khansa blog

Masih bingung dengan Optimasi SEO

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:14:37 PST

Akhir-akhir ini banyak sekali blog yang membahas tentang opsimasi seo saya sendiri walaupun banyak juga membahas tentang optimasi seo tapi merasa masih bingung. Optimasi seo pada dasarnya sih mengoptimalkan website/blog pada jajaran paling atas dimesin pencari. Tapi aneh juga ya.. blog saya ini padahal sudah di kutak katik sana sini tetap saja tidak menunjukkan seo yang optimasi.

Ada beberapa rekan yang menyarankan untuk fokus dalam meng optimasi blog ada juga yang menyarankan kalo blog ingin bagus terindex oleh google musti di optimasi pada judul artikel atau optimasi pada keyword density. Memang sih semua saran tersebut benar, tapi bagaimana untuk dapat menggunakan salah satu optimasi seo tersebut. huh..malah tambah bingung..!!!
Ok mungkin kita mesti belajar satu persatu nih...
yuk kita sama2 belajar optimasi seo baik pada judul atau keyword density.

salam blogger

Download ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4.0.226 Free

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:31:55 PST

Download Eset NOD32 Antivirus, provides well balanced, state-of-the-art protection against threats endangering your PC and enterprise systems running various platforms from Microsoft Windows through a number of UNIX/Linux, Novell, MS DOS operating systems to Microsoft Exchange Server, Lotus Domino and other mail servers.

Trojans, viruses, worms and other malware using NOD32 are kept out of striking distance of your valuable data. Advanced detection methods implemented in the software even provide protection against the future threats from most of the new worms and viruses.

The fourth generation of the NOD32 Antivirus System features a fully integrated software suite characterized by an unprecedented detection track record, the fastest scanning rates and extremely low utilization of system resources.

NOD32's detection efficiency combined with 2-50 times faster hard disk scanning rate earned the product many international prestigious awards.

NOD32 is the world leader of the Virus Bulletin 100% Awards having won more awards (21) than any competing product. Since its first submission for testing in May 1998, NOD32 was the only tested product that has never missed a single In the Wild virus.

Features of "ESET NOD32 Antivirus":
· ThreatSense technology - a single optimized anti-threat engine for analyzing code to identify malicious behavior, such as viruses, spyware, adware, phishing and more
· Unprecedented heuristic analysis capable of discovering new malware threats as they emerge
· Powerful virtual PC emulation technology enables unpacking and decryption of all types of archives and run-time packing
· Able to clean active malware running in memory
· Protects at multiple infiltration points, including HTTP, POP3, SMTP and all local and removable media
· Removes infections from files that are locked for writing (e.g., loaded DLL file)
· Prevents infected files from being opened and executed, and warns on creation of infected files
· Automatic execution on system startup
· Supports multiple Terminal Server environments
· Supports scanning of mapped network disks

Requirements:
· 400 MHz
· 128MB RAM of system memory
· 35MB available space
· Super VGA (800 x 600)

Link to Download

Google Ranks Websites

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:52:53 PST

Google Ranks Websites : Google uses a sophisticated and proprietary algorithm for ranking Web sites that uses over 100 different criteria in the calculation, each of which is given a specific weighting which can change over time. Because the algorithm can change, specific techniques that used to work well may no longer work as well over time. This is important to remember when your site’s ranking seems to change for no apparent reason. For this reason, optimizing your site should not be considered as a one-time task. You should always try, test, and refine your efforts.

With that said, the Google algorithm can be broken down into two major groups of factors:

On-page (keyword) factors. Keyword factors involve how, where and when keywords are used. Meaning how well your website is optimized for your chosen keywords, and if those same keywords appear in links that point to pages on your site. Keyword factors determine page relevance.

Off-page (link) factors. These include the quantity and quality of links that point to your site. Link factors determine page importance and are strongly related to Google PageRank (PR).

