The Do’s and Don’ts When Preparing For Internship

When you are about to take internship, there are some do’s and don’ts that you should know to make your whole experience an enjoyable one. So here are some of the things you should and should not do when you’re about to take internship.

Do Try To Have More Than One

Try to make the most out of your college years by having more than one internship program. This can really be beneficial to you. Just think about how one internship can already help you, what more if you had two?

However, make sure that you can accommodate them with your time. To maximize your learning experience, don’t have them at the same time if possible. In this way, it wouldn't be too stressful on you. If you can’t accommodate having two, then getting at least one is acceptable.

Do set Specific Goals

When you are about to take internship, you should set specific goals for yourself and your internship. Ask yourself what you want to achieve at the end of your internship. If you have a goal at hand, then taking your internship would not be taken for granted, since you can set your mind into accomplishing your goals.

Don’t Expect To Get Paid

The sad truth is, most internships are done for free. Although there are some paid internship programs, majority of them can only give you a certain amount of stipend or a really small amount of money, probably enough for your fare back and to from your workplace.

Knowing that there are paid internships, you might start targeting for these kinds of programs. However, even though they are paid, you should keep in mind that some of the best internship experiences could be acquired with non-paid programs.

Do Expect Professional Treatment

Welcome to the professional world. When you start your internship, you can say goodbye to lame ‘the dog ate my homework’ kind of excuses. Here, expect to be treated professionally. Your employer and co-workers would give have to give you that professional treatment whether you want it or not. So be prepared for some cold shoulder moments, especially at the first few days of work.

Along with expecting professional treatment, you should act professionally too at all times. You can’t slack off and think that this is only internship. You should treat it as if it is real work.

Don’t Wait For It To Come

An internship opportunity won’t come knocking at your door. It is not given to you like candy. Just like in looking for a regular job, you should be the one to look for it. However, there are some tools that might help you find a good internship more easily. You can try your college placement office, or even the Internet.

Do Use Your Network

If finding an internship seems to be a tedious chore for you, don’t worry. Why not try to make use of your network of friends and family? This can be a good way to get the leads on available internship programs out there.

These are just a few of the things you should and should not do when preparing for getting into an internship program. Just always remember that this period of your life is a very crucial one, because it can have a rippling effect on your future career life. So, try to do your best even if you’re still on your preparation stage!

Media Influences Society by Promoting Teenage Eating Disorders

The youth of today is exposed to different media that illustrates a different standard of beauty by associating the term with underweight movie stars, models and musicians.  It has come to a point that if the question were asked if media promotes anorexia, it won’t be surprising to get a resounding affirmation.  The truth is children are exposed to images in television, magazines, newspapers, radio and other media forms, all of which give out the same message that the perfect beauty is skinny.  It is no wonder that media influences society, in particular the youth, so that there is an increase of children suffering from eating disorders.

Although eating disorders for a child isn’t all because of the negative influence of the media.  Some children are just more likely to develop anorexia and some might be at risk of developing other types of eating disorders without the negative effect of media.

Sending False Messages

Today’s media is obsessed with physical appearances or a person’s external beauty.  The media landscape in the generation of Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth promoted a different type of beauty, one that isn’t skinny or scrawny.  The standard of beauty has since evolved over the years in which beautiful means wearing a size zero and no more than that.  Otherwise, you are labeled as fat.

An example of such phenomenon is when after bearing two children Britney Spears shows up in a skimpy outfit and was mocked by the media because of how much she’s gone fat.  Despite giving birth to two children, she isn’t even close to ‘fat’ but the media was overly critical by being offended by how the pop star had the guts to wear such an outfit with a figure like that.

With such an example, it is no longer surprising that the youth of today has such a distorted view of what the ideal beauty is about.

Perfect isn’t Perfect

Today’s youth oriented television shows and magazines use personalities that are rarely overweight or even have normal weight which further sends out the wrong message that perfect beauty is thin.  From the time a child gets into their pre-teen years until their middle-teen years they are constantly exposed to what so-called perfect beauty is and the need to look just absolutely perfect.

Imagine if Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth were alive today, they would be considered fat, which is quite a shock.  This shows how much the standard of perfection and beauty has really evolved.  Isn’t it surprising to realize that these iconic symbols of beauty, health and sex are now deemed flawed? The idea seems unreal.

