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Why Choose Penzu as a Online Personal Journal?
I just came across this website tonight and thought to myself I can’t blog some personal feelings and should have a journal just to write how I feel. I know there is a website called LiveJournal but the overall interface and look of it does not feel up-to-date with the present web. It would eventually help me become more stress free and help improve my memory because I do forget my dreams and so on.
Below is a screen dump of the many reasons why Penzu would be a good online personal journal for you to choose. Personally it focuses on how important it is for the writers health.
Male aphrodisiacs and stimulants: know the facts
We’ve all seen them advertised. Here, we uncover the realities behind herbal aphrodisiacs.
Most men know the drill – whether it’s lots of spam emails offering to extend your performance or a poster in the pub toilets promising a guaranteed erection, there is a huge variety of aphrodisiacs and stimulants vying for your attention.
But do they actually work? More importantly, are they even safe? MSN Him takes a closer look at this lucrative industry.
What do these products claim to resolve?
The sultry blonde smouldering on the cover of a pamphlet advertising a sex stimulant reflects the kind of provocative advertising used for male aphrodisiac pills and potions.
“The guys I have on set always use it – as it guarantees they are big, hard and ready” reads the blurb, which promises to turn the onlooker into a rampant sex machine no woman could complain about. Most of us are familiar with these types of sell.
But it’s not just top-shelf magazines that are promoting wares that play on the trademarked name Viagra or use words like Man and Maximus in their titles to suggest virility – it seems it’s not even safe to have a tinkle without being urged to buy a blue pill as a booster.
Do these sexual stimulants work?
There’s a whole host of products on offer in vending machines in pubs, with some claiming they are ‘scientifically tested’ and as safe as can be. So how true are these claims of efficacy and safety?
Dr Petra Boynton, social psychologist at University College London, says the general belief that men should always be ready for sex plays a big part in the marketing of such pills.
“There’s that stereotype that men always want sex and with that comes the pressure that they have to be able to get and keep an erection,” says Boynton. “A lot of the anxieties that men talk about are that they can’t perform in the way they are led to believe they should be doing.”
Why men rarely talk about stimulants and performance-enhancers
It’s fair to say that male performance anxiety is very real and concerning for any sufferer. As a result, we’re often easily embarrassed about sexual issues and are more likely to buy products on the web or through magazine ads, rather than seeking professional help. It can seem like the best way of preserving our dignity and self-esteem. But does that make men more vulnerable to some potentially untried and untested claims?
Dr Boynton believes that such pill promoters are exploiting men’s anxieties and offer little or no proof that they work. Equally worrying are the possible side effects and health issues associated with using such untested drugs.
“A problem for men is that if you are anxious about your performance – either due to erection issues or premature ejaculation – where do you actually go? If you go online, you can easily come across sites that will give you incorrect information, or perhaps try selling dodgy products or at best proven products in an unethical way.”
What are the dangers?
Some companies claim to offer a mixture of substances said to tackle erectile problems or help give men an ‘inflatory’ rise. But Dr Boynton reveals that apart from some well-known ingredients such as ginseng and ginger, l-arginine, magnesium stearate and silicon dioxide (better known as salt) there may also be present unknown stimulants or generic versions of Viagra.
“They can interact with alcohol/recreational drugs and also you don’t really know what you’re taking or the levels. I’ve heard stories of guys buying them off blokes down the pub – literally just purchasing capsules and taking them.
“L-arginine for instance is used in the treatment of hypertension, so if you do have any issues there it wouldn’t be wise to take it without seeing a doc first for a full MOT. Most of these ‘herbal’ products are either placebo at best or at worst contain generic Viagra or similar, so can be very dangerous for people with high blood pressure, diabetes, heart conditions, etc.”
Are these stimulants legal?
Dr James Moffatt, pharmacologist at St George’s, University of London, describes how companies are able to sell these products even when they haven’t been put through rigorous trials.
“They are probably using lots of subtle loopholes. I mean, what’s the difference between a handful of parsley and a handful of parsley that claims to cure erectile dysfunction? They can get away with saying their ingredients are a food and there’s also a lot of caffeine in these pills, which energy drinks also contain. Caffeine makes the user feel the drug is ‘kicking in’ and psychologically believe they are working. But unless these companies break the law, it seems like nobody cares what they do. [It] is basically an unregulated market.”
