experience if not better.
The HTC HD2 gives you a full Smartphone experience from all angles.
The tech specs are HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, a digital compass, accelerometers; proximity sensors (use it as parking sensors? Joke). You also get a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash video and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Finally the responsive 4.3inch high resolution capacitive touchscreen display.
The only downside to this phone is the size. Not something that will get unnoticed in your pocket or purse.
So is it going to beat the iPhone and the Nokia’s N97 in the battle of Smartphone’s? We just have to wait and see.

Specification

•Weight: 157 grams (5.54 ounces) with battery
•Touch screen Resolution:480 X 800 WVGA
•Operating System: Windows Mobile® 6.5 Professional
•CPU: Processing Speed: 1GHz Snapdragon™ processor
•Storage: ROM: 512 MB – RAM: 448 MB – Expansion slot: microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
•Bluetooth
•Camera:5 megapixel color camera - Auto focus – Dual LED flashlight
•Recommended Windows System Requirements:Windows XP or Windows Vista® – Microsoft® ActiveSync® 4.5 for Windows XP – Microsoft® Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 for Windows Vista .
•Multimedia: Windows Media® Player – Albums – Pictures & Videos – FM Radio.

Truth About Making Money Online Working From Home

2009-11-15T12:48:00.000Z

So you are just like the rest of us, here thinking you want to know the tricks of becoming a millionaire overnight working online from home.

Before you read on, let me tell you a very important fact and truth about making money online.

You will never become millionaire or make a good enough income from writing blogs, owning your own website, Adsense, and other affiliate programs and so on. That is the truth, and anyone who claims to be making it, ask them to give you from their earnings an hours or months earning to you and watch them run.

Most of these people who have sites caliming to teach you how to get rich will no doubt have no contact details. And if they do, then it’s because they want to charge you for some information you already know and make money from you. This is exactly how they make their money. From fools like you and me who go onto buy their idea for only $2 so we think. It maybe only $2 for you, but for them it’s a lot of $2. This is what they will teach you to do and you will never succeed, because many clever people know, and others have got caught in it before and will not fall for it again.

Another good one people use is where they advertise how to make thousands from Google. It’s Google Adsense for Gods sake. They want you to pay $2 for postage and packaging to get some leaflet telling you to have your own website and use Google Adsense and Adbrite and so on to make money. That $2 goes into their pocket and on top of that, you will be asked to pay another $80-$100 every month. You may not even be fortunate enough to make that.

And funnily some of these people don’t even have their own website. They make money from you.

It’s free to join Google Adsense and Adbrite and alike, so don’t pay. Read about ideas and tips you can get free from other genuine people and join them yourself. It is very simple. The people who are genuine, will not be selling anything to you, but share their experience and ideas.

It is true you can make money online. But it is also true that, it takes a long time to start earning a good amount of income from your own websites and blogs. So you have to be patient and be ready to put some time and effort in.

If you are new into the field, then I would recommend you start of with blog sites. There are many blog sites that will have your work on the net for you and share their income with you. The percentage varies from site to site. There is no harm in joining a few once you start off.
The advantage is that, they will do all the hard work for you. And if the blog site is a popular one, then your work can get picked up quiet easily. You will not have to worry about getting your sites noticed by search engines and advertising it. Although there is no harm in advertising yourself and getting noticed by friends and family. If you can get your friends and family to read your articles and make comments, then it will help you and your blog get noticed more. So don’t be shy and tell all your Facebook, Myspace and Orkut friends.
This will also create a lot of backlinks. Backlinks are something Google, Yahoo and Bing look at to rate your site or blog. This is what helps to get your site or blog onto the first page of a search engine.
However, if you are thinking of having an online business, then having your own website is very important and that is what you should be thinking about.
So in short, don’t expect to get rich overnight. Spend a good amount of time writing good articles. And be patient. It will take time and hard work before you will see results, so don’t give up that easily. And if you are the type to give up easily, then don’t waste anytime even trying it.

College and University Guide for International Students

2009-11-15T12:45:00.002Z

How to choose a college or university guide for international (foreign) students.

1. Quality of instruction

•Does the program offer the courses and programmes you want to study?
•Is the course of high quality with excellent teachers?
•Does it have the modern facilities such as computer labs and libraries to support the classes?
•Is it accredited by the countries Government?
•Does it offer help and or classes for English language for students who want to improve their English? And will it be available to you?

Look at the school/college/university catalogue and website for course and degree information. Check the reputation of the programme by talking to students who have attended the program if that is possible (ask for a list of former students from your country).

2. Location

•Where is the campus located?
•Does it offer cultural or sports activities?
•Will the transportation to the school be easy or will you have to buy a car or spend on using public transport?
•If the school is a language school, will you only be with other international students?
•Are there areas of interest where you would want to visit nearby?

Location is important, as it maybe a major factor in how much money you should prepare yourself to take with you. Travel, living cost including food, and where you will be able to work will all depend on where your college/university is. So make sure to carry out some research about the location of your chosen educational institution. Try to avoid putting yourself in a situation where your college is 10 miles away, and then when you find a job, your place of work is 10 miles the other direction from where you live.

3. Student Services

•Does it have facilities to help you find housing and other help you may need?
•Does it have social events in place to give you an opportunity to meet with other students other than international (students from the actual country)?
•Can you get involved in student activities?

All these things will give you a better opportunity to learn and get involved in learning the cultures too.

4. Meet Your Needs

•Does it meet your needs?
•Can you take extra language classes to improve your language?
•Are there are other courses you can take on at the same time to help you?
•Are the extra courses available in the same college/university or will you have to enrol in another?

You may change your mind about what you want to study so having a variety of programs and degrees is important. So choosing a college or university which can accommodate a bit of change will always work to your advantage. Sometimes it maybe an idea to have a second course in mind, just in case you first choice is not what you want when you start. It will be a bonus if you can change to another course in the same college/university, as this will save you time and money and from looking for alternative accommodation and jobs elsewhere.

5. Cost

•Is the cost reasonable for the program you will receive?
•How much will it cost for you to rent a place to live?
•How much will it cost for your meals? (City centres are always more expensive)
•How much will it cost for you to travel (sometimes it is better to find accommodation nearer the college and university and pay that little extra, than spend on travel).
•Will you be able to afford the required books for the course?

