An Hour for Mother Earth

Lights went out at tourism landmarks and homes across the globe on Saturday for Earth Hour 2009, a global event designed to highlight the threat from climate change.

From the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and London's Houses of Parliament, lights were dimmed as part of a campaign to encourage people to cut energy use and curb greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.Organizers said the action showed millions of people wanted governments to work out a strong new U.N. deal to fight global warming by the end of 2009, even though the global economic crisis has raised worries about the costs.

"We have been dreaming of a new climate deal for a long time," Kim Carstensen, head of a global climate initiative at the conservation group WWF, said in a candle-lit bar in the German city of Bonn, which hosts U.N. climate talks between March 29 and April 8."Now we're no longer so alone with our dream. We're sharing it with all these people switching off their lights," he said as delegates and activists sipped bluish cocktails.

World emissions of green house gases have risen by about 70 percent since the 1970s. China has recently overtaken the United States as the top emitter, ahead of the European Union, Russia and India.

BILLION PEOPLE TAKE PART

The U.N. Climate Panel says rich nations will have to cut their emissions to a level between 25 and 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to avoid the worst effects of warming. Developing nations will also have to slow the rise of their emissions by 2020, it says.

Australia first held Earth Hour in 2007 and it went global in 2008, attracting 50 million people, organizers say. WWF, which started the event, is hoping one billion people from nearly 90 countries will take part.

"The primary reason we do it is because we want people to think, even if it is for an hour, what they can do to lower their carbon footprint, and ideally take that beyond the hour," Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley told reporters at Sydney's Bondi Beach.

In Asia, lights at landmarks in China, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines were dimmed as people celebrated with candle-lit picnics and concerts.Buildings in Singapore's business district went dark along with major landmarks such as the Singapore Flyer, a giant observation wheel.Other global landmarks that switched off their lights included the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the Reserve Bank in Mumbai, the dome of St Peter's Basilica in Rome, Egypt's Great Pyramids and the Acropolis in Athens.

18 Awesome Wallpapers and their Swatches !!!

Hope you guys enjoyed my last tutorial.I was quite busy last month as we had our college Cultural festival, KurukSastra '09 and a Conference (NCRAMT). I was searching for a inspiring and a good looking wallpaper for my laptop 'coz my friends were cursing the previous picture that I had. I ended up in a site where they had these wonderful collections.I made a compilation using some I already had and few new ones.Then I thought, Why not do a favor to our visitors by uploading the color schemes along with it ? And now I'm giving you the cool collection of 18 desktop backgrounds along with their swatches (ACO file). As the total size is pretty big for uploading in googlepages, I have split the collection into 3 parts containing 6 wallpapers each. Just in case you didn't know how to use it click here .

• Part I
• Part II
• Part III

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Make a Card for your Valentine : Photoshop Tutorial

I've been working with photoshop tutorials for quite some time. Now its time for me to some share some of my knowledge. I've combined several tutorials along with some of my ideas and designed a type of e-card or a wallpaper, however you may call it. Follow the tutorial and blend in some of your experience too to get a wonderful card for your valentine ;).

Step 1:
Open Photoshop.
File>New or Ctrl+N.
Create a 1024px X 768px and have the default settings for the rest.


Step 2:

Click on Gradient tool and choose foreground and background colors to this #fc5181 and #ff0049 respectively. Choose linear gradient and hold shift and fill the layer as shown. You can also try different colors but just make sure they don't vary much to get a neat gradient.



Step 3:

Make a New Layer.Use your pen tool and draw neat curve. Then right click and select Make Selection. Take a soft brush of size 400 or 500 with white color and then gently apply it near the selected part. Make sure you don't make it too white. Then convert the layer into Soft Light. You should be getting something like this. Don't loose the selection you'll be needing it later.



Step 4:
Invert the selection by pressing Ctrl+Shift+I and then use the same brush and apply a very light white shade. This time don't change the layer blending option. You'll get something similar to this.



Step 5:

Create a New layer and use you pen tool and draw a neat curve on it. Then fill it with #f73f74 color.



Step 6:
Select the entire layer that we created in step 5 and use 'move' tool. By holding Ctrl move the layer a little bit. This will select only the places where your image is present. Restore the image back in its previous position. Then create a new layer and invert your selection. Use a black soft brush of 500px that we used before. Create a light, black, shadow kind of background. Then in a new layer invert the selection and use the same black brush. Make a light shadow over the curve. Then change the layer's blending mode to overlay.


( After applying black shadow)
(After Overlay) Step 7:

In a new layer use custom shape tool and select heart shape. There is one more shape called heart card don't use that. I feel its sort of bulky so go with the former one. Draw hearts of different sizes and rotate some of them as you wish. Make sure you maintain good distance between them. Then select all the hearts and right click and then select stroke path. Make sure Stimulate pressure is enabled and stroke it. Keep the brush size between 3-5px. Decrease the opacity of the layer between 15-20.



Step 8:

Select the entire layer that we created in step 5 and use move tool. By holding Ctrl move the layer a little bit. Make sure the image is restored in it original position. This will select only the places where your image is there. Then come to the previously created layer. Cut the hearts that come under the selection. Put them in a new layer and make a black Color Overlay. Make sure the opacity of the layer is the same as the previous one.



