Sky tracking International Space Station (ISS Zarya) over Thiruvananthapuram Kerala, INDIA

For the first time, I saw International Space Station (ISS ZARYA) over Thriuvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala, South India, INDIA

Captured using 18mm lens with 30s exposure. It was moving so fast, as I got a moment to capture it. Next time I will do some homework and will try to get the full arc of its passage. Next is on Wednesday 1st Jan 2014. Waiting for it.

Much more enhanced image of ISS, but I have found an un identified object on the top center while doing the post processing.

Here is the processed image. It should be another satellite or a flight.

View HD image here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/aravind_n_c/11646908884/

Google Analytics cookie parser using PHP

Google Analytics collects data using first-party cookies who are stored on our browsers. I’ve programmed a PHP class we can use to read Google Analytics __utma and __utmz cookies. This class can be used to easily integrate this cookie data into proprietary systems like CRM, ERP, Helpdesks, etc.

• __utma (expires 2 years after being defined) – visitor dataThis cookie is written on your first visit to the website. In case you erase it its created again. Its used for the Unique Visitors calculation and is updated on every pageview.

• __utmz (expires 6 months after being defined) – campaign dataThis cookie stores informations on how the user got to our website: referrer, direct (none), organic or a campaign such as a newsletter. (since you tag it correctly using the URL Builder). This cookie is overwritten every time you visit the website.

The Google Analytics Cookie Parser allows you to obtain some data contained in this cookies in a human readable format.

• Campaign source
• Campaign name
• Campaign medium
• Campaign content
• Campaign term
• Date of first visit
• Date of previous visit
• Date of current visit
• Times visited
• Pages viewed

Download the latest version of Google Analytics PHP cookie parser from Github.
https://github.com/joaolcorreia/Google-Analytics-PHP-cookie-parser

Firefox broswer filled with black moving pixels [SOLUTION]

Problem : Just an hour ago I was browsing a web page and noticed that a few stray pixels were showing up, then going away or moving sort of in a confetti effect. When I scroll it gets worse and the pixels pile up and sometimes slow down the entire browser. I cleared my cache and updated Firefox and all my add-ons, restarted the browser, and even made sure it wasn't my monitor by watching my desktop, opening other programs, and even checking in other browsers. Only Firefox is causing this problem. It's really annoying. Is there any way to fix this? 

 Solution : 

1) Update your video card with the latest drivers.

OR

2) Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration in Firefox. Since this feature was added to Firefox, it has gradually improved, but there still are a few glitches.

You might need to restart Firefox in order for this to take effect, so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.).

Then perform these steps:

• Click the orange Firefox button at the top left, then select the "Options" button, or, if there is no Firefox button at the top, go to Tools > Options.
• In the Firefox options window click the Advanced tab, then select "General".
• In the settings list, you should find the Use hardware acceleration when available checkbox. Uncheck this checkbox.
• Now, restart Firefox and see if the problems persist

Reply letter from the pirate-bay to Dream-works

Reply letter from Pirate-bay to Dream-works 

Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 18:21:43 -0100 (GMT)
From: anakata
To: KMWLAW@flash.net[/email]
Subject: Re: Unauthorized Use of DreamWorks SKG Properties

On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 KMWLAW@flash.net wrote:

> Dennis L. Wilson, Esq.
> KEATS McFARLAND & WILSON, LLP
> 9720 Wilshire Blvd., Penthouse Suite
> Beverly Hills, CA 90212
> Tel: (310) 248-3830
> Fax: (310) 860-0363
>
>
> August 23, 2004
>
>
> VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
> AND U.S. MAIL
>
> ThePirateBay.org
> Box 1206
> Stockholm 11479
> SWEDEN
>
> [email]tracker-40-aa-5f-03-412675c8@prq.to
>
> Re: Unauthorized Use of DreamWorks SKG Properties
> http://www.thepiratebay.org
>
> To Whom It May Concern:
>
> This letter is being written to you on behalf of our
> client, DreamWorks SKG (hereinafter ^ÓDreamWorks^Ô).
> DreamWorks is the exclusive owner of all copyright,
> trademark and other intellectual property rights in
> and to the ^ÓShrek 2^Ô motion picture. No one is
> authorized to copy, reproduce, distribute, or
> otherwise use the ^ÓShrek 2^Ô motion picture without
> the express written permission of DreamWorks.
[...]
> As you may be aware, Internet Service Providers can
> be held liable if they do not respond to claims of
> infringement pursuant to the requirements of the
> Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). In
> accordance with the DMCA, we request your assistance
> in the removal of infringements of the ^ÓShrek 2^Ô
> motion picture from this web site and any other sites
> for which you act as an Internet Service Provider.
> We further declare under penalty of perjury that we
> are authorized to act on behalf of DreamWorks and
> that the information in this letter is accurate.
> Please contact me immediately to discuss this matter
> further.

