Just My Opinion

Net Savvy - Email

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:30:00 +0000

Now that you are up and about on the internet, you will need an address where people can reach you. Just like your home address in the physical world, the email acts as a place for people to get in touch with you in the virtual world.

E-mail, short for electronic mail and often abbreviated to e-mail, email or simply mail. The choices of procuring and email address are many, like Gmail, Yahoomail, Hotmail etc; I prefer gmail because the id you create here will let you access host of other google services like blogger, orkut, translate, gtalk, patent search, product search....(detailed list here). But the process outlined below to create a mail account will be pretty much the same if you choose to open it with Yahoo or Hotmail or any other place.

In your address bar type: www.gmail.com (or just click on this link) and you will reach the Gmail homepage. There you should be able to see:

To create your very own email address, click on "Sign Up for Gmail". It will take you to a form where you need to fill in your information. When filling up this information, do remember that it will be widely seen and you have the choice of being as discreet or as open with your identity on the net...so you can get an email in your real name or pen name or pseudonym if you like.

Then enter your desired login name, a password you will remember easily, but difficult for others to guess and then create your very own email id.

You see the "Remember me on this computer" box - DO NOT SELECT IT IF YOU ARE USING A PUBLIC COMPUTER TERMINAL, for it will enable someone else to get into your account and operate it.

Follow the prompt, say continue and you will reach your Inbox...voila! There is your first welcome mail from Gmail. Just click and read away.

To write an email click on the "compose mail" link which will take you to another text box where you can write to your heart's content. Once you finish composing, you may choose to do a spell check by clicking on the "Check spelling button" on the right hand side of the compose window.
In case of a spelling mistake, the incorrect word will be highlighted in yellow. To correct the word , click on it and you will get several options to choose from, take your pick and correct it. Click "Done" and then just "Send" the email off.

PS: To start with you will need to collect email address from people you want to mail to :-). This process of composing and sending an email is pretty much the same whether you use yahoo, gmail, hotmail or something else. Happy Emailing.

Net Savvy - The Basics.

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Sun, 11 May 2008 00:46:00 +0000

The advent of Internet has revolutionsed everything. Information is more freely available, people can exchange messages, emails, files, photos, buy stuff, trade and so much more in so little time without the constraints of a location. For people like my Mom who are just waking up to this innovation all this is fascinating information, but they don't how to get started.

Simply put, consider Internet similar to a shopping mall in your area. You can get anything and everything you need there (just like the information that is available everywhere on the net) But to get to the mall you need to either drive down in a car or take public transport and like. This vehicle that helps you get around in internet terms will be a browser. You may be familiar with the public transport of the internet the IE aka Internet Explorer, the browser that lets you explore the web. But just as there are other modes of transport in the webworld too there are other browsers like Firefox, Opera and several others (for a detailed list click here).

Most people tend to use IE since it is the default browser that Microsoft provides with the operating system running on your PC. But if you are looking for other options, Firefox is a popular browser. I personally use Opera though. So just as you will shop around to find a car you like, read around on the links above to see which browser suits you best. Then simply download it, follow the steps to install it and you are all set to drive around in the web-world or surf around as they say.

Now you can visit any destination you like on the internet using the browser. To go to your destination, you will obviosly need to provide an address..right? Well on the top of your browser you can locate a white box where in you can type text. It looks something like this:

Type in the address in this white text box . Just like our normal address have a lane, state, postcode etc, the addressess on the web have thier own format. You will see that most address begin with "http://" - technicall it means Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) which is a communications protocol for the transfer of information on intranets and the World Wide Web. Its original purpose was to provide a way to publish and retrieve hypertext pages over the Internet. But we need not concern ourselves with the technicalities just yet. It's ok if you forget to type the http:// you can simply start with www.google.com and you are all set.

But what if you know you are looking for a specific clothing line and don't know where to find it...you would normally refer to the white pages right? Similarly on the web, you can hunt for information on the search engines. There are several search engines depending on the content you are looking for, but the most popular one is google, which gives you pretty much any information you need (for a detailed list of search engines, click here)

So just type www.google.com in the addressbar we have seen above. It will return another text box, where you can enter what you are looking for and click on google search. See illustration:

Once the search returns results, you can click on the link of your interest and browse it further.
It's really that simple...just open your favourite search engine, type what you are looking for and hit search...follow the leads.

Happy Mothers Day!

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Sat, 10 May 2008 20:48:00 +0000

It's mothers day today...Hope all the mom's have a great day ahead. Ever since I moved from India, my mother has been trying to become net-savvy. Wanting to stay in touch with your kids is such a motivator. All she can do is log on to the internet and get on yahoo messenger...but for day to day things like checking our photos, sending an email, logging onto skype etc; can seem such a daunting task for someone who is just getting started.So when I am talking her through the process, I feel like talking to my little son where I literally need to instruct each step.Many people I know are sailing in the same boat..where they are trying to keep in touch with their loved ones but don't know how. So on mother's day I am dedicating a series of posts to make my mom's internet life easier. The mundane day to day net-things we take for granted will be posted in this series...If only I can tell her how to bookmark the post page tp return to it later!!

Happy Mothers Day.

Update:
Internet Basics
Email

To the Bank Manager.

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:12:00 +0000

I won't usually put a forward I received as post entry, but this one is really good not to, since most of us will identify with what the poor lady means. A 98 year old woman in the UK wrote this to her bank. The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in the Times.

Dear Sir,

I am writing to thank you for bouncing my cheque with which I endeavoured to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the cheque and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honour it. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my Pension, an arrangement, which, I admit, has been in place for only thirty eight years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank.

My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways. I noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become. From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and- blood person.

My mortgage and loan payments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank by cheque, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate. Be aware that it is an offence under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope. Please find attached an Application Contact Status which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative. Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Solicitor, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof.

