Monthly Archives: September 2005

Inefficient Search Bots

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Caught a story in a feed from searchenginewatch.com which basically asks if Google is indexing itself. In this example, Google turns 3000 pages into more than 11000. That thread mentions another where the index has jumped over 10 times. Now I’ve mentioned Google eating this domain before so I’ve just checked. The site backup I have weighs in at around 108meg. The bandwidth Googebot has consumed this month is 2.77gig. In the same money, I make that .1 / 2.77 – that’s a bit of a difference. (The Inktomi Slurp bot was second wth 1.69gig).
But why ? Those numbers show that whatever Google may be, it is wildly inefficient. Now before I get accused of picking on Google, I’m not .. sort of. Several engines appear in the stats, and they account for around 6.5gig of data transfer. If Google is seen as the target to beat, and it consumes 2.77gig of data, what happens if they all up their bandwidth habit in order to gain ground ? This is just a blog, nothing special, nothing peculiar to mark it out, yet around once every 30-36 hours Googlebot is re-indexing every single page. I’ve nothing against that – I have no bandwidth worries – but it just seems so inefficient and if another MSN and Yahoo only matched Google then that would equate to 10gig a month. In their race to gather, they are going to end up costing people money. That they might get returned higher in results does not matter if they have no ads, and the very people that this could affect are those that have chosen smaller site packages because they see what they are doing as being of a low interest – which it is until the bots come in to play. Or do they index according to some other algorithm ?

Bri

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Things have been switched which need to be. 24 hours should be fairly usable. Catch me online later ? (And I need your other email addresses !)

Neurology appt.

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J saw the neurologist today. Treatment with interferon-b continues for another year … nothing he can offer for any existing damage … no financial help toward a motability scooter … same stuff as normal when she sees him. I wonder whether he gets more data to report to the drug company than he can offer help for. Makes a mockery of going really – you normally see a medic to get help, not to provide help, albeit in a roundabout way that may only benefit people in the future. He seemed to think the first 3 years of Multiple Sclerosis were the worst too, that by now the initial onslaught of the nervous system would be decreasing and things would even out. It’s also odd he said that – she was diagnosed in 2000 and I’m sure it’s now 5 years later… Quite what he means is odd too – there is no pattern to MS, but then sometimes anecdotal evidence as witnessed and not read can be closer to truth. Either way it makes no difference to our daily lives – I’m still her carer and she still is disabled. A lottery win cannot change any of that.

A few weeks ago, I wrote Be careful what you wish for – it might come true. This lady always wanted to be a bit taller.

A post.

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The main bones of the new design are done again, and this time it’s online too for safekeeping. Nice big blocks of colour so I can see what’s going on. Next it’s the typography, images and the php needed for the template function I want. Then it’s converting the static pages and lastly this directory. I was thinking only a couple of days ago that I ought to start moving things over before I run out of time on my current host, but seeing as that host deleted 7 domains with no warning, no backup it’s a pretty good job I didn’t – wouldn’t you agree ? I’m hoping that there will be a new (and much better) host sorted by the end of the day. Comments policy is being written as are all the other pages.

Best thing about using several browsers ? having multiple accounts in places and not having to juggle the cookies. Very useful.

Domain shifting.

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A few weeks ago I blogged about Bliksem. Complimentary would not be a word that could be associated with what I wrote. I could go back and change that entry, pretend I meant something else, weasel a few ways around some words, but I’m not like that. …… I wasn’t happy and I said so. Since then however – it’s all gone swimmingly ! Several domains moved over, I have used the cpanels constantly and I really have nothing bad I can say. So while what I said about Bliksem that day was valid for those few moments when I hammered away at the keyboard, right now I have to say it’s all looking very good indeed.
Update: Ignore all that I just wrote above. I’ve 3 or 4 homeless domains (wonder who hosted them, eh?) which will be sorted ASAP.

In other news… Hi to Alex who emailed me completely out of the blue today. And I need to get something written about comments / pings / trackbacks. I do not believe people have the right to use them and that permission (probably the wrong word) remains with me. So I can delete as / how I see fit. But then if I write it down, does it make it better ? or just open ?

Tony Blair – “Bird Flu ? What Bird Flu ?”

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If an outbreak did occur. If. I believe the word ‘if’ is a conditional as in “If it does” or “If it does not”. It implies that a circumstances can be one or the other. While that is indeed true when one is in control of a situation, it’s a fairly daft stance to take when one is in no control whatsoever and the consequences will be fatal to thousands. To paraphrase: In years to come people will gather and say “Now what did Tony Blair ever do for us ?

The England Genius Maps

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Welcome to the England’s Genius map. Very nice, even if I’m not on it :p

Wifi now secured after an epic 3 hour battle with the damn router. Why can’t they have a ‘master screen’ of all the options (like your WP install ‘wp-admin/options.php’) and a reboot button there instead of change 1 thing – reboot – change another – reboot – swear – repeat. And I couldn’t get WPA working so it’s WEP instead which should be okay – it’s not like I’m in a busy metropolis or wouldn’t notice someone with laptop stting on the wall outside.

So….19 years of wedded somethingorother complete today. J and D along with bro-in-law and D’s friend are in Nottingham for the evening with the younger pair at a McFly concert. I’m here with P and a little friend of hers who is stopping over. Do I work on CSS, do I tidy the house, do I play Zelda or do I aimlessly wander the net while consuming huge quantities of Cola and jelly beans ? I’m a bloke – I’ll do all 4 and more :)

And “The adventures of Egg” are good. Go write some more !!

The schism approaches…..