The last thing you want to do is get yourself enrolled into a course and then not be able to afford it. It is also not worth thinking you can support yourself by working hard and doing a few jobs to close the financial gap. It will only jeopardise your studies. As I have mentioned before, sometimes staying closer to your campus can be beneficial as it may save you a bit of money. If after calculating your travel cost from where you will be living works out cheaper, then try and relocate. However, if it is cheaper to travel in and live out of town then that is what you must do.

If you have decided to go abroad to study then looking at the above and dealing with it will without a doubt make your studies and stay far more comfortable. It is better to organise yourself before hand and will make life much easier. The last thing you want to do after enrolling into a difficult course is it battle to sort out other issues that could have been taken care of before your entry.

If there is something you are not sure about, investigate and don’t just leave it. You will defiantly find answers and someone will be able to help you.

Looking to get a student visa? Get advice and help

How to Choose The Right University and Degree

2009-11-15T12:31:00.001Z

Choosing the right university and the degree can be very difficult. What you choose now will pave your future, so make the right choice. Follow these guidelines.

A lot of things will influence your decision in making your choice about which degree you do and in which university.

The main ones are:

•Interests
•Location/Travel
•Friends
•Affordability
•Accommodation
•Qualification

So what should it be?

You should choose your degree and the university according to your own capability and interest. Following your friends around will not get you anywhere or what you want to achieve.

Choosing a university only because their social activities facilities are good will defiantly drive you away from education.

Choosing a university so that you can live out shouldn’t ever be the reason.

Your own qualification will be a major driving force in your decision making, unless you have the top marks. It is your marks from which the universities will decide weather they take you on or not.

So how do I choose?

Firstly decide what it is that you want to do. The way to do that is to work out what you’re good at. It’s better to get a 1st for a degree that may not be the most popular subject than get a 2:1 or 2:2 for a more popular subject. So take your time and choose carefully.

Carry out a research about the universities that are offering the degree, making a list from the best to worst. Check their rating in the country.

Apply to the ones that are willing to take you on with the qualification you have. Starting from the top one on your list and working your way down.

Don’ts

Studying is expensive, so try and avoid having to move out, if that is an option for you. Accommodation, food, bills will add up and drink you dry out of your money or will leave you with a huge debt.

Try and find ones that are close to save on travelling (cost and time). It all adds up at the end.

Don’t choose a course only because your friends have or because it will get you into the same university as them. They are not the ones who are going to be out there at the end looking for a job for you. It is you, so be careful and be selfish

Don’t let someone else tell you what you are good at or what you should do. You decide, because it is only you who knows what you enjoy and what you do best.

Don’t let the cost your of studies spiral out of hand. Remember, you have to pay it off when you start working. So why not keep it down, so that when you do start earning, the money will start going into your pocket sooner.

What you decide now will decide for you your tomorrow.

One more thing for you all who are young and are about to enter the most important part of your life in education.

Parents and your teachers tell you to study hard and make informed choices now. They tell you to take life seriously and sort things out while you can. Like most teenagers you don’t listen to them and think to yourself, there is always tomorrow. Trust me there isn’t. Today is what you have. Tomorrow is where you beg to be given a chance to back to today. A wish that will never be granted.

You don’t believe me? Try this; ask everyone you know who hasn’t had much of an education, someone who hasn’t got a good job, someone who wants to go back into education this one question. What would they do if they could go back a few years and start off from school again and if they wanted to?

The answer will be surprising and something you know deep down but refuse to believe. Try not to be one of them.

Beat Stress Eating Chocolate

2009-11-14T19:50:00.001Z

So you are stressed and need to relax. So what do you do? You should head to the shops to buy some dark chocolate.

It was always known that chocolates can have some health benefits other than just cause damage. Scientists have now carried out extensive research to prove that a regular helping of the treat re-balances chemicals in the body during times of high anxiety. According to a study carried out by the Dutch and Swiss scientists published by the American Chemical Society, claims that ten squares of dark chocolate a day for two weeks can cure stress.

It is being described as the latest super food because of its anti-oxidants and the health boosting compounds called flavinoids.

The daily dose of 40 grams of chocolate over a period of two weeks can modify the metabolism said Nestle researcher Sunil Kochhar. The chocolate is said to help reduce the risk of heart disease and lower blood pressure.

Researchers said the chocolates brought the chemicals in your body back into balance.

Does that mean you no longer have to worry about going to see you doctor to get medication to help you with stress?

So now you have every reason to be stressed. And if you are told off when caught nibbling on dark chocolate, then just refer whoever it is to the research.

This is like heaven on earth for all the chocolate lovers.

Let’s hope they can come up with something where you can loose weight by eating chocolates.

2009 Top mobile phone handsets.

2009-11-12T21:09:00.000Z

Nokia N97

Nokias Nseries just got better. A fantastic QWERTY keyboard, a fantastic tilting touchscreen, built in GPS with Nokia maps for navigation, a 5 megapixel camera and a huge 32GB of storage makes life look beautiful. One of the best handsets you can have in 2009. The 32GB of internal storage will surly meet all your multimedia needs.

Sony Ericsson W995

The Sony Ericsson W995 Walkman phone is the next generation entertainment device. With a 8GB storage card to store songs. You can browse the web via Wi-Fi. Sony Ericsson just got better at making the latest walkman. Watch movies on the bright 2.6 inch screen, listen to tunes on the stereo speakers, and snap pictures with the 8 Megapixel camera.

Apple iPhone 3GS

It may look and feel like the original iPHONE 3G, but the new S model is built for speed, a faster processor means its performance is far slicker. The new S model has a mighty 32GB (you can store 8000 tracks), a longer battery life giving you more talk time and a 3.2 megapixel camera that now shoots video for easy uploading to youtube, google video and myspace. The iPhone simply got better.

BlackBerry 9000 Bold

This is the most powerful and stylish BlackBerry to date and the first to feature a fast 3G download speeds. The QWERTY keyboards are spacious and thumb friendly. With Wi-Fi and GPS you have a great multimedia messenger.

