Category Archives: WordPress

Blogging tips, Food for Thought, tvaraj, WordPress, Writers, Writing

I Kill about 60% of My Darlings Before Publishing

September 11, 2014 tvaraj 3 Comments

blogging-tips

I edit what I write several times before I hit the “Publish” button.

On many occasions I leave my darlings aside for a fortnight or so; and then I read them, cut, append, read, juggle sentences and paragraphs, juxtapose, add, drop, umpteen times in no specific order until satisfied to a certain extent. In most cases I publish only about 60% of what I originally typed.

In her post titled “Kill Your Darlings” W. Michelle says:

Being a good writer means knowing how to edit: taking what you’ve written and stripping out the dulling distractions so your ideas shine. It’s not always easy, but it is necessary.

She quotes American writer and Nobel Prize laureate, William Faulkner: “In writing, you must kill your darlings.”

This is Michelle’s advice to bloggers:

Today — whenever you’re reading this — start a new post. Write until you’ve said everything you want to say, then save your draft — but don’t publish.

Tomorrow, open the post and check the word count (hint: it appears at the bottom of the editing box). Edit your post down by 10%, then save it and forget it again.

Repeat on two more days, until you’ve done three days of editing.

After three days of editing, hit “Publish.”

If your original draft was 1,000 words, the piece you ultimately publish should be around 730; if you started with 500, you’ll end up with 365 or so. If you’re a flash fiction writer who starts with 50, you’ll need to get yourself down to 36. (If you have a bolt of searing editorial insight and want to cut it down more than 10% on any day, feel free.) Whether you’re a long-form or short-form blogger, learning to wield your red pen ruthlessly will improve your writing.

A fellow blogger and poet Tom Balistreri commented to Michelle’s post:

After I write I go back and remove all my typos.
Then I go back and correct my sentence structure.
Then I correct my grammar.
Then I throw out anything that’s frivolous or doesn’t make sense.
At that point I have a blank page.

RELATED ARTICLES

Kill Your Darlings (dailypost.wordpress.com)
Blood on my hands (headfirstintothedeepend.typepad.com)
Killing My Darlings (michelleule.com)
K is for ‘Kill Your Darlings’ (scribblinginthestorageroom.wordpress.com)
Top 10 Tips for Better Writing (forwardthinking.ashford.edu)
The writing problem I can’t fix (terriblywrite.wordpress.com)

Internet, Internet security, News, Post A Day 2014, Researchers, This is Life, tvaraj, WordPress

The Heartbleed Bug Causes Vulnerability in the OpenSSL

April 24, 2014 tvaraj Leave a comment

.
. By T.V. Antony Raj
.

Heartbleed

It has now been revealed that a very serious bug was independently discovered by a team of security engineers at Codenomicon and Google Security, and they reported it to the OpenSSL team.

Antti Karjalainen, Riku Hietamaki, and Matti Kamunen at Codenomicon found the bug while improving the SafeGuard feature in their Defensics security testing tools. They reported this bug to the NCSC-FI for vulnerability coordination and reporting to OpenSSL team.

Google Security’s Neel Mehta, who worked independently of Codenomicon team is also credited with being the first to discover the flaw and reported it to the OpenSSL team.

Now this bug has been nicknamed “Heartbleed” and CVE-2014-0160 is the official reference to this bug. Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) is the Standard for Information Security Vulnerability Names maintained by MITRE.

OpenSSL, used by most Internet websites, is a set of open source software tools to handle secure communication. This secure technology is represented in URL addresses by the “s” in HTTPS, indicating our communications with that particular site are encrypted and a third person would not be able to read any information sent or received. SSL turns our communication into a coded strain that has to be unlocked by a digital key. Here is what it looks like for the Facebook login page:

According to Matthew Green, cryptographer and Assistant Research Professor at the Johns Hopkins University, the Heartbleed vulnerability is in the OpenSSL software which was not cleverly engineered to be this way, but the result of a “mundane coding error”.

The Heartbleed bug allows an attacker to read sensitive information from vulnerable servers and possibly steal items like passwords, cookies, and encryption keys.

The author of the article “The Heartbleed Bug” published in heartbleed.com says:

“We have tested some of our own services from attacker’s perspective. We attacked ourselves from outside, without leaving a trace. Without using any privileged information or credentials we were able steal from ourselves the secret keys used for our X.509 certificates, user names and passwords, instant messages, emails and business critical documents and communication.”

To the question “How to stop the leak?”, he says:

“As long as the vulnerable version of OpenSSL is in use it can be abused. Fixed OpenSSL has been released and now it has to be deployed. Operating system vendors and distribution, appliance vendors, independent software vendors have to adopt the fix and notify their users. Service providers and users have to install the fix as it becomes available for the operating systems, networked appliances and software they use.”

In the post “Heartbleed Security Update“, Barry Abrahamson, the Chief Systems Wrangler at Automattic, responsible for running the globally distributed infrastructure that powers WordPress.com, Akismet, VaultPress, IntenseDebate, and others revealed that the WordPress.com servers “were running the latest version of OpenSSL, which was vulnerable. We generally run the latest version of OpenSSL to enable performance enhancements, such as SPDY, for our users. The non-vulnerable versions of OpenSSL were over two years old.”

