Acne Vulgaris, the 8 Stages of Acne, Skin Care, Adult Acne, and Scar Removal Options.

by: Stephen M. Seabrook



What is Acne Vulgaris? This is a medical term used to describe most cases of acne. It really isn't as bad as it sounds! Vulgaris doesn't mean that the acne is vulgar, only that it means that it is common.

Be aware that there are many factors that contribute to acne. First, research indicates a propensity for acne may well be inherited. Parents who had acne in their teenage and young adult years may have children who are likewise prone to having acne in their teen and young adult years.

Next, clogged skin pores are certainly a major contributing factor for acne out-breaks. When pores become clogged with an excess production of sebum and mix with dead skin cells or makeup that isn't sufficiently cleaned from the skin, problems start to develop. When skin pores are clogged, bacteria are produced and pus starts to form causing a pimple, a white head or a black head.

The most commonly accepted causes for acne are hormonal imbalances. Hormones in boys and girls may become unbalanced during puberty, during menstrual cycles, when starting or stopping birth control pills, during times of extreme stress, and at other times as well.

All of the above situations can cause the body to over produce a male hormone which causes the sebaceous glands to produce sebum. The sebum combines with dead skin cells to block pores and acne develops. So, basically, it still comes back to blocked pores.

Other causes for acne include a lack of vitamins, minerals and trace elements that the body needs to maintain a healthy skin. Vitamins A, E and B6 are especially important in maintaining healthy skin as are zinc, essential fatty acids (EFA), Chromium and Selenium.

Most diets of teenagers and young adults do not contain these vitamins, minerals, and trace elements in sufficient quantity to maintain healthy skin and to help prevent the onset of Acne.

Acne: The 8 Stages:

Full blown, Stage 8 acne doesn't usually develop overnight. Acne is progressive condition. Acne is one of the diseases that are so common that it is sometimes just disregarded as a serious problem...like the common cold. It has been estimated that 95 of people will have at least a mild case of acne at some point in their lives.

Acne, much like the common cold, is usually treated by the sufferer with over-the-counter medications that alleviate the symptoms of the disease in the belief that it will simply go away all by itself....eventually. And, it usually does but not always.

Most people throughout their life will have the occasional pimple, zit, white head or black head.

Although these pesky little outbreaks do seem to appear at the most inopportune times, they really aren't a serious problem that requires medical attention. A little over-the-counter acne facial wash to help prevent another outbreak will usually take care of the problem. It isn't a big deal. This kind of acne is referred to as Stage 0 and really nothing to be concerned about unless the acne progresses to subsequent stages.

Acne stages are graded from 0 through 8. Zero is the least severe and 8 is the most serious of the stages. The stages are as follows:

Stage 1: There will be white heads and black heads with some mild inflammation. The outbreaks will start to occur more frequently. Using products that contain Benzyl Peroxide are in order.

Stage 2: There will be some papules in addition to the white heads and black heads. Papules are skin lesions that are solid and raised but usually small. This is still considered to be a very mild case of acne. Treatment can be continued using over-the-counter products that contain Salicylic Acid.

Stage 3: Stage 3 is the same as stage 2 but with more frequent occurrences.

Stage 4-5: Pustules begin to appear. Now, it's time to schedule an appointment at a dermatologist.

Stage 6-7: Nodules and cysts are forming. Scarring is going to start happening at this stage. Your dermatologist will begin to take more drastic action.

Stage 8: Breakouts are almost continuous and include nodules and cysts. There are modern technologies that will help and your dermatologist will advise you.

Acne Skin Care:

As we know, our hair follicles secrete sebum. Sebum makes its way up the hair follicles to the skin pores where it lubricates and protects the skin. Sometimes there are oil glands which get overworked, get enlarge, and produce too much sebum. The sebum can get trapped in the hair follicle.

When this happens the pores get clogged and black heads or white heads form and the bacteria start to multiply at an alarmingly fast rate.

Once you understand this process, you can see the reasoning behind the advice about caring for skin that has black heads, white heads and pustules on it.

The first piece of advice about caring for acne infected skin is to never pick at the pimples. Don't try to pop them and drain them. This will not cure them no matter what anybody tells you. Popping them will only serve to make them worse...not better.

However, there are things that you can do that really will help.

The first thing you can do is to wash your face with a mild soap or a sulfur based soap. Wash your face with just your finger tips. Don't ever use a wash cloth as it holds germs and bacteria. Rinse your face with clean water several times to ensure you remove all traces of soap, and then pat it dry with a clean towel. Do not rub your face with the towel and never use the same towel twice without it being clean.

