Webwatch

Geography of the Planet

http://www.planetgeography.com
It is basically developed and maintained to act as a support website for geography textbook; this website is evolved to serve as a useful resource for geography students. You can not only learn about the book and its authors, but can also access some useful web links and wallpapers. And of course if you have the textbook, then you can access almost all the features of the website.

World at hand

http://www.micro.magnet.fsu.edu/
IF you think science websites usually features loads of text, then this website will excite you definitely, because it basically features photo galleries. These galleries mostly show the world under the microscope, so you can see all that is normally not visible around you. There are cross sections of tissues, cells and a variety of such minute stuff which you thought you could only observe under a microscope.

Picture perfect

http://www.microscopix.co.uk/
Consider this website as an extension of the above. It has loads of photographs, larger in quite a number of times. The interesting thing here is that the website is more readable and less technical than the previous one. So if you’re simply a beginner in the subject, you can at least understand by viewing.

Voyage inside brain

http://www.pfizer.com/brain/
This is yet another interesting and interactive website which is dedicated to the world inside our heads, specifically our brains. You can take a whole virtual tour of your brain complete with illustrations. There is a section for teachers as well, where they can learn how to enhance their science classes on the same topic. There are various projects and activities and a free download as well.

Webwatch

All things scientific

http://www.scienceagogo.com/index.shtml
Whether you are a student of any science subject or not, it really doesn’t when it comes to website as it is both for novices as well as experts. You can read the latest news related to science and can participate in some very interesting discussions on the forums. The most interesting section of this website is “Sci Shop” where you can browse through lots of crazy scientific stuff, even if you have no intention of buying it.

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Going nuclear

http://www.chemcases.com/nuclear/
This website would definitely be of great help to science teachers who want to introduce the topic of nuclear energy in their chemistry classes. The content here is in the format of a lesson plan with clear objectives set out for a couple of classes. The topics under discussion include the origin of nuclear energy, its usage in modern weapons and the long-term effects of radiation.

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Creating media from scratch

http://www.celtx.com/overview.html
If huge and complicated software scare you away from creating your movie masterpieces and animations, then this website may help you out. Featured here is software which can help you perform a variety of functions so that you can make the perfect video or animations. Read more about what this software does, take a look at the screenshots and if it appeals to you, head over to the download section.

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Textbooks galore

http://us.geocities.com/alex_stef/mylist.html
In case you cannot get enough of mathematics in your daily life, this website will make sure you do. It basically hosts web links to a wide variety of websites all over the internet which have free mathematics textbooks and lectures. All you need to do is point, click and download. Links are categorised into general mathematics, algebra, geometry and others.

Latest on the block

MOST people who use the internet frequently are also heavy users of Instant Messaging (IM) services – this isn’t a fact, just an opinion. And even though the past couple of years have seen an increase in the number of people switching to Google Talk or sticking to Yahoo! Messenger, the fact remains that MSN Messenger still rules the roost.

This has probably more to do with the fact that MSN Messenger has been around for a long time. Besides, it is a real hassle to switch to a different messenger when all your contacts are on MSN only. Over the years, the MSN Messenger has been the victim of many a forwarded email as well as myths which are circulated around the internet without anyone ever bothering to verify them.

There was this one email some years ago, and is still being circulated, which warned readers that if they didn’t “verify” that they were actively using Hotmail by forwarding the email in question to a specific number of contacts, their account would be deleted. Consequently, they would not be able to access MSN Messenger either. People fervently proceeded to forward that email to almost everyone they knew. Not surprisingly, it turned out to be a hoax.

Hoaxes pertaining to MSN Messenger have become the order of the day. The very latest of such hoaxes plays on the very basic instinct of internet users to know who’s blocking them. One can never understand what it is with people and their desire to know whose contact list they are on and who has severed all ties with them by removing them from it. However, the fact remains that such curiosity is characteristic of IM users – whether they are in Pakistan or live in a foreign land.

It all started when mysterious automated messages started appearing sent by a contact on one’s list. All these messages said was: “Did you know you can find out who blocked you on MSN? Check it out, it’s free.” Now what is all this about finding out who blocked you (simply known as the Block Checker), one may wonder, and what does it do? Well, its precise functions cannot be traced to its original website because it has long since disappeared – probably the creators didn’t bother paying for the domain name. However, its long-term effects continue to linger.

Here, one thing needs to be categorically stated. Irrespective of what that so-called software claimed, there is literally no way to know who is blocking you on MSN Messenger and who isn’t. If you are that desperate to find out, simply get a mutual contact to check if a certain person is online. If so, then check if s/he is online in your list. If not, then you’ll know you are blocked.

Another way to discover the same thing is to use the privacy tab (Tools>Options>Privacy). Among the various functions that you can perform on this option, you can also check who has added you to their list of contacts. If the person you are looking for is not on that list, it is safe to assume that s/he has removed you from their list of contacts – hence, you are effectively blocked.

These are, to date, the only two legitimate ways of finding out who has blocked you and who hasn’t. Block checkers are of no earthly use. But then, one may ask, what are they doing on the internet and why are they so popular? The answer to the latter, of course, is that they are popular simply because internet users are not only curious, they are highly sceptical as well. If someone on their list doesn’t come online for a very long time, they begin to wonder if they have been blocked. Of course, there are people who couldn’t care less, but the number of times the Block Checker was downloaded proves that such sceptical beings do exist, even if we don’t know them personally.

Block Checkers basically play on this instinct. You go to their website and you download them – but the question then arises: what are those who created these checkers in the first place getting out of it? It’s quite simple. These Block Checkers are simply spyware in disguise. I never downloaded it so I don’t quite know if anyone managed to find out who’s blocking them. However, simply type “block checkers are spyware” in Google and analyse the search results which come up.

The results are many and most of them point to computer-related troubleshooting forums, in which participants are fervently asking what to do about these checkers since they have installed numerous spyware on their computers. Plus, the suspicious software that they do install keeps on advertising these Block Checkers to everyone on their MSN’s list of contacts.

More specifically, the Block Checker actually belongs to the AdClicker advertising program. This means that once it is downloaded and installed on your PC, it can easily collect your browsing habits; that is, the websites you frequently visit and can send this information back to the parent website. And since you are required to enter your email address to operate this software, the result is a huge increase in your spam email. Moreover, it will also result in annoying pop-up advertisements.

This Block Checker was actually also supporting other IMs as well, including Yahoo! Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger. If you dig further, you will discover that these Block Checkers actually constitute a new kind of spam which is overtaking the Internet. This is called Spam over Instant Messengers (SPIM). This is a pertinent term considering that spamming is what the software/spyware in question basically does. SPIM has been in existence for a number of years but it is only now with these sophisticated software coming on the scene, that people fail to recognise them for what they are and instead, fall for them.

However, this is not to say that parent companies of IMs are sitting idle. Microsoft has come up with a security (read privacy) update for MSN Messengers which ensures that these Block Checkers can no longer work. Maybe this is why the parent website of a Block Checker has disappeared from the scene. Its remnants are on other websites though, thus it is best to exercise caution.

In the end, it all comes down to precaution. If a software sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If you see any software making tall claims and advertising itself through your list of contacts, without their knowledge, it should be enough to raise your eye brows. In such a scenario, it is best to Google the term and see what it turns up. In nine out of 10 cases, you will find out the truth behind such software in seconds. Be a little sceptical at the right time and you’ll save yourself from falling for these spyware.

Webwatch

Hardware vs intelligence

http://www.transhumanist.com/volume1/moravec.htm
Artificial intelligence is one branch of information technology that can never fail to fascinate. A detailed paper featured on this website is also based on the same theme, with its emphasis on the fact that technologies for artificial intelligence will become more accessible and affordable by 2020. It also delves deep into what this technology really is and how it complements the functions of the human brain.

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Through the looking glass

http://www.longbets.org/predictions
There are plenty of people who love to make wild predictions about what science and technology will be able to do in the future. This website can easily be fit into same category. It contains a variety of such predictions with evidence to boot. So when you read that by 2040, 40 per cent of Americans who hit 65 will live to be a 100 years old, you will also discover why demographic data supports this claim.

