Emma Alvarez Site: October 2007

How to recover your Diggs, Alexa and PageRank
(Read more...)

After buying your domain, you may have the unpleasant surprise that your Digg votes show zero points.
You will also notice that you have no Alexa rank nor PageRank. Also, the new url has no Technorati rank at all. It doesn't appear in Google, too.

But don't worry, as all this can be solved.

How to display the Digg votes
You should have noticed that, if you have it, the widget to vote on Digg displays zero points in the old posts.

This happens 'cos your url has changed when you purchased your domain.

This problem can be solved with a script that you can place in your template.

These are the steps:

1) Go to your Blogger Dashboard and click in "Layout".

2) Then click on "Edit HTML".

3) Click on "Download Full Template" and save a copy of your template on your hard drive. If you crash your template and your blog is ruined, you can restore it uploading this template again.

4) Click on "Expand widget templates".

5) Search for this lines:

<div style='clear: both;'/> 

6) Insert this below that line, modifying it with the date of your domain:

<script type='text/javascript'>

// this variable holds the date of the current post
var datePost = new Date("<data:post.dateHeader/>");

// enter the date in which you purchased
// the domain in format year,(month-1),day
// But if you saved a draft after that, use the day before
// of writinh it as date.
var domainDate =new Date(2007, 9, 18);

// this lines get the time in milliseconds
// they are needed to compare the times
var TdatePost = datePost.getTime();
var TdomainDate = domainDate.getTime();

// variable that holds the url of the current post
var theUrl = "<data:post.url/>";

// variable that has the old url, for being replaced
// replace YOUR_OLD_BLOG_NAME with the old name
// of your blog.
var oldUrl ="http://YOUR_OLD_BLOG_NAME.blogspot.com";

// replace YOUR_DOMAIN_NAME with your domain name
// replace .com with .org, .net or whatever you have
// if it is not .com
var newUrl ="http://www.YOUR_DOMAIN_NAME.com";

// this makes the change of the url sent
var fixedUrl = theUrl.replace(newUrl,oldUrl);

// examines the date of the post compared to the one
// in which you purchased your domain name
if (TdatePost > TdomainDate){

// this will execute if the post is newer than the domainDate
var fixedUrl = theUrl;
}

else {
// this will execute if the post is older than the domainDate
var fixedUrl = theUrl.replace(newUrl,oldUrl);
}

// here the url that will be sent
digg_url= fixedUrl;

// after this line, add whatever digg parameters you like
digg_title ="<data:post.title/>";

</script>
<script src='http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js' type='text/javascript'/>

7) Preview, and if all works right, save the template.

If you already had a Digg vote button like this, you may replace it with this code where it fits. All the lines starting with // are comments that you can remove if you like. Read them to understand how it works.

How to minimize the loss of Alexa Rank
Now you have to try to keep traffic coming, so you keep your Alexa Rank.

But what most people don't know is that you can write to the Alexa Support Team and, being polite, ask them to mix the records of your old and new blogs.
Doing this, your rank will be recovered sooner and will be a lesser loss of rank.

They will email you soon, and you will be able to choose an url as the primary for records. The records for both urls will be mixed and it after some weeks you will see your Alexa recovered or almost all recovered.

How to configure your email forwarding
I explained in the other post how to get your domain at NameCheap and get email forwarding for free.

You must go to NameCheap, login, and then look on the left side of your panel and click this:

You will see a table with three columns:

SNO - the email number. Don't care about this.
USER NAME - the name you want your email to have. That's the part before the @yourdomain.com
FORWARDED TO - to what real email the messages will be sent.

You'll see that when you purchased your domain name, you already have a default email name called "info@yourdomain.com". Other common names people use are "contact" for personal email, "suggestions", "support", etc.

Don't think it's only for bussiness people or corporate webs. If you own any kind of web, it may be useful for you too.
Apart from configuring the email forwarding to give you a more remarkable web presence, you can also use it for your family, partners or friends, as you have 8 emails for this.

Remember that the changes are not instant. You will experiment a delay in the messages sent to the new forwarded emails. Just wait 24-48 hours and it will be all right.

How to get your links back
This is a step that many people fail to take. It is a really hard work, but at the end it's worth.

Here's a list of tasks to do:

- Go to your email client or your webmail and place in your email signature something like this:

YourName
info@yourdomain.com
http://www.yourdomain.com

- Go to all the social sites and replace your email with the forwarded one, and your old url with your new domain name.

- Look to the widgets and directory buttons that you have in your blog's sidebars and modify your links in those services to point to your domain.

- See if you entered some links in the sidebars pointing to some of your posts that need to be modified.