As you may or may not be aware, Sweden is not a state in the United States
of America. Sweden is a country in northern Europe.
Unless you figured it out by now, US law does not apply here.
For your information, no Swedish law is being violated.

Please be assured that any further contact with us, regardless of medium,
will result in
a) a suit being filed for harassment
b) a formal complaint lodged with the bar of your legal counsel, for
sending frivolous legal threats.

It is the opinion of us and our lawyers that you are ....... morons, and
that you should please go sodomize yourself with retractable batons.

Please also note that your e-mail and letter will be published in full on
http://www.thepiratebay.org.

Go fuck yourself.

Polite as usual,
anakata

Want more : http://thepiratebay.is/legal 

Create and send calendar events to Outlook/iCal in PHP (ics Format)

Use the below code to create a calendar event in PHP and send it as email to Microsoft Outlook or iPhone Calendar.
 

< ?php
/**
 * @category   iCalendar
 * @description Basic code for sending an event invitation.
*/

//Create ICAL Content (Google rfc 2445 for details and examples of usage)
//reference : http://www.mavetju.org/programming/outlook-ics.php

$message="BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:REQUEST
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20110718T121000Z
DTEND:20110718T131000Z
DTSTAMP:20110525T075116Z
ORGANIZER;CN=From Name:mailto:from email id
UID:12345678
ATTENDEE;PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION;RSVP= TRUE;CN=Sample:mailto:sample@test.com
DESCRIPTION:This is a test of iCalendar event invitation.
LOCATION: Kochi
SEQUENCE:0
STATUS:CONFIRMED
SUMMARY:Test iCalendar
TRANSP:OPAQUE
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR";

/*Setting the header part, this is important */
$headers = "From: From Name \n";
$headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0\n";
$headers .= "Content-Type: text/calendar; method=REQUEST;\n";
$headers .= '        charset="UTF-8"';
$headers .= "\n";
$headers .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit";

/*mail content , attaching the ics detail in the mail as content*/
$subject = "Meeting Subject";
$subject = html_entity_decode($subject, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');

/*mail send*/
if(mail("To email", $subject, $message, $headers)) {

    echo "sent";
}else {
    echo "error";
}

? >

Attacks against WordPress and Joomla sites have tripled

Hosting providers around the world are seeing a massive increase in brute force attacks against WordPress and Joomla sites. Attackers are looking to gain access to and compromise accounts, but failing that, they are slowing down their targets or even rendering them unavailable as they exhaust the sites’ resources.

Melbourne Server Hosting is reporting that it has seen signs over the past 48 hours of increased attempts, while Immotion Hosting has noted they are coming from a large amount of IP addresses spread across the world. This would suggest the attackers are using a botnet to break in; HostGator has said at least 90,000 computers are involved while CloudFlare has noted it “more than tens of thousands of unique IP addresses” are being used.

Sucuri, a security firm that blocks various types of Internet attacks, reports that it has also seen a notable increase. The company shared the following data points:

• December 2012: 678,519 login attempts blocked.
• January 2013: 1,252,308 login attempts blocked.
• February 2013: 1,034,323 login attempts blocked.
• March 2013: 950,389 login attempts blocked.
• April 2013: 774,104 login attempts blocked for the first 10 days.

The top five user names being attempted are admin, test, administrator, Admin, and root. The top five passwords being attempted are admin, 123456, 666666, 111111, and 12345678. Obviously, if you are using any common user name or password, you should change it immediately.

In other words, Sucuri has been seeing 30 to 40 thousand attacks per day for the last few months, but this month that number has increased to 77,000 per day on average. In the last few days, the firm says the figure has reached more than 100,000 per day, meaning the number of brute force attempts has more than tripled.

For those who don’t know, a botnet refers to a group of computers (sometimes called zombies) that have been infected with malware to perform tasks for whomever distributed said threat. This individual, or organization, controls the botnet by sending instructions to the zombies from one or more Command & Control (C&C) servers.