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Cellular

http://www.biochemweb.org/cell_cycle.shtml
Whether you are a student of biology or that of advanced biochemistry, this website will definitely help you out if you need both basic and advanced information on human cells. Apart from the definition and various parts of cells, this website also goes into the tiniest details of all the processes taking place inside them and that of cell division. You can also go through various researches that have taken place on cells as well.

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Short circuit

http://www.interq.or.jp/japan/se-inoue/e_menu.htm
If you are an engineering student, this website will prove to be an absolute haven. Featured here are details of a variety of circuits related to electronics and how you can use certain software to make these circuits yourself. There is also a collection of data sheets which you can easily download and three-dimensional photographs.

Webwatch

Extremity unbound
http://www.extremescience.com/
There are many extremes in science: extreme weather conditions, extreme natural disasters, etc., which play havoc with the lives of people. But extremity can be interesting and so this website is dedicated to all such extremes. You can learn more about disasters like volcano eruptions, tsunamis and earthquakes, look at the world records related to these extremes and, of course, you can look at some of the extreme creatures in the animal kingdom as well.

Zipping made easy
http://krun.ch/
If you’re one of those people who constantly need to zip their documents, here’s a neat little break from WinZip and WinRar. Krunch is a relatively unknown but rather interesting online tool that you can use to zip and unzip your files. All you need to do is upload files from your PC to zip them and then download them once unzipped. The only bothersome thing is the limited number of files (10) which you are allowed to zip but even then, Krunch is a refreshing change from WinZip.

Green future
http://www.pfaf.org/
You don’t need a green thumb to appreciate the capabilities of plants. This website gives you some idea of the utilities of plants in a variety of medicinal and edible ways. This is not at all difficult; in fact, you can easily go through them and check out the top 20 plants. Not only this but you can also download the database of the species provided on the website. In all, this is a useful website, especially if you are a gardening buff.

Buttoning it up
http://www.buttonator.com/
Whether you host your own website or maintain a regular blog link, buttons are always a must-have for some much-needed promotion. This website has a very cool button generator; all you need to do is select the style of the button, colour scheme and text and your button will be generated through a mere click. However, you have to find some way of hosting the image of your button, if you want to use it as a link.

The good, bad and the ugly

IF YOU ever Google the phrase, “teacher quotes” you’ll get approximately 3,630,000 results. When you go through some of the websites which turn up only on the first page, you’ll come across some of the best words that could ever be used to pay tribute to a teacher. Consider the following examples, for instance: “What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation” (Cicero) and “those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well” (Aristotle).

Of course, words can never really do justice to a teacher/educator who plays an important part in one’s life, be it a school, college or university. One may ask then, what motivates students to rebel against their teachers? Why do they like some teachers and despise others? There are many reasons for that and one of them is incompetence.

There was a time when students had a completely devoted to their teachers. They couldn’t even imagine replacing their teacher let alone complain about him/her to the school authorities. A teacher was assigned to their class and that was the end of the story.

Now, however, there is a marked difference. Students over time have learnt to evaluate their teachers, often with a very critical eye and the result is that a teacher, who falls short of their expectations, comes under fire.

The quality of teachers is a determining factor in this regard. Previously in Pakistan, and even now in other parts of the world, teachers are selected on the basis on a very strict criterion often after they have passed a specific examination and have the necessary degrees.

With the mushrooming of private schools and colleges in Pakistan, the demand for teachers has considerably increased. Consequently, anyone, who has some free time on his/her hands and wants to make quick money in the easiest way possible way, opts for teaching. Thus, people who do not have the required qualifications start teaching subjects like science and computing, with the result that students end up learning nothing at all.

So, students are reluctant to accept whoever is assigned to them as a teacher because they believe they have a right to receiving quality education which they feel they can only receive if they have a good teacher at their disposal. But what happens when students don’t like certain teachers? What makes one teacher more incompetent than the others?

“An incompetent teacher is someone who doesn’t deliver. For example, s/he is very particular that you should submit assignments on time but will take forever to check them and make mistakes in the process. An incompetent teacher is also someone who isn’t enthusiastic enough about his/her subject, doesn’t follow up on developments in the field, and is not in a position to answer your questions; someone who speaks more of his/her personal life and achievements rather than the subject matter at hand, who is lazy and doesn’t understand the psyche of students,” says Mariam Rehan, an MBA student.

Faria Hussain, on the other hand, feels that those who enter the teaching profession just to make some extra money rather than impart knowledge are probably the most incompetent as they fail to inspire students to excel. “Teachers should equip themselves with the necessary tools to teach students,” she stated. “For example, teachers need to be well-informed and updated and should not rely on delivering the same old stuff they learnt at college themselves.”

Knowledge of the subject was cited by many students as the major prerequisite for competence. “Someone who is inept at answering questions and does not have a thorough know-how of his/her subject is definitely incompetent,” says Maria Ejaz, another student. “Attitude problems also count,” she adds.

As can be seen from the above statements, students have very clear ideas about competency or its lack thereof. Unfortunately for them, they do end up with their share of teachers who fall short of their expectations. So what do they do in such cases?

“We once had a young teacher who was my benchmark of the worst a teacher can be,” says Sarah Hassan, an Honour’s student at a well-known university. “We have a teacher evaluation form at the end of the term. I gave a very honest account of my experiences with her but unfortunately, I don’t think it worked because now she has been made a permanent teacher.”

“We have had many teachers who didn’t know what they were teaching and didn’t give us space to express ourselves. Moreover, they imposed themselves and their authority,” says Saira Shafaat. “But since we were A-level students and had a time constraint, we couldn’t exactly complain. Some of my classmates opted for tuitions and others just decided to study on their own.”

“When I was in the primary section, we had a teacher who taught only the first two rows and those who were sitting at the back didn’t follow a single word. I got my mother to complain at the PTA meeting, but it didn’t help,” complains Hira Anwar, who is now in her O’Levels.

Of course, there are students who are extremely pessimistic about the whole situation. They feel it is better to let the teacher do whatever s/he wants for the simple reason that if a teacher discovers that a rebellion is stirring within her class, those at the forefront can suffer numerous consequences. The most serious consequence which deters most students is fear of failure. Hence, students often decide to learn a subject on their own.

Bina Arshad feels very strongly about this. “Teachers usually cannot accept the fact that they are wrong. They have an air of superiority about them. Every once in a while, a student could be right but no one accepts this. And if they do, it is probably because they hold a grudge against the teacher. The problem is no one really likes criticism. If you have the gall to point out a problem to someone, you’re likely to pay sooner or later.”

However, there are schools which do try and take action at the request of students. “We had a complaint against our senior teacher and we went to complain to the headmistress. She was very understanding. But at the same time she told us she would remove that teacher only if we managed to get another one,” elaborates Faria.

Kinza Salim, a student of BE, agrees. “One of our teachers just comes in class, writes stuff on the blackboard and then leaves. No explanations are given. But whenever we complain, we are told to find another teacher on our own.”

It all comes down to a lack of good teachers. Of course, all this is not say that all teachers are incompetent. There are teachers who have gone a long way in positively influencing the lives of those whom they have taught. One sees these teachers even today, dedicating their lives to making a difference.

However, there are those who bring a bad name to the profession and it’s about time action was taken against them. It would be best to hold training courses for teachers before they are assigned to a particular class along with some sort of an evaluation at the end of each term.

So it isn’t as easy as it looks. Still, schools can take the initiative to ensure that the teachers they hire are qualified enough and have undergone some form of training. Till that time, students will continue to suffer.

(Names of students have been changed to ensure their privacy)

The ominous Ctrl-C

IMAGINE the following scenario: you have an assignment to submit on the most boring topic ever. The last thing you want to do is to go to the library to check reference material. You don’t even feel like doing any research over the internet. So you decide to take the easy way out by logging onto some essay websites and hitting Control C.

