I received a great little bit of spam that I thought I would chase up to see from whence it came. The following is the text of the email with the links edited a bit.
You have got a useful web site, but no one visits it?
Get each page of your www-site crawled by each major Search Engine including: MSN, AOL, Google, Yahoo, Overture, AltaVista, HotBot, Lycos, Excite, Inktomi, Webcrawler, Ask Jeeves, etc. Having each page of your site relisted every quarter will expose your site to extra traffic.
Site1: www[dot]hvat[dot]org/9767[dot]asp
Get more traffic from the search engines!
Jennifer Clark,
Marketing Executive
Hahahahahahahahahahaha.
On following the site there you get redirected to payinq-traffic.com which is a
site that reportedly submits your site to all the search engines once a month
if you pay a fee for this to be done.
For those of you that think this is great idea here are some facts.
1. Five search engines command over 80% of the market share
2. Its free to submit to these search engines.
3. Submitting to a search engine more than once is pointless.
4. Some search engines don’t like the submission of individual pages only home pages.
Most important of all is:
Don’t believe a bloody word you read on a website. That piece of advice goes
for my site to. Check everything I say and make sure I am not feeding you a crock
of shit otherwise you will just be another internet luser. When some stranger
approaches you on the street and offers you a magic bean you know straight away
the blokes full of it, a fraudster, a crook. Its just the same on the World Wide
Web except there’s more of them and for the most part they are not going to prison if you have been dumb enough to give them your cash.
Believe nothing, confirm everything, take nothing for granted and always watch
your back.
Fermats Last Theorem.
I have just finished reading:
Fermats Last Theorem
ISBN: 1841157910
Author: Simon Singh
I actually bought this book and had started reading it when I found
“Surely You’re Joking, Mr.Feynman!:”
but I am afraid that Mr Feynman took the lead and this book never got touched again until I had finished the Feynman book.
On the whole I enjoyed it but its a bit dry in places and meanders about the
place, or at least that was my impression. I had trouble seeing the
relevance of some of the writing to Fermats problem and this is where I got the
feeling of the book going off on tangents just to be brought back quite
sharply.
I was also a bit surprised to hear the Authors description of “divide by 0” in
one of the Appendix’s. He says that you cannot divide by zero because zero will
go into something infinitely many times.
I know this is a religious issue for some people but I would have described it
as follows.
2 x 0 = 0 : True
this looks correct and is correct. Its basic algebra. Now when transposing formula we could take the left 0 over to the right side by dividing through by
0 as follows
2 = 0/0
We can see that 2 cannot = 0/0 so division by zero is undefined. Some people
might see it better as follows.
(2 x 0)/0 = 0/0
If the left zeros cancel which they would if 0 was a normal number then we are
left we are left with the absurdity.
2 = 0/0 : Absurd
So 0 cannot be a number or at least not in any normal sense. So to say that 0
divides something infinitely many times seemed wrong to me.
If we look at it another way it might be clearer. If we look at the following
infinite sequence
1/(1/2), 1/(1/3), 1/(1/4), 1/(1/5) ………. 1/(1/n)
the we can see that as
n |–> infinty that 1/n |–> zero
so we have 1/0 which if we could say gives us infinity because 0 divides 1
infinitely many time. That sounds plausible enough but, if we look at the following
infinite sequence
1/(1/-2), 1/(1/-3), 1/(1/-4), 1/(1/-5) ………. 1/(1/-n)
then we can see that as
-n |–> negative infinty then 1/-n |–> zero
but zero is the only number that is neither negative or positive so which
infinity do we pick. Do we say that because the sequence is approaching
negative infinity that it 1/0 is -ve infinity or +ve infinity. This is another
of those absurdities that we ran into earlier when dealing with divide by zero.
Dividing by zero is indeterminable which is why no one says that it divides
something infinitely many times when in fact we have no idea what its doing.
I am sure some clever cloggs will come along after a course in complex
analysis and blow the above out of the water but this is the way I have always
thought of this question.
Trains
I have just spent a week in Nottingham doing the Summer School for M203 ( Open University Pure Maths Course) which was quite a good laugh. I decided since I new the dates that I would book the tickets quite a bit in advance so that I could get them cheaper. I did consider using the car but I trust Midland Mainline so I might as well do a bit for the environment and traffic congestion and use the train, what a mistake that turned out to be.
