best of the web » the constant skeptic

28th April 2008

Video of the Day - Michael Jackson Dance Britains Got Talent Suleman Mirza

posted in best of the web, video footage, world view |

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7th March 2008

it is official - Google is no longer top doggy

While it is true that Google has had a comfortable lead among search engines across the world (check out Alexa’s stats), Yahoo has been quietly number one for some months now.

Here is the graph for the traffic rank which rates the popularity. You can see yahoo.com has been number 1 for the past six months while Google is faltering, if you consider second and third most popular site in the world as faltering.

yahoo vs google

Why is Yahoo more popular?

1. Maybe yahoo is paying alexa.com to up their rankings. This can be evidenced by the static flatline at number one while google’s line looks like real data.

2. I noticed that Yahoo’s image search yields much better results than google. Try it out yourself.

3. Yahoo provides news and updates on their news page, while you have to go to igoogle to get the same content rich information. I don’t think that it is necessarily a bad thing that google.com is purely search. It has been working for years, but maybe the model is changing… maybe users want to get all of their information in one place without having to necessarily search for it.

Hat tip to GigaOM for the inspiration behind this post.

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posted in best of the web, social networking and visualizations, tips and random info, useful sites |

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29th February 2008

Poem of the Month - When You are Old by Yeats

I found this poem a while ago when I was thinking of my grand parents (who are still together after over sixty years of marriage).

When You Are Old

by William Butler Yeats

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

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29th February 2008

Rules for Race Walking - Yes this is real

To start off, I had no idea that race walking was real. I heard about it from a friend and I laughed in his face. Now I guess he is laughing. But either way, since I was skeptical about it and I am now enlightened, I am passing on the info.

Who knows, maybe this is the next great American past-time to replace the steroid filled armpits of baseball.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3GGzq1PIqs

Definition of Race Walking:

Race walking is a progression of steps taken so that unbroken contact with the ground is maintained. The lead foot, preferably the heel, must touch the track before the back foot leaves the ground. During stride, the leg must be straightened at least momentarily. The supporting leg must be straight in a vertically upright position. When a walker does not have continuous contact with the ground, he/she is not race walking and shall be disqualified.

Race Walking

Race Walking is a progression of steps so taken that the walker makes contact with the ground so that no visible (to the human eye) loss of contact occurs. The advancing leg must be straightened (i.e., not bent at the knee) from the moment of first contact with the ground until the leg is in the vertical upright position.

Disqualification for failure to adhere to the above definition is governed by Rule 230.3. (See diagram, p. 197.)

How to Judge Racewalking

Racewalking Officiating Guidelines From USATF. pdf.

Racewalking Officiating Handbook Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file with diagrams.

Tags: racewalking, race walking, racing, olympics

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28th February 2008

Great link of the day - 7 abandoned wonders of the EUabandoned

7 Abandoned Wonders of the European Union: From Deserted Castles Retrofuturistic Factories

WebUrbanist » 7 Abandoned Wonders of the European Union: From Deserted Castles Retrofuturistic Factories

These pictures make me want to pack up and leave for the EU right now.

Tags: abandoned, wonders, eu, weburbanist

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26th February 2008

Crazy Apple Band - Video of the Day

try doing this with your motorola, moto….

Tags: iBand, video, music, iphone

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29th January 2008

Anagrams - Some fun on a rainy day in baltimore

You know what an “anagram” is: the letters of one word or phrase character-for-character shifted into another word or phrase. Here are some certified gems for your trivia pleasure…

original anagram
****** ******
dormitory dirty room
evangelist evil’s agent
desperation a rope ends it
the Morse Code here come dots
slot machines cash lost in ‘em
animosity is no amity
mother-in-law woman Hitler
snooze alarms alas! no more Zs
Alec Guinness genuine class
Semolina is no meal
the public art galleries large picture halls, I bet
a decimal point I’m a dot in place
the earthquakes that queer shake
eleven plus two twelve plus one
contradiction accord not in it