Faster, better…

Archive for February, 2009

Various webmaster tools allow me to see search strings people use to find this website. Looking at the searches reveal what people are thinking about at a particular point in time. The searches are revealing. SOmetimes they are entertaining and sometimes make you think or wonder about the context of the search. I share some of those searches made over the last week in this article.

Tailgating on Highway

Searches for tailgating are especially picking up. It is no wonder since driving in Maryland is getting more dangerous every day.

Aggressive Driving Bullying

People are getting sick of aggressive driving. I really do hope that the majority of us finally start driving safely and that police abandon their radar traps to finally do something about aggressive drivers.

Solutions to Cyber Terrorism

I’m hoping to read more about this too! This blog was attacked and mae the subject very personal.

Car Warranty Call Scam

You would not believe the number of people searching for the credit and car warranty scam calls. This is good because they will find the mountains of information on these calls here and elsewhere and perhaps file a complaint with the rest of us. My latest tactic is to dial one and waste the scammer’s time.

Graffiti Art Lesson

Who in his right mind would be looking for graffiti art lessons. Graffiti by definition is a crime. The difference between graffiti and art is permission. What was this person really thinking?

DougWeb hosted the first anti-graffiti web page on the Internet way back in 1995. I am still a supporter of the anti-graffiti movement through NoGraffiti.com. We have a graffiti problem now in Calvert County. Tags are going up and are not always abated. When we ignore it it will begin to flourish. You watch.

Breezy Point Grill

Great place to eat. I wrote a review. Glad to see people reading it. I spend way to much money here but I just can’t help myself.

Topside Maryland and Portside Galesville MD

OK the Topside restaurant in Galesville closed but there are HUNDREDS of folks searching for information about it. Never in the years I have been writing reviews have I seen this many queries on a restaurant. They had quite a following. I understand the Portside opens in the old Topside restaurant building on March 6. I wish them success! A whole lot of folks really like to eat in that building.

Network Solutions mysql and WordPress Network Solutions and WordPress automatic upgrade

I see all of the searches. Are you hosted here? mySQL is a shared environment. Because of that, the path to mySQL is not available so some WordPress plugins like Lester Chan’s great database backup program cannot be used. Other plugins make up for it. The shared system also causes System error 500 messages and the occasional slow periods. There is just no way around it unless you spend more for virtual server hosting. As far as using automatic upgrade options, install your own WordPress site and don’t use their install. Using their install prevents or at least used to prevent updates using the automatic upgrade plugin.

Better Steak Restaurant in USA

Man if you find it share it with me! There are some famous ones ion Kansas City, Fort Worth, and I’m sure other places. Where is your favorite steak restaurant in Southern Maryland?

What did Confederate veterans want?

Not sure what this search was looking for. My great grandfather was a Confederate, at age 16. Discovered this when doing my family history at age thirty five. I never knew it until then. My second great grandfather was named after Ulysses Grant so I had branches in the North and the South. You gaina real appreciation for history when you do your genealogy. Genealogy was an earlier passion of mine. I wonder what the context of this search was?

Blacks in Plum Point Maryland

Contact me if you made this search. Were you looking for local history? The Patterson Museum has an exhibit you might be interested in. Plum Point Rd has a place in black history. Knowing the context of the search would allow me to research it more. I was once very active in the genealogy hobby and I have still have a strong interest in local history.

Poor Customer Service in Restaurants

People are very interested in this topic! I have written about it here.

There are many more and from time to time I’ll write about the more interesting searches used to find DougWeb. I encourage readers that do find DougWeb to comment. A blog is a community and you are welcome to join in on the fun.

(Coast Guard News Video 022709) – Coast Guard Commander Keith Willis was laid to rest on Monday, February 23, 2009. Commander Willis was the Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma until his death last week. (Boston.com reported the passing was duw to natural causes.)

