Testing

Software Testing Ppt

God did not create the universe

British physicist Stephen Hawking has said the creation of the universe was a result of the inevitable laws of physics and it did not need God's help.

In his latest book titled ' The Grand Design' , Hawking writes: "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist."

He rejects Isaac Newton's theory that the universe did not spontaneously begin to form but was set in motion by God.

"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going," the Daily Telegraph quoted Hawking as writing in his book.

Earlier, in Hawking's most famous work 'A Brief History of Time', he did not dismiss the possibility that God had a hand in the creation of the world.

"If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason - for then we should know the mind of God," he had written in the 1988 book.

The book, co-written by American physicist Leonard Mlodinow, will be released Sep 9.

Easy Ways To Save Money

Money, the second most important thing on Earth after happiness. Rather, happiness too sometimes depends on money. But exactly how much money is sufficient for a human being? The answer is difficult to find because the thirst to earn more never ends. However, to earn as much money as you want, legally, is not easy. The right way to make the best out of the money you have is to save the money.

Money is not of stagnant nature and tingles your desires. You fall prey to it and thus, the bank balance soon falls short. The mantra to maintain your bank balance and to live a happy life lies on the perfect way to save money.

Lets look at some ways to save money -

1.Divide Your Money – The day you get your salary, divide the money for your bills. Make separate bundles for different bills and pay them off before you use them for your own purpose. This will let you know exactly what amount you are left with and how will you run the number of days left before the next salary comes.

2.Make A Shopping List – Make a list of what all you want in the month. Divide the list into most important things and the not so important things. This will give you a clear picture as to what to concentrate at first.

3.Buy In Bulk – People tend to buy in small quantities looking at the small amount he has to shed at present. Well, one of the most important way to save money is to buy in bulk. Generally, buying products in bulk costs less than when you buy in many times in small numbers.

4.Saving Bank Account – You should always have two bank accounts. One from which you spend and one where you save your money. Money should never be withdrawn from the account in which you save money. The amount you decide to save should be deposited into that account at the starting of the month.

5.Daily Expenditure – Calculate your daily expenditure and try to stick to it. If some day you save some amount from your daily expenditure, then keep it aside in a piggy bank. You will be surprised to know at the end of the month the fortune you would have collected.

6.Differentiate Between Need And Desire – There are things you need and there are things you desire. Don't compromise on the things you need but try to control your desire. This will help you to save a lot of money.

7.Avoid Loans – It's best not to take loans from friends. To repay the loan becomes an additional expense and gets carry forward to the nest month too.

8.Cut Down Expense Where Possible – Some expenses are self imposed. Try to track them and avoid them. If you can carry lunch, no need to buy it. If you have four pair of jeans, no need for the fifth one etc.

These are few simple ways to save money. Saving money soon becomes a habit and you will be surprised to see, how much you can cut down on your expenses.

Extracting water out of thin air now possible

London, Sep 12 (IANS) Getting water out of the thin air is now possible, thanks to a new technology.

'Drinking water can be extracted from the humidity in the air even in the desert or in the middle of a megacity,' thanks to a technology developed by the Fraunhofer Alliance SysWasser, Germany.

The principle behind it is a salt solution that runs down from a tower-shaped system and absorbs water from the air, known as hygroscopic brine. This brine is then pumped into a tank that stands a couple of metres high and contains a vacuum.

Then, energy from solar collectors heats up the brine and the evaporated salt-free water condenses over a distillation bridge. The brine concentrates again and flows down on the surface of the tower to absorb humidity in the air, according to a Fraunhofer statement.

This process is exclusively based on regenerative sources of energy such as simple solar collectors and photovoltaic cells, meaning that this method is completely energy self-sufficient.

That means that it functions in areas where there is no electrical infrastructure. This process is particularly well suited for extracting drinking water in arid and semi-arid areas where more water evaporates than precipitation falls.

Improve Your Car’s Fuel Efficiency

t’s really exasperating to see fuel prices skyrocketing, right? We can only feel helpless in the face of recurring and economy-driven price fluctuations. Seeking measures to improve fuel economy is the only way to combat rising fuel prices. Do not disregard these simple guidelines; each little step can really start adding up to significant savings to your budget.

Check Tyre Pressure

Keeping the tyres well inflated is one of the simplest things you can do to help improve your car’s fuel efficiency. You can improve the mileage by about 3.3 percent if you keep your tyres inflated properly, according to the DOE.

