Arbitrary

Really? I never knew that Google didn't like frequent small changes in websites. I always thought that they liked the websites they listed to be up to date. Or perhaps its because they have to recrawl the site and thus are annoyed?And also, I wouldn't know if optimizing a website for search engines is really a small change, as sometimes this can be a pretty big change. I think that how often you decide to optimize your website really depends on the uses of your website. If it was a commercial site, it could cost a lot of money every time you optimize, and small changes that only make small differences on a search engine might not be efficient cost-wise. Thus, for that site you should probably only optimize when you're really dropping on a search engine list.But you should also take into consideration that small changes will be efficient cost wise, and if you wait a long time between each optimization, it will be harder to change your website, making the changes cost more. For me, I would just change whenever my website begins to drop on a search engine list, and if not, I'd just leave it alone. No point wasting time and money for nothing.

I actually really like the design. (Perhaps this is because I'm a fan of simplicity?) I especially like that door (?) like thing next to "WiseTome". The colors of the logo also mesh in nicely with the website--I think it instills in visitors a nice, calm and quiet feeling. Anyways, it is kind of surprising that it was made in Microsoft Word. I never really thought of Word as a good image editing program that could be used to make banners. Although I do occasionally use Word to insert weird symbols into Photoshop that Photoshop doesn't have. And btw, is it even possible to create a high resolution image with Microsoft Word?

I'll add a bit to this list >>>Shows the contents of windows while moving them: 1. Go to the start menu, go to run, type in regedit, hit return. 2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop by clicking on the masses of folders. 3. Double click the key and change the value from 0 to 1. 4. Close Registry editor and restart windows. >>>Change icon sizes: 1. Go to the start menu. Go to run, type in regedit and hit return. 2. Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics. Click on WindowMetrics 3. Create a new value called Shell Icon Size. If you want a smaller icon, make the value smaller and if you want a bigger icon, make the value bigger. 4. Close Registry Editor and restart Windows. >>>Make Notepad word-wrap: 1. Go to the start menu. In run, type in regedit and hit return.2. Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad in the registry editor. 3. Either create a new DWORD value called fWrap or use the one that is already in the directory. Double click fWrap to change it to 1, which enables word wrapping. 4. Close Registry Editor and restart Windows. >>>Create aliases for programs: (i.e., when you run a certain program under the name ASDF.EXE, it really runs something like NOTEPAD.EXE) 1. Go to the start menu. Go to run and type in regedit. Hit return. 2. Find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths. 3. If you want to create a new alias, first create a sub-key, and call it the name of the alias you wish to create (i.e. "ASDF.EXE"). 4. Change the default value of the sub-key to be the same as the normal path and filename of the application that you want loaded when this alias is asked to launch. (i.e. "c:\windows\notepad.exe"). 5. Close Registry Editor and restart Windows. >>>Allow quick reboot (Note: This only works in Windows 2000 and Windows NT) 1. Go to the start menu and click run. Type in regedit and hit return. 2. Find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windo ws NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon. 3. There should be a variable called EnableQuickReboot in there. Change the variable to 1 to enable it. 4. Close Registry Editor and restart Windows. >>>Display hidden folders and/or files 1. Click on the start menu and select run. Type in regedit and hit return. 2. Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced 3. Create a new value called Hidden (DWORD value) and then set it to either 1 (display hidden folders and files) or 2 (do not display hidden folders and files) 4. Close Registry Editor and restart Windows. >>>Forced no right clicking on the desktop 1. Click on the start menu and select run. Type in regedit and hit return. 2. Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer 3. Create a new variable called NoViewContextMenu (DWORD value) Set it to 1 for enabled and 2 for disabled. 4. Close Registry Editor and restart Windows. >>>Change the amount of recent files showed 1. Click on the start menu and select run. Then type in regedit and hit return. 2. Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. 3. Create a new value called MaxRecentDocs (DWORD value) and set it to the number of recent files that you want displayed. 4. Close Registry Editor and restart Windows. >>>Disallow users to view task manager 1. Click on start menu and select run. Type in regedit and hit return. 2. Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System. 3. Create a new variable called DisableTaskMgr (DWORD value) and set it to 1 to disable task manager or 0 to enable it. 4. Close Registry Editor and restart Windows.