Very simply put, Google finds pages in its index that are both relevant and important to a search for a particular term or phrase, and then lists them in descending order on a search results page.

Top ten Checklist SEO

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:20:46 PST

In SEO terms, the basics of optimisation come down to sound (X)HTML coding practice and good use of language; when followed, they go a long way. There are a number of boxes to tick when it comes to considering how best to go about designing web content and website, predominantly focused around metadata elements, content quality assurance, natural language, and semantic coding.

These tips will improve the likelihood of your pages being picked up by search engines.

1. URL
Very often, the web address you use is actually your primary keyword, or at least a variation on it. So for example, the URL www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk incorporates 3 keywords that are essential to what ESRC is trying to do, in promoting social science in today’s society.

Also, try to make your URL/domain name memorable if possible.

2. Title tag
Similarly, every page of content should have a title, which is between 10 and 50 characters in length. This title should also include one or more keywords. At the same time, it ought to be descriptive of the page contents. The title content will appear in the title-bar of your web browser. Again, using ESRC Society Today as an example, each page contains a title that reflects its position within the site, and what it’s about, eg, “ESRC Society Today – News Articles 2006”

3. Description meta tag
The description meta tag should effectively present an abstract of the material in the body content, providing a quick summary of the rest of the page. Again, the emphasis should be on including one or two of the more important keywords – for the content in that page.

It’s important to note that, if you use the same tag contents across multiple pages, search engines can pick up on this and potentially ignore the contents either of that tag, or even possibly of the entire page.

4. Keyword meta tag
Keywords are those are words deemed to be descriptively important in the page. Some schools of thought would teach that the keyword meta tag is a thing of the past. However, at the time of writing, it is still included in the W3C – World Wide Web consortium - metadata specifications, and so its inclusion would indicate best practice.

When using the keyword meta tag, it makes sense to include all keywords that appear in the remainder of the document. However, words that are not included in the body text should not be included within the meta tag.

5. Keyword density
The body content itself should consist of all of the keywords pulled out into the meta tags above, as well as the supporting text that puts them into context. SEO gurus are at odds about precisely
what proportion of keywords should be present in relation to the rest of the content, but a generally touted target range of 15-20 per cent of total page content is the optimal.

Anything under five per cent density is likely to make little, if any, difference. However, the density for individual keywords varies, dependant on their individual importance; a general rule of thumb, wherever possible, is to aim for a density of five per cent on the primary keyword and three per cent with subsequent keywords, cumulatively reaching the overall 15-20 per cent target.

6. Header tags (eg H1 and H2 tags)
Semantic use of heading tags is good practice, and search engines love sites that follow good practice. There should only be one <h1></h1> tag, for the primary ontent title, under which can appear any number of <h2></h2> or <h3></h3> tags.

Style and format of these can be further defined through use of CSS, but it is important to maintain a top-down hierarchy of H1, H2, H3 etc. Also note that heading tags should be used to denote headings – simply putting the text in bold does not make it a heading, certainly not as far
as a search engine is concerned.

7. Text formatting fonts (eg strong, bold and underline):
Use made of these is unlikely to make any difference when it comes to crunching by algorithms, but it has been suggested that bolding the first instance of keywords and the last instance of the primary keyword, may result in increased ranking.

8. Beginning and end of text
The closer keywords are to the beginning and end of the page content the better. Including theprimary keyword within the first and last paragraphs can contribute to hitcount.

9. Key phrases as whole phrases
If your keywords appears as multiple words in a specific phrase, say for example “Economic and
Social Research” as a key phrase, then wherever possible, try to ensure these words do not appear separately or in a different order 10. Alt text Include keywords within the Alt tag of images on your pages, and ensure that the descriptive text is both relevant to the image and to the overall context of the page

Black Hat SEO

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:35:03 PST

Black hat SEO is a Bad search engine optimisation techniques can get you blacklisted from a search engine. Some techniques that are considered spam are cloaking, invisible text, tiny text, identical pages, doorway pages, refresh tags, link farms, filling comment tags with keyword phrases only, keyword phrases in the author tag, keyword density to high, mirror pages and mirror sites.

