Recent Articles
Google XML Sitemaps plugin for WordPress
Mar 30, 2010 Blogging Tips Leave a comment
If you’re like most bloggers you want your blog to be visited by as many people as possible, and getting all of your posts indexed by the major search engines is the most effective way to drive traffic to your blog. To make that task easier, Google, Bing and Yahoo have agreed to use XML sitemaps to aid them in indexing as many pages of a website as possible.
Normally a webmaster would create an XML sitemap file for his/her website in accordance with the standards set forth, upload the completed file to the server, and then “tell” the search engines how to find it. The sitemap file itself can be assembled manually (not an easy thing to do if a site is large) or by using an XML sitemap creation script of some type. The problem is, every time a new page or blog post is added, the XML sitemap file must be recreated and uploaded all over again.
Thankfully, if you have a WordPress blog there is an outstanding plugin that automates the entire process for you after the initial setup is performed. The Google XML Sitemapsplugin takes care of all the drudge work for you. After you install and configure it, it takes over and makes sure every post and page you add to your blog gets added to the XML sitemap, which it then automatically uploads to the server. The plugin also pings the search engines to let them know that the sitemap has been updated. What a great plugin!
If you have never used an XML sitemap before or if you have been updating and uploading it manually, you’re going to LOVE this plugin. If you want to add it to your WordPress blog, you’ll find it right here.
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ColorGrab 2.0
Mar 29, 2010 Technology Leave a comment
If you’re a web developer you have probably seen a color on the screen that you would like to replicate on a website, but you had no easy way to determine the hexadecimal code for the color in question. Well, a nifty little utility called ColorGrab solves that problem once and for all!
ColorGrab is extremely easy to use. When you see a color you like on the screen, all you have to do is load ColorGrab and drag its small window somewhere out the way, then click the “Get Color From Screen” button. From that point on you can simply hover your mouse over any colored graphic or text on the screen and the underlying hex code for that color will be displayed in the ColorGrab window. Pretty simple, right?
I’ve used ColorGrab for a good while now and I absolutely LOVE it. The days of using trial and error to match up colors are long gone, saving me tons of time and effort on every website or blog that I create. The current version is ColorGrab 2.0. It’s small and lightweight, it doesn’t require installation like typical Windows programs, and it’s absolutely free! Cut your website development time dramatically by downloading ColorGrab 2.0 right here.
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Checking your Internet connection speed
Mar 27, 2010 Technology 1 Comment
Does it take forever for most web pages to load even though your ISP claims that your Internet connection speed is just a tad shy of the speed of light? If so, your lightning-fast high speed Internet connection might not be performing as promised. How can you find out for sure?
CNET has a wonderful tool for measuring the download speed of your Internet connection. It’s called the CNET Bandwidth Meter, and it works like a charm. Simply tell it what kind of Internet connection you have (cable, DSL, satellite, etc.) and the name of your ISP, then the site will measure how long it takes to download a file from their server to your computer and display the results.
Since Internet connection speeds can vary greatly with the time of day, it’s best to run the test several times throughout a 24 hour period, paying special attention to the time periods when you are usually logged on and browsing the web. Click here to check the speed of YOUR Internet connection and see how your ISP stacks up against the competition!
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Check out this $500 wind generator!
Mar 26, 2010 Things I like 1 Comment
With electric bills skyrocketing in my region in recent months, I’ve started doing a little research into affordable ways to reduce the amount of power that we purchase from AEP. I haven’t found a truly economical alternative that can completely replace the power company just yet, but I did find this neat windmill that just might help lighten the load a bit.
The Sunforce 44444 can provide up to 400 watts of power for charging a bank of heavy duty 12 volt batteries, and a number of customer reviews seem to indicate that it does a great job at keeping them charged in areas that are blessed with moderate winds. Of course 400 watts isn’t going to even come close to helping you get completely off the electric grid, but it just might provide enough power to keep a couple of your favorite devices powered up 24/7 without having to worry about running up your electric bill.
I’m certainly not an expert on wind power by any means, but this sounds like a pretty good deal to me. And if the Cap-And-Trade bill currently stalled in Congress eventually becomes law it just might come in pretty handy!
The Sunforce 44444 400 Watt wind generator is available at Amazon.com for $499.95, and you’ll find more information about it on this page.
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R.I.P. Representative Democracy
Mar 22, 2010 My thoughts on... 2 Comments
Well, they did it. In the end the Democrats in Congress went against the expressed wishes of the American people and passed a health care reform bill that is so unpopular that even many of the politicians who voted for it find it appalling. Why were so many of them willing to throw their careers away in order to help pass a bill they despise? Because of one man: Barack Hussein Obama.
Mr. Obama was able to convince the moderates weasels in his party that his personal legacy as President is more important than their own political careers. My guess is he told the Blue Dogs who were threatening to vote no over the abortion funding issue that if they failed to pass health care reform after making it 98.6% of their entire job for the past year, he (Obama) would be seen as a failure, and that would set a bad precedent for the first non-caucasion to occupy the oval office. So not wanting to appear to be the spoiler of history, they caved.
Now that the Senate Health Care Bill has been made the law of the land, we can all sit back and watch the wobbly wheels of our economy fall completely off unless the Supreme Court steps up to the challenge and strikes this monstrous legislation down on constitutional grounds. I believe they ultimately will – at least major portions of it – but we’ll just have to wait and see.
In the meantime we find the Representative Democracy that has served us so well over the last 2+ centuries gasping for breath, struggling to survive after such a brazen assault on the Constitution and the obvious intent of the founding fathers. I’m still proud to be an American, but as of this morning the America I love seems to be slipping away from the patriots’ grasp.