Barry assures us that WordPress.com fixed the issue by patching all their servers within a few hours of the public disclosure and replaced all SSL certificates and private keys. He said:

“Out of an abundance of caution, we have replaced all of our SSL certificates, along with regenerating all of the associated private keys. In addition, our servers support forward secrecy so that even if our private keys were compromised, they could not have been used to decrypt old encrypted communication.”

About resetting password by users on WordPress.com, Barrys said that at this time, they will not be forcing their users to change their password. He added:

“If you want to, you are welcome to change your password. If you are using the same password other places on the Internet, we urge you to change your password and remind you to use unique passwords wherever possible.”

Now, with the assurance by Barry on behalf of WordPress.com, I feel secure.

The Heartbleed Bug (heartbleed.com)
Heartbleed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbleed
Heartbleed Security Update (en.blog.wordpress.com)
How A Group Of Engineers Uncovered The Biggest Bug The Internet Has Seen In Years (businessinsider.com)
With Heartbleed bug, focus turns to user management (cloudentr.com)
96 Hours Later, What Does Heartbleed Mean for Your Business? (cloudentr.com)
Heartbleed SSL Flaw Angst Aggravated by Broken Disclosure Process (eweek.com)

Food for Thought, Post A Day 2013, tvaraj, WordPress, Writers, Writing

An Invitation: Write for ‘Impressions’

September 11, 2013 tvaraj Leave a comment

. By T.V. Antony Raj

blogging

Do you have something interesting to share with our readers? Then, be our guest.

You can write for Impressions as a guest writer even if you are a budding or seasoned writer.

Rules for submission of articles:

We wish to publish only unique and impressive articles written for ‘Impressions.’ The content should be your own original material – not duplicated, copied or plagiarized.

Your article should be between 500 and 1000 words in length.

Each submitted article should have at least one image relevant to the subject.

We do not guarantee publication of the article submitted by you. After scrutinising your article, we will let you know you whether we accept it for publication in ‘Impressions‘ or not .

We do not pay for accepted and published submissions. What you gain would be your exposure as a writer to our readers.

After your article is published in this site, you are free to publish the same elsewhere but with due recognition given to ‘Impressions” as having published it first.

After the acceptance for publication, we reserve the right to edit, format and modify, if necessary, and we will remove any inappropriate link before posting on this site.

Please do not submit articles that hurt religious beliefs of others or pornography.

Since comments do not necessarily reflect the views of this site, we reserve the right to edit or drop comments on your published articles.

We accept articles written with Microsoft Notepad or Word document format., jpg or png images, and video URLs from YouTube.

Please send your submissions to: tvaraj@gmail.com

Blogging, Food for Thought, IndiBlogger, Post A Day 2013, This is Life, tvaraj, WordPress, Writers

IndiRank: Ranking of Indian Blogs

June 18, 2013 tvaraj 1 Comment

. By T.V. Antony Raj
.

IndiRank is a system built to rank the blogs in the IndiBlogger network. Although every blog is manually verified before it’s allowed into the network, the IndiRank system is completely automated.

The IndiBlogger network believes that any ranking system should not be taken too seriously – and that is because no system can be accurate. IndiRank is built to rank the majority of Indian blogs as accurately as possible. However, please do take note of IndiBlogger network says:

Not every blog applies to our algorithm, and a blog may get a rank it does not deserve.
The IndiRank algorithm is continually tweaked to improve it’s accuracy.
No piece of computer code can ever judge your blog as well as your readers can – so get your blog reviewed on our forum if you haven’t done so already!

I joined the IndiBlogger network recently and here is how IndiRank has ranked my website “Impressions”.

IndiRank - June 13, 2013

Updated on August 18, 2013:

IndiRank - August 18, 2013

IndiRank - September 9, 2013

IndiRank – Ranking of Indian Blogs (indiblogger.in)
My First IndiRank (allresourceupdates.wordpress.com)

#WPLongform, Post A Day 2013, Spam, This is Life, WordPress

Want to Spam? Here Are a Few Templates You Can Use

May 21, 2013 tvaraj 2 Comments

. By T.V. Antony Raj

No Spam

A legitimate comment on a blog is called ‘HAM’ and its counterpart the illegitimate comment is known as ‘SPAM’ with no offense to vegetarians.

Daily, I am bombarded with ‘commercial’ spam comments that vary from an one-liner to a page full, These comments appreciate my work, my personality, and my blog. However, I am not that stupid to get inveigled by these sycophantic praises because I know that I do not deserve such insincere adulation.

Akismet

Luckily, I have Akismet possibly the best application to protect my website from web spam. Akismet filters out almost 99.5 percent of such spam comments. Before Akismet I spent a lot of time deleting spam. So, if your website or blog is plagued by commercial spam comments, then go for Akismet, the best automated spam killer that actually gets better as it learns your website. It is free for personal use. Akismet is brought to you by Automattic, the creators of WordPress.com. For over five years, Automattic has been committed to fighting spam by continuously improving the Akismet algorithm.

