Little Window to Odisha - Prabhat Nath

Here are the Thoughts by The Great Chanakya that I found very useful for our life::

1)    "Learn from the mistakes of others... you can't live long enough to make them all yourselves!!" 

2)    "A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and Honest people are screwed first."

3)    "Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous." 

4)    "There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth."

5)    "Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead."

6)    "As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it."

7)    "The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman." 

8)    "Once you start a working on something, don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest." 

9)    "The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction."

10) "God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple." 

11) "A man is great by deeds, not by birth." 

12) "Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness."

13) "Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next five years, scold them. By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend. Your grown up children are your best friends." 

14) "Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person." 

15) "Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth." 

Labels: General

Labels: General

Labels: General

Labels: General

In some of my article I have written to "Subscribe to my RSS feed". After that I got many emails from my friends asking details about RSS. So I have decided to write the answer here in my Blog.

What Is RSS?

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) provides a convenient way to syndicate information from a variety of sources, including news stories, updates to a web site or even source code check-ins for a development project. Regardless of the purpose for which the RSS file is being used, by watching this XML file, you can quickly and easily see whenever an update has occurred.

RSS refer to the following standards:
Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)
Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91, RSS 1.0)
Site Summary (RSS 0.9 and 1.0)

RSS formats are specified in XML (a generic specification for data formats). RSS delivers its information as an XML file called an "RSS feed", "webfeed", "RSS stream", or "RSS channel".

Viewing the RSS feed in Internet Browser and hitting F5 every few minutes is not the most efficient use of your time, so most people take advantage of some form of client software to read and monitor RSS feeds.

There are many different RSS clients available. I use RssReader. But there are many that can be used which you may find useful:

NewsGator
SharpReader
FeedReader


But now the Web Browsers also has the RSS Reader integrated. Like Mozilla Firefox and New Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 has RSS feed integrated. I use FireFox for syndication as I don't have IE7 yet. We can even read RSS online using Google Reader. Whenever we visit any website and we see the or symbols, they should link to an RSS feed that we can subscribe to via RSS client or Online Reader like Google Reader.

A brief History

The name "RSS" is an umbrella term for a format that spans several different versions of at least two different (but parallel) formats. The original RSS, version 0.90, was designed by Netscape as a format for building portals of headlines to mainstream news sites. It was deemed overly complex for its goals; a simpler version, 0.91, was proposed and subsequently dropped when Netscape lost interest in the portal-making business. But 0.91 was picked up by another vendor, UserLand Software, which intended to use it as the basis of its weblogging products and other web-based writing software.

In the meantime, a third, non-commercial group split off and designed a new format based on what they perceived as the original guiding principles of RSS 0.90 (before it got simplified into 0.91). This format, which is based on RDF, is called RSS 1.0. But UserLand was not involved in designing this new format, and, as an advocate of simplifying 0.90, it was not happy when RSS 1.0 was announced. Instead of accepting RSS 1.0, UserLand continued to evolve the 0.9x branch, through versions 0.92, 0.93, 0.94, and finally 2.0.

Atom

The Atom Syndication format is the next generation of XML-based file formats, designed to allow information--the contents of web pages, for example--to be syndicated between applications. Like RSS before it, Atom places the content and metadata of an internet resource into a machine-parsable format, perfect for displaying, filtering, remixing, and archiving.

This Blog site "Blogger" use RSS Feed / XML Feed for syndication.

So, Now how to syndicate my Blog:
- Open my Blog: http://prabhatnath.blogspot.com
- Navigate to the "Feeds / Syndication" in the left side of the page. (Scroll down a little...)
- You can see "Feeds / Syndication" and the link: RSS / XML Feed.
- Right Click on the link and copy the shortcut and use the "ADD" button of the RSS client to add the feed or just click on the link if your browser support RSS feed or ATOM feed.
- or -
- Click on the Link in Browsers like (FireFox / Internet Explorer 7) to use Online Feed Reader like Google Reader.

Hope you all enjoyed this article. Happy Syndication...

