GameUtopia

With less than 20 days left until Christmas the stores seem to be a bit busier. Perhaps not as much as years when the economy was thriving and relatively stable, but certainly noticeable busier than any other time of year. There is still plenty of time left, and if you are holding out you might still score a deal.


I really haven't noticed or heard anything in regard to the season's hot item or must have. The only thing I have noticed is a push for flat screen TV's, computers, and netbooks. Also, a few electronic gizmo's which are always popular. A flat screen TV is nice and all, but I really wouldn't expect one for Christmas.

Even for the little ones I really haven't heard or seen too much in the form of toys or movies. I guess the G-Force movie will be available on DVD within the next week or so. Perhaps this will be a popular gift and just in time for Christmas.

Happy Shopping and Bargain Hunting!

By now "Black Friday" could almost be considered a national holiday here in the U.S. The famous day after Thanksgiving when stores open at the wee hours of the morning when it's still dark out. Many will venture out and fight the crowds of people hoping to be rewarded with big savings on that special item. What motivates all these shoppers is one thing...Saving money.

I am not a morning bird, and no matter what kind of deal there is to be had I am not about to get trampled to save a few bucks.

I can understand why people do it to some extent. Even more so this year with the economy still in very poor status. There are a lot of people unemployed right now. Others have been cut back in hours at work. Some were full-time employees that are now working only part-time. They got kids and family that they need or want to buy gifts for this holiday season.

There has been a big push in the news the past few weeks for Black Friday. Although many people just do not have the resources to spend as much as they would like this year, it will be interesting to see if there is a larger than average turn out.

If you are one of those brave souls that are seeking the early bird specials, good luck. I will be in bed sleeping, but I'll be dreaming about all the fun I am missing!

Last Friday a relatively small asteroid passed within 9000 miles of earth, and only 15 hours after it was actually discovered. Now 9000 miles would seem like a rather large distance, but in astronomical terms that's an extremely close call. Consider the moon averages around 250,000 miles in distance from earth. It passed so close that the trajectory of the asteroids path was actually changed by earth's gravity.

Scientists fairly quickly determined that this small asteroid would miss us. Even if the small ball of rock came right for us it wasn't big enough to cause major catastrophic damage.

It does serve as a reminder that the possibility of something hitting earth, and one much bigger is certainly a possibility. The 15 hour detection time really wouldn't have allowed anyone to prepare or do anything about this had it been on a collision course anyway. Part of the reason for only 15 hours of detection time was due to the tiny size of this particular asteroid. Had it been bigger there should have been more warning.

It does prove just how unprepared we are at finding and dealing with objects in space heading for earth.

Will there be another? Absolutely! When? Nobody knows for certain, and with the lack of searching and monitoring it could really happen any time. The good news is the odds are very slim that one big enough to cause catastrophic damage will happen in our lifetime.

Apparently another case of Guillain-Barre syndrome can be attributed to the H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine. A 14 year old Virginia teen is weak and struggling to walk after coming down with Guillain-Barre within hours after receiving the H1N1 vaccine.

He will need the aid of a walker for an estimated four to six weeks, in addition to extensive physical therapy.

The teen is one of the first people in the nation to develop the life-threatening muscle disorder after receiving the H1N1 vaccine.

Cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome were found in patients who received the swine flu vaccine in 1976. Of course the government says there is no need for concern with the current outbreak. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention say they have received only 5 reports of Guillain-Barre Syndrome from people who got the H1N1 vaccine since October. Out of the 40 million doses that have been distributed it is still a very low number. In fact, they say it's much less than they expected. However, some cases do go unreported to the Center of Disease Control.

Although these numbers are still very small it reaffirms everyone that there are definitely risks involved.

Demand for the vaccine is very high, and distribution and availability is very low currently.

It does make you think about it and possibly put off getting the vaccine even if you can find it.

As a long time Windows XP user and fan I have to admit I was a little skeptical and uneasy about Windows 7 at first. After hearing all the negative reviews and publicity Vista received, I wasn't exactly excited about trying it.

I finally gave in to temptation, or more like I got tired of my aging and slowing single core Windows XP based computer. I don't necessarily like change that well, but I don't like slow computers even more.