Yeah, at one point I had a webhost that only offered the non www version for my domain name, and if I wanted a www version, I had to register a second domain name. But before discovering that, I also always thought they pointed to the same location and thus were interchangeable. @ginginca, I think Google had a policy of only listing a certain number of pages per site (so that each of their search pages is not overflowing with repeated info from one site). Thus they probably consider the www and the non www version of your site to both be from the same site and believe that having both versions displayed in their search results is a violation of their policy.

I've been using Firefox for quite a while and it's been great. (Although I also occasionally use Opera to test websites for compatibility) In the beginning, I switched because Microsoft wouldn't allow me to update IE 5 to IE 6 without administrative privileges, so I had a lot of hardships viewing certain Javascript heavy sites. Tabs is definitely great, although I've also known a friend who can't stand tabs and prefers to use TabKiller to get rid of it. (Although this shows the flexibility of Firefox as compared to IE--you have much more freedom to chose in Firefox as opposed to IE) For sites that are designed explicitly for IE, I use IE tab so that I don't have to open another window for IE. Currently I just downloaded BonEcho (it's Firefox 2.0, still in beta) and really enjoying its new features. (i.e. spell check. Except that its spell check apparently marks 'BonEcho' and 'Firefox' as misspellings...) Maybe that's something browsers should start thinking about--user accounts. The companies behind the browsers already know that a lot of family members go on through the same browser, so they should provide a customized setting for each user. That'd be a great new add-on for Firefox. (Though I've no use for it....) The extensions are definitely superb! Adblock is must for adhaters.

Yeah, I've tried to block several MAC addresses, but then it blocks even the people that I want to allow. I've also attempted to enable encryption, but once I do it, the connection just goes off and will only go back on if I unplug and replug the wireless router. Worse, every time I do this, the encryption just mysteriously disappears. I don't get that at all. I have the feeling that I'm only enabling encryption on either the PC or the router and not both, so it's causing me problems. I've checked the card's MAC address through command prompt though, so that's not a problem.Anyways, thanks for the response. The NetGear forums recently closed down...

I think if you wanted to do it on Photoshop, you ought to download some good Photoshop brushes. I have a couple on Photoshop Elements that I know can provide those effects. For instance, on the top left corner of the 'A' in FOUNDATION, the white paint spatter can be achieved really easily if you have the right brush. Once you find a good brush, just one dab will give a nice effect. Same goes for nearly every other effect done to that font. Though looking at how the two N's are very similar in FOUNDATION, I do think this is a specialized font and not just something that's created in Photoshop. I'm sure that there are a lot of fonts with similar features as this one at dafont.com.

Gotta have Firefox extensions. :unsure:So here are the ones I have:IE Tab - very useful for testing pages in IE without ever having to click on that IE iconAdblock - I love how I can remove banners and ads forever Fasterfox - I have noticed a significantly faster FirefoxTab Mix Plus - Just downloaded this one. Apparently I like to mess with my tabs, as they're invaulable toolsWeb Developer's Bar - Very useful indeed.I had this Gmail skins extension earlier, but I decided to get rid of it, as I don't really want my Firefox to have a million (useless) extensions. I also tried out a number of extensions for short periods of time just to see how they worked. But of course I had no intention to actually keep them.

True, very true. At most stores there's this whole section entirely dedicated to PCs, but just a time sector for Macs. And obviously if Macs were advertised more and had more users, they probably would be able to lower the price. Although the problem currently is that most average users currently use the PC, and unless they had some really compelling reason to switch, they probably aren't going to do it. So unless Apple can come up with some nice reasons....not many users will actually be motivated to change. (People dislike change, right? ) Once upon a time when I was in elementary and middle school I used Macs--iBooks and iMacs, and eMacs. I didn't really have a huge preference for Macs, mainly because at home I used a PC and thus was more used to a PC. Currently I have no intention of switching to a Mac, as I'm perfectly happy with the PC I have.