In due course, I will issue your employee with PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modelled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press buttons as follows:

1 To make an appointment to see me.
2 To query a missing payment.
3 To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
4 To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
5 To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
6 To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.
7 To leave a message on my computer (a password to access my computer is required. A password will be communicated to you at a later date to the Authorized Contact.)
8 To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through to 8.
9 To make a general complaint or inquiry, the contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.

Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.

May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous, New Year.

Your Humble Client

Life without a credit-card!

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:43:00 +0000

Monday again! But sometimes it seems more fun than a weekend....especially when you are living without a credit card. My husband and I are prodigal spenders and probably the worst people to be handed a credit card. Somehow with the credit card in hand we tend to feel all powerful with the thought that we can buy most things any time we want to....We spend our whole student life doing just that!! Buying anything and everything we needed. Now well into our working lives, we have just finished off paying our student debts.

We have since resolved to manage our finances better and most importantly, live without a credit card. We have been doing it for some months now and mostly we do fine through out the week...Weekends are challenging!! Resisting the urge to eat out often...can't pick up things we like (we don't even need them many a times...we just like'em!)Folks around us , said we are insane to pull a stunt like this, but we are doing fine so far. We have learned to live within our means. We put aside a buffer for a rainy day (albeit not a sizeable buffer yet, we put in whatever we can)And we religiously put the loose change in a piggy bank.

Having a little one at home does tempt us to apply for a credit card in case of a medical emergency, but we haven't done that yet. It has truly been liberating...no interest rates and payment defaults to track or transfer balance from one card to another. Life just seems less complicated this way.Just spend what you have, not what you dont! This is exactly what our parents kept telling us all along....we have only just realised it.

Visiting the Doctor!

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Fri, 02 May 2008 03:56:00 +0000

I recently migrated from India to Australia and although we were quick to adapt to the new system, there were some things that took time.

Back in India, having families with medical background made it very easy for us to approach doctors and get medical attention, even if it were for a minor cold! So it never a big deal. Coming to Australia, the first thing we were told to do was sign up for the Medicare card. Once we had the card, we thought that now was a good time to go consult the doctors and see if our little son was taking well to Australia and if there was anything specific he had to do for him. So my hubby made the appointment with a General Practitioner.

Upon seeing the GP, she asked my hubby what his problem was....he said he had none. Then she asked me what my problem...and I had none too....that's when we told her that we wanted her to look at our son who also did not have any problem...just a routine checkup. We were then informed, that the person in whose name the appointment is made is the one the GP is expecting to see...good thing to know (especially if you are new in the country). We also found out that the GP is the DOORKEEPER. So they would be the one's to recommend you to a specialist if need be, and that the registered nurses do the vaccinations/immunizations (all my son's vaccines administered by the Pediatrician, which is the case at most places in India)

At the end of it all, the GP said that my hubby would have the funniest chart...with details of an adult and treatment/prescriptions for a toddler!!

FYI:
Jokes aside: Australia is a very cosmopolitian place to be and people from many different places/countries are calling it home. A vast amount of information and help is at hand readily (well long as you ask for help before 5:00pm).So be sure to ask around.

Driving in India - Part II

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:07:00 +0000

Enough mocking the driving in India. Given that influx of population and no driver training, you have to admit that there is order under all this chaos, which only the Indians understand. But then there are some who bicker, some who mock and write a blog like I did or some who really want to make a difference.

I found one such person, who actually tries to help. Dr. Adhiraj Joglekar, a medical doctor, based out of UK but apparently a true Indian at heart who wanted to make a difference. He has actually taken the pains of putting together 17 videos which explain the basics of driving (something that is alien to many Indian drivers).

He explains these basics in his videos which are available on youtube. Fairly simple things like checking blindspot, negotiating roundabouts, high beam or low beam, lane discipline are expalined at length in his videos.

While he welcomes sponsorships for his project, he has already put out this information for free on the web. So in the spirit of paying it forward, I urge my fellow Indians to look at these videos and learn a thing or two. Let's make India a safer place to drive around.

For more information on "Driving a Cultural Change in India" project by Dr. adhiraj Joglekar, please visit his blog here.

Driving in India - Part I

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:38:00 +0000

Passionate about cars and driving that I am, driving used to be my favourite pastime...I didn't care where I was driving...the city roads, the small narrow
lanes,the expressway or the ever twisting "ghats"....It was always such a pleasant experience...until i woke up to the reality that I have to move to bigger towns to look for better jobs and more money.So i did. I travelled several places in India and abroad...and here's what i discovered.

Driving in India warrants a special mention here. Driving conditions are the most demanding in India. They test the driver at all level, physical, mental, emotional....and the problem is not unilateral such as bad roads alone, but it is
a dangerous combination of bad driving conditions and even worst "bad drivers". Drivers who have no respect for fellow drivers or pedestrians
for that matter. The normal code on Indian roads seems to be non-compliance to any rule whatsoever.

Picture this....From a distance you can see the your green signal going off in 9..8..7...seconds.What do u do? You step on that gas pedal to try and make it
through, coz if you don't, you will have to spend a STAGGERING 60 seconds or so at that red signal. But that's just your perspective...Just as you don't like the
idea of a 60 second halt, imagine the plight of those who have been waiting at the other end for 51 seconds now. They start inching ahead unable to make up
their mind....Some just brave the traffic EVEN during the red light any which way coz signals are not for them(Oh the audacity of a measly traffic
signal to make me stop, they think)!!!Some drivers with a conscience wait patiently for the green light...Splendid achievement; But all they actually do is
hamper the traffic that is already flowing whatever the signal.Finally the light goes green and that my friends is exciting than the start of any Grand Pr ix.
While the cars at the front zoom off quickly, those at the back begin honking like there's no tomorrow - Dude, everybody is at the signal waiting to go
somewhere, probably in just as much rush as you are!!

People from everywhere travel to the work destinations in the morning and back in the evening.But the best part is having to start an hour or so early to
get to a destination barely 10-15 kms from your place!!! :-( If it's your lucky day, you will get to that signal quickly, else you will be tucked in a zillion
cars in the middle of a traffic jam. And it is literally a JAM.