So I took the plunge and bought a new computer with Windows 7 Premium. Nothing top of the line or super fancy, but compared to what I have been working with it is a definite step up.

I am trying to get used to the new layout and way things are done in Windows 7. If you have used Windows XP or Vista it's pretty easy. Things are just named slightly different now, and some are in new locations, but nothing too complicated. My Computer is just Computer. My documents are Documents, things like that.

Many people talk about how speedy Windows 7 is, which is mostly true. Part of this is probably because it is brand new and fresh, there isn't a lot of programs installed or other files saved and stored on it yet. So naturally it should be faster. For me even more so as I have gone from an out of date single core cpu to a multi-core cpu.

It seems fast enough to me, but not excessive. It was really noticeable after playing with Windows 7 for a while, and I went back to my XP computer to retrieve some files. As I waited, and waited, and waited some more it was apparent how slow my XP computer really is compared to my new one.

Anyway there are many positive reviews out there, and I will continue playing with Windows 7 for a while yet before I conclude that it is amazing, but it's looking good so far.

Google finally update Pagerank. The time and date varies slightly depending on where in the world you live, but October 29th / 30th. Some would say this Pagerank update was slightly overdue. Google does not really follow a specific time line when updating Pagerank, but many assume a 3 month average.

Once we start to near the 3 month time frame there tends to be new posts at many popular forum resource sites.

So if you missed or didn't hear about the update, you might want to take a peek at your site and see if you have any pagerank changes.

Now that Google has updated Pagerank we shouldn't need to ask about it for sometime yet. Wait...I can already hear the questions rolling in "When is the next pagerank update," "When was the last update," "When do you think the next update will be"?

This goes on and on, over and over at some popular sites. If nothing else I guess it gives some forums something to ramble on about!

Apparently on top of all the H1N1 Swine Flu confusion we now learn that even if you want it only 1 in 3 can actually find it. Supposedly there is the group of preferred or those that the government says should get it first. Even these folks are having a tough time finding it. If you are in this preferred group chances are you are going to stand in line for a very long time.

Local reports show people standing in line for hours for a chance at getting the vaccine with a very limited number available.

So what to do even if you fall into this preferred group? Run around town and wait in line for hours hoping they don't run out.

I don't know what the solution is, but this H1N1 vaccine seems more rare and valuable than gold at the moment.

If you have been trying to get the vaccine good luck in your quest. Be prepared to wait a very long time.

Well it looks like the swine flu is back in the news headlines again. One minute it is a hot topic, then it settles down for a few, then it pops back up again.

There is just way too much confusion about the swine flu. Get it, don't get it, and now you are lucky if your health care provider even has any of the swine flu vaccine available. When it is available it seems to disappear within a few hours.

Every time I read about the swine flu it's a different story. You should get one dose, then it's two doses. Sometimes I hear young people and elderly people should get it. Later I hear everyone should get it.

I think they are just confusing people too much, and the story or facts seem to change too often to make any sense to the average person.

So even if it is possible to get it, maybe you should before they run out. On the other hand, this vaccine thing really hasn't been tested thoroughly enough to really know if it works, if there are side effects, or if there will be a record number of side effects.

I am still undecided. One day I think I will probably get it, and the next I think maybe I should hold off. Mostly due to the confusion the press is creating.

I was recently reading a forum thread about Google's Youtube. It was basically about how Google was loosing money with Youtube. Whether they are loosing money or not I don't know, but it did get me thinking about Youtube in general.

How many people watch a Google Youtube video every day? How many videos are uploaded a day? And, Just how much space are all these videos consuming?

Well this would be extremely difficult to ever know the exact numbers, but anyway you look at it has to be huge. Youtube is quite generous about the file numbers and size of the video you are allowed to upload.

I am kind of imagining a data center or a large portion of a data center devoted to Youtube alone. They have to be adding more storage for the videos all the time, and adding a bigger pipe for all the traffic.

Now when I stop and think about this, it might be difficult to turn a profit on something like this.

I don't see Youtube going away any time soon, but if they don't at least break even...who Knows!