You repeat this process with several such websites, design a nice cover page and print out the whole thing to submit the next day. You know your teacher is not that tech-savvy so s/he will probably never guess that your assignment is nothing but a rip-off and you’ll breeze your way through it with an A. All’s well that ends well. End of story, right?

Unfortunately not. You have just fallen prey to one of the worst categories of websites which were conceived on the World Wide Web. These websites come under many different, jazzed-up names, with equally appealing headlines and alluring promises, but underneath their façade, they’re all the same.

They feature essays and term papers written by people like you and me. No matter which topic your teacher/professor gives you to write an essay on, you are sure to find something written on it on one of these websites, even if it comprises just a paragraph. At best, you can find a whole five to six-paragraph essay on it. They are all absolutely for free so all you do need is to hit Ctrl and C.

But before you hit those keys, stop and reflect for a while. Have you wondered why they are for free in the first place? If you have spent quality time researching on a topic, analysing it from all angles and then writing down something concrete, will you put it up online and let anyone copy/paste it for free without even giving you due credit for all that hard work? It’s highly unlikely.

On the other hand, if you know what you have written is a shoddy piece of rip-off from different websites from the internet, you won’t really mind if anyone copies it. After all, it wasn’t even yours in the first place, was it?

And therein lies the basic problem with these websites. The essays and papers grossly lack quality. Saying that the essays featured here are horrible would be the understatement of the year. They aren’t just horrible. They’re terrible to the nth degree, replete with spelling and grammatical errors. Even paragraphing leaves a lot to be desired and sometimes, the formatting of the webpage itself is so bad that you feel like closing the window immediately.

Moreover, most of the times, there is no coherence between paragraphs. One paragraph will talk about something which is completely different from the track the writer has taken in the next paragraph. This is something which can easily send your head spinning if you’re trying to read and make some sense out of it.

If you think this is an exaggeration, then check out the following sentences copied verbatim from one of the websites which was extremely popular among a group of A-level English General students a couple of years ago:

— “Computer crime first is a very new problem in our society today and it is crimes that are committed from a computer.”
— “I’m about to take up a position which is going to be deamed by some, if not all, as a terrible stand to take.”
— “That being suicide does have its merits.”
— “Why should it be looked upon as disgracefull, when some religions claim death the be the reward for people after their time on earth is done.”
— “Hacking is a process of learning not following any manual.”

As you can well imagine, almost every sentence of such essays is filled with such mistakes. There is no proper sentence structure and typos dominate the entire body of the written material.

Another problem with these websites is that the term papers and essays which they put up for free copy/pasting look as if they have been copied from different sources. If you go through the essays carefully, you’ll discover that in nine out of 10 cases, the content hardly ever relates to its title. It is as if the essay title says something and the body talks about something totally different.

Of course, this discussion shouldn’t serve to alert you to find an alternative means of copy/pasting. It is simply a wake-up call for you to realise that that what you are copy/pasting now is completely wrong in the first place. The fact is that copy/pasting is simply another name for cheating, no matter how much you try to justify it. The internet may have simplified matters but if you hit that Ctrl C key too often for your assignment, you are technically committing a crime.

The internet is there for you can find new information and assess its utility before you decide to include it as part of your assignment/thesis. One of the problems with this medium of information is that anyone can put up anything on any website. There is no accountability factor. On the one hand, it has allowed a great degree of freedom to ordinary people to get their ideas and opinions across. But on the other, there is no dearth of twisted facts and figures, which spread more misinformation than awareness.

Then, there is naivety on the part of students today who don’t even think about questioning the information they come across and include in their assignments. This unauthentic information is apparently lost on the educators and teachers who correct the essays which students pass off as their own work. This is indicated by the somewhat alarming frequency of comments by visitors to essay websites who thank the authors for their “commendable” work — between the lines it means that they got excellent grades on those papers.

Of course, it would be unfair to generalise. There are students who genuinely work hard and teachers who are tech-savvy enough to detect plagiarism. There are also websites which feature the hardwork and research of professionals. You will need to probe in deeper to find their websites but once you do, there’s no reason why you cannot rewrite in your own words any authentic information that you come across, as long as you give credit to the website and the author in your bibliography. So basically what you do need to wake up to is the fact that all those web sources which encourage copy/pasting are highly dubious. Copy/pasting may seem like the easy way out, but inadvertently, it’s spoiling your language and general knowledge. If this is the price you want to pay for your laziness, go ahead by all means. But remember that it would do you a world of good if you do your own work for a change.

Lights, camera, action!

THE simple act of writing a diary online, describing one’s thoughts and opinions, has evolved over the years to something more complex, fascinating and fulfilling. The bloggers of today are not content with simply making an account on Blogger and typing in a random entry every now and then. They want to do something more.

And this is where video blogging (or vlogging) comes in. The content of a video blog is essentially video clips which have been shot by the blogger in question. These clips can either be personal and completely random or they can follow a particular theme; for instance, education, environment or politics, decided again by the vlogger.

Vlogging is simple enough once you get the hang of it. All you really need is a digital camera with which you can shoot the video. Once it is shot, you can transfer it to your PC via your USB and after editing, upload it on one of the many websites which allow video hosting for free. And then, all that is required is a blog in which you can post the link of the video. Your readers can easily follow the link and get the video streamed to their PCs. For additional functionality, you can add an RSS feed so that all those who regularly come to your vlog can subscribe to it.

Vlogging is a fairly recent phenomenon if the dates and events associated with it are anything to go by. It was only in November 2000 when a blogger, Adrian Miles, and Australia-based teacher, introduced vlogging. You can go through his entry at http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/vog/vog_archive/000082.html. Hs vlog can be accessed at http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/vlog/.

The very first vlog, however, didn’t come until 2004 when Steven Garfield, a Boston-based blogger, launched the first ever video blog at http://stevegarfield.blogs.com/videoblog/. It is Garfield who is considered to be the father of video blogging. To date, his vlog has a wide assortment of video clips featuring interviews, seminars and much more.

Vlogging has now caught on with the rest of the world, with vloggers being a strong virtual community in their own right. A Vlogger Conference was held in January 2005 which brought together all video bloggers and podcasters on one platform to discuss the potential of this new and very exciting form of communication.

In May 2005, the present hub of video blogging was born. That was the month in which a preview of YouTube (www.youtube.com) went online. In the following months, YouTube become a raging success. People not only used it to video blog, but they also uploaded many different programmes from the mainstream media to share with their friends, something that resulted in copyright lawsuits for the YouTube management. However, YouTube is still surviving and a popular choice for those who want to upload their video clips or watch them at ease.

As the situation with vlogging now stands, video blogging is not just a fascinating way to interact with the rest of the world, it is highly effective too. It is basically doing away with the power that people in the mainstream media have to choose what information should be disclosed to the people and what should be withheld.

With video blogging, this power lays in hands of the public. An average person going about his business on a routine day can shoot whatever he deems would be interesting, informative and entertaining to his audience and put the video up for the entire world to watch at its leisure. There is the accountability factor too. One can also shoot all those things going on in the society which shouldn’t be and use the videos as evidence. At its best, this alternative medium is actually empowering people.

But the question remains, is this trend popular in Pakistan?

“Regrettably, there are no video bloggers in Pakistan, as per my knowledge,” says S.A.J. Shirazi, a prolific blogger. “I sometimes see videos posted on Adil Najam’s blog or Asad Raza’s blog – both are expatriates. Adil Najam cross-posted a video on my blog in his August 14 post as well. But that does not mean that they are necessarily video bloggers.”

This indicates that, unfortunately, the rate at which video blogging is diffusing in Pakistan is rather slow. There can be a variety of reasons for that, the major one being, of course, that many people simply aren’t familiar with the term video blogging and its advantages. In a country like ours, where internet literacy is already low and out of that only a handful of people have chosen to blog actively, the fact that video blogging hasn’t caught on doesn’t really come across as a surprise.

