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Basic Features of Free Web Hosting

Looking for a free web hosting solution is an imperative decision. Try to identify a reliable web host can be a daunting task especially with so many service providers and options available nowadays. Throw in the feature sheets and promises, the task can be that much more intimidating. But it doesn’t have to be. Let’s take a look at some of the most common features a good free web hosting provider should offer: Disk Space and Bandwidth Disk space refers to the amount of storage space assigned to you by the free web hosting provider. This space will be used to store your website files, including text, images, audio, etc. files you use for your website. Bandwidth refers to the amount of traffic that is allowed to access and leave your website. Access means every time a visitor types in your website name in their browser. Leave means every time a visitor receives something from your website, whether it be viewing a photo, listening to an audio clip, or downloading a file. For example, if your website has a lot of graphics (ie. photographs) then you will require higher storage and greater bandwidth. Website Creator and FTP If this is your first website and you have limited or no scripting experience, then look for a free web hosting provider that offers a free website creating an application where you can create your website simply by choosing a template and adding in your own text and images. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is the protocol for transferring your website files from your computer to your free web hosting server or vice versa. This allows you to upload your finished website files (including images and other multimedia files) from your computer to your service provider’s server. It also allows you to download your files from your web hosting server back to your computer. A good free web hosting provider should offer 24/7 unrestricted FTP access. Email Yes, your free web hosting provider should provide you with email services – so that you can set up @yourdomain.com email accounts. In addition to a webmail interface (so you can log in and manage your emails using your web browser), the email service should also include POP3 and SMTP access so you can set up and access your @yourdomain.com emails using your mobile devices. Support and Uptime You should always choose a free web hosting service with free, reliable telephone and email support. While no host can offer a 100% guaranteed uptime (think problems out of their control, ie. city power outage), they should provide “just-in-case” measures to limit website and email downtime to a minimum. These measures may include 24/7 server and network monitoring, redundant hardware and network configurations, and onsite backup power supply. While you might not completely understand the technicalities of these, look to see if your free web hosting provider has these listed somewhere on their website. If not, ask them about it. Pricing If you’re looking for a free web hosting provider, then you should expect to pay absolutely nothing for all the basic features listed above. You shouldn’t have to compromise pricing with banner ads. Any free web hosting provider that forces ads on your website is a no-no.
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Luxury train journeys: Discover the world in a new light on a voyage through spectacular scenery

Agatha Christie once said: ‘Trains are wonderful… to travel by train is to see nature and human beings, towns and churches, and rivers, in fact, to see life.’ She was right. Here we round up some of the world’s most spectacular rides. GOING, GOING, GHAN The shiny, stainless-steel carriages of The Ghan – pictured – sweep across the immense dusty red-soil plains of Australia The 54-hour, 1,851-mile journey between Darwin and Adelaide — or vice versa — on The Ghan, is superb. Shiny, stainless-steel carriages sweep across immense dusty red-soil plains, stopping in Alice Springs, which is a springboard to see the famous sandstone monolith of Uluru. The Ghan is a shortening of The Afghan Express, the name given to Afghan camel herdsmen who crossed the Outback in the 1800s. INTO INDIA India’s Shimla service from Kalka is nicknamed the ‘toy train’, with a twisty 60-mile route through 107 tunnels There are more than 68,000 miles of rail tracks in India, making it a wonderful country to explore by train. Some of the finest rides are along narrow-gauge lines into the former hill stations of British colonial rule at Darjeeling and Shimla, both in the foothills of the Himalayas. The Shimla service from Kalka is nicknamed the ‘toy train’, with a twisty 60-mile route through 107 tunnels. NO-RUSH RUSSIA Preparing to dine in luxury on the Trans-Siberian Express. Traveling on the railway gives you an idea of the sheer enormity of Russia Crossing from Moscow to Vladivostok on the Trans-Siberian Railway, you get an idea of the sheer enormity of Russia — the ride covers 5,752 miles. The service also runs from Moscow to Beijing, either through Mongolia (4,735 miles) or Manchuria (5,623 miles). In Siberia, vast pine forests spread out, interrupted by cities with great smokestacks and villages with simple