Everybody loves the comfort of a vehicle,but nobody want to carpool with fellow co-workers - and why should they... it is their car, their petrol, their money(probably paid for by their companies), who cares if it burns a hole in the natural resources,
who cares if it causes environment or noise pollution and ill-health, I will wait in a JAM for 1 or 2 hours, but god forbid, if I try to carpool and take few
single driver cars of the road!!!When we run out of one form of fuel, we will switch to another and another...and when all''s gone - Well there's still solar
energy!!!!

What about the lanes??Do we follow them?? Nah.... we prefer to make 6-7 lanes instead of the designated 2 or 3 lanes....Why waste precious space? And oh!what about the pedestrians!!!Roads aren't meant for them anyways, so lets worry about them another time.

Flying Suit - Crouching Tiger - Unreal?

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:26:00 +0000

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon a movie based on the fourth novel in a pentalogy,known in China as the Crane-Iron Pentalogy, by Wang Dulu, which became a surprise international hit. Much has already been
said of this movie and I don't intend to write another movie review.

The fictional story is set during the 43rd year of Emperor Qianlong's reign (i.e.around 1778) and follows the tryst of two martial arts warriors and the Wudan school of martial arts. There were instances in the movie where the characters are literally flying around...not just flying around but having sword fights in air. While I thought the wire-work was tastefully done my husband had whale of a time laughing when he saw the flying sword-fights.

Please indulge me for a moment here and take a look at what I am talking about:

At that time I really had no choice but to let him laugh it all off as....but not for long. Just the other day I saw that now people are actually flying wearing squirrel suits / flying suits. Don't trust me, check this out:

Crouching Tiger Hiden Dragon's flying character no longer seem unreal in light of the modern day squirrel suit flyer, does it? I am not saying that the 17th century Chinese folks were not walking around, but flying to places...just some food for thought.

Here's how an actual working contemporary squirrel suit looks like.

And here's what traditional Chinese outfits looked like:

So I am just curious....are there any real evidences out there which say that this is not just fiction?

Reference: Wikipedia Hans Chinese Clothing.

Birthdays

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:36:00 +0000

Over the past few days I called a couple of my friends to wish them for their birthdays (lotsa birthdays in April.) It got me thinking....What is the most common way to celebrate birthdays these days?

From what I see, read and understand, most people will go out, have a bash, drink, eat good food and generally have a blast. But basically most will spend the day with friends. Well there's nothing wrong with having a blast with your friends at all.

But think about it for a second...It's your birthday(the day you were BORN) ....so some woman(willingly or unwillingly) actually carried you around in her belly for around nine month...she probably suffered from morning sickness (definitely not something you enjoy) pregnancy induced blood pressure, hypertension and what not...she endured it all and at times may have had a really difficult time. Carrying you around seems like a piece of cake than actually bringing you into this world...but she did. She then nurtured you, fed you, probably even gave up her career to raise you(a very difficult choice to make), nursed you when you were sick, took you swimming and attended every baseball game you ever played, was teary eyed but strong when you left for college...But she endured this phase of life as well never expecting anything in return.

On your birthdays she remembers this day all too well because it was she who felt pain and joy all at the same time. So c'mon people call your Mom on your birthday instead...and thank her for bringing you into this world.

Moment of Truth

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 04:39:00 +0000

"The Moment of Truth" Fox's sleazy new game show seems to be the buzz word. On the show, the challenge is simple -- answer 21 increasingly personal questions honestly, as determined by a polygraph, and win up to $500,000. The questions are selected from a pre - interview where the contestants have already answered these questions while strapped to a polygraph. The questions can be anything from "Have you ever stolen from your workplace?" to questions like "Have you ever thought that your boyfriend, Jeff, might be gay?," "Have you ever been paid for sex?"

But watching Lauren Cleri episode where she admitted that she had been fired from a job for stealing money, would rather give food to a dog than a homeless person, knows things about her father that she keeps from her mother and has avoided sex with her husband by pretending to be asleep. The show only got worst when Lauren admitted to cheating on her husband and later answered yes to a surprise appearance and question by her ex-bf Frank that he was the one she should be married to! All this got me thinking. Why am I even watching this game show? How does this even qualify as entertainment?

Money is a really strong motivator to bare all to a worlwide audience...but is it really worth risking your marriage, your relationship, job, clientele, friends? Surely the contestants seem to think so! Oh well...keep at it then....do dry you dirty laundry in public and keep the viewers entertained. And if the producers forget to ask one of those "Have you ever SLEPT...?" questions, do point out the ommisions, coz all the viewers want to do is listen to your infidelity and your petty felonies despite the really long unnecessary and annoying pauses before TRUTH reveals the answer in her robotic voice.

In my opinion the show is absolutely lame and not worth more than 1 or 2 episode watch. But then despite the hideous content Jerry Springer show ran for quite a while...so I don't see why MOT won't.

Evolutionism Vs Creationism

noreply@blogger.com (atul k) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:27:00 +0000

People seem to have stopped debating about Evolutionism Vs Creationism. Now there is even a movie coming up 'Expelled'.Scientific Amerikan has some nasty review of it.

For the curious readers, here is the link for scientific american link:
scientific american review of expelled:

For those who are new to the topic: The creation-evolution controversy (also termed the creation vs. evolution debate or the origins debate) is a recurring political dispute about the origins of the Earth, humanity, life, and the universe, between those who espouse the validity and superiority of a particular religiously-based origin belief (i.e., creationism), and the scientific consensus, particularly in the field of evolutionary biology, but also in the fields of geology, palaeontology, thermodynamics, nuclear physics and cosmology.

The debate also focuses on issues such as the definition of science (and of what constitutes scientific research and evidence), science education (and whether the teaching of the scientific consensus view should be 'balanced' by also teaching fringe theories), free speech, separation of Church and State, and theology

What interested me was the book"Why Darwin Matters" - Michael Shermer - Times books. which talks about when is a theory a sound theory? So there is a theory about theory - kind of meta theory ! This meta-theory says that a theory is sound when different lines of evidences point to the same conclusion - as evangalized by a theory. So with the evolution, it is not just the fossil evidence but multitude of proofs in all different fields of medicine, biology (DNAs and RNAs ), probability and statistics and what not.