Embarrassment and exploitation
As guys aren’t generally known for opening up about their love lives and problems associated with sex, both Dr Boynton and Dr Moffatt believe many men will prefer to go online to find a fast remedy and buy products bypassing professional advice.
“The issue of men’s sex problems is seen as a bit of a joke, or they’re not that serious and nobody wants to talk about it,” says Dr Boynton. “So this means we are struggling to collate a firm database on what men are taking and how many adverse reactions there are.”
Dr Moffatt adds that there is certainly the potential for the erectile dysfunction market to be exploited. “If men buy something and it doesn’t work, they just throw it away,” says Dr Moffatt. “They probably won’t complain, let alone sue. Until they are seen to do actual harm, it’s unlikely any action will be taken.”
What this means is that an industry of opportunists trading on men’s fears and anxieties revolving around sexual performance is raking in money. One Australian company was hauled over the coals by UK regulatory body the Advertising Standards Authority in February 2009 for an “offensive” poster. The company argued that only by directly confronting a reluctant audience could they get their message across but the ASA agreed with complainants that the ad had crossed the line. Dr Boynton contributed to a BBC Watchdog programme about the company.
“The company ran a helpline and, as well as calling men ‘losers’ if they didn’t buy their products, they would also tell married guys that their wives would leave them for other men if they couldn’t get an erection. They were totally unethical and put untold pressure on men to buy their pills.”
John Tomlinson, director at the Men‘s Sexual Health Clinic in Winchester, is also aware of the firm, which he claims charged hefty fees for their wares.
“I had one patient who was 20 years old and suffered from premature ejaculation. He paid £600 upfront and what they gave him didn’t work,” he claims. “Eventually after a while he sued them. It’s a big problem for men in the middle-east and Asia who are constantly being exploited by these unscrupulous companies.”
Health dangers
Presently it’s difficult to know just how many men have suffered physical problems due to the anonymity of obtaining such products. “It’s possible that some men might have experienced problems and then not confessed to their doctors that they’ve been taking these pills,” says Dr Moffatt.
“By and large they are biologically harmless, but some of the stuff sold as ‘herbal Viagra’ often contains random amounts of generic Viagra made by someone who isn’t regulated, and that is illegal. Now, this can be dangerous because the taker doesn’t know what the dosage is and could take too much of it. The FDA put a warning out on this a couple of years ago.”
Genuine help and information
“Most men don’t have an actual physical problem – they just think they have a problem,” says Dr Boynton. “It might be that they just desire a stronger erection or are anxious about a new relationship or functioning due to a disappointing experience – so they end up taking clinical medication for a non-medical problem.”
The emphasis being that men should learn that it’s perfectly normal to feel anxious about performing with a new partner and equally – unless there is a consistent issue with getting an erection – most guys shouldn’t worry about it unduly.
“For men who believe they may have a genuine psychological or physical problem their first port of call should be their GP, who can assess the situation clinically and prescribe the right kind of treatment, be it medication (registered and monitored for side effects) or psychological help in the form of therapy that may be available free on the NHS.”
Advertisers refute ‘beauty industry perpetuates low self-esteem’ claim
Advertisers have rejected claims that the ad industry perpetuates low self-esteem by creating an unattainable image of women in the media and making false claims about products in advertising.
Advertisers including Boots, P&G and L’Oreal reinforced their commitment to responsible advertising, showing diversity and substantiating the claims made in ads, at the evidence session for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image yesterday (30 January) at the Houses of Parliament.
In response to a question from conservative MP Caroline Nokes, as to whether the success of the industry was based on perpetuating a lack of confidence in order to then sell consumers products to alleviate it, L’Oreal group director of communications Louise Terry defended the cosmetics firm’s advertising as “aspirational” and “sincere”.
Terry says: “Its fair to say that images are airbrushed but never to make people thinner. We try to be sincere and try to get the line right between aspirational and going too far. We spend a lot of time on what is appropriate and we have a good industry watchdog that names and shames us when we get it wrong.”
Terry adds: “People are discerning. If they use a product and it doesn’t work, they probably will not use it again, but we get consumers buying our products again and again so it does do something and it makes them happy.”
Boots marketing director Elizabeth Fagan, adds: “We want all our comms to be engaging, inspirational and make people feel good. We don’t want it to be unattainable but want women to think ‘on a good day I could look like that’. Women don’t want to see unattractive or everyday people – they want to be aspirational.
