Challengerlc » Education

Flash Floods

maddy — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 13:42:46 +0000

Floods are the most common and widespread of all weather-related natural disasters. Floods have enough power to change

the course of rivers and bury houses in mud. And flash floods are the most dangerous kind of floods, because they combine the

destructive power of a flood with incredible speed and unpredictability.

A rapid and extreme flow of high water into a normally dry area, or a rapid water level rise in a stream or creek above a

predetermined flood level, beginning within six hours of the causative event (e.g., intense rainfall, dam failure, ice jam).

However, the actual time threshold may vary in different parts of the country. Ongoing flooding can intensify to flash flooding

in cases where intense rainfall results in a rapid surge of rising flood waters.

Flash floods are just one kind of flood. There are many different types of flooding, and a few are listed below.

Coastal Flood

River Flood

Urban Flood

Flash Floods in Arroyos – An arroyo is a water-carved gully or a normally dry creek found in arid or desert regions. When

storms appear in these areas, the rain water cuts into the dry, dusty soil creating a small, fast-moving river. Flash flooding in

an arroyo can occur in less than a minute, with enough power to wash away sections of pavement.

The fall of Samurai

maddy — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:02:05 +0000

This aristocratic warrior class arose during the 12th-century wars between the Taira and Minamoto clans and was consolidated in the Tokugawa period. Samurai were privileged to wear two swords, and at one time had the right to cut down any commoner who offended them. They cultivated the martial virtues, indifference to pain or death, and unfailing loyalty to their overlords (see bushido ).

Samurai were the dominant group in Japan, and the masterless samurai, the ronin , were a serious social problem. Under the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867), the samurai were removed from direct control of the villages, moved into the domain castle towns, and given government stipends. They were encouraged to take up bureaucratic posts.

Samurai endured for almost 700 years, from 1185 to 1867. Samurai families were considered the elite. They made up only about six percent of the population and included daimyo and the loyal soldiers who fought under them. Samurai means “one who serves.”

From 1185 to 1603, samurai were kept busy fighting battles and protecting their lords and occasionally taking part in an overseas adventures. During the Edo Period (1603-1868), an era of relative peace, they became idle aristocrats at the top of four-level class system. As their power declined, the economic power of the merchant class rose.

How Google collects information about you?

maddy — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:45:46 +0000

How Many Ways Does Google Store Your Personal Information?

Think that, at this point, we all know that our data is being spread around the internet all of the time; at the very least when it comes to some of our personal information.

While we accept that some of our data is going to be available to the public, we do not like for one web entity to have too much information about us.

This is exactly why some people have reservations about Google.

Google, which was once only a search engine, now probably has one of the biggest reservoirs of personal information on the internet.

Most people that use the internet use Google and one point in time and a huge percentage of those people use the other services that Google offers as well.

These services include programs such as their GMail and Documents web sites.

Google Data Collection

With all of this usage Google is able to collect a big chunk of data about everyone who uses their site.

There are several ways that Google is able to get your information -

The first way is through the actual services that they provide as we mentioned earlier in the article.

Whenever you use a Google service like Gmail or anything else, you have to sign up.

Whenever you sign up, you are giving them explicit permission to be able to keep and store your information. And when you use these services, they keep track of you as well. This is how they are able to offer you relevant advertising in your Gmail account. They track your emails and see what the emails are taking about. It then uses that information to show you an ad that you can click on. This is how Google is able to stay so profitable. They use the information that they collect from you, which is a lot, and use it to offer you services that you might be interested in.

Adsense Tracking

An alternative way that Google is able to keep track of you, even if you are not signed up to any of their services, is through the use of their adsense program. Adsense is their advertising platform that allows them to show ads on a third party web site. When they show these ads, they are able to track who comes to the web site and how long they are on there.

And when you actually click on the ad, they are able to get even more information about you. Now they will know what kind of web sites you visit, how often you go to these web sites, and what is the type of ad that attracts you.

Buzzzz

They also hope to get more information about you personally through their Buzz service. They will obtain this information the same way that they do their email information. When you and a friend talk online, they will take relevant portions of what you say and turn them into ads. It has been speculated that Google might be a little bit jealous over the type of information that Twitter is able to gain from their users. With Buzz, they are trying to gain that same information.

