Friday, April 24, 2009

Little About Snakes

Snake is one of the wildlife animals among so many creatures. There exist various kinds of snakes and over 2500 species are identified in the literature. However, some of the types are illustrated in this article.

Snakes are commonly perceived as dangerous animal, though not all of the snakes are harmful. These snakes are sometimes seems very fascinating due to their coloring, patterns and shapes. With all of such characteristics snakes are identified and categorized. One may find out venomous and non-venomous snakes only if one possess enough good knowledge about them. In this article few types of the snakes are listed with their photographs.

Garter Snakes

Garter snakes are one of the most commonly found snakes. These types of snakes are normally with plain skin with checkered background color. Additionally, they are found in yellowish and vivid red color too. Their normal length is 3-4 feet, though some may be longer too and have slim and agile body.

Garter Snakes

Gopher Snakes

The Gopher Snake is the most commonly found type of snakes in North America. They are having mostly checker box type skin with yellowish brown, dark, diamond-shaped marking and often grow very large up 2 meters in length. Gopher snakes are mostly similar to rattlesnakes.

Gopher Snakes

King Snakes

King snakes are mostly found in Mexico and normally have two patterns on their body. These patterns are either rings or strips. They are found in black or brown color with yellow and white rings or bands that form a chainlike pattern on their body and the length of these snakes is within 3 to 5 feet long.

King Snakes

Racer Snakes

Racer snakes are known because of their speed and mostly found in black color with smooth and shiny scales. They are found in New England frequently; they are very sharp and famous because of their speed and agility. These snakes are generally in black, blue and gray color and the patters goes fad as the snake is grown up. Their normal length is up to 2-3 feet long.

Racer Snakes

Python Snakes

Pythons are found in tropical regions of Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific islands. They are the strongest type of snakes. They are very large and muscular, and kill their prey by squeezing or constricting them. Python snakes are found in different colors and patterns but they are quite gigantic in size and very long up to 35 feet.

Python Snakes

Marvelous Bridges

 Numerous man-made wonders and creations are spread across different regions of the world. These include marvelous bridges and other innovative constructions.

The perfection or civil engineering is reflected in these wonderful constructions specifically the bridges; connecting the distant locations, flying over the canals and rivers, linking the mountains and so on. In this article few great bridges are listed with brief information about them.

Akashi Kaikyo

Akashi Kaikyo is the longest spanning suspension bridge in the world; it stretches 12,828 feet long across the Akashi Strait to Kobe with Awaji-shima Island in Japan.

Akashi Kaikyo

Location: Kobe, Awaji-Shima in Japan
Length: 12,828 feet
Type: Suspension
Cost: USD 4.3 billion

Storebæltsbro

Storebæltsbro is also known as Great Belt Bridge. It links between the Danish islands of Zealand and Funen across the green belt. It comprises over two bridges and a tunnel.

Storebæltsbro

Location: Danish Island and Funen in Zealand
Length: 6611 meters
Type: Suspension
Cost: DKK 21.4 billion

Vasco da Gama Bridge

Vasco da Gama Bridge is the longest bridge in the Europe when it was inaugurated in 1998 and still today one of the longest in the world.

Vasco da Gama Bridge

ocation: Lisbon, Portugal
Length: 10.7 miles
Type: Cable-stayed
Cost: USD 1 billion

Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge lies under the category of suspension bridges spanning the Golden Gate. It links San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean up to the length of 2.7km.

Golden Gate Bridge

Location: San Francisco
Length: 2737 meters
Type: Suspension
Cost: US $ 3.5 billion

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Chesapeake Bay Bridge is also known as Gulf Bridge. It provides a direct link between Cape Charles and Virginia Beach for 17 miles long.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Location: Cape Charles, Virginia
Length: 17 miles
Type: Beam
Cost: US $ 1.48 billion

Donghai Bridge

Donghai Bridge is a fascinating bridge over the sea. It is linking mainland Shanghai with Yangshan port in Donghai just outside Shanghai.

Donghai Bridge

Location: Shanghai, China
Length: 20.19 miles
Type: Suspensin
Cost: USD 1.2 billion

Using Effectively Color Filter in Google Image Search

Google has introduced Color Filter in Image Search for restricting search results. It helps acquiring appropriate desired images with less efforts.