Yesterday, I received a multiple pages long spam comment. I think there must be an error in their spamming software. I have reproduced it below for your perusal and education. This is an example of what ‘Article spinning’ software are capable of. I have numbered them for easy referencing.

I especially like item #65 – a tongue-in-cheek template of a comment on commenting:

{Howdy|Hi there|Hi|Hello}, i read your blog {occasionally|from time to time} and i own a similar one and i was just {wondering|curious} if you get a lot of spam {comments|responses|feedback|remarks}? If so how do you {prevent|reduce|stop|protect against} it, any plugin or anything you can {advise|suggest|recommend}? I get so much lately it’s driving me {mad|insane|crazy} so any {assistance|help| support} is very much appreciated.

Lorelle VanFossen in her post “The Secret Recipe of Comment Spam Comments” has reproduced a similar multiple pages long comment that was referred to her by one of her readers. She says: “It is also a template for the spam bot, customizing itself based upon input it gathers, randomly generating the different conditions in the curly brackets to slightly customize each comment to fool the likes of expert comment spam fighters like Akismet.”

So, here is a template you could use to spam others and others to spam you. For your own sake, I would advise you to read Lorelle’s post which too has templates ‘useful’ for spammers.

Happy SPAMMING!

1.
{I have|I’ve} been {surfing|browsing} online more than {three|3|2|4} hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. {It’s|It is} pretty worth enough for me. {In my opinion|Personally|In my view}, if all {webmasters|site owners|website owners|web owners} and bloggers made good content as you did, the {internet|net| web} will be {much more|a lot more} useful than ever before.

2.
I {couldn’t|could not} {resist|refrain from} commenting. {Very well|Perfectly|Well| Exceptionally well} written!

3.
{I will|I’ll} {right away|immediately} {take hold of|grab|clutch|grasp|seize|snatch} your {rss|rss feed} as I {can not|can’t} {in finding|find|to find} your {email|e-mail}
subscription {link|hyperlink} or {newsletter|e-newsletter} service. Do {you have| you’ve} any? {Please|Kindly} {allow|permit|let} me realize|recognize| understand| recognise|know} {so that|in order that} I {may just|may|could} subscribe. Thanks.

4.
{It is|It’s} {appropriate|perfect|the best} time to make some plans for the future and {it is|it’s} time to be happy. {I have|I’ve} read this post and if I could I {want to|wish
to|desire to} suggest you {few|some} interesting things or {advice|suggestions|tips}. {Perhaps|Maybe} you {could|can} write next articles referring to this article. I {want
to|wish to|desire to} read {more|even more} things about it!

5.
{It is|It’s} {appropriate|perfect|the best} time to make {a few|some} plans for {the future|the longer term|the long run} and {it is|it’s} time to be happy. {I have|I’ve} {read|learn} this {post|submit|publish|put up} and if I {may just|may|could} I {want to|wish to|desire to} {suggest|recommend|counsel} you {few|some} {interesting|
fascinating|attention-grabbing} {things|issues} or {advice|suggestions|tips}. {Perhaps| Maybe} you {could|can} write {next|subsequent} articles {relating to|referring to|
regarding} this article. I {want to|wish to|desire to} {read|learn} {more|even more} {things|issues} {approximately|about} it!

6.
{I have|I’ve} been {surfing|browsing} {online|on-line} {more than|greater than} {three|3} hours {these days|nowadays|today|lately|as of late}, {yet|but} I {never|by no means} {found|discovered} any {interesting|fascinating|attention-grabbing} article like yours. {It’s|It is} {lovely|pretty|beautiful} {worth|value|price} {enough|sufficient} for me. {In my opinion|Personally|In my view}, if all {webmasters|site owners|website owners|web owners} and bloggers made {just right|good|excellent} {content|content
material} as {you did|you probably did}, the {internet|net|web} {will be|shall be|might be|will probably be|can be|will likely be} {much more|a lot more} {useful|helpful}
than ever before.

7.
Ahaa, its {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious} {discussion|conversation|dialogue {regarding| concerning|about|on the topic of} this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph}
{here|at this place} at this {blog|weblog|webpage|website|web site}, I have read all that, so {now|at this time} me also commenting {here|at this place}.

8.
I am sure this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} has touched all the internet {users|people|viewers|visitors}, its really really {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious}
{article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} on building up new {blog|weblog|webpage| website|web site}.

9.
Wow, this {article|post|piece of writing|paragraph} is {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious}, my {sister|younger sister} is analyzing {such|these|these kinds of} things, {so|thus| therefore} I am going to {tell|inform|let know|convey} her.

10.
{Saved as a favorite|bookmarked!!}, {I really like|I like|I love} {your blog|your site| your web site|your website}!

11.
Way cool! Some {very|extremely} valid points! I appreciate you {writing this|penning this} {article|post|write-up} {and the|and also the|plus the} rest of the {site is| website is} {also very|extremely|very|also really|really} good.

