Google Page Rank article by Ian Rogers

This article has one of the best explanations of google's page rank algorithm that I've ever read. Granted, I don't understand the method completely, but if the underlying assumptions about how the google page rank system works are still valid, the author of this article has to be pretty close to understanding (an explaining) the intricacies of the PR system.

The diagrams put this page above the rest of the PR sites out there. Oh, and there's a nifty formula with lots of P's and parenthesis, so it automatically gets a position of high prestige in my book.

It isn't one of those sites telling you how you can exploit Google's Page Rank with cheap hacks, so if that's what you're looking for I doubt it will do you much good. It may help you have an understanding of how google assigns the rank between pages on your site and how inbound/outbound links contribute to your PR.

This MT-Keystrokes business is great

I've had MT-Keystrokes installed for close to a month now, and I've not had a single piece of comment spam. This is down 100%... from when I was getting about 20 a day.

Give it a try people, it's well worth it if you're being bombarded with spam.

Movable Type mt.cgi repetitive / multiple logins

I thought I'd taken care of changing all the settings for this movable type blog so it would work on the new server. However, when I logged in to the admin page to create new posts, or manage the other settings, I was asked to log in at every single page. This became old very quickly.

After fiddling with a few settings, I realized that it was just the lack of a / (front slash) at the end of the CGIPath in the mt.cfg file. It's strange, I know. When I would click on the remember me button, or login, the cookie for the blog would be set to www.jojometal.com only I guess, instead of all pages in that domain.

If you're having similar problems, but you already have a slash there, try consulting this page. It may be one of the problems listed there.

Credit repair... a big scam?

After neglecting a credit card account while I was extremely short on cash earlier in college, I started looking into credit report repair and credit repair services. After all, I'd have a need for good credit after I graduated and I wouldn't have it because of a small mistake with one credit card agency. Here's a few of the helpful things I've found in my search.

Pay the bills on time - I know this seems simple, and it is. The reason behind it is where the good info lies though. If you miss a single payment on a credit card the credit card company can increase your interest rate dramatically.

Work with the credit card companies - If you're having trouble paying, call the credit card companies. Don't wait for them to call you. They'd rather get their money slowly than risk not getting anything for some period while you're unable to pay. They'll most likely work with you.

There's no easy fix for bad credit - This article says just about everything you need to know about credit repair services. It's from the Federal Trade Commission, so it's reliable, unlike the top 20 or so hits on google you'll find.

Ivan Smith of Ruston

Yesterday from 5 to 9PM Ivan Smith Furniture in Ruston (and maybe all Ivan Smith locations) were having their half off cash sale. That means, according to the commercial, that if you pay in full at the time of sale that the furniture you purchase will be half off. What it really means is that they almost double the price, and then take half off of that price. In most of the furniture pieces there, this means a savings of $50-100. What a scam.

Katie heard from people at work that today was the sale, so when she came over last night she was intent on going. We got there shortly after 6, and the parking lot was almost completely full. People were milling about, and sales people were everywhere.

When we first got in the door, there was a big sign explaining how things were actually gonna work. Bad sign #1... 50% off of everything is a pretty simple concept, and doesn't need a sign to explain it. The sign read that you could take 50% off of the blue and white tags on the furniture.

Katie and I made our way over to the coffee table Katie's been pining about for the last 6 months. "Oh, Wow" we thought. It says $229, so it'll be about $115. "Well, how much was it before", I asked. Neither of us could remember, so we flipped the tag over, where the original tag was. The original price was $150... wait, $150!!!??? They almost doubled the price before putting it on sale at 50% off. What a scam.

We made our way around to some of the other items in the store, checking the blue and white tags against the old prices. Almost everyone piece we looked at had a maximum discount of $100. You may think this would still be a good sale. However, they advertised the sale as half off, and raised the prices solely for that sale. Also, remember that their sale requires an up front payment, so there is a no financing option.

The sale amounts to you paying everything up front to get a small discount, probably equal to the tax you would pay on the item. I'm confident that if you went there on any other day of the week and told them that you were willing to pay the full price in cash, up front, that they would give you a similar discount.

The whole ordeal was a waste of time, and I hope no one else falls for Ivan Smith's crap. I won't be shopping there again, because they wasted my time, and showed unethical sales practices.