Is it the end of Google Pagerank or is the update just delayed?


While there is no date i n particular that Google adheres to when updating pagerank, most tend to assume an update every 2-4 months. I don't have the exact number at the moment, but we are pushing something like 4 months now since the last pagerank update.

Recently Google has removed the "Your sites page with the highest rank" from within Google Webmaster Tools. A combination of this and pagerank approaching 4 months or more now has sparked numerous discussions and topics at many popular webmaster forum sites.

In just the last day or two there have been several topics with tons of replies, some positive, others not so positive over at digital point forums. There are many rumors circulating that it could be the end of the Google Pagerank System.

Google has always been hush...hush when it comes to pagerank, and any new features they are working on. I honestly don't know how they keep such a tight lid on things, but they do a pretty good job.

So is this the end of Google Pagerank? Who knows for sure, only time will tell and an official announcement would be necessary to confirm it.

I personally don't see it going away any time soon. Google has put so much into the pagerank system for a number of years now that I can't see them just calling it quits.

So only time will tell. I will keep following the subject and topics at digital point and elsewhere and see where this goes or ends up. My guess is we will see a pagerank update soon, and all the rumors and speculation will fade away.

Why is it all the little mom and pop stores seem to have a fee to use a debit card or credit card to purchase something. As far as I understand you can charge a fee for a debit card, but not a credit card. If the merchant runs it as Debit than you must punch in your PIN number into a keypad. When it's run as credit then you sign your name on the receipt. That's basically the quick way to tell the difference.

So any time you sign for a purchase they really aren't allowed to charge any kind of fee.

Now I don't know how many times I've been to one of these stores and they tell me there is a $.50 or $1.00 fee to use my Debit Card. Some of them even have a sign posted, or they point that out to you.

What really gets me is they tell you there is a fee to use your Debit Card. Then, they run the darn thing as Credit where I have to sign, which is not allowed.

I really wish some organization would crack down on this excessive out of hand problem. I am getting really tired of all these fees.

I have a feeling Visa or MasterCard wouldn't do much about it anyway if one complained. It's big business for them and they don't want to take away the merchants account.

Maybe these little convenience mom and pop stores just aren't educated, or never read the rules and terms of service or something.

Generally I find that it is the smaller stores and businesses that tend to do charge fees more often than the bigger or national chain stores.

I just wish that something could be done about this. I can only imagine how much I spend in a year in these bogus fees!

Well here we are once again anticipating the next Google Pagerank Update, which is leaning towards overdue. Not that there is a set schedule, but we assume generally 3 month intervals. Since it has been a little over 4 months now, the SEO world is patiently waiting for an update. There are many discussions and topics in the popular forums sites lately. You never really know for certain when Google will flip the switch and update the Pagerank. Nobody really knows for sure what the process involves. Whether Google needs a specific time to crawl the entire internet world. If there is some huge database that is quietly being processed on the side in the background, or something else. Some claim that Google does update Pagerank daily that some employees have access to, but nobody really knows for certain. It's one big secret and a virtual mystery.

I am hopeful that I might see a little bump or increase in my main site that I spend more time on, rather than here. I am not really counting on it as I didn't get to spend as much time with it as I would have liked, but you never know. Fingers crossed!

Not sure if anyone has heard about the new Google Search they are testing. It has been labeled Google Caffeine by most popular blogs and forums. Where they came up with this or how they figured it out I'm not sure. You can test the new Google Caffeine Search and see what kind of results you get. It is much faster than the Google Search we currently have and use. It also returns many more results for the particular search term or keyword.

You can check it out or test it for yourself here:
http://www2.sandbox.google.com/

Although there is no specific time frame that Google follows for updating Pagerank, they do tend to happen every 3-4 months on average. Currently it has been slightly over 4 months now since the last Google Pagerank update. Since it has been a little longer than normal now, I can't help wondering if it has something to do with Google Caffeine. The longest period of time that I am aware of that went by between Pagerank updates was 6 months. So I am expecting a new Pagerank update to happen any time now. Not that I am expecting this blog to change or increase. I really don't promote it, I just use it for rambling on for the most part. I have promoted some of my other sites, and it would be nice if they increased a little. Anyway I'll keep following this and waiting for the next update from the Big G!