Step 9:
Create a new layer and draw a bigger heart with Custom shape tools as shown. Then go to blending options. Enable drop shadow. Just change the shadow color to #9f0121. Let the rest be the same. Keep 4px or 6px shadow if it looks better.



Then give outer glow with #fd7dac color and keep the spread to 0 and size to 30. Change the blend mode to Screen for the glow.



Then enable Bevel and do as shown in the image.



Your finished image will look like this. (Ignore the broken part for the time being)


Step 10:

Add some more features to your image like flowers or animals. I just drew two ants along with some extra accessories. You can apply your own creative brain to come up with a better ideas. Here I have used showcard Gothic font at the bottom and Orange LET on the top.

The Million Dollar Sorry

It is not often that you encounter apologies or confessions from people in power. But, there is someone who doesn't adhere to this rule. Guess who ~~ Barack Obama.
"I think I screwed up. I take responsibility for it and we're going to make sure we fix it so it doesn't happen again," Obama told CNN in an interview. In a setback to his two-week old administration, Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer withdrew respectively from their nominated posts of Secretary of Health and Human Services and White House's Chief Performance Officer -- both facing tax related issues primarily having failed to paid their taxes.

As if this weren't enough humbleness, the US president went on to add and i quote : "What became clear to me is that we can't send a message to the American people that we've got two sets of rules: one for prominent people and one for ordinary people. So I consider this a mistake on my part and one that I intend to fix and correct and make sure that we're not screwing up again,"

In a world where apologies are improperly made even after 14 years(intended to refer to Kalyan Singh's "apology" about the Babri Demolition), ProBlog4u salutes the spirit of the American President and hope other politicians take a lesson or two from him.

OBAMA = CHANGE?

Change? What Change?

One of the words in the google Zeitgeist of 2008, One of the most often used words in America in 2008. Whats all the Obama-change buzz about?
What is so glaringly different about the 44th President's Agenda? Well, Now that the Obama swearing in is complete, we have a lot to expect from the new President. The million dollar question is : Will the words translate into actions?

Here are a few important excerpts from Obama's agenda. Refer to http://www.whitehouse.gov/ for the full text of his speeches and agenda.

THE PRESIDENT'S AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT PLAN
With each passing day, families across America are watching their bills pile up and their savings disappear.

President Obama believes that if we do not act quickly, this recession could linger for years – and America could lose the competitive edge that has served as the foundation for our strength and standing in the world.

That's why the President has put forth an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that will jumpstart job creation and long-term growth by:

Doubling the production of alternative energy in the next three years.
Modernizing more than 75% of federal buildings and improve the energy efficiency of two million American homes, saving consumers and taxpayers billions on our energy bills.
Making the immediate investments necessary to ensure that within five years, all of America’s medical records are computerized.
Equipping tens of thousands of schools, community colleges, and public universities with 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries.
Expanding broadband across America, so that a small business in a rural town can connect and compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world.
Investing in the science, research, and technology that will lead to new medical breakthroughs, new discoveries, and entire new industries.
On January 8th, 2009 -- less than two weeks before taking office -- President Obama spoke on the need for urgent action on his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan to save or create over 3 million jobs while investing in priorities like health care, energy, and education that will jumpstart economic growth. The plan represents not just a new policy, but a new approach to meeting our most urgent challenges.


IMMIGRATION
For too long, politicians in Washington have exploited the immigration issue to divide the nation rather than find real solutions. Our broken immigration system can only be fixed by putting politics aside and offering a complete solution that secures our border, enforces our laws, and reaffirms our heritage as a nation of immigrants.

Create Secure Borders: Protect the integrity of our borders. Support additional personnel, infrastructure and technology on the border and at our ports of entry.

Improve Our Immigration System: Fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill.

Remove Incentives to Enter Illegally: Remove incentives to enter the country illegally by cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants.

Bring People Out of the Shadows: Support a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.

Work with Mexico: Promote economic development in Mexico to decrease illegal immigration.

The work is half done when it is planned. All that is left is for Obama to put his words and thoughts into actions. ProBlog4u takes this opportunity to wish Obama all the very best for his term in office.

GRADIENTS 2.0

Combination of lighter and darker shades of the same color will always be a good one.when i comes to designing a banner or the entire website theses colors come in handy. Right from softpedia.com to deviantwear.com all of them use this idea to make their site look good.Once this is done the only thing remaining is to design a good background either with patterns or different shades. To make things easier you can just load the gradient and start using it. We always welcome constructive criticism so never hesitate ;).

Click Here to download the zip file.

Report to me in case of broken link

I am also giving you this wonderful video link, the funniest star wars story ever told. You don't want to miss this.Seriously it is so funny. Click here to go right into the "action".