MP Jo Swinson also criticised the advertising industry for failing to look at advertising proactively as a whole, instead being reactive to complaints and only looking at individual adverts in silos. She maintains that issues of diversity in the ad industry can’t be investigated if the Advertising Standards Authority only looks at ads on a case-by-case basis
Sue Eustace, director of public affairs at the Advertising Association, commented that the UK’s self regulation process is comprehensive and allows the industry to look at individual ads, but take action collectively by developing new guidelines in response.
53 secrets girls don’t want guys to know
1. When we get whistled at in the street, we feel uncomfortable and we’ll always tut and roll our eyes. But we’re awesomely flattered and we’d be gutted if it stopped.
2. We will never grow out of our fascination with pop stars. A guy can be completely ordinary-looking, but we will fancy him if he’s in a band.
3. We are more likely to fancy a guy if his ex-girlfriends are really pretty.
4. We can be put off a guy by finding out that his ex-girlfriends are a bit ugly.
5. When we look through your Facebook photos, we’re looking to see how pretty or ugly your ex-girlfriends are.
6. We look through your Facebook photos a lot, and we really hope that you haven’t downloaded anything that reveals who looks at them the most.
7. Here’s how to make us fall for you. One day, come on to us so strong that we’re a bit weirded out by it. Then totally fail to ring us. We’ll wonder what we did wrong, and we won’t be able to stop thinking about you.
8. The above strategy isn’t foolproof. We may just lose interest. It depends on how much we liked you in the first place.
9. We often don’t know how much we liked you in the first place. We may have to wait until you don’t phone us. If we’re disappointed, it proves that we fancy you. If we’re not, it proves that we don’t. It’s like when you toss a coin to help you make a decision.
10. Stop trying to understand how our minds work. Even we don’t understand how our minds work.
11. We constantly change our minds and reserve the right to do so.
12. We love getting a missed call from you. It makes us feel in control.
13. The pleasure of noticing a missed call doesn’t last long. We never know how soon to ring back, and it does our heads in.
14. We are constantly scared of putting you off by seeming too keen.
15. We are constantly scared of putting you off by not seeming keen enough.
16. We will never discuss this with you because we are constantly scared of putting you off by bringing “us” up in conversation.
17. “I’m scared of being hurt” means “I don’t fancy you as much as I thought I did.” You know it, we know it, and that is all that will be said on the matter.
18. We say “we’re not manipulative” because we’re really good at being manipulative.
19. We only manipulate your feelings because you manipulated our feelings first.
20. Snoring costs you sex.
21. Your feet disgust us.
22. We shave our toes.
23. We’ve got a rogue hair that needs regular plucking.
24. We went through a phase of shaving our moustache.
25. We leave our legs unshaven on a first date so that we won’t end up in bed with you.
26. We wear big knickers on a first date so that we won’t end up in bed with you.
27. We spend entire first dates fancying the pants off you and worrying that we’ll end up in bed with you, all unshaven legs and big knickers.
28. We don’t actually care that much about the loo seat.
29. We suspect that you like our bodies more when we’re carrying a few extra pounds, but we always feel better about ourselves when we lose weight. However we hate that our boobs look deflated, and we’re disgusted by the injustice of it.
30. We envy you for being able to eat more than us and not get fat. By “envy” we mean “occasionally hate.”
31. If a grown-up woman has light blonde hair, she’s bleaching it*. You can tell that a woman is a natural blonde from her mousey eyebrows. (* OK, or she’s Scandinavian.)
32. We trim our nose-hair.
33. Yes we’ve got nice eyes, blah blah. Boring. We are desperate for you to compliment our skin and our necks.
34. We are even more desperate for you to write poems about us.
35. When we’re at a party we clock the sexy girls far quicker than we clock the sexy guys.
36. We find female strippers sexier than male strippers. But that doesn’t mean we want to snog any of them.
37. However we do wish we were gay sometimes, if only to get oral sex from someone who really knows what they’re doing.
38. Size does matter, fellas.
39. What you do with it matters even more.
40. What you do with your tongue matters most of all.
41. We’re really scared that you’ll feel our back zits.
42. During breakouts we get up at 6am and cover our spots with concealer while you’re sleeping.
43. We don’t want you to stay for breakfast. We want you to leave immediately so that you don’t have time to register how dog-rough we look in the morning.
44. We want you to text us from your journey home to say how you can’t stop smiling.
45. If you don’t text or call within 24 hours we’ll feel so unhappy that no amount of chocolate and wine can cheer us up. Though we’ll give it a try.