Lighten Your Load

Empty out your boot of unnecessary items. For every extra 45 kg you carry, your fuel efficiency can drop by 1-2% in a typical vehicle.

S-L-O-W D-O-W-N

The faster you drive, the more fuel you use. Driving within the speed limit recommended by the manufacturer helps save fuel. Driving just 5mph over the speed limit can affect fuel economy by up to 23%. Likewise, quick acceleration consumes too much fuel; accelerate slowly and gradually.

Do Fuel Quality/Types/Additives Help Mileage?

Petrol pump attendants often try to convince you to go for ‘Speed petrol’ or ‘X-tra Mile diesel’. But this need not necessarily help improve your vehicle’s fuel efficiency. Always use the grade recommended for the vehicle by the manufacturer. Higher octane fuel may not only be a waste of money but may harm the vehicle, as well. However sticking to one brand of fuel is always good for the engine. Know more about Octane Ratings

Tune Your Engine

A well-tuned engine can improve fuel economy by up to 4%. So change your oil and follow your car manufacturer’s recommendation on servicing.

Clean the Air Filters Regularly

Air filters keep impurities from damaging your engine. Replacing a clogged air filter can improve fuel economy by as much as 10%.

Keep the Windows Closed

Driving with your windows open considerably reduces mileage, far more than keeping the AC on while driving along highways. So preferably keep the windows closed and the AC on if you want to keep cool. Of course the air-conditioning decreases fuel efficiency considerably, so use it judiciously.

Clean Spark Plugs

Ensure your spark plugs are in good condition. Renew the plugs and wires at intervals specified by the manufacturer. This will keep all cylinders firing properly resulting in higher efficiency.

Don’t Be a Clutch-Driver

Never keep your foot on the clutch while driving. When you do this, pressure is being placed on your clutch, and it not only reduces mileage, but also wears out the clutch plate, replacing which is not cheap.

Keep the Car in Showroom Condition

It’s always prudent to keep the car in the showroom condition. Remember that any modification to the car, such as broad tyres, diffusers etc., will adversely affect the mileage.

Solar tsunami from Sun may hit Earth on Tuesday

The Earth is in the path to be hit by a wave of violent space weather as early as Tuesday after a massive explosion of the sun, scientists have warned.

Astronomers witnessed the huge flare above a giant sunspot the size of the Earth, the explosion aimed directly towards Earth.
It sent a "solar tsunami" racing 93 million miles across space, which is likely to hit the planet on Tuesday.
The wave of supercharged gas is likely to spark spectacular displays of the aurora or northern and southern lights.
However, a really big solar eruption could shut down global communication grids and destroy satellites, if it reaches today.
A recent warning by NASA said that Britain could be at the receiving end of widespread power blackouts for a long time after the earth is hit by a once-in-a-generation "space storm".
"It looks like the first eruption was so large that it changed the magnetic fields throughout half the Sun's visible atmosphere and provided the right conditions for the second eruption," said Dr Lucie Green, of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Surrey.
"This means we have a very good chance of seeing major and prolonged effects, such as the northern lights at low latitudes," she added. (ANI)

Features of Epic Browser

Epic Web Browser is a product of Mozilla. This web browser is the first ever web browser for India. Epic Web Browser is the world's first antivirus web browser. Epic browser is the web browser for India. It has many features which a web browser should have.

To know more about epic browser see below:-

In-built Antivirus :- Epic browser have in-built antivirus. It is the world's first web browser with anti browser. It scans all the download files automatically. Even it scans your system also. This antivirus can delete all the viruses from your system also. It have the feature

Ad blocker :- Epic browser have a feature of ad-blocker, anti-malware and anti-spyware. It protects your computer from the viruses and malicious sites.

Word Processing :- Epic browser have a feature of word processing. Now you can create your own word document with the help of epic browser. You don't need separate word processing software.

Themes :- Epic browser contains 1500 plus themes for epic browser. You can change the themes according to your requirement.

Language supports :- Epic Browser supports 10 Indian languages. Now you can write in any language. This web browser supports 10 Indian languages which helps you to write in your regional language.

In-built Widgets: - Epic browser have many in-built widgets. Now you can surf the websites very easily. This browser have many widgets like twitter, in.com, gmail, orkut, facebook, bookmyshow.com, Citibank many more.

One Click Services: - Epic browser have single services also. There you can get the latest news, sensex information, events, sports, music, movies, shopping many more.

Privacy: - Epic browser contains many feature along with privacy. This browser saves your surfing in private surfing. You can delete all the history, cookies and temporary files with a single click.