Samsung i8910 HD

With a 3.8in screen, this is brilliant for watching videos and it also records them in 720p high definition. Its easy to use interface is also customisable, which means you can bring your favourite apps to the home page for easy access. It is also loaded with a 8 megapixel camera making it a great multimedia touch phone. It is like having a HD camcorder inside a stunning phone

LG GC900 Viewty Smart

This is the follow up of Viewty. The Viewty Smart has a 8 megapixel camera with auto focus, multi face detection and a smile shot to capture those smiling faces. You also get a get extras sech as Wi-Fi, GPS and a responsive 3 inch touchscreen.

Now you decide, which is your favourite. These are the best phones for 2009 and the most popular. You can't go wrong in owning one of these. They are in their own makes the top handset and the best rated.

Visit www.doodlezone.co.uk for more about phones.

How to find out when Google and Bing last crawled your site.

2009-11-02T08:02:00.001Z

Find out when your site was last crawled by Google and Bing

There are a few different ways to find out when you website was last crawled by Google and Bing. But one of the simpliest ways to do it without joining anything is direct from the search engines search page.

Google:

1.Open up Googles search page.

2.Type in site:yoursitename.com (Your site name for example site:myfacebook.com) into the search box.

3.Locate your site, which should appear on the top of the page if it has been crawled before.

4.Once located, you will see at the bottom of the description of your site the word Cached

5.Click on it.

6.You will then see the following displayed This is Google's cache of http://hubpages.com/profile/My+Facebook. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 6 Oct 2009 12:52:58 GMT. The current page could have changed in the meantime. Learn more.

7.The date and time displayed is the last time it crawled your site.

You can also see how many pages it has crawled of your site. If you recently submitted your site then you can check to see if is listed. It should list all the pages it has crawled.

Bing

Follow the same steps above.

The only difference will be what it says when you click on Cached Page. It will display

You have reached the cached page for http://hubpages.com/profile/My+Facebook Below is a snapshot of the Web page as it appeared on 11/10/2009 (the last time our crawler visited it). This is the version of the page that was used for ranking your search results. The page may have changed since we last cached it. To see what might have changed (without the highlights), go to the current page..

Yahoo however, doesn't seem to display the date. But there are other way of finding out. You can use the webmaster tools with all of them to get better control of things.

That's it, it's that easy.

SEO - Search Engine Optimization

2009-10-24T07:59:00.000+01:00

Promoting your website
I have a few sites I write blogs for and a couple of my own website. I have been working night and day to get them listed high. I have read a million different pages on how to choose my words. After a lot of hard work, I have managed to get quiet a few of my pages and sites to number one position and a few on the first page of the search engines.

So I thought I will share some of the tricks and tips I learnt through reading so many articles to save some time for my dear friends.

Firstly nobody can guarantee you positions in the search rankings. Search engines keep their search algorithms very secret and update them regularly to make sure they produce true and accurate results. To be honest with you, there are no set guidelines to guarantee you any positions.

The second thing to know is that SEO takes real hard work. You’re going to have to give it some thought and make changes to all the pages in your site. This will take time and you may want to adjust things after a few months as you start to see results. The Internet is a great potential market but you need to invest time and effort in marketing your site if you want it to be successful. SEO is a good way of doing this but like most things it doesn't always come easy.

Next, it's going to take time for your rankings to improve. Search engines can take months to even list your site and then further time to assign you a rank. They will then review your site periodically and check for updates but the frequency of this can vary. So don't expect too much too soon. Be patient, build your credibility and presence, and good things will come. Many sites that rank highly have been around a long, long time.

And finally, SEO isn't everything. There's never an excuse for not marketing your site in other ways if you're serious about getting it noticed. Traditional offline marketing, online marketing (banners or AdWords), putting your URL on letterheads, posting it on industry specific directories/message boards etc can all help and these actions will also support your SEO efforts too. So don't forget to look at other forms of marketing too.

Promoting your site has a lot to do with off page search engine optimization strategies. These strategies will develop back-links to your website as well as increase traffic and your authority in your topic area.

In terms of optimisation it’s important to know that search engines look for consistency and relevancy within a number of different areas of your in-page content and within your referral links. These include:

•The URL (or web address) of your page

•Your Page title in the HTML

•Your Keywords meta-data in the HTML

•Your Description metadata in the HTML

•Your page content, e.g. the text that is on your page, including headings (or section titles) which are treated differently from body text

•Links on your page, including the anchor text, e.g. the text on which the link is set

•Images on your page, including the name of the image file, and the link (if any) set on the image

•Referral links to your pages, including the anchor text of the referral link, e.g. a link on another site referring to your site.

Keywords are the words or phrases that you want people to be able to find you under when they do a search on the Internet. These are essentially the words or phrases that best describe your business and the things that people would think of when they are interested in your goods or services. The more specific the words or phrases match what you offer, the more likely it will be to drive people to your site.

1. Submit your website to the three major search engines

Submitting your site to a search engine does not mean you will be automatically included in the search engine's index. By doing this you alert the search engine to your websites presence and are added to a list of sites to be crawled.

Submit your site to Google, Yahoo and Bing or you can go to http://4jokerz.com/ where you will find the ones I have recommended plus some top directories you can submit to.

2. Verify your site with Google Webmaster Tools and submit a sitemap

We have an excellent tutorial that will step you through this process. Please see Google Webmaster Tutorial for instructions on verifying your site and submitting a sitemap.

3. Submit your site to Google Local Business Center

If you have a business you can submit your site to Google's Local Business Center Submitting your site to Google's Local Business Center is FREE! When potential customers search Maps for local information, they'll find your business. Here is a link to learn more about Google Local Business Center.

4. Do link exchanges

Link building is an extremely important part of SEO. The search engines will look at the amount of links that come into your site as well as the status of the sites that link to you (the amount of traffic those sites get). Although the search engines look more favorably on links that are not reciprocal, exchanging links is a great place to start!

•Find other websites that have the same topic as your site and send an email to the webmaster asking if he or she would like to do a link exchange. This is where you place a link on your site to them in exchange for a link on their site to you. Don't be too ambitious with this as big popular sites are not going to link to your site out of the goodness of their heart. Try to find sites of a similar size and subject to your own which will entertain the idea you helping each other.