Google has introduced another good feature in its Image Search. Now, it allows filtering images based on the colors. Primarily, a limited color set is available to restrict the image search results, may be Google float some more colors later on. The filters can be enforced based on the 12 colors which are “Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Teal, Blue, Purple, Pink, White, Gray, Black and Brown” as shown in the figure below.

Color Filter in Google Image Search
Color Filter in Google Image Search
In addition to individual color filters, multiple color filters can also be applied for effective search. Although the interface is not supporting to filter the search results for multiple colors but it can achieved by tweaking the URL for this purpose as given below.

http://images.google.com/images?q=bird&imgcolor=red
http://images.google.com/images?q=bird&imgcolor=red,pink
http://images.google.com/images?q=bird&imgcolor=red,pink,green

Hence, the colors can manually be set for the image result filtration by tweaking the URL for single or multiple colors as shown in the figure below.

Tweaking URL in Google Image Search
 Tweaking URL in Google Image Search
You may find the color and search results differences for the keyword “rose” between a single color filter and multiple color filters. Hence, the color filter can be effectively used for restricting the image search and to come up with the desired result.

Additionally, more useful and appropriate results can be gained by using the other available filters such as the Size Filter and Content Filter just before the Color Filter. For example, I have selected the Content Filter as “Line Drawings” and Color Filter as “Red, Pink, Green” (by tweaking the URL) as shown in the figure below.

Using Multiple Filters in Google Image Search

Using Multiple Filters in Google Image Search
In short, Color Filter in Google Image Search is a great tool which can be used in multiple ways for bringing up the most desirable results of various graphic or artistic perspectives.

Unseen Freeware/Shareware

There exists a number of software which are licensed and freeware. Most of the people opt for freeware to fulfill their requirements. However, these freeware are sometimes not so commonly known. So, in this article few of the freeware which can be very useful.
The software industry has grown up so much that whatever software you may need, it will be available in one of another form. However, many of the software are freely accessible while many are not. In order to take fulfill the requirements; someone may opt for the freely available software which is just accessible right away without so much license terms. These freely software are not sometimes so commonly known but they are greatly useful.

Active@ Disk Image 3.2.6
Size: 14.3 MB
License: Shareware $39.95
Platform: Win 2K/03/XP/Vista
Alternative: Norton Ghost 2003
Active@ Disk Image is an essential utility for backup solution. It allows PC backup in different forms such as backup of an entire computer or the hard disk(s), including OS, software applications and user files. The backup image can be stored on any storage media such as USB drive, network storage, burned directly to CD/DVD/BR discs.

doPDF 6.2.296
Size: 1.64 MB
License: Freeware
Platform: Win 2K/03/XP/Vista
Alternative: Foxit Reader
doPDF is a free PDF conversion utility which can be used in either noncommercial or commercial scenarios.  Using doPDF you can create PDF documents with a single click. Various document formats can be converted using doPDF such as Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, text files and HTML WebPages.

Sandboxie 3.36
Size: 475 KB
License: Freeware
Platform: Win 2K/03/XP/Vista
Sandboxie is excellent software that allows you isolates and quarantines website. Originally it was aimed at safe browsing with Internet Explorer but it is found to be fully complaint with other web browsers too such as Firefox and other programs. Sandboxie encompasses the programs and intercepts and isolates any changes the programs may make to the computer regardless of the application/program it wraps around. However, it does not raise any trade-off of functionality for security and websites can fully utilize the web browser’s capabilities.

Defraggler 1.09.138
Size: 786 KB
License: Freeware
Platform: Win 2K/03/XP/Vista
Alternative: Diskkeeper
Defraggler is a vital tool from the house of CCleaner and Recuva. It can effectively defragment the disk and differs from other defrag tools available in the market It enables you to quickly and simply defragment the files without having to process the whole drive. It takes seconds to perform the operations and brings you the ease and freedom. It is far better then Windows Defragmentation tool.