12.
Hi, {I do believe|I do think} {this is an excellent|this is a great} {blog|website|web site|site}. I stumbled upon it {I will|I am going to|I’m going to|I may} {come back| return| revisit} {once again|yet again} {since I|since i have} {bookmarked|book marked|book-marked|saved as a favorite} it. Money and freedom {is the best|is the greatest} way to change, may you be rich and continue to {help|guide} {other people|others}.

13.
Woah! I’m really {loving|enjoying|digging} the template/theme of this {site|website| blog}. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s {very hard|very difficult|challenging| tough|difficult|hard} to get that “perfect balance” between {superb usability|user friendliness|usability} and {visual appearance|visual appeal|appearance}. I must say {that you’ve|you have|you’ve} done a {awesome|amazing|very good|superb| fantastic|excellent|great} job with this. {In addition|Additionally|Also}, the blog loads {very|extremely|super} {fast|quick} for me on {Safari|Internet explorer|Chrome| Opera|Firefox}. {Superb|Exceptional|Outstanding|Excellent} Blog!

14.
These are {really|actually|in fact|truly|genuinely} {great|enormous|impressive| wonderful|fantastic} ideas in {regarding|concerning|about|on the topic of} blogging.
You have touched some {nice|pleasant|good|fastidious} {points|factors|things} here.
Any way keep up wrinting.

15.
{I love|I really like|I enjoy|I like|Everyone loves} what you guys {are|are usually|tend to be} up too. {This sort of|This type of|Such|This kind of} clever work and {exposure| coverage|reporting}! Keep up the {superb|terrific|very good|great|good|awesome| fantastic|excellent|amazing|wonderful} works guys I’ve {incorporated|added|included} you guys to {|my|our||my personal|my own} blogroll.

16.
{Howdy|Hi there|Hey there|Hi|Hello|Hey}! Someone in my {Myspace|Facebook} group shared this {site|website} with us so I came to {give it a look|look it over|take a
look|check it out}. I’m definitely {enjoying|loving} the information. I’m {book-marking |bookmarking} and will be tweeting this to my followers!

17.
{Terrific|Wonderful|Great|Fantastic|Outstanding|Exceptional|Superb|Excellent} blog and {wonderful|terrific|brilliant|amazing|great|excellent|fantastic|outstanding| superb} {style and design|design and style|design}.

18.
{I love|I really like|I enjoy|I like|Everyone loves} what you guys {are|are usually|tend to be} up too. {This sort of|This type of|Such|This kind of} clever work and {exposure| coverage|reporting}! Keep up the {superb|terrific|very good|great|good|awesome| fantastic|excellent|amazing|wonderful} works guys I’ve {incorporated|added|included} you guys to {|my|our|my personal|my own} blogroll.

19.
{Howdy|Hi there|Hey there|Hi|Hello|Hey} would you mind {stating|sharing} which blog platform you’re {working with|using}? I’m {looking|planning|going} to start my own blog {in the near future|soon} but I’m having a {tough|difficult|hard} time {making a decision|selecting|choosing|deciding} between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your {design and style|design|layout} seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something {completely unique|unique}.
P.S {My apologies|Apologies|Sorry} for {getting|being} off-topic but I had to ask!

20.
{Howdy|Hi there|Hi|Hey there|Hello|Hey} would you mind letting me know which {webhost|hosting company|web host} you’re {utilizing|working with|using}? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 {completely different|different} {internet browsers|web browsers|browsers} and I must say this blog loads a lot {quicker|faster} then most. Can you {suggest|recommend} a good {internet hosting|web hosting|hosting} provider at a {honest|reasonable|fair} price? {Thanks a lot|Kudos|Cheers|Thank you|Many thanks|Thanks}, I appreciate it!

21.
{I love|I really like|I like|Everyone loves} it {when people|when individuals|when folks| whenever people} {come together|get together} and share {opinions|thoughts|views| ideas}. Great {blog|website|site}, {keep it up|continue the good work|stick with it}!

22.
Thank you for the {auspicious|good} writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it.

23.
Look advanced to {far|more} added agreeable from you! {By the way|However}, how {can|could} we communicate?

24.
{Howdy|Hi there|Hey there|Hello|Hey} just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The {text|words} in your {content|post|article} seem to be running off the screen in {Ie| Internet explorer|Chrome|Firefox|Safari|Opera}. I’m not sure if this is a {format| formatting} issue or something to do with {web browser|internet browser|browser}
compatibility but I {thought|figured} I’d post to let you know. The {style and design| design and style|layout|design} look great though! Hope you get the {problem|issue}
{solved|resolved|fixed} soon. {Kudos|Cheers|Many thanks|Thanks}

25.
This is a topic {that is|that’s|which is} {close to|near to} my heart… {Cheers|Many thanks|Best wishes|Take care|Thank you}! {Where|Exactly where} are your contact
details though?

26.
It’s very {easy|simple|trouble-free|straightforward|effortless} to find out any {topic| matter} on {net|web} as compared to {books|textbooks}, as I found this {article| post|piece of writing|paragraph} at this {website|web site|site|web page}.

27.
Does your {site|website|blog} have a contact page? I’m having {a tough time| problems| trouble} locating it but, I’d like to {send|shoot} you an {e-mail|email}. I’ve gotsome {creative ideas|recommendations|suggestions|ideas} for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great {site|website|blog} and I look forward to
seeing it {develop|improve|expand|grow} over time.