(Ed note: God bless you Commander Willis and God bless and keep your family. Our Auxiliary family has each of you and especially the Guardians and crew of the Tahoma in our prayers. Semper Paratus, Sir!)

I received yet another call from the Account Services credit card scammer today. (Unknown name unknown number) I have started to press one each time they call. The woman at the other end of the call usually has to listen to at least one sentence before she hangs up on me. I’m able to get the following message to her, ” Put me on your do-not-call list you have called four times this week.” CLICK.

The operator there hates to hear this message. It truly annoys them. They obviously have instructions to hang up on people that want to complain. What if every person that received the call pressed one to talk with the scammer and expressed a one sentence opinion? It may have the effect of slowing down calls because the victims would tie up the lines. For all we know they may also have to pay a telephone company for every connect.

I say let’s waste the scammers time and see if we have an impact. I for one am sick of the calls. Today in the last two hours I have received the auto warranty scam and the credit card scam calls. The credit card call has come in every single day. Last night at 9:00 PM. Use up the scammer’s time. Press one to continue and share your anger. The scammer deserves it.

(Yahoo News via DIGG) “The Vatican said Friday that the apology issued by an ultraconservative bishop who denied the Holocaust was not good enough to admit him into the Catholic Church as a clergyman.”

See also the report at FoxNews.Com.

Germany May Issue Arrest Warrant for Holocaust-Denying Bishop

(Ed note: There is still evil in this world. This anti-Semitic “clergyman” and Holocaust Denier may be the world’s best example of evil at the moment. I have been to Dachau for the tour and like most people paid close attention to history. At Dachau there are memorials to slain Catholics as well as Jews. Our Jewish brothers suffered horrifically over the rest. The Holocaust happened and we shall never forget that it did. The Christian faith is deeply rooted in Judaism and I for one am proud of those roots. People perpetuating hate need to be kept in their place. He has no business as a priest in ANY church and I test my faith when I think about praying for him to see the darkness in his views.)

WBAL-TV yesterday fired a producer-reporter for altering a video in such a way as to put false and inflammatory words into the mouth of Fox News anchor John Gibson. The video doctored by John Sanders of WBAL-TV in Baltimore, instantly became a viral sensation last week after Huffington Post presented it as being authentic.

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(Fox News via DIGG) With Americans holding on to their cars longer in the recession, the Better Business Bureau is warning motorists to be “extremely wary” of bogus telemarketers who say their auto warranties are on the verge of expiring.

(Ed Note: I find it fascinating that the real story was actually missed. This telephone scam has been in place for years and has numerous victims. The government and the BBB have known about it but nothing has ever been done. They admit as much in this article. The telemarketing companies routinely violate the Do Not Call list but the only solution proposed in the story is for people to sign up for the Do Not Call list. Go figure. I expected better from Fox News, our government, and the BBB. It is time someone with some chutzpah took charge here and put the scam out of business!)

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WASHINGTON: A group of liberal bloggers said it is teaming up with organized labor and MoveOn to form a political action committee that will seek to push the Democratic Party farther to the left.

(Ed Note: Not this blogger.)

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Microsoft has issued a security advisory about an Excel vulnerability that affects both Mac and Windows versions of the popular spreadsheet program. The vulnerability “could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Excel file.

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(022609 – Lexington Park, MD) – Do you appreciate good Indian food as much as I do? Then you need to, no you MUST visit Bombay Garden, 21736 Great Mills Rd, Lexington Park, MD 20653 (301-866-0444.) The Sondh family has a winner here.

In my networking pursuits I like to meet with people that can help me find the right avenue toward a better job. My contact that I visited today suggested the new Indian restaurant in the old Roost. Old Lexingtonparkians will remember the old white building on Great Mills Parkway as the home of the old Roo’s Roost.

When we went inside we were immediately impressed with the decor and incredibly drawn toward the lunch buffet. There was a menu but my senses were drawn to smells I had not sensed since leaving the San Francisco Bay area in 2001.

