I'm all keyed up!

I've been using Firefox for a quite some time, but I just discovered this by accident
Did you know that you could press the Spacebar to scroll the current page down one screenful?
Shift+Spacebar scrolls back up.

A further investigation (actually Googling, but I love to sound like a News Reporter) led me to this site, that lists keyboard shortcuts in Firefox, and the equivalents in Internet Explorer and Opera.

*Makes a mental note to try out all the keyboard shortcuts..

P.S. I think it's a day for Did you Know's.. my friend Anand has made a post on ways to use Gmail as an extra hard drive..

Jumping Junipers!!!

My eyes practically popped out of my head when I came across this site. Well, these crazy people want us to jump together to change the orbit of the Earth!
Whatever next!

They claim that this change of planetary positioning is very likely to stop global warming, extend daytime hours and create a homogenous climate! Hop in here to know more!

So, are you going to jump on the bandwagon? Keep your date with destiny on 20 July, 2006.

Pick me Up!!!

That's my niece! Ain't she a cute baby? I wish I could hold her in my arms..and cuddle her..

Holi Haiiiiiiii!

The festival I dread the most is round the corner. It always manages to evoke and stir up unpleasant memories. I especially remember one particular year, when I was around 8, when one of my friends poured a bucketful of gulal over my head. Some of it entered my mouth, and next thing I knew I was just retching and puking everything inside of me. Even now, I shudder when I think about the whole episode. And still I know I was lucky to walk away unscathed.
Each year we read about mishaps resulting sometimes in deaths, blindness and more. However, these mishaps can well be avoided if the necessary precautions are taken.

This festival was traditionally celebrated using natural coloured extracts from seasonal herbs. However gradually, these natural herbs were replaced by synthetic dyes, most of which contain a plethora of harmful chemicals.

Did you know that these seemingly harmless, "pleasing to eye" colours could be toxic. This is because of the presence of cheap materials like mica, acids, alkalis, pieces of glass, which not only induce skin disorders like abrasion, irritation, itching, but can impair vision, cause respiratory problems and also cancer.

Click here to learn more on how to celebrate Holi in a safe way. Click here for some special Holi recipes.

P.S Do respect the wishes of those who do not wish to participate in the festivities and this year..

Have a Safe Holi!!!

Casper-The Friendly Ghost

For months I had been grappling with the issue of how to help kids improve and present better written work. Children are often in such a hurry to complete their written work, that sometimes they end up making careless mistakes or turn in untidy work with illegible handwriting. I tried all sorts of things to solve the problem, whether it was positive re-enforcement by acknowledging neat work, good hand-writing, or work turned in with no spelling errors in class, and making other children applaud, or ‘talking’ to them about the importance of good handwriting et al. I tried all the tricks in the book, and more. Well, not quite. It worked perfectly with some children, while with others; it worked only for a short period of time. Invariably they would revert back to their old habits. Either they would compromise on speed or neatness or if both were OK, there would be lots of spelling mistakes. I had to work out some solution for this.

I thought about it for eons and drew a blank.

And voila! There it was one day. Casper- The friendly Ghost came to my rescue! I made-up an acronym for the word ‘Casper’, and used it as a set of instructions/reminder to kids. It goes likes this...

C-Check

A-all the

S-Spellings

P-Punctuations

E-Errors

wR-iting

It worked! Now after a child completes his/her work, he/ she just ‘Caspers’ it! It’s fun when kids ask each other, ‘Have you Caspered your work?’

For the past few weeks, I have been using this method successfully to encourage children in my class to present better-written work. Their written work is significantly better now.

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I’ve been toying with the idea of having an Education blog for quite some time now. When that happens, I guess I’ll re-post this one on the new site. I’m thinking for a suitable name for my new Edu-Blog. Any ideas?

Leave me alone!!!

I've always had a problem keeping pesky and nosy neighbours at bay, especially the ones who think they have all the right to encroach upon my 'free' time. :-(( Each time they see me, they launch into a tirade on something or the other. Not that I hate socializing or something, but 'small talk' certainly is not one of my strong points.

My workplace does not provide an opportunity to interact extensively with each other, since all the teachers are busy in their own classrooms. We barely get the time or energy to exchange more than pleasantries. Thank God for small mercies!

For those of you, who get bothered by colleagues who insist on telling you about the latest piece of 'gossip' or pouring out her/marital woes, when you want to get some work done, here's something for you.

On this site, you will find a funny list of body language techniques to get people out of your office and to leave you alone. I love the Thousand Yard Stare myself.

Laugh till you Cry!!!

I am not very fond of watching TV. It is a very boring exercise, especially when it comes to watching predictable and unrealistic typical saas-bahu serials, or game shows with hackneyed themes. They just fail to evoke any interest in me.

For the past few weeks though, I have been hooked on to a late night televison show on Star One. The Great Indian Comedy Show!! ( What were you thinking?)

This aptly named show has its own brand of satire with all the subtlety of beating drums. Be it a spoof on long-drawn soaps or a takeoff on a celebrity, or a take on trite everyday situations, I have tears rolling down my cheeks from laughing so much each time

It's so hilarious it will make you laugh so hard your sides hurt.Give it a try. Too, too funny!
Meanwhile watch this video Tau ke Bole which is a regular feature on the show.

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While I am on a roll with the funny/whacky/stupid, here's one on idiots!

Huh?

Teacher: Where is your pencil, Harmon?
Smart Alec: I ain't got none.
Teacher: How many times have I told you not to say that, Harmon? Now listen: I do not have a pencil. You do not have a pencil. They do not have a pencil. Now, do you understand?
Smart Alec: Not really. What happened to all the pencils?

Computer Stupidities!

I found this site that has a large collection of stories and anecdotes about clueless computer users.

Here's one of my favourites..

My friend called me up one night and asked me to help him with a problem he was having sending email.

• Friend: "I can't send any email to you."
• Me: "So what's the problem? Are you getting any error messages?"
• Friend: "No, but everytime I try to go to your email it asks me for your password, and you never gave it to me!"

It turned out he was trying to get into my Hotmail account to send me an email.

Weird and Whacky!

A friend of mine sent this site to me. A few minutes on the site and I ended up feeling very queer. It had me hypnotized for a while. It's Weird with a capital W. I found it difficult to get to sleep that night, and no, I know it was no exam anxiety.

Just make sure your sound is turned up before you check out this weird and whacky site. I have no idea what it is all about, but it sure is very weird!
Welcome to Zombo com!

I'll stick to link blogging until after my exams..