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Have you ever read an article, intended to explain RSS in simple terms that, begins well, but soon descends into confusing jargon or information overload?

If so, take heart, I was in the same place a few months ago.

Often the best way to understand something, is to use it. RSS is no exception.

So rather than try and create a definitive explanation of RSS, this article will tell you how to use it. I guarantee once youve done so, everything will that much clearer.

If a website you visit utilizes RSS, there are a number of ways it will communicate this.

The most common way is to show a little orange button with the letters XML.

Alternatively, you may see words such as "ATOM", "RSS", "Site Feed" or variations on these.

What they have in common is that they will link to a webpage that, in most browsers, looks like gibberish.

It doesnt matter one way or another, what is important is the address of the web page they link to.

To demonstrate, I will relate how to read a site feed for my website, The Nettle Blog. Dont confuse RSS with blogs (web logs). They are two separate concepts. The only reason you see them together so often, is that blogs are the perfect website to take advantage of site feeds. More on that later. Here we go

Click on thislink to go the site feed for The Nettle Blog. Ignore the content in the window, just make a note of the URL in the web address bar. It should read: http://feeds.feedburner.com/thenettle

Now youve got the web address for the site feed, keep it safe somewhere. Youll need it again in a moment.

The next step is to use an RSS reader to make sense of the site feed. There are lots of these available and if you are a heavy user you would probably want to purchase a nice piece of software.

But to begin with, start with something simple and free. Start with Bloglines.

Go to www.bloglines.com/register/ and create a new account.

From the "My Feeds" section of your account you can add new site feeds you want to keep track of.

Select "ADD", enter the URL you copied and hit "Subscribe". You can preview the results, but skip that stage for now. Select "Subscribe" again and the title of the site feed will be transferred to the left-hand window.

Well done. You have now subscribed to your first RSS feed.

To read it just click on the title and you can view all the messages in that feed within a selected time period. The feed will most likely record news related to the website the feed belongs to.

In this instance, the site feed to The Nettle Blog records each new entry to my blog. If you find something of interest, most entries have a clickable link you can follow.

Anytime you find a website you like with a site feed, make a note of the URL for that site feed and add it to your Bloglines folder.

Now comes the clever bit.

In the left-hand column of your account is an "Extras" list. Select Download Notifier and choose the correct file to download the Bloglines Notifier This file is only 100k so any half-decent connection should complete the download in just a few seconds.

If the download is successful, you should see a small, blue icon with the letter "B". Double-clicking it will short-cut you to Bloglines.

Right-click on the icon and you can adjust the settings. Specify how often you want Bloglines to check messages for you.

When Bloglines checks your site feeds and finds that one or more have been updated, a little chime will play and the Bloglines icon will show a little red marker. This means one of the feeds you have subscribed to has something new to say.

So there you have it. A spam-free, hassle-free way to keep track of websites you have an interest in. Providing of course, that they have a site feed. If they dont, ask them why not.

Part two of this article will show webmaster and ezine publishers how they can easily publish a site feed for their website and track the visitors, free of charge.

The latest NFL Football Odds has the Seahawks favored by 9.5 points.

The road-weary Washington Redskins go into the hostile territory of the Seattle Seahawks this Saturday afternoon. At first glance, the skins look like a solid bet. They are 40-21 ATS as road dogs of 3.5 to 9.5 since 1992, are 6-0 against NFC West teams, and are 6-1 after 2 consecutive SU wins. Plus, the advantage of having one of the greatest NFL coaches in history also sweetens the skins side. But, teams who are playing their third game in a row, especially entering the 2nd round of the playoffs are quite dismal.

Psychologically, theyve proven themselves to be a good team by beating their first opponent as a road team. This may give them a false sense of superiority, and given the skins inefficiency in scoring, Seattle will give them fits on both sides of the ball. The skins will have to face a well rested hawks team that is coming off a loss and seeking to avenge its 20-17 loss against these same skins last October. Teams in this situation are a glaring 8-0-1 ATS. Add to the fact that the home teams in the second round of the playoffs win SU and ATS at about an 80% rate, its tough to go against Seattle in this spot.

This is it: Super Bowl Sunday! The old adage You win the turnover battle, you win the game, is especially true come playoff time. Looking back at last seasons game, we find that the Patriots won the turnover battle 4-1, largely because of three Donovan McNabb interceptions. The Pats won the game 24-21, though they failed to cover. The year before, the Patriots and Panthers were even in the turnover department, 1-1. New England won again, 32-29, but failed to cover. Before that the Bucs had a huge edge in turnovers and destroyed the Raiders as a dog, 48-21, and before that the Patriots were a 14-point dog but won the turnover battle 3-0 in upsetting the Rams, 20-17.