Well yesterday it sure turned cold. It was like it was sunny and warm one day and cold and nasty the next. It really don't get to terribly cold in my part of the country, but when it does change for the worse it is certainly noticeable.

I even put on a pair of pants last night. I generally wear shorts most of the time, but I finally gave in and went with pants.

It's fairly early in the season yet, so hopefully we will still be blessed with a few more warm sunny days. I'm not counting on it, but it sure would be nice!

Well yesterday was the first day of fall, and man it sure didn't feel like it here. It was 95 degrees and it's supposed to be around 90 again today. That is a little bit on the warm site, but that's OK. I am not ready for fall quite yet, and although it was a little too hot I will certainly take it. Nothing like wearing shorts on a 95 degree first day of fall!

I keep thinking about Twitter lately. All these Tweets are nice. You really can't say to much with only 140 characters, but I do think people read them more often because they are so short.

The biggest thing with Twitter I kind of worry about are all those shortened URL's. Tinyurl, Bit.ly, and others shorten a link so you can use more characters to actually says something. However, how does one really know where you will be taken to if you click on or visit the shortened URL posted? Will we be taken to some bogus site? A link to a virus? Malware? Spyware? Etc.? It just kind of worries me, and bugs me that I really have no idea where I'll be taken to if I click on one.

On the other hand the same could be said about other sites for that matter. Just because someone posts a link on their site it doesn't mean it is legit. Some sites are a little sneaky and try to hide the actual link in the status bar.

I guess just keep your anti-virus, firewall, spyware, etc. up-to-date at all times!

Well I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but here in the northern hemisphere the sun is setting much earlier now. It won't be long and it will be time to turn the clock back an hour to standard time again. I just hate winter and the lack of sun we get during this time. Summer just goes by way to fast it seems like. Oh well nothing we can do about it, just keep hoping for a few more nice sunny days before winter decides to fully set in.

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I don't know what is the more popular topic in the news lately, the swine flue or health care reform. If it's not one, then it's the other. Both are just as confusing. One day they tell you one thing, and the next they tell you the opposite.

I am still not sure about the swine flu vaccine. There are a lot of discussion about whether to get it or not lately. Both sides seem to have some good points.

I just think we really don't know what the potential side effects might be regarding the swine flu vaccine. I know it's an obvious concern, but it seems a little rushed. Since when does the U.S. allow something to be rushed to market without thorough testing? Maybe because it's a vaccine and not a drug this makes a difference.

I would get it if I knew there was more testing and we had a better idea what kind of side effects to expect. Since there has not been adequate time and testing, I am not going to run down and get one the minute it comes out.

So I feel that this is a very tough call. Do the benefits outweigh the negatives?

You ever notice how many advertisements there are on TV these days for all these new drugs & medicine?

Well I was sitting there watching TV tonight when one comes on. Usually I tune them out because honestly I am a little tired of them.

For some reason this time the advertisement caught my attention. Not because it was going to cure cancer, aids, the swine flu, or anything like that.

What this drug said it was for is for people who are already taking antidepressants and they need a little more. If your antidepressant isn't quite enough for you, then you should take this additional antidepressant.

Can you believe that? An antidepressant for an antidepressant. Medicine for medicine.

What next? Now I've heard it all!

I guess the drug makers have finally stooped to making more money by creating medicine for medicine.

I almost fell over as I listened to the advertisement on TV. I have been joking about something like this for years, and now it's no joke anymore. They have really done it now.

I can't believe a doctor would actually prescribe something like this. If you take antidepressants and they just aren't working for you, wouldn't your doctor just increase the dosage? Or find you one that works better and is more suitable for you?

With all this Health Care Reform in the news lately I can't help wondering a little about how much all these Doctors, tests, x-rays, scans, etc. costs. Do they really need to charge as much as they do? In recent years the prices have skyrocketed to say the least.

Here where I live a few years ago one could expect to pay $100-$125 for a standard family doctor office call. For some reason after a brand new facility was built where a lot of these Doctors practice at the fee jumped to $180-$225 for the same standard family doctor. Coincidence? I wonder if the brand new facility had something to do with it.