Labels: General

Many people used to Blog using many different Blogging sites and also I have seen many of my friends asking about how to start a Blog. So I have decided to write some basic and easy steps here.

A "Blog" is a web-based journal in which people can publish their thoughts and opinions on the Internet. Anyone can start a blog. Most of the cases it is free!

Get Ahead with Steps

Find a decent blogging provider that appeals to you. I use Blogger, Rediff iLand and MSN Spaces. Some others include Yahoo 360, Livejournal.com, JournalHome.com, WordPress.com, TheDiary.org etc. Of course there are many. Most of these sites are pre-made with Templates or Themes that don't require much technical know-how.

1. Once you sign up, you'll have a gallery of ready-made themes or templates to choose from. Select one and personalize it. Add your Name, Interests, Images, etc.

2. Add blogging freebies like buttons, images, blog chalks, imoods, tagboards, guest maps, guestbooks, comment boxes for readers' input, etc. if the blogging site permits these all.

3. Explore other blog sites that offer more features for a small fee, such as Typepad.com.

4. Decide on whether or not you want your blog to be Private or Personal: do you want any Internet visitor to be able to read your blog, or do you just want your friends and family to be able to read it? Most blog sites offer the ability to password-protect your published posts so only those who you approve of can view what you've written.

5. Decide on how you want your blog to look. You can pick a Theme, Color Scheme and Layout. Most sites come with a set of predefined layouts and schemes that you can choose from, or you can edit your own.

6. After you've set up your blog, write a few posts to test it out, and make any adjustments to the layout or style that you see fit. At first, it will seem tough to figure out what to write, but once you get into a routine of daily blogging, you will find it addictive. Write about your day, your thoughts, events, ideas, fears, pleasures, the news, current affairs, art, or anything you are interested in!

7. Visit other blogs to build a blogging circle. When you leave comments, add your blogging address so they can visit you, too! Also leave your message in the Guestbooks if any.

8. If you want to make your blog look more attractive, there are some sites up that have many "skins" that might make it look better. One example is blogskins.com, which also comes with Photoshop and HTML tutorials.

9. Publish your blog by sending the URL to your friends or publish the URL on your website. Add the URL to posts you make on other blogs.

Tips you should not forget

• If you update your blog frequently, more people will return on a regular basis to read it. Establishing a reader base will motivate you to write more and in turn more people will read your posts.
• Get into a routine of blogging. Make it part of your day. Soon, you will notice things during your day and think, "Hey, I'll blog this!"
• Personalize your blog. A pretty blog always catches the eye. Visit some other blogging sites like blogger.com for ideas; they have a list of their 10 most recently updated blogs.
• You could Google for "blog Orissa" or "blog Mobile" (or anything else), depending on location, interests, etc. Circles of interest are the essence of blogging, and it can start to develop you as an authority in the blogospher on lawns or whatever area of interest you choose.
• Keep the posts interesting. Try to avoid focusing on things that most readers won't find useful (such as "I went to the park today and saw Sabita.") Write about things you noticed, thoughts you had, and feelings or ideas. Blog about a recent trip to any place like Konark etc.
• Spellcheck your writing before posting.
• Some sites allow you to make money off your blog by using by placing Google AdSense advertisements. If popular enough, your blog could start to pay your bills!
• Don't feel bogged down if no one visits your site for the first few months. As with communities this large, it will take some time for your blog to get noticed.
• If you want a broad (international) readership, do not use too many abbreviations or slang terms that might not be easily understood by people who are not from your country/area.
• Get interesting news from websites like Rediff GetAhead, Techtree or any other websites that you frequently read.
• Blog on a specific subject. You can't please everyone, so target a specific audience (ie. culture, teens, computers related, gamers, etc.) and go with it.

Finally, I would suggest that you be patient with yourself. Writing is like anything else. The more you do it, the better you get. If you have a little talent, and stick with it, you’ll eventually get into the rhythm and joy of it.

Cheers!

Labels: General