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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Earth Movers

Earth movers which fall into the category of heavy equipment, are vehicles or machines used for digging up and transporting mud or earth. Usually found on construction sites. Jagged metal baskets or attachments can be used for trenching and breaking up hard soil and rock and in one way they work like cranes. They do the work of bulldozers and can also carry mud and soil to other locations.

earth movers at a construction site


Large boulders and rocks can be easily moved with an earth mover.

earth mover picking up boulders


Usually, special training needs to be given to the driver, who has to both drive and operate the device.

driver of an earth mover or crane

Pictures of workers at construction sites: Working without protective gear or  Workers taking a break or
Women construction workers in India
Or Stock images of empty or unused pipes or Laying underground pipes

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Monday, March 25, 2013

Weighing Scales Silhouettes


A black and white silhouette of balance weighing scales. They are pretty large, and hanging from the roof and almost touching the floor. Mostly used for weighing grain in godowns.

silhouette of balance weighing scales



A silhouette of small manual weighing scales mostly used in developing and poor countries. Some carrots are lying inside one of the containers to be weighed.

silhouette of manual weighing scales

You might also like to see actual photographs of Balance weighing scales or Manual Weighing Scales which have a short description about their use and their function.

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Thursday, March 21, 2013

Monkey faces

These are some monkey faces, some angry, some pensive. Monkey's expressions can be very similar to humans. These photographs were taken in a national park in Kerala.

In this one the monkey seems apprehensive.

tense monkey



This is a side profile of a monkey who is unaware of our presence.

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A large black monkey eating leaves. He has a very thick and rough coat.

black monkey eating leaves



A monkey sitting on a tree branch, feeling safe in the tree.

monkey on a tree

You might also like Monkey silhouettes or Cat Portraits or Stray Dogs Pictures or Man with camel - photograph and silhouette
Or just click on any of the labels below this post.

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Monday, March 18, 2013

Terracotta Warriors from China

These Terracotta warriors are part of the Terracotta Army. These are scores of terracotta sculptures which showcase the army of Qin Shi Huang, who was the first Emperor of China. These pieces of art were buried with the emperor. The idea was that they would be the protectors.

They appear to have been carved out from real people as each figure has different facial features. This was quite a feat as it is estimated that there are over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots in all, and not all have been excavated. The work is still on. All these figures were found in pits near the Emperor's mauseleum and they contain not just soldiers but also other officials, and also musicians.

close ups of the terracotta soldiers in China


The pit out of which the terracota warriors were dug out from are huge and there are many of them.
terracotta warrior army


Here you can see how deep the terracotta warriors were buried. Tourists are watching from the gallery.

terracotta warriors side view

You might also like Great Wall of China or Chinese Emperor's Crowns or the Reed Flute Cave at Guilin, China or more images from China of the Chinese people, and places.

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Thursday, March 14, 2013

Martial Arts from Kerala

The Kerala style of martial arts is called Kalaripayattu and it is an ancient fighting system art. It is practiced in Kerala and some parts of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and also parts of Sri Lanka. Here are some photos from one of their shows.

Two men in silk and red bordered lungis using shields and swords.



A graceful pose of two men practicing martial arts. They are ready to attack.

two men performing Kerala Martial Arts


Fighting ferociously to defend themselves! They are using poles or sticks.

Fighting Kerala Martial Arts style


A man in a sword ready to pounce on his opponent. He is certainly battle ready!

Battle ready


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Monday, March 11, 2013

Nature Scenes from Switzerland

Switzerland at the end of Autumn has different colours and spectacular beauty. The mountains are mostly green and thick with fir, and the mountains are snow-capped.

A shot taken from one of the cable cars going up to see the snow clad mountains in Switzerland. The contrast in the scenes is amazing. The bluish tint of the far off mountains and the dark green of the fir trees on the mountainside in the foreground. Also the lush green grass which cattle is feeding on. The cows are brown in color.

Swiss hillside with cattle


One of my favourite photographs of the Swiss mountains. The multi-colored Alps in the background with the lush green fir trees forming the background. The trees too have different hues, like they have at the tail end of Autumn.

the beauty of the mysterious swiss alps


A Swiss village. In the foreground of brown and white cobble stoned houses there is a small road running through. A small mountain with fir and snow forms the background of the picture.

pretty Swiss village


A valley in the Swiss Alps with the clouds swirling in the background inbetween the mountains. The grass is like velvet.