Even so, it is a pity, especially when one considers the potential for video blogging in the Pakistani context. We are living in a world where Pakistan constantly comes under fire in mainstream media for various reasons. Video blogging can actually be a very good way of dispelling some of the myths about Pakistan that people from other countries believe to be true. The advantage of video blogging is that the videos don’t really have to be about celebrities or “cool” hangout places. The videos can feature the daily lives of ordinary people going about their routine work, random people talking in public buses as if they have known each other for years, shopkeepers haggling with fussy females or the whole city preparing for some festive occasion. They would all be ordinary videos but they would give off a very strong message that ours is a country just like any other. People here actually have a life and they don’t go around wearing bullet-proof vests and brandishing weapons at those who don’t agree with them.

Another benefit is that many people who come online can’t really read the extensive text on webpages or blogs without getting a severe headache. A blogger who is simply writing has to consider keeping his entry short and to the point. In contrast, a video blogger has the advantage of letting his audience see what he has to say.

In the light of the above reasons, vlogging does seem like a promising addition to the world of blogging in Pakistan. All one requires is some time and effort. For those who want to disseminate information which would never find a place on the airwaves, here is a fast and convenient way to reach out to a large number of people.

Webwatch

Path of the moon

http://mistupid.com/astronomy/moonphase.htm
Yes, we all know the path of the moon and have studied it numerous times in the science classes. But how would you like to see its simulation on your PC? Check this website out which has an animation showing the moon going through different phases in a month. There is a great deal of related information as well on the solar system and orbits of planets in case you are interested in astronomy. So do visit this website to learn more on the subject.

Safety first

http://www.foody.org/atomic/atomic01.html
With countries around the world becoming embroiled in one conflict too many, the information on this website is something that is worth looking at. Basically this website will tell you how you should protect yourself when your city is being bombed by keeping organised and defending yourself effectively. It also delves into the way it works and the scale of its destruction along with various lesser known facts about atomic bombs. This website is definitely worth taking a look at in this day and time.

Monopolising Monopoly

http://www.tkcs-collins.com/truman/monopoly/monopoly.shtml
Are you a die-hard Monopoly fan yet keep losing one game after the other? This website will let you know how a simple program written in C and the way knowledge of basic mathematics can help in figuring out the probability for each square and income. It’s a bit technical but if you are really into monopoly, read through the whole thing, and relive your experiences of Monopoly.

Goodies galore

http://www.ventrella.com/
This website has something of everything. You can simply point and click to download an array of stuff from interesting Windows programs to animations and simulations on scientific phenomena. There are detailed notes and technical details provided with each so you can figure out exactly how a specific tool was developed and how it works.

Webwatch

Supplies galore

http://www.flinnsci.com/search_MSDS.asp
Short of supplies for your research laboratories? This is one website where you can get all the information on the latest supplies that are available for laboratories. All equipment and supplies are divided into different science categories which makes it easy to identify what is required. So whether you are looking for basic or more advanced stuff, everything is easily available here.

High voltage projects

http://www.electronicpeasant.com/
The voltage is definitely running high on this website. Featured here are a variety of electronic gadgets made as part of advanced electronics. You can go through them and read up on their functionality. But a word of caution: do not try making them yourself if you are a student. If you are a researcher, however, then it’s a different story. There is a whole section on do-it-yourself projects for you to check out.

Tutorials all around

http://www.totaltutorial.com/
When it comes to computers and the internet, you can never learn enough. There is always something new and exciting out there to master. This website has loads of tutorials on a wide variety of topics related to computer software and the internet. You can use these tutorials to learn almost anything from new programming languages to making your website interactive.

Science trick

http://pomonahistorical.org/12times.htm
How do you fold paper in half 12 times? Believe it or not, this is actually a paper folding problem which has baffled mathematicians for years. But now a student, Britney Gallivan, has solved this puzzle. You can go through this website to discover what exactly the problem is and the mathematical equations that have been used to solve it.

Mass media on the web

ONE consequence of contemporary technology is that differences between various mass media are gradually diminishing. There was a time when dramas and sitcoms were the domain of television. Now it is a different story altogether.

Media forums, and official websites of television channels, are all the rage. Put together, they ensure that the average television viewer goes beyond the idiot box and delves a bit more into whatever s/he chooses to watch. The internet, of course, has made that job extremely easy.

Let’s start with media forums. There are many reasons why you may miss a few episodes of your favourite soap or sitcom when they are aired on television. So what do you do?

Of course, you can watch reruns that are aired at various times during the day. But sometimes the timing may not jive with your schedule. What next? With the proliferation of media forums and websites, you can simply go online and download your favourite episode to watch at your own leisure.

There are many websites, with more mushrooming by the day, which have members geared up to providing media content to internet surfers. These members watch the show, tape it and then upload it to many of the free video-hosting websites that are available. They then post the link on the website of the forum where users may download it free of charges.

And in case you are wondering how in the world can anyone manage such large downloads, things have been made easy with all the download accelerators and video downloader software that are available. And if you happen to visit some of the websites hosting videos of media content, you will notice that the number of downloads will be well over a thousand. This means that the file size is no longer an issue.

So what’s the advantage? First and foremost, this is a wonderful way of watching everything at one’s own convenience. Plus, there are days when the timings of different programmes clash, thanks to the wide range of channels.

Also, one is not bound by the timings of the programmes. Downloading can be done at any time. And the downloaded versions, though low in quality, are always free of advertisements which does save a lot of time.

Moreover, if one visits these forums, one finds that most of the internet users there are Pakistanis living abroad. Since most of them cannot subscribe to all Pakistani channels, they do the next best thing, which is downloading and watching programmes on their computer.

But there is the very important underlying issue of piracy here. There is talk of software piracy and books’ piracy, but what about film/television piracy? One can’t help but doubt whether these websites which are either offering free downloads of Pakistani dramas or streaming them to their users are actually making payments to the concerned production house. Also, why would anyone bother subscribing to a channel when they are getting all the content right there on the websites?

However, the average internet user is concerned only with content. Issues of piracy are lost on most people, who simply want to watch all media content that they can get free and at their convenience.

But one shouldn’t belittle these media forums because of piracy. They are actually a wonderful means of interacting with fellow Pakistanis on issues relating to mass media and their content. One cannot only discuss a specific drama serial or its characters but can go a step further and talk about why dramas are declining, why all nauseating soaps are so popular and why the comedy isn’t funny?

The comments of expatriate Pakistanis regarding Pakistani private channels make for an interesting read. It is apparent that these expatriates do not feel that the private channels are airing anything worth watching these days. And they use online forums to get their opinions across to a more media literate audience.

It is also these very Pakistanis who actually mobilise the audience. When a well-known private channel started telecasting Indian soaps, there was an uproar on the forums. There were quite a few people who discussed the issue, voiced their strong opinions and then not only did they send emails to the concerned channel, they made sure everyone else did the same. In this way, forums can build public opinion.

When it comes to online media, the official websites of private channels have also played their role. Internet users can watch promos of the programmes on these websites, view picture galleries and, of course, check the schedule of the numerous reruns. A great feature of these websites is the feedback option available. Now users can communicate directly with the media personnel through their websites and voice their issues and concerns. Some websites also offer a free download of the title tracks of various dramas.

Not to be left behind, production houses now have separate email addresses for every programme of theirs which goes on air. At the end of the credits, they invite feedback through an email address and this, of course, is another convenient way viewers can let their opinion known to the content providers of mass media. When one can send out a dozen forwarded emails a day, why not send one to the concerned production house?

Hence, it is the contemporary media websites and forums which have changed the entire concept of a media audience. There are now many different ways that one can use to relay their voice of dissent or encouragement directly to the production house or channel. The concept of silent and personal bashing is fast disappearing.

So the next time you see a drama or soap and think you would rather have done something else than watch it, log on to any of the official websites or forums and let the concerned people know that you didn’t like it. Voice your opinion and give your suggestions. There is, now, no excuse for being passive.

Unions be gone!

IT was the second semester of the 2005 academic year at the University of Karachi. The semester examination was well under way. In the Department of Geology, however, the chaos prevailed during the exam when a student who was refused admission into the examination room, came with his gang and beat up a teacher.