46. We’d happily sleep with your best mate to make you jealous.
47. We’re scared of commitment too.
48. If you’re not very well endowed, your girlfriend won’t tell her friends. She’s as embarrassed about it as you are. However if you dump her, she’ll tell everyone.
49. We fake orgasms so that you’ll stop and let us go to sleep.
50. We aren’t always sure when we’re faking it. In orgasms, the line between fact and fiction can be very thin.
51. We love falling asleep in your arms, for the first few weeks of a relationship anyway. To be honest we’d sleep a lot better if you weren’t there.
52. We find your dark-coloured bedsheets a total turn-off.
53. We’re all little girls inside. You make us cry far more easily than you realise.
A Bad Day
Image via Wikipedia
I usually post something on my blog on a Tuesday that is related to business, technology or love. Today I will not be posting anything new on YouTube or on this blog except this update about me. I am not very well and it is nothing serious but from what the nurse at the RVI hospital said after my treatment it made me feel strong. The nurse stated “you are a very brave person to endure so much pain”, at that point I wished my friends would appreciate me for who I am. I have usually tried to fit in with the British culture and society by communicating with people and copying their activities but still I felt I was not accepted because of my colour, ethnic backgroud, culture and religion. Many do not know me well enough to ever know my secrets, few friends who I did trust left me alone and caused me to mistrust others. If they had known my secrets then I would have been seen as a really strong person who does not give up and faces every challenge in life ranging from illness to education.
As humans we only try to protect ourselves from harm and this may be another human being who can cause harm. When someone you share your secrets with abandons you and forgets you as a best friend then you start to be cautious and never trust anyone until they have earned it. My standard to trust a friend has been that:
- Someone is willing to take the time and make the effort to arrange a meeting. (Without me having to ask to meet)
- Someone who understands your feelings and shares their own feelings.
- Someone who is their for you as much as you are for them.
- Someone who will still be your friend when single or in a relationship.
- Someone who is not afraid to call you a friend or be seen with you.
- Someone who is not afraid to show their emotions for their friend. (Friendly hugs & etc)
Its very depressing that many friends can not be like that. For me personally I have always been the friend to arrange a meeting, listen and show my support. Personally I have no friend who is happy to arrange a meeting with me without me initiating it in a conversation. I am very certain I don’t have a friend in a big city like Newcastle who has tried to understand my pain and be a good friend to make me happy. Many of the friends I know are too busy with their own lives, example boyfriends/girlfriends or just general stuff which they state takes up a lot of their time for me but are able to find time for other people.
What more can I say?
Thank you for reading this blog post. Look out for a blog post soon to be published called ‘Modern Friends’.
Men Under Pressure
In recent years men have been under pressure for how they look by the media and the society they live in. You always saw the female population being under the media spotlight for looking underweight, overweight, insufficient make-up, hairstyle, fashion sense and etc. The modern World now expects men to consider many elements before stepping outside their house. 10 years ago you would not have seen many products for mens skin, hair and eyes but in the modern World you will find men now have a vast amount of choice when buying a product for their skin and hair.
Women in particular like men to take care of their body and show off how they look. This indicates to the female mind that a man who looks after his body will be healthy and be a good partner for her and a good father to her children.
In the video I uploaded to my YouTube channel ‘Room of Opinions’ http://youtu.be/T5IzQQoDSDY I have given some advice on what products are available for certain areas of the body. Now the products I mentioned are not standard products you find in the supermarket, not all of them actually. To remove product build-up in your hair I suggested in the video that you could purchase and use a Deep Cleansing Shampoo from Label.M.
This product smells nice and makes your feel very clean and refreshed with no signs of grease or oil.
Another product I mentioned which was important on a daily basis was the ‘Witch Face Wash’. Now this product is like a foam and it does not irritate your skin, smells nice and makes you feel refreshed with no oily or greasy skin. I have sensitive skin and this is perfect for me and I recommend this to any who wants a cleanser that does not irritate the skin.
It is important that after using a cleanser you use a cream/moisturiser to stop your skin from drying up and being rough. Nivea will keep your skin smooth and moist.
Other products I mentioned in YouTube are shown in the photos below and I would suggest you watch my video on YouTube ‘Room of Opinions’ http://youtu.be/T5IzQQoDSDY for more information.
Thank you for reading this post.
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