Lush and green alpine valley

Related Images: Lake Lucerne Photos
You might also like panoramic photos of the snow-capped Swiss mountains:  Photos taken from Jungfrau, a summit in the Swiss Alps or Swiss Alps from the air
Or try the labels of SwitzerlandSceneryNature or Nature Headers or  Backgrounds

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Thursday, March 7, 2013

Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram or Mammallapuram

The Shore Temple was built over 13 centuries ago (700-728 AD). Although it is partly in ruins, it has been well maintained. It is near the beach of the Bay of Bengal. It has been made of granite at Mahabalipuram or what is also known as Mammallapuram which is a small village near Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was built during the Pallava dynasty.

A panoramic view of the Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram. It is in the centre of the image. Beyond that is the sea.

panoramic view of the Shore Temple

A closer look at the ancient temple at Mahabalipuram. It is an UNESCO world heritage site. The temple is dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu.
shore temple in mahabalipuram

You might also like Meenakshi Temple or Tiru-alavai images or check out the scores of images filed under the label "Temples" where you will find temples from different parts of the world.

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Monday, March 4, 2013

Ipad writing apps review

This is a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages (pros and cons) of two writing apps for the ipad - the free Notepad and the iwriter, one of the least expensive writing apps developed for the ipad. Both these can be used off-line. Cloud-on is also free, but not mentioned here as it needs a continuos internet connection.

The free inbuilt writing notepad app in the ipad (see image below) is very basic. The keypad has limited functionality and no formatting. The fonts keep changing if you cut and paste. The background is a yellow and lined. Not that one can control spacing!

ipad notepad image

Notepad has 3 different keypads in two languages - for letters, numbers and symbols. The other language depends on which country one buys the ipad in.


ipad notepad image demonstrating cursor movement
It is difficult to move the cursor between words and letters. The image on the left demonstrates the way we are expected to move the cursor if one wants to alter what has been typed. After holding one's finger gently over the spot, a bubble appears (like the one in the left image) and the cursor can be moved to any position within the bubble. Tapping the ipad  a little differently will do other things like selecting the word or spell checking so one has to be careful.

The advantage of the built-in notepad is that it syncs very well (and fast) with one's computer (via icloud) and so as you type the document is replicated on your personal pc but for this one has to be online.

A Hindi language keypad of an ipad notepad bought in India.

Hindi language keypad on ipad notepad


iwriter
The iwriter (₹50) has an advantage. It's a clean white sheet, and one can move between different words and also letters if one needs to edit. This keypad also has symbols for parenthesis, dashes and inverted commas on the main keyboard so one need not keep switching keyboards. Tapping the little flower-like symbol of the top one can highlight just the few lines. An added advantage for serious writers.

ipad notepad image


The language keypad is better as it has the ₹ symbol. Quite essential!

iwriter hindi language keypad


In iwriter one can type one can name the document as you make it, but in the Notepad, the first few words of the document automatically become the document name. If the beginning changes, so does the name of the document!

There is no formatting in iwriter either, but at least it doesn't play havoc like the formatting in Notepad. It's simply a plain and simple text document. Like writing in html. No surprises here. This is a huge relief as the Notepad formatting is a nightmare! Almost like Apple's conspiracy to force you to not use it! Unfortunately one has to use it as it automatically syncs with your icloud account.

Miss-spelled words are highlighted and easy to correct in both apps. However neither app allows you to access the dictionary. This is an irritant as you cannot add or delete words. The apps add words automatically but not always intelligently.

There is no search and find function in either app, and to anyone who writes a lot of pages, this is a disadvantage.

A free app which allows you to write in Word Document format, with all its features, is also available for free but it needs constant connectivity to the internet. It saves all your files to Dropbox which you can access on other writing apps on the ipad and also on your computer. Below is the Cloudon free app image. I tried to make a file named "test file" but as it was a slow internet connection it didn't happen.

cloudon free app for ipad



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