Stupid Digg + a kitten

October 10, 2008 at 11:45 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Sorry that the blog was down for a few hours. Yesterday I did a throwaway post that somehow ended up getting 3800+ diggs or so. I didn’t have WP-Cache or Supercache turned on, so my blog melted to a little puddle of fail. )

“Matt, you idiot! How you could run a modern WordPress blog without caching turned on?” you may ask. The first answer is that I’m stupid and figured that I was boring enough that I wouldn’t hit digg or Slashdot for anything.

The slightly-less-stupid answer is that turning on WordPress caching interacts really badly with the FreeBSD systems that my webhost Pair runs (I’ve written about this before). That means that for me, upgrading WordPress takes hours and is a pain in the butt. The last time I upgraded my WP install, I didn’t install Supercache simply because it was such a headache to uninstall before.

I have to do some thinking about what I might change (blogging platform, webhost, etc.) in the future to make this less painful. Frankly, the idea of racing to update my software every few months (so that I don’t need to worry about getting hacked) strikes me as a little backwards; I’d prefer to host my blog with some web service so that I never have to worry about security releases or downloading/upgrading software myself. I don’t blame WordPress or Pair, but the combination doesn’t work well for me right now.

One suggestion for WordPress: integrate caching functionality more tightly so that managing caching isn’t a multi-step process and doesn’t involve juggling plug-ins. Another WordPress suggestion: lower the price of VIP hosting ($600 setup fee + $500/month is too high; if you lowered that a lot, you could probably attract a bunch of people who don’t want to fiddle with WordPress upgrades) and make it trivial to do a CNAME like blog.mattcutts.com to VIP hosting. One suggestion for WP-Cache and Supercache: make an option that clears out all cache files and deletes all directories created by the caching plugin, then atomically disables caching. Maybe that option is there and I’ve missed it somehow. One suggestion for Pair: if I am the owner of a parent directory, let me delete any file or subdirectory from that directory. Then I could delete silly cache files that are owned by “nobody.” Again, I know the fault is primarily mine for not turning on caching, even if it’s a hassle.

Since you’ve been so nice to read my self-absorbed tale of woe, here’s a picture of my cat Ozzie, helping me hack on the blog:

Ozzie sitting on my

Google Ends “Link Week” With Inbound Links Advice

October 10, 2008 at 5:46 am | Posted in SEO | Comments Off
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Google has been posting advice on links all this week. The two previous posts were on link architecture and external linking. Yesterday’s post was on the topic of inbound links.
Google explains that inbound links not only bring you visitors but can positively influence your Google rankings. But when can these links give [...]

Compare All Types of Credit Cards

October 10, 2008 at 5:26 am | Posted in Miscellaneous | Leave a Comment
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For many people, receiving their latest credit crd latest financial statements is a nightmare. Even when you think all bills are paid up already, without your knowing it, you may still have outstanding balances and the shock of your life comes when they bill you up.

I am trying to comply with the rules of my credit card company but I will be changing my cards soon as I am not happy with their customer service and hidden charges. After browsing the net, I found this site at  www.comparecards.com to be a very useful credit card resource site. 

Compare Cards is an online compare card comparison tool.  I can compare CITI credit cards from Household Bank Credit Cards, AMEX Corporate Credit Cards, Bank of America Credit Cards, Providian Credit Cards up to more than 100 credit cards online fast and easy.

As the site is designed with an uncluttered interface and direct navigation, even a computer illiterate can compare and find credit card issuers which have low interest rates and offer the best rewards cards and/or balance transfer cards.

Since my wife has been pestering me for a credit card, I can now decide on the best card for her after reviewing all the offers. My wife is not a spendthrift but on occasions, she can rack up quite a hefty bill from shopping.

Business credit cards are out for her because she is a housewife and her part time income is barely enough. Pre-paid debit cards will be more suitable. There is lesser risk of her overspending, because the spending limit is based on the amount I have deposited before. It’s safe and I don’t have to worry whenever she attends any clearance sales.

If you are looking for a credit card, make your decision only after comparing cards first. Visit Compare Cards today.

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