Same with a CT scan for example. Not to long ago it cost $800-$1000 now it costs almost $3000! I know these CT machines are very expensive, but I have a feeling at that price they will pay for it the first couple of months of operation or less.

It just amazes me how these things can go up so much in such a short amount of time, yet most normal people's wages don't go up anywhere near this amount or rate.

Medical seems to be the most drastic jump, but others have gone up considerably too.

Take the car mechanic for example. Not long ago I was paying $35-$40 per hour for labor. Now I am paying $60-$80 per hour for the same mechanic. This is ridiculous. The car makers don't help either with the way they build cars these days. They make cars in a way that the mechanic has to spend an hour removing other parts just to get to the part he or she needs to fix. Then, another hour putting the parts they had to remove back together. So the 30 minute repair, ends up taking 2 1/2 hours and costing me $150 to $200 in labor alone and that is figuring low in terms of time.

I am starting to get a little irritate and tired of hearing about all this health care reform stuff. Every day there seems to be some kind of new fight or argument. I highly doubt that they will come up with something that will benefit everyone, and most likely it will help only a small group. I think we do need some kind of reform, but it seems like it keeps changing and is getting a little out of hand. I'll continue to follow this for now.

Well here it is the end of August already. The kids will be heading back to school soon. Just seeing the back to school sales on TV makes me cringe. This summer sure did go by quick. I am not exactly ready for winter yet. I know there will still be some nice weather yet before it's over, but I can't help thinking about it.

It sure would be nice to live somewhere that has nice warm weather all year, but usually those types of places get too darn hot in summer time. I don't know if there is a perfect year around place in terms of weather. If I could find one, would there actually be jobs there? Or even something to do for that matter?

Wishful thinking and dreaming I guess. No harm in dreaming!

I am a huge fan of Firefox web browser. I think it is much faster than Internet Explorer. The free add-ons available for Firefox cannot even closely be matched by any other. No matter what you might be looking for there is probably an add-on for it.

Firefox 3.5 recently went stable so being a huge fan I decided to upgrade and check it out. There are some plenty of new features as expected. Firefox claims a huge increase in speed and performance, enhanced security, and a number of others.

After using Firefox 3.5 for more than a month now I do like it. However, there are some glitches or annoyances that irritate me quite a bit.

1. Speed and performance is great at first, but over time as the database increases in size the speed and performance slows...a lot actually.

2. When I have several tabs open at the same time and I click a link on a site, sometimes it closes the tab and opens the link / site in a totally new window. This is really annoying, and happens several times per week.

3. Oftentimes I choose open a new tab and go to punch in a site and the first few letters of the site I type get cut off. I end up re-typing the web address. It appears that the new tab is hanging and doesn't really kick in until I have typed a few letters, hence cutting off a few.

4. Sometimes I open a new tab and type in the address bar and nothing I typed appears. I have to click in the address bar and re-type the web address again. This happens often.

5. It consumes a lot of ram, and it continues to rise until I totally close all tabs and windows.

These are the top 5 complaints I have. I didn't have these issues in the previous version of Firefox. Only since upgrading.

Also when I upgraded Firefox wiped all of my bookmarks. It didn't suggest or tell me to back them up first. It was almost like it was a fresh install. Kind of like it removed the previous version and install the new.

I do keep fairly up-to-date backups, but I'm sure many don't and would end up losing all of their bookmarks.

All my custom bookmarks on the tool bar also disappeared when upgrading to Firefox 3.5 which was a little bit disappointing too.

At any rate Firefox is still my number 1 choice web browser.

Hopefully...maybe...fingers crossed...some of these issues will be addressed as new updates come out.

I keep hearing all this positive energy about the economy recovering. Unless it's happening everywhere except where I live or something I haven't noticed any improvement.

Maybe it is so slight that it is almost transparent. Or maybe it's the big boys in Washington trying to sweet talk us. Who knows. I think it will be quite a while yet, and don't expect any major changes for the good any time soon yet.

It sure would be nice if someone came up with a faster paced plan to get us out of this mess soon. Things just seem to be going so slow, it's discouraging to a lot of people including myself.