•Ask your friends and family members with a website if they would like to exchange links.

•Write articles about your subject including a link to your site - any article must actually contain useful information otherwise it won't get published. So if you're an expert in the area you’re writing about and it is relevant to your site, give the article to other site owners who are likely to publish it with a link back to your site. Make sure the article contains some of your relevant keywords. (This may also be possible with useful contributions to blog articles or forums, but be very careful about link spamming - if you don't have anything genuinely useful to say, don't say it!)

And remember, while search engines are mechanical they are not stupid! They are in a constant battle with link spammers who attempt to manipulate ranking results for profit. Optimising your pages and encouraging genuine link backs from other relevant sites will help but getting involved in link spamming and other dodgy techniques such as spamming keywords or content can get your site black listed. So more isn't always best, make sure links, content and keywords are all genuine.

5. Submit your site to website directories

There are numerous directories on the Internet that accept paid and un-paid website submissions. You’ll be able to give your listing a title, short description and link to your website. Don’t ever pay someone to “submit your website to 200 directories,” this is not looked highly upon by search engines.

6. Get involved in social networking

A great way to develop a following for your website is to get involved in the social networking arena. Becoming active on social networking sites will bring traffic to your site as well as develop back links. The goal of this is to get social with others on the web while promoting your site at the same time.

A few hot social networking sites right now:

•Twitter.com

•Facebook.com

•Myspace.com

There are many more options including niche focuses social networking sites to get involved in.

7. Submit articles to article directories

There are many article directories on the Internet that accept un-paid submissions of articles for inclusion in their article database. When you submit articles you have written to an article directory you give other people permission to reprint your article in their Internet publications as long as the Author Bio is included with the links back to your website.

8. Consistently add more content

Building up more content on your site is an extremely important part of search engine optimization. When you add more content to your site you are:

•Providing visitors to your site a great reason to come back.

•Giving search engines a reason to visit your site often. Search engines want to keep the most updated version of sites in their index and they also want to consistently add new and improved information to it as well.

•Adding to the searchability of your site. The more pages your site has in the search engine's index, the more possibilities your site has of being found for keywords searches.

9. Write a blog

Blogging is an exceptional way to consistently add new content to your site!

Once your site has been indexed, you're in a much stronger position for the future. Sites that have been around for a long time have a legitimate history and tend to stay in the indexes. If you have an existing site that is indexed, then try linking that one to your new site.

You can check and see if your site is listed by typing 'site:www.youraddress.com' into the Google or Yahoo search. Remember if you have multiple domain names make sure you try each of them.

There you have it, the basics of search engine optimization; it’s a bit of science, art and marketing mingled together. Nothing is a "given" in the world of search engine optimization; it's not a short process, it is ever evolving, and it is something that we can help with by providing information and ideas, but do not have control over.

Nokia X6 Review

2009-09-08T03:45:00.003+01:00

If you are a phone lover like me and like to make sure you have the best of the phones, then your wait is over.

For all the on the go music lovers, you will definitely love this. Nokia has announced the availability of its new powerful entertainment device for music lovers the new Nokia X6, which incorporates a 3.2-inch 16:9 touchscreen display, 5 mega-pixels camera with and dual LED flash, A-GPS, 32GB internal memory, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, capable of playing up to 35 hours of music or up to 4 hours of video playback. That is a very powerful battery.

The Nokia X6is a step up from the existing Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. Sleeker than the 5800, the X6 has the same panel that is in the N97 mini but it now has a 5 mega-pixel camera on the back which addresses one key weakness of the 5800.

One area where the X6 improves over the 5800 is in social networking. The phone, along with the N97 Mini, will feature Life-casting with Ovi, a new service which lets you change your status on Facebook without the need for an app or the browser, plus display 20 shortcuts to your friend’s profiles, all from the home-screen.

This could well be a very strong competitor for the iPhone, with quite a lot of applications preloaded and the possibility to add more. It comes with a web browser with Flash Lite support and an email client that supports standard protocols and Microsoft Exchange.

Although this is very much a device aimed at normal people, the mail support may attract corporate customers who may otherwise be considering the iPhone.

So it is just a matter of time before we get to see how well it does when it by us against the iPhone. Will it be able to change and convert the iPhone lovers?

I can't wait to test it out and see how much better it is from the 5800 which I currently have.

As far as I can tell you from my research, the release date is 12th November for the 32GB priced at £529.99 with the 16GB not being released until February next year a lower price tag of £344.99. But I will let you know of the official release date when it is announced by Nokia.

Some of The Key Features

•Stroke-sensitive touch-screen interface - Nokia’s smoothest, slickest interface ever - with a 16:9 wide-screen made specially to give the best photo and video viewing experience.
•Social networking - supports easy access to Facebook, Ovi, Windows Live!, Yahoo IM, YouTube, MySpace and more.
•Brilliant web browsing - built-in Flash player and auto-landscape orientation means you really get the best out of online video and movies.
•3 premium games on-board - Nokia X6 ships with Asphalt4 and DJ Mix Tour by Gameloft and Spore by EA.
•Nokia Maps - The Nokia X6 comes with A-GPS with compass and integrated Maps so you can find your way to friends and venues quickly and easily with turn-by-turn, voice-guided navigation. Geo-tag your photos with Ovi to remember and share those great moments.
•Other Ovi services include push-email and IM with Nokia Messaging, N-gage games, downloadable Java applications and widgets, Ovi Contacts and Ovi Files for keeping your personal stuff safe and sound.
•Easy email - simple steps to set-up your email and combine multiple accounts into one inbox. Supports popular email clients such as Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail and most other POP3/IMAP email - plus a lifetime license for Nokia Messaging, Nokia’s mobile email and IM service.
•Video editing and sharing - includes video center and video editing plus support for online-share and TV-out. So, you can make your clips perfect, then upload them to your social network page or play to friends and family at home.
•Nokia Music Store is all yours - As a Comes With Music device, the Nokia X6 gives direct access to millions of tracks online. Download for free and yours to keep forever*. Stores thousands of tracks with 32GB memory.
•Customisable home-screen - add up to 20 shortcuts for one-touch access to Facebook, Nokia Music Store, Email, Contacts, Maps, Games - whatever you choose!