Take a good multi-vitamin and multi-mineral supplement every day and drink at least 8 full glasses of water (not soda) every day. The vitamins and minerals will supply nutrients that are absent from most diets and the water will help to hydrate the skin as well as to flush toxins out of your system.

If you use over-the-counter acne medications, be certain that you follow the directions carefully and that you use a good sunscreen when you are outdoors as some acne medications make the skin more prone to sunburn.

Adult Acne:

Acne is not just a problem for teenagers and young adults. Once a person survives the teenage years, you would think that they don't have to deal with the embarrassment of acne any longer, right? Well....not exactly.

The sad truth is that about 25 of women will have acne at some time in their 20s, 30s or even 40s. Although there has never been a real cause established, it is believed that most adult acne is caused by the same thing that causes teenage acne...hormonal changes.

A doctor will sometimes prescribe hormonal treatments that will clear a case of adult acne right up. As with teenage acne, adult acne is not caused by diet. Stress has often been cited as one possible cause of adult acne but that assertion has never been verified.

Treating adult acne is a bit more difficult than treating teenage acne. Adults have the concern of drying out their skin that teenagers don't normally have to deal with. Adults don't want pimples; but, they don't want wrinkles, either. A dermatologist should be consulted if the acne is long lasting or is severe.

There are many treatments that are available to adults who suffer from acne. Most of the effective treatments are only available by prescription. Adults should not use over-the-counter acne medications that are intended for the treatment of teenage acne. These products tend to dry the skin and adults need to be concerned about wrinkling as well as acne.

A case of adult acne is not a happy occurrence to say because those ugly bumps always seem to occur at the most inopportune times and while a teenager may be embarrassed by acne, an adult is even more devastated.

Fortunately, there are treatments and a dermatologist has a lot of weapons in his arsenal to fight adult acne.

Acne Scar Removal Options:

Life hardly seems fair sometimes! First, a teenager or a young adult must suffer through acne, treat it, and have to live with it...sometimes for years. Then the acne is gone; but, the scars are there as a painful reminder of the mental and emotional agony the acne sufferer had to endure.

You're right, life doesn't seem fair; but, acne is one of those sad facts of life that some if not most of us have to deal with. The good news is there is help; unfortunately, it isn't free or cheap!

There are two basic procedures that are used to remove ugly pits and scars left over from a bad case of teenage or young adult acne. Laser resurfacing is the least expensive of the two available acne scar removal procedures. Dermabrasion is the second procedure.

Laser resurfacing can be done in the dermatologist office instead of a hospital so that provides a much greater financial savings. A laser is used to remove the top layer of skin and also to tighten the middle layer of skin.

The dermatologist will use a local anesthetic to help reduce the procedure pain. It usually takes several days for the skin to heal after a laser resurfacing procedure is completed. Very often, multiple resurfacing treatments must be done to achieve the desired results.

The second procedure used to remove acne scarring is called dermabrasion. In this procedure, a rotating wire brush is used to remove the top layer of skin. The body continually produces new skin and the new layer will be smoother than the layer that was removed. It usually takes between 10 days and 3 weeks for the skin to heal after a dermabrasion treatment. Once again, multiple treatments may be required to eliminate the scarring.

Acne may seem to be a devastating condition but with proper skin routine, vitamins, and over the counter products, most cases will not be severe. Remember, proper cleansing goes a long way towards minimizing outbreaks, so don't be afraid to cleanse your face 5 - 6 times a day of more if needed.

Fight acne by being smart. Take as many preventative steps as possible to avoid situations that create the opportunity for acne to develop. If acne does afflict you, consult a qualified medical professional before deciding on a course of action.

Prostate Drugs - Just What Those Prostate Drugs Like?

by: Daniel Tolmie



Okay, so you haven't had a decent nights sleep in the past 4 years, you routinely leave the mens room still soiling your underwear slightly and your sex life is, well ... it's not.

Something has to be done.

Natural prostate remedies or man-made prostate drugs? Which to choose? Let's take a look at the drugs, what they do, their potential side effects, and how long they take to work.

There are two types of prostate drugs for treating your prostate problem;

1) 5-alpha reductase inhibitors, (commonly known as finasteride) these actually shrink the prostate in volume, and there are a few; Proscar, Propecia, Fincar, Finpecia, Finax, Finast, Finara, Finalo, Prosteride, Gefina.

2) Alpha blockers, they relax the muscles at the neck of the bladder and make urination easier. Here are some that are used, Cardura, Flomax, Hytrin, Regitine, Minipress, and Uroxatral .

However, there are large quantity of side-effects that men experience with these prostate drugs, and one of the things you'll find if you surf the forums on the internet, is that many men experience problems that are irreversible. You just don't know what's going to happen until it happens. To be fair, some of these side effects of these prostate drugs will decrease over time, but in other cases they won't. To be honest, not my cup of tea.