This incident received widespread condemnation from both the students as well as the teaching staff all over the city. But it was only when the Karachi University Teachers’ Society (Kuts) sprang into action and demanded immediate disciplinary action that the student involved in this incident was rusticated.

This incident is one out of thousands where one appreciates the existence of unions and associations that are formed by teachers in educational institutes. In many cases, these unions are the sole respite of the teaching staff, a platform which is exclusively theirs, from which they can stand up on certain issues and take coordinated action. Simply put, a union gives teachers representation in any educational institute.

Unfortunately, it is these very unions that are now under attack thanks to the government of Sindh. On July 21, 2006, a notification issued by the Sindh education department effectively banned all forms of unions formed by its employees. These employees, unfortunately, include teachers as well, which means that unions for teachers of government-run educational institutes along with those which come under the district governments are now illegal (Dawn, July 22, 2006)

In the aftermath of this ban, many different associations formed by teachers have issued statements condemning this unjust clampdown. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Pasban, All-Pakistan Professors and Lecturers’ Association and the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) are some of the bodies which have termed this ban as unjust and a means of further weakening the position of teachers who are already working in deplorable conditions.

In the wake of such extreme action, one is forced to ask the obvious: what have the unions done to merit such severe laws against them? In the ‘80s, it was the student unions which bore the brunt of oppressive educational policies when they faced a complete ban. Now, it seems, the noose has tightened and teachers’ unions have come under attack.

In this regard, the notification issued by the Sindh education department has cited various reasons for banning teachers’ unions. According to this notification, these unions were being misused by teachers. For example, teachers often went on strikes as a reaction to the government’s inability to meet their demands. In fact, according to well-placed sources, they often employ this method of non-cooperation as a way of negotiating for higher salaries.

It appears their concerns are not entirely misplaced for sometimes, unions do stand up for rather strange causes. A case in point is that of a female student appearing for her LLB examination in Karachi University who was allegedly harassed by a few employees. When students intervened and beat up the culprit, the employees’ union staged a protest, left their duties and threatened dire action. It is bizarre cases like this that show that employees’ unions do have the ability to misuse the power given to them.

Of course, one can’t help but wonder if unions are really as bad as they are made out to be. Many believe that unions, even though they may stand up for the wrong cause at times, are an absolute necessity in any educational institution and so, this sudden ban is really uncalled for.

Among teachers, there is a consensus of sorts — maybe unions have been banned because they were the sole voice of dissent on some of the policies pursued by the Sindh education department to date. The process of recruitment of teachers in government-run educational institutions which began during the previous city government’s rule was abruptly ended by the present regime. Bribery, political appointments and personal contacts are playing an increasing role in getting people employment in the educational sector. Moreover, there is a huge imbalance in the strength of teachers across different schools. In some public schools, there are 20 teachers for 25 students. In others, there are no teachers at all.

Teachers’ unions constitutes one group that actively pursues these issues and is all for a massive reform in public sector education and a quick look at some of the major events in the past few months confirms this. For instance, on April 29, 2006, more than 7,000 college teachers across the province went on strike to protest vandalism in Karachi’s colleges and the inability of the Sindh education department to deal with the perpetrators (Dawn, April 30, 2006).

But apparently, this form of protest didn’t go too well with the higher authorities. Instead of paying heed to the root cause of the dissent and trying to eliminate them, they decided to attack the unions and silence them once and for all.

Another opinion which prevails is that unions and associations of teachers are really a non-issue. They exist, hold their meetings and give their statements to the press. It is best to leave them as they are. This school of thought believes that there are more important matters related to education in Sindh. There are other atrocious and widespread practices like cheating, for instance, which need to be banned first instead of unions.

Specifically, some teachers, when approached had the following to say:

“There shouldn’t be a ban on teacher unions because teachers have rights, too, and unions help enforce those rights,” stated Zareen Ahmed, a teacher at a private school. “Of course, when we talk practically, some unions are used for a political purpose. So you never know.”

According to Zainub Qaimkhani, a teacher at a religious school, this is “really a non-issue. Teacher unions don’t have any constructive role as such.”

Students, however, have mixed views on the subject.

“I haven’t really been following the news but in my opinion, of course, there shouldn’t be a ban on teacher unions. They get paid such a meagre salary. They have a right to form unions. I say it’s absurd to put a ban on such unions,” said Sarah Abdul Rehman, a medical student.

Bushra Anwar, a Bachelor’s student, voiced her thoughts on the subject: “It depends on the institution. In schools, unions might be troublesome because those are smaller and closely run set-ups. But in universities they are needed because that’s where the administration is ineffective.”

Mahwah Ajaz, a Master’s student is in favour of the ban. “I feel it is a good decision. Unions are being used for entirely the wrong reasons. It is a good thing to have a stronger hold on pressure groups’ activities,” she said.

Nayyara Rahman, a business student, concurs. “I don’t know when and why the ban was placed. But I do feel that it’s about time some checks and balances were imposed. Of course, the ban will squash the freedom of expression, but it will also prevent malpractice and exploitation of already-depleted resources. It will put the greedy teachers in their place and will make sincere and devoted people truly stand out.”

At this point in time, one is again reminded of student unions and the useful role they were playing, not only in channeling the energy of the youth towards a constructive activity, but also in producing future political leaders. Once the ban on them was put in place, the entire process went haywire.

Of course, political groups exist all the same but since there are no official union elections, there is no central authority to control them. The results are clashes between different groups, resulting in strikes in public sector educational institutes. More than a few students have been critically injured and a few innocent ones have even lost their lives.

Banning all unions, no matter what the reason, is extreme behaviour. Granted that unions often give people reason enough to pull their hair out in frustration but removing them from the scene altogether won’t really solve anything. At best, it is going to give those at the helm of affairs a false sense of security but the political climate in educational institutions will steadily deteriorate, just the way it has happened because of the so-called ban imposed on students’ unions.

Myron Lieberman, author of the book The Teacher Unions, once said: “Let us not forget that teacher unions were established to promote teacher welfare, not educational achievement.” With the ban on teachers’ unions, here in Pakistan, the well-being of educators is threatened.

Webwatch

Engineering blues

http://www.efunda.com/home.cfm
For all professional and would-be engineers, this website is an absolute godsend. There are links to publications and software related to engineering. Plus, there are forums where registered members can interact with engineers from all over the world. There is also a wealth of information categorised into different engineering-related topics like formulas and mathematics.

Views and news

http://www.cbc.ca/science/
Don’t get enough science-related news? This website will definitely satisfy your curiosity about what’s new in the world of science and health. Featured here are detailed news reports on things like avian flu, tsunami and stem cells. Also worth reading are the opinions of different columnists writing for their own sections.

How‘s my page?

http://v03.browsershots.org/
How many times has it happened that you have designed the perfect website or web-page only to be told that it is looking absolutely horrendous on other browsers? Bookmark this website to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. All you need to do is enter your URL and this website will show you how your work will look on different browsers. You can then adjust your source code accordingly.

Tracking business

http://www.n2yo.com/?s=23192
Have you ever wondered what sort of pictures do satellites send back once they are in space? Here is your answer. Featured on this website are a number of satellites and you can see real time photos which they are capturing right now. You can also go through the news and analyses featured at the site.

Does your PC need help?

It is impossible that your PC doesn’t act up every once in a while. Everyone’s PC loves to act up — whether it is a problem of the computer shutting down every five minutes, browsers not working (where messengers are), pop-up windows appearing every two seconds, the computer slowing down to an almost agonising speed, and so on.

Those of us who are computer-literate to the point of efficiency can easily locate the problem and solve it. The majority of us who are not so fortunate have to dissemble the PC, load it into the car and cart it off to the nearest computer shop, where we are politely told that our hard drive will have to be re-formatted for the problem to be solved. No matter what the problem is, every time the PC has to be re-formatted. But, is it really so?

