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Sweet Dreams Choosing the Proper Pillow for a Great Night’s Sleep

A great night’s sleep depends upon a proper pillow. Flattened, squished, worn out pillows are bad for your neck, and make it difficult for your body to relax and be comfortable.

Your pillow should suit the type of mattress you have, the sleeping positions you prefer, and your body contours. There are many choices when it comes to pillows, but you must choose your pillow carefully to obtain the most comfortable night’s sleep possible.

Traditional pillows raise your head, leaving your neck sagging and unsupported. This can cause you to wake up with a stiff neck or a headache.

If your mattress is very firm, you will want to choose a thicker pillow. If your mattress is softer, a thinner pillow would be better.

Sleeping positions determine which bed pillow you should choose

If you tend to sleep on your side, you’ll want a thicker pillow. If you sleep on your back, you will want a thinner pillow. If you usually sleep on your stomach, you may find that a flat pillow is best, placed under your chest. Not using a pillow at all may work for stomach sleepers too.

What type of bed pillow should I choose?

Down and feather pillows are the most luxurious pillows available. They are durable, washable, and can last for years if cared for properly.

Synthetic fiber pillows are also washable. They offer firmer support, and are non-allergenic.

Foam pillows (including “Memory Foam”) offer the most supportive positioning of all the pillows.

Both cotton and wool pillows are pure and natural. Cotton pillows are absorbent and wool pillows are breathable.

Buckwheat hull pillows are also natural, firm, and breathable.

How often should a bed pillow be replaced?

A bed pillow is something we tend to forget about until we find ourselves waking up with stiff necks, headaches, or sore backs. Ideally, a bed pillow should be replaced every year or two, but don’t wait too much longer than that. Pillows that aren’t replaced often enough can harbor loads of dust mites, and can contribute to allergies or asthma.

When your bed pillow starts bunching up, getting hard, or stays too flat, it’s time to think about replacing it. Here’s a way you might not have heard of to test whether or not you need to replace your pillow:

Fold your pillow in half and lay an athletic shoe on top of it. If the pillow “springs” back and makes the shoe fall off, there is still life in your pillow. If the shoe just stays there, you’d better head to the bedding store to purchase a new pillow.

If you travel

If you travel often, you’ll want a decent pillow to take along with you. You’ll want a pillow that is light enough to carry, but which offers good neck support.

You may choose an inflatable pillow, which is very light and easy to pack, or you may want a buckwheat hull travel pillow, which is a little heavier than an inflatable pillow, but offers more neck support.

Make sure your travel pillow has a removable, washable cover.

Whether in the air, on the road, or tucked into your own bed at home, the proper pillow will contribute to a much better night’s sleep for you.

Rebecca Fairbanks lives in Vermont and enjoys writing. In her spare time, she designs t-shirts Becky B’s Gifts & Tees.

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May 31 2008 | travel-information-for.info | No Comments »

Are Search Engines Male Or Female

More column inches have been written about how to please the search engines and persuade them to bestow favour on your website than almost any other internet-related topic. But as far as I know no-one has previously tried to understand their gender: do they behave more like a man, or more like a woman? Understand their gender can surely help us to gain a better insight into how to appeal to them.

MSN is very clear: MSN is a man. Everything about MSN is straightforward: do the right thing and you will be recognized. Follow the advice of the experts and you will surely rank highly on MSN as long as your competitors are less diligent in this respect than you. Good content, relevant titles, keyword-related metatags, loads of quality inbound links, varied keyword anchor-text, a good smattering of deep links and a #1 ranking will be your reward. I have gained #1 positions on MSN for moderately competitive keywords within a week of trying. What you see is what you get with MSN: he is a man.

Is Yahoo a man or a woman? I find it hard to decide. Perhaps it is a serial transsexual, or maybe just androgynous. Sometimes Yahoo is as straightforward as a man: do the right thing, pay your dues and join the club, no complications. This happens to me on some of my keywords: I have followed the rules and gained my reward. On others, apparently no more competitive, and where I am just as well-optimized, if not better, I am nowhere. For these words, she is a woman, immune to my blandishments.