Bittorrent site closures and New Bittorrent Sites

As a former bittorrent junkie in my earlier college days, I can honestly say that I know how much it must be troubling software, music, and movie downloaders. In the interest of helping them through a tough spot, after Suprnova's closing, and the closing of several other US sites due to lawsuits, I've decided to post a helpful link.

Orbdesign has posted a site dedicated to keeping readers informed of the status of the major torrent sites. So, if you're looking for a new source for your digital addictions, check that site. It tells you whether each site is up, gives a link, and shows whether that site requires registration.

Keep in mind that since Suprnova was so large, that the users from that site are having to go to other places. Wherever they settle, they will cause major issues for smaller servers. That many people accessing an unsuspecting site at once can really put a strain on their servers, so be patient.

I'm past the stage of using bittorrent, except for downloading tv shows. I think it's an acceptable use, since I pay an ungodly amount of money for cable, and sometimes can't make it to watch my favorite shows. I think it's reasonable to download those episodes I missed. Fair use...? I think so. I use Tvtorrents. Enjoy the sites.

Delta Airlines ticket price reduction - Simplifares they call it

For the past few days, everyone's been talking about these new pricing schemes that Delta Airlines will introduce soon, and how it'll be better for everyone. Well, here's the scoop.

According to the summary, there will be up to 50% reduction in fares to the 48 contiguous states (or as I call them, the real states). There will also be an elimination of Saturday night stays where you're forced to stay overnight on saturdays for certain flights. Lastly, there will be lower change fees, to make upgrading or changing flights less of a hassle (the fee used to be $100, now it's $50).

In perusing the rest of their site, I found some Q&A information that I thought may be valuable.

What makes SimpliFares™ simpler and more affordable?

• No Saturday night minimum stay. Nonrefundable round-trip fares require only a one-night minimum stay-any night of the week.


• No one-way Coach Class fare higher than $499* and no one-way First Class fare higher than $599*. Additional taxes, fees, and restrictions apply, and fares are available only for purchase on delta.com or from a travel agent (see below for details).

How can I purchase SimpliFares?

You can get SimpliFares the same way you currently book travel between the 48 contiguous states: delta.com, Delta Reservation Sales, and both online and traditional travel agencies. There is no direct ticketing charge at delta.com. Travel agents may impose an additional service charge for ticketing.

Why book on delta.com as opposed to any other venue?

When you purchase your ticket on delta.com, you will avoid direct ticketing charges and online booking fees, plus earn up to 1,000 bonus miles. It's our way of saying how much we appreciate your business.
(All via Delta.com)

Maybe even poor folks like me will be able to buy cheap tickets now. According to most industry folks, other airlines are going to have to enact the same kinds of price cuts. That's good news for consumers, bad news for airlines. I'm looking to take some kind of vacation some time this year, so I hope I can take advantage of the new rates.

My super secret web sites... Ranked by group

I figured I'd try to provide a list of sites that I frequent to share the good stuff with the peoples who read this (and make use of my happy monkey rating scale that I have come to love). Most of the sites will recieve high marks... that would be why I visit them often... but they are all of varying quality, so I'll group them by quality.

Sites of 5 Monkey Stature

http://www.fark.com - A community fueled blog that features interesting user-submitted articles and photoshop contests (and the occasional, and coveted boobies link)

http://del.icio.us - This site is a collection of bookmarks. When someone creates an account at del.icio.us, they can create bookmarks along with their profile. Delicious keeps track of these, and posts them for others to see. You can also see what pages are being bookmarked most frequently.

http://www.slashdot.org - News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters. That's their motto, and it says enough.

http://www.plasticbugs.com - The writer of the blog, Scott, works (worked?) for the Screen Savers on G4TechTV, and often the sites and information you find on his blog will appear later on the show. More geekery here.

http://www.bensbargains.net - The best bargain shopping site I've found to date. Well designed, and organized. Most of the best deals from other sites will be here.

http://waxy.org/links/ - A nice little assortment of interesting links from waxy.org.

http://www.easynews.com - A site dedicated to hosting binaries from usenet. $10/month for 10 gigs of downloads. All kinds of goodies are on usenet. Mp3's, Movies, Books, etc. I'd give it 6 Happy Monkeys if I could.

Sites of 4 Monkey Stature

http://www.sxc.hu - If you're looking for free stock photographs, this is your site. It's really slow sometimes though, which can get really annoying when trying to browse their selection.

http://www.fatwallet.com - Another bargain site. Due to it's lack of organization, I had to give it 4 monkeys. The good stuff will end up on Ben's Bargains anyway.

http://www.leoville.com/blog/ - Leo Laporte's blog. He was the host of The Screen Savers on Tech TV, and is still doing a radio show and TV show elsewhere. It gets 4 monkeys because the site is updated infrequently.