A brute-force attack, meanwhile, refers to the systematic checking of all possible passwords (or just popular ones) until the correct password is found. A botnet is not required, but can help in the process as multiple computers can be used to check different combinations and avoid triggering multiple attempt limits.

While these attacks against popular content management systems are nothing new, the sudden increase is a bit worrying. Until the botnet in question is taken down, however, there is not much that can be done aside from ensuring you are taking every precaution. That includes using a solid username and password combination as well as ensuring your CMS and plugins are up-to-date.

Update: WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg has released a statement regarding the issue:

Almost 3 years ago we released a version of WordPress (3.0) that allowed you to pick a custom username on installation, which largely ended people using “admin” as their default username. Right now there’s a botnet going around all of the WordPresses it can find trying to login with the “admin” username and a bunch of common passwords, and it has turned into a news story (especially from companies that sell “solutions” to the problem).
Here’s what I would recommend: If you still use “admin” as a username on your blog, change it, use a strong password, if you’re on WP.com turn on two-factor authentication, and of course make sure you’re up-to-date on the latest version of WordPress. Do this and you’ll be ahead of 99% of sites out there and probably never have a problem. Most other advice isn’t great — supposedly this botnet has over 90,000 IP addresses, so an IP limiting or login throttling plugin isn’t going to be great (they could try from a different IP a second for 24 hours).

Facebook Home - Free APK Download for all Android devices

Not able to run Facebook Home on your device officially from the Play Store? Luckily you can grab the APK and install directly!

On an officially unsupported device your experience may vary, but then you knew that.

Before installing Home you need to ensure that both latest Facebook main app (katana) and Messenger app (orca) are installed... once they are installed, use this link - Download - to install Facebook Home then hit the home button on your device to activate.

It's early days so update in this topic how you get on, if any patches etc. are needed for full functionality, i'll be posting them here, so hit the 'follow topic' button for updates!

DOWNLOAD FACEBOOK HOME APK NOW

fragment.js

A tiny (625 bytes gzipped) tool for easily loading html fragments and templates.

---

Example

Fragment.js allows you to load html fragments into any element, by just adding a data-fragment attribute.

 data-fragment="fragment.html">

      

This was loaded with fragment.js

---

Templating example

You can also use it for loading templates with the data-fragment-json attribute. Mustache, Handlebars and Underscore are supported by default and will automatically be used if they're available in the global scope. But you can just override the window.fragment.render function if you want to use something else.

 data-fragment-json="fragment.json">This is {{adjective}}!

      

This is awesome!

---

HTML as JSON

If the element already has an innerHTML, you only use the data-fragment attribute, and don't provide a custom renderer; fragment.js will attempt to render Mustache, Handlebars then Underscore with the innerHTML as input.

 data-fragment="mustache-fragment.html">{"adjective":"fantastic"}

      

fragment.js is really fantastic!

---

Combining

Of course, combining the two attributes also works.

 data-fragment="mustache-fragment.html" data-fragment-json="fragment.json">

      

fragment.js is really awesome!

---

JSONP example

If the window hostname isn't the same as the json url hostname, it'll try to use jsonp. By default it uses callback as the callback parameter, but you can change it by changing fragment.jsonp

 data-fragment-json="http://search.twitter.com/search.json?q=javascript&rpp=2">
{{#results}}

  {{from_user}} said:
  {{text}}

{{/results}}

CheckNAU said:
[JS]レイヤーに要素を配置し、分離して3Dにぐるぐる回転させるスクリプト -CSSMatrix | コリス http://t.co/leWQiGSHoU




NooKo3_News said:
[JS]レイヤーに要素を配置し、分離して3Dにぐるぐる回転させるスクリプト -CSSMatrix | コリス（はてぶ - IT）http://t.co/9Mz7eyAZhN

---

Download

Buddypress wrong url issue and migration to new server [Solved]

Migrating a WordPress site can be something of a scary challenge, but we do it a lot, and we’ve become used to it. There are many good reasons to move a site – for example, you might set one up in a subfolder, and decide to move WP to the root. Or perhaps you’ve built a site on localhost and now need to put it on a live server.

If you do it incorrectly, you stand to lose all your widget settings, some file links and so on. This wasn’t a problem with ‘classic WP’ years ago, but these days there are many many paths stored away in the database, in various forms, and catching them all can be somewhat tricky.
Here I show you the steps we take moving a localhost site to a live domain. We’re using WPMU which is running the BuddyPress plugin suite.