So this is kind of interesting to me because i always thought so far in my life that a theory is a theory is a theory is a theory. The truth! and only the truth. But truth as i realize now is not atomic, as it is OUR perception of truth*.

Apply this even to Newton's laws and you will realize that these laws or truths are only within certain tolerance or our perception or our instruments perception of the time. Surely they will get upgraded and refined as we progress. So what is the nature of law and nature of truth. That is the question i am posing here. Your thoughts are most welcome.

*PS: well... lets not get into the land of whether the truth exists as itself or it is only our perception of it that makes it exists? (Berkley the philosopher had some say on this for sure :) )

About Us

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:11:00 +0000

We are two good friends AtulK and MitraD. I have a lot of time on hand and Atulk has a lot of fresh ideas to talk about. We intend to put together our time and ideas and use this space to connect with likeminded people, experiment with our ideas or simply unwind after a long day.

AtulK will probably end up writing serious or intellectual stuff. I prefer to stick to something light-hearted, no brainer stuff.

Although AtulK is writing out of America and I am presently in Australia, we are both Indians and the blogposts may have a natural propensity to graviate towards issues/events that seem India centric...but we will try our best to keep it global.

Hope you enjoy your time here.

Browsers...

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:30:00 +0000

We are all up and about on the net, surfing our day away... I know I do.....I spend a great deal of time online. Sometimes looking for recipes, information, paying bills or at times doing nothing but surfing around aimlessly. Whatever I do, I like to know that my surfing sessions are not going to be rudely interrupted because the browser freezes or just stops responding.

Since you are here reading this already, I guess you know what a browser is. One look at wikipedia browser list will show the number of browsers out there is mind boggling. Despite which people gravitate towards IE or Firefox. I have used them both for quite and while.

I am no techie but from my personal experience IE is too lame to even talk about ...I'd read the help trying to find out whats wrong and how to fix it, hours on end. And it was never ending. So i tried Firefox...which was a tad bit better. It even had some really good features...but that was when the browser would start to begin with. Sometimes it'd take away all my bookmarks and on other occasions it was competing with IE as to who crashes and stops responding first.

I tried a few others...but eventually found the one that works for me. Yes...a browser that I have not changed in 2 years..OPERA. They claim:
'Opera is the most secure Web browser available for both Mac and PC and is W3C Web Standards compliant.'
'The Opera Web browser is now free and will access your Web pages 30% faster than IE, and much faster than Firefox when using Tabbed browsing.'
'Easily and quickly create Custom Search shortcuts, use Tabbed Browsing, Restore Closed Windows and Tabs, access Zoom and Image Control, use Mouse Gestures and choose from assorted Skins.'

I can vouch for all the above. Since I switched I have had hardly a couple of hick up, no bugs, spyware or malware etc; It really is faster than the other two. Not just that, there's so much more. A speed dial which makes it easy to access your favorite pages.

You get to surf the Web easier and faster by opening multiple Web pages within the same application window. Since it is easy to have many tabs open at once in Opera , you may need to know exactly which tab had that video you wanted? Just hover your mouse on any tab to see a thumbnail preview.

If you download lotta stuff..you will love this. You don't need a separate BitTorrent application to download large files. Simply click a torrent link and opera downloads it for you. You can even view download progress and access all your downloads from one simple transfer manager window.

There are mouse gestures and keyboard shortcuts for actions you commonly do. There's something called Fast Forward which will detect the most likely "next page" link and greatly simplify navigation in multi-page documents such as search results and image galleries.

But what I love best is the voice feature which allows you to control Opera's interface by talking and to have documents read aloud. So I am too read to read a blog, I just have Opera read it out.

In my opinion, it is the BEST browsers I have ever used....and no Opera is not paying me anything to write this up. I just want people to enjoy their surfing like I do. Get your own Opera..

Snap Shots from Snap.com

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:21:00 +0000

I just installed a nice little tool on this site called Snap Shots that enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more.

Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

Blogosphere Jargon

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:57:00 +0000

For a newbie, the blogging jargon may be a brand new venture and sometimes overwhelming. Below are some commonly used terms in the blogosphere

Post: Posts are also known as entries. Every time you write something and display it on your blog, you create a post. In typical computer jargon fashion, this noun can also be used as a verb: You can post to your blog.

Comments: Comments is the way in which a blog writer holds conversation with the blog readers. People who visit your blog can post their opinion, which is called a comment. Comments are usually time-stamped and identified by the author’s name and perhaps a link to their Web site or blog. On some blogs, comments are threaded so that readers can comment on other comments, but on most blogs comments are simply displayed chronologically.

Comment spam: We all get loads of unwanted and irrelevant emails called spam. Same is a problem on blogs as well. Comment spam, as you would expect, is left in the comments of a blog. It usually includes just a few words sometimes unrelated to the blog content and a hyperlink.. The idea of the spammer is to promote his/her own blog/site giving it higher search engine rankings.

Categories: Categories permit a blogger to divide the content meticulously. For instance, putting posts about fashion into one basket and posts about celebrities in another. Categories immensely help the readers read only what they are most interested in. It is a good tool for those scanning a blog's archives.

Trackbacks: Trackback technology helps bloggers link back to other posts on related subjects. If you're posting about something that you've seen on another blog, look for the Trackback URL. Paste that URL into the allotted spot in your own blogging software, and the two pieces of blog software will communicate, building a link from the original post to yours (without the other blogger having to lift a finger).

Trackback spam: Works just like comment spam, but done via Trackback.

Pings: Pinging is sending out a message to several blogging tracking Web sites to let them know that you have posted some fresh content on your blog.Once your post is included in the ping site's index, it potentially increases your traffic.

RSS/Atom feeds: In the blogosphere, syndication is a big deal. With millions of blogs to read, many consumers use news aggregators, or readers, to pull in posts and read them, rather than visiting 150 blogs every day. RSS and Atom are two flavors of blog syndication.