28.
{Hola|Hey there|Hi|Hello|Greetings}! I’ve been {following|reading} your {site|web site|website|weblog|blog} for {a long time|a while|some time} now and finally got the
{bravery|courage} to go ahead and give you a shout out from {New Caney|Kingwood| Huffman|Porter|Houston|Dallas|Austin|Lubbock|Humble|Atascocita} {Tx|Texas}! Just wanted to {tell you|mention|say} keep up the {fantastic|excellent|great|good} {job| work}!

29.
Greetings from {Idaho|Carolina|Ohio|Colorado|Florida|Los angeles|California}! I’m {bored to tears|bored to death|bored} at work so I decided to {check out|browse}
your {site|website|blog} on my iphone during lunch break. I {enjoy|really like|love} the {knowledge|info|information} you {present|provide} here and can’t wait to take a
look when I get home. I’m {shocked|amazed|surprised} at how {quick|fast} your blog loaded on my {mobile|cell phone|phone} .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. {Anyhow|Anyways}, {awesome|amazing|very good|superb|good|wonderful| fantastic|excellent|great} {site|blog}!

30.
Its {like you|such as you} {read|learn} my {mind|thoughts}! You {seem|appear} {to understand|to know|to grasp} {so much|a lot} {approximately|about} this, {like you|
such as you} wrote the {book|e-book|guide|ebook|e book} in it or something. {I think|I feel|I believe} {that you|that you simply|that you just} {could|can} do with {some|a few} {%|p.c.|percent} to {force|pressure|drive|power} the message {house|home} {a bit|a little bit}, {however|but} {other than|instead of} that, {this is|that is} {great|wonderful|fantastic|magnificent|excellent} blog.

31.
{A great|An excellent|A fantastic} read. {I’ll|I will} {definitely|certainly} be back.

32.
I visited {multiple|many|several|various} {websites|sites|web sites|web pages|blogs} {but|except|however} the audio {quality|feature} for audio songs {current|present|
existing} at this {website|web site|site|web page} is {really|actually|in fact|truly| genuinely} {marvelous|wonderful|excellent|fabulous|superb}.

33.
Greetings! {Very helpful|Very useful} advice {within this|in this particular} {article| post}! {It is the|It’s the} little changes {that make|which will make|that produce|that will make} {the biggest|the largest|the greatest|the most important|the most significant} changes. {Thanks a lot|Thanks|Many thanks} for sharing!

34.
{I really|I truly|I seriously|I absolutely} love {your blog|your site|your website}.. {Very nice|Excellent|Pleasant|Great} colors & theme. Did you {create|develop|make|
build} {this website|this site|this web site|this amazing site} yourself? Please reply back as I’m {looking to|trying to|planning to|wanting to|hoping to|attempting to} create {my own|my very own|my own personal} {blog|website|site} and {would like to|want to|would love to} {know|learn|find out} where you got this from or {what the|exactly what the|just what the} theme {is called|is named}. {Thanks|Many thanks|Thank you| Cheers|Appreciate it|Kudos}!

35.
{Hi there|Hello there|Howdy}! This {post|article|blog post} {couldn’t|could not} be written {any better|much better}! {Reading through|Looking at|Going through|Looking
through} this {post|article} reminds me of my previous roommate! He {always| constantly|continually} kept {talking about|preaching about} this. {I will|I’ll|I am going to|I most certainly will} {forward|send} {this article|this information|this post} to him. {Pretty sure|Fairly certain} {he will|he’ll|he’s going to} {have a good|have a very good|have a great} read. {Thank you for|Thanks for|Many thanks for|I appreciate you for} sharing!

36.
{Wow|Whoa|Incredible|Amazing}! This blog looks {exactly|just} like my old one! It’s on a {completely|entirely|totally} different {topic|subject} but it has pretty much the
same {layout|page layout} and design. {Excellent|Wonderful|Great|Outstanding| Superb} choice of colors!

37.
{There is|There’s} {definately|certainly} {a lot to|a great deal to} {know about|learn about|find out about} this {subject|topic|issue}. {I like|I love|I really like} {all the|all of
the} points {you made|you’ve made|you have made}.

38.
{You made|You’ve made|You have made} some {decent|good|really good} points there. I {looked|checked} {on the internet|on the web|on the net} {for more info|for
more information|to find out more|to learn more|for additional information} about the issue and found {most individuals|most people} will go along with your views on
{this website|this site|this web site}.

39.
{Hi|Hello|Hi there|What’s up}, I {log on to|check|read} your {new stuff|blogs|blog} {regularly|like every week|daily|on a regular basis}. Your {story-telling|writing|
humoristic} style is {awesome|witty}, keep {doing what you’re doing|up the good work|it up}!

40.
I {simply|just} {could not|couldn’t} {leave|depart|go away} your {site|web site| website} {prior to|before} suggesting that I {really|extremely|actually} {enjoyed| loved} {the standard|the usual} {information|info} {a person|an individual} {supply|provide} {for your|on your|in your|to your} {visitors|guests}? Is {going to|gonna} be {back|again {frequently|regularly|incessantly|steadily| ceaselessly| often|continuously} {in order to|to} {check up on|check out|inspect|investigate cross-check} new posts.