So here's the list of side effects of these prostate drugs;

- Cardura - COMMON - Back pain, diarrhea, dizziness, drowsiness, dry mouth, feeling of a whirling motion, flu-like symptoms, headache, indigestion, lightheadedness, nasal congestion, nausea, pain, stomach pain, swelling, tiredness.

- Floxmax - COMMON - Dizziness, unusual weakness, drowsiness, trouble sleeping, or runny nose may occur.

SERIOUS - fainting, vision changes, sexual problems (difficulty ejaculating, decreased interest in sex), fastheartbeat. in the unlikely event you have a painful, prolonged erection lasting 4 hours or more, stop using this drug and seek immediate medical attention or permanent problems could occur. Symptoms of a serious allergic reaction include: rash, itching, swelling, severe dizziness, trouble breathing.

- Hytrin - COMMON; Difficult or labored breathing, dizziness, headaches, heart palpitations, light-headedness upon standing, nausea, pain in the arms and legs, sleepiness, stuffy nose, swollen wrists and ankles, weakness.

LESS COMMON - Anxiety, back pain, blurred vision, bronchitis, conjunctivitis (inflamed eyes), constipation, decreased sex drive, depression, diarrhea, dimmed vision, dry mouth, facial swelling, fainting, fever, flu or cold symptoms (cough, sore throat,

runny nose), fluid retention, frequent urination, gas, gout, impotence, inability to hold urine, increased heart rate,indigestion, inflamed sinuses, insomnia, irregular heartbeat, itching, joint pain and inflammation, low blood pressure, muscle aches, nasal inflammation, nervousness, nosebleed, numbness or tingling, painful lasting erection, pain in the abdomen, chest, neck, or shoulder, rash, ringing in the ears, severe allergic reaction, sweating, urinary tract infection, vertigo, vision changes, vomiting, weight gain.

- Regitine - Acute and prolonged hypotensive episodes, tachycardia, and cardiac arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat). In addition, weakness, dizziness, flushing, orthostatic hypotension, nasal stuffiness, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may occur.

- Minipress - Dizziness, drowsiness, head pain, visible water rretention, heart throbbing or pounding, dry mouth, low energy, nervous, not feeling well. SERIOUS; angina, continued painful erection, trouble breathing, feel like throwing up, frequent urination

- Uroxatral - Dizziness/lightheadedness or headache may occur, decreased sexual ability occurs, unusual fatigue/weakness, joint pain, trouble breathing, stomach/abdominal pain, back pain. SERIOUS: unusually fast heartbeat, chest pain, a painful, prolonged erection.

- Proscar, Propecia etc... all contain Finasteride - COMMON - Feeling like you might pass out, swelling in your hands or feet, pain in the testicles, impotence, loss of interest in sex, or trouble having an orgasm, abnormal ejaculation, swelling or tenderness in your breasts, dizziness, weakness, headache, runny nose, skin rash.

SERIOUS; hives; difficulty breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat. Call your doctor at once if you notice any breast lumps, pain, nipple discharge, or other breast changes. These may be signs of male breast cancer.

If you are using any of these drugs and have experienced ANY of these side effects, contact your doctor. If it commons under the SERIOUS OR LESS COMMON title, then seek urgent medical attention.

Okay, not something to look forward to ... but don't despair there are other ways which I talk about in my other articles.

Here's HOW LONG these prostate drugs take to reduce your symptoms;

Cardura, Flomax and Hytrin etc... results are meant to be noticed within 1-2 weeks.

Proscar and Propecia etc... It can take a long time for the drug to show improvement in symptoms - 6 months to a year for complete results.

General Information;

- Hytrin - designed as a long-term medication, studies have shown it to be more effective than Proscar, despite Proscar actually shrinking the prostate and it's more widely publicised use.

- Proscar and Propecia have the good side effect of promoting hair growth (on your head, not on your back)

- Hytrin, Cardura are also used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure)

- Cardura, Flomax and Hytrin etc... advise not to climb, stand up quickly or drive when starting out on your doses.

- Proscar, Propecia etc... can damage a male fetus if handled by a pregnant female.

Well that was your overview of man-made prostate drugs, in my following article entitled 'Your Prostate And Alternative Prostate Remedies - Are They All They're Cracked Up To Be?' you'll see the other side of the coin.