Getting it Right
Media influences society, in particular children, with continuous messages of what today’s society consider as ideal and a very negative of idea of what is perfect.  In order to limit a child or a teenager’s exposure to these negative influences is by limiting their exposure to shows that promote harmful ways of altering one’s body image and the same goes for magazines.

It’s important to teach children of what a healthy body image is by encouraging them to stay fit in body and mind instead of focusing on looks and beauty.  Also, it’s important to keep track of your child’s self esteem issues and their body image.

Hydrogen Fuel for Cars – Using Byproducts

How many countries are now considering having a so-called hydrogen economy? People are aware that there is a great need to find a stable new source of energy which is at the same time, environment friendly. Hydrogen can, in fact, fuel homes and cars. However, producing usable hydrogen is a problem.

Most of the hydrogen found in the Earth’s atmosphere is not in usable form. Among the methods used to produce usable hydrogen available today are water electrolysis and natural gas steam reforming.

The two methods are not enough to supply many homes and cars with the needed alternative fuel. Scientists and researchers should be able to come up with new and improved methods to meet the growing demand for hydrogen fuel in the coming years. Currently, there are hydrogen renewable sources like ethanol, biomass, tidal energy, wind farms, solar, and hydroelectric energy. Gravitational energy is also an experimental resource at the moment.

Scientists and researchers at this time are looking into the possibility of capturing hydrogen byproducts. Some processes give off hydrogen as a byproduct as this is one way to obtain it. Today’s technology is also making use of clean coal to produce electricity. The process gives off hydrogen and so it will be captured and sold to hydrogen facilities as a commodity. There will be fewer noxious fume emissions.

The byproduct in the production of sodium chlorate is also hydrogen. Bleaches and pesticides need sodium chlorate and this would mean a great amount hydrogen byproducts. Canada is currently using hydrogen technology and the hydrogen byproducts found in the country are enough to power 20,000 vehicles for a year. The Olympics on 2010 will be held in Canada and the country’s hydrogen technology will be featured there.

Certain laboratories and US departments are conducting continuous studies regarding the use of steam from nuclear reactors to produce hydrogen through electrolysis. The steam will be used to cool the reactor and then perform electrolysis.

The move to hydrogen technology is not really that bad a problem. What the world has now can be modified and simply upgraded to meet the demands for hydrogen in the coming years. Perhaps with continuous research and studies, a better way of producing hydrogen can be discovered. With the joint efforts of various governments and institutions, hydrogen economies can be established. Everyone will benefit from hydrogen technology and not only that, it can also help in answering the environmental problems faced by the world today.

If you want to help your country and the whole world, why not consider the use of an alternative fuel like hydrogen? Your car can be converted to use hydrogen fuel. Experience the different feel of driving your hydrogen powered car. You will surely like it because you can cut down your gasoline expenses.

This way, you can save the money to buy a genuine hydrogen powered car in the future. So what are you waiting for? Have your car converted and make use of hydrogen technology. Save the planet and save your pocket.

Good luck to the scientists and researchers who are studying the hydrogen byproducts. Hopefully, new methods of producing hydrogen will be developed. This will mean a stable source of hydrogen that can be used to fuel cars and even homes.

For the good of the many and the planet, hydrogen fuel is needed.

Your Browser – Cyber Security’s 1st Line of Defense

Nowadays, many people seemed to have forgotten the importance (and the inherent dangers) of their computer’s browser. They forgot that the browser, per se, works like a two-way street. It is where cyber security should police the two-way cyber traffic.

A web browser’s main job is to find and display web pages. From there, it makes possible the “communication” between your computer and the web server where a site is located.

Cyber security risks
But, your browser is also – and this is the dangerous part – the gateway of the cyber world into your computer. And, not all of the things from the Internet going inside your computer are good. Some are downright risky.

Today’s browser is sophisticated enough, through the years of innovation, to handle the multiple applications needed to surf the Internet. Many of these try to boost up and heighten the surfing experience by enabling your browser’s functionalities.

But sometimes, these functionalities are not needed and they can leave your computer vulnerable. It is therefore safe to disable them until they are needed.

In a perfect world, one should set one’s browser security to the highest level possible. But these settings may restrict the functionality of other features and prevents some web pages to load properly. The best compromise solution would be to set your browser to the highest security level (to prevent attacks) but at the same time enabling some features to work when you need them.