It's a nice time to review all of your profiles, update the information, use the same text in all sites, and also link the social sites you use one with the other. For example, Facebook or BlogCatalog have links to many other sites as Twitter, etc.

Google
Resubmit your url to Google using the link:
http://www.google.com/addurl/

You will accelerate the indexing in Google by going to Google Webmaster Tools:
http://www.google.com/webmasters/

There you will see a box in which you will enter your url. You will need then to verify that you are the owner.

Choose to use a META tag when asked for the method to verify, as it's the best for Blogger.

Open (in another window) your Blogger template, like when you inserted the script, and insert the META tag just below the line that says:

<head>

Then, go back to the page to verify your site and proceed.
That's all.
You may also examine the state of your site in Google, the pages already indexed, etc. with those webmaster tools.

How to recove your Technorati rank
The last thing to do is recover your rank at Technorati.

You must basically go to Technorati, and delete the claim of your old blog. After that, add your new blog.

Then go to the Technorati Help, and this is the option:

After that, explain them that you have bought a domain name and you don't want the old url to be listed, to avoid confusion.

Now only lasts to contact your Technorati friends and tell them to fave your new domain.

I hope that this may be helpful for you and enjoy your new domain.

Why Buy A Domain? Choosing, And Custom Domain With Blogger
(Read more...)

Advantages and disadvantages of having a domain name
It is possible to have a domain name for your free Blogger account.
That way, you can have as url something like "www.myblog.com" instead of "myblog.blogspot.com".

Advantages of having a domain:

You'll never loose the links you gain if you move your blog to another service.
You'll never loose the Technorati links, Alexa rank, Google's PageRank, or any points or links that you gain from now on.
Google will index your website better if you have a domain name.
If your site becomes very famous, you can even sell your domain name.

The disadvantages of having a domain name are:

It costs some money.
It forces you to choose a topic for your blog. It's not good to buy a domain name without thinking it very much, because it's a decision that last for at least one year.
It takes you freedom to change your site in a radical way.
If your blog is a hobby or just for fun, don't loose your time buying a domain.
The best is to start with a free service, and when you see if your aims are real or not, buy a service.

But changing from "blogspot" to your domain name will have these consequences:

Loosing your actual PageRank.
Loosing your Alexa Rank.
Loosing many of your points in social sites.
Your links from other sites will work, but they will not score for the new domain.

These are problems that WordPress blogs don't have, as they can use a redirection (a "301 redirect"). Some people say you can, but it has the problem that you may by considered spammer by Google. It only works well for a site that is external to Blogger.
Others say Blogger already does that, and after a time you will see the same PageRank, but it's not clear at all.

These disadvantages don't have a solution, but can be minimized if you do some things that I will explain in another post.

What to do?
You may want to purchase your domain name if:

Your will is to maintain your site online in the long term.
You have a clear notion of what is your site all about.
You are going to make blogging or webmastering a part of your professional life.

If it's like this, don't wait to loose PR, Alexa Rank or external links that maybe later will be difficult to regain.
If not, take some time to decide the aims of your blog.

What do you need to have a domain name?
For having a domain name you need this:

A domain name provider. This is a company that registers the domain as your property.
A DNS provider. This is a company that sends the visitors to you.

You must try to get both things.

A domain name registrar uses to do both things. When choosing one, you have to do this:

See if it has good opinions of users.
See if their price for each renewal is the same through years.
See if it provides domain name, and DNS services INCLUDED.
Value the time that the company has been online.

After doing this with many services, I recommend 2 providers: NameBargain and NameCheap.

Finally, I have purchased my domain from NameCheap for these reasons:

It has good customer service. And when people have some problem, they fix them soon.
They have a forum and support center for solving problems.
They have good opinions from users.
They are the second brand of eNom, which is an more expensive and well-known brand. They give the same quality for less money, as they are the same reliable brand.
They give you free email forwarding. It is: you can choose 8 fake email names per domain, like this: "theNameYouChoose@yourdomain.com".
You can protect your domain name to be stolen by another registrar (registrar lock).
You can pay by Paypal. This is, to pay secure and easy.

To buy a domain name
Step by step:

1) Go to NameCheap: http://www.namecheap.com/
On the right side click a link in a login box that says: "Signup for a Free Account".

2) Click it.

3) Fill in your real data.

4) You'll be sent to your control panel. Now, if you want to pay by Paypal, you must click the link that is in red in this pick:

5) Click here, and you go to Paypal. Add funds to your account. Think in adding what you need. Each year costs 9.29 dollars. Multiply by the years you want to pay in advance, or just pay a year.