abodes. ON A SWISS ROLL Carriages on the Glacier Express (pictured) have panoramic windows so you can see all the peaks Join the Glacier Express in winter to see the snow-capped mountains of the Swiss Alps rising all around. The route covers 181 miles from Zermatt to St Moritz. Carriages have panoramic windows so you can see all the peaks. SPEED IN JAPAN Zip along coastlines and between mountains on Japan’s Shinkansen trains. Above, the bullet train passes Mount Fuji Japan’s Shinkansen (bullet) trains reach 186mph and are famous for their punctuality. Zip along coastlines and between mountains. Many tours begin in Sapporo in the north and finish in Hakata in the south. PERFECT PYRENEES Climb aboard the Little Red Train (pictured above) for a 38-mile journey between Rivesaltes and Axat Slide along the narrow-gauge tracks of the French Pyrenees aboard the Little Yellow Train, rising from an altitude of 427 meters in Villefranche de Conflent to Bolquere-Eyne, France’s highest railway station at 1,592 meters. The 39-mile route passes through 22 stations. In good weather, passengers can sit in open-sided carriages. Join the Little Red Train for a 38-mile journey between Rivesaltes and Axat, drinking in views of vineyards and chateaux. STEAM DREAM Sip champagne on the Northern Belle as it passes through the Pennines and Yorkshire Dales, with the impress Ribblehead Viaduct, pictured, one of the highlights Enjoy a ride on the Northern Belle train along the 73-mile Settle-Carlisle line. The route takes you through the Pennines and Yorkshire Dales, with highlights including the impressive Ribblehead Viaduct. Expect a Pullman dining car, champagne, and fine dining. ANDES ADVENTURE Ten-day ‘Peru by Rail’ trips with the Belmond Andean Explorer and Hiram Bingham trains Inside the five-star Belmond Andean Explorer, which is a grand sleeper train Travel between the ancient Inca capital of Cusco and Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake, before continuing to the whitewashed city of Arequipa, on the five-star Belmond Andean Explorer, a sleeper train. This three-day journey takes in magnificent mountain scenery, including the El Misti volcano rising near Arequipa. From Cusco, a day trip on the Hiram Bingham train takes you to the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu. ACROSS AFRICA Enjoy an odyssey across Africa’s great plains on the ‘Coast to Coast – African Kingdoms’ tour, pictured, with the possibility to stop for safaris How about a coast-to-coast ride across Africa? Join a ‘Rovos Rail — Pride of Africa’ luxury train on the Katanga-Benguela route across Angola into the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The route links up with tracks into Zambia and Tanzania on a 2,650-mile odyssey across great plains, through remote valleys, and along mighty rivers, with the possibility to stop for safaris. You’ll ride in comfortable 1950s vintage carriages, plus there’s a swanky restaurant car. ROCKY RITUAL Take to the tracks between Denver in Colorado and Moab in Utah on a new, two-day Rocky Mountaineer service. Following the swirling waters of the Colorado River, the train snakes into canyons and crosses a desert-like landscape. Some carriages have panoramic glass roofs. It goes slowly so you’ll be sure to get lots of super snaps. TOP TRAIN TRAVEL TIPS Read up about where you will be passing by — it adds to the enjoyment. Always investigate the dining carriage — you might bump into interesting people. Watch the scenery (not a smartphone screen). Enjoy a sundowner if you are traveling by sleeper train. Take a pack of cards (and/or Scrabble or your favorite game) for evenings. Dress up for dinner on luxury trains — it all adds to the Agatha Christie-ish atmosphere (minus any murders, hopefully).
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Who invented vaping? The history of vaping

The history of vaping can be traced back to the early 1960s when a scientist named Herbert Gilbert patented a “smokeless non-tobacco cigarette,” which heated a flavored nicotine solution to produce vapor instead of smoke. However, this invention did not gain widespread commercial success and was largely forgotten until the 1990s, when a Chinese pharmacist named Hon Lik developed a similar concept using ultrasonic technology. In 2003, Hon Lik’s company, Ruyan, began marketing the first commercially successful electronic cigarette, known as the “e-cigarette.” The device used a battery to heat a nicotine solution, which was then inhaled as a vapor. The e-cigarette quickly gained popularity as a safer alternative to traditional smoking, and the vaping industry has grown rapidly ever since. Over the past two decades, vaping technology has continued to evolve and improve. With the development of more advanced devices and a wider variety of e-liquids, vaping has also become a cultural phenomenon, with a growing community of “vapers” and an increasing number of vape shops and events. However, the safety and health effects of vaping are still being studied. There is ongoing debate and controversy about the risks and benefits of vaping compared to smoking. Nevertheless, vaping remains a popular and rapidly growing industry and is likely to continue to evolve and change in the years to come.