The train was due to leave at 10:01 Saturday morning. On arrival at Luton station 20 mins early I am then told that there is no such train, it doesn’t exist, there is no train at 10:01. I showed the bloke my ticket and lo and behold I am meant to be on the 10:01. This was not a mistake on my part, they had changed the timetable and my train would now be leaving at 10:50. BOLLOCKS, thats a lot of extra time I could have spent in bed.
Anyway, I got on the train and things were looking good until Kettering which is where the train decided to break down. So off we went to another platform where I could catch a train that would mean changing at Leicester. I don’t like changing so I waited for a direct train that came 15 minutes later and caught it instead. Arriving more than two hours later than I thought I was a bit pissed off to say the least.
Return Journey.
Well, I finished earlier than I expected on the course so I decided to hell with it I am not waiting a further two hours at the station just to catch a train that said suggested service on the ticket. This was my mistake. I seen suggested service on the train that runs from Nottingham to Leicester but I had a reservation on the train from Leicester to Luton. I jumped on the train that was fast to Kings Cross and decided to change there and come back up to Luton since that would get me in a lot quicker than the other way. On ticket inspection I got whacked with a bill for £27 because I was being bumped up by £7.50 to get to Luton for some reason and I had to pay £19.20 to get a return from Luton to Kings Cross and back again. FSCK IT
The bastards make me late by two hours and charged me £27 quid for the pleasure of recovering one hour. Using the train is a sure fire way to get stressed out over a simple journey of just over 100 miles.
100 miles cost me £64. I can fly home to Ireland and back again for less than this. The government are constantly wittering on that we should all start using public transport, its quite obvious very few of them actually use it. I would also imagine that when they do they have everything arranged for them at both sides and its other peoples money they are spending. The whole things a bit of a farce.
Richard Feynman, a very Curious Character
Having read a little about R.P. Feynman I decided that I would read some more about him and I found the following book:
Surely You’re Joking, Mr.Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character
ISBN: 009917331X
Authors: Richard P. Feynman and Ralph Leighton
This was in Unsworths just opposite the British Library on Euston Road. I got
it quite cheap so now I had somehthing to read on the way home on the train and
I was not dissapointed.
The book is a great read because it lets you have a good look at the man and
his quirks and entertains throughout. I was constantly amazed at the way he
just threw himself at various things and he very rarely did anything half
heartedly. Even as a kid he would immerse himself in things and the “Curious
Character” in the title means both that he had an insatiable curiosity and that
he was probably quite a character to know.
If you are after a look at the man without delving into the physics then this book is
brilliant and funny and I had a good giggle to myslef severral times throughout the book.
Started Reading Again
Sounds simple enough but considering the amount of stuff I used to read
the last few years has been a bit dry. This is partly due to being on the
computer a lot more than is healthy. I am also doing an Open University
Maths degree which has soaked up what was left of my time.
Studying Maths over the last couple of years has given me a bug to find out
more about the subject, not just the maths itself but the history of it and its applications ie physics. This culminated in a walk through Waterstones a few weeks ago and I came across the following book.
Some Time with Feynman
ISBN: 0141009535
Author: Leonard Mlodinow
I just seen it sat on the shelf in the physics section and I immediately
recognised the picture on the cover as Richard P. Feynman. I decided to buy it
and being a small book I had it finished in a couple of days. My only regret is
that there was not more about Feynman in it which was what the book implied but
it was still an interesting book from the point of view of someone who manages to
land a job in Caltech and spends most of his time doubting if he is capable or
suited for what they want even thought they have not given him anything solid
to work on. Its nce to know even people at the top struggle and wonder why they are there.
Mythical beast or Masterpiece
Pagerank! The term gets passed about like penicillin in a brothel. The cure-all for all afflictions! The bandaid for the unmentionables. Bliss in a bottle!
Unfortunately, penicillin is no longer the universal bandaid and hasn’t been for some time. Like everything else, we’re in an arms race. The Search versus the Found and we’re in extra time with search engines at a distinct disadvantage.