6) After you have the money added, go to "Register a Domain" in the upper blue bar.

7) Fill in the name and the extensions you would like to choose. Proceed.

8) You choose marking the case of the domain you want to purchase, and click "Add to chart".

9) After that, you'll be taken to a series of screens that allow you to insert your data for property, billing, etc. and pay with the founds you added to Paypal.

10) They will send you an email with a copy of the purchase contract. Now you are the proud owner of your domain!!!

How to link the domain name with Blogger
Now, go to your browser, and type the url of your domain name (www.yourdomain.com).
If you see a page that NameCheap has used to host your domain until you link it to your site, it's that you can proceed. If not, wait 24-48 hours. In my case, it happened almost instantly.

1) Go to NameCheap and login. Your control panel appears, and you click here:

2) Click your domain name.

3) Look on the left and click this:

4) Enter ghs.google.com in www and @ and select CNAME(Alias) in both options.

5) Leave the sub-domains in blank, and select this to have emails named as your domain for free. Click the blue button of "Save Changes".

6) Go to your Blogger blog control panel. Enter the Settings. Click "Publishing".

7) Click on "Custom Domain".

8) A bit below, to the right, you have this. Click it.

9) Then appears a box to enter your domain. It is important that you enter it with the www.
And click "Save Settings".

10) After the page reloads, go where you wrote the domain name and check the case:

After all this, you will have to wait some time until it goes all perfect. For me it was 2 days.
You may have these problems:

Your blog shows a 404 error all times, or sometimes.
Your blog shows that error when you try to enter from your domain.com (without the www).
Your blog takes more time than normal to start loading.

Don't worry for this and just wait. After 48 hours (or less) it may be better, and after some days it will not happen, if you did all well.
It's normal, because the domain name is being notified to all the DNS servers in the world.

The same may happen to your email forwarding. It can take some days to work well.

After this, your blog may be reached from: the old url, www.yourdomain.com and yourdomain.com (without www) .
Congratulations!!!

What's next?
You will notice that, if you have the widget to vote on Digg, it shows zero points.

This is because your new url for those posts is not the same as before buying the domain.

To avoid this post becoming too long, in some days I will publish another post explaining this:

How to do a script to show the old points in the old posts, and the new ones in the new posts.
How to minimize the time for regaining your Alexa rank.
How to minimize the impact of this change in your social sites.

I hope all this will be valuable for you. Good luck with your domain!!!

Vampirism And The Real Dracula. (Last Part)
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As I commented in the previous article, the belief in vampires is more ancient that we could imagine. So we can find stories about vampires in the ancient Mesopotamia (Utuhu and Maskin, monstrous beings that brought diseases to the people).

In the Egyptian culture there was the deity Sekhmet (appears in the "Book of the Dead" many times). In India, there is Kali-Ma, who fed on blood. There are stories about vampires in the ancient Greece and Rome. In the Aztec culture, Civataeo fed on blood and brought the disease. There's even a vampire story in the "One Thousand and One Night".

So we can notice that the belief in vampires is really ancient and is present in all cultures.
Although vampirism may be surrounded by supernatural details, it may be based in something as real as two serious diseases: porphyria and rabies.

Rabies is transmitted by the bite of dogs, wolves, rats and bats. All those animals are associated with the vampires. It is said that vampires can shapeshift with bats and vice versa.
Rabies also causes a phobia for water. In the stories about vampires, they have a strong horror for holy water.
Rabies is contagious and is propagated by bites. In the myth of vampires, they turn normal people into vampires by biting them.
Rabies increments the sexual activity. The figure of a vampire is a seductive one too.
Rabies augments the aggressiveness, it may be the origin of the superhuman strength of vampires.
Rabies also distorts the sleep, and makes the diseased to sleep at day. This way, vampires have nocturnal habits.

Porphyria is another disease that can be related to vampirism.

Porphyria makes skin to turn red, to be covered by blisters and ulcers, and bleed, when being under the sunlight. The myth of vampires says that the sunlight harms them.
The ulcers in the face produce the loss of the lips, leaving the teeth visible. That way, the canine teeth seem more evident.
Sometimes the eyes and teeth get turn red. The nasal cartilage is lost, and the upper zone of the ears, so they become pointed. This may give a person the appearance of a vampire like in the movie "Nosferatu".
The lack of the red pigment of hemoglobin makes the skin pale.
Garlic was used from the antiquity in the natural medicine. There are some components in garlic that can harm the hemoglobin. The person diseased of porphyria may notice a worsening in his health, thus feel repugnance for garlic the next time. In the stories of vampires, people used garlic in the windows and doors of their houses to protect themselves against vampires.
To cure the porphyria, the ancients forced the diseased to drink blood of cows. As most of the hemoglobin was destroyed by the stomach, they had to drink a big amount of blood. Nowadays this diseased is treated with blood transfusions.
Porphyria is not contagious. But it's hereditary.