The Tandoori Chicken was mouth watering and the other Indian dishes were as spicy and tasty as I remembered them. The service at the restaurant was excellent. Our water glasses were always full and the waiter understood my friend and I were in a conversation we did not want interrupted. You get the impression you are in a five star restaurant in the big city. These folks know the restaurant business.

The Bombay Garden is exactly the place to take a business contact, a friend, or your significant other. The atmosphere is pleasant, the music is authentic, the wait staff and the owners are top notch. The meal – I’m home now and I have the urge to return for dinner. The meal was superb. I still remember the flavors. Oh and the price will not scare you. Don’t let the Sondhs know their prices are too low!

Put the Bombay Gardens on your list of restaurants to try. You cannot go wrong at the Bombay Garden. I give it a five on my scale of favorite spots.

(Via Drudge, via DIGG, from Telegraph.co.uk) So how much will President Barack Obama’s budget cost us? The projected 2010 budget of $3.552 trillion can be found on page 114 of the “New Era of Responsibility” budget here. By my reckoning, that’s $25, 573.48 each.

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The PenguinSix Blog also here in Calvert County wrote about TweetDeck, a PC based interface for Twitter messages. The author is a technically savvy guy so I went to the TweetDeck site and downloaded the program. Until now I was using the simple website interface for Twitter. Since downloading TweetDeck I only go back to the website to see who is following me and to search for new Twitterers I want to follow.

TweetDeck runs in the background and checks the Twitter site for the latest Tweets. When new Tweets are downloaded a polite low-level bird noise comes from the computer speakers. There are three columns to the interface, All Friends, Replies, and Direct Messages. The three types of tweets are separated into columns that are easy to read. I can leave TweetDeck running on one computer monitor and work using the other. You need two monitors on a PC to truly enjoy using a computer.

The TweetDeck interface also includes a big box at the top of the program window to type in your Tweets, replies, and direct messages. A convenient box also allows you to shorten a URL using the bit.ly service. The box counts your characters so you don’t exceed the maximum allowed.

The user interface, UI is intuitive. Anyone can figure it out very quickly. Whether you are new to Twitter or an old salt I think you will like TweetDeck.

(FOX NEWS) The House voted Wednesday to kill a resolution calling for an ethics investigation into potential quid pro quo between lobbyist campaign donations and lawmakers.

(Ed Note: Now that’s transparency!)

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Deliberate misinformation is forwarded by email every day on the Internet. Fake causes and bad information is intended as a joke. Some of these jokes have an almost continuous life of their own. One of the famous ones is an email claiming that “In God We Trust” has been removed from the dollar coin. It hasn’t. The motto is printed very legibly on the edge of the coin. How do find out what’s fake and what’s real. You SNOPE it. Visit SNOPES.COM and find out if the information you were sent is actually an Internet legend, the In God We Trust legend. Before you forward it SNOPE it! Especially before you forward it.

(coastguardnews.com)–The rescue of two crewmembers from the sunken fishing vessel Della C on Saturday off of Pt Ano Nuevo, Calif, was largely a result of the required safety equipment maintained on board.

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(Politico.com via DIGG) It was a perfectly reasonable question, and on the surface it seemed like a perfectly reasonable answer. But when Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd went on Bloomberg TV Friday and mused about the possibility of bank nationalization, panicked investors sent the Dow plummeting a hundred points in the next hour.
Whoops.

(Ed note: Time for a little leadership instead of shenanigans as usual.)

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(Mail Online via DIGG) Social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter are causing alarming changes in the brains of young users, an eminent scientist has warned.

(Ed Note: As I recall, they said the same thing about television.)

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Today 022309, the National Weather Service issued an Enhanced Fire Threat – Special Weather Statement. The overall humidity is at 30% and winds are expected to be high. Conditions are such that if folks are not careful with fire – well you get the drift.