The Satyam Disaster

Satyam computers- India’s 4th largest IT Company has always been known for being a dedicated IT company with client lists ranging from small departmental stores in Australia to the World Bank. However, the whole world was in for a brutal shock on the 7th day of this year when its Former Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Mr.Ramalinga Raju admitted that accounts of the company were fudged to the tune of a whopping Rs.7106 crores(INR) over a period of several years.
The whole Satyam Fiasco was first noticed by the World Bank in November ’08 when they received improper responses from the management of the IT major upon asking for documentation pertaining to their business dealings with the company. The World Bank went public in criticizing the company, the response from Satyam was anything but expected: The very next day, letters signed by the former CEO were wired to the World Bank and the Media asking the World Bank to tender an apology and take back the “untrue” statements they had issued previously. This was just the beginning of the end. The next few days saw yet another interesting complication surface. It was learnt that the former CEO was on serious efforts of trying to merge two companies: Maytas(Satyam in reverse) Infra and Maytas Properties, both run by the Raju family, with Satyam in order to nullify the losses accumulated by the companies. This move was the last nail in the coffin. The board of directors were startled and turned down the acquisition in the strongest terms.
After several unsuccessful attempts to cover up the whole issue, the former CEO finally gave in on the 7th of January ’09. In a 5 page letter to the board of directors and the Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI), Mr.Raju admitted fraud and confessed that the Company’s balance sheet contained inflated cash and bank balances to the tune of Rs. 5040 crore which never existed. The Man went on to give a clean chit to every employee of Satyam and his family members except the Former Chief Financial Officer Srinivas Vadlamani.
The SEBI and Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) have launched independent enquiries into the scandal. Mr. Raju has surrendered to the Police on 9th January. The whole scandal leaves several questions unanswered:

• What is the fate of the 53,000 employees of Satyam who stand helpless in the current situation? (The word is that they might have to work without salary for 2 months, at least!)

• What punishment should be awarded to the architect of the whole scandal?


• Will any other company ever come forward to take over Satyam?(The real net worth of the company can never be calculated owing to the misinterpreted balance sheets.)

• The Scandal raises several questions about India’s corporate governance policy. Will the Indian IT market sustain the Scandal?


• Will the issue throw the $40 billion Indian IT industry into a Tailspin?

Problog4u wishes to stand by the employees of Satyam at this hour of crisis and hope the Indian Government ensures justice is done.

6 GREAT TIPS FOR GUEST BLOGGING

One of the most familiar terms used in the blogging community. What is it? What does it do? And the most of all, how will I benefit out of it. This post will circle around what guest blogging is and what you should do to become a guest blogger. Special Thanks to Darren Rowse for his articles on guest blogging. They were wonderful.

To begin with, Guest Blogging is the art of writing posts for blogs owned by others, sometimes people whom you don’t even know personally. Well, becoming a guest blogger is no big deal. All you have to do is maintain your blog with everything you have. Keep it updated, make sure every information you give is right, and most of all have it regularly posted. Once you've done this the rest is way too easy. There are several steps that make you a guest blogger.

Keep yourself ready: Visit different sites and watch for opportunities. Sometimes bloggers mention that they are going away or busy and are looking for posts. Get in touch with them and tell them that you are ready.

Be in touch: Keep yourself in touch with professional bloggers and interact frequently with them. But don't pester. Make sure you build up trust in him.

Approach: If you don't know the blogger send him a short intro of yourself and attach a back link of your site. If you can, send him some relevant information that you think might interest him. Don't bore him with too many of them. Show him that you're the right guy.

Get one step ahead: This is just a way of impressing the blogger. Send him a sample post on a nice topic that suits his type. Ask him to use it freely. If he doesn’t use it don't worry, you have your own blog to dump it in.

Make your post catchy: Use good fonts and attractive phrases. Make it in your own style do not imitate or copy others style. Sometime this might be a setback for your career. Avoid lengthy posts, make it short and simple. Be professional in approach, lest pretend.

Set yourself a benchmark: Set yourself a standard. Do not write articles that are substandard. There might been times when you won’t be able to give posts. Please refrain yourself from providing articles which may tarnish your reputation.

After reading this article if any of you guys are interested in guest blogging you are always welcome at problog4u.blogspot.com. ;).

Gradients 1.0

Its not difficult to put colors together and make a combination out of it. But the real thing lies in making a combination really impressive ,and that's difficult. This 24 gradient pack has got all the bright combos that might cross your mind when you think of good colors. For a better look, try applying a linear gradient at angle 0. I have to agree that I haven't experimented with this. So if you guys find any other method that makes it look more appealing, suggest them. Readers, this is not the end of it. I will update you with other gradient combinations as and when I try them.

Click Here to download them.
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WELCOME 09 !!!

Hi Guys,

This year things are going to be different. I just happened to browse through the internet and saw most of the sites coming out with new plans for 2009.
So we thought we should just tell you guys about our plans for this year.

* I'm currently working on my new template.
* We are going to increase he number of post by 2 per week. (Hoping that my college doesn't block blogger under entertainment)
* We are also working on setting up a site. (Oops! did I jus say that)
* Invite guest authors to write articles.
* Have competitions and prizes.
* Increase feed readers.(Which is currently 5 !!!)
* Provide you better articles instead of the boring personal ones.
* And make sure that you get the best of "EVERYTHING".

Just like that if you have any suggestions and ideas that you think should be implemented
be kind enough to leave them in comments.

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