FastPictureViewer 1.00 Build 83
Size: 1.95 MB
License: Freeware
Platform: Win XP/Vista
Alternative: Picture Viewer Max
FastPictureViewer is a very efficient utility to serve as picture viewer. It is significantly light weighted and obviously speedy. It aims at providing the rapid view of the pictures as its notion for speed is main focal point. FastPictureViewer enables to browse entire folders of digital photos in the shortest possible amount of time.
deVault
Size: 545 KB
License: Freeware
Platform: Win 2K/03/XP/Vista
deVault is a great utility to securely store and organize all of the document files and enables the portability of the documents. Additionally, files can be synchronized between different sources. Multiple files are stored and secured digital vaults which can be searched, emailed and installers can also be created along with other functionalities

DotnetSwitch 1.0
Size: 30 KB
License: Freeware
Requires: Win All
DotnetSwitch is lively software and it is greatly useful when you are working in different domains or intranet. It allows switching between different network configurations by a simple click. It can configure different network settings like IP Addresses, Network mask, Gateway, and Proxies for every network adapter. It simply made the life easy and takes off all of your worries to remember IP addresses and other settings within different networks.

The above listed software are few of the loads of freeware/shareware available online. You may post any software which you may know.
[Reference: Unseen Freeware/Shareware]

Firefox Tweaks

Firefox is an open source web browser and allows several customizations and configuration settings to be changed as desired. Useful tweaks are discussed in this article which may extend your experience using Firefox.
 
Firefox is one of the most famous and commonly used web browsers. It comes up with defaults settings and configurations appropriate for majority of the users. However, sometimes computer savvy people do not like the things as they are by default; rather they try tweaking them as they desire. Similarly, Firefox can be tweaked in different way for different purposes. In this article, few useful tweaks are discussed.
All is needed to edit the configuration settings for Firefox which can be done by typing about:config in address bar and changing the desired preferences.

Firefox Configuration Setup

Tabs Display

By default if there is only a single instance of the webpage (the only single tab) is opened in a window then it does not displays the tab bar. However, if multiple tabs are initiated then the tabs bar is displayed. You may force Firefox to display the tabs bar even if the only single webpage is opened (only one tab is there). It can be done by editing the configuration settings by filtering the configurations for the preference name browser.tabs.autoHide. Following two properties can be set for it.

True – Tabs bar will be displayed all the time (even for a single tab)
False – Tabs bar will be displayed if there are two or more tabs


Tab Close Button

In each tab there is a default close button which can be tweaked as desired. Someone might wish to remove this button or to display it all the time. It can be done by editing the configuration settings. In the filter bar in configurations window search for the preference name browser.tabs.closeButtons and double click to edit its value which can be either of the following.

0 – Displays close button in active tab only
1 – Displays close button on all tabs
2 – Displays no close button
3 – Displays a single close button on the left edge of the window in tabs row


Tab Minimum Width
Each tab has a fixed width which is 250px and if you have opened several tabs then it brings horizontal scrolling in the tab bar which is sometimes annoying. This scrolling can be eliminated by lowering the minimum width of the tabs. It can be done by editing the configuration settings. In the filter bar in configurations window search for the preference name browser.tabs.tabMinWidth and double click to edit its value which can range as the following.
38-100 – Default width is 100px and the minimum length is 38px

Scrolling can be avoided until the width of each tab approaches 38px when you have so many tabs opened and setting lower than 38 will make no difference.

Auto Fill URL
By default the URL/Address bar requires each URL to be typed or to select from history list that is displayed when you type the URL. However, it can be more accessible or convenient if Firefox loads the desired URL itself as you start typing the already visited URL. It can be done by editing the configuration settings and filtering for preference name browser.urlbar.autoFill. Following two properties can be set for it.

True – URL bar will be filled itself
False – URL is to be typed completely or to be selected from the list


Close Download Manager
Whenever you download something using Firefox download manager it displays a download manager dialog showing the progress. It remains on the scene even if the download is finished. It can be directed to close when download is completed. It can be done by settings up the configurations settings. In the filter bar in configurations window search for the preference name browser.download.manager.closeWhenDone and double click to edit its value which can be either of the following.

True – Download manager will close when download completes
False – Download manager will remain present when download is complete


The above mentioned are just few of the so many tweaks which can be made to Firefox. It is being an open source web browser allows most of the configurations and customization as desired by the user. One can do it with even little knowledge about the Firefox and setting up various preferences by hitting about:config in address bar.


[Reference: Firefox Tweaks]

Running a Quick SEO Campaign 1

In software development various process are involved including technical writing. Project management is another aspect possessing command and control of all of the activities carried in software development.
 
Technical writing is one of the primary and vital processes leading the software development process. It bases the development process and continues till release, same as project management processes embody whole software development. Technical writing can also be undertaken by project management for a better synergy among all of the activities from scratch till end. In this article we discuss technical writing process from the project management perspective.