Advice to King Dave of the Isle of Man

by: Louis Rosas-Guyon III



To HM King David of the Isle of Mann (or Man), cousin to Queen Elizabeth II, come forth, I, your Not-So-Humble Servant to render such Wisdom as I can…

For about ten minutes today, David Howe, a 38 year old businessman from Maryland commanded the front page on FoxNews.Com with the story of his Coronation. In 2006 some Brit genealogist called to tell him that he might have a claim to the throne of the Isle of Mann (or Man). So, he filled out the right forms and sent them to Her Majesty's Stationary Office which after a 90 day review period approved his Royal application. Apparently they sent him a crown, a royal robe and a spoon. Some Kings get swords, others get scepters, but David gets a spoon.

My favorite part of the story is the reaction from the people of the Isle of Man, which I think can best be summed up as: "Who?" The elected government of the Isle of Man is probably still laughing themselves senseless. They are so disrespectful of their new King that the official government website has no mention of his coronation. Well King David, it looks like you'll need to stage an invasion to enforce Your Royal Rights. I recommend you look into some the old laws on how to execute traitors. That's how you get medieval on their butts.

The best part about this story is that HM (that's His Majesty, to you) King David has a lovely website. On his home page under an enormous picture of him, he details his efforts to provide aide for the poor AIDS afflicted children of Insert African Nation Here. Even Americans know you cannot be a Royal unless you have some charity to support. Especially useful are those charities that show you pictures of starving children. Those work best of all. Good choice there, Your Majesty. You hit that nail right on the head.

But if you do a little digging into the Royal website you find his Royal Pedigree. You know, like they do with dogs. Not only does he include his family tree proving his Royal Title, but he also proves that he is a cousin to the Royal Family of Great Britain. Wow, he's cousins with the Queen! Let's get something straight; I'm no genealogist but it seems to me when you cast such an enormous net (like the Cousin's Net), you are probably also related to Cher, Bill Clinton and Dick Cheney. I recommend that you lose the whole Cousins thing. Let's agree that you are only allowed to be a Royal Cousin if they invite you over for tea.

Also, if you take the time to look at his Pedigree you may notice that he has achieved his gentle rank through marriage. Now, that is perfectly legitimate. But, does that mean he's Royal by insertion? If so, then good job King David! I always heard you were supposed to pull your Sword out of the stone. It just goes to show that you cannot trust legends. But it might damage your macho image, so I would dump that webpage too.

Now, there's the matter of Royal Revenue. Until you conquer your island you can't collect taxes. But I have solved that for you! Just sell Knighthoods! There are tons of obnoxious idiots who would pay dearly for a title. I would add a web store and sell them that way. Between the money you can make from titles and the cash that will come in from your charity, you should have a pretty nice war chest.

To invade, you will need an army. And let's face it, no regular mercenary army will do. You need to show your subjects that you mean business and will not tolerate anything but total loyalty. For that mission, I can only recommend Blackwater. It might take up some of the money for the African kids, but you can always pay them back later.

Anyway, I hope you look charitably on Your Servant for his Words of Wisdom and that Your Majesty remembers to send me money when you use any of these ideas.


Sources:

FoxNews Story - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317490,00.html

King David's Website - http://www.royaltyofman.com/

King David's Pedigree - http://hmkingdavid.homestead.com/pedigree.html

Isle of Man Government News - http://www.gov.im/allnews.gov

Shopping for a Piano: Acoustic vs. Digital

The most serious piano teachers will adamantly point their students in the direction of an acoustic piano. For serious piano studying, I agree with this completely for reasons I will discuss shortly. But for many reasons, a genuine handcrafted instrument may not be the best choice for you. With the affordability, portability, and the many features that come with digital pianos, you may wish to head the other way. Summarily, the question of acoustic versus digital boils down to a matter of authenticity versus everything else.

Mostly, the drawbacks of an acoustic piano are matters of practicality, such as price. For what you could get a new, decent quality digital piano with, you’ll be dealing with a rather meager acoustic. This can encompass a number of problems. For instance, aside from any tuning it might need, the overall sound quality of a cheap acoustic piano can be quite poor. This may not just be an issue of old strings, but can result from an infinite number of possible factors arising from any of the complex mechanics of the piano being in disrepair. Other common problems of old pianos are broken keys and sticky keys, which is when the keys fail to spring up the way they should. There may also be faults with the framework that can range from nuisances to impending hazards. The trouble of a bad acoustic continues indefinitely, and the piano may need a decent amount of initial maintenance, in addition to periodic maintenance, which is likely to pull a few additional large bills out of your wallet right way.

Also, because of its bulk and weight, an acoustic may be a very difficult accommodation for people living in tight or elevated spaces, such as dorm rooms and certain city apartments. Some buildings may even prohibit pianos, particularly on floors above the ground level because the weight and bulk of pianos make them quite cumbersome and possibly hazardous to either the tenants or the buildings themselves. This raises the issue of portability as well. Do you gig? Do you relocate frequently? Toting a 500 pound upright piano isn’t possible for most people; moving one across the room is a challenge for most people. If your music needs to be ready to go, your hulking wooden companion is not going to be sympathetic.