41.
{I wanted|I needed|I want to|I need to} to thank you for this {great|excellent| fantastic|wonderful|good|very good} read!! I {definitely|certainly|absolutely} {enjoyed|loved} every {little bit of|bit of} it. {I have|I’ve got|I have got} you {bookmarked|book marked|book-marked|saved as a favorite} {to check out|to look at} new {stuff you|things you} post…

42.
{Hi|Hello|Hi there|What’s up}, just wanted to {mention|say|tell you}, I {enjoyed| liked|loved} this {article|post|blog post}. It was {inspiring|funny|practical|helpful}. Keep on posting!

43.
I {{leave|drop|{write|create}} a {comment|leave a response} | drop a {comment| leave a response} | {comment|leave a response}} {each time|when|whenever} I
{appreciate|like|especially enjoy} a {post|article} on a {site|{blog|website} |site| website} or {I have|if I have} something to {add|contribute|valuable to contribute} {to the discussion|to the conversation}. {It is|Usually it is|Usually it’s|It’s} {a result of|triggered by|caused by} the {passion|fire|sincerness} {communicated|displayed} in the {post|article} I {read|looked at|browsed}. And {on|after} this {post|article} Ways to Spot a Desi Who Has Just Returned from the USA | Impressions. I {{was|was actually} moved | {was|was actually} excited} enough to {drop|{leave|drop|{write| create}}|post} a {thought|{comment|{comment|leave a response}a response}} {:-P|:)|;)|;-)|:-)}

44.
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45.
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47.
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he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using {Movable-type|WordPress} on {a number of|a variety of|numerous|several|various} websites for about a year and am {nervous| anxious|worried|concerned} about switching to another platform. I have heard {fantastic|very good|excellent|great|good} things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can {transfer|import} all my wordpress {content|posts} into it? {Any kind of|Any} help would be {really|greatly} appreciated!

48.
{Hello|Hi|Hello there|Hi there|Howdy|Good day}! I could have sworn I’ve {been to| visited} {this blog|this web site|this website|this site|your blog} before but after
{browsing through|going through|looking at} {some of the|a few of the|many of the} {posts|articles} I realized it’s new to me. {Anyways|Anyhow|Nonetheless| Regardless}, I’m {definitely|certainly} {happy|pleased|delighted} {I found|I discovered| I came across|I stumbled upon} it and I’ll be {bookmarking|book-marking} it and
checking back {frequently|regularly|often}!

49.
{Terrific|Great|Wonderful} {article|work}! {This is|That is} {the type of|the kind of} {information|info} {that are meant to|that are supposed to|that should} be shared
{around the|across the} {web|internet|net}. {Disgrace|Shame} on {the {seek| search} engines|Google} for {now not|not|no longer} positioning this {post|submit| publish|put up} {upper|higher}! Come on over and {talk over with|discuss with|seek advice from|visit|consult with} my {site|web site|website} . {Thank you|Thanks} =)

50.
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and {help|aid} others like you {helped|aided} me.

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Heya {i’m|i am} for {the primary|the first} time here. I {came across|found} this board and I {in finding|find|to find} It {truly|really} {useful|helpful} & it helped me out {a lot|much}. {I am hoping|I hope|I’m hoping} {to give|to offer|to provide|to present} {something|one thing} {back|again} and {help|aid} others {like you|such as you} {helped|aided} me.

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{Hello|Hi|Hello there|Hi there|Howdy|Good day|Hey there}! {I just|I simply} {would like to|want to|wish to} {give you a|offer you a} {huge|big} thumbs up {for the|for
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I {always|all the time|every time} used to {read|study} {article|post|piece of writing| paragraph} in news papers but now as I am a user of {internet|web|net} {so|thus|
therefore} from now I am using net for {articles|posts|articles or reviews|content}, thanks to web.

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57.
{Hi|Hello} there, {I found|I discovered} your {blog|website|web site|site} {by means of|via|by the use of|by way of} Google {at the same time as|whilst|even as|while}
{searching for|looking for} a {similar|comparable|related} {topic|matter|subject}, your {site|web site|website} {got here|came} up, it {looks|appears|seems|seems to be|appears to be like} {good|great}. {I have|I’ve} bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.

58.
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{I am|I’m} curious to find out what blog {system|platform} {you have been|you happen to be|you are|you’re} {working with|utilizing|using}? I’m {experiencing|having}
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{I am|I’m} {extremely|really} {inspired|impressed} {with your|together with your| along with your} writing {talents|skills|abilities} {and also|as {smartly|well|neatly} as} with the {layout|format|structure} {for your|on your|in your|to your} {blog|weblog}. {Is this|Is that this} a paid {subject|topic|subject matter|theme} or did you {customize|modify} it {yourself|your self}? {Either way|Anyway} {stay|keep} up the {nice|excellent} {quality|high quality} writing, {it’s|it is} {rare|uncommon} {to peer|to see|to look} a {nice|great} {blog|weblog} like this one {these days|nowadays| today}..