Define the Startup

To embark on technical writing it is necessary to have basic understanding of the project and necessary knowledge along with the initial requirements for the project. In general following are the activities to be performed.
Look at the Big Picture – it is quite essential to have overall idea of the project and the work to be done. Primarily, it requires envisaging whole system so that it gives a clear picture of what is going to be the final product and how different information flows are going on.
Collect General Requirements – collection of initially available general requirements help to build system snapshot and to discover more detailed requirements. These requirements actually define overall system functionality in brief and lately become as major modules.
Look for a Development Strategy – it is equally important to determine the development strategy so that the technical writer is accommodated in an appropriate place among the developers.
Understanding Startup Requirements – in technical writing the most important factor is the understanding of user requirements because the consistency is the only way to survive in technical documentation. Thus, having well understood requirements is very important.

Enforce Planning

To ensure a systematic and orderly execution of various activities involved in technical writing in junction with other software development processes, plan document is the only source. Proper planning helps to identify possible shortcomings and strategies to overcome afflicted situations. Following are the activities need to be considered in planning for technical writing.
Identify Stakeholders – In a project usually various stakeholders are involved and they directly or indirectly influence the project. Proper classification of the stakeholders is beneficial so that information sources are identified for the preparation of technical documentation for the project.
Define a Roadmap – it is more about organizing technical writing project in a systematic way by defining the flow of activities to be performed in an order. The roadmap should reflect some sequence of activities similar to work break down structure.
Specify Detailed Requirements – each task and requirement is to be explained completely with all of its stimulus/response. Generally, requirements are mostly explored and detailed specification about each of the desired functionality is documented.
Estimate Time and Effort – one of the core activities of project management is to estimate time and efforts required for each activity. It is also to be sought while writing technical documentation for the project.

Execute Plan

Planning is just not enough; plan must be put in action. Each of the activity must strictly follow the plan document and consume the estimated time and efforts. Following a plan and compliance of all of the tasks bring tremendous benefits throughout the project life cycle.

Management

Management is a command and control process. It keeps track of each activity such that the conformance and deviation from the plan. It also monitors the plan documents for any possible adjustment to baseline various tasks.
Indeed, technical writing is a complicated job and requires sufficient analysis, planning, research and management of all such activities. It has several aspect common with project management, hence combined with several project management process along with other software development processes can be very effective and rewarding.

How to Write a Research Paper

To write a research paper is a little different then any other piece of writing. Research paper is more technical and formal document.

In today’s schooling and among research practitioners one of the most significant exercises is research work. In common practice, most of the people come up with good research work but unfortunately they are not able to present their work in a good composition. Students or professionals can produce well versed articles by practicing a little set of writing guidelines. In this article several guidelines are provided which help to write good research papers.
Think Before Writing
You must have an idea to work and gradually build a thorough understanding about it. Think about the topic and related material to support your arguments; also think about the organization of your focal points into a comprehensive composition. Therefore, thinking about what to do and how to organize the data in a better way can result in a good research draft.
Establish an Outline
The schematic organization of the content is a key to success. You must establish a structural outline which would be a true reflection of your thoughts. It will not only give you new ideas for improvement but also makes easy to write content relevant to the domain of your research.
Use a Template
A good practice is to use a pre-formatted template which is a good way to produce a quality document. It helps to meet the formatting deficiencies and targets at particular audience in a form which is already prescribed and understood.
Be Consistent
One of the most essential practices is to be consistent in your writing, flow of the ideas, and style of your contention. In consistency, another notion is to be simple and convincing rather being rigid and flat in writing your content. Using a template also helps in maintaining consistency of your research paper.
Reader is the Most Important
The most important is the reader whom you must keep into consideration while writing any piece of writing. If you are not able to deliver your message to the reader then a worth while research work would be of no use. Therefore, write in simple words and build readers interest by means of strong and meaningful content.
Use Images and Tables
It is a good practice to make use of illustrations and other multimedia content with descriptive text. An image can be a substitute of thousand words, therefore using images and other media content can be very effective to convey your message to reader. Similarly, tables can be used to summarize or compare different aspect and values. Images and tables with an appropriate caption not only support your content but also help to attract reader’s attention.
Nifty Conclusion
You must conclude your whole work into few words and keeping in mind the starting point of your research so that you might not deprive of the way. Therefore, winding up the whole work briefly for a nifty end is necessary because it will be presenting the whole essence of your document.
Include Citation
In the end include citation to acknowledge all of the content which you might have referred partially or completely. Therefore, providing citation would be increasing authentication of your research work and it is also considered as an essential practice in writing research based documentation.
Writing is sometimes termed as an “art” but it also varies from domain to domain. However to write a research paper this art is somehow technical and requires certain factors to be considered as discussed in this article.  Hence, these guidelines can be followed to produce good research based manuscripts.