Blogroll/lists: Ever noticed those long lists of other blogs alongside the posts in a blog? That's a blogroll, a list of the blogs read by the blogger whose site you are on. Sometimes lists are also kept to recommend books and other media, as well.

Moblogging: Moblogging is the short form of "mobile blogging." Lots of blog software lets you post by e-mail from your phone, PDA, or anything else that allows you to send e-mails.

Blacklist: Blacklists are usually lists of URLs that have been identified as spam URLs, and that are therefore eliminated from comments and Trackbacks on your blog. With most blog software, the software company builds and maintains a common blacklist for all users to which individuals can contribute.

Captchas: Captchas are an additional security feature for commenting and user registration. By providing an image that includes letters and numbers, and by requiring the user to type in those letters and numbers, blog software can ensure that the comment or trackback is not some spam produced by robot programs.

Post scheduling: Some blog software allows you to write posts and schedule them to be published at some point in the future. This is handy for vacations and holidays.

Bookmarks: A bookmark is a link directly to the new post page of your blog.It's a shortcut to the blog posting quickly.To see bookmarking service that allows you to save your favorite links online and access them from any computer, wherever you are, click here.

Templates: Most blog software includes a set of pre-designed templates that give the blog a certain look and feel. Changing templates is like donning a new outfit on to your blog.
To check out free templates, click here.
To see how you can change the default template to a different one, click here.

URL Redirection: In an effort to render comment and Trackback spam ineffective, links included in comments and Trackbacks are tagged with the NOFOLLOW tag, which indicates to search engines that it shouldn't be counted when tallying search engine rankings for a Web site. There is a "NO NO Follow" movement happening presently in the blogosphere. Read more about it here..

Top 40 Social Bookmarking Sites To Boost Traffic

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:54:00 +0000

We all have a button on our browser that reads bookmarks. We can use that button to bookmark a site/page and save it to the desktop, laptop etc; so that we can refer it at a later time. This kind of bookmarking is private in nature and limited to only those who use that particular computer. Social bookmarking take bookmarking to an entirely different level and lets you save or bookmark a site/page etc; publicly...that way you can access them from anywhere, anytime and not necessarily your computer. Others who are looking for similar information tht you may have already bookmarked can see your bookmarks and vice versa. Such bookmarking helps boost traffic, especially when you want more people to stop by
your blog. Here is a list of all the available social bookmarking sites.(I am sure I have missed a few here and there, please do let me know and I shall keep udating the list)

A
30DayTags has a 30-day refresh, ensuring that content is both relevant and fresh data.
B
BlogMemes
BlinkBits
BlinkList a bookmarking with slick interface and new ways for organizing tags.
Bloglines is a FREE online service for searching, subscribing, creating and sharing news feeds, blogs and rich web content.
BlogMarks is a collaborative link management project based on sharing and key-word tagging.
Blue Dot.- is a Seattle-based company whose mission is to help people stay connected with their friends, wherever they are, whenever they want.
C
Clipmarks
Connectedy is a web site where you can upload your bookmarked/favorite links from your browser into a free account.
D
del.icio.us is a collection of favorites - yours and everyone else's.
de.lirio.us Social Bookmarking, Tagging, Blogging & Notes.
Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web.
Diigo site for "Social Annotation"combining social bookmarking, clippings, in situ annotation, tagging, full-text search, easy sharing and interactions.
E
F
Furl is a free service that saves the important items you find on the Web and enables you to quickly find them again.
Feedmarker, a bookmarker and newsreader with tagging.

G
Gibeo Network is a new online service built by Gibeo. It's a rapidly growing community, a web annotation service.
GiveALink is a social bookmarking site where people can donate their bookmarks to the Web community and to science.
H
I
J
K
L
Linkroll is a free link blogging service.
Listable a site where listing combined with tagging and voting gives you a greater relevancy.
M
Ma.gnolia bookmark collection can be reached by you and your friends from anywhere, any time.
MyProgs - Social list of programs
MyBookmarks
My Web
N
Netvouz is a social bookmarking service that allows you to save your favorite links online and access them from any computer, wherever you are.
O
Oyax is a social bookmark manager.
P
Popurls is a conglomeration of about 10 different social bookmarking sites
Q
R
RawSugar is a place to save, share and discover your favorite content in an organized and highly flexible way.
Reader2 - Social list of books
Reddit a popular social bookmarking service.
S
Simpy is a social bookmarking service that lets you save, tag, search and share your bookmarks, notes, groups and more.
SiteBar :: The Online Bookmark Manager | The Bookmark Server
SiteTagger is a bookmark/favorite organizer.
Slashdot the original social bookmarking site.
Spurl is a free on-line bookmarking service and search engine.
StumbleUpon bookmarking, social networking, friends-network, random browsing within interest-groups.
T
Technorati. Who's saying what. Right now.
Thoof a user generated news and information service
U
V
W
Web Feeds is a social bookmark site with a difference, users moderate and decide which items make it to the home page.
X
Y
Yoono Social Bookmarking based on browser bookmarks (no tags needed)
Z

PS: You will need to signup and create an account with most of these services to begin with..

Useful Widgets.

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:50:00 +0000

Recent Posts | Recent Comments | Search Box | Picasa Album | Weather - All these one click widgets are available at Beautiful Beta.

Special effects for Peekaboo posts | Create drop-down menus easily | Selective Expandable posts | Customizable recent comments widget (using JSON feed) |
Random message widget (no Edit HTML!) | Tweak your label tabs - All these and few other interesting hacks can be found at Ramani's Hackosphere.

Phydeaux has some tips ans tricks up his sleeve, but his most popular hack is the Tag Cloud, followed by the Blogger Archive Calendar.

Alternating Sidebar Styles | AJAX Labels by Deepak.

Many useful hacks, tips and tricks at Freshblog and BlogU.

Zoom Clouds - With ZoomClouds you can put in a matter of minutes a tag cloud in your site, based on whichever RSS feed you like.