Ok enough rambling on about the economy for one night!

You got me. For some reason blog scripts and sites such as this google blogspot believe that comments should be nofollow. Basically when leaving a comment on a site that allows you to put in your website if it is dofollow google will count it as a backlink and pass on some of the pagerank. If it is nofollow, then no pagerank link juice is passed or counted. People try to get backlinks by posting comments on blog sites for the purpose of getting backlinks. What many don't realize is most of them are nofollow, so much of your hard work commenting does you little. You will still get anchor text and sort of keywords for it so there is a slight plus. Yahoo does seem to count them regardless if they are dofollow or nofollow, but most people are after the google rank so dofollow is something to be on the look out for.

As I mentioned it seems to be associated with blog sites more than anything. Forum sites, and other sites where commenting is involved still for the most part seem to be dofollow. So I don't quite get why blog sites seem to impose this nofollow rule in the comments. I think google has a little influence on wordpress and other blog scripts. So whatever google thinks is best the blog scripts tend to agree.

So for all of you trying to build backlinks, you really need to identify dofollow blogs. Even if the page header says index, follow it does not mean that the comments are dofollow. Incidentally most blogs are nofollow in the comments. If you have firefox there is a nice free addon that will help you identify which blogs are dofollow and which are nofollow. It's called NoDoFollow and can be found here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5687

So what is all this Twitter stuff about? How did it get so big? I honestly don't know but there isn't a single day that goes by that I don't here the word Twitter, Tweet, and follow me on Twitter.

I haven't been on Twitter until recently. I guess I was Twittered out maybe. So I decided to log back in tonight and play around with it. The more I mess with it the more I actually like it. It's a fairly simple site that I think just about anyone could navigate and find their way around unlike most others where you have to spend hours just trying to figure out how to update something.

Twitter can be a powerful traffic tool if used properly. I was doing some promoting with it a while back and I did get an unexpected flow of traffic. However, it didn't last for an extended amount of time. Like anything though, I would assume regular posting and updating would help.

So if you have never been to Twitter, you might check it out in your spare time. You would be surprised who is on there. You might just find someone you have been trying to find on Twitter too.

And Twitter is one of the few sites that the not so technical or Internet savvy folks can actually figure out.

They apparently even have their own little lingo and terms they use, twits, tweets, you name it. Go figure who would have thought something so simple would be so big?

I've been noticing a lot of hidden iframe's on sites lately. Sometimes they vary a bit, but all of the ones I've noticed seem to involve a link to a .cn or china site. Undoubtedly it's some kind of malware or similar exploit. Apparently a lot of site owners or administrators aren't even aware their site has this or something, because when I come back to the site days later it's still there. Perhaps some anti-virus and other blockers don't pick it up as a threat or something. I use avast anti-virus and it has picked it up and blocked it on more sites than I can count lately.

It has become more than a little annoying seeing that warning as frequently as I have lately. Then again it's always something. The wonderful world of the Internet. If there is something that can be exploited somehow it will be I guess.

Anyway I just basically wanted to point out that this is out there, and if you are a site owner or administrator be on the look out for it. I know some other anti-virus programs I've used on other computers don't warn me about it like avast does. Whether the others have some protection against this and I just don't see the warning or not I do not know.

Always be on the look out for this iframe exploit and other exploits!

My quest for Google Pagerank has slowly paid off. I have seen my main site slowly increase in pagerank from a 0 to a 1 and now a 2. A couple of the internal pages were a pagerank 3, but I believe they are now 2's.

I spent countless hours researching and testing thoughts and ideas on how to increase pagerank. I followed a few sites tips and suggestions. They all seemed to have helped, but I can't help to wonder if I would have achieved this anyway.

I have come to the conclusion that it is a never ending process that involves a lot of time and effort for quick results. By quick I mean 3-6 months.

I have scaled back my quest for pagerank because I can't devote all my free time to this, I have other things to work on.

At any rate getting a pagerank 1 and 2 is relatively easy I would say, but 3-4 and above will take more time and effort as it starts to get tougher after this.

I am hoping to top out at a 3 or 4 and I will be content with that.