It does’nt sound too terrible but there are billions at stake both in dollars and in time. Just think how much time Google has saved you over the last few years? Could we quantify this? No we can’t, it would be like trying to quantify the spoken word. Google is much more than just a handy tool when you get a bit stuck looking for something, its become the biggest research tool in existence and its worth is immeasurable. I can hear people saying that the internet is the biggest research tool, no its not, its only the repository. How can I say this?
Example:
A library ain’t worth bugger all unless ther’s some way to find things. Put a blindflod on and go to the British library. Find me a copy of the Bible, I don’t care what version, its the most common book in existence so it shouldn’t be a problem, should it?
The problem is that the internet is an unordered jumble of things and its net worth is only appreciated if we have some way to navigate it.
I want the search engines to win this arms race because it will increase our capacity to move forward on a global scale, reducing research times, aiding communication. What other technology can say they are doing all this.
But at what cost!?
Some of the more popular engines are up to all sorts of tricks to leverage advantage over each other and I think some of them might be losing site of whats putting bread on their table. For instance, its quite common for search engines to accept money from companies to have their adverts shown above and beyond everyone else regardless of the best results for the search. Much to my dismay Yahoo does this, amongst others. Is this really what we need? In an age were information is king should money dictate what we see. It’s always been the big fish that have dictated what we see eat and breathe so whats new.
Is it wise for search engines to start dictating what we find or to track what we search for. Would they go that far? Are they already there? Quite a few of the main search engine are and I don’t like it!
No adverts is one of the main reasons I use Google. I am pretty confident that the search results are the net result of some mathematical jiggery pokery and money has not been a deciding factor. If this changes then I may move and I would say that a lot of other people might move as well. Nearly everyone switched from Yahoo, Alta-vista and the other engines a few years ago because Google was the best thing since sliced bread.
However, I have found myself using Yahoo on occasion to find what I am looking for when previously I would not even have contemplated using it. Are other users finding this to be the case? If they are then we might start to see a switch from Google to engines previously considered inferior.
Google is by no means mythical but it is a masterpiece.I am however concerned that it might need some refurbishment.
Badgers on the Brain
Its a rare occasion when I nearly wet myself with laughter. However, the following site had me in stitches for ages
weebls
Its absolutely mad. I actually found it several months ago and decided to go looking for it again. Particularly the badger scene, weebl 😉
Show me NOW
There is an ever increasing amount of information on the internet, this fact appears obvious in the extreme but what might not be so obvious is the ever increasing amount of duplicate information.
Have you ever tried looking for “man find unix” on google, nearly every page displayed has the same information. I know that some pages are slightly different but its becoming increasingly difficult to find what you are actually looking for. This is not an isolated incident, most search engines are suffering.
Google was a fantastic leap in the right direction but has anything changed in the last 2 years that visibly makes a difference to the layman, I haven’t seen it, have you?
Everyone assumes that the more pages a search engine has in its database the better the search engine. As popular as this school of thought is, its wrong! very wrong!! Why?
Up until 2 months ago I used Google exclusively and recommended it to everyone who wanted to find something on the internet. Just recently I have found that Google is not providing me with the goods. I have often caught myself switching to Yahoo in order to find what I am looking for, I have even went as far as Looksmart and got better results.
At first I considered these breaches from the one true search engine as isolated anomalies arising from the eclectic nature of the topics I was researching but empirical evidence suggests otherwise. I am now going to Google and trying a search and then going straight to Yahoo and getting what I am looking for. Am I a heretic to suggest that Google is just not cutting it any more, quite possibly, but I am not the only one.
As much as I love Google, it appears to be slipping compared to other engines. However, I will not give up on it because unlike most search engines I actually trust Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page to act in the best interests of the users. Maybe I am being naive in thinking Google will retain their morals in light of going public but hey, I’m an eternal optimist.
There goes any chance of ever attaining my dream job 😉
Where is the name Harry From
Years ago I can remember looking up my name in one of those Baby name books to see what the name Harry means. This was before we had the internet so I was very limited in my investigations.
This has changed so I decided to find out what the name Harry means. It has left me more confused than ever.
Unreadable site
I found another site I could not read. Why do people insist on using colors that clash.
Don’t know why I am linking to this site because its unreadable