Acoustic pianos also lack the many features present in digital pianos nowadays that may be valuable tools to you. For example, volume control may be necessary in dormitory, or close living, situations. Newer digitals also come with a suite of onboard functions, including on-the-fly recording, voice customization, electronic metronome, and even music mixing features, which you won’t have. You will also lack the benefit of porting your music to your PC; a simple MIDI connector would feed your performance directly into your computer’s audio card without any ambient noise or loss of sound quality, which will probably beat any recording made with an acoustic piano and consumer grade recording hardware available at a neighborhood electronics store.

With an acoustic, you will surely be at, at least, some degree of inconvenience. Still, despite the great deal of effort digital piano makers have put into their product, none have been able to truly reproduce the sound and feel of a good acoustic piano. First, lets talk about the piano sound. To most people, casual or occasional listeners of piano music, the resulting sounds between an acoustic piano and a digital piano are quite identical and equally satisfactory musically. But listen closely, because there is an important difference.

A digital piano outputs high quality recordings of the sounds that were made by a real piano at one time. During the process of making a digital piano, each key of a real concert grand piano is struck a number of times at varying velocities and recorded with sophisticated equipment to be used as the digital voice. This will give the digital piano a sufficient range of tonality and an overall likeness to the sound of an acoustic piano in varying music dynamics. But once the notes have been recorded and finally integrated with the digital piano’s voicing mechanism, they are never going to be changed. Even though the aesthetic quality of the sound is state of the art, it is the way the sounds should behave but cannot because they are fixed recordings that is the fundamental problem of digital pianos.

An acoustic piano uses a complex array of hammers, strings, a soundboard, and other moving parts that function in collaboration. This means that when any note is played, it is not played with entire independence, but is highly affected by the current state of the surrounding components of the piano. For example, playing a chord on a digital piano will simply result in three notes being played, as they were recorded individually, at the same time, whereas with an acoustic piano, the three notes will interact with each other through the soundboard and become a stew of vibrations, producing a different, more complex, and ultimately richer sound. Lacking this quality, what comes out of digital speakers will typically be quite boring and unsatisfactory to aficionados of the true piano tone.

An acoustic piano is also an analog instrument, which means is has virtually infinite range. For example, there is no limit to the loudness or softness a note may be played on an acoustic piano. With digital pianos, there is a point at which a minimum or maximum will be achieved. This means there will be occasions when you will not be able to play a note as softly or as loudly as you wish. In order words, true pppp or ffff are probably beyond the reach of digital pianos without you resorting to adjusting the volume dial while you’re performing. Even if you were to do that, the tonal quality of the notes would remain static from that point on, when it would further continue to dull or brighten on an acoustic piano.

Another problem of digital devices is the matter of intervals. In photography, for example, pixels are the intervals. With a traditional film camera, the amount of detail you are able to capture is theoretically unlimited because film is a single and continuous malleable body. The “film” of a digital camera is not single or continuous but is a multitude of pixels, each of which is only able to record a solid block of color. The amount of detail a digital camera is able to capture will depend on the how small the pixels are and how tightly they’re packed together. If the pixels, or intervals, are small enough and packed tight enough, the amalgam of the blocks of color they record will appear to be smooth curves and gradients to the human eye.

There is a similar issue of intervals with digital pianos, which is mainly the issue of touch sensitivity. Digital pianos have a finite number of intervals when it comes to key pressure. The more intervals there are and the closer they are to each other, the more realistically the piano will respond to your dynamics. High end digital pianos will have quite a lot of them. But digital pianos within the means of average shoppers may not have sufficient sensitivity. This means that while the vast difference between piano and forte may be noticeable, the most intricate variances of touch pressure may be disregarded. This will be quite a nuisance to pianists seeking a highly responsive instrument, particularly when it comes to meticulous classical music.

It also manifests in pedaling. Piano pedals are ranged. Between simple on and off, or up and down, there are degrees. Half-pedaling and quarter-pedaling are crude terms describing the manner of pedaling in which the pedal is only pressed partially down in order to create an intermediate effect. For instance, rather than completely depressing the pedal so that the full brilliance of a note is sustained, you may wish to depress it only half way to dampen about half of the note and let only the remainder of it sustain for a subtler, suppressed quality. Certainly a scrupulous pianist will wish to employ the complete range of pedaling available to him, which may not be represented entirely accurately in a digital piano.