Today’s many browsers are mostly graphical browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, AOL, Opera, Safari for the Macintosh, and Lynx for the visually-impaired users.) These are capable of playing video and audio clips, aside from displaying texts and graphics. Most have user-friendly tabs and options in choosing your preferred security level setting.

It is important to know and be familiar with your browser and how it is different from the others.  It will come in handy when you evaluate and determine the features and setting most appropriate for your use.

For instance, to explore the basic security options in Windows’ Internet Explorer, you click Tools on the menu bar, select Internet Options, choose the Security tab, and click the Custom level. In Firefox, you click Tools first, select Options, and then click Content Privacy and Security tabs. The others have their own path systems.

Choosing your browser
Security should be paramount in choosing your browser. But, of course, given one’s particular needs in surfing and using the Internet, other considerations are just as important. Sometimes, a browser comes packaged with the operating system. It should not limit, however, your choice.

Compatibility – does your browser work with the OS (operating system) of your computer?

Ease – are you comfortable and familiar with the options, menus, system of your browser?

Function –will it still work if other plug-ins or other devices are installed?

Appeal – do you like how your browser looks and works?

Functionalities - Your browser should be able to give you the option of putting web sites into different segments, or zones, and define different security restrictions for each. The best protection should be to set the security to the highest level, or maintain it at a medium level.

If you know of some sites which can be classified as trusted, you can set your browser setting accordingly. You may require them to implement SSL or Secure Sockets Layer so you can verify if they are what they claim to be.  Note, however, that it is good to avoid lowering your security levels with them. If they are attacked, you might be included.

You may restrict particular sites you are not sure of. Prevention is always the best cure for any disease, real-life or online.

Be careful about your Java and ActiveX controls. These scripts, used to achieve certain appearances or functionality, can be used in attacking your computer. This is also true about Plug-ins, those additional software that enhances the function of some programs. Make sure that the sites that installing them are trustworthy.

For safety, it is advisable to disable Cookies and enable them only if the site you trust requires them.

Cyber Security starts first in your browser. It is best that you start the safeguarding process from there, your computer’s door to the wide, wild world of cyber space.

Consolidating Credit Card Debts Is Part of Credit Repair

Overspending is a mistake that a lot of people make. This is because they think that as long as it is approved they can continue to do so until it maxes out. This never ends well because they don’t have the funds to pay for what they purchased which is why consolidating credit card debts is part of credit repair.

If you think this problem is only in the US, think again because the same situation happens in other part of the world.

Credit card consolidation is very simple. You combine all the debts you owe from various creditors so you end up paying only one creditor monthly.

There are many benefits for credit card consolidation.

First, you get to pay off your debt at lower interest rates than those that are already prevailing in the market.

Doing so will re-age your account. This means that your account is current and active as long as you keep making the payments that you agreed on.

While most card companies charge you fees for being late on your payments, the credit card debt consolidation program waives that so what you will only be paying what you actually owe.

Lastly, the debt consolidation plan buys you time so you have the choice whether to finish paying in a matter of weeks or months.

When you are able to consolidate your credit card debt, the next step is to come up with the money to pay it off. You can try reducing your expenses, asking for a raise, getting a second job or selling some valuables.

So do you need to apply for credit card consolidation by going to a bank? You can course this through a bank but there are private and non-profit organizations that offer similar services. You just have to find the right one to work with and then cooperate with them.

When you are looking for an organization to work with, make sure they are legitimate because some of these are scams. This isn’t good and you surely don’t want to fall for that because you are just wasting your time and money.

Once you notice that the money you owe is getting smaller, you are already on the right track and it won’t be long before you have finally been able to do some credit repair.

There are a few things you can also do to improve your credit score. You can open a new line of credit and if the major credit card companies will most likely deny your application, get a credit card offered by supermarkets or groceries and those offered by banks.

Don’t forget to pay your bills and other expenses on time because all that hard work you have done will go to waste if you miss a payment.

The amount of money you owe to creditors took months to grow so don’t be surprised if it takes awhile before you are finally debt free. Remember, you put yourself in this situation so the only person to blame is yourself.

Credit card consolidation is just a part of credit repair. Once it is in play, honor your commitment because that is the only way that your credit score is going to improve and you will once again have good standing with your creditors.