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The Supreme Court might ultimately decide the healthcare debate
Mar 18, 2010 My thoughts on... 3 Comments
It looks more by the day like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi won’t be able to twist enough Democratic arms to pass the Senate’s version of health care reform outright in the House, so she’ll probably end up using one of the back door deals that have been discussed to ram it through anyway. By whatever procedure it takes, I’m predicting that Obamacare is about to become the law of the land. I’m also predicting that as soon as it does a slew of lawsuits will be filed immediately to stop it.
There will be several possible strategies of attack for the lawsuits, but I believe the first attempt will be to ask the courts to declare the mandate that every person in the country must purchase a health insurance policy to be unconstitutional. No article or amendment in the US Constitution gives the government the authority to compel anyone to purchase anything, and that includes insurance.
Of course the liberals have been quick to point out that most states require automobile owners to purchase car insurance, but that analogy is way off the mark. You are only required to purchase auto insurance as a condition attached to the privilege of owning and driving a car. No state requires any person to own or drive a vehicle, which means that no state requires anyone to purchase car insurance if they choose not to. Rather than own a car, they can always opt to walk, take a cab or bum a ride from a neighbor instead.
Another possible plan of attack will be to challenge whichever sneaky procedural maneuver Pelosi and her minions choose for ramming the bill through without a direct vote on the already-passed Senate bill. A procedure called Reconciliation was the first tactic discussed, and I believe it would fail to stand up to a Constitutional challenge. The Reconciliation process was set up explicitly to allow the Senate to rush emergency budget measures through the legislative process without having to overcome a filibuster where 60 votes for cloture would be needed before the bill could even be brought up for a vote.
To use Reconciliation to pass Obamacare, the House would have to pass the Senate bill in its current form, then vote on a separate Reconciliation bill to iron out the difference between what the House wants in the health reform bill and the bill that has already passed the Senate. Harry Reid would then only have to muster 51 votes to pass the Reconciliation bill in the Senate instead of the usual 60 required to end a Republican filibuster.
It should be obvious to anyone capable of critical thinking that there is precious little in the Obamacare bill that deals with budgetary issues, so it should be an easy sell to the Supreme Court that the use of Reconciliation to pass it goes completely against the intent and authority of the process. One would hope so at least, and with the current makeup of the Court I believe that’s the way they will rule.
The irony of this entire debacle is that most Americans do want health care reform. They just don’t want this health care reform which if enacted will give the federal government direct control over the entire health care industry. There are a number of provisions in the Senate bill that are actually quite popular when considered on their own, but the bill as a whole is seen by most folks as a socialistic pile of junk.
Obama, Pelosi and Reid have boxed themselves into a corner. They have managed to invest an entire year on the prospect of passing a health care reform bill that an ever-growing majority of the American people simply do not want. But they plan to use any means possible to pass it anyway in order to create a “legacy” of being the President and Congress that finally got this liberal boondoggle enacted after a century of vain attempts. I believe the Supreme Court will ultimately be where this disaster waiting to happen finally meets its fitting end.
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“Spring Forward”
Mar 15, 2010 Things I like 2 Comments
The emergence of spring is one of life’s special treats, and its impending arrival is always “announced” in a number of subtle, yet rather up-lifting ways. Whether it’s seeing the first crocuses burst into bloom or waking up to the sound of robins filling the morning air, when these events take place we know that springtime is just around the corner.
But as much as I love spring flowers and the soothing chorus of songbirds, my favorite sign of spring was actually devised by a man: Mr. George Vernon Hudson. Yep, you guessed it – “Daylight Savings Time”!
I absolutely love it when we “spring forward” by setting our clocks one hour ahead, effectively gving us an extra hour of daylight at the end of every day. Winter days are typically short and dreary, with the last traces of the setting sun slipping away as early as 5:30 pm in my neck of the woods. That’s why “springing forward” is such a joy for me and many others.
Personally, I would be perfectly happy if we simply left our clocks set this way year round. After all, while “springing forward” is one of my favorite events of the year, I detest having to “fall back” come autumn. In Rick’s perfect world, “Daylight Savings Time” would be in force 365 days per year because, to me, “falling back” is about as enjoyable as going for a swim after falling through a hole on a frozen lake.
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Remembering Merlin Olsen
Mar 11, 2010 My thoughts on... 1 Comment
As a young boy I watched Merlin Olsen and the other three interior linemen for the Los Angeles Rams dominate the line of scrimmage, setting records and sacking quarterbacks with abandon, week after week and year after year.
Later, after his 15 incredible years of playing in the NFL were over, he successfully transformed himself from a ferocious mountain of a football player into the gentle giant that he so aptly portrayed on a pair of hit NBC TV shows, the iconic “Little House on the Prairie” and “Father Murphy”. And then he went on to have an equally successful third career as an analyst for NBC Sports.
By all accounts, Mr. Olsen was as kind and considerate as any human being could be, even back when he was instilling dread and fear in the minds of opposing quarterbacks. It seems that everyone who knew him liked him, and generations of parents looked up to him as the ultimate role model for their kids - and that went for both boys and girls.
Integrity and humility are rare in both professional sports and Hollywood, but this wonderful man exhibited plenty of both throughout his long and varied career. Although he was as tough as nails and larger than life, he was unable to beat his bout with Mesothelioma (cancer of the linings of the lungs). Merlin Olsen passed away earlier today. He was 69.
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