Aside from sound, as mentioned previously, key touch is also an important issue. Digital piano makers these days have gone to great lengths to reproduce the feel of acoustic pianos. For the most part, they’ve done a good job. They’ve even gone as far as implementing graded hammer action, which is in line with the hammers of acoustic pianos gradually becoming lighter from left to right. As a matter of fact, if you could take a look at the inner workings of a digital piano, you would be quite surprised and impressed with the complexity of the hammer mechanics. However, as long as digital pianos look the way they do, being the shape and size they are, there is going to be a limit as to how authentically the key feel can be made.

The hammers on a digital piano are simply extensions of the pianist’s fingers. When the pianist presses a key down, it will raise the opposing lever, which touches the electronic pad inside the piano that serves as the string. The hammers on an acoustic piano do not behave this way. Instead of being extensions of the pianist’s fingers, they are rather like projectiles that are sprung toward the strings high above them. Imagine the carnival game where you must hit a pad on the ground with a mallet, which flings a projectile up the meter towards the bell at the very top. The finger is the mallet, the visible piano key is the pad, the hammer inside the piano is the projectile, and the string is the bell. First of all, this means if you press a key all the way down but not with the minimum amount of force needed, the projectile hammer will never leave its seating and the string will actually never be struck. Secondly, this launch-pad-like action feels quite different than the seesaw-like action of digital piano hammers.

The only way this can truly be reproduced in a digital piano is by the use of bona-fide acoustic hammers. And there’s nothing wrong with doing that. But the problem is there isn’t enough room for them inside the compact size of most of the digital pianos today. That’s why as long as they look the way they do, the action of digital pianos will not feel completely akin to that of acoustic pianos. Larger, higher end models do integrate the acoustic hammer action simply to recreate the key feel. Even higher end models, which are called “silent pianos,” integrate strings as well and are bona-fide acoustic pianos with the added ability to remove the strings from the action and toggle on digital mode in order to provide volume control! But these tend to be even more expensive than acoustic pianos.

These are the basic points to think about when shopping for your piano. To restate what I said at the beginning of the article, it really boils down to the authenticity versus everything else. And the authenticity is usually going to cost you more to get. What you should think about is how important it is to you that the piano truly resembles an acoustic. Are you a classical piano student looking at a long road of perfection and possibly a career as a concert performer? Then a digital piano is probably not what you want to be practicing on, even as a temporary substitution. I would suggest taking financing an acoustic and using your relatively small budget of cash as the down payment. If this is not necessarily what you’re going for, then perhaps a digital reduction is all you really need. For most people, it is.

Semenax - Ejaculation and Male Potency

Since the beginning of time, it seems humans have been fixated on the beauty and power of the penis. A symbol of manhood, strength, dominance and success, the penis and all its workings have prominently figured in the art and imagination of cultures worldwide. Yet all the attention given to penis size, erection capability and lasting power are really pretty much an adjunct to the real moment of truth: the orgasm. After all, isn't that the real goal of all the penis-centered concern, to have bigger and more potent climaxes?

That may explain why the spotlight has focused more recently on ejaculation. Men are considering not only the intensity or strength of orgasms, but how their volume of ejaculate affects many aspects of their sexual identity and enjoyment.

Overview of ejaculation

To get a sense of the vital role of a healthy, abundant volume of ejaculate in male pleasure, let's take a look at how male climax works.

First, semen collects in the ejaculatory ducts during sexual stimulation. Male orgasm happens at the peak of sexual pleasure, when the various muscle groups contract simultaneously: rhythmic contractions of the pubococcygeus muscle (pc muscle) occur along with contractions of the anal sphincter, rectum and perineum, and the ejaculatory ducts and muscles around the penis. The contracting muscles are the key to delivering the load of semen. The first few contractions are intense and close together, occurring at about 0.8-second intervals. As orgasm continues, the contractions diminish in intensity and duration and occur at less frequent intervals.

The exact amount of ejaculate is determined by a number of factors, including heredity, diet, overall health, frequency of sexual activity and age. The content, however, is about the same for all men: the ejaculate contains sperm and a long list of components that read like a vitamin pill label: ascorbic acid (vitamin C), calcium, chlorine, cholesterol, choline, citric acid, creatine, fructose, glutathione, hyaluronidase, inositol, lactic acid, magnesium, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, purine, pyrimidine, pyruvic acid, sodium, sorbitol, vitamin B12, and zinc. Each of these ingredients, though, represents just a tiny amount -- and the total measure of a typical "load" is somewhere between 1.5 ml and 5 ml. The majority of the ejaculate volume is fluid from the prostate and the seminal vesicles.

The taste of semen varies greatly from one man to another, again affected by diet and overall physical health. The range goes from salty to sweet, may be bitter or mellow, and sometimes creates a very mild "numbing" effect to the lips and tongue of the taster. The taste can be deliberately changed, according to a number of online and physician's sources.