Seriously? I don't think there are only two people in the world that can complete the whole cube. I currently already know two people who can complete the Rubix cube, and there must a lot more than just the two people I know who can finish it. I've seen some Rubix cube solving contests (where people solve them really quickly in around twenty or so seconds), so there must be more than two. I so far can only solve two faces, but I think if you look on the following sites you might be able to get some help as to how to solve it (I just did a quick Google search): http://lar5.com/cube/ http://www.speedcubing.com/chris/ I actually remember there was a club at my school dedicated to Rubix cube solving...don't know how many members they managed to teach though. Although maybe you're talking about a 4x4x4/5x5x5 Rubix cube? Because then the number of people who can solve them might be significantly smaller. (Not to mention the number of stores you can obtain them at )

NetGear has been installed on my computer for quite a while....and I use it for Wireless Internet. Recently I tried reading some articles about how to secure my wireless Internet through WEP/WPA encryption or blocking of Mac addresses. The encryption methods are messed and I don't know which Mac addresses to block. I was wondering if there was a way to see who is using my wireless connection to get on the Internet. I have no idea which tab in the NetGear information pop-up tells this, but I was guessing that the 'site survey' tab did the job. Except then if these people were all using my connection, shouldn't they all possess the same type of encryption that I have? Yet some of them have no encryption while others have WEP. Another question: Why doesn't encryption work? I click on the 'Enable Encryption' checkbox and type in a Passphrase, but once I click 'Apply', the connection dies. At the bottom of the encryption enabling tab there's a note saying, "Please assure that the settings on this page match those in the Access Point or other stations, otherwise you will not be able to establish a wireless connection." I have no idea what its talking about. If anyone could explain, I'd be really grateful! :DEDIT: Oops. I'm not sure if this topic should go in the Networking section or in the Security one...If it's in the wrong section, sorry!

ImageShack? Isn't that a photo hosting service? Their website: http://imageshack.us/. As far as I know they can host images up to 1024KB and automatically resize if they're bigger. They also offer a resize option for any picture regardless of the size. They offer the usual set of forum links, direct links, sharing with friends, etc. I like the photos...and I think the second one is better than the first one. The first one seems almost blurry, like something went wrong with the camera lens, but the second one has a nice focused feeling to it. I also like the contrast of colors in the second one. @seec77, now that you mention it, it seems like the second one has a sumo wrestler right in front of the tree too.

Google. I use that basically all the time. I like Google's simple interface--there's no clutter to wade through or ads to ponder upon--it's just simple search box with a search button. Yahoo and MSN search has too much content around their search boxes, making quick searches take longer to load as well as creating visual distractions. And Google seems to find pretty relevant results.I use Wikipedia sometimes, usually on a search that I am sure there is an article on because that's far more direct than Google (even if I do use the 'I'm feeling lucky' feature). Otherwise, if I don't know how to word something in a way that most people/websites would word it, I tend to use Google. Google Image search is also quite useful, but I usually tend to stay away from that as most of the images there are copyrighted, which I don't want to use for any graphics on my site.As for Google's spelling checker feature in searches, I find them really useful, usually when I make some accidental mistake in spelling. My mom, who apparently makes a lot more mistakes in spelling than me because her native language isn't English says that Google's spell checker doesn't help her and that Yahoo's spell checker is a lot better. I have yet to know what exactly she inputted though.

Oh that happened to me before...to avoid that, just don't check the "remember me" check box when you log in to Gmail. Then it won't remember your email and it will log you out automatically and tell you to log in again later.

