How to Get Your Name at the Top of Google Results

Jeff Rubin, editor of collegehumor.com has a rather simple, but effective strategy. When using your name, use it twice: URL: http://jeffrubinjeffrubin.blogspot.com/ He even posts his entries as "Jeff Rubin Jeff Rubin" (say that 10 times fast... you'll get high, I promise). Now, while its a clever method... the fact remains that the editor of college humor wouldn't need to repeat his name twice if he had a blog URL that wasn't blogspot.com. (this sounds snobbish, but it isn't... blogspot.com blogs were 90% spam... thus google, is a little more prude than usual to include a .blogspot.com domain in search results).

The Flaw of Assessing Usability Without Looking a User's Face

“Users tend to be pathologically positive in their written and verbal assessments, no matter how terrible the user interface actually is.” - How do Users Really Feel About Your Design?

Dear Microsoft: I tired to buy your product, but a javascript error blocked me

Dear Microsoft (the dark one), Today, I broke down and was ready to buy Microsoft Office 2007 Professional. Your trial worked: I was a conversion. Office 2007 was a refreshing departure from a line of products that I had in the past, equated with a mediaeval torture chamber. With credit card in hand, I clicked the trial's "purchase a key" button. I wasexpecting a nice form that would allow me to enter a credit card number. Instead, I got a blank screen white screen and a javascript error. Since I use firefox+firebug, my browser provides extremely helpful javascript debugging information. I thought that you should know that 20 percent of people trying to actually buy your products cannot (unless they use IE6 or IE7... is that your strategy here? No wonder you make the life of web developers hell ...).

USA: Where we fight terrorism by exposing citizens to unpredictable use of "deadly force"

The student, Star A. Simpson, 19, is “very lucky to be alive,” said Maj. Scott S. Pare of the state police, commanding officer of the airport’s security contingent. “Had she not followed our instructions” when confronted by state troopers, “we would have used deadly force,” Major Pare said.

[nytimes]

I'll bet! With would be Mussolini's controlling our Airport security checkpoints. Apparently, it works like this conversation: "Jed, she's got a 9-volter attached to a circuit board in plain sight on her shirt!" Jed replies, "TERRORISt! Shoot to kill if she make any of them funny movements".

An Open Letter to Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej: The Thin Skinned, Egg Shaped, Ridiculous Tyrant of Poland

Poland's President has decided to arrest a young man, and throw him in Jail for three years. Why? Because he used a google bomb to make fun of Mr. President (making fun of this guy isn't too hard...) [Original polish article] [translation from Google's blogscoped] .

The Man Who Conquered Europe: Killed by Fancy Wallpaper

A tale of one exiled Napoleon Bonaparte, and the sinister wallpaper that murdered him. [Link]

Why Lawyers Should Never Run Your Business

It doesn't matter who you are. You could be Lance Armstrong, running a foundation for cancer survivers. The pack of lawyers will turn what was good people working for a good cause into a pathetic horde of money-lusting idiot f#cks.

Lance, please: put a stop to this travesty. This is disgusting.

Source: AFP

In court documents filed in Texas on Tuesday, the foundation (LAF) alleges that the Oklahoma-based Animal Charity Collar Group stole the idea in producing yellow dog and cat collars embossed with the words "Barkstrong" and "Purrstrong."...

"Such confusion, mistake and deception are likely to cause irreparable harm to LAF," (the LAF added).

The foundation has sold some 65 million yellow "Livestrong" wristbands...

The Winner is: Bad Language

Mother of God, this world is plagued by swarms of crappy technology, marketing, and design blogs. Those horrid blogs with entries like "Is white with dark text really a good idea?", and  "10 ways to design like a professional (and what would those be? Profit driven mediocrity,with a dash of convention, and a splash of arrogance? )."

Hallelujah, I've found a blog worthy of my coveted "Some random industry blog thinks your site kicks ass award. Huzzah!"

Quote of the Day

"If you put personal interests, including protecting your reputation ahead of your sense of duty, then you've got your values screwed up." -Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates [source... found while looking for SEO trends]

How to Ensure Distrust from Your Users

If there's one thing I've learned over the years (okay, 3 years) its that users like being tricked. More importantly, they like your tricks to be both simple, and transparent in their aims (such as the aim of padding your bank account with 100.00 a month in adsense dollars). Users look down upon sarcasism, however. So when you make points, make them feel stupid by reminding them that the following example is how NOT to make money from your website:

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