The Local Install

Here’s our site on our localhost. As you can see, it’s pretty basic, but everything’s there that needs to be there – we know all elements of the install works, and now we want to pop it onto a live server. In this lesson, we’re going to use FileZilla and ftp the files across from our local install.

Copying the Files

On the left you can see we’ve navigated to our local filesystem for this install. On the right, we’re connected to the server. There are already files there, because we have an old install running. You should delete all the files and replace them with the new ones in this case, but if you are replacing a site do make sure you have a copy of everything. Merging sites is much harder than migrating – and way beyond the scope of this tutorial.
So – select and drag all the files from one side, to the other.

Moving the Database

Our preferred tool for administering databases is mySQL Administrator. A free tool that really simplifies a lot of DB Admin tasks. Use this to take a backup of your database. You’ll need to create a new backup project.

1. Click Backup
2. Create New Project
3. Select the Schema you’ve been using
4. Click to move it across, selecting ALL tables (unless you have multiple installs in one database, in which case, just the tables for the install you’re interested in)
5. Give it a name
6. Save Project
7. Execute the Backup

Backup Done

You should now have a backup.
Because the server we’re using doesn’t allow connections on Port 3306, we’re going to use phpMyAdmin there. This is no problem at all, but if you were using mySQL administrator you could use the restore tools there. If you’re doing this kind of project you should really know how to use these tools anyway – I’m only explaining these steps for completeness sake and showing you a migration I’m doing myself that’s likely to be typical.

Editing the SQL

A database backup is done simply as a big set of SQL statements that you can run. If you’re migrating to a different database you’ll need to edit the CREATE and USE statement to tell it which database to use.
Be very careful with this database dump by the way – database dumps are a very easy way for hackers to get into your system and find out lots of information you’d rather not give away.

Importing The Database

Now you need to Import the Database. We’re using phpMyAdmin for this. If you have any tables there already, it’s probably best to drop them. All of them. Like I say, if you’re merging you’re going to need more help than this guide can provide.

1. Click on the Import tab
2. Select your file (if it’s bigger than your sever’s upload limit then you’ll have to speak to your admin guys about how to do this.
3. Press the Go button!

Once the import has run successfully you should see a message saying something like "Import has been successfully finished, 95 queries executed." – and it can be an awful lot more than 95 queries! It can also take quite some time. If you need to handle large datasets it’s far easier to use the mySQL Administrator tools – phpMyAdmin can get clunky.

Visit the Site

If you try to visit the new uploaded site at the moment you’ll get a Fatal Error because all sorts of things are confused.
You need to change the wp-config.php file.

Changing wp-config.php DB Settings

Change 1, 2, and 3 to match your server’s database settings.
Change 4 to the appropriate path. Most installs are in the root directory, so that would mean $base = ‘/’;
Change 5 to the domain name in use.
Change 6 from ‘/buddypress.11/’ (or whatever your local path is) to the new path, like in 4, so in most cases that will be ‘/’ also.

Search & Replace on the Database

You now need to run a search and replace on the database – including all incidences of code within serialised PHP strings. There is an excellent and free utility written by Interconnect IT, called the Safe Search and Replace Tool.
I can’t emphasise enough that it’s important to handle serialised PHP correctly. If you don’t, then settings will go missing, fields will get corrupted, and your site runs a severe chance of not working on the new location. It’s a pain, but it’s important.
So, download the program, place it in your blog’s root folder and then run it by visiting the appropriate URL.
If you’re getting confused at this point, perhaps you shouldn’t run the program. Just saying, because it can cause plenty of damage!

Running the Script

Simply visit http://www.example.com/searchreplacedb.php in your browser to fire off the script. This will run. If you experience a time-out, or too much output, you may need to go into the script and remove any echos that are slowing it down. I’ll probably comment this out in due course anyway, but for diagnostics purposes I’ve left it. Once run, you should see something like the above at the bottom. Even a very large search and replace should only take a few seconds.

Some Tweaks

Check that you can navigate your site in its new location.
You may have to modify .htaccess to fix paths, and you may need to check your uploads folder for media. But that’s it. All should be good.

Extra Steps for WordPress MU

If you’re using WordPress Single User, then that’s it. You’re all done!