Private Browsing: - Epic Browser have the feature of private browsing also. You can browser privately without any inference. This private browsing does not store any history, cookies or temporary files on your system. This feature helps you surf privately.

‘Epic’ Browser Wars

Bangalore-based startup, Hidden Reflex, has developed a browser for the Indian audience called Epic, thanks to Mozilla’s popular open-source platform. Though made on lines of the Firefox browser, it has many firsts.

It’s the only browser that has an in-built anti-virus scanner and other unique privacy features like theflash cookie deletion.

Epic also has a side-bar with shortcut icons for frequently used applications and websites – all of which are a part of the 1500+ apps that ‘Epic’ boasts of.

My favourite, however, is the ‘type in Indian languages’ widget that can be done using the English script, which the browser instantly converts into the regional language chosen.

Even as ‘Epic’ hogs the limelight, other browser developers, especially the more popular ones like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome are on an overdrive to come up with advanced versions. We have entered the era of browser wars.

Here’s a look at some of the features that these browsers brag about:

Firefox 3.6
Released in January 2010, this Firefox version is unique, as it has over 6000 add-ons and other browser personalization features like themes.
Other features include live bookmarks, tabbed browsing, a full-screen video option, notification of outdatedplugins as well as aids for web-designers and web application developers.
The next major release, Firefox 4 has been scheduled for November 2010.

Internet Explorer 8
It seems like ages ago when this browser was released by Microsoft – which was back in March 2009. This one was proclaimed to have better security than its previous versions, with stronger protection againstphishing and malware attacks.
Other features include tab recovery – allows a tab to crash without crashing the rest of the browser,domain highlighter, web slices and accelerator – that makes repetitive tasks into simple one click behaviours.

Chrome 4
This browser was released by Google in January 2010, and came with enhanced features like the browser preferences and bookmark syncing, extension support, improved developer tools, increased browser security and being integrated with the Adobe Flash Player.

Chrome 5 was announced in May 2010 and was touted to be Google’s first browser that supported 3 OSplatforms – Windows, Linux and the Mac OS X.

Opera 10.50
The Windows OS version of this browser was released in March 2010. The makers have claimed it to be the fastest browser ever and 7 times faster than its previous version.

This browser has distinct feature – from tabs that can expanded, re-arranged, resized and cascaded for a better overview of the browser to the slider zoom that can zoom a page up to 300%, pin-tab feature that can lock a tab, and not to forget the option of having a mix of private and non-private tabs in the same window.
Opera 10.60 has seen a stable release this month, July 2010.

Safari 5
This version of the Safari OS was released for Mac OS 10 and Windows in June 2010. It has some special features like the Safari Reader that removes all ads and junk to give a clutter-less page just like text in aPDF version.

It also has good page caching for the faster loading of links, a smart address field to remember web pages visited earlier and a greater HTML 5 support, enabling web content creation without third-party add-ons.

PSLV launch successful, 5 satellites placed in orbit

The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C15) put five satellites in their precise orbits on Monday, unequivocally demonstrating its reliability and robustness. It was a flawless mission all the way, with the ignition and separation of the rocket’s four stages taking place on time, the heat-shield protecting the satellites falling off on schedule and the satellites flying out of the fourth stage at a velocity of 27,000 km an hour. The on-board computers worked with clock-work precision. This was the 16th consecutively successful fight of the PSLV.

The five satellites that were injected into orbit were: ISRO’s 694-kg Cartosat-2B; the 116-kg Alsat-2A of Algeria; a 6.5-kg nano satellite named NLS 6.1 AISSAT-1 of the Space Flight Laboratory, University of Toronto, Canada; a 1 kg nano satellite called NLS 6.2 TISAT-1 built by the University of Applied Science Sciences of Switzerland; and a tiny satellite named Studsat built by 35 students of seven engineering colleges in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Studsat was the centre of attraction as the students had designed and built this pico satellite with an imaging camera and had employed several frontline technologies. They had also built a clean room to test the satellite and a ground station in Bangalore to receive its signals.

ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan called it “an excellent launch” and said the mission went off “extremely well, as expected”. The Mission Director, P. Kunhikrishnan, stressed the satellites went to their precise orbits. If the mission was to inject five satellites into a polar orbit an altitude of 637 km, the final figure was an apogee of 637.39 km and a perigee of 631 km.

There was no “hold” in the 51-hour countdown to the PSLV-C15 launch. After it lifted off majestically at the appointed time of 9.22 a.m., it roared skyward, painting the sky with yellow flames. At the end of 17 minutes and 14 seconds of rocket’s flight, the satellites were home and dry.