Healthy ejaculate will appear either translucently whitish or greyish to opaque white. Men who've had a vasectomy will have lighter, more translucent semen, devoid of the typical 15 to 20 million sperm of a usual ejaculation. Though a variety of textures and appearances are within the healthy range, most people equate very white, dense and more voluminous ejaculate with a healthier and more potent male.

Influences on ejaculation volume

When should a man be concerned about his volume and potency? Sometimes a dramatic decrease in ejaculate volume may indicate blockage of one of the ejaculatory ducts. Duct obstruction is diagnosed by prostate ultrasound. Other possible causes of decreased volume include retrograde ejaculation or a long-term infection of the prostate (chronic prostatitis). Decreased semen volume may simply be a normal part of aging and may not necessarily result in decreased fertility.

If there is concern about the amount, appearance and texture of the ejaculate, it may be advisable to consider semen testing by a qualified physician. The standard semen analysis measures semen volume and pH, microscopically analyses for debris and agglutination, assesses sperm concentration and morphology, counts sperm leukoctyes and identifies immature germ cells. Usually this is carried out after two to seven days of sexual abstinence, on a semen sample collected at the doctor's office. The physician will probably also wish to conduct tests to rule out urinary infection, gonorrhea and chlamydia.

In many cases, the semen analysis yields results that are technically within the "normal" range, yet men may still feel dissatisfied with the contracting power of orgasms, the volume and appearance of their ejaculate, and their fertility. For them, and for men who simply wish to experience the added confidence and pleasure of higher semen volume, there is an excellent natural preparation known as Semenax™ (www.Semenax.com) which holistically addresses the problem.

Semenax™ has been shown to increase the volume of ejaculate by as much as 500 percent, and improves quality of sperm, motility of sperm, overall sperm count, and efficiency of semen and sperm production.

Benefits of increasing volume

The advantages of orgasming with greater volume and power are numerous. By increasing both volume of fluid and quantity/health of sperm, the load is not only bigger, more impressive and more pleasurable, but much more potent, too.

The larger the volume of fluid and sperm that's available for each orgasm, the more contractions it takes to shoot all of it -- and each contraction is stronger and more intense. The male orgasm, typically quite a brief event, can become a much longer-lasting experience.

Potency and fertility are of concern to all men, but particularly those with an immediate desire to impregnate their mate. Infertility is increasingly common, and a product like Semenax™ is a good help in this area.

Finally, there are significant benefits to a man's confidence when he is able to increase ejaculate volume and power. Sexual confidence is tied not only to success in romantic endeavours, but to many other kinds of success as well; studies show confidence in sexual identity carries over into every aspect of a man's life.

How volume-boosting products work

Volume increasers vary a great deal in formulation, cost and manufacture methods. Here we'll look at a very popular and proven choice, Semenax, to demonstrate how it works.

Semenax™ was developed by a group of health professionals to improve every aspect of sexual function and enjoyment for men. The focus is on volume boosting, because of its many related benefits. Formulated of natural ingredients with centuries of anecdotal proof in many cultures worldwide, the Semenax™ product contains botanicals and natural ingredients to tonify and support the ejaculatory ducts, epididymis, testes, prostate gland, seminal vesicles and vas deferens -- that is, every part of the male reproductive system.

Semenax is manufactured in a GMP Certified Pharmaceutical facility (something to look for when shopping for volume products), and its ingredients include the amino acids L-arginine HCL, L-carnitine and L-lysine to increase testosterone and sperm count and motility; herbals epimedium sagittatum, catuaba bark and South American maca to boost libido and potency; and nutritionals to aid testosterone synthesis and prostate health.

When shopping for a volume boosting product, check for manufacture in a GMP Certified Pharmaceutical facility, statements attesting to testing and research, and laboratory-controlled dosing.

A Humorous Bow Hunting Story

A man and his friend were bow hunting elk in the Colorado mountains near Stoner Colorado. They rode their horse's from early morning until late evening. The high mountain terrain was very rough with tree's blown down and large boulders in the path. Their horse's had to step very carefully or chance breaking a leg.

With no sign of any elk the man told his friend that the elk must have all moved to the lower country. They decided to go down and try again the next day. The next morning the man and his friend decided to hunt closer to the town of Stoner.

They hunted most of the morning with no luck, the sky was clear and it was a beautiful day. As they got closer to the black top highway they saw a herd of cow elk. In the middle of the herd was the biggest bull elk you ever saw.

The hunter got down off of his horse and carefully drew his bow and took careful aim. Before he could release his arrow, his friend alerted him to a funeral procession passing on the highway below their stand.