The stories of vampires were very present in literature. Stands out the french benedictine monk Agustin Camlet, Montague Summers, Lord Byron, Bram Stoker, Brian Lumney...

Vampires are depicted in the paintings as creatures of the darkness, gothic and sophisticated. Nowadays, vampires are the main theme of many artist. Amongst them, Victoria Frances and Luis Royo.

Although the conclusion is that vampirism was a real disease, and not a supernatural curse, it's even more terrifying. The myth goes out of the legend, and becomes part of our real life.
The people who had these diseased had to live with the superstitions and be discriminated by others.
They were not monsters, just ill people.

The Symbol Of The Dragon
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The word dragon comes from the Latin word "draco" and the Greek word "drakon" that means snake or viper snake.

It's a fabulous animal and a symbolic universal figure.

The dragon is present in most of the cultures of the world. In the ancient Oriental cultures as well as in the Westerner.

The ethnologists Alexander Haggerty Krappe ("La genese des Mythes"), told that the dragon figure could come from the shock of discovering remains of prehistoric animals.

In all the cultures the dragon has a important symbolic nature. Depending on the shape of the depicted dragon, the meaning may vary. Thus, the multi-headed dragon has a strong adverse meaning. The dragon that bites its own tail symbolizes the "Eternal Return", and has been depicted many times in emblems and shields. The symbol of the dragon was very usual in Alchemy.

Colors may vary the meaning of the dragon: a red dragon is the guardian of science, and a white one is a lunar dragon. In the Eastern, a black dragon symbolizes the North, and blue ones are symbol of the coming Spring.

In the Orient, dragons are considered benevolent spirits, symbols of the forces of Nature and Universe. They are linked to Wisdom and a long life. In the legends of Orient, they have magical powers.
In China, they made dragons with paper and wood and were used to attract the rain. They were carried through the streets. If the rain didn't come, the dragon was destroyed. The dragon was believed to be an intermediary between them and the forces of Nature.

In the Westerner cultures, it's depicted winged, scaly and able to spit fire. In some cultures, the dragon has the gift of speaking.

In the dragon converge the elements of fire, water, earth and air.

In the beginning, the dragon was associated to the God of Water and the God of Sun. It had powers both destructive and benevolent. It was believed that it lived in the deep of the sea where it guarded treasures. The dragon controlled the destiny of humanity.
So with the pass of time, people began to fear the figure of the dragon, and there was a wish to fight and defeat it. This way, in the Westerner, it ended having an adverse meaning, and sometimes it was depicted as a devil or demon.

In the Middle Ages, it was depicted with chest and legs of eagle (celestial quality), body of snake (secret and subterranean quality), bat wings (intellectual quality, as intellect comes from God that is associated with Heavens), and a dart shaped tail (just like the lion in Astrology, a symbol of submission to reason).

The dragon, both as a symbolic figure as well as for its majestic appearance, has decorated palaces, shields, weapons... It has starred stories and works of art. It's always present in the fantasy stories of all times.
Maybe because the dragon gathers all the elements that the human beings desire and admire.

Hatshepsut, The Greatest Woman Pharaoh Of Egypt
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Hatshepsut was daughter of Thutmose I. He ruled for 13 years during which he expanded the frontiers of Egypt as far as the most western part of the Euphrates river.

This way, he increased the wealth of his Empire, as those lands where very productive.

He was also a great builder. He started the Valley of the Kings, where he and other pharaohs were buried.

Thutmose wished than when he died, Hatshepsut succeeded him. But after his death, there was a big fight for the power.

The architect and vizier Ineni (architect of the Valley of the Kings) was very influential, and hated the idea of a woman ruling the Empire. So he promoted Thutmose II to the throne.
Thutmose II was son of Thutmose I and a secondary wife. So he was half-brother of Hatshesput.

They married Hatshepsut with his half-brother Thutmose II. This was a hard blow to her. She wished to rule, and not to be in the shadows. She was brought up to be a pharaoh, and her biggest wish was to exceed his father's successes.

Thutmose II was a very weak man with a bad health. He died 3 years after. But he had a son with a concubine that he called Thutmose III.

As Thutmose III was a child and can't rule, Hatshepsut came to power. For some time, she concentrated her efforts in getting allies, as she had strong enemies. She get the support of the priests, who spread that she was Daughter of Amun.