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might|could|would} {check|test} this? IE {still|nonetheless} is the {marketplace| market} {leader|chief} and {a large|a good|a big|a huge} {part of|section of| component to|portion of|component of|element of} {other folks|folks|other people| people} will {leave out|omit|miss|pass over} your great|wonderful|fantastic| magnificent|excellent} writing {due to|because of} this problem.

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ANZAC Day, Australia, Events, Re-posted, This is Life, WordPress, Writers

And the band played Waltzing Matilda

April 25, 2013 tvaraj 1 Comment

By Judith Baxter

Remember Anzac

April 25th is a solemn day of remembrance here in NZ and in Australia. It marks the sacrifices made by members of ANZAC (the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) when they joined to fight alongside Britain in the first World War.

ANZAC day Dawn Service, State war memorial, Kings Park Western Australia (2009) - Photograph by Gnangarra...commons.wikimedia.org — ANZAC day Dawn Service, State war memorial, Kings Park Western Australia (2009). (Photograph by Gnangarra…commons.wikimedia.org)

Young men flocked to join up having no earthly idea of what they were getting themselves into, but filled with a fervour “For King and Country.”

Photograph of painting: "Anzac, the landing 1915 by George Lambert (1873-1930), 1920–22. The painting depicts the Australian soldiers of the covering force (3rd Infantry Brigade) climbing the seaward slope of Plugge's Plateau which overlooks the northern end of Anzac Cove. The view is to the north, towards the main range. The yellow pinnacle is "The Sphinx" and beyond is Walker's Ridge which leads to Russell's Top. The white bag that each soldier is carrying contains two days of rations which were issued specially for the landing. — Photograph of painting: “Anzac, the landing 1915 by George Lambert (1873-1930), 1920–22. The painting depicts the Australian soldiers of the covering force (3rd Infantry Brigade) climbing the seaward slope of Plugge’s Plateau which overlooks the northern end of Anzac Cove. The view is to the north, towards the main range. The yellow pinnacle is “The Sphinx” and beyond is Walker’s Ridge which leads to Russell’s Top. The white bag that each soldier is carrying contains two days of rations which were issued specially for the landing.

The first deployment of the ANZACS was at the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli. The information the command received about the terrain and an under estimation of the Turkish forces led to a disaster. Nine months later the Allies withdrew leaving behind 46,000 dead.

“They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We shall remember them.”
From Ode of Remembrance, taken from Laurence Binyon’s
“For the Fallen” first published in 1914.

This day is also commemorated in Turkey at Gallipoli where the cove has been renamed ANZAC Cove. Many ex-servicemen and their families travel to Turkey each year.

And Waltzing Matilda? This was the song played as the troops sailed out from Sydney, Australia at the start of that fateful enterprise. Click here to hear John Williams singing “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda”.

I have written in more detail on this day both in 2011 and 2012. It is a sad commentary on the people of the world that even after this “War to End All Wars” we still send our young men and women out to be slaughtered by ‘the enemy’.

Last post being sounded at North Beach, Gallipoli. Photo Mike Bowers, Sydney Morning Herald — Last post being sounded at North Beach, Gallipoli. (Photo Mike Bowers, Sydney Morning Herald)

And now there are no more survivors from Gallipoli.
RIP all the fallen and

Alec Campbell
Last Gallipoli survivor from Australia
(died May 2002 aged 103)

Alfred Douglas Dibley
Last Gallipoli survivor from New Zealand
(died 18 December 1997 aged 101)

Re-posted from I choose how I will spend the rest of my life

Food for Thought, Post A Day 2013, This is Life, WordPress, Writers

First Anniversary of My Blog “Impressions”

February 3, 2013 tvaraj Leave a comment

.
. By T.V. Antony Raj

Today is the First Anniversary of My Blog “Impressions”
on WordPress.com

I thank my readers and well-wishers for reading my impressions of what comes to my mind.

During this first year there were 251,764 views with an overall average of 1,137 views per day and a best ever 11,246 views on a freaky day.

At the outset there were only 736 views – an average of 27 views per day – in February 2012.

.
Wordpress - Happy Anniversary

Food for Thought, Inspirations, Post A Day 2013, Re-posted, This is Life, WordPress, Writers

“I wanted to follow you but, uh, no …” by Russel Ray

January 16, 2013 tvaraj 1 Comment

Contrary to the title, “I wanted to follow you, but uh, no …” the author, Russel Ray, visits my website regularly. Impressed by his writing I reblogged this post on July 12th on this site, and I am re-posting it now. – T.V. Antony Raj

Dear New Follower:

First, let me thank you for following me. I appreciate it.

Now for the more serious stuff….

I decided that I could not follow you. Please, let me explain.

I’m an easygoing Southern boy born and raised in Texas. My paternal grandparents adopted me when I was a couple of months shy of 11. I understand profanity…. four-letter words.

My granddad used them as verbs, adverbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, abbreviations, exclamations, questions, complete sentences, incomplete sentences, names of people….