If you know the symptoms, then you can easily locate the problem yourself and hunt down the solution through a search engine. There isn’t any hard and fast course on “Tracking down the symptoms of an infected PC and dealing with It.” But there are loads of websites which you can visit any time your PC looks like its come down with something (except when it is facing browser problems). That’s when you’ll have to rely on your friend’s or library’s or computer lab’s PC.

The best website to begin learning more about computers and related problems is http://computing.net/ . A very comprehensive website, this one has clearly categorised sections for efficient browsing. If you are researching certain symptoms your PC is showing, then the best section to visit first is the forums’ section. The different forums are categorised by the Windows’ Operating Systems as well as Linux, Unix, DOS etc. There are separate rooms for security and virus and gaming as well. Once you’re in the appropriate room, simply scroll through the messages to determine whether or not your area of concern has been covered already or not. If it hasn’t, you can simply register yourself as a user, and post your query. And someone will definitely solve your problem.

If, however, you want to learn a thing or two about computers in general then the “Articles and Opinions” section containing a range of the same written by technology experts and analysts will definitely suffice. Then, there is an extensive how-to section. If you find that installing or updating certain software caused your PC to ‘crash’ then better check out this section, before carrying out any sensitive action on your PC. How-to articles have been divided into simple and advanced form for your convenience. A related section is “Novice Section” where you can access how-to guides related to purchasing PC stuff, using the Internet and accessing digital music. And finally, check out the FAQ section to ensure that whatever query you are about to post on the forums hasn’t already been covered.

Another resourceful website is that of CNET Forums at http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-7600_7-5565323-1.html?tag=txt . All you need to do here is sign up to become a part of a very diverse set of forums. There are many categories here along with the standard operating system category. Some of the interesting ones include Digital Media and Design, General Help and Software. It goes without saying that if you’re stuck with your PC, the best place to point your mouse and click is the General Help Forum.

Also, there is always the Microsoft Knowledge Base website at http://search.support.microsoft.com where you can search for any specific problem or piece of information using a very elaborate input form. You can also download critical security updates for various Microsoft products as well as your operating system to avoid any virus attack or hijack attempts. Moreover, you can access help and support regarding various Microsoft products as well by poring through the troubleshooting guide and how-to articles.

A useful search engine to pinpoint problems and locate solutions is http://answerpoint.ask.com/ . Simply write down your problem in a phrase and you will be directed to the appropriate websites to get your PC scanned and download the necessary software. If you already suspect your PC of being infected with spyware, for instance, you can directly access http://www.spywareinfo.com/ for remedies, for anti-viruses check out http://www.antivirus.com — and to fight homepage hijackers and irritating pop-up windows you can visit http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html.

An important thing to remember at this point is that there are certain occasions when a hard drive format becomes inevitable. To safeguard against such a time, when you run the risk of losing your important data, the best thing is to keep a backup of all the important files. Here, Yahoo’s briefcase at http://briefcase.yahoo.com becomes very handy. With 30 MB storage and a facility to create folders, you can easily upload your files there, categorise them in folders and access them if you lose the same on your hard disk.

For more sophisticated methods of file recovery, you can check out http://www.filerecovery.org/index.html . This website details the various different ways in which you stand at risk of losing your data such as mechanical and environmental factors, and then guides accordingly as to how to create a backup file and store data. It also has a comprehensive guide on how to maintain your computer so you stand at the minimum risk of getting it infected with some unknown problems. Some of the steps mentioned here include avoiding cluttering up your hard disk with unnecessary stuff, checking occasionally for viruses and worms, and shutting down the computer properly.

Hopefully, now you won’t have to suffer through loss of important data and other multimedia stuff unnecessarily. And even when a hard drive format becomes inevitable, you’ll have a backup.

Every day is like Sunday

“PAKISTAN is a nation of holiday makers. Everyone here loves to take the day off, and students are no exception,” is the favourite refrain of a very popular teacher at a private school whose students, upon hearing these words, look at one another with guilty smiles playing at their lips. Try as they might, these students, and indeed students in most educational institutions, cannot deny the fact that they love holidays and they will never miss an opportunity to avail them whenever they can.

To this end, summer vacations have been the subject of much speculation and debate at most official education meetings. In fact, on January 3, 2006, the Sindh Education Department announced that starting this year, all schools would close down for summer vacations from July 1, and commence their academic activities from August 16. This meant a 15-day increase in summer vacations, since prior to this change, academic sessions commenced on August 1.

The decision was changed in an All-Private Schools Management Associations (APSMAS) meeting, Sindh, on June 11, 2006. The APSMAS decided that all private schools would resume their academic activities on August 1, 2006, as they had originally planned to do, the main reason for this being Independence Day celebrations and their preparations.

Not to be left behind, the Sindh Education Department swiftly reiterated that academic activities could not resume before August 16, 2006, and any school defying these orders would be penalised. To add to the confusion, the Federal Education Minister, Javed Ashraf Qazi, asked for the vacations to be extended till August 31 with all schools reopening on September 1, 2006.

But to date, the Sindh Education Department’s stance is that since they have not received any official directives from the Federal Education Ministry to extend vacations, it will stand by the original notification; that is, reopening educational institutions on August 16.

Previously, students would have been overjoyed at the prospect of having more holidays at their disposal. Now, however, it is a different story altogether: “I am not at all happy with the extra holidays and I sure hope the authorities don’t increase the vacations to three months. Two-and-a-half months are bad enough,” says Fatima Ahmed, an O-Level student.

One can’t help but wonder why students like Fatima would feel this way about more holidays. “Statistics has been made compulsory in our curriculum, and the Cambridge Board only offers that subject in the October-November session. There is no way we will be able to complete that course in time for the exam. Besides, my school year is still going to end around mid-March after which I will get study leave, so I am going to be left with a shorter academic session. We must also bear in mind that national elections are scheduled to be held in January 2007, so we can all expect a lot of unscheduled closures. Thus, even if the government does cut down on unnecessary holidays, there is no telling how many times educational institutions may have to be closed down due to our country’s law and order and political situations,” explains Fatima.

Asma Jabbar, a teacher at a private school, voices similar concerns: “All these extra holidays are a waste of time and are making the students lazy. Most students while away their time, watching television all day because their parents cannot afford to take them on a vacation out of town. So overall, students become more unproductive in their free time.”

Then, there are parents who feel that extensive summer vacations are only going to make matters worse. “Personally, I find this appalling. Schools have been made to close on the smallest of pretexts throughout the year anyway, whether it was to celebrate winning a cricket match or giving our government a winning hand in their games of politics,” laments Atefa Jamal, mother of school-going children. “Not only does lengthening the vacations make things inconvenient for the schools, but the kids have to then forfeit their Saturdays to go to school to make up for lost time, and parents must rush around to find out whether the schools are open or not.”

Atefa completely agrees with the fact that all these holidays will give rise to a lazy generation. “By constantly giving our kids days off, aren’t we breeding the next generation to be lazy? Can we hope that our future generations will bring a positive change to our country when we are programming them to become slobs?” These are pertinent questions but there are people who actually believe that some good can come out of an increase in vacations.

There are others, of course, who feel that an increase in vacations will be beneficial to them. “I am definitely glad that the vacations have been increased, simply because I am too busy with my tuitions, summer courses and sports practices throughout July. I am hoping I’ll get some time to relax in August and to stay at my grandmother’s place,” explained Fizza Hassan, student of a private school.

“I think in a country like ours where the weather conditions are at such an extreme, summer vacations must be extended,” opines Maryam Masood, an ex-student. This is a valid point, considering the fact that it is not only the blistering heat which goes on till August, but also the monsoon season which is in full swing, causing hassle to the students and parents alike.

Fatima Saleem, who has just taken her matriculation exams, pointed out the dilemma of class nine students and the importance of an extended summer break to them. “Extending summer vacations this year was what the students of class nine deserved. They had their exams in mid-June and now their practical exams await them. If the vacations hadn’t been extended, they would have had only around 25 days left to relax and enjoy.” Other reasons cited in favour of the extension include the travelling factor. Many students go out of the city or country during vacations and the two-and-a-half months allotted for vacations allows them more flexibility and convenience.

