Blog Archive for March 2006
Someone Searching For Something
Today I've been researching the world of Search Engines. And it's been interesting. Although I haven't gotten to the real meat of how it all works, I have found some interesting stuff. Most of it was found while searching through technical documents on Google's technology. Here's what I found:
- Directory structure is very important. When Google is looking for related pages, if it doesn't find related pages at
<a href="http://cMusicWeb.com/modernrock/coldplay/x&y.shtml">http://cMusicWeb.com/modernrock/coldplay/x&y.shtml[/geshifilter-code] then it will next look for related pagest to<a href="http://cMusicWeb.com/modernrock/coldplay/">http://cMusicWeb.com/modernrock/coldplay/[/geshifilter-code] and keep going up as necessary. (see Finding Related Pages on the World Wide Web) - Google and other companies have gone to great pains to make sure you're just not copying somebody's content, so it doesn't pay. Of course, they're probably getting even better so that they don't have to index the Gigabytes of copies on the 'net. (see Finding Replicated We Collection)
- If a site is hosted on the same IP address, it is closely related. If it's on the same server, it may be related. That's a good reason to have your own server. (see A Comparison of Techniques to Find Mirrored Hosts on the WWW)
- Oh, and some things are too darn confusing (like this paper on finding good sites)
The interesting part is that all of the material I was reading today was a couple years old, if not downright ancient (as in, 1999 or 2000). But hey, if one understands the very basics of the search engines, they'll more easily get the new technologies that are on top of it, I'd wager. All of the sudden, those SEO books written in 2004 that are on sale at Amazon.com don't look so bad. But still, so much has changed since then.
I should be including a link for a page about the Search Engine Optimization that is built into Drupal, but I can't find one immediately.
Lost In A Sea of Faces
So today's new release that I listened to was Kutless's Hearts of the Innocent. And, well, it's exactly what I expected.
I liked Kutless because it was fairly good rock. Sea of Faces was good too, but a bit softer. Strong Tower was fairly disappointing, although the rock mixes of some worship songs are nice. But this new one is just too much of the same. There's no growth; no progress.
Maybe that's why everybody on the Cmcentral.com forum hates Kutless. Because they're just the typical rock band. And maybe that's all they'll ever be.
Linux and Drupal Time!
So what have I been doing in the past month with computers? Well, of course, at work I've been doing PHP development and other exciting stuff. But that's nothing new.
Mostly, I've been playing around with Linux. Not only did I install and screw it up on an old Pentium MMX machine -- twice -- but I also decided to start renting a dedicated server to play around with. It's great to know that nodody else is running anything on that server, although it can be somewhat disconcerting to know I'm completely in charge of it. But hey, there's no better way to learn how to manage a server besides just doing it. I'll probably move this blog over to there soon.
Despite some dislike from my coworkers, I've been getting more into Drupal on my free time. I think I'm still fairly far away from contributing to Drupal, though, because I have yet to figure out how to use it well. Drupal will, though, power the inReview.net release that will come later this month. Thanks to the help of all the good folks at Lullabot (and espeically their podcast), I have been learning a lot more about it, and this weekend I got to play with some of the new modules like CCK, Views, and Workflow modules. I can't wait for all these to be done, because with a little practice, then I'll be able to throw together a website pretty quick. Plus, I'll be able to make inReview.net very good and tons easier to manage.
Break The Vice of Stereotypes
This week I'm gonna start trying to comment on pre-releases I get in the mail. Well, at least the ones worth commenting on. And since the Cindy Morgan album doesn't fit on the list of ones worth commenting on, I'll give you a little bit on Sanctus Real's The Face of Love.
In some ways, I hate it when people just compare their new CD to their previous album(s). But, with Sanctus Real, I can't help it. If you ask me, Say It Loud is easily their best. I guess it's the rock 'n' roll production by Pete Stewart, which I always dig, but I think it's also the songs too. In my opinion, Fight the Tide and the new The Face of Love just have that subdued, pop feel that just doesn't get me energized. And along with that, I just find the band falling into too many clichés. One of the songs on this album is just a bunch of analogies that kinda work but left me looking for my copy of God so I could listen to "Me Without You".
I'm not knockin' the guys in Sanctus Real: I've met them a couple times and they're cool. And although their CD just seems to be non-stop regurgitating of the theme of love, I guess it just failed to grab me the first couple times through.