As you see, Google has a multitude of ways to get your information.

Now that you know, it is all about how comfortable you are with them having that much information about you.

Dispose your PC the proper way

maddy — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:41:44 +0000

How Can Disposing Of Old Computers Lead To Data Breaches?

Were you one of the many fortunate people this Christmas who received a new computer to replace that aging machine that had sat upon your desk?

If so, how did you dispose of the old one?

Gave it to charity?

Good for you!

Sold it on?

I hope you enjoy the money you received.

Threw it away?

Nevermind, I’m sure the dustman enjoyed it.

Either way, the point is, what did you do with it before disposal?

Chances are, you will answer, “nothing”.

And therein lies the potential problem.

The vast majority of people who discard old computers don’t give a second thought to the consequences.

Saved away on it’s internal hard drive is all the data you have collected and left on there over the life of the machine.

To the hardened fraudster, even some of the data you have deleted may be recoverable!

Considering how many people record PIN numbers, passwords, bank account numbers and other personal and financial details on their computers this is quite frightening.

If your old PC falls into the wrong hands then everything you have ever stored on it could be used against you.

Identity theft is a particularly nasty crime – don’t make it easy to fall prey to it.

If you are disposing of a hard drive then search the web – there are many tools available free to permanently wipe a drive.

Better still, as you are throwing the computer away, do a full reformatting of your hard drive in order to protect yourself, your identity and your future finances.

Invention for life

maddy — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:37:02 +0000

When you’re packing up for an outdoor adventure, you usually first think of the basic stuff that’ll keep you safe and comfortable — a sleeping bag, weather-appropriate clothing, water, food, acompass and some matches. Although you might not realize it while you’re still at home, what you pack could very well wind up saving your life.

When your camping trip turns into a life-or-death scenario because you’re completely lost, you’ll need a few things to keep you alive – food, water, warmth, shelter and direction. Although the basic needs for survival in the outdoors remain the same, technological advances have brought some changes to adventure gear. Engineers and innovators have taken basic survival tools, such the compass and the matchstick, and updated them. These devices serve as both practical adventure tools and tools that could save your life in the wild.

Anonymous Message

maddy — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:51:04 +0000

Here’s a great websites that allows users to send free anonymous, untraceable email messages to any email address. Register at anonymousSpeech.com. Don’t worry, the registration is totally anonymous. There’s no email address confirmation needed to sign up. Just give them a username and password. They also do not log your IP.

Next all you have to do is write your message and tell them the email address where you would like your anonymous message sent. It’s got all the normal email stuff like Subject, CC and BCC. You can also attach a file to your untraceable email message, up to 15 megabytes in size.

Now all you have to do is send your untraceable email and it will be delivered using the options you selected. That was easy, wasn’t it? Feel free to send more messages whenever you need to.

Ramblings of a whale

maddy — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:41:14 +0000

Claiming that their miserable lives had become too depressing to endure, the world’s remaining blue whales surfaced and desperately pleaded with environmentalists to immediately cease all conservation efforts so the species could “just be done with it and finally go extinct.”

“We really appreciate all you’ve done for us, but now you need to let us die,” intoned a 170-ton blue whale through a series of deep and mournful vocalizations. “I swallowed two plastic coolers, a tire, and about a hundred gallons of oil this morning. Is that any way to live?”

“I know you’ve been really excited about helping us ever since that whole ‘Save the Whales’ craze began back in the ’70s,” the whale said. “But I think we can agree that the past 35 years have basically been a death march, so let’s just part ways.”

“We had a good run,” added the creature, who requires 1.5 million calories each day to survive. “But species come and go. It’s a natural cycle and we are at peace with it.” “Sure, maybe you helped stabilize our population for a while, but our lives totally suck. Besides, with global warming and everything, all ocean life is going to die anyway, so why prolong the agony?”

“I know it’s hard to say goodbye, but you’ll understand it someday yourselves,” the magnificent whale said as its 102-foot-long body breached the water. “In fact, you’ll be begging for the same thing in about 25 years.”

Autobiographies

maddy — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 16:00:51 +0000

A few months ago, Norberto Fuentes wrote an autobiography of Fidel Castro, a book that starts and ends in Castro’s voice, where by page 150 the reader has forgotten that this is a fictional creation.