However, in spite of its advantages, increasing summer vacations at a time when schools already have suffered from unscheduled closures owing to the unstable political environment in the city shows lack of foresight and planning among the powers that be which control the system of education in Pakistan. Consider the current year, for example. Schools are still trying to cope with the damaged caused because of the reopening of schools after an extended winter vacation on January 9, 2006, which were closed immediately afterwards for Eid holidays along with holidays on strikes and after Pakistan team’s victory in cricket matches.

The fact of the matter is that teachers have their courses to complete and exam papers to set. When the course isn’t completed on time, students either have to finish it on their own or rely on the mushrooming substandard coaching centres. Sometimes, teachers shorten the courses themselves which means that students are learning less than they should in a given academic year.

With all this in mind, one is forced to wonder why education suffers during crises. Ours is a country with one of the most atrocious literacy rates in the world and it is about time there was some semblance of order where educational decisions are concerned. Unfortunately, the situation is only going downhill by the day. Today it is a question of summer vacations. Tomorrow, there will be another issue to deal with, one which will cause further misery to students, teachers and parents.

Webwatch

Information on satellites

http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/satellite.html
Have you ever wondered about the function of satellites? Look for answers on this website, which is a haven for people who are interested in astronomy and extraterrestrial life. The site provides information on a number of satellites. Click on the picture of a satellite and you will be able to see pictures of our planet as seen from that satellite.

All about plants

http://plantfacts.osu.edu/
If you are interested in botany, here is something which will keep you busy for hours. Some of the site’s interesting features include a search engine, a glossary of horticultural terms and how-to videos related to gardening. Developed by the Ohio State University, this is one website that will give you a green thumb if you do not have one.

Going nuclear

http://simplethinking.com/home/nuclear_weapons.htm
Nuclear weapons, nuclear testing and nuclear technology — these are some of the words that have come to dominate news bulletins night after night. So what do these terms really mean? Check out this website, which features a very basic look at the fission and fusion processes and how they are used to produce nuclear weapons.

Creating backgrounds

http://bgmaker.ventdaval.com/
Are you a webmaster struggling with the look and feel of your website? This site should make your life easier. Using this tool, you can select ready-to-use backgrounds in various sizes, colour schemes and textures. You can customise them to suit the content of your website. The best part is that it is absolutely free.

Double-click

HERE’S a little something that teachers and students can indulge in while browsing the internet:

Knowledge is power

This is a multi-purpose website, catering to both students and teachers. Students can access revision guides for a variety of subjects, interact with other students and play educational games. Teachers can download audio and video clips for use in the classroom, read educational news and go through lesson plans on various subjects.

www.bbc.co.uk/schools

Pictures worth many words

If you thought there was no way history could ever be made interesting, here is a website which will dispel such myths. Whether it is about Egypt, Greece or the Vikings, be prepared to embark on an illustrative journey. You will have facts and figures thrown at you along the way but in an extremely fascinating and interactive way.

http://home.freeuk.net/elloughton13/index.htm

Advanced matters/b>

For the students and teachers of advanced chemistry, here is one website which will definitely prove to be helpful. It features external links to free chemistry software available around the internet. So whether you want to do chemical drawings or simulate experiments, look no further, for here is a website that will save the day.

www.sciencegeek.net/Chemistry/chemware/chemware.shtml

Street smart

Students are commonly told they must avoid slang when writing an essay or composition. Unfortunately, slang has permeated everyday language to such an extent that, at times, one is not even sure which words fall in this category. This website, featuring a dictionary of slang, should make things easier.

www.peevish.co.uk/slang/news.htm

Webwatch

Blog improvement

http://pkblogs.com/vaspersthegrate/2005/03/how-to-improve-your-blog.html
When it comes to blogs, most people are still clueless as to what really makes them different from mainstream websites. In this blog, Vaspers the Grate has featured some helpful hints and tricks as to how one can improve his/her blog. His conclusions are based on the observation of about 250 blogs.

Safety first

http://physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/
Science students often get irked when their teachers and laboratory assistants get too strict about wearing a lab coat. But are they really as paranoid as they seem? This website presents the fundamental safety rules that science people should be observing while working in laboratories.

Proverbs engineered

http://www.multicians.org/thvv/proverbs.html
At first sight, this may seem like an odd combination. What do proverbs have to do with engineering? However, this hilarious website has some of the answers. Given here are quite a few proverbs which can easily be related to software engineering. Those who are actually in the field will be able to enjoy the wit of these proverbs more.

Still sceptical?

http://musr.physics.ubc.ca/~jess/hr/skept/
This website features a “Sceptic’s Guide to Physics”. It offers a collection of articles on interesting themes like “science and arts, not science versus arts”. Comparison has also been made between the poetry of physics and doing physics. Despite its technical nature, the articles will be of great interest to many.

Webwatch

To sum up...
http://www.opentopia.com/calculators.html
Whether you are struggling with a mathematics problem online, or trying to do one offline, this website is a must-bookmark. You will find a wide variety of useful mathematical tools ranging from scientific calculators to unit converters. So if you are stuck with long-winded calculations, just log on to this website and life will seem much simpler.

Animated biology
http://www.johnkyrk.com/
The chapter on cells is always the first one to be taught in biology. This means that if you do not understand the concepts properly, it will become increasingly difficult to understand the rest of the chapters. This website, with its animated videos, will explain to you the different characteristics of cells, their different parts and the entire concept of DNA.

Fun with science
http://www.hunkinsexperiments.com/
This website features a lot of experiments divided into categories like food, light and clothes. Each category houses related experiments that are easy to conduct. For instance, in the food category you can find out how to cook potatoes in the Sun, how to grow carrot leaves and how to chop a doughnut in thirteen pieces in just three cuts of the knife.

Picture this
http://www.chemsoc.org/viselements/pages/pertable_fla.htm
Who says the Periodic Table is boring? Check out this pictorial one: in order to read information, you will have to hover your mouse over the picture, and symbols and other routine information regarding the elements will be displayed, while clicking on the picture will give you more details. Chemistry is just a click away!

Double-click

HERE’S a little something that teachers and students can indulge in while browsing the internet:

Word power

If your English grammar textbook is making your head spin with all the rules, here is one place where you can actually put some of them in practice. Not only that but you can also indulge in reading comprehensions, learn the meanings of several idioms and spruce up your spelling skills. There are sections for pronunciation and vocabulary too. The only catch is that some of the worksheets are available for a fee. But why not make the most of those that aren’t?

www.english-zone.com

Poetic justice

When it comes to poetry, there are some who are interested in finding out everything that there is to know, and others who start yawning at the mere mention of the word. This website is dedicated to poems and poets which are arranged in different categories. Literature teachers can find loads of

classroom activities to make poetry more interesting and meaningful for students. www.poetryarchive.org

Mapping homework

The chances of you leaving your geography homework for the eleventh hour, only to realise at the last minute that you need an atlas are quite high, especially if you don’t like the subject too much. Well, look no further. Map Quest is a purpose-built search engine for maps. All you need to do is to enter the name of the country or latitude/longitude, if you know it. The result will give you an enlarged map of the country in question.

www.mapquest.co.uk

Death by numbers? Not quite

There are some poor souls who can never understand mathematics. If you happen to be one of them, here is one website which can help you out. Given here are several math topics like algebra and geometry with subtopics. Each sub-topic has a detailed explanation as well as examples for you to grasp the basic concepts. There is a section on games and puzzles too just in case you get tired of theories.

www.cut-the-knot.org

‘Those who can’t teach...’

Created by a teacher-educator, this website features almost everything teachers will need, irrespective of his/her subject. Apart from teaching ideas and reviews of books for teachers, there is a whole section on activity worksheets which are free to download. The worksheets pertain to a wide range of subjects.

http://home.att.net/~teaching

Live in colour

Whether you are new to the internet or are trying to explain it to a student, here is one website which will definitely help you out. Each section delves into the details of history, design, use and security. Yes, it is possible to relive the internet experience through this website.

www.livinginternet.com

Webwatch

Engineers online
http://www.web-ee.com/
For all the aspiring engineers, here something to cheer about. Dedicated to electrical engineering, this website not only features tutorials on various aspects of engineering subjects, but it also provides links to many specialised magazines and newsgroups. The site also features online calculators, forums and detailed notes on electrical components.