There was applause when T.K. Alex, Director, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, announced that Studsat’s signals were received at the ground station in Bangalore and the Alsat’s signals were received in Algeria.

While the PSLV-C15 cost Rs.80 crore to build, the Cartosat-2B cost Rs.175 crore. The PSLV - C15 Vehicle Director was B. Jayakumar, the Satellite Director was M. Krishnaswamy.

Solar plane takes off for 24-hour test flight

An experimental solar-powered plane whose makers hope to one day circle the globe using only energy collected from the sun took off for its first 24-hour test flight Wednesday.

The plane with its 262.5-foot (80-meter) wingspan left Payerne airfield in Switzerland shortly before 7 a.m. (0500 GMT; 1 a.m. EDT) after an equipment problem that delayed a previous attempt was solved, the Solar Impulse team said.

Pilot Andre Borschberg will take the prototype to an altitude of 27,900 feet (8,500 meters) by Wednesday evening, when a decision will be made whether to fly the plane through the night using solar power stored in its batteries.

"The goal of the project is to have a solar-powered plane flying day and night without fuel," said team co-founder Bertrand Piccard, adding that this test flight - the third major step after its first 'flea hop' and an extended flight earlier this year – will demonstrate whether the ultimate goal is feasible: to fly the plane around the world.

"This flight is crucial for the credibility of the project," said Piccard, a record-breaking balloonist whose father and grandfather also accomplished pioneering airborne and submarine feats.

The team had hoped to make their 24-hour test flight last week when days in the northern hemisphere were even longer, allowing the plane's 12,000 solar cells to collect even more energy before attempting to coast through the night.

But there was a problem with a key piece of communications equipment, forcing the team to keep the plane on the ground while modifications were made. Every aspect of the aircraft is monitored by engineers on the ground, with much of it fed onto the team's website and Twitter page.

Borscherg, the plane's sole pilot, will decide by 8 p.m. (1800 GMT; 2 p.m. EDT) whether to continue through the night. If he goes ahead, the plane will slowly descend to 4,920 feet (1,500 meters) before midnight, where Borschberg will stay until attempting a dawn landing.

Piccard, who achieved the first nonstop circumnavigation of the globe in a balloon, the Breitling Orbiter III, in 1999, said that, if successful, the next step will be an Atlantic crossing. That will be done in a second, lighter prototype, involving new challenges and dangers, he said.

WORLD CLASSICAL TAMIL CONFERENCE 2010

The first World Classical Tamil Conference got off to a rousing start here on Wednesday in the presence of a massive gathering. Distinguished speakers, led by President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, hailed Tamil, which has the oldest literature among the living languages of the world.

Inaugurating the five-day event, the President said that many concepts intrinsic to India's society and critical to its polity were found in Tamil discourse over the millennia. The message of peace, universality and the spirit of equality was propounded in a Sangam poem more than 2000 years ago, she said, referring to a poem in Purananooru.

Award

She presented the Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi Classical Tamil Award to Asko Parpola, renowned Indologist, for his work on the Dravidian hypothesis in the interpretation of the Indus script. He said Old Tamil was best preserved in Dravidian linguistic traditions.

Calling Tamil an old living language with an extraordinary volume of literature and grammar, the President said Tirukkural, written by Thiruvalluvar, was a remarkable treatise on ethics. Silapathikaram and Manimekalai were works of excellence, as were the epics of Jeevakachintamani, Kamba Ramayanam, and the soul-stirring hymns of Nayanmars and Alvars. The poems and songs of Subramania Bharati evoked in the minds of the people “deep feelings of patriotism during our freedom struggle.”

Emphasising that “the history of the Tamils is our nation's pride,” she said the Tamil ethos based on pluralism, tolerance and a humanistic approach had contributed in a variety of ways to India's progress and in shaping its identity as a nation that was rich in art, music, architecture and literature.

The next generation of Tamils must anchor as well as equip themselves with knowledge of Tamil culture, literature and values, the President said.

Classical status

Presiding over the inauguration, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said there was a worldwide consensus that Tamil possessed greater merits than the 11 parameters laid down for declaring a language classical.

“Tamil is not only an international language; it is like a mother for all the languages of the world,” he said.

Noting that the roots of Tamil words were present in many languages of the world, Mr. Karunanidhi said such words differed only in form but retained the meaning. Quoting extensively from works such as the Valmiki Ramayana, Arthasastra and Purananooru, he stressed that the Tamil people had an ancient origin and a hoary past.