Fuentes’ relationship with Fidel was a dark and troubled one; he was once one of Castro’s supporters, then one of Castro’s prisoners, and finally one of Cuba’s exiles.

The ‘Autobiography of Fidel Castro’, unauthorised and unacknowledged by its subject, reads like the most venomous of letters from a disillusioned lover: Fuentes was close enough to Fidel to know exactly where to put the knife in, whether he’s describing Fidel’s real thoughts on Che Guevara or his fascination with the bloody exactness of the guillotine. In its original Spanish edition, Fuentes’ fictionalised autobiography is pulling readers in, despite its thousand-page bulk-in part because it fills an unusual gap. Castro, unlike most dictators, has never written his memoirs, and inexact, fictionalised and dependent on Fuentes’ imagination though it is, his autobiography fills a need among readers to know more than the sanitised, official hagiographies will offer.

In India, an official biography of Sonia Gandhi is available. Written by Rasheed Kidwai, it is dutiful, thorough, respectful — not, in fact, a terribly exciting read. It sold well when it came out, in the absence of better material. In the years since Kidwai wrote his biography and since Javier Moro, the writer nephew of Dominique Lapierre, penned his “fictional biography” of the Indian Congress party leader, there have been no better biographies of Mrs Gandhi.

Funny Questions to test your wit

maddy — Mon, 03 May 2010 07:44:58 +0000

To impress your employer you need to excel in the interview and impress them with your wit. Every word you say is constantly scrutinized and becomes a final report of your personality.

Under these stressful situations there are times when you come across some out-of-the-box questions that catch you with amazement. These questions are unexpected and might demand weird answers. However, what we fail to understand at that moment is that these funny and weird questions actually command an answer that judges your capability of maintaining your presence of mind in the most stressful situations.

Following are samples of such funny questions

Q: Do you know how to drop an egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?
A: Easy. Just drop the egg. Concrete floors are very hard so the floor will not crack!

Q: What do you consider to be your weaknesses?
A: Answering silly questions like these.

Q: How can a man go eight days without sleep?
A: No problem. He sleeps at night.

Q: If you throw a red stone in a blue sea what will it become?
A: It will become wet,/It will sink.

Q: If it took four men four hours to code a program, how long would it take eight men to code it?
A: No time at all, the program is already there.

Q: What looks like half an apple?
A: The other half

Q: What can you never eat for breakfast?
A: Dinner.

Q: What happened when wheel was invented?
A: It caused revolution

Q: How can you lift a polar bear with one hand?
A: It is not a problem, since you will never find a polar bear with one hand.

Q: What is before u?
A: T

Secure Banking

maddy — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 07:19:09 +0000

Security is always an issue. Banks spend through their nose installing high tech firewalls and most of the data is encrypted. Among the common Internet Banking Fraud are phishing and mule recruitment. Phishing is a form of spam where personal information is obtained fraudulently. Fraudsters send out e-mail to random e-mail addresses claiming to be from a particular bank and ask for personal information which is later used to obtain significant information. Normally a link is provided to a fake bank website where a victim is asked to enter his information. If this link is followed the victim ends up downloading a program which captures the keyboard strokes including any typed information. Mule recruitment is an attempt to get an innocent person to receive stolen funds using her bank account and then transfer it to some other country.

Here are some steps to prevent yourself from being cheated.

Never, ever click on a link from any business which asks for your personal information. Remember no reputable business firm will ask for your personal information via a link to their site.
Keep your paperwork up to date including minor details. Remember data can speak volumes.
If your bank uses a watermark or some other personal image, do not log in unless you see the correct information.
Invest in a good Anti Virus Software. If you are content with free anti-virus software then make sure to check the credentials of the company providing the software.
Never carry out financial transactions unless you are sure that you are using a secure network.
Pay special attention to the login page, beware of any changes. Financial institutions will normally let you know in advance if they are making any changes and will want additional information.
Don’t use the same password for different accounts, and always remember to change the password at least every six months.
Don’t enter personal information on any pop-up that come up even when you are accessing the genuine company website.
Only open e-mail attachments from people you know or you’re expecting them and know what it contains.