While these techniques might work to give you a higher ranking for short time in the long run they will hurt you.

Therefore we recommend you rather avoid the following:

• Doing anything to trick the search engines. If what you are doing is not listed as one of the previous “white hat SEO” the search engines will likely view it as spam and penalize you.
• List keywords anywhere except in your keywords meta tag. It is thus not usual to name keywords alone without any other “sentence stuffing”. Search engines know this and will consider you spamdexing.
• Use the same color text on your page as the page's background color. This has been used by some people to stuff their web pages with keywords, which is not a clear practice. Search engines are able to detect this and view it as spam.
• Use the same tag more than once on the same web page, e. g. using more than one title tag.
• Use any keywords in your keywords meta tag that do not relate to the content of your website

Top 5 Things Google Looks For

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:23:04 PST

Although Google looks at over 100 different criteria (which can change in importance over time) for ranking sites, here are the five aspects or elements that are currently deemed a “must-do” if you are serious about a top ranking. There are others elements that will be discussed later on that are also important. The following are listed in approximate order of importance, with the first item being much more important than the others:

1. Keywords used in the title of your pages (between the <TITLE> tags).

2. Keywords used in headings (H1) and in the first paragraph of your pages.

3. Keywords used in link text, both on your site AND on other websites.

4. The PageRank (PR) value of your pages, which in turn is dependent on the number of links that point to your site from other sites.

5. Pages that contain at least 250 words of relevant text content (and the more pages the better).

Put even more simply, to rank high on Google, you need to optimize your website for your best keywords, get as many important and relevant sites to link to your site as you can, and make sure the text of those links contain your best keywords.

Doing SEO

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 07:13:23 PST

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the best way to driving traffic to your site because traffic from search engine very targeted, if you join at affiliate program you can get much of money if your blog ranked well on the search engine because the sales conversion are big enough, but doing SEO is not easy, if you want too bother with the SEO matter you may using the services from SEO service company. But SEO service company is not cheap, but if your budget its big I think its can be considered, if you want to doing SEO by yourself there are several steps to make your web visibility on search engine ranked well.

1. On page optimization:
• Meta tag
• Keywords density
• Keywords prominence
Best free tool to check SEO Score on this part is RankingToday.com .

2. Off page SEO
The main goals from off page SEO is build link to your web as much as possible, you can get link by:

- exchange link
- buy link (You can get Cheap quality link from here: backlinks.com) *ref
- submit to directory
- submit to blog directory

Is Your Credit Score Costing You A Fortune

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:01:48 PST

While some surveys show that 9 out of 10 consumers are unaware what their credit score is, I’d like to quickly share with you how your credit score could be costing you a fortune… in more ways than you can imagine. We spend a lot of time telling you how the Credit Secrets Bible can help you raise your score ... and this is great ... but it's also important to know just how bad a low score can be.

We all know a low credit score will make everything in the world of finance more expensive because of higher interest rates from lenders due to being considered a greater credit risk (i.e. higher interest rates on car, homes and credit cards). While this may be considered common knowledge by some, it’s truly devastating effects are understood by few.For example. If you purchase a $200,000 home on a 30 year fixed mortgage at 8% interest instead of 6% (because of your credit score); that 2% is going to end up costing you a total of $96,934.11 over the term of the loan. Now, think about how many “extra” years you’ll have to work to pay off $96,934.11 because of an extra 2% in interest?

The part few people talk about is all the other areas in life where a low score will increase your cost of living on an annual basis. For example. In addition to paying more for a car, home and credit cards, a low credit score will most likely have you paying more for the following as well.

1. AUTO INSURANCE. As many as 92% of the 100 largest personal
utomobile insurers use credit information to underwrite new business, according to a 2001 study by Conning & Co., an insurance research and asset-management firm.

2. HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE. It’s thought many insurance companies see a correlation between low credit scores and increased property insurance claims. Therefore, a low score will result in higher rates.

3. LIFE and HEALTH INSURANCE. Customers who are unable to pay their monthly insurance premium thereby pass along that increased cost to the insurance company whose stuck with the bill… resulting in a loss for the company. Since customers who pay without lapse are more profitable it is felt by many that a low credit score now even affects a monthly life and/or health insurance premium negatively.

One of the more shocking areas where a low credit score will you cost you is in the area of employment. It’s estimated as many as 42% of employers now do credit checks on applicants before hiring them (according to a 1998 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management).While many employers claim they only do it to “verify” information on your application (such as where you live and where you have worked etc.) we can both assume they are taking the liberty to “have a peek” at how you handle your financial affairs as well. According to the Public Research Interest Group (PIRG) as many as 79% all credit reports contain errors 25% of which are serious enough to cause the denial of credit (according to a 2004 report). And that's all the more troubling in light of the increasing impact a bad credit report can have, says Ed Mierzwinski, director of PIRG's consumer program. "It's outrageous that the credit bureaus are claiming their scores are accurate enough to take people's lives and screw with them like this".

Home Equity Loan

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 08:18:59 PST

Home equity is the difference between the total mortgage amount and the real value of your property. If your home is valued at $200000 and you have mortgaged it for a loan of $175000 then your home equity amounts to $25000.

Your home equity is a great asset against which you can borrow. If you have opted for a 100% home equity loan then you can borrow $25000 from your home equity loan provider. Home equity loans are fast way to get cash in times of need.

Home equity loan also helps you to consolidate your outstanding loans on credit card and other sources. You can pay off your monthly debt by using your home equity loan. You can also use this loan for home improvement purpose to give it a face lift and make it more worthy for a good resale deal.

There are many other ways that you can choose to spend this money from your home equity loan. But the most important factor in getting a loan is choosing the right loan provider. Internet will guide you through many options to find the right provider. You need to shop around, do a little bit of ground work to choose the loan provider that will tailor to your need by providing you the best loan package at attractive rate.

Compare with all other loan quotes on the net before you decide on your home equity loan agency. Many web sites will give you direct access to such comparisons without even going through the hassle of making multiple applications to obtain this comparison. You will get comparative quotes from potential lenders in your area and get time to go through them thoroughly.

You need to provide certain information like type of property and type of home you are looking for, your credit rating and the state in which you would like to have anew property. With all these information there are internet sites that will guide you to their inventory of lending agencies with their comparative offers.

Most of these sites will match you with the lenders based on your specific requirements. You can receive up to 4 competitive quotes for comparison before you decide on the loan agency. The interest on home equity loan might be tax deductible. Check this with your lender before you enter into an agreement. You will also get the choice of fixed rate and adjustable rate open line of credit.

If you have a not so good credit rating then this loan can help you to get back in track through timely repayments and paying off other outstanding debts.

There are at least 3 options for home equity loans.

• 100% home equity loan
• 125% home equity loans
• Bad credit home equity loans

A 125% or no equity home loan will help you to get the cash even if you do not have any equity in your home. Under this scheme you can borrow up to 25% more than the value of your home i.e. if your home is valued at $200000 and so is the mortgage amount then you are entitled to receive a loan of $ 50000 from your home equity loan provider.

This home equity loan is a fixed loan based on simple interest. The money you can save from consolidating your credit helps to remain you on the credit performance track and interest on this loan is tax deductible.

This loan is suitable for new and seasoned homeowners. This loan will also help you to refinance your second mortgage and save some extra cash to consolidate your existing debts or get cash-out for many purposes like home improvement and others.

Home Equity Loan for bad credit will allow you to borrow if you have bad credit rating or you are in a state prior to bankruptcy. This loan is also tax deductible and is the best way to consolidate your debts and get back on the credit track fast.