Though the demand to classify Tamil as a classical language was made over a hundred years ago, it was the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre that granted the status [in October 2004] to the language. It was after the declaration that such a meet was being organised for the first time, he added.

Parpola's praise
Professor Parpola said the Union government had rightly recognised Tamil as a classical language, the status that it fully deserved in view of “its antiquity and its rich literature that in quality and extent matches many other classical traditions of the world.”

“Old Tamil texts constitute the only source of ancient Dravidian linguistic and cultural heritage, not yet much contaminated by the Indo-Aryan tradition. Without it [Old Tamil texts], it would be much more difficult, if not impossible, to penetrate into the secrets of the Indus script and unravel the beginnings of India's great civilisation,” he said.

Souvenir released

Governor Surjit Singh Barnala, who handed over the first copy of the conference souvenir to Ms. Patil, referred to the influence of the Tamil language in several important language families of the world and said the language had been ever-growing.

The 10 Most Amazing Flowers in the World

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The 10 Most Amazing Flowers in the World

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The 10 Rarest Animals in the World

Endangered, hunted, smuggled and now some would say abandoned, these animals have the smallest chances of recovery out off all the Earth’s creatures. Last year, studies shown that there are at least 35 different animals with world populations of under 1000. But which are the rarest, the animals on the brink of extinction? We have rounded up a list of 10 of the rarest animals in the wild. These animals are so rare, they might disappear forever, and they’re not alone!

2. Baiji (Yangtze River Dolphin) - With no more than a few tens of individuals,

1. The Pinta Island tortoise - Without argument, this turtle is one of the few species of Giant Galapagos tortoises and the rarest animal in the world since there is only one left alive. Lonesome George is the sole surviving member of the Pinta Island race, the giant tortoise being a symbol for the fragility of the Galapagos islands, and a constant reminder for vigilence and conservation of the species. The species was considered extinct until 1971, when a lone example was located by rangers. Since then, the Charles Darwin Research Station has been searching for a female tortoise, even posting a reward of $10,000 to those that find one.

the dolphin is one of the world’s rarest mammals, and a victim of China’s breakneck economic growth, competing for food with the human beings. It has been driven to extinction due to the activity in 50 years, this being the fourth time when an entire evolutionary line of mammals has vanished from the face of the Earth since the year 1500. The main reason for this fact are the numerous dams and barrages, built starting in the 1930’s, that have fragmented the population and reduced the amount of available habitat. There are news that the species is functionally extinct, experts still searching for members of the species. Fingers crossed!

3. The Vancouver Island Marmot - This marmot is found only in the high mountainous regions of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, the Canadian Species at Risk Act listing it as endangered in May 2000. In 1998, the population reached an all-time low of 75 individuals, a captive breeding programme being started during that time. In captivity, there are around 90 Vancouver Island marmots in four breeding facilities, while an estimated 30 members of this species live in the wild ibn 2004. The ultimate goal is to restore a sustainable population of 400-600 Vancouver Island marmots in the wild, so there’s still much to be done. 2005 was a successful year, with 150 individuals in captivity and over 44 pups born.

4. Seychelles Sheath-tailed Bat - Inhabiting the central granitic islands of the Seychelles Islands north of Madagascar,

the bat is part of our list, being one of the most endangered animals since fewer than 100 are believed to exist in the world. It was once commonly found in Seychelles, but the species has undergone a dramatic decline in population during the mid to late 20th century. More research needs to be done in order to understand how the species behave and what needs to be done in order to save them. Scientists believe that, with a heavy amount of effort, 500 individuals may be sufficient to guarantee long-term persistence of the population.

5. Javan Rhino - This scarce animal is one of the rhino species with fewer than 60 animals surviving in only two known locations: one in Indonesia and the other in Vietnam. Though once widespread throughout Asia, by the 1930’s the rhinoceros was nearly hunted to extinction in Peninsular Malaysia, India, Burma and Sumatra. It was poached for its horn, that is believed to have medicinal uses, and driven to extinction to the intense agricultural practices. Even with all the conservation efforts, the Javan rhinoceros’ chance of survival is small: the population is reduced, hence there are risks of disease and inbreeding.

6. Hispid hare - Also called the “bristly rabbit”, this hare has been recorded along the southern foothills of the Himalayan

mountain chain, Nepal, , Bengal, and Assam. Deforestation, cultivation, and human settlement had the most negative impact on the species, isolating the rabbits in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam. This animal was feared extinct in 1964, but in 1966, one was spotted. There were an estimated 110 hispid hares worldwide in 2001, numbers continuing to plunge due its unsuccessful adaptation to captivity.

7. Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat - In the 19th century this species of wombat was present in New South Wales and Victoria but now can only be found in a small national park near Epping Forest Station in tropical Queensland. While this area has been protected as a National Park, the native grasses that the wombat eats are overtaken by non-indigenous plants. The Northern hairy-nosed wombat is the rarest Australian marsupial, and probably the world’s rarest large mammal. In the latest population study, there are an estimated 113 (range 96 to 150) individual. A major recovery program is underway, funded by the Queensland and Commonwealth governments to the tune of $250,000 per year.

8. Tamaraw (Dwarf Water Buffalo) - Found in the the island of Mindoro in the Philippines, the tamaraw is the onlyendemic Phillipine bovine. In 1900 there were an estimated 10,000 tamaraw on Mindoro, 120 in 1975, 370 in 1987 . It was declared critically endangered species in 2000 by the World Conservation Union and remained so until today, being threatened by agriculture, hunting or disease brought by domestic species. The current population was estimated in 2002 at a number between 30 and 200 individuals. Although protected by law, the illegal capture and killing of this species continues to occur.

9. Iberian Lynx - The Lynx, the most endangered of the world’s 36 cats, stands on the edge of extinction. This lynx was once distributed over the entire Iberian Peninsula but now its area is severely restricted in Andalusia. Threatened by destruction of habitat and of its prey, the cat was killed by traps set for rabbits or hit by cars as the number of roads increase. The Spanish Government is now in the process of developing a national conservation effort to save the Iberian Lynx. Studies from March 2005 have estimated the number of Lynx to be as few as 100, down from about 400 in 2000. On March 29, 2005, the birth of 3 cubs, the first born in captivity, was announced, a hope for the future reintroduction of the species.

10. Red Wolf - This wolf is a smaller and a more slender cousin of the gray wolf, historically ranging from southeasternUnited States to Florida and Texas. Now, their home is the 1.7 million acres throughout northeastern North Carolina, including Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. Only 20 pure red wolves were estimated in 1980, however the number increased to 207 captive red wolves, found in 38 captive breeding facilities across the United States. With the successful breeding programs, over 100 red wolves currently live in the wild.

Runner-up. Dwarf Blue Sheep - The Dwarf Blue Sheep or Dwarf Bharal Pseudois schaeferi is an endangeredspecies of caprid found in China and Tibet. The dwarf blue sheep population in the world has declined to a total of 70–200 individuals, currently being listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The species is hunted, and in their limited range cannot escape from humans and livestock. As of 1997, China did not recognize them as a seperate species so efforts to conserve the species have not been initiated.

CAT 2010: How you should start your prep

The Common Admission Test or CAT for admission to the country's top B-schools is one of the most competitive examinations in India. Lakhs of students and working professionals across the country vie for the few thousand coveted seats. To help these B-school hopefuls give CAT 2010 their best shot, Rediff.com launches its CAT 2010 coverage which will include expert tips and chats, topper experiences, section-wise analysis and many other useful articles and features. Kicking things off is an article by Rahul Singh, who scored in the 100-percentile in CAT 2010.

A lot of you would probably be starting out now on your preparation for CAT. Five to six months is a lot of time if utilised properly and should be spent on building the basic skills required to crack an exam of the form of CAT. I believe that a lot of us commit the mistake of prematurely concentrating on the so called "tips, tricks and strategies" for cracking CAT without paying enough attention to the fundamentals.

So if you want to go about preparing in a more sensible and steady manner, now is a good time to start. I have given below my section-wise approach to preparation in the first three or four months.

Quantitative ability
Start by revising your basic class X mathematics. Make sure you have a fair idea of how the so-called 'shortcut formulas' mentioned in the umpteen CAT guidebooks are actually derived.
Initially concentrate on the accuracy part of things. You should aim to solve almost every problem you come across, even if it's in an inefficient and time-consuming manner occasionally. This is probably easier for students with an engineering background as they stay in touch with maths throughout their coursework, but three-four months of sincere and steady preparation ought to bring most students up to this level.

It is highly inadvisable to start memorising the 'tips' and 'tricks' at this stage as they are no substitute for a good grasp of the concepts. Almost all CAT problems can be solved quickly enough from basic principles themselves, irrespective of whether you know the relevant tricks and shortcuts or not.