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:49:00 +0000

Quality blogging takes time. Anything we can do make it easier is welcome. Which is why I have decided to make a comprehensive list of tools that make our blogging life easier. If you know of or use a tool that helps…do let me know. I will definitely look it up and list it here.

AddThis – All in one Bookmarking and RSS buttons

Audio Blogger - adds audio to your blog.

Audioblog – Audioblogging and Podcasting made easy.

Blogdesk – BlogDesk makes it easy to write, speeds up lavish processes and assists the author with smart features.

Blogjet – BlogJet is a Windows blog client for managing multiple blogs, with features no web-based blog editor can match. ( I am actually writing this blog using blogjet and I really like it. You can try it for free for 30 days)

Bloglines – Bloglines is a FREE online service for searching, subscribing, creating and sharing news feeds, blogs and rich web content.

Blogpulse – BlogPulse.com is a blog search engine that also analyzes and reports on daily activity in the blogosphere.

Blog Poll – Custom poll builder for bloggers.

Blogrolling – BlogRolling is a one-stop linklist manager for your blog or journal, helping you manage your ever-evolving linklist with ease.

Blummy – blummy is a free tool for quick access to your favorite web services via your bookmark toolbar.

Box - Store your data in this BOX and access important documents from your desktop, laptop, or even mobile phone on the go. Once you've uploaded your files to Box, you can also share them with anyone, or just keep them safe for as long as you want.(free to try)

Buttonmaker- One of the most customizeable buttonmakers.

Creative Commons – CC help you keep your copyright while inviting certain uses of your work — a “some rights reserved” copyright.

Co.mments -You post a comment on a blog. How do you know if anyone responded? Use co.mments to bookmark posts you want to follow.

ClustrMaps – Map your visitors.

Copyscape – The free Copyscape service makes it easy to find copies of your content on the Web.

Domainsbot – The domain name search engine

Ecto – Ecto is a feature-rich desktop blogging client for MacOSX and Windows, supporting a wide range of weblog systems, such as Blogger, Blojsom, Drupal, MovableType…

Favicon – See those small 16x16 px icons whenever you open a URL. You can make your own here.

Feedburner – One of those tools you just can’t afford to live without. FeedBurner is the leading provider of media distribution and audience engagement services for blogs and RSS feeds.

FeedDemon – Windows-based RSS reader. (free to try).

Feedjit – Live Traffic details.

Flickr – Host and share your photos here.

Flock – Flock is a consumer Internet business which has developed a free, next generation web browser. It simplifies social and web-based applications by bringing them one step closer to the user and integrating them directly into the browser.

Google Analytics – Metric tool to help you analyse how your blog fares in terms of who your visitors are, where they came from and tons of other stuff.

Google Reader – RSS Reader.

Google Webmaster Tools – Webmaster tools provides you with a free and easy way to make your site more Google-friendly.

Haloscan – HaloScan provides a free, easy to use commenting and trackback service for weblogs and websites, allowing visitors to leave feedback, share their opinion, or comment on the subject at hand.

Instant Domain Search – searches domains faster than you can type

Looking for useful tools..Any Suggestions?

Keyword Discovery – KeywordDiscovery compiles keyword search statistics from over 180 search engines world wide, to create the most powerful Keyword Research tool.

Keyword and Backlink Tracker - Search Engine ranking tool.
Keyword Spy - Keyword Research Tool.

Looking for useful tools..Any Suggestions?

Mint – Mint is an extensible, self-hosted web site analytics program. Visits, referrers, popular pages and searches can all be taken in at a glance on Mint's flexible dashboard. (Free to try)

MyBlogLog – Metric tool and networking site.

Newsgator – Free RSS reader and news tool.

Nichebot - Another comprehensive keyword research tool.

Overture Keyword Tool - Another keyword research tool.

Performancing – Metric tools and a place where those that want to make money from their blogs can learn, and perfect the art of making a living from weblogging.

Post2Blog – Post2Blog 3 is a FREEWARE handy blog editor with live spell-checking support for pro-bloggers.

Pingoat – Pingoat is a service that pings or notifies a number of services that keep track of weblogs and publish them.

Pingomatic – Ping-O-Matic is a service to update different search engines that your blog has updated.

PayPal – PayPal is the safer, easier way to pay and get paid online. The service allows anyone to pay in any way they prefer, including through credit cards, bank accounts, buyer credit or account balances, without sharing financial information.

Photobucket – Upload all your photos, videos, and images for free.

Looking for useful tools..Any Suggestions?

Rocketpost – RocketPost is a productivity app for blogging, designed for serious bloggers and business users.(Free to try).

Sitemeter - Website stats tool.

Sitening – A Sitening Account is free and will provide access to the SEO Tools.

Slide -Make slides of snaps you love and embed them. Slide widgets — including Slide Shows, Guestbooks, SkinFlix and FunPix — are popular on top social networking and blog platforms.

Snap -A preview tool to give readers a preview of external links on a blog.

Top 60 Useful Blogging Tools

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:49:00 +0000

AddThis – All in one Bookmarking and RSS buttons

Audio Blogger - adds audio to your blog.

Audioblog – Audioblogging and Podcasting made easy.

Blogdesk – BlogDesk makes it easy to write, speeds up lavish processes and assists the author with smart features.

Bloglines – Bloglines is a FREE online service for searching, subscribing, creating and sharing news feeds, blogs and rich web content.

Blogpulse – BlogPulse.com is a blog search engine that also analyzes and reports on daily activity in the blogosphere.

Blog Poll – Custom poll builder for bloggers.

Blogrolling – BlogRolling is a one-stop linklist manager for your blog or journal, helping you manage your ever-evolving linklist with ease.

Blummy – blummy is a free tool for quick access to your favorite web services via your bookmark toolbar.

Buttonmaker- One of the most customizeable buttonmakers.

Creative Commons – CC help you keep your copyright while inviting certain uses of your work — a “some rights reserved” copyright.