Viagra

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:10:56 PST

Viagra is the medicine that is extensively used in the treatment of impotency and erectile dysfunction. This medicine relaxes the muscles and drives huge amount of blood to a particular portion of the body.

Some important facts about this medicine:
Viagra should be avoided if you are using a nitrate medicine for heart problems or chest pain such as Nitrolingual, Nitrostat, Nitro-Bid, Nitro-Dur, Sorbitrate, Isordil, Imdur, Monoket, Dilatrate-SR, ISMO and others. Viagra if taken along with any of the drugs mentioned above may cause serious side effects such as decrease in blood pressure, heart attack, stroke and fainting. Call your doctor immediately if you experience any of the following symptoms during the course of treatment:

• Dizziness, nausea, headache;
• Pain, numbness;
• Tingling in arms, neck, chest and jaw during sexual activity.

A small percentage of patients have been reported to have suffered from sudden loss of eyesight during the course of Viagra treatment. Do not take Viagra more than once a day as this may cause adverse effects on your health and prolonged erection which can damage the penis. Administration of Viagra should be avoided under the following conditions:

• Heart disease or irregular heartbeat;
• Recent incident of stroke, heart attack or irregular rhythm of the heart;
• Coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure;
• Liver disease;
• Kidney disease;
• High or low blood pressure;
• Gastric ulcer;
• Blood cell deformities such as sickle cell anemia, leukemia or multiple myeloma;
• Retinitis pigmentosa;
• Bleeding problems such as hemophilia;
• Physical abnormality of the penis such as Peyronies disease.

Viagra falls under FDA pregnancy category B which signifies the fact the medicine is not harmful for the developing fetus.

How to take this medicine?
Viagra should not be taken an hour before sexual activity. This medicine should be taken only when required and not otherwise. Do not take this medicine more than once a day. What are the possible side effects of Viagra?

Viagra may exhibit the following side effects:
• Nausea, giddiness, numbness, tingling in chest, arms, jaw during sexual activity;
• Allergic reaction in the body, swelling of hands and feet;
• Chest pain; irregular heartbeat; shortness of breath; sweating; painful erection.

Purchasing A Home

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 02:45:22 PST

Purchasing A Home or Buying a house is normally the largest and longest-term debt that the average Australian will incur in their lifetime. This alone can make buying a home a daunting undertaking, especially if you are a first-time homebuyer. It is very important that you understand some of the basics involved in taking out your first mortgage.

The term "mortgage" refers to the lien that is placed by the lender upon the house and property on which it sits. This lien gives the lender the right to seize the home away from you if you default on the payments. The lien is usually cancelled upon satisfactory payment of the loan. (Note: The word "mortgage" literally means "death pledge" from the original Latin. Obviously, taking out a mortgage is serious business!)

The need for home mortgages is readily apparent, as average house values have climbed to more than $500,000 in some Australian cities. Most of us do not have near that much cash on hand, and so we gladly place ourselves in debt for two to three decades in our quest to become property owners. This places a large part of the population deeply in debt, but it is considered a wise move for most people. Even though housing prices rise and fall in cycles, they have generally risen over time and this means that homeowners generate wealth as their property value increases.

Banks are the largest lenders of home mortgages, and they want to ensure that these large loans are successfully repaid. As the recent subprime mortgage situation has shown, banks get in trouble when large numbers of their mortgages end up in default. One way that banks protect themselves from losing money when someone defaults is by requiring the homebuyer to place a sizable down payment, such as 10% to 20% of the home value. This reduces the overall amount of risk the bank is taking on the loan. In addition, the homebuyer will be less likely to walk away from the mortgage if he or she has a sizable down payment invested in the property.

One important factor in a mortgage is the term of the loan. Since loans can last from 15 to 30 years, the bank has an opportunity to collect enormous amounts of interest from the homebuyer over that time. It pays therefore to shop around earnestly for the lowest interest rate possible, as even a small difference in interest rates can make a big difference in the total amount you pay over the term of the mortgage. Remember that interest rates are negotiable, especially if you get two or more banks competing to obtain your mortgage.