Yeah, but I guess most people started with Link Exchanging because they all wanted to hack Google and make sure their site ranked high. I suppose if Google hadn't revealed their secrets about ranking websites it might've been a bit better, but then everyone would be suspicious about the validity of Google's methods. Btw, if these forums are saying that link exchanging is no longer good for a website's health, what's Google's new formula for ranking websites? I still see some of the old Google hacks working....

@lenbot, I sort of agree with you. I think that how efficiently your time is spent on the computer depends mostly on you. If you have a lot of self control (aka, you won't be like me and keep Gmail on so you can check email 24/7), then you probably are using the Internet wisely to obtain the information you need and then leave. On the other hand, lots of your time can be squandered away just by remaining on for long periods of time doing repetitive actions of "check forum #1", "check email", "check forum #2", "chat to friends", "check email", etc. Also, you need to prioritize. A human being isn't capable of being "on" 24/7 and receiving information 24/7. We need to decide which pieces of information are important to us most and thus retrieve those pieces first. If visiting a certain forum is important to you, then it's okay to dedicate a few hours a day to that forum. On the other hand, if you know you must get a certain job done, you probably need to priortize that job before the forum. Otherwise, you're just wasting your time. (And those of us without self control, like myself, find ourselves wasting a lot of time ) And I do think that computers are far more educational than TVs. After all, TVs are mostly visual/graphic, so not much reading is required. THe Internet isn't filled 100% with pictures, so you actually use your mind a bit to process the info. Though, there are also plenty of ways to waste your mind resources--I've met forum users elsewhere who spam and waste their time posting nonsense. Sometimes I wonder how they get so much time on their hands... HowStuffWorks.com is a very educational site. But that's only one site to make up for the many other non-educational sites. And it mostly depends on the user--I wouldn't expect a 10 year old to gladly pour their time into HowStuffWorks.com--they'd be bored because they can't understand certain points to the site. On the other hand, they might be more attracted to a chatroom--the features there are far easier to understand, but obviously far less educational as well. Thus, HowStuffWorks isn't really for everyone, so the educational range of the Internet is limited. It depends solely on the user and their willingness to learn. I don't think having a computer nowadays and not using up to five hours a day is a waste of the computer. It depends on what you need the computer for. If all you need is some access to news, then devoting 2 hours to reading the news isn't going to be a waste of the computer in your opinion. It'll be quite useful. So, once again, it's your priorities and how the computer serves those priorites that counts. The Internet, IMO, is good if used moderately. But if overdone, the Internet can be hazardous. Staying up to use the Internet regularly isn't a good thing--that's an obssession gone overboard. It's like any other drug--use with caution, but, unlike any other drug, do use it. EDIT: I forgot to mention my Internet usage time...hahaha Anyways, I spend about 3-5 hours online on school days. I try to stay away from the 5 hour end, as this leaves me starting my homework at around 9PM, which means sleeping at midnight. I'm aiming for 2 hours on school days, but that's impossible as some of my homework needs to be done on the computer, meaning that all the distractions are right in my face. On weekends I spend every spare minute on the computer, and how that adds up I'm not sure. But probably 6-7 hours.

Hmmmm....I don't really think it's related to Game Theory (that's just combinations). Game Theory is sort of about desicion making (that's related to math, that is) under a difficult situation and get the most out of that situation. The most classic example is the one about the two criminals. They're taken to different jail cells. Then, they are both told that if they snitch on each other, they'll get 2 years in jail. If they work together, they'll get 6 months in jail. If one snitches and the other declares to work together, the snitcher will get out of jail free while the cooperative criminal will spend 2 years in jail. Game theory is then applied to a whole bunch of other desicion making theories.... I believe there was this one guy who came up with a strategy for winning game theory games. *BLEEP*-for tat (with forgiveness, optional). So basically if you're stuck in a game theory-like situation and you get to make a desicion more than once (i.e., not the jail one, because that's a one-time desicion) the first time you should play cooperative, in case the other person is also playing *BLEEP* for tat. Then, on your second turn, do whatever your opponent did last, and continue doing so for all turns thereafter. If there's a cycle of revenge, then that's where 'forgiveness' comes in--you cooperate to see if the other person will relent. That theory won an award somewhere...I believe.... It's quite fun, though. Btw, here's some books about Game Theory... Game Theory with economic applications by Bierman, H. S. and L. Fernandez(well, obviously it's about game theory's relations with economy...so it might or might not be of interest) An Introduction to Game Theory by Martin J. Osborne EDIT: Or...did you mean that you wanted books about combinatorics? I misread your post..Well...probably your math book should have some information on this stuff. The nCr, nPr, factorial section.