Co.mments -You post a comment on a blog. How do you know if anyone responded? Use co.mments to bookmark posts you want to follow.

ClustrMaps – Map your visitors.

Copyscape – The free Copyscape service makes it easy to find copies of your content on the Web.

Domainsbot – The domain name search engine

Ecto – Ecto is a feature-rich desktop blogging client for MacOSX and Windows, supporting a wide range of weblog systems, such as Blogger, Blojsom, Drupal, MovableType…

Favicon – See those small 16x16 px icons whenever you open a URL. You can make your own here.

Feedburner – One of those tools you just can’t afford to live without. FeedBurner is the leading provider of media distribution and audience engagement services for blogs and RSS feeds.

FeedDemon – Windows-based RSS reader. (free to try).

Feedjit – Live Traffic details.

Flickr – Host and share your photos here.

Google Analytics – Metric tool to help you analyse how your blog fares in terms of who your visitors are, where they came from and tons of other stuff.

Google Reader – RSS Reader.

Google Webmaster Tools – Webmaster tools provides you with a free and easy way to make your site more Google-friendly.

Instant Domain Search – searches domains faster than you can type

Looking for useful tools..Any Suggestions?

Keyword Discovery – KeywordDiscovery compiles keyword search statistics from over 180 search engines world wide, to create the most powerful Keyword Research tool.

Keyword and Backlink Tracker - Search Engine ranking tool.
Keyword Spy - Keyword Research Tool.

Looking for useful tools..Any Suggestions?

Mint – Mint is an extensible, self-hosted web site analytics program. Visits, referrers, popular pages and searches can all be taken in at a glance on Mint's flexible dashboard. (Free to try)

MyBlogLog – Metric tool and networking site.

Newsgator – Free RSS reader and news tool.

Nichebot - Another comprehensive keyword research tool.

Overture Keyword Tool - Another keyword research tool.

Performancing – Metric tools and a place where those that want to make money from their blogs can learn, and perfect the art of making a living from weblogging.

Post2Blog – Post2Blog 3 is a FREEWARE handy blog editor with live spell-checking support for pro-bloggers.

Pingoat – Pingoat is a service that pings or notifies a number of services that keep track of weblogs and publish them.

Pingomatic – Ping-O-Matic is a service to update different search engines that your blog has updated.

Photobucket – Upload all your photos, videos, and images for free.

Looking for useful tools..Any Suggestions?

Rocketpost – RocketPost is a productivity app for blogging, designed for serious bloggers and business users.(Free to try).

Sitemeter - Website stats tool.

Sitening – A Sitening Account is free and will provide access to the SEO Tools.

Slide -Make slides of snaps you love and embed them. Slide widgets — including Slide Shows, Guestbooks, SkinFlix and FunPix — are popular on top social networking and blog platforms.

Snap -A preview tool to give readers a preview of external links on a blog.

Comprehensive List - Free Blogger Templates

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:38:00 +0000

There is tons of stuff out there explaining how to get a blog up and running...so I am not going to go there. One of the things I was looking for as I tried to setup my blog was to change the usual one of the crowd look of my blog. I ended up looking several places before I settled on this template which I borrowed from Amanda @ Blogger Buster and modified it to suit myself. (templates below for blogspot and not wordpress or other blogging platforms).

Here's a comprehensive list of places you can get free blogger templates from:

Bloggerbuster: A definite must visit place with loads of tutorials and some some really nice customizable templates and tips to customize.

Jackbook: guy is unique..you can give him a wordpress template that you like and he will redo it for blogger for free. Kool huh!

Blogcrowds Most of the templates are available on this site. The nice thing about blogcrowds is that if you are using one of their templates and have 10 posts or more, they will send some traffic you way...or so they say.

Hackosphere This guy Ramani, has developed a template that is apparently lightening fast to download. Will need more aesthetic appeal though one can customise it.

Isnani.com 61 two column templates and 11 three column templates. Some customizable, but most fairly run of the mill templates.

Final Sense Loads of free templates.They actually have templates categorised.

Pyzam Loads of free templates to choose from. Well actually...they make you think they have several different templates, but all I saw was different background pics with the same layout. Worth a look anyways.

Blogger Templates A small probably personal collection of a few templates.

F reeblogger Templates 10 free templates with unique designs - mostly 2 columns.

Beautiful Beta 4 templates but has other useful blogging stuff like widgets and hacks as well.

BloggerTemplate.Org 8 sleek blogger templates. Mostly 2 column.

Blogger Templates- Xtasy Loads of whacky 2 column templates with different backgrounds.

Gecko and Fly 23 kool blogger templates. Mostly 2 column.

NOIPO.Org 12 two column templates.

Blogger Templates by Caz If you are still using the old blogger, then here are 12 two clumn templates..really different look form the usual.

Template Panic Has 58 kool templates, two and three columns.

Best Foot Forward.

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:31:00 +0000

Have you ever had one of those days when nothing seems to work? In the office you get overloaded with work, can't meet a deadline so the boss gets mad and ask you to stay late and finish the project... you are too tired to remember that you had to pick up some grocery on your way home...so when you get home your wife gets mad at you for forgetting the stuff...and there's nothing you can do but huff n' puff. Well, I am not going to try to decipher why it happens, but here's a tip which you can try and see it if makes a difference.

They say well begun is half done, so do make it a point to wake up the right way. Read more about that here.

As you step out of the house check for your active nadi. Whichever nadi is active set that foot out of the house first. Apply the same principle as you enter the office, your home or any other place where you want to catch the positive vibrations of that place.

If the right side is active, set out right foot first and vice-versa.

If right side is active, then take a few steps in ODD numbers to the east or north side.

If your left side is active, then take a few steps in EVEN numbers to the west or south side.

Practically speaking, if you set your right foot out of the house and EAST or NORTH is the direction you want to traverse any which way...then just keep going. But what if you want to go in the other directions? Simple...just take those few odd steps in east or north direction first and then changes directions to wherever you want to go.