Specification

•Size: 111 x 51 x 13.8 mm
•Display:3.2 inch 16:wide-screen nHD, 231 ppi
•Camera:5 mega-pixels with Carl-Zeiss optics and dual LED flash
•Music playersupports MP3, SpMidi, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, MTP formats
•Video: Recording and playback with TV-out support, video editing and online-share
•Full web browser(OSS) v7.0 with Macromedia Flash Lite 3.0
•Emailsupport including Nokia Messaging
•Built-in GPSwith Assisted GPS (A-GPS) support, compass and Nokia Maps
•3D stereo ringing tones and video ringing tones
•Memory: 32GB internal memory
•3.5mm AV connector for stereo headphone jack
•Data Connectivity:High speed MicroUSB connector, WLAN (China WAPI), Bluetooth 2.0, WCDMA, GPRS/EDGE, HSDPA
•Talk time: Up to 8 hours
•Standby time: Up to 406 hours
•Music playback: up to 35 hours
•Video playback: up to 4 hours

Home Remedies For Cough That Really Do Work

2009-09-05T17:15:00.003+01:00

We all know how irritating it can be to have a cough, especially when the clock is ticking fast (for some it can be very slow, especially when you are alone and it gets boring) and you have to get up to go to work, but unfortunately can get to sleep.

Well let’s start of by getting a bit of insight about cough, but before that, be sure to try the fantastic ideas at the end the next time you have a cough. Some of them really do work wonders. I have tried most of them myself. My personal favorite is number 8.

A cough is a sudden and strong release of air from the lungs. It is not an illness, but a protective reflex designed to help you clear foreign material or excess secretions, such as mucus, from your airways.

Coughs are often categorized based on two characteristics—whether or not they produce or expel mucus, and how long they last. A productive cough is one that produces or expels sputum mucus or phlegm. Productive coughs help clear and protect the lungs and other parts of the lower respiratory tract from infectious mucus and other potentially harmful agents. Nonproductive, or dry coughs, produce little or no phlegm; they are usually the result of a minor irritation in the throat.

A cough can be very brief, lasting just long enough to clear something from your throat. Or it can last for several days, weeks, or even months. An acute cough is one that may lasts for less than three weeks. A chronic cough however, may last for more than three weeks.

Coughing is an automatic reflex that begins when your body senses that something has entered your airways that shouldn't be there. Nerves called cough receptors, which are located near the surface of the upper and lower passages of the respiratory tract, sense the presence of the unwanted material and send distress signals to your brain. The brain then relays messages to your lungs and respiratory muscles, which force you first to take a deep breath and then to exhale forcefully.

The force behind a cough occurs because the opening to your windpipe, located at the back of your throat, momentarily closes as you exhale. While the windpipe is closed, extra pressure builds up in your lungs. Then, when the windpipe finally opens, the air explodes out, helping to dislodge particles from your airways.

Coughing can be caused by many different conditions and illnesses. Bronchitis caused by cigarette smoking is the leading cause of chronic cough.

Home remedies that work. Don’t ask why, just try them next time you have cough.

1. Take a hot shower. Make it a long one and breathe in the steam. It will help to moisturize your throat.

2. Raise your head, especially while sleeping.

3. Do not over do it on the cough medicine. Taking too much of it can cause a drying effect. Instead try hard candy. It will moisturize your throat and mouth.

4. Drink more liquids. They will also help to break up any mucous in your system making your cough more productive.

5. Use a vaporizer while sleeping.

6. Drinking tea is always a favourite choice, especially when one has a cough and a cold. This tea will help open your airways and moisturize your throat.

7. Stop smoking and stay away from other smokers. The smoke will dry your throat more causing you to cough more.

8. Rub Vicks onto the sole of your feet and slightly on the rest of it, then put on your socks and get into bed. You will not be coughing soon after that. It works magic on babies and children, as they have limited medication they can take anyway.

9. Put some Salt and Pepper on a Slice of Lemon and suck on it, it should give you an instant relief.

10. Crush one medium sized onion, add one lemon juice and one cup of boiling water and add honey according to your taste.

The above remedies are just a few to list, there are hundreds out there. Not everything works for everyone, and as I used to suffer at least 3 months in year coughing, I have found that the above are the most effective. Some work better than any meadication. And trust me when I say that.

National Minimum Wage

2009-08-29T03:52:00.004+01:00

Introduced in 1999 the NMW is the lowest amount employers can legally pay their workers. HMRC makes sure that employers comply with the rules and most workers, including part-time, casual, home-workers and agency workers, are entitled to be paid the NMW. It doesn’t apply to the self- employed or members of the armed forces. Other exceptions include apprentices in the first year of their apprenticeship.

There is a separate Agricultural Minimum Wage for most Farm workers and others in agriculture, enforced by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. NMW rates are based on the recommendations of the independent Low Pay Commission - whose members include employers, employee groups and academic experts - and last went up on 1 October 2008. They are currently £5.73 per hour for workers aged 22 years and older, £4.77 per hour for workers aged 18-21 and £3.53 per hour for all workers under 18 but above compulsory school age. Tips and other service charges can only be counted towards the minimum wage when they are paid through the employer’s payroll.

Complaints about non-payment of the NMW can be made to the NMW Helpline: 0845 600 0678.

Payroll Giving and Gift Aid

2009-08-29T03:49:00.003+01:00

Payroll Giving is an easy and tax-effective way to donate money to charity. Donors can give to any charities they choose directly from their pay or from their company or personal pension.

Charities appreciate receiving regular donations as it makes it easier for them to budget; and donors benefit because the money is taken from their earnings or pension before tax is worked out so they pay less tax.

Employees ask their payroll department to take donations from their gross pay, before calculating PAYE but after National Insurance Contributions. If an employee is a basic rate taxpayer, giving £10 only costs them £8, because they save £2 tax (20 per cent of £10). A £10 donation would only cost a higher rate taxpayer £6. The employer sends the money to an HMRC-approved Payroll Giving Agency. These agencies run the scheme on behalf of employers and pension providers and are themselves charities. They forward the money to each charity as requested, usually taking a small administration fee. Sometimes employers pay this fee so the charities receive the full donation.