But in this example, we’re running BuddyPress on WordPress MU, and that means one extra step. In phpMyAdmin you need to open up (1) wp_blogs, (2) click the browse tab, and (3) click the edit tab for each row. If you have a lot, you may wish to run another searchreplacedb.php against the database, looking for localhost.localdomain and buddypress.11 and swapping them appropriately.

Indian Army : Ghost Solder on Duty Reporting Sir..

“Harbhajan Baba ki Jai” (Glory to Harbhajan Baba), cry out many voices in unison as tourist buses, packed with both Indian and foreign tourists, cabs full of people and private vehicles, all cross the bridge over the Teesta River to enter the border sate of Sikkim in India. Harbhajan Baba is revered across Sikkim as a sacred person. 

This is his story:

The late Harbhajan Singh enrolled in the Punjab Regiment in 1966, joining the army at an early age. He became a Sepoy (a rank in the Indian Army) and found himself posted on the misty heights of the China - Indian border, near Nathula Pass. 

Two years later, while escorting a mule caravan from his battalion headquarters at Tukla to Deng Chukla, he fell into a fast- flowing stream and was washed away.

The army searched for his body, but it wasn’t found until he began appearing in the dreams of other Sepoys in his unit. In the dream, he informed his colleagues that he was no longer alive and told them where to find his body. He also told them that he would continue to be a soldier always and not tolerate in lax patrolling of this sensitive border. 

When a search party was dispatched to the spot that had been described in the dreams, Sepoy Harbhajan Singh’s body was found. He was cremated with full military honors, and a memorial shrine was made at Chhokya Cho dedicated to his memory. This shrine is a three-room complex where there is a bed laid out for him and his uniform and boots displayed for the visitors. The caretakers swear that each morning the bed sheets are crushed as if someone has slept in the bed the previous night and the carefully polished boots are soiled and covered with mud.

There are also many army reports of a lone man patrolling the area. Soldiers deployed in the area often talk of a lone uniformed man on horseback patrolling the region. Forces on the other side of the border have also confirmed these reports and claim that they too have seen the ghost rider.

Over the years, soldiers here have claimed seeing Harbhajan Singh in their dreams where he instructed them of unprotected areas from where the Chinese could attack. His instructions generally proved accurate and the legend of Baba Harbhajan Singh grew.
There are also stories of battle-weary soldiers who have nodded off during their patrols being woken up with stinging slaps. Obviously, this ghost does not tolerate laxity in duty.

The Indian army continued to promote this Sepoy as if he were still alive. A paycheck would be sent home to Punjab every month and he was given annual leave on September 14 every year, when soldiers would pack his trunk with basic essentials. Two soldiers would accompany the trunk of ‘Capt Harbhajan’ all the way to Punjab by train, and it would be brought back after a month the same way. This tradition continued for years until he was retired a few years back.

When I visited the shrine of Harbhajan Baba on my way to see the Nathula border, I witnessed this incredible scene of a dead man’s belongings being packed in a trunk, and being seen off by his fellow officers for a month’s leave.

At 14000ft, located amidst towering mountains, broken by gushing waterfalls and colorful heather and gorse bushes, this shrine attracts devout believers from all over India. Following the twisting narrow roads at a steep incline, vehicles snake their way to this shrine and all people passing through this area, civilians and soldiers alike, generally stop at the shrine to pay obeisance to the revered Baba. Not doing so is supposed to bring bad luck.

Perhaps the Chinese are just as superstitious as we are because at the monthly flag meetings between the two nations at Nathula, even today the Chinese set a chair aside for the ghost of Harbhajan Baba.

As the Indian flag flutters in the icy winds, it grows misty. Cold fingers of fog creep up to wipe out the sun and it is not difficult to imagine a lonely figure guarding his country’s borders with a zeal that has lasted beyond death.

Believe me, this shrine with its resident ghost sent shivers down my spine when I heard the story of this patriotic ghost soldier while sipping hot tea the caretakers offer to all who come to visit this shrine in the remote border area.

Top 10 best Science books that you must read

10

A Briefer History of Time

Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow

Stephen Hawking is one of the world’s most famous physicists. He is well-known by the general public for his extensive work in theoretical physics, cosmology and unfortunately his debilitating battle with motor neuron disease. A Briefer History of Time is an updated and easier to read version of his 1988 bestseller, A Brief History of Time. The book – like its predecessor – reads like a biography of the universe, and is a great introduction to the world of physics. The Sunday Times sum it up best: “This book marries a child’s wonder to a genius’s intellect. We journey into Hawking’s universe while marveling at his mind.”