That's it. I hope you can find a site in there that really suits your interests.

New season of Family Guy

It's been a while since I've thought about the new season of Family Guy. After a quick search though, I realized that it will soon be upon us. Supposedly, the new episodes will air in the Spring, but that's coming from Fox... who aired, moved, rescheduled, then cancelled, then uncancelled The Family guy in the first place.

Anyways, I found comfort in looking around on the fox website and seeing some behind the scenes videos. It's not much, but it dulls the pain.

Stewie Revealed
Back in Production!

Fox also released a new DVD set, Family Guy: The Freakin Sweet Collection. It doesn't feature any new episodes, but does feature an uncensored version of Road to Rhode Island, and all kinds of extra features.

Thus quoth the Fox:

"While these episodes have been on DVD before, the extras on this disc are well worth the price tag. In addition to an uncensored version of Road to Rhode Island, we’ll get to hear commentaries from Brian and Stewie themselves, as well as new commentaries by Seth MacFarlane and various show producers and writers. You’ll also get an inside look at the new animated comedy, American Dad and hear Seth talk about the new season of Family Guy." (Original Site)

Lastly, check out Planet Family Guy. It's a great site for info on the series.

Interesting info about UEFA champions league soccer

I read a while back that when fans get unruly, that the powers that be in the UEFA organization sometimes bar all fans from certain games in retaliation. I think this is a great idea.

After what happened with the Pistons-Pacer brawl, where the fans were partly to blame for the incident, something like this should be done. The next game between the Pistons and Pacers should be played with noone there... sorta like a time out for fans. There's really no way to punish them otherwise.

I'm not really sure that it's fair to the owners of the teams who will lose a lot of ticket sales because of the banning of fans for a game or two, but I think it may be good in the end. If owners, faced with the prospect of losing a vast amount of money, are proactive in removing unruly fans, and preventing situations that may increase the likelihood of such events, then events like the brawl are less likely to happen.

I was reminded of all this when I read that a big game between Real Madrid and AS Roma will be playing their upcoming game will be played with no fans in attendance, only media. The fans at the last game threw things at the referees. As crazy as fans overseas are for soccer, this is likely to help them curb their anger.

Annualcreditreport.com

If you've wanted to check out what's on your credit report, but didn't want to pay $10 or more, then your lucky day has come.

A new site has appeared that will let you check your credit report from the three big credit agencies for free. Annualcreditreport.com. This isn't a scam. The site has been put up as part of the updated Fair Credit Reporting Act passed in January that guarantees U.S. citizens an opportunity to look at their credit report.

Unfortunately, certain areas of the US aren't able to check their credit reports yet. The US is divided into four areas. Each area will be able to check their credit reports for free once a year beginning on different dates specified in the picture below. How'd they determine who would go first, I wonder...

Diagram showing the dates when different regions of the country can use annualcreditreport.com (source: annualcreditreport.com)

--Update: For some strange reason, when anyone clicks on a link to their site they recieve this message.

For security purposes, www.AnnualCreditReport.com can be accessed by typing the web address "www.annualcreditreport.com", or from links from the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov), Equifax (www.equifax.com), Experian (www.experian.com) and TransUnion (www.transunion.com) websites.

AnnualCreditReport.com is the only web source authorized by all three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies from which free annual credit file disclosures can be requested.

I guess I can understand that ... well, actually I can't (just like current fashion trends), but thems the rules. So, right click the annualcreditreport.com link above and select "copy link location" (for firefox users) or "copy shortcut" in IE and right click your browser's address bar and choose paste. Or, just type the address manually if you like doing things the old fashioned way.

Godwin's Law

I had never heard of Godwin's Law until today. Someone on slashdot was comparing ol' president bush to hitler, and someone commented " Invoking Godwin's Law in a first post? Wow. Game over." I didn't realize what he meant, but someone else explained...

Godwin's Law
Godwin's Law prov. [Usenet] "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." There is a tradition in many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress. Godwin's Law thus practically guarantees the existence of an upper bound on thread length in those groups. However there is also a widely- recognized codicil that any intentional triggering of Godwin's Law in order to invoke its thread-ending effects will be unsuccessful.

Funny stuff...