I know this is going to be one of the more politically incorrect posts I’ve written…but I don’t care. This is something that’s been bothering me for a long time, and I’m going to get it off my chest; and in the process, I’m going to dare to say something that some people will find offensive. Again…I don’t care. It needs to be said.

I have no problem with the idea of Asians going on to web design boards, blogs, and other “community” websites and attempting to exchange knowledge with others around the world; by “Asians” in this case, I primarily mean people from India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh, although there are probably a few smaller groups of people who qualify. I don’t even mind if they primarily use boards to gather information by asking questions as opposed to sharing information and viewpoints. They’ve got just as much right to online information as anyone else does, and I’m okay with that. The thing that bothers me is when they try to “fit in” or mask their intentions by using what they think is a Caucasian name.

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For those of you who are interested in learning how Google Maps works, as I have been doing for a few of my clients over the past few months, you’ll find it somewhat difficult to find proper documentation on the topic. About the only place that anyone seems to be talking about it is Google Groups, and while I have received some help from it, I’m more of a “read, try and learn” sort of person.

Fortunately for me, a gentleman by the name of Mike Williams has freely provided documentation and examples in plain English on the various classes, methods, controls, etc. Mike has created a Google Maps tutorial that is comprehensive, yet incredibly easy to understand.

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There’s a semi-interesting post over at Google de facto public spokesperson Matt Cutts’ blog concerning NOINDEX and how Google should treat it, to best serve both users and webmasters. The prevailing opinion is that Google shouldn’t index or link to NOINDEX-specified pages in any way, shape or form. This is one of the few times I find myself in support of the majority viewpoint, because in this case it happens to be correct; if a webmaster specifies that a page should not be indexed via NOINDEX, that webmaster should be free to do so and be able to bear the responsibility of accepting the ramifications of the inclusion of said meta robots tag.

But this isn’t what this post is about; it’s about something a little bit deeper that occurred to me in the process of reading and digesting the ideas presented. It’s about search-engine specific meta tags and robots.txt files, and the thought that has been rolling through my mind over the last few days…do we really need them anymore? Or can we combine both ideas into the formation of a better idea?

The answer that I have come up with is “yes, we can combine both ideas…and the technology is already being used, albeit not to its full extent.” We can use the existing Sitemaps protocol, with some extensions, to accomplish everything that we need to in a consistent, easy-to-read manner…and it would be stunningly simple to implement.

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As I mentioned last week, I attended the Kitchener-Waterloo New Humanist Forum’s Environment Forum this past Saturday. Cathy MacLellan, the Kitchener-Waterloo federal Green Party candidate, was the third of four speakers at the event, and she put on a presentation that was one of the most engaging, knowledgeable, and insightful presentations that I have ever seen. I am one of the more difficult people to impress by nature, and Cathy MacLellan impressed me on Saturday. For this, and other reasons, VoteCathy.ca is this week’s Cool Site.

I highly recommend that you attend an event that Cathy is attending or that you give her at least a few minutes of your time if you see her canvassing. I think you’ll like what you hear.

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I haven’t seen any information about this particular subject, and since it’s something I figured out on my own I figured I’d share it with the rest of you. Since I, to the best of my knowledge, am the first to write about it, I figure that means I get to name it too.

Those of you who have tried to perform arithmetic with Flash 8 may realize that it doesn’t always work out. For example, I made the rookie mistake of adding 2 + 10, only to receive an answer of 210. Those of you who are familiar with Javascript may recognize this behavior as that which occurs when two strings are concatenated (joined, for the non-geeky) together, and you may wish to use the eval function for this purpose. Unfortunately, Adobe has decided in its infinite wisdom to turn it into something completely different.

So how do we solve this problem? We cheat.

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Today on Search Query Info, we’re going to focus on a few rather odd topics (go figure!) We’ve got Barry Bonds; massage therapists in Georgia; 10-pin bowling score sheets; the story behind a Don Henley song; and a payment processor.

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Hey everyone. This has been one long, but strangely productive week. Between configuring a server, finishing most of a new site, launching another, and all the usual stuff that goes on thrown in for good measure, it’s been an extremely hard “short week” (Family Day, my ass!)

And because it’s Saturday, I’m going to tell you all about it!

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I promised a site launch on behalf of a client on Tuesday, but due to the events of Internet Secure, Rogers, and others, the post was held back. The site itself was (pre)launched on Tuesday, but I just didn’t get around to the post until today.

Anyway, the site in question is Green Meeting Guide, an environmental directory with a twist; it’s geared to green meeting planners or event planners who simply want to make their meetings more eco-friendly. In June, the site will be launched in full with supplier listings in conjunction with an offline print guide (at the present time, the supplier listings aren’t showing because information is still being gathered on them).

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Many people struggle to get millions of visitors to their websites and thus get the millions of dollars in profit every six seconds that you know your site deserves. They never quite grasp the basic concepts of the neverending moneymaking machine that is the Internet.

If you’re one of those people, fear not, for I have the solution and I will provide YOU with the SECRET to RICHES BEYOND YOUR WILDEST IMAGINATION!

No BS (except for the parts in this post that are clearly BS); no lies (except for the untruths); no doublespeak (except for the doublespeak); JUST PLAIN INTERNET MILLIONAIRERING SECRETS! !!!! And for FREE!!! Just follow the easy-to-read steps below and you’ll be on your way to your very own castle on a South Pacific private island previously inhabited by tribal natives who stuck bones through their noses!

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Welcome to a very special Wednesday edition of Search Query Info, covering the period of February 10 - 16, 2008.

This week, we’re going to cover printer model numbers; Supertramp lyrics; bowling; cults; and a lost and confused web surfer.

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