9

An A-Z Guide to the Elements

John Emsley

Full Title: Nature’s Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements. A chemist and doctor of science turned full-time writer, Emsley is responsible for many popular science books. Nature’s Building Blocks looks at all the elements from Actinium to Zirconium discussing their role in nature, where the element originated, the common uses of the element, how the elements are used in health or illness and loads of other interesting and quirky facts around them. The book serves as a detailed and interesting essay on each element, much like and expanded and entertaining version of the periodic table.

8

Death by Black Hole

Neil Degrasse Tyson

Full Title: Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries. Tyson is a very charismatic, enthusiastic and entertaining fellow and that is very prominent in his works and media appearances. His book Death by Black Hole is no exception. In it he explores everything from the destructive nature of black holes to the gaffes made in science fiction films. His humorous nature and enthusiasm make this book a very enjoyable read. After reading this it’s easy to see how he got voted one of the most influential people in the world and perhaps even the sexiest astrophysicist alive, a few awards among many that he has accumulated over the years.

7

The Greatest Show on Earth

Richard Dawkins

Full Title: The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution. Evolutionary biologist and prominent atheist Richard Dawkins goes to great lengths providing evidence for evolution in The Greatest Show on Earth. From artificial to natural selection, fossil records, the human genome project and there’s even some plate tectonics for good measure. If you’re familiar with any of Dawkins other works then you already know what to expect from this. If not, then be prepared for a passionate, thorough, witty and depending on your views, perhaps even controversial look at the origin of our species. Also be sure to read the subplots that are in the footnotes for interesting side notes on the main content of the book.

6

Hyperspace

Michio Kaku

Full Title: Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps and the 10th Dimension. Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist, one of the founders of string theory and a well-known popularizer of science through books, radio, television and film. Much of Kaku’s work focuses on the hypothetical future of Earth and of science, making predictions about humanities future and the future of the universe. His bestseller, Hyperspace was voted one of the best science books of 1994 and it’s easy to see why. In Hyperspace, Kaku looks at string theories proposal of 10 dimensional space time and makes the complex subject approachable by using it to ponder the possibility of time travel and multiple universes. It is a must read for anyone interested in theoretical physics without being lost in the complexity of the equations involved.

5

Quantum

Manjit Kumar

Full Title: Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality. Another physicist and philosopher (there seems to be a trend here), Kumar had written scientific papers for journals, newspapers and co-written popular science books before venturing into his own book, Quantum. Quantum is a biography of quantum physics, centered on the debate between those who did and didn’t agree with quantum theory. The draw of this book is how the great minds of physics went head to head in a battle of the brains around what theory they believed was right. The book gives a history of how physics got to where it is and looks at other notable physicist such as Plank, Schrödinger, Bohm and Rutherford and the concepts and developments they brought to it.

4

Genome

Matt Ridley

Full Title: Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. Matt Ridley is a science journalist and author. He is best known for his books on genetics, evolution and looking at human behavior from an evolutionary viewpoint. Genome has one chapter for every pair of human chromosomes, thus using the book itself as a metaphor for the human body. Each chapter looks at a different pair of chromosomes and Ridley picks a gene from each to discuss throughout the chapter. From looking at these genes he covers the rise of homo-sapiens, an individual’s likelihood of inheriting a disease, and even their ability for language. Genome is a great book to gain knowledge on genetics in an accessible and entertaining way.

3

A Universe from Nothing

Lawrence M. Krauss

Full Title: A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather Than Nothing. Lawrence Krauss is a theoretical physicist known for his work on dark matter and for publishing several popular science books. A Universe from Nothing is a New York Time best-seller and the book stays true to the title looking at why and how the universe began from “nothing.” The book aims to be physics’ answer to philosophy’s questions and maybe after reading it you might, like Stephen Hawking, conclude that philosophy is dead at the hand of physics. Either way A Universe from Nothing is a very insightful cosmology book and well worth a read to come to your own conclusion on philosophy’s fate.