Gift Aid

When a UK taxpayer gives money to a charity or Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC), they have already paid tax on that money. Because charities are generally exempt from tax, they can reclaim basic rate tax on the donation. This repayment, made by HMRC, is known as Gift Aid.

The donor makes a Gift Aid declaration, usually by filling out a simple form, giving permission for the tax to be reclaimed.

The basic rate of Income Tax is 20 per cent. This means for every £1 qualifying donation received, the charity or CASC can claim repayment of 25 pence. So if Emma gives £10 to her favourite cat charity using Gift Aid, the charity actually gets £12.50.

To use Gift Aid, the donor must pay at least as much Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax as the amount being reclaimed, usually in the same tax year, and only UK tax counts. For every £1 donated between 6 April 2008 and 5 April 2011, the charity or CASC will also get an extra three pence transitional relief. This is provided by the government to give charities time to adjust to the two per cent reduction in basic rate tax since 6 April.

Air Passenger Duty (APD)

2009-08-29T03:46:00.002+01:00

When an aircraft takes off from a UK airport, the airline operator has to pay air passenger duty (APD) based on the number of chargeable passengers on board. It doesn’t matter where the flight was booked.

Airlines don’t have to pass the charge on to passengers but many do. For convenience, they include it in the ticket price with other taxes and charges.

Small aircraft and short pleasure flights are exempt from the tax, as are departures from the Scottish Highlands and Islands.

Not everyone on board is chargeable. Exemptions include cabin attendants and children under two without their own seat.

Destinations currently fall into two charging bands but from November 2009 this will change to four. Within each band there is a reduced rate for the lowest class of travel, normally economy.

An estimated £1.8 billion revenue collected by the Government of UK.

Airlines submit monthly returns and payment to HMRC.

Sometimes, people ask HMRC for a refund if they miss or don’t take a flight they’ve booked. No APD would have been due for them if they weren’t on board when the plane took off but as it’s the airline that’s taxed; they need to ask the airline for reimbursement.

So if you ever book a flight, but do not travel, you may not be able to get a refund for the cost of your ticket, but surly you will for your APD.

Student Loan

2009-08-29T03:41:00.001+01:00

Thousands of students have just started at university. Many of them will have a student loan and may use it to pay for tuition fees, rent, baked beans and the occasional pint. But eventually the loan has to be paid back.

This is where HMRC comes in. Student loan accounts are administered by the Student Loans Company (SLC), but HMRC collects repayments on loans to students who started higher education from August 1998 onwards.

Borrowers start paying back their loans from 6 April after they leave university or college, although they only have to make repayments when they are earning more than £1,250 per month.

The amount repaid depends on gross income, but borrowers can make additional repayments to SLC, if they wish.

So how does HMRC collect repayments? For employees, the employer deducts repayments from gross earnings through PAYE, along with income tax and National Insurance contributions. Employees who also have to complete an annual Self Assessment (SA) return may need to make extra repayments if they have other sources of income.

Self-employed borrowers complete an annual Self Assessment return. The automated SA calculation works out their repayment which is included in their SA liability for the year.

Facebook Lite vs Twitter

2009-08-14T01:48:00.015+01:00

So Facebook has finally felt the threat from Twitter? Why is Facebook trying to compete with all the social networking sites?

Facebook has started testing a new service tailored for mobiles and slow internet connections.
They are currently testing a simplified version of its social network service aimed at countries where Internet bandwidth is limited

According to Facebook, the test invitation was sent to a larger number of users 'by mistake'.
A lot of the current users began trying to sign up to the service without success.

Below is a snap shot of the new look of Facebook Lite.

A Facebook spokesman said, 'We have not opened up access to lite.facebook.com to all users at this time. 'People who are not part of the test and are trying to access "Lite" will be directed to Facebook.com as usual."

The site is currently on trial in India and there are plans to extend this to Russia and China.

A statement made by Facebook said the new service would be a "faster, simpler version similar to the Facebook experience you get on a mobile phone". "Facebook Lite is a fast-loading, simplified version of Facebook that enables people to make comments, accept friend requests, write on people's walls, and look at photos and status updates," the statement continued.

"We are currently testing Facebook Lite in countries where we are seeing lots of new users coming to Facebook for the first time and are looking to start off with a more simple experience."

Industry experts are seeing the development as the latest move from Facebook to take on Twitter. The question is, are they going to be able to compete with Twitter even though they are the largest social networking sites? I mean we are talking about instant messaging and having people follow you as they do on Twitter. Twitter has had a great start to this, and has a tremendous amount of users in such a short period of time.

The one advantage Twitter has is, it has celebraties using it, which obviously means fans signing up to follow them, bringing them more users. Facebook have more than 250 million active users, although more than 70% of these are in Europe and North America. Twitter has about 45 million.

In developing countries, where the infrastructure for broadband is limited, mobile phones are emerging as the dominant way for the internet to develop. An improved version of Facebook that loads and runs effectively on a mobile would enable the firm to expand into these markets.

The news of Facebook Lite comes just days after Facebook acquired content-sharing service FriendFeed. The service offers a "real-time" search engine that lets users know what is happening currently on any given subject. The purchase caught many industry watchers by surprise, even though the two companies had been talking on and off for the past two years.

I have to say Twitter has a lot of businesses using it to have their customers following the. Also the feature to be able to find anyone and follow them without having to be a friend as appealing to a lot of us. As with Facebook it is mainly friends and family, basically the people you know.

So who is going to be the winner, Facebook or Twitter? Do let me know who you use or like by leaving your comments below.

Free Website, Web Hosting and Domain name

2009-07-29T20:32:00.015+01:00

If you are thinking of having your own website but don't want to spend anything to start off with, then read on.

There are many free web hosts, who will give you unlimited bandwidth, pages, free domain name, and unlimited pages. So if you think you are ready to launch your own site, why not test it with one of these free web hosts. It doesn't cost you anything, other than your hard work to put it together.