This way she was made pharaoh. She got the powers that were granted both to men and women. She dressed like a pharaoh, including the false beard that they used.

During her reign she restored cities and temples devastated by wars. In Thebes (her city) she built temples and obelisks decorated with gold and silver.

There was an ancient country called Punt. No one could never locate it with precision. Who managed to be there had brought with them gold, ivory, silver, incense... It was called the Golden Punt.
The most important expedition to Punt was sent by Hatshepsut, commanded by her official Nehsi. Nehsi was Nubian descent. His name means "He of Nubia".

A friendship with the Kings of Punt was established. From time to time, they brought presents to the Egyptian court.
They brought 5 ships full of treasures from that land. So many, that the palaces of Egypt were decorated with them for generations.
They brought exotic animals and incense trees too, and myrrh (which was the favorite fragance of Hatshepsut).
This expedition also was the first recorded attempt to transplant a tree of a foreign country. They took many trees from Punt, and planted them in Hatshepsut's mortuary temple of Deir-el-Bahari.

For the 22 years that she ruled, peace prevailed, the commercial activities raised, and increased the splendour of Egypt to its maximum.

When Thutmose III grew up, he started a conspiracy against Hatshepsut. It is said that he poisoned her, and tried to deface and destroy both the monuments and memories of Hatshepsut pretending that she never existed. And that never a woman could bring so much magnificence to an Empire.

The Most Magical Nights Of Van Gogh
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Starry Night
Vincent van Gogh made this painting in 1889, 13 months before his death. He didn't paint it in front of the landscape, as it was his habit. He did it through his memories. And he did it from the Saint-Remy asylum (Provence).

Van Gogh painted this artwork with passion, with vigorous, even desperate brushstrokes. The moon and stars are surrounded by light glows. In the distance, the village, as submerged in a dream. This picture has some Japanese influence, as he felt a great admiration for that art.

He emphasized the mauve, yellow and purple colors. His euphoria can be sensed. He is the highest point of his happiness. Soon, he will fall in his deepest abyss. Since his desperation takes him, months later, to shoot himself in the chest.
His agony will last for 2 days. It's said that in his deathbed he didn't stop smoking.
Without a doubt, he wanted to leave. His time was gone. He was 37 years old.

Cafe Terrace at Night
Van Gogh depicts an elegant cafe-terrace in the on the "Place du Forum" in the very center of Arles (France).

Van Gogh was amazed by the night lights, both the artificial as well as the ones generated by the moon and the stars. In this artwork, there's no symbolism nor thematic depth, just the everyday life. This is an optimistic moment of his life.
He just paints a cafe in a city he likes, and feels satisfied.

He wrote to his sister Wilhelmina van Gogh this after painting this work:

"On the terrace there are small figures of people drinking. An immense yellow lantern illuminates the terrace, the facade, the side walk and even casts light on the paving stones of the road which take a pinkish violet tone. The gables of the houses, like a fading road below a blue sky studded with stars, are dark blue or violet with a green tree. Here you have a night painting without black, with nothing but beautiful blue and violet and green and in this surrounding the illuminated area colours itself sulfur pale yellow and citron green. It amuses me enormously to paint the night right on the spot."

Starry Night Over The Rhone
Van Gogh writes to his brother Theo and tells him that he has a big need of going out by night and paint the stars. He tells him about this painting, and writes him: "The public will like this painting very much, because the main topic is poetic."

He depicts the night reflected in the waters of the Rhone, and the figure of two lovers. They are in the foreground. But instead of choosing two young lovers, he chooses a couple of old people. This way he symbolizes the eternal love, deep and calm: two lovers taking shelter on each other in the cold night.

Top Best 50 Freeware For Design and Developing
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Finding freeware for design and programming can be a hard task. Here there are 50 of the best.
By using these programs, your projects will have a superior quality. Some of them will save you a big amount of time.
Maybe you never thought in using some of them. But they will surprise you so much, that you won't be able to avoid testing them.

2D Graphics

The Gimp, is a complete tool for photo retouching, designing and creating images. It has fantastic effects, filters, layers. It's a very well known freeware.

DeepPaint, is an artistic painting program, similar to Corel Painter. You have tools for: oil, acrylic, chalk, watercolors... And also different canvas and fully editable brushes.

Inkscape, a vector graphics editor, similar to Adobe Illustrator. It uses the SVG file format. It has shapes, text, cloning, gradients, ...

ArtRage, is a beginner's program for artistic painting. Very easy.

MegaPOV, Do you know POV? POV is a program that makes realistic images using a simple programming language (there are also modelers). This is a improved version of POV.