2

Cosmos

Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan was a world-renowned astrophysicist well-known due to his work with NASA on extra-terrestrial life. Sagan played a significant role in choosing the contents of the voyager golden record which is currently on-board the voyager spacecraft, soon to be the first man-made object to enter inter-stellar space. Sagan was also well-known for the television series ‘Cosmos: A personal voyage’ the series that this book accompanies and one I can’t recommend highly enough. Though Cosmos was published over 30 years ago it is still a relevant and intriguing read filled with amazing imagery of the universe. In it Sagan looks at the evolution of our universe, the evolution of science, and how people are quite literally the universe conceptualizing itself. 

1

Wonders of the Universe

Brian Cox

Brian Cox is a particle physicist, a familiar presenter of many BBC documentaries on cosmology and he was even a keyboard player for a pop band! His book Wonders of the Universe compliments his television series of the same name. Using materials found on earth and glorious illustrations throughout Cox makes it easier for his audience to understand the concepts in his book. The book explores the marvels of deep space looking at distant stars, black holes, the death of our sun and so much more. Just like Sagan’s Cosmos this book is also based on a fantastic television series, is beautifully illustrated, and would make a great coffee table book.

Mega collection of best Wordpress plug-ins

Administration Plugins

Ozh’ Admin Drop Down Menu

Consolidate space in the back end of WordPress by displaying all of your administration links in a smaller and more organized horizontal navigation bar across the top of your screen. This takes up much less space the default vertical menu and makes managing your blog much easier. You can even customize the colors of this admin menu to match your theme.

Download Ozh’ Admin Drop Down Menu

WP-DBManager

Easily access your database from within WordPress with this all-in-one plugin. You can optimize, repair, backup, or restore your database as well as delete backups, drop/empty tables and run selected queries. You can also schedule automatic backups and optimization of your database.

Download WP-DBManager

WP-DB-Backup

Another solution for backing up your database in a much more simple (and less feature packed) version of the above WP-DBManager plugin. This plugin allows you to easily backup your core database tables with the click of your mouse.

Download WP-DB-Backup

WordPress Backup

In addition to regular database backups, you should also backup the important server files for WordPress. This plugin allows you to easily backup theme files, uploaded files/images, as well as your plugins directory all within the WordPress backend. You also have the ability to send the backed up zip file to your email.

Download Wordpress Backup

Role Scoper

For multi user blogs that require advanced permissions for specific user groups and/or content sections, the Role Scoper plugin is a must. Most notably, this plugin allows you to easily customize access to specific pages, posts, or categories as well as giving the ability to set very specific permissions to your different user groups. In addition to these two basic functions, this plugin is loaded with a wide variety of additional capabilities.

Download Role Scoper

Broken Link Checker

This is a great plugin that simply checks your posts for any broken links (both internal and outbound) and notifies you on your WordPress dashboard if you have a broken link. From there, you can easily edit or remove the link.

Download Broken Link Checker

Security Plugins

Bad Behavior

An easy solution for blocking link spam and bad robots before they are even able to reach your site. Prevent unnecessary link spam, keep your site’s load down and your site log clean with the Bad Behavior plugin.

Download Bad Behavior

Login LockDown

This WordPress security plugin will record the IP address and timestamp for every failed login attempt and then temporary lock out an IP address if it has too many failed login attempts within a certain amount of time. This will prevent attackers from any brute force password discovery attempts.

Download Login LockDown

WP Security Scan

Very simply, this plugin will scan your WordPress instillation for any potential security flaws or vulnerabilities and then suggest corrective actions. This includes passwords, file permissions, database security, version hiding, admin protection/security, and much more.

Download WP Security Scan

Spam Plugins

Akismet

Probably the best comment spam plugin out there which blocks most spam comments and files them under "Spam" in your WordPress comment admin screen.

Download Akismet

SpamShiv Spam Protection

We all know that putting email addresses on your website is usually a bad idea these days because automated bots can now detect them and spam your inbox relentlessly. With SpamShiv, you no longer have to worry about publicly displaying your email address on your WordPress site. This plugin will detect any email addresses listed on your site and then mask them from email harvesting bots.

Download SpamShiv Spam Protection

Really Simple CAPTCHA

A simple CAPTCHA plugin that works in conjunction with the widely used Contact Form 7 plugin. While this isn’t the most secure CAPTCHA out there, it does prevent most unwanted/spam submissions and integrates quite easily into your WordPress site.