The only downside to this is that, the domain name you will get will not be a simple
www. yourname.com, it will be something like www. clevergenius.yourname.com. The only disadvantage of this is, it will be difficult for users to memorize your site address. However, if advertised and promoted properly, and you can get your site ranked high with the search engines, then this will not be an issue. As your users will find you with their search queries. For more information about how to get more traffic to your site read my blog on increasing the number of visitors to your site without spending anything.

Don't worry, let me not put you off by this. If you wish you can buy a domain name of your choice and redirect your free domain name. Domain names are not that expensive to buy, depending on what you choose to go for ( .com/.gov/.net etc). You can buy domain names from $1.99.

The two of the most popular web hosts and most user friendly are:

http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/en-GB/ (This is owned by Microsoft)
https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount?hl=&service=jotspot&continue=http://sites.google.com/site/ ( This is owned by Google)

You will need a valid email address to open an account. Once you open your account, it is then a matter of you putting your contents in and designing it to your liking. Once this is done, you are ready to launch your site.

When desigining your site, keep in mind your customers. Kepp asking one question to yourself, "will my customers like the design of my site?". Try not to make it to personal to you, but don't forget to try and view it from your customers point of view.

With these hosts, there a forums where you can ask questions and find answers for a question that may have already been answered. So don't be afraid to ask others who are already using it and can give you helpful tips. Normally they are all really friendly.

You can use paypal on your free site to collect payments if you are going to be selling a service or products, and it is really simple to install. Although Google can provide you with a Google check out if you decide to use Google, the choice is yours.

Now that you know where to start, don't let me hold you back. Click on the links above and get started in minutes.

If you need any help with anything to with building the site, then please do email me or leave a message in the comments section below, and I will try and help you.

When you are ready to launch your site, read my blog on how to promote your site for free and how to submit your site to search engine. It is very easy or can be nightmare to increase the traffic flow to your site, so be sure to start of good.

One of the sites I use often is called 4jokerz. The site lists the most popular sites in different categories. You will need the page which allows you to submit to the most popular search engines. It saves you time as its links take you directly to the search engines submit URL page. The link to the site is http://4jokerz.com/default.aspx

Don't forget to read my How to increase traffic to my site blog.

Good luck!

How to increase traffic to your website or blog.

2009-07-28T20:13:00.012+01:00

Start from the basics, think of it this way, if you were to build a building can you put up the 10th floor without building the other 9 first? No, this is exactly how you have to look at it when it comes to promoting your website or a blog.

There are millions of ways to promote your website and blogs, and surly you may have already come across them. But you are here obviously for a reason, and my guess is you either found them too hard to implement or too expensive. I have listed some of the things you should do before getting into all the other technical and costly ways of advertising. Before you start to promote your site, make sure you offer free, original, and quality content on your site. This is the most effective means for increasing traffic to a website. It doesn't matter if you sell a product or a service, giving away free stuff will always attract users. Also make sure your site is complete and ready to be promoted. Incomplete sites or blogs will turn away potential users from returning. Just remember this; it takes a lot to get one user, but a second to lose a million.

1. Tell all your friends and family members about your site and ask them to visit your site and pass the word around.

Ask them for feedback, everyone wants to feel important, so when you ask them to give you tips and ideas and what they think you should have on your site or how it can be improved, it will make them feel important. This will make them come back to visit your site to see if you have made changes or how it has been improved. Don't just ignore their tips and ideas; they could be very useful, as these people could have been your potential users.

With all sites, at the beginning it is a bit difficult to get loyal and returning customers. So say please and thanks to your friends and family. If it feels like your begging, then be it, just remember who will be the winner at the end? You.

Just remember this little tree example - You tell 10 people (friends and family), these 10 people, each tell 10 others meaning 100, and those 100 tell another 10 each... I will let you carry on with the calculation as we all need a bit of mathematics practice every now and then. Jokes aside, but can you see how it will have people coming to visit a friend of a friend of a friends site. Someone you never met or know about will visit your site, not because they wanted to, but were asked to.

Some search engines rank your sites according to the number of visitors, which following the above will give you a good start, and others use Meta tags and descriptions. To be at the top, you need both.

2. Make sure your Meta tags and descriptions are relevant and describe what you actually do or sell on your site. Be creative, sometimes competing with the popular words or phrases can mean you get nowhere, so why not try words that are not too popular and work your way up. Take over the smaller market first and then aim for the bigger one. Niche markets isn't always bad, infact sometimes can be very beneficial.

3. Email all your contacts from your mailing account. We all have real friends that we meet up with and go for a drink or a coffee, but we also have unknown people in our contacts on Hotmail, Yahoo or Googlemail or whatever it is that you use. You don't believe me? Have a look, I bet you will find at least one that you don't recognise. Make sure the email is eye catching and interesting. It doesn't just have to be a link to your blog or site; just make sure it will lead them to it somehow.

4. If you are still working, then tell all your work colleagues, don't be shy about it. Remember, you will be the one who will benefit at the end.

5. Have some simple games and puzzles page to get people to engage with your site. You don't have to have millions of flash games, it could be simple games such as sudoku, word games and so on. Just in case you have a user who accidentally comes to your site, but isn't interested in what you have to offer, they may stay on to try and find the answer to a silly question you may have put on your home page, which may even have them come back. All the top and popular sites do, to name a few, Facebook, Yahoo, Google, MSN etc, so why not you.

6. Submit your sites to search engines and directories for free. Make sure they are the markets leading sites and the most popular ones. Don't waste your time, money and effort in submitting to sites which only end up using a major search engine. These sites act as the middlemen, who use the popular sites to get their results. I have come across a site which lists the most popular and major search engines and has direct links search engines submit URL page. Avoid submitting your sites too often, as this may have your site rejected.
http://4jokerz.com/submittingwebsites.aspx

7. Try and link to other sites, but make sure it is relevant to what you have to offer. It is no use you linking to a health related site when you could be selling smoking related products, such as pipes, cigarettes etc. It will have a negative impact.

8. Use your social networking sites to advertise what you have on your site. With sites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter, you can have your site on your profile. People who look into your profile may sometimes be interested in having a look at what you do or have on your site.

9. Become a member of Twitter. If you are popular amongst your friends, and they like to know what you get up to, then have them follow you on Twitter. Always remember to update by saying what the latest is on your site as well as yourself.

