Introduction to Adobe Photoshop

What is Photoshop?
  Adobe Photoshop is a professional image editing software package that can be used by experts and novices alike. While this handout offers some very basic tips on using the tools available in Photoshop, more comprehensive guidance can be accessed on the web or in the help menu of your version of Photoshop. The version used for this tutorial is Adobe Photoshop CS.


About the Work Area
  The work area can be intimidating to work with because of all the complex functionality but with a quick breakdown of the available features and their uses, you will be ready to comfortably navigate the work area with ease. The work area in Photoshop has the following basic functionality and features:
• Menu Bar – this is where you can access most of the commands and features in Photoshop
• Drawing Palette – where the image being worked on will appear
• Options bar
• content sensitive display of tool options – changes as different tools are selected
• display using Window > Options or Click a tool in the toolbox.Lasso options bar
• Tool box - for creating an editing images (display or hide using Windows > Tools)
• Palettes - to monitor and modify images (there are 5 palettes by default)
• Palette Well - to organize palettes in work area
• Drag a palette’s tab into the palette well to store it in the palette well
• Once in the palette well click on the palette tab to use it

Resizing Images and Size Guide
When working with images for a website, you will need to resize your images to suit your particular purpose. Here is a basic guide that can help you decide on what is suitable. (The units used here are pixels, which are standard units across all computer platforms. The conversion between pixels and inches is roughly 1” = 72 pixels or 1cm = 28 pixels) To use this particular unit of measure you will need to adjust you preference settings by selecting Edit > Preferences > Units and Rulers and changing the units and rulers to measure in pixels.
Type of picture's Size in Pixels
Background
1024 x 768
Standard personal picture of yourself for a personal website
200 x 200
Title bar e.g. Google title bar on the Google homepage
276 x 110
To resize a picture look on the menu bar and select Image > image size

My some high resolution

How to Install Windows 7

This step-by-step guide demonstrates how to install Windows 7 Ultimate. The guide is similar for other versions of Windows 7 such as Home Premium.
The best way to install Windows 7 is to do a clean install. It is not difficult to perform a clean installation. Before you start the installation process I recommend that you check Windows 7 System Requirements list to ensure that your hardware is supported by Windows 7. If you don't have Windows 7 drivers for all your hardware, it is a good idea to download all the drivers from the hardware manufacturers website and save all the necessary drivers on a CD-R or a USB drive before you start the installation.
Windows 7 DVD is bootable. In order to boot from the DVD you need to set the boot sequence. Look for the boot sequence under your BIOS setup and make sure that the first boot device is set to CD-ROM/DVD-ROM.

Step 1 - Place Windows 7 DVD in your dvd-rom drive and start your PC. Windows 7 will start to boot up and you will get the following progress bar.

Step 2 - The next screen allows you to setup your language, time and currency format, keyboard or input method. Choose your required settings and click next to continue.

Step 3 - The next screen allows you to install or repair Windows 7. Since we are doing a clean install we will click on "install now".

Step 4 - Read the license terms and tick I accept license terms. Then click next to continue

Step 5 - You will now be presented with two options. Upgrade or Custom (Advanced). Since we are doing a clean install we will select Custom (Advanced).

Step 6 - Choose where you would like to install Windows 7. If you have one hard drive you will get a similar option to the image below. You can click next to continue. If you have more that one drive or partition then you need to select the appropriate drive and click next. If you need to format or partition a drive then click Drive options (advance) before clicking next.

Step 7 - Windows 7 starts the installation process and starts copying all the necessary files to your hard drive as shown on the image below.

Step 8 - It will go through various stages of the setup and will reboot your system few times.

Step 9 - When your PC reboots it attempts to boot from DVD as its the first boot device. Do not press any key during the boot prompt so Windows 7 will continue with the installation by booting from the hard drive.

Step 10 - After the reboot your computer will be prepared for first use.

Step 11 - At this stage you need to choose a user name and computer name. Click next to continue. The user account you create here is the Administrator account which is the main account for your Windows 7 that has all the privileges.

Step 12 - Choose your password and password hint just incase you forget your password and need to jog your memory.

Step 13 - You can now type the product key that came with Windows 7 and click next. If you do not enter the product key you can still proceed to the next stage. However Windows 7 will run in trial mode for 30 days. You must therefore activate Windows within 30 days otherwise you can not access your computer after 30 days.

Step 14 - Help protect your computer and improve Windows automatically. Choose Use recommended settings.

Step 15 - Review your time and date settings. Select your time zone, correct the date and time and click next to continue.

Step 16 - Select your computer's current location. If you are a home user then choose Home network otherwise select the appropriate option.

Step 17 - Windows will now finalize the settings for your computer and restart.

Step 18 - After the final restart Windows 7 will start to boot up.

Step 19 - Finally you have the logon screen. Just type your password and press enter or click on the arrow to logon to Windows 7 for the first time.