Yep. And truth is, it's that Ajax that makes Gmail great. At one point I had IE5, and Gmail wouldn't function...no chat. No automatic refreshes. Anyways, these are the things I enjoy about Gmail: -Gtalk integrated in a column at the side (although the downside of this is that if I really want to work and not have any distractions, I can't even check my email for fear that my friends will talk to me.... ) -The automatic refreshes -It's non-clutter design (ahhh...very simple, just like the Google homepage) -Email forwarding with filters....and emailing with one account under the name of another (one is my 'professional' account and the other one's for my friends) -Auto save. Really nice when I have to shut down FF for whatever reason--Gmail already saved the message. And while they do have some ads, the ads are so tiny I rarely notice them. Really easy to ignore, and they don't take forever to download unlike the MSN ones. Though I got rid of MSN ads through adBlock

I pay about $20 (USD) for broadband. Don't really get why the prices around my area are cheaper than most that I've seen above. I've heard that our area is offering free wireless Internet....though. So paying is pointless. @Brian, $9.95 for dial-up isn't so bad. My dad used to pay that (NetZero), until we decided to switch to NetZero high speed. NZHS was a major rip-off. Sometimes websites would load slower because of the high speed function and I often had to turn off 'high speed' for things to load quicker. 'Twas sad. Yeah, I do agree that change is harder for many older users. But for my parents...well, they weren't getting ripped off by dial-up companies or anything, so switching to broadband was just normal price. My Internet connection's not too bad. It's just my computer that's slow. I think for most people it kind of depends on how they use the Internet. If they're doing heavy surfing (like if they're a power user of the Internet), then getting dial-up would probably be worth the price. On the other hand, if they just surf for fun, it might not matter as much as long as the dial-up price is cheap and not a rip-off.

I've really enjoyed Xisto so far. It definitely provides far better hosting services than I would ever expect of a free host. I don't mind using up some of my time to post at forums (I would probably do that anyway even if I didn't host here ) I started off with Freewebs.com -- a horrible host that had limits on the number of files uploaded and turned ads on randomly. Then I moved on to biz.ly, 50webs.com, and awardspace.com. biz.ly lacked space, 50webs lacked PHP and awardspace didn't allow the mail() function in PHP; nor did they allow the email service they promised in their ad. Then I found Xisto, and I'm very impressed with the PHP support, email service, and the amount of space I have. It's quite hard to find a good PHP supporting host that also has no ads. Most of them come with some catch...but apparently Xisto has none! (I don't really find posting in the forums a catch, as that was already explained even before I joined the Xisto forums) I also really like the support here. Forums and all. XD

Yeah, I really enjoy this particular keyword research tool. It does a nice job of bringing together all the search engines together--clustered lump. :(Though it might be nicer if it offered some more information along with it, but I'm sure those are all offered in the links that it provides. Btw, I've never really used Overture before. I believe it's by Yahoo, right? So does that mean it only shows search results from Yahoo?