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Oxford University to trial giving AstraZeneca vaccine as a nasal spray

Oxford University to trial giving AstraZeneca Covid vaccine as a nasal spray with the hope it will trigger a better and faster immune response in the lungs. Oxford university is looking for 30 adults to receive vaccine through nasal spray. Trials could begin next week and are expected to last four months. Trial follows announcements that the university and other researchers are assessing delivering vaccines in non-jab forms. AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine will be administered as a nasal spray as part of a new trial. Oxford University scientists — who developed the jab — have been looking at injection-free ways to dish out the vaccine. It’s thought that nasal sprays may better target immune cells in the lungs, throat and nose, making them even more effective at defending against Covid. Oxford is looking for 30 adults to get the vaccine squirted up their noses as soon as next week. Volunteers will be tracked for four months to see make sure it’s safe as part of the initial trial. If successful, the phase one study will move on and tens or potentially hundreds more adults will be recruited to see if it can ward off the virus as well as a jab. Nasal spray vaccines would be great news for people who have a fear of needles and could alleviate supply issues that have hindered rollouts around the world. This method is already used to give out children’s flu jabs. The university’s study, involving adults over 40, is part of its partnership with AstraZeneca, the Financial Times reported. Professor Sarah Gilbert, one of the lead scientists behind the Oxford university jab, announced last month that her team was working on injection-free ways of delivering the vaccine. Vaccine hesitancy could lead to 20,000 extra coronavirus deaths over the next two years, a study has suggested. Researchers warned that if a significant number of people turn the jab down, it may allow the virus to spread in high numbers when lockdowns are eased, posing a constant threat to the elderly and ill. The gloomy modelling by Imperial College London predicted 305 extra Covid deaths per million people by 2023, the equivalent of 20,130 people in the UK. Other more pessimistic calculations projected even more deaths. Experts warned vaccine hesitancy will lead to flare-ups in cases and hospitalisations which could see lockdown restrictions in place for longer. The study did not specify what constituted as high vaccine hesitancy. But Imperial has been repeatedly criticised for its pessimistic Covid models, which predicted 250,000 deaths in the first wave without further action. So far, uptake in Britain has been far higher than expected, with more than 90 per cent of Britons over the age of 60 having accepted their jab. But officials expect that, as the programme moves to younger, less-vulnerable groups, the turnout rate will drop because young people don’t see the virus as a threat. Government-funded surveys have indicated up to a fifth of people under-30 will turn the vaccines down. Professor Sarah Gilbert told the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee last month that researchers were exploring nasal spray and tablet forms of the vaccine. She said: ‘As you know all the vaccines have been given at the moment as intramuscular injections. ‘That is not necessarily the best way to provide protection against a respiratory virus infection, where we want the immune system to be active in the upper respiratory tract and then in the lower respiratory tract, which is where the virus is causing the infection. ‘We have flu vaccines that are given by nasal spray and this could be a very good approach in the future to use vaccines against coronaviruses.’ Other scientists in the UK began testing a different nasal spray vaccine, known as COVI-VAC, on volunteers at the start of the year. The spray, made by New York-based company Codagenix, contains a genetically modified form of Covid and is being tested on 48 adults in London. The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) green-lit the trial after positive safety data in animal studies. COVI-VAC is a type of live attenuated vaccine, meaning trialists will get a genetically-modified version of Covid that is weaker than the real thing but still infectious. Live attenuated vaccines — such as the MMR jab — work by stimulating the immune system in the same way that real disease would, but by relying on viruses unable to cause severe illness. Oxford University’s vaccine is an adenovirus vaccine – which uses a weakened virus that causes the common cold that has been modified not to trigger illness and is not infectious. Meanwhile, Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology is also trialing a nasal spray to deliver the country’s Sputnik V vaccine. The institute expects to complete clinical trials of the spray by the end of the year. Scientists at the University of Birmingham are also working on a nasal Covid treatment. But rather than acting as a vaccine, its version aims to prevent Covid infections by capturing the virus in the nose. Researchers hope the spray may be readily available in pharmacies in the coming months. Source: DailyMail.co.uk
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What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is a service that allows organizations and individuals to post a website or web page on the Internet. A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed on the Internet. Websites are hosted or stored, on special computers called servers. When Internet users want to view your website, all they need to do is type your website address into their browser. Their computer will then connect to your server and your webpages will be delivered to them through the browser. Most web hosting companies require that you own your domain name in order to host with them. If you do not have a domain name, the web hosting companies will help you purchase one. The basic features of a web hosting plan include: Disk Space All web hosting accounts offer a certain amount of disk space that you can use to store your web files. It is recommended that you have some sort of estimates on what you need for various tasks – the amount of space you need for your emails, web files, databases, etc. By breaking down your usage, you can better estimate how much space you should go for. Bandwidth or Data Transfer Very often web hosts talk about bandwidth and data transfer as the same entity. However, they are in fact, different. Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transferred at one time. Data transfer is the actual amount of data transferred. Think of it this way. If bandwidth were a tunnel, the bigger the tunnel the more cars can pass through it. Data transfer would then be the number of cars allowed to go through the tunnel in a given time period, say a month. The less bandwidth you have, the slower it takes your website to load, regardless of your visitor’s connection type. Visitors will have to wait their turn. The less data transfer you have, the more often you will find your website unavailable because you have reached the maximum amount of data allowed to be transferred. To determine what is sufficient, you need to take into consideration the size of your website and the number of visitors you have in a month’s time. Email Accounts Email accounts are a common feature of web hosting, especially if you are hosting a domain. There are three main types of email accounts: POP3, forwarding, and aliases. POP3 accounts are the traditional inboxes. You have space on the server to store your emails, and at the same time, you can use an email program to download your mail. Each login and password combination usually equates to one account. Forwarding mail accounts are useful if you are employing the service of another company to filter your emails for you. Rather than storing your emails on your mail server, emails are redirected to another email address. Aliases accounts are similar to forwarding mail accounts. Some hosts allow you to set up a catch-all alias, which is often used to collect emails sent to addresses not recognized by your mail server. FTP Access After you have created your web pages on your computer, you need to transfer those files to your web server. The files are transferred to the server by use of FTP. FTP is also the protocol of downloading your web files from the server to your computer, ie. backing up your website files.
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