Some may laugh and make jokes, but at the same time go in there to see what it is that you’re talking about. Imagine this, a friend of yours goes into you Twitter account to see what you are up to, while they are out with people you don't know. They think your silly to be doing what you’re doing, so laugh, to which his/her friends will ask why? You friend will then probably show them your site, which may interest at least one person. If not, you have nothing to lose, but if yes, then you just got 1 more user.

10. Finally, if you are advertising on your pages, make sure the adverts displayed are relevant to your contents. If you use googleAdsense, Bidvertiser or alike, then you don't have to worry about doing it yourself, as they have systems in place to advertise links relevant to your contents. It is only when you join affiliate programmes yourself and you get to choose what you advertise and where.

Having the right adverts on your pages will mean visitors have a better experience, and are likely to come back to your site to re-visit a site they may have used linking from yours. You will be surprised how many people out there sometimes actually think that, a site that links from a site is part of that site or company. Which also gives you the advantage of them not bookmarking it, and may force them to come back to your site as they may have forgotten the name of the site and web address they visited.

Regardless of the above, links from your site will leave an impression of you or your company with the user. If you link them to useful sites, they will remember you as they would have enjoyed their experience on your site and sites visited through yours. But if they have a bad experience, they will never forget that, and in the future may not click on any links from your site. This is bad news for you if your earning will be depending on your adverts. So don't just go for the advertisers that pay the highest commission, but for the ones that can benefit you in the long run by giving your users a better experience and quality products and services.

Lastly don't advertise your direct competitors on your site, as this can drive away users from your site.

The above simple tips will give you a great start, and may even make you succeed. You may eventually need to spend a bit of money, but what I have listed is what money can't buy. Take your time but be accurate, as there are no room for errors. Your failure will mean someone else’s success.

Recommended site:

Link to list of search engines where you can submit your site with one click, free service.
http://4jokerz.com/submittingwebsites.aspx

Is it the parents responsibilty or the Governments for underage teenagers having sex?

2009-07-22T23:36:00.005+01:00

Who is it to blame for underage teenagers having sex? The parents or the Government?

I find it amazing when parents blame the Government for anything their kids do wrong.

If their children fail in school, drink, take drugs, have sex, get pregnant, get into trouble with the law, miss school and so many other things, it is somehow the Governments fault.

Are we living in a society where all we care about and do is have children and leave the rest for the world to take care of?

I was shocked to find out what kids in school do these days. A very close friend of mine who is a teacher in a school told me how she has caught kids young as 10 and 13 having sex in the school playing fields. She caught two boys and a girl having sex in the bushes, and was so disturbed that, she didnt know what to do or say. As for the kids, they didn't care or look worried at all.
She eventually told the kids parents on a parents evening. But I wonder how these kids came to know about threesome or group sex?

But my question is, what did the parents of those kids do to make sure their kids would not do something like this again, if they did anything at all?

We hear so many stories about young teenage girls getting pregnant or having abortions. But that is just half the story. There are so many incidents like this that, we never hear about.

The same friend of mine also told me about a mother of a girl coming to see her on a parents evening and just crying to her. She was crying because she had to assist her daughter to have an abortion. The girl was only 12, and the girls mother wasn't too sure about telling the father. Why not?

So who is it to blame? Is it the Government and the schools to blame because they are teaching sex education too early in school? In my opinion, teaching children about sex or safe sex at such a young age is telling them to have sex, and that it is ok to do that as long as they use contraceptives.

We shouldn't forget as we have all been there, teenagers try to act like an adult and want be like an adult. They want to do what we do, and will go to any extreme to achieve that.

There are so many things that we do wrong or the Government that is harming our children. To list a few, below are some of the things I believe the Government of our countries are doing wrong:

Movies showing sex scenes, drug abuse, killing, crime are now rated 12 and 15.
Computer games that involve a lot of violance, or are like real life crimes availabe freely.
TV programmes, posters, tv commercials all advertising sex, nudity, cigarettes.
Porn sites easily accessible, chat rooms and my favourite cell/mobile phone internet.

I will leave you to decide how you think some of the above things can damage our childrens future or the way they think.

I have to say, kids nowadays are under a lot of pressure to keep up with the demands of their friends and find themselves competing all the time. It is suppose to be cool to have a girlfriend or boyfriend or to smoke and take drugs. It is because their favourite actor or singer is doing it. To these kids, this is the only way to fame.

But does this mean it is the Government and the teachers in the schools of our children to blame? I don't think so, and I strongly believe that it is us, the parents of every child who end up doing these things to blame. We are so busy in life that we do not have time to see what our children are getting up to. We don't check to see if our kids have gone where they said they would and what they are actually doing.

Where I live I often see groups of teenagers hanging around parks and on the streets with alcholic drinks, smoking and causing trouble. It always made me wonder, how and why the parents of those kids never seem to smell the smoke or the alcohol on their kids when they go home? And if they do, why do they not do anything about it? It always seems to be the same group of kids I see and maybe new members. Why is it that the parents are not out searching for their kids when it hits midnight? Are they not worried about their kids safety or do they just not care. It is so funny, but I can gurantee you, the parents of these kids expect the police to keep an eye on their kids and would blame the supermarkets and shops for selling their kids alcohol. Do they not think to themselves for once that, maybe these kids are using someone the legal age to buy drinks for them?

The drinking and drugs lead to sex, then pregnancy, leading to abortions or a teenager with a child.

So how can they control their kids from buying alcohol? Maybe by limiting their pocket money, or at least keeping an account of what their kids are spending their money on. Which would then probably stop them from trying to show off and do things they shouldn't be. Maybe we all need to control to a ceratin age what we allow them to do or watch. Maybe by limiting them as to how long they can be out with their friends and asking them questions when they arrive home if something is suspicious.

I believe if we get a bit more involved in our childrens lives and force the Government to take appropriate actions for what they are doing wrong, we can prevent and improve the lives of our children.

I believe if something is yours, then it is your responsibilty, and people around you can only help and be blamed for so much. Ultimatley it is our responsibility.

I would be very interested to hear what your opinions are, so please leave your comments below.