It also pays to have kept your credit record as clean as possible before you apply for a mortgage, and late payments on your bills and loans can place black marks on your credit report. Avoid ever paying a bill late again by using short term loan services such as an online payday loan company when you are short of cash to pay bills just before payday. Just head online to find a suitable provider and apply for a small, hassle-free easy loan so you have a cash loan to get you through whenever you may need it.
Author: Greer Lean

About the Author:
After helping Australians out with payday cash advances for over two years, Payday Online know what matters. We welcome everyday Australians to use our service at their convenience, for a quick, safe and hassle free cash injection in less than an hour. Check us out today at http://www.paydayonline.com.au

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/purchasing-a-home-714756.html

Here are 10 ways you can be greener every day.

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 06:43:42 PST

Some of the following information has been adapted from reputable sources, including Environment Canada

1. Avoid idling vehicles for more than one minute.
Instead of letting your car idle, turn off the ignition. It uses less gas and emits less CO2 to stop and restart your car than to let it run. In fact, idling uses wice as much gas as driving!

2. Walk, bike, or take the bus.
Bike racks are also available on buses. More people taking the bus means less cars on the road, and that’s good for everyone.

3. Maintain your vehicle
Keeping your vehicle in top shape will save fuel and help the environment. Keep tires inflated: Just one tire under inflated by six psi can increase fuel consumption by three per cent and wear up to 40 percent faster.

Replace the plastic cap on the tire’s air valve with a steel cap, which seals much better than the standard issue cap. This is the best tool to keep your tires inflated and generally costs less than one dollar.

Align tires: A misaligned tire will use around two percent more fuel and cause remature tire wear. Use appropriate fuel: Read your owner’s manual before heading to the pumps and use the recommended type of fuel. Using supreme or premium fuels in cars designed forregular fuel is paying a premium price for something that will not work as well. It is a waste of money and fuel, could hurt the engine, and will harm the environment.

Keep tank full in winter: Keeping your gas tank full can end up saving you big. When the gas tank isn’t full, the moist air in the gas tank condenses against the inside wall of the tank. This water affects the quality of the fuel, causing starting problems, fuel not being burned efficiently, engine misfiring, and adding strain to the engine.

4. Conserve Energy
Use fluorescent bulbs: Changing just one traditional incandescent light bulb to a compact fluorescent bulb results in savings of over $45 during its lifetime. Each bulb uses one fourth of the energy of an incandescent bulb, lasts up to 10 times longer and the energy saved keeps CO2 out of the atmosphere.

Lights out: It’s obvious, but turning off lights at night can save you, and the environment, big. A computer left on to run 24 hours a day can increase the electricity bill by $75 to $120 yearly. By putting the computer into standby mode, this amount is reduced to only $15 per year.

Wash clothes in cold water: Over 90 per cent of energy used by a washing machine comes from water heating. Save on your bill by washing clothes in cold water, with special cold-water detergent.

Lower the thermostats: Lower the thermostat by three degrees in winter and you can save up to 10 per cent on your heating bill. Wearing that sweater never felt so smart! Choose energy efficient appliances. Dishwashers today are nearly 95 percent moreenergy-efficient than those bought in 1972.

Have an energy audit done on your home and retrofit your home to make it energy efficient.

5. Conserve Water
Most common water wasting culprits: Leaking toilets are the most common cause of a high water bill. View our tips on preventing a leaky toilet. server water

Toilet flushing is the largest single use of water in a home, followed by showering and bathing. New low-flush toilets use six litres per flush compared to 22 litres with older toilets, lowering your water bill by approximately $65 a year. Low-flow showerheads save eight litres of water each minute.

Do not leave water hoses running unnecessarily.

Never leave the tap running when washing vegetables or dishes, shaving, or brushing your teeth.