[Reference: How to Write a Research Paper]

How to Improve Computer Performance

Today speed is not a problem and faster computers are available in the market. Yet, they found to be slower because of so many things. In this article we describe the ways how to improve computer performance.

In computer manufacturing industry day to day innovations come up and are reflected in latest brands. In fact, renovated and speedy computers are lead by heavy software for different purposes and found that even the fastest computers available in the market get slower. In this article few tips are provided to improve computer performance.
Avoid Installing Unnecessary Software
Install only that software which you need and avoid installing needless software you come across either with an intention to try or to play with. If you need to try out software then properly uninstall them before installing complete stable software. Install only reliable and needed software so that you may not overrun computer resources.
Keep it Clean
One of the most essential activities is to keep the system clean but it is often compromised by having Spyware/Malware and other malicious software installed in the system which eat system resources. Even sometimes harmful viruses are running in the backgrounds which lower down the system performance. Perfect solution is to keep your Anti-Spyware/Virus software updated and frequently scan your computer during idle time. Installing firewall also helps to keep the system clean.
Disable AutoRun and System Restore
Disabling AutoRun and System Restore options off helps to raise system performance. AutoRun consumes a good threshold of system resources momentarily and System Restore constantly runs in background. System Restore can be of little use if you are maintaining your computer efficiently and taking care of day to day operations.
Remove Unnecessary StartUp Applications
Several software applications are partially loaded when computer is booted and user logs on in order to provide convenient access (by means of shedding load time) when those applications are required by the user. However, several un-necessary applications can be removed from startup in order to boost the system performance.
Remove Temporary Files
Most of the software create/use temporary files which make sense for a limited time till the software is being operated. Good software remove such temporary files but frequently found that there are numerous temporary files which reside in the Windows temp folder. In addition, Internet Temporary Files should also be removed to increase performance of Browsing applications.
Manage your Hard Disk
All of your software and data reside in the hard disk and it is crucial to take care of the disk. Several disk management utilities exist today. Disk Defragmenter is a tool which organizes data in the disk and makes data-access efficient by means of reducing delay caused by dispersed data locations. Similarly, Scan Disk checks for certain errors and tries to make them up. Therefore, such disk management utilities can be effectively used for improving overall computer performance.
These activities can be performed manually by using native tools which come up with operating system or by using some commercially available integrated toolset. Computer’s performance is dependent upon many factors but performing such little activities can increase system performance considerably.

[Reference: How to Improve Computer Performance]

Fairy at my Door

A day in spring I encountered a fairy at my door, whose magically glowing face, full of smiles made me feel blessed and joyous.

I popped out from the window; it was a pleasant day in spring and cool fragrant breeze made the leaves swing. People were moving along the way to their routes, everyone was going on with running moments of life and each corner was rushed out. In such officious on going life; careless of everything down the road under a shady tree an innocent girl twisting her fingers, lost in thoughts and had gaze at the blossomed flowers appealing her to smile uncontrolled. The moment I encountered her gratifying sensation was the most beautiful instance of my life. I could read her feelings appearing on her smiling face and wished to capture those moments to rest forever. Ceased in my place could not move off her tempting and glowing face! Desires to shack in her fascinating existence rose in me unrestrained. Aspirant to steal some moments of her life and keeping them alive forever was the gist of my life. Brought me feeling of pleasure and blessings, it was she turning my vision, driving my attention, bringing me comfort, and peace. I wished to stay nearer to her but thought of agitating her peaceful joy barred me getting into her territory. Seeking an entrance to her lovely world I remained lost and occupied with the vision and thoughts to approach her. I had never thought the blessings will shower upon me just infinite; she was knocking at my door! My whole world was enlightened and perfumed like paradise. She was my soul mate, my dream girl, a fairy from heaven!