Overall, the turnover department is huge. So who has the edge this Sunday? The Steelers are +7 on the season in turnovers, and the Seahawks are +9. Not much of a difference. In the payoffs, the Steelers won the turnovers battle +2 in their win at Cincinnati, and repeated that in a 34-17 rout at Denver in the AFC Championship game with a +4 edge in turnovers. However, they were minus-2 against the Colts, yet won the game 21-18. Seattle won the turnover battle in the NFC Championship rout of Carolina (+4), but were actually minus-2 against the Redskins, but still prevailed, 20-10.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this weeks Super Bowl preparation has been the war of words. Seattle TE Jerramy Stevens made the cardinal sin of dissing the enemy this week, saying about RB Jerome Bettis, "It's a heartwarming story and all that, but it will be a sad day when he leaves without that Super Bowl trophy. Oops! Big mistake. Seattle coaches no doubt took him aside and told him to keep his trap shut. The last thing anyone should do before a big game is give verbal fodder to fire up the opposition.

Pittsburgh linebacker Joey Porter responded by saying that the Steelers will be so physical in the Super Bowl they will try to make Seattle quit playing. Them sounds like fightin words, pardner! Porter said, "We're going to try to tap out as many people as we can. We're going to try to send as many people to the sideline as we can." Someone is going to look like a hero on Sunday night, saying the opponent fired them up.

Rest assured, players and coaches seize on stuff like this. I recall five years ago when the Steelers were a double digit favorite in the AFC Championship game over the Patriots and made comments about how they already had their bags packed for the Super Bowl. After the Patriots' 24-17 upset win, the New England players all spoke about how they were incensed that the Steelers would talk like that.

Added Porter, "Tell him he's soft. He's a tight end and I've never, ever been afraid of a tight end. They better not make him block me on Sunday. I bet they're not going to make that coaching mistake. Wow! You dont usually hear trash talk like that the week of the Super Bowl.

Perhaps the most important thing to assess before this game is that the Seahawks have been outstanding at home the last few years, but mediocre on the road. Even this season they were 5-3 on the road, winning both playoff games at home. They have a significant edge at home partly because its a long road trip for opponents to Seattle, and also because of their 12th man -- their raucous fans. That home field caused more opponents to be called for false starts than at any other venue in the NFL this season. Thats also an edge the Seahawks wont be bringing to Detroit on Sunday. And theyll be facing a tough, Pittsburgh team that just dispatched Cincinnati, Indy and Denver all on the road! If Seattle wins this title, they will have to earn it without those edges. Good luck, as always...

Its time that we listen to Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Mike Tice and take him at his word. He asked us early in the season to reserve judgment until the end of the year. He told us that if he failed then it was on his shoulders.When Tice took over as head coach three years ago we were all led to believe that he had all the ingredients necessary to do well.

Mike Tices Vikings arent any better today then they were three years ago. Mike Tice has made the playoffs one time and that was last year. Mike Tice has a combined win/loss record of 31-33.

It seems as though every time Tices team takes a step forward, they take five steps backward.

So we should take Tice at his word. We must listen to him and hold him accountable for his actions. Mike has failed once again and I dont feel that there are any reasons that he should be given another chance.

If Tice had the character and could instill values into his players then I might have a different opinion. His team had off the field scandals from Onterio Smiths Whizzinator incident to the Vikings Boat scandal.Then there was Tices scalping incident. Mike Tice scalped Super Bowl tickets and was caught. The NFL fined him $100,000. Tice blew the incident off and considered it a minor infraction. Very few people are fined as much as $100,000 for a first time offense. Obviously the NFL considered his actions to be serious enough to warrant such a stiff penalty.

Mike Tice says that he shouldnt be held accountable for his players actions. This is nonsense.I dont think that his players respect him. How can he command any respect when he broke an NFL rule?How can he demand that his players respect rules and laws. How can he demand that they conduct themselves in a respectful manner on and off the field?

The answer is that Mike Tice cant command respect and he cant demand that his players follow the rules. There are a number of coaches in the NFL that demand more from their players on and off the field. These coaches wont put up with the type of behavior that was exhibited by Vikings players this year.

Mike Tice also has a big mouth and has been known to yell at fans and call them stupid when he disagrees with their criticism.

I just cant see any logical reason why Mike Tice should keep his job. I do feel that people should do their best to keep their word and when they ask us to judge them based on the results of their actions, we should listen to them.

Mike Tice asked us to judge him based on his success or failure with the Vikings this season. He asked us to wait until the end of the season to judge him.With Sundays loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the Vikings season ended in failure. The Vikings will not be playing in the playoffs.

I hope that Vikings ownership doesnt give him too much credit for his winning streak. That winning streak came against some of the worst teams in the NFL. When his team faced tough opponents they stunk up the field.

Its definitely time for the Vikings to start a new era with a new coach.