Once you become fairly confident about solving problems you can start working on the speed factor. Even after you have successfully solved a problem, critically analyse your solution and see if you can make it any shorter by removing redundant steps or if a totally different approach is possible. This is quite often possible in time and work, speed, probability, permutation and combination based problems.

Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation
This is one section where almost every candidate starts preparing from scratch unless he has taken CAT before. At the same time I believe that this is the section where consistent hard work pays off the most. The best way to begin is to set aside a fixed number of hours each day (or every week if you don't want to be so rigid in your schedule) for attempting DI problems. There are a few things you can pay special attention to while working on this section:
Spend ample time analysing the solutions. In fact I often spent more time reviewing solutions than I did solving problems. Pay special attention to how the information is represented in a more readable and analysable form through tables etc. This is particularly crucial in solving problems where all the information is just written in the form of a simple, continuous piece of text.
Learn to identify the problems in a set which could have been solved by using just a couple of lines of information from the whole paragraph. This ability proves critical in tackling a tough DI set or when you are running out of time.
Some problems tend to be calculation intensive. In most cases making rough assumptions and rounding off gives the correct answer. Herein the knack of simplifying ugly looking fractions, calculating percentages easily, etc comes in handy.
I was never too good at calculations so I attempted these problems in the very end, but I have seen some of my friends who bank heavily on these problems and it pays off well. I often tried to round off three-digit numbers to the nearest five or ten and two-digit numbers to nearest multiple of two or four in order to simplify my calculations.

Verbal Ability
This is usually the section that engineering students struggle most with and it can get awfully tough for students at times. I often hear students complaining that their vocabulary is not good enough for CAT, which I believe is a very narrow approach. CAT is not about your vocabulary or your grammar per se; in general it tests your reading experience. So a 'start from the basics' approach is absolutely essential in this regard, if you are not an avid reader to begin with.
The first step is to increase your appetite for reading. Newspapers are an obvious place to start, but if you find them heavy reading then you can start with some light fiction. I know most of my friends picked up reading after their first Harry Potter or Chetan Bhagat. You will find that your speed picks up considerably as you near the end of such books. As you move on, you should gradually increase the amount of stuff you read in newspapers every day. Their advantage is two-fold: they tell us both about contemporary issues and contemporary language.

Being well read on a variety of topics is a huge bonus while attempting RCs in a CAT paper. You will soon realise this once you start taking mock CATs; you can glide through passages faster if it's about something you have already read about, and it's not uncommon to find such passages in your exam paper.

As it is in the DI section, analysing solutions to RC passages is a very beneficial exercise. Writing down new words that you come across every day is very helpful in remembering them. Spending time memorising word lists and grammar rules would be futile at this stage as the amount of information will become too overwhelming. Hence, the focus should be on developing your reading habit at this stage. If you are already a keen reader, then you can work on your reading speed and grammar.

To summarise, I would like to say that patience is a key factor here. In the beginning one must patiently work on building the aforementioned basic skills before attempting to augment them with tips, tricks and strategies. Initially progress might be slow and unrewarding, but this steady foundation will assure you of a good CAT score irrespective of how tough the individual sections are in the paper or how different the test format turns out to be from your expectations.

10,000 Hindus to attend Toronto temple opening

Toronto, June 15 (IANS) About 10,000 Hindus from Canada and the US will join week-long ceremonies here Friday for the opening of a unique south Indian temple modelled on the 9th century Sringeri Peetam.

Built at a cost of $11 million and named after the goddess of wisdom Sri Sharadamba, the temple will be consecrated with water from more than 250 rivers around the world.
These include the Ganga and the Yamuna and the Manosarovar Lake.

The temple, which will also have nine other deities, has been built with marble and granite imported from India.

'Apart from serving as a religious shrine, the temple will also house a museum on the life of Adi Shakaracharya who set up four matts in all four corners of India,' temple president Lucky Lakshmanan told IANS.

Twenty pandits have arrived from Sringeri in Karnataka for performing the consecration ceremonies. They will be joined by 10 priests from North America.
'The statues of the deities have also come from Jaipur,' temple publicity committee chairman K. Sundaram said.
The consecration ceremonies will begin Friday, with the chanting of mantras from the four Vedas to 'energise' the water from over 250 rivers.

'The chanting will continue for two days after which the holy water be fully energised. We will start the actual ceremony June 20,' temple religious affairs chief Raghu Ranganathan said.

Called Mahakumbhabhishekam, the consecration ceremony will include the chanting of mantras and bathing of the deities with the holy water to pass the 'energy' to the deities.