The hunter slowly let off the pressure on his bow, took off his hat, bowed his head and closed his eyes in prayer. His friend was amazed. "Wow, that is the most thoughtful and touching thing I have ever seen. You are the kindest man I know." The hunter shrugged. "Yeah, well, I was married to her for 25 years."

Street Fighter 4 Strategy - Top 10 Street Fighter 4 New Year's Resolutions

With 2008 coming to a close, what blog would be complete without a post talking about 2009? Therefore, I've created this list half-jokingly to hopefully spark a little interest in really stepping up your game in 2009. Getting good at Street Fighter 4 in 2009 should benefit you for years because as we all know, Capcom is bound to at least make SF4: Champion Edition and SF4: Hyper Fighting and you know you're going to be playing all of them!

So here we go:

1. Quit whiffing throws

This is probably the number one thing most players can do to improve in Street Fighter 4. Even though whiffing throws doesn't usually lead to death as it does in 3rd Strike, characters like Balrog can still do a huge chunk of damage for whiffing throws if you're not careful. Instead, learn to Option Select Throw, which means to input LK + LP while blocking. If they throw, you'll tech, if they don't throw, you get a jab. Either way, you're not going to get whiff, so you'll save yourself a lot of life over the course of 2009.

2. Learn an alternate character

Simply put, learning an alternate character will not only help you understand the matchup between your main and your alternate better, it will give you a semi-secret weapon to use in a tournament to catch someone by surprise and steal a win or two. Or you can use your alternate character to counter-pick someone else, such as using Vega against Sagat or Dhalsim against Balrog.

3. Do your part to strengthen your local community

What good is being the best at Street Fighter 4 if you're sitting at home by yourself in training mode? Get out there and help run tournaments, make friends with more people, become better friends with the guys you already play with. By strengthening the community, more people will be playing more frequently which will make everyone level up.

4. Start double-tapping

This might be a new one for most people. For those not familiar, double-tapping is where you hit buttons twice very quickly instead of once. This doubles your chances of the game accepting the input, as well as makes timing links and chains easier. The most common way of doing this is to do a scraping motion with your index and middle finger, then scrape so that your middle finger is a split second ahead of your index finger.

5. Start taking notes

I'm pretty positive that doing this has been one of the best improvements I've made to my game in a long time. I feel like I was able to learn the game a lot easier because I wrote down moves I had trouble with, outcomes of situations I hadn't seen before and what worked/didn't work against difficult opponents. I started off using a small $.99 pocket-sized notepad, but now I use my iPod Touch because it's easier to find stuff. Whatever works for you, just try it out!

6. Break bad habits

This ties into the whole "not whiffing throws" thing. You should recognize your bad habits by analyzing why you are losing. Are you doing wakeup uppercuts too much? Whiffing throws? Jumping in and getting anti-aired? Make it a point to go a whole round without doing one of your bad habits and see how your game changes, even if you lose.

7. Improve your weaknesses

Analyze your game and see what your tendencies are. Maybe you primarily play rushdown style or you're content to turtle out most matches. Make a real effort to learn how to play the opposite style. You never know when you'll benefit in an important match by being a more versatile player.

8. Stop taking it so seriously/Start taking it more seriously

Remember, it's just Street Fighter! Or, consider that it's NOT just Street Fighter. Many players could benefit from taking it less seriously (myself included) because after all, it's just Street Fighter and it's supposed to be fun. No sense getting all worked up over nothing.

On the other hand, there are also those who could probably benefit from taking it more seriously. If you're going to spend several nights a week playing Street Fighter and you're not seeing gradual improvement, maybe you need to think about what you want to get out of this. If you're just playing for fun, that's cool and there's nothing wrong with that. But if you are really trying to get better, maybe you need to start putting in a little extra effort by starting to take notes, watching more videos or analyzing your play by recording your own matches.

9. Create written goals for yourself

This ties in with taking notes on your game. Since you already have a notebook that you're writing in regularly, you might as well write down some goals to keep yourself focused. If you're serious enough to take notes, you are serious enough to set written goals.

I set a goal for myself this year that I would go to Japan for SBO and that I would win one match while I was there and I did it. I also set a goal to get 1,000 listeners for The Street Fighter podcast and now even if it takes a few weeks, most episodes get over 1,000 plays.

10. Put in more hours

Maybe you've been inches away from getting Top 8 at your local tournament and if you just put a little bit more time and effort into it, you'd be able to do it every time. Set aside a little extra time and see if you were really that close all along. Maybe it only takes one more session a week to get that breakthrough.

Ryan Gutierrez aka gootecks is one of the best Street Fighter 4 players in Southern California. His main character is Balrog (Boxer) and puts out a weekly Street Fighter Podcast on his Street Fighter Blog. He also wrote and published a Street Fighter 4 Guide which you can download for free at his site.

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