Uh. I don't remember Al Gore failing any science courses. [link, perhaps?] I do know that George Bush got C's througout college. It's not a big deal to fail to become president--every winning president had a losing opponent. At least they came close enough as to be that opponent. Moreover, Al Gore did win the popular vote. He just lost the electoral college one, which is decidely unfair. I don't remember him trying three times. Link again? Okay. So, any explanation for why you believe what you believe? Because all you've been saying so far is that you don't think it's true but not backing it up with solid evidence. Just my two cents: sure, if you drive a car, it won't make much of a difference on the overall temperature. Individuals make no difference. But if many people drive cars, then the difference becomes apparent. It'll take many more years before there's some mass extinction of the human species. That's sci-fi... Since when do volcanoes have anything to do with global temperature? The volcanoes aren't massive mountains that cover a fourth of the earth so that their explosions will cause a major uprise in temperature. >< Btw, yes, there isn't really a lot of proof about humans being responsible for global warming being either true or false. But, the point remains that there is more proof supporting that than the opposing side, meaning that I'm more inclined to believe it. It's just like when there's two boxes of candy for sale at the same price and one is bigger while the other is smaller. I'd definitely get the bigger one. Same in this case. @yeh, I agree. What the environmentalists say is supposed to be helping us. Some of them go overboard, of course, but if we listen to some of the more balanced ones, we'd get their heap. It's definitely not bad for us that we do some of what we say. Like driving cars and getting little to no excercise isn't necessarily good for your health. Although, another way to argue that humans aren't responsible--I tend to think that we humans are part of nature--that what we do is part of nature--so that even if our actions impacted the world a lot, that's only natural, and nature will somehow fix thnigs.

I do find that very appalling on Google's part--but think about it. Suppose Google decided not to go with China--then what? The Chinese government isn't going to change just because Google doesn't work with them. It won't be any better for the Chinese people to lose a search engine--they'll just switch over and use the ever-censored Baidu.com. Lost business for Google, but it doesn't make the situation in China any better. (Although it probably makes the situation in our hearts a bit better. ) The key situation in this is not to just scream and rant and boycott Google. It's far more useful to direct those same actions to the Chinese government. Since when was Google powerful enough to change the Beijing regime? It's not. So if we want change, indirectly ranting at the Chinese gov't through Google isn't going to work--we ought to suggest it to the Chinese government directly. And even after all this censoring, the government in China still banned the English Google homepage for quite a while. @ mastercomputers, I agree. The first amendment (considering that you're in the U.S.), doesn't protect speech that involves threats or could induce violent behaviors in either yourself or others. Like, I could say, "I dislike president Bush," but I can't say, "I'm going to murder president Bush." That latter is a threat and not tolerated. This is shock to me. They can't? Most students are complaining about the fact that they can.... But I think they can at least help you out by reporting it to the police, since they have more authority/convincing abilities. As for Internet laws, it depends on what country you live in still. Each person on the Internet must still abide by the laws of their country, hence the whole censorship incident in China but since this person is obviously from your school...no threatening speech applies.

Changing photos is fine, but the main point is--what are you changing photos for? If you're changing because you want to make the person you photographed look better and lie to possible viewers about that person's looks, then that's not a good reason and photo alterations become bad. On the other hand, if you were changing it for an artistic reason, then it's fine. It's just like any other technology, we can either use it correctly or abuse it. Definitely true! A good photographer captures any image far better than a poor digital manipulator. In reality, even if the person is ugly, if the photographer can take a good picture and bring out that person's personality, then the realism of it will appeal to people. On the other hand, digital enhancements that destroy the "ugliness" will cause everyone to look the same--not exactly an artistic thing.

Yeah, Gmail's sign up is limited. You can only sign up if you get invited by a friend who has a Gmail account. I could invite you if you want. I don't really get why Google did that, but I think their reason was either that it was still in Beta or that they wanted everyone who signed up to actually use their accounts (and having a friend who signs you up verifies that...) @boetaw, doesn't the webhost at Google have a domain redirection kind of thing? If all else fails, you can make an email account at your domain and then go into the settings in Gmail and tinker with them until you get all the mail from the domain account forwarded to your Gmail account. Or the other way around if you wish. Wait..but technically that email's not connected to Gmail at all. Gmail's email service is separate of whatever domain email you get. I think forwarding all mail to one account is easiest...but maybe there are other ways to redirect.