ScreenHunter 5 Free, is an useful screen capturer. The best of this program is that once configured, you just have to press a key and all captures go to the folder you like.

Hugin, is for doing a panorama image from photos. A panorama is an landscape image that repeats without no visible borders. It can be very useful for a website header.

JR Screen Ruler, although this seems a simple tool, this is hard to find. It's a rule and very useful to center images, logos, compare sizes of graphics...

Pixia, his original author was Isao Maruoka, and used it to make manga drawings. It has layers, editable brushes...

ColorCop, is a color selector. You select with the eyedropper anywhere in the screen and you get the number of the color. You can copy it and you have the exact color you wanted.

3D Graphics

Art of Illusion, despite the obvious difficulty of 3d modeling, this program is really intuitive and powerful. With this program you can do everything in a simple way.

CBModelPro, is an organic modeling program. It has sketch based modeling and blobs. For now it's in free beta.

Anim8or, you can not only model with this, but also render pics of your models and make videos of your animations.

gCAD3D, a very hard to find tool. It's free CAD software for industrial design or architecture.

Texture Generators

Wood Worshop, makes seamless wood textures.

Texture Processor, a tool for easy making seamless textures of all kinds, for websites or 3D. Very easy and can also make random textures. So even a person with no computer skills can get something interesting.

Video

CinePaint, a collection of video and image tools used by companies like Imageworks. It has been used in movies like Harry Potter, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Looney Toons, Showtime, Stuart Little, Planet of the Apes...

FreeMorphing, turns an image into other and makes a video on that (morphing effect).

CreaToon, is for making cartoon movies.

Miro, is a video player that can play all known video formats.

Jahshaka, a complete system for editing video in real time, making effects, sound, music... It's like a video studio in opensource.

CamStudio, a simple tool that captures all the screen or a part to a video. It can save to many formats, and comes with a flash converter. Once configured you must only press a key to start and stop recording.

Sound

Mp3MyMp3 Recorder, can record all that sounds in your PC to a mp3 file. Anything that your sound card plays can be captured. It also has easy controls and it can use skins to alter its appearance.

Free Mp3 Wma Converter, is a sound tool that can convert between all these formats: Mp3, Wma, Ogg, Aac, M4a, Ac3, Ape, Flac, Wav. From any of them to the others.

Editors

Cream, this is a version of a very famous text and code editor called Vim. Cream is an improved version of Vim, that has all the features of Vim but is easy to use.

Kompozer, is another improved editor. In this case, it betters the NVU editor, that was for editing HTML and making web pages visually. It can also edit CSS styles.

PSPad, very famous multi-language code editor. It has lots of plugins and add-ons. The most original feature is the text comparing showed in this screen:

Netbeans IDE, a powerful Java editor that you can use for developing applications and websites.

AbiWord, is like an easy version of Word. It's an opensource text editor that you just run and use.

Notetab Light, a code editor which main feature is to have support for many computer languages, and a window where you can save pieces of code that you use very often. When you need them, you just click and they are pasted in the text window.

Productivity Tools

FreeMind, helps you to draw schemes of your ideas, ordering them so you can plan your designs, a web site structure, or anything. This is done through arrows, shapes and text, in a visual way.

JR Directory Printer, prints a directory contents (names of files,etc) in a text file.

RSSOwl, is a news feed reader, to subscribe to your favorite pages and be noticed when a new post or news is published. It also has a built-in browser, or can open the post in your favorite one.

TaskCoach, a task manager. It is quite easy and more colorful than others.

QuickRun, sometimes you use several programs that you open at once every day. For example, Freehand, Photoshop, and the web browser. Quickrun allows you to make list of programs. It creates a shortcut that you can place on your desktop, and it will open them all that for you when clicked.

System Tools

JKDefrag, JKDefragGUI, The first is a defragment utility for your hard drive in Windows 2000,2003,XP,Vista or X64. Although this program may look basic, it is the quickest and more reliable one. The second link is for having a graphical interface for your defragmenter.

GAG, is a graphical boot manager. It's widely used and the easiest one to install and use, and it's much more safe to install than any other.

7-Zip, if you need a compressor this can compress to: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR. It can also decompress from: RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS.

Xplorer2 Lite, when you work with many files, you could work faster if Windows Explorer could have 2 windows instead of one, have "bookmarks" for your favorite folders, or customize all the buttons and leave only the most needed... All this and more is possible with Xplorer2 Lite.

File Transfer

FileZila, is for FTP,SFTP,and FTPS. This is: normal and secure file transfer between computers. This opensource program has become very famous and is widely used.