Downloading fun
http://www.typenow.net/themed.htm
Tired of using the same old Times New Roman and Courier New? Check out this website and let the fun begin. The website offers lots of different fonts based on movies and television shows. You can download as many as you want, but make sure that your friends do it as well, or the will not be able to read what you have written to them!

Hubble heritage gallery
http://heritage.stsci.edu/gallery/gallery.html
If you are interested in space and all the different satellites that are sent to explore it, you will definitely enjoy this website. It features photo galleries showcasing all the photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. You can also browse by categories such as solar system and galaxies.

Fun with kaleidoscope
http://www.zefrank.com/byokal/kal2.html
Here is something for you if you are really bored or stressed out. Given on this website are loads of little coloured images. Putting them in a given circle will give you really cool patterns on the kaleidoscope on the same page. The scientific reasoning behind it is also given if you are fascinated enough to find out.

(Mis)Information Guaranteed

It is the same old story. You open your mailbox to find 30 new messages. And 20 out of those turn out to be forwarded emails. They tell you to further pass on the message if you want to continue using your free email and social networking services. Some go even further, and warn you of dire consequences if you do not forward those emails.

Of course, all this happens assuming that you actually bother opening these forwards in the first place. Chances are, most of you will simply select the entire lot of them and hit the “Delete” key without giving them a second thought.

This frequency of hoax emails is only one of the virtual trends, which have caused many people to label the internet as a place where the authenticity of the information available is extremely dubious. Where hoax emails are concerned, their extent is unlimited. Unverified news stories spread like fire around the internet and you will even find people attempting to update their anti-viruses to deal with viruses and worms which do not even exist!

But what is even more puzzling is that some people actually look forward to these emails. They sign online petitions thinking they are contributing to some worthy cause when, in reality, there is no cause. They even honestly believe that Microsoft and AOL can keep a track of one email and ascertain how many people forwarded it.

Also, when it comes to spreading hoaxes, emails are not the only means under fire. Scrapbooks on Orkut () are littered with misinformation. Probably the most common and the infamous scrap was one which called on all Muslims to boycott Nestle as it is a Danish product. Very few people bothered finding out that Nestle is a Swiss, and not a Danish company.

Certain websites are also notorious in spreading rumors around the internet. Since this medium has virtually no limits, it is not humanly impossible to keep a track of who is posting what information and how authentic it really is. It is very easy for a person to make an account at Geocities () and update it with forged news. What is worse, unless someone complains, the authorities at Yahoo! would never know what is going on.

On the outset, this entire scenario may sound very funny - probably something not worth giving notice to. But there are quite a lot of naïve people out there, especially those who are new to the internet, and they fall for these mails right away. Then, there is a whole circle of misinformation since these beginner users forward these emails extensively.

Incorrect information on websites can also have very negative implications since today’s student population relies heavily on the internet to do their research work. In many instances, they blatantly copy and paste information from articles and encyclopedias around the web, without giving a second thought to its authenticity. A common belief is that if it is on the internet, it has to be true. In fact, the reverse may be true at times as well.

On the other hand, there are some forwarded emails which are very genuine, but tend to suffer because no one takes them seriously. Sometimes, there are calls for donations which are very urgent, but since a level distrust regarding forwards has developed, no one will bother forwarding them or even doing a quick check to find out if they are for real.

Resultantly, you will find people who would rather block their search engines and stick to traditional newspapers and magazines for information. But the fact remains that there are places online where you

can get authentic information. The key is to know where to find it.

For instance, websites of those traditional sources of information which are already known to be relatively more authentic than the rest can be used to verify information from other, unknown websites. These sources include the websites for BBC World and CNN, along with local news channels.

Another key to avoid using incorrect information is to recognise “wikis” for what they are. Encyclopedias like Wikipedia () are totally edited by the common people, so there are chances that the information put up there could be unauthentic.

Where emails are concerned, formula is actually quite simple. When you receive a forwarded email, simply log onto Snopes (). This is an excellent website which has compiled all the information that is forwarded on emails into categories. Within the categories, it has listed specific forwarded emails and their status, that is, whether they are true or false. You can simply search for the email content that you received and get an update on its status. If you do not find the specific email which you received, you can use an online form to submit the contents of the mail. Snopes will then evaluate that content, give it a true or false status and add it to its website.

In the end, it all comes down to actually making an effort to eliminate misinformation rather then lamenting incessantly about it. Of course, the key question which arises in this context remains: when the internet is supposed to be one place where a wealth of information is available, why do we have the tendency to add to the rate at which it is spreading misinformation?

Hot spots

The Following are a few websites that you can use to eliminate the menace of email hoaxes for good.

Hoax busters
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/
This is a very useful website which has also listed down all the hoax emails. Along with Snopes, you can use this to find out which emails you receive are hoax and which are not. Also, it will give you details on what are hoax emails in the first place.

Virus myths and hoaxes
http://vmyths.com/
Use this website to combat the threats of non-existent viruses and worms. There is absolutely no need to make the rest of the innocent internet users paranoid. When you receive a so-called virus alert, log on to this website. It has an alphabetical listing of all those viruses and worms which exist in your email inbox.

Common internet and email hoaxes
http://www.3oddballz.com/hoaxes/
This website has organised all the forwarded mail that you can receive into various categories. There are sections for junk emails, urban legends, hoaxes, rumours and virus threats. Likely chances are that a forward email you receive will fall into one or more of these categories.

Webwatch

Time to invent

web.mit.edu/invent/
How many of us have thought about inventing something on our own? Here is your chance to learn something about the legal aspect of inventions. You can catch a few tips from the Inventor’s Handout available on this website. The handout gives details for everything you need to know about patents and intellectual property rights. To motivate you, there is also a section on “Inventor of the Week.”

Let’s talk Geography

www.talkgeography.com/
If you ever thought you were “weird” because you love geography as a subject, think again. Here is a website that is totally dedicated to the discussion of various topics related to the subject. These are basically the forums where you can make an account and start posting. You will find different rooms for geography news, physical geography and human geography.

The eminent few

nobelprize.org/physics/
Did you know that the first ever Nobel prize for Physics was awarded in 1901 to Wilhelm Röntgen for his discovery of X-rays? This website is a haven for all those of you who want to learn more about the Nobel prize for Physics. You can not only read up on the different winners and their discoveries but also go through the articles which they have written.

Flying high

invention.psychology.msstate.edu/
This website will take you into the minute details of how airplanes came about. You can watch movies and view photo galleries of the initial flights. There are models of early planes on display as well. All in all, this website will definitely make you appreciate the comforts of modern commercial airlines.

Webwatch

Ask the rocket scientist
www.aerospaceweb.org/question/
Have you ever been interested in rockets and airplanes? Would you like to learn more about how they function? If yes, then log on to this website where a host of rocket scientists are ready to answer your questions. All answers are given in detail with illustrations so that you can understand the difficult concepts as well. You can also access the archives of questions put previously.

All chemicals
www.allchemicals.info/
Looking to clear a few concepts? Confused about simple terms in chemistry? This is one website which has a list and description of all the terms related to chemistry arranged in alphabetical order. A great plus for the website is that all the definitions are short and precise so that you don’t have to spend ages to find the relevant information.

Tracing mathematics
www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/
Do not let the word “history” put you off. This website traces the history of mathematics in the most interesting manner. There are categories like “Arabic mathematics” and “Indian mathematics.” In these categories the website features articles and timelines related to how mathematics evolved in these regions.

Having the last laugh
www.amasci.com/freenrg/arrhenus.html
This article may seem a bit informal when you read it first. However, it raises a very important point. All throughout history, inventions have been laughed at and ridiculed but eventually have ended up becoming a necessity. Read this article to learn all about science and scepticism.