Take heed. Read the details here.

(FOX NEWS) Police in Baltimore today made what is believed to be the first arrest in a civil disobedience program aimed at supporting homeowners who refuse to vacate their foreclosed homes. An activist with ACORN — the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now — faces criminal charges after breaking into a home in southeast Baltimore on Thursday.

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Bloggers and fans of blogs take a minute to read Lorelle VanFossen’s article at the Blog Herald about scamming, spamming, splogging, and scraping! These cons are big business and impact the rest of us that do our best to write original content.

Faster, better joins Lorelle in the Year of Original Content! You can also read articles by Lorelle at Lorelle on WordPress.

(SOMD.COM) PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. (Feb. 23, 2009) — The Calvert County Board of Education has rescheduled its budget hearing to Thursday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m. in the Calvert High School auditorium in Prince Frederick.

Read the entire story at SOMD.COM

The Psychic Search plugin from MaxBlogPress is a unique tool a WordPress blog owner can use to monitor searches made from the blog search box. The plugin also records various search engine keyword searches where some of the keywords have appeared in your blog posts. The idea of this plugin is to give the blog author hints at the type of content visitors are seeking – especially those using your search box.

The first thing I discovered was that only hackers are using my search box. In the last three months I have seen three attempted mySQL injection attacks recorded. This was educational. Whether or not your search function is used may depend on the content of the blog you run. In my case the most marketable reason for using the plugin was a flop at my site. That isn’t the plugin’s fault. I have to write more stuff that people want to find in a local search!

I did however find reviewing the keywords used by potential readers in various search engine queries useful in a similar way. I have written articles based on the keywords used in these queries. There has been some growth in my visitor count.

Some of the same information is available through Google, Compete, and from the WordPress Blog Stats plugin available from WordPress.com. Psychic Search (currently at version 2.04) allows you to start seeing data just after installation from your blog dashboard. You do not have to visit another site to see the data. Even if you don’t find it it useful all of the time the information can be entertaining. Just reading the kinds of things people look for on the Internet has sparked some ideas for new posts.

I’m using the plugin at DougWeb.com and now at PopularWireless.com. Spending a lot more time writing at DougWeb has helped advanced the blog from a Google rank of zero to a four and my Alexa rank hovers around 225,000. I am pleased with the information Psychic Search provides.

As you install the plugin you are asked to send the plugin author your email address and blog address. A confirmation email is sent with a “plugin activation” link. This action also subscribes you to two of the author’s email lists. When you press the activation link in the email you are presented with an offer to purchase a product. You may unsubscribe at a later time if you do not find his emails useful. My sense was he could have sent fewer messages around Christmas time but what the heck a man’s got to stay in business to feed the Internet habit. The plugin is free to use but the author asks that you take time to write your own optional review. The plugin’s tech support is excellent. The author maintains a vBulletin Board system to provide public support.

I like the WordPress Psychic Search Plugin. It is another tool in my arsenal of SEO and writing idea stuff.

MONTEREY, Calif. – The Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast, home ported in Warrenton, Ore., Coast Guard Station Monterey, and Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco conducted a rescue of two people and are searching for a third person, after the fishing vessel Della C sunk near Point Ano Nuevo, Calif.,.

(Ed Note: New 406 MHz Beacon saves the day. Have you purchased a 406 MHz EPIRB for your vessel? Click read more to see the rest of the story.)

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(Washington Post 021809) – Two Charles County men have been charged in connection with a spate of racist graffiti that has appeared in recent weeks, authorities said.

Click the by line to read the entire article.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Maybe it was abstract impressionism.
Passengers in Stockholm were terrified when a masked man spray-painted graffiti inside a train, then smashed a window and threw himself onto the platform. Officials were flabbergasted to learn the rampage was part of an art thesis. And they didn’t seem to appreciate the artistic merit.

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Graffiti Tagger falls to his death trying tag a sign over FL-826.

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