'This ceremony will make the deities divine and powerful to bestow their blessings on the devotees,' says Ranganathan.

The ceremonies will continue till June 27 during which havan will be performed to propitiate the deities. These will conclude with the pouring of 1,004 vessels of 'energised' waters on the deities.

Famous Indian singers, including Narendra Chanchal, will sing bhajans during the ceremonies.
Many Canadian leaders, including Indo-Canadian minister Harinder Takhar, will attend the ceremonies.

Will the Earth blackout in 2013?

If you’ve had your fill of apocalyptic scenarios, earthquakes, volcanoes and global warming, here comes a new threat which may wipe out the world in 2013.

Imagine a scene from any of Hollywood’s disaster films. An eerie scene where mobile phones go on the blink, GPS is knocked out, TVs go blank and the world is plunged into chaos.

Looks like disaster flicks aren’t too removed from reality since all this could well be the potential result of a gigantic solar storm, according to a new report by NASA. The report, a warning, says Earth and space are coming together in a way that’s new to human history.

A solar storm, which is essentially violent eruptions in the sun, can eject destructive radiation and charged particles into space. These are closely connected to magnetic fields – which are hazardous for satellites and space stations.

There are reports of a geomagnetic storm sparked by a huge solar flare that swept over the Earth in 1859. Telegraph wires shorted out and set houses on fire. A brilliant aurora was seen in Hawaii—so bright that “people could read newspapers by [its] red and green glow.” Scientists predict that in May 2013, the sun’s solar cycle will peak at about the same level as in 1859. (This content courtesy a post onGawker.com)
High-tech systems are critical for life as we know it today. Everything that we depend on and take for granted – air travel, GPS navigation, banking services (even a credit card transaction uses a satellite) and emergency radio communications – can all be knocked out by intense solar activity.

To get an idea of scale, a massive solar storm could result in 20 times more damage than the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina which hit south-eastern US in August 2005. The storm killed 1,800 people and caused damages worth $81 billion.

Some good news is that some of the damage and destruction can be avoided with warning of an impending solar storm. There is technology to put satellites in ‘safe mode’ and disconnect transformers to protect them from destructive electrical surges.

The task of accurately forecasting a solar storm lies with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the US. “Space weather forecasting is still in its infancy, but we’re making rapid progress,” said Thomas Bogdan, director of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado.
The key for Bogdan lies in NASA and NOAA collaborating. “NASA’s fleet of heliophysics research spacecraft provides us with up-to-the-minute information about what’s happening on the sun. They are an important complement to our own GOES and POES satellites, which focus more on the near-Earth environment.”

Says Bogdon, “I believe we’re on the threshold of a new era in which space weather can be as influential in our daily lives as ordinary terrestrial weather.”

So far, we’ve been lucky to escape any big solar storms. I guess we could send Bruce Willis (a la Armageddon) to save us from the Sun in true Hollywood style. But then I would rather wait for NASA and NOAA to save us from space weather.

Images: A hyperactive sun

TN state board books are online in PDF and downloadable

Please pass this information to your friends. Whose children are studying in the state board. Now the TN state board books are online in PDF and downloadable. From std 1 to std 12. All subjects... Any good heart person can print this material & handover some poor people.


http://www.textbooksonline.tn.nic.in

Nokia unveils 4 cheap phones, bicycle charger

 Nokia Oyj unveiled on Thursday four new cheap phone models, and a first bicycle charger from the world's top cellphone maker, aiming to protect its dominant market share on emerging markets.

Nokia controls more than 50 percent of phone sales in India and Africa, and has a strong prosition on most other emerging markets.

"Tens of millions of these products will be sold, but competition is intensifying as Chinese vendors aggressively target the ultra low cost segment," said Ben Wood, director of research at CCS Insight.

"With all the focus on its smartphone woes it is easy to forget that Nokia is a power house in entry level products."

Nokia has struggled to keep up with rivals like Apple and RIM in the high-end of the market, and its ailing smartphone offering has hurt the stock price over the last few months.

The four new simple phone models sales prices, excluding possible operators subsidies and local taxes, range from 30 euros ($36.9) to 45 euros.

Two of the new phones, including the cheapest 30 euro model, will enable usage of two different SIM cards -- helping sharing a phone between family members or friends.

Nokia introduced also its first bicycle charger, targeting especially consumers with limited access to electricity, and it will go on sale for roughly 15 euros price, depending on market, later this year, said a company spokesman.