My wise old grandmother, on the other hand, let granddad use enough profanity for both of them. I only heard my wise old grandmother use profanity once. She wouldn’t let me do something that I wanted to do. I was furious and said, “God damn you.” She was only 5’1″ and I was a towering 6’3″. She took me down with a good right that would make Muhammad Ali proud. Then she said softly, “Don’t damn me, damn you.”

[Make note because this will probably be the only time you ever see profanity in my blog.]

She let me cry for five minutes, as she always did when I was punished, always with a whipping, though, never before with a right hook.

[Do parents spank their children anymore, or is that child abuse?]

Then she took me to the bathroom, drew some warm water, wet a washrag, and cleaned my face of the salty tears, dried me, and told me she loved me. She also told me what would happen the next time I used profanity or the Lord’s name in vain.

Love and discipline.

[Do parents discipline their children anymore, or just give them an iPod or iPad?]

So, dear New Follower, I wanted to follow you, I really did. My wise old grandmother taught me to do unto others as they have already done unto me…. Wait! No she didn’t. I taught me that. You followed me so I was going to follow you.

When I got to your blog, though, I found that the title was an absolutely horrible title and I left immediately without even looking around. I felt bad about that, so I returned just a few minutes later. I read your home page and one post. It was no better. I left again, and I won’t be returning.

I’m sorry. I really am, but I simply cannot bring myself to follow you. Every time you publish a new post, I would get an email telling me that “New Follower with a poor choice of words for the blog name” has a new post. I already saw that the titles of your posts are just as bad as the name of your blog.

I consider your choice of words to be very negative, and I’ve already had enough negative people in my life. At the age of 57, I surround myself only with positive people.

My wise old grandmother taught me the beauty of the English language with its million words. She also taught me how cruel, mean, and nasty abuse of the English language can be.

I prefer beauty.

Aesop, the ancient storyteller, told this fable:

Once upon a time, a donkey found a lion’s skin. He tried it on, strutted around, and frightened many animals. Soon a fox came along, and the donkey tried to scare him, too. But the fox, hearing the donkey’s voice, said, “If you want to terrify me, you’ll have to disguise your bray.”

Moral: Clothes may disguise a fool but his words give him away.

Said another way: Profanity is a public announcement of stupidity.

Those might sound cruel and uncaring, but you appear to be young. Not like teaching an old dog new tricks. You have a choice. I would encourage you to be beautiful. Maybe too many people have already told you that. Let me in line.

I don’t know anything about you, but I think you have the potential to be a very beautiful person. I believe that about everyone on Earth, all seven billion of them. It’s potential, though. What you do with that potential is up to you.

Every time you want to use profanity, stop and think of a better way to say what you want to say. There are over a million words in the English language, and there are dictionaries and thesaureses to help you in your struggle.

Maybe some of my favorite four-letter words can help in your struggle:

Love
Free
Help
Pray
Give
Work
Good
Best
Save
Hope
Nice
Kind
Glad
Live
Life
Glow
Amen
True
Luck
Gift
Calm
Holy
Cure
Kiss
Hugs

If you’re reading this, let me know if you change the name of your blog and perhaps I’ll give it another shot at following you. Until then, good luck in finding your place in the world. I hope you find it because I can see that you are searching.

I want only the best for you, and I apologize if I appear to be judgmental. I simply wanted to let you know why I chose not to follow you. We all have to make our choices, and I hope you’ll choose to be like the unopened flower bud and use your potential in a more positive way. The reach of the Internet allows us to influence many people, but that can be good or bad, depending on you and only you.

Best wishes for health, happiness, peace, and prosperity.

Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572

If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray (that’s me!)

Re-posted – ” I wanted to follow you but, uh, no.”

Communication, Food for Thought, Post A Day 2012, This is Life, WordPress

Impressions: 2012 in review

December 31, 2012 tvaraj Leave a comment

I wish All My Readers

And

Well-wishers Around the Globe

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

2013

T.V. Antony Raj

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

About 55,000 tourists visit Liechtenstein every year. This blog was viewed about 210,000 times in 2012. If it were Liechtenstein, it would take about 4 years for that many people to see it. This blog “Impressions” had more visits than a small country in Europe!

I thank you my readers for visiting my site and reading what comes to my mind.

Click here to see the complete report.

Food for Thought, Inspirations, Post A Day 2012, This is Life, WordPress

Today “Impressions” Has Trumped 200,000 Views

December 23, 2012 tvaraj 2 Comments

.
. By T.V. Antony Raj

Impressions Trumped 200,000 views

I am deeply indebted to my readers, for today, I have surpassed 200,000 views since I posted my first article “Flight from Chennai to Washington” on January 12, 2012. The WordPress stats show views only from February 2012, whereas I started posting from mid January.

In January, 2012, I posted only four articles. However, from February 3rd onwards, I posted at least one article each day. So far, I have published 447 articles, including this one.

I had only a total of 779 views in February 2012, a meager 28 views per day. The number of views gradually increased each month. For the past 23 days in December, I have 25,120 views at an average of 1,135 views per day, up to the time of uploading (3:00 AM EST) this thank-you note.

Thank You for Visiting