Repair leaks immediately, as a small drip quickly amounts to litres of water wasted. Water meters can help detect a leak.

Use water-efficient fixtures in the home, as showers/baths account for about 30 per cent of indoor water use and toilets account for about 35 percent. Run the dishwasher and clothes washing machine only with full loads.

Shorter length showers help conserve water, and filling the bath only half full saves 80 litres or more per bath. You could save hundreds of dollars each year! Keep water in the fridge instead of running tap water and waiting for it to get cold enough to drink. Dispose of kitchen and dry waste in the garbage instead of flushing down the garbage disposal. Use a bucket and sponge for washing the car instead of running water.

Use a barrel to collect rainwater from your downspouts. Collected rainwater can be used for garden and lawn watering.

Lawn watering tips:
Deep, infrequent watering promotes deep, strong roots and will make your lawn healthier. Watering too often may cause disease by starving the soil of oxygen. Apply 2.5 cm (one inch) of water once a week, only if watering is needed. Water early in the morning or late in the evening. Some experts say lawns don’t need watering at all, since grass will go “dormant” during extended periods of dry weather, and will return to normal once dry weather stops.

6. Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce

BYOB ( Bring your own bag!): Re-usable grocery bags greatly reduce the amount of plastic bags going into landfills, and are easily available in most stores. Use them for all your shopping needs!

Enviro-friendly take-out: Bring your own reusable containers when ordering take-out. This saves tons of styrofoam, plastic wrap, aluminum foil and cardboard from ending up in landfills. Just let the restaurant know you'll be bringing in your own dishes, and make sure to have enough dishes!

Rinse recyclables: Though some of the materials recycled in our wet waste are used for compost, help maximize the amount of material recycled. Rinse out cans, bottles, and other recyclable materials and place them Recycle bin.

7. Compost at home
You can further reduce materials going into landfills by composting at home. For more information on backyard composting, visit the Composting Council of Canada’s website .

8. Plant a tree
Plant a tree. Having trees on your property also provides shade and shelter for birds and small animals, keeping our ecosystem healthy and diverse.

9. Buy locally
Support the local economy and enjoy fresh local food when possible. Visit the 100-Mile Diet website for more information on how eating locally helps the environment, the economy.

10. Use pesticides less often.

What is it Blog?

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:22:45 PST

A blog—a shorthand term that means “Web log”—is an online, chronological collection of personal commentary and links. Easy to create and use from anywhere with an Internet connection, blogs are a form of Internet publishing that has become an established communications tool. Blogging has evolved from its origins as a medium for the online publication of personal diaries to a respected vehicle for editorials on specific topics. In their latest incarnation, blogs represent an alternative to mainstream media publications. The personal perspectives presented on blogs often lead to discourse between bloggers, and many blog circles generate a strong sense of community.

Who’s doing blog?

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:49:07 PST

Although online journals have been around longer than the term “blog,” they gained momentum with the introduction of services that allow users to publish blogs easily, without needing to code HTML. Today, thousands of people use ser vices including Blogger and Moveable Type to simplify, automate, and accelerate the online publishing process.
Blogs are showing up in venues ranging from entertainment and commerce to news and politics. Many blogs are the musings of a single author; others focus on a particular topic and feature the
voices of several authors. There are group blogs, family blogs, community blogs, and corporate blogs. WarBlogs (a product of the Iraq war), LibLogs (library blogs), and EduBlogs (targeting
education) are just some of the emerging types of blogs. In educational settings, faculty are using blogs to express their opinions, to promote dialogue in the discipline, and as an instructional tool, and students are increasingly using blogs both as personal commentaries and as a required part of certain courses.

How does it work?