JFtp, supports SMB, SFTP, NFS, HTTP. Its a Java program. Has a much simplified interface than FileZila.

FreeSSHd Server, if you want to share files between computers in your home, and make it in a secure way so no one can spy your data. FreeSSHd is the easiest program you can use for this in Windows XP/Vista.

WinSCP, is a Windows program for secure FTP. Again, has a very ease of use.

Organizers

DataCrow, is opensource. You can organize your data in different categories: programs, images, books, music. It has a visually appealing interface.

TreeDBNotes Free, You will learn to use it in minutes. It's a note organizer that lists your data in tabbed tree views. You can give colors and icons to their names, and the text editor for your notes can have tables, images, colors, rich text...

NeoMem, another opensource organizer. You can learn to use it very quickly. You can create your own categories and fields to fill, and give them an icon. It has no installer (just place in a folder) and it's very small, so you can take it on a USB drive to another PC easily.

eSoftSerial Organizer, it's thought for these categories: demo software, multimedia, freeware, security (passwords). But you can add your own categories. Easy and appealing interface. You can also add images to the articles.

SEONote, organizes notes and files. A very powerful application with many options. It may take a long time to learn to use it but allows a high customization.

Calendars

Sunbird, a calendar and events application build by Mozilla. It has a very easy interface and a clean appereance.

Rainlendar, not only calendar, it is also an event reminder with alarms, and a "To Do" task list. It can be higly customized too with dozens of skins.

Three Chinese Fables
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Kalahari Desert, A Full Of Life Place
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The Kalahari Desert covers Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. The Kalahari comprises 900 square kilometers. Its name comes from the word in Twsana language "Kglagadi", that means "big thirst".

Although it's called Kalahari Desert, it's not really a desert. Why? Because it receives 250 mm of rainfall. Only places where the rainfall is lesser than this are considered deserts. So, actually, it's a semi-arid and sandy area.

In a distant past, what nowadays is the Kalahari, was a big lake. So it's not estrange the big amount of fossils that can be found in this zone.

Despite the bad climate conditions and the lack of water, the Kalahari shelters a big amount of animals and plants. Amongst the Kalahari's fauna it can be found the Kalahari antelope, which adapts very well to its medium, as it doesn't need water. It finds the liquid it needs to survive in the vegetables that it feeds of. Other animals include the black rhinoceros, hyenas, lions, birds, reptiles...

The most popular animal from Kalahari is, with no doubt, the meerkat. Some curiosities about the meerkat:

- They live in groups from 5 to 30 members.
- One of the members is always watching to see if a predator appears.
- When a predator appears, it cries to alert the group.
- The black spots around the eyes are like natural sunglasses that protect their eyes from sunlight filtering the ultraviolet rays.
- They use their tail to maintain balance when they are over 2 legs.
- They are skilled predators, able to hunt even cobra snakes.
- They feed on scorpions, and they are immune to their poison.

In the Kalahari Desert, it can be found the Hoodia cactus. It has a chemical component that fools the brain and gives a feeling of lack of hunger. This cactus is used by the bushmen to calm hunger when food is limited.

Bushmen. They are the inhabitants of the Kalahari Desert. They are peaceful and kind, and live on the hunt and recollection. They use to live in groups of 10 to 15 people. In their groups there is no leaders. Each member of the group has his own function. Their language is very strange, as they have an "click" sound that they make with their tongues. They use it to emphasize the meaning of some words they say.
They are nomads, they travel constantly in quest for food and water. Roots and tubers are the 80% of their diet.

How To Surprise In Halloween
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Advertise Here
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The Top Ten Comic Heroes Movies
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Movies based in comic heroes begin to be a genre. Fans of Marvel or DC Comics can feel pleased. Many of these movies are authentic tributes. With others, one goes out the cinema saying "It isn't like in the comic".
Sometimes people that doesn't know about these comics begin to be interested in them after they have seen the films.

After this, a list of the best comic heroes movies.

1- Batman Begins

2- Superman

3- Spiderman

4- Conan

5- Dick Tracy

6- Flash Gordon

7- Blade

8- Hellboy

9- Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer

10- X-Men

All of them are entertaining movies, full of action, adventures and especial effects.

Batman Begins, there are some films based in the character of Batman, but maybe this is the best adaptation of the personality of the Batman from the comics. Bruce Wayne gets transformed slowly into Batman. Outstanding performance by Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Liam Neeson. Very good actors and a very good quality in general in this film.