In case your day at the office is already sullen and you know that more work is going to be dumped on you by XYZ, what you can do is check for your dormant nadi, take a deep breath and enter XYZ’s room setting your dormant foot inside first.Very likely…that person will take a chill pill and not dump his/her work onto you.

Once again, if all of this sounds too mundane to work, give it a shot and see if it makes a difference.

Rise and Shine...

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:24:00 +0000

Feeling grumpy and unsociable first thing in the morning? Got off on the wrong side of the bed? Maybe you did...here are some swaraodaya tips for waking up the right way.

Try to rise at least 30 mins before the sunrise. This will help your body adjust the body-temperature as per the outside environment.
Waking up after the sunrise leaves your body at a temperature lower than the outside environment and may have adverse effects.
Do you feel a song or a thought lingering in you mind all day long? Well that could be coz the very first thoughts that you think or the sounds that you hear, tend to linger in your mind throughout the day. So make it a point to think good thoughts, hear pleasant sounds.

You may visualize (manas smaran) your esta devata (favourite deity or a person) if you like.

Do not sit upright right away.

· First check which of your nadis (Surya nadi OR Chandra nadi) is active.

· To find out which nadi is active, hold a finger in front of your nose and exhale. The nostril with a stronger exhalation indicates the active nadi.

· Once you know which nadi is active, lean towards that side and wake up slowly from that side.

Hold your hand at eye level and recite shlokas like “ Karagre vasate Lakshmi” or “Samudra vasane devi”.

Looking at your hands and the recitation, will make you have more faith in your actions; make you self-confident and thankful for everything.

Afterwards, bow to the earth by touching the floor with the same hand as the active nostril. Make sure that the active side foot touches the ground first. If upon standing up, your right side is active, then take a few steps in ODD numbers to the east or north side. If upon standing up, your left side is active, then take a few steps in EVEN numbers to the west or south side.

The left hemisphere of our brain co-ordinates working of the right side of our body and the right hemisphere of the left side of our body. During sleep although our body is in inertia, the Panchapranas (five vital pranas) are still active. Doing the above kriya ensures that the sudden waking up and movement does not overwhelm our brain but rather awakens our mind-body co-ordination gently.

Finding the right nadi.

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:14:00 +0000

Most of what we will discuss here will depend primarily on which of your Nadis is active at the relevant time. To know more about what Nadis there are, please click here. You will need to know which nadi is active and which dormant. Initially this will take some getting used to and it may seem too mundane to be true. But you have nothing to lose in trying it out...

There are two ways to find your active or dormant nadi as required per the situation.

First: Inhale for each nostril separately. One nostril will seem congested and the other free flowing. The congested nostril is your dormant nadi and the free flowing is your active nadi.

Second: Exhale slightly forcefully than usual while placing a finger in front of your nose. The exhalation will be stronger from one side and weaker from the other. The stronger side is the active nadi and the weaker side, the dormant nadi.

If in either of above situations, you find both nostrils active simultaneously, then you have hit the sushumna nadi. What makes Sushumna special, is the fact that this nadi although not impossible
is difficult to secure ie; we are so busy going through the day with it's routine hectic pace that we don't even realise this nadi. Sushumna beckons spiritual growth or time for some contemplation, meditation and like. Pursuit of material needs make awareness of Sushumna somewhat difficult.

For those who would like to experience spiritual progress, since Sushumna nadi is difficult to attain and is very short-lived, three hours a day at the specific times provide the same benefits as if Sushumna nadi were active. The recomended times are sunrise, sun over-head and sunset.

30 mins before and 30 mins after sunrise - 30 mins before and 30 mins after sun comes overhead - 30 mins before and 30 mins after sunset. This is the apt time to set apart for some introspection, meditation or contemplation.

Why Breathe?

noreply@blogger.com (MitraD) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:11:00 +0000

Because each nostrils independent operation influences the body chemistry in a different way. Both right and left nostrils are connected to the opposite sides of the cerebral hemispheres and the olfactory lobe. The nose is in direct contact with the hypothalamus by its link with the olfactory lobe of the brain. The hypothalamus is a part of the limbic system, associated with emotions and motivation. By the process of respiration, our nostrils are connected with neuromotor responses and consequently with the nervous system. These neuromotor responses influence the hemispheres and the activity of the brain which is chemical in nature. Neurotransmitters are the brain's chemical messengers and the messages they relay are responsible for our bodily functions.

Now that we know why we breath, have you ever observed your own breathing pattern? If you have, you probably already know that there is a certain cycle to it. Each nostril remains actively functional for about 1 to 1.5 hrs depending upon the individual. Then you have both nostrils working simultaneously although this lasts for a very short time, 1-5 mins. The pattern repeats constantly throughout our lives.

There are three dominant swara, also known as nadi (Nadi is flow of pranic energy in body).

Ida Nadi or the Left Swara

Pingala Nadi or the Right Swara

Sushumna Nadi

The Ida Nadi is the breath that flows through our left nostril. It signifies Shakti - a Lunar principle that represents the power of Moon and is considered feminine in nature. It influences the right hemisphere of our brain and is connected to lunar, emotional, peaceful, mellow and visual activities.

The Pingala Nadi is the breath that flows through our right nostril. It signifies Shiva - a Solar principle that represents the power of Sun and is considered masculine in nature. It influences the left hemisphere of our brain and is connected to solar, rational verbal and more energetic activities.

The Third Swara or Sushumna is said to be active when the Left and Right Swara flow together. Most people go through the day without even realizing Sushumna. For those who do notice it, it is a very short period of 1-5 mins. Those few minutes mark a transfer of energy through a thin sheet of membrane called the Corpus Callosum which conducts the energy from one hemisphere to the other. It is located at the center of the spinal cord and represents pure consciousness (Shiva). Sushumna indicates non-attachment to the mundane things which is why no worldly actions are recommended during this period. It is good time to meditate or for some serious contemplation.

References:
http://www.sanatansociety.org/yoga_and_meditation/swara_yoga.htm

http://satyamyoga.com/swyoga.htm