Download Really Simple CAPTCHA

Social Plugins

DISQUS Comment System

Provide added functionality for your comment section with the DISQUS comment system. This plugin integrates seamlessly with WordPress  and actually syncs with the default comment system. For one, this plugin allows users to login with their Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo (and more) accounts to post comments. Additionally, you can pull in reactions/comments from various social sites including Digg/Reddit comments, Retweets, and more.

Download DISQUS Comment System

Gigya Socialize

The Gigya Socialize plugin uses social APIs to authenticate users from Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, LinkedIn, and AOL. Allow users to register and login into your site with their own social account.

Download Gigya Socialize

Sociable

The sociable plugin displays various social sharing and bookmarking logos below your posts allowing readers to easily share posts on their favorite social sites. You can choose from 99 different social bookmarking logos to display.

Download Sociable

Add To Any

As an alternative or addition to the above sociable plugin, the Add to Any plugin provides an easy and compact way for users to share your posts. Save space on your website and give readers a tool to easily share or bookmark your post on over 100 different social sites.

Download Add To Any

TweetMeme Button

Adds the popular Retweet button to every post. The plugin also provides easy customization and integrates seamlessly with WordPress.

Download TweetMeme Button

Facebook Share Button

Similar to the above TweetMeMe plugin, the Facebook Share plugin adds the popular Facebook share button to your posts. 

Download Facebook Share Button

Wibiya Plugin

The Wibiya plugin gives you the ability to easily add the Wibiya Toolbar to your WordPress site. This toolbar displays across the bottom of your site and gives users the ability to search, translate, share, and much more. Additionally, you can customize the look and color of the toolbar to match your site as well as track the toolbar usage through your Wibiya account.

Download Wibiya Plugin

Usability Plugins

Dunstan-style Error Page

Easily create an effective and useful 404 error page on your WordPress site with the click of a button.

Download Dunstan-style Error Page

Smart 404

The smart 404 plugin helps reduce 404 errors by automatically redirecting users to the correct post or page when they mistype a URL.

Download Smart 404

Lightbox Plus

The Lightbox plugin provides a much cleaner, more user friendly and stylish way to display images on your site.

Download Lightbox Plus

Outbound Links

Keep users on your site by forcing all outbound links to open in a new window.

Download Outbound Links

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin

Increase your page views and time on site by displaying related posts on your site.

Download Yet Another Related Posts Plugin

WordPress Popular Posts

Easily display your most popular posts on the sidebar of your site with the WordPress popular posts plugin.

Download WordPress Popular Posts

Feedburner Feedsmith

An often overlooked plugin, Feedburner Feedsmith will detect all alternate feed ULRs for your WordPress site and redirect users to your Feedburner feed.

Download Feedburner Feedsmith

Search Everything

The Search Everything plugin gives you additional control over the default WordPress site search as well as gives users additional search capabilities to help them find the content they are looking for.

Download Search Everything

SEO Plugins

Please view our previous post on WordPress SEO plugins for a complete list of great search engine optimization plugins.

Advertising Plugins

Ad-minister

Rotate ads on your site, display certain ads only during specific time periods, track impressions and more with the Ad-minister plugin.

Download Ad-minister

Ozh’ Who Sees Ads

Control who sees certain advertisements and under what conditions with Ozh’ Who Sees Ads.

Download Ozh’ Who Sees Ads

WP125

Easily display and manage 125×125 sidebars ads with the WP125 plugin.

Download WP125

Amazon Reloaded for WordPress

Looking to make some extra cash on your site? Use the Amazon Reloaded plugin to easily find and add Amazon affiliate links to your posts.

Download Amazon Reloaded for WordPress

GoCodes

While not the primary use of GoCodes (intended to create custom and branded shortened URLs), this plugin allows you to easily mask affiliate link URLs by displaying a much cleaner and more friendly version to users.

Download GoCodes

Other Plugins

WPtouch iPhone Theme

In one of the most impressive plugins out there (in my opinion), the WPtouch iPhone Theme transforms your blog into a great looking mobile site. Keep mobile users on your site with this simple and stylish mobile plugin.

Download WPtouch iPhone Theme

Contact Form 7

One of the most widely used and simple (yet customizable) contact form plugins available. In conjunction with the Really Simple CAPTCHA plugin listed above, this is a great solution for most WordPress sites.

Download Contact Form 7

PollDaddy Polls & Ratings

Easily create and manage PollDaddy polls from right within your WordPress dashboard.

Download PollDaddy Polls & Ratings