Step 20 - After you have logged on to Windows 7 for the first time, you will see similar desktop to the image below. At this point you can start using your computer. However it may not be fully configured. You need to make sure that all the hardware is detected correctly and the necessary device drivers are installed. This can be done from the device manager.

Step 21 - To go to device manager click - Start Menu -> Control Panel -> System and Security -> System -> Device Manager. You will see all your hardware listed as shown on the image below. You need to check if you have any yellow exclamation marks next to the name of the devices, similar to "Multimedia Audio Controller" on the image below. This indicates that the driver has not been installed for this device.

At this stage you can install the driver for this device. To do so, Right Mouse click on Multimedia Audio Controller -> Update Driver Software...

Step 22 - You can choose to "Search automatically for updated driver software" or "Browse my computer for driver software". If you have the driver CD or if the driver is on a USB drive then choose "browse my computer for driver software". Window 7 will search and install the driver from the CD or you can locate the driver manually.

Once you have removed all the yellow exclamation marks from the device manager your Windows 7 configuration would be fully complete.

Step 23 - Finally check if you have successfully activated Windows 7. Click Start Menu -> Control Panel -> System and Security -> System. You will get a window similar to the image below. Towards the bottom you will see Windows is activated followed by your product ID. This shows that your copy of Windows 7 is fully activated.

Jagannath Temple, Puri

Puri is the forerunner of the Jagannath cult in Orissa, which saw the flowering of several temples dedicated to Jagannath all over the state. 

Puri is an ancient shrine, enshrining Krishna - Jagannath in the form of a wooden image. Also enshrined are wooden images of Balabhadra (Balarama) and Subhadra brother and sister of Krishna respectively. Interestingly,  the Rig Veda refers to Purushottama in the form of a wooden image, prepared from a log of wood floating on the ocean. Puri is also referred to in the Bhrama purana.
Orissa has Konark as the Surya Kshetra, Puri as the Vishnu kshetra, Bhubaneshwar as the Hara Kshetra and Jaipur as the Parvati Kshetra.
Legend has it that the original image of Jagannath was found at the foot of a fig tree, in the form of an Indranila or the Blue Jewel.  Its blinding brightness, prompted Dharma to request it to be hidden in the earth. King Indradyumna, of Malwa intending to discover this image, performed severe penances, and was instructed by Vishnu to go to the Puri seashore, and look for a floating log, and fashion an image from its trunk. 
The King did discover the log of wood. Vishnu and Vishwakarma appeared in the form of artistes and prepared images of Krishna, Balarama and Subhadra from the tree. Interestingly, the wooden images being worshipped are renewed during special occasions. New images have been installed in 1863, 1893, 1931, 1950, 1969 and 1977.
Puri was  a center of Buddhist worship, before it became a center of Vaishnavism again. The Rath Yatra at Puri has its parallel with the chariot procession of the Buddha's tooth at Dantapuri.
Puri is located on the gentle slope of the Nila hill, adjacent to the sea. A sacred banyan tree is revered as a manifestation of Vishnu, the ocean - Balarama and a pool- the king Indradyumna. Pilgrims are required to offere worship first at a Shiva temple, and then at the banyan tree and then at the shrine to Balarama before proceding to worship Jagannath. Subhadra is to be worshipped next.
The Temple: The vast temple complex occupies an area of over 400000 square feet, and is bounded by a 20 feet high fortified wall. This complex contains about 120 temples and shrines. The shikhara of the Jagannath temple towers to a height of 192 feet.
Structurally the temple has four chambers. The outermost is the Bhogmandir, the next is the Nata-mandir pillared hall for music and dance, the next is the Jagamohana - or the mandapa where devotees gather for worship and the last is the sanctum or the Deul enshrining the deities.
History: The temple was originally  built by the Kalinga ruler Anantavarman Chodaganga (1078 - 1148 CE). Much of the present structure was built by King Ananga Bhima Deva in the year 1174 CE. It took 14 years to complete and was consecrated in 1198 CE. It is believed that the image of Jagannath was buried thrice in the Chilka lake for protection from invaders.
Puri represents one of the four peethas established by Sankaracharya, the other four being Sringeri in south India, Dwarka in Saurashtra, and Badrinath in the Himalayas. Ramananda of the 14th century - a follower of the Sri Vaishnava religious leader Ramanuja, is also associated with this temple. Chaitanya of the 15th - 16th centuries popularized the worship of Jagannath.
Festivals: Elaborate worship services are carried out throughout the day here. There are as many as 24 festivals each year, the most important one of them being the Rath Yatra or the Chariot festival in the month June - July.  The spectacular chariot festival involves the procession of three colossal chariots bearing the images of Jagannath, Balarama and Subhadra  through the streets of Puri.

Jagannath's chariot is a 35 feet square, rising to a height of 45 feet, with 16 wheels, 7 feet in diameter. More than 4000 people drag the chariot. Hundreds of thousands gather from all over the country to witness this festival. The chariot is dragged to the deity's summer abode where the deities are worshipped for a week, and then a re-enactment of the chariot festival, where they are brought back in procession happens. New chariots are made each year.