Wednesday
29Jul2009

How fast can a pencil write?

I have been using FastPencil for a week and more and find it a good place for aspiring authors to hang out, write and built up confidence. I have completed five chapters of a tragic story of a dog and the monsoon which drives him out of his home.

The layout is simple and recreates an atmosphere of writing in longhand on a sheet of paper. No irritating and unnecessary bling. The user get the whole screenspace for himself and his attempt to train the written word.

Sunday
07Sep2008

Ancient Hounds

The Caravan Hound is an ancient breed that is native to the Deccan Plateau of India. They were  introduced to the region by Central Asian traders and invaders. In Karnataka, the Caravan Hound is  called Mudhol Hound,  named after al town in Bijapur district. 

The long haired variants are called Pashmi. 

Sunday
07Sep2008

The Tibetan Mastiff

  The Tibetan Mastiff is unique in the dog world. A primitive breed, the Tibetan Mastiff bitch has a single heat per year, which normally occurs during the fall months. Tibetan Mastiffs mature slowly, with females reaching fill maturity between three and four years, and males between four to five years of age.

Saturday
06Sep2008

Animal Smarts

  • Dogs bark before earthquakes
  • Chimpanzees know what herbs to chew on to get rid of intestinal worms. 
  • Cattle predict rainfall by sitting on the ground 
  • Cows know which way is north 
Tuesday
26Aug2008

Using feeds - BBC explains

How do I start using feeds?

In general, the first thing you need is something called a news reader. This is a piece of software that checks the feeds and lets you read any new articles that have been added. There are many different versions, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications.

Browser-based news readers let you catch up with your RSS feed subscriptions from any computer, whereas downloadable applications let you store them on your main computer, in the same way that you either download your e-mail using Outlook, or keep it on a web-based service like Hotmail.

Once you have chosen a news reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want it to receive. For example, if you would like the latest BBC News Entertainment stories, simply visit the Entertainment section and you will notice an orange button on the left hand side.

RSS button

If you would like the latest BBC News World video stories, visit the Video and Audio section of the BBC News Website (www.bbc.co.uk/newsvideoaudio ) and click on the button at the bottom of the World section.

RSS button

If you click on the RSS button you can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including by dragging the URL of the feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your news reader. Most sites that offer feeds use a similar orange button, but some may just have a normal web link.

Some browsers, including Firefox, Opera and Safari, automatically check for feeds for you when you visit a website, and display an icon when they find one. This can make subscribing to feeds much easier. For more details on these, please check their websites.