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:50:34 PST

How does it work? A blog can be thought of as an online journal, and maintaining a blog is as simple as using an online e-mail program. Bloggers enter posts into a blogging application, add formatting or hyperlinks, and save the post. The application adds the entry to the blog, making the content available online and alerting users who have subscribed to that blog’s content. Entries can include text, hyperlinks, images, or multimedia. Visitors can read postings, submit comments, find blog entries by date, and search the site by keyword. Most blogs allow visitors to subscribe using an RSS feed or another service. Effective blogs tend to be updated on a regular basis. Most bloggers solicit feedback, fostering two-way communication between readers and authors. Readers can provide feedback by leav ing comments on the blog page itself or by posting a response on their own blogs and linking back to the original post a feature called trackback. Trackback notifies bloggers when one of their posts is referenced by another blog, making it possible to determine the popularity of a post based on the number and diversity of incoming links to a post. Through linking, commenting, and feedback, good (or at least popular) ideas spread quickly through the informal network of blogs (the “blogosphere”), while unpopular ideas are simply ignored. Being referenced by a popular blogger brings instant attention and often credibility, and repeated linking enhances the reputation and authority of a blogger. Through this system of recommendations and referrals, a collaborative filtering capacity has emerged in the blogosphere.

Why is it significant?

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:31:49 PST

Why is it significant? Because blogs engage people in knowledge sharing, re ection, and debate, they often attract a large and dedicated readership. Blogs are becoming an important component of the Internet landscape, providing authors and readers with an avenue for unedited expression, reaction, and connection, without the censorship of mediated chat rooms or formal media outlets. The simplicity of creating and maintaining blogs means that open discussions can be established almost immediately, making blogs an ideal venue for far-reaching discussions among the Internet community on new or timely topics. Blogs foster the growth of communities, and the dynamics of collaborative filtering and recommending/referring may provide new ways to evaluate, vet, and critique student-created knowledge.

What are the downsides?

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:32:27 PST

What are the downsides? Because blogs are often produced and maintained by individuals, they can include biased or inaccurate information. Users visiting a blog might see it as factual or authoritative when, in fact, it is the online equivalent of a soap box: a place to speak and to be heard. Unlike chat rooms, blogs are unmed iated and therefore offer a different ty pe of venue for individuals to express themselves and air their opinions, ideas, and attitudes. While this may be acceptable for a personal blog, it might be in appropriate for a blog hosted on an institutional server. Intellectual property is another area of concern for higher education, given the implications of hosting blogs that might include content that has been used without proper attribution. Blogs are also highly volatile. Bloggers can edit or delete posts, and this transient nature can make blogs difficult to archive or index. In addition, the time-limited relationship of students to institutions in uences the length of time a student blog should be hosted, yet removing posts from the blogosphere once a student has graduated could confound those who linked to the post.

What are the implications for teaching and learning blog?

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:45:49 PST

Put into practice with an understanding of their benefits and limitations, blogs are an increasingly accepted instructional technology tool. Blogs can be used for re ection about classes, careers, or current events; they can also capture and disseminate student and faculty generated content. RSS feeds make blog content accessible through newsreaders, allowing bloggers to increase the sharing of this information among interested individuals. Blogs offer students, faculty, staff, and others a high level of autonomy while creating a new opportunity for interaction with peers. Blogs provide a forum for discussion that goes beyond coursework to include culture, politics, and other areas of personal exploration. Students often learn as much from each other as from instructors or textbooks, and blogs offer another mechanism for peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and acquisition.

Where is it going blog?

noreply@blogger.com (khansa) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:47:58 PST

Where is it going blog? Blogs are proliferating at an exponential rate. Estimates suggest as many as 50 million people are now blogging. Because blogs are easy to create and modify, they occupy a unique niche in cyberspace—that of highly personalized discussion forums that foster communities of interest. Blogs are public and long-lived, and they weave themselves into close relationships with other blogs. As such, they may ser ve as an educational tool for re ection, knowledge building, and sharing. Blogs continue to benefit from several years of experimentation and evolution, both within and outside of education. By carefully evaluating their strengths and weaknesses, educators are learning to set guidelines and expectations to maximize the benefits of blogs. Structured exercises and clear goals are further enhancing the value of blogs in education.