Superman, was an authentic revolution in its time. T-shirts, merchandising, disguises... were used during a lot of years. Christopher Reeve has been for everybody the true superman. Nobody has been able to play the part of Superman better than him. The story is following: Kripton planet goes to its destruction. So the baby Ka-el is sent to the Earth. He's cared by a married couple. In a future, Clark Kent (Superman) will be working as a reporter for the Daily Planet. But he is a superhero secretly, and will help every time the humanity needs his powers. He is in love with Lois Lane. She is in love with Superman, and doesn't like Clark Kent although both are the same person.

Spiderman, the shy Peter Parker, in a visit to a genetic laboratory is bitten by a radioactive spider who turns Peter in a superhero with incredible powers. He uses these powers to fight crime. But, can he have a normal life and be a superhero?

Conan, Arnold Schwarzenegger is Conan. With this role Schwarzenegger gets to be known as an actor. The soundtrack is absolutely excellent. Its author, Basil Poledouris made a really good work, being this soundtrack one of the most famous and best sold of the world.

Dick Tracy, Warren Beatty is Dick Tracy, an inspector who fights against crime. In this movie Madonna won an Oscar with the song "Sooner or Later". With the presence of so good actors like Al Pacino, Dick Van Dyke or Dustin Hoffman. A movie in a Chicago 30s style.

Flash Gordon, a rugby player called Flash Gordon travels in the spacecraft of Zarkov, a crazy scientific fired by the NASA. They go to a planet called Mongo with a reporter called Dale Arden. The three will have to save the Earth from Ming, the Emperor of Mongo. The main song of the movie is "Flash" and is by the mythical band Queen.

Blade,Wesley Snipes is Blade, half man and half vampire. His mission is to save the people of the terrible vampires that lurk in the Earth. A curiosity: Blade appears in the number 10 of the Marvel comic "Tomb of Dracula".

Hellboy, Guillermo del Toro directed Hellboy, which is a devil that was brought up by a scientist. Hellboy appeared in the Earth as a result of a Nazi experiment. But he chooses to serve the Good and help humanity.

Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer, Reed Richards and Sue Storm, two of the Fantastic Four, want to marry, but in the middle of the wedding appears Silver Surfer. This movie introduces this way the character of Silver Surfer, who I talked about in another post.

X-Men, the humanity is divided into two types: normal people and mutants. The mutants have incredible powers, some use them for the Good (the X-Men) and some for the Bad (as Magneto). Anyway, they both can't avoid that normal people fear them. Professor Xavier has a special school to help the mutants from all over the world to control their powers.

Before And After An Award!!!
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Garfield, A Happy Cat
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Jim Davis is the creator of Garfield. Davis grew up in a farm. His mother loved cats, she had 25. So it's not strange that Davis knows so well the behavior of these little felines.

As Jim Davis was asthmatic, he spent long periods of time in bed. And during his convalescence he used to draw. In the beginning he didn't do it too well, but with time he improved. He noticed that his drawing were more fun, and added text to them. This way, he started his passion as a comic drawer.

In College, he met his wife Carolyn. He worked for 2 years in an advertisement agency. He also was assistant of Tom Ryan (Tumbleweeds). But he wanted to make his own comic strip, and created "Gnorm Gnat". It was a comic strip about insects.

After 5 years of failure, one day Jim Davis, in desperation, took some newspapers. Looking at the comic strips, he realized that most of the main characters were dogs: Snoopy, Marmaduke, Fred Basset... No cats at all.

So he started to draw cats, since he got the plump orange cat that we know: Garfield.

To create Garfield he was inspired in his grandfather's personality: James Garfield Davis, who had a very acid humor, and a cheeky smile always in his face.

Nowadays garfield has 220 million reader, and is published in more than 2500 newspapers in the whole world.
This is because Garfield has captivated everyone. He is egoist, greedy, tender, and absolutely lovely. Amongst the protagonists of Garfield there is: Jon, his owner, shy and a bit clumsy; Odie, the silly dog, victim of Garfield's jokes; and Pooky the teddy bear, that Garfield found in one of Jon's drawers, and he liked it so much that he decided to keep it.

These days, Garfield is protagonist of merchandising, TV programs, movies, newspapers... he even has an official website. With Garfield, Jim Davis won several Emmy Awards.

Jim Davis is not only a sucessful man, he is also a great activist of ecologism. He won a Good Steward Award for his efforts for reforestation.

The success of Garfield resides in that Davis reflects as no one did the personality of cats. Those of us who have cats smile, because you may like cats or not, but they are lovely creatures. Although sometimes they make you want to... Loving, fun, wit, prideful, and always looking at you with superiority, like saying "Hey you, ya must know ya'r in this world to please me!!!".