On the other hand, Google is surely all woman, with womanly wiles and deeply imbued with womanly mystery. If you want to penetrate deep into Google you need to learn the art of seduction. Is there anything on the planet more frustrating than trying to optimize your website to rank highly for a competitive keyword on Google. Sometimes I think not. She is like a woman that is always just out of reach. She will not reveal her secrets for even the largest bunch of flowers. I know that I have the best content in my category, more quality links, deeper links, more varied anchor text, more articles and more of everything that is supposed to drive positioning than any of my competitors. By far. Not a single one of my 5000 odd backlinks is directly reciprocated, and I have at least 10 inbound links for every outbound one. I have never paid for a text link ad, or joined a link farm. A decent proportion of my inbound links are voluntary recognition of the value of my site by 3rd parties. Is this enough? Well, yes and no. I do have the best positions on all the search engines, measured on average on all the keywords that I target. But whereas my positions are undisputedly dominant in MSN, they are only excellent in Google. I am only 2nd or 3rd on my target words. I do very well, but I don’t blow away the competition like I do on the others. Google has recognized my worth, somewhat, but she has not opened herself to me entirely.

Like a woman, she has her favourites: sites which appealed to her long ago, but whose luster has long since dimmed in the eyes of the rational observer, can still be favoured with a top position. She is also fickle. I have been trying to build position for a single keyword (Whistler)for a couple of years now. (It’s a fairly competitive category - around 36 million sites feature this word.) When I started my efforts I was at about 25 (by virtue of this single word being part of all the other keywords-phrases that I compete on). I have steadily built anchor text links with this single word into directories, into articles, into listings on other sites. Lots of these links are on pages with good PR. Better than 80% of these links are nicely inserted into the middle of well-written text.

The outcome: every few weeks I find I have moved up to a respectable position: say 10th, sometimes even 6th or 7th. Then, the next day, or even an hour later, I fall back to 14th or even 18th. She likes me, she flirts with me occasionally, she tolerates my company and sometimes I even manage to amuse her. But just when I think I could expect a kiss in return as my lips approach, she turns her cheek away and I am banished to the outer circle of courtiers. But her appeal is such that I am drawn again into attempting to understand her mysteries. But I feel that if I ever make it, and my lips touch hers, and she longs for me as I long for her, I will never be sure what it was that I did to merit such bliss.

Henry Schlee operates several websites offering Whistler accommodation. He also offers non-reciprocal links if you visit the following page: travel link exchange.

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May 30 2008 | travel-information-for.info | No Comments »

14 Great Tips for Better Holiday Photos

Do you want better holiday photos? Are you snaps a bit of a let down? Follow my 10 top tips to get photos that will live up to the memories. You’ll be amazed how good they’ll look and your friends and family will too.

1. To get clear photos avoid camera shake or moving the camera as you take the photo. Squeeze the shutter gently and steady yourself against solid objects.

2. Frame the shot carefully to get well framed photos and keep fingers and other items away from the lens. Obvious but true and yes I have done it.

3. Experiment with compositions. Use roads and paths as strong lead-in lines, use objects in the foreground to add interest and tilt the camera for added drama.

4. Look for details. Often close-up shots of local objects can say as much about a location as scenic panoramas.

5. Take photos in the early morning light or the hour before sunset, know as the ‘Golden Hours’, for dramatic lighting.

6. Get up early and capture your holiday destination with a different character, empty of tourists and peaceful.

7. Really fill the frame with your subject for extra impact. Get close and then closer still. Move around and take photos from different angles.

8. Ask permission first if you want to take photos of local characters to avoid causing offence on cultural, personal or religious grounds.

9. Take photos on bad weather days. Some great atmospheric shots can be achieved when the weather is bad especially with stormy seas.

10. Frame your subject through doorways or windows to create a frame within a frame. Street entrances or trees can also work.

11. Photograph the old next to the new, modern next to the traditional or poverty in the midst of riches. These statement making photos will really stand out.

12. Look for strong graphic images such as sunset silhouettes or combinations of colour and form.

13. The sky can often be as dramatic as the land. If it is include more sky or even just the sky.

14. If you’re shooting digitally check your shots as you go to make sure you get the best ones.

My final words are experiment, get involved, have fun. Don’t be too stiff, relax and get into it. With digital cameras you can take as many photos as you want and just keep the good ones.

Sean McCarthy is the Marketing Director for the Help-Me-Park.Com and a keen amature photographer. Get a great start to your holiday by booking meet and greet airport parking at Gatwick with Help-Me-Park.com. Save money and book airport parking across the UK in advance with HelpMeTravel.com.

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May 29 2008 | travel-information-for.info | No Comments »