I’m an Atheist. It’s currently 16:57 and I want to go shopping.
Why is it I can’t go shopping because nowhere is permitted to open after 5pm on a Sunday in this country? Religion. That’s right, the “Sabbath”. Well you know what, I’m an atheist. I don’t believe in the Sabbath. I want to do my damn shopping on a Sunday evening.
I am offended. So I’m off to see if there’s any “Atheist rights activist organisation”, or something that sounds equally over-the-top but entirely valid.
Matt Cutts (of Google fame for those not in the know) has a short post on an interview about site maps and mentions one particular point about Googlebot treating the 401 (page not found, and it’s gone forever) and 404 (page not found, but it may reappear) status codes as a 401.
The reasoning is fine and it makes a lot of sense – most people use 404s when they should use a 401. However, this is like ‘quirks mode’ for HTML in web browsers. I believe the uptake of Firefox, which is much more strict on standards compliance, has forced web developers to pay more attention to standards.
Considering the huge reliance on Google for many webmasters, I believe Google should be taking this opportunity to teach webmasters to use the status code that suits in each situation. The result would be more considerate use of HTTP status codes and hopefully more effort devoted to fixing broken links.
All towards a better web…
I happened upon an interview today, posted on a blog called Non-Prophet. It’s an interview of inventor Ray Kurzweil which he conducted himself.
It’s amazing some of the things he predicts for the next 50 years. It filled me with huge excitement for the coming century and what the whole of humanity will be like in 50 years time. I can’t wait!
Timothy Garton Ash wrote in The Guardian today, “To express who we British really are today, we must put out more flags – or none.” But do the various national flags within the United Kingdom actually say anything about who we are as a nation, and should we display the Union Jack to show our love for our country?
The article talks of the patriotism in the United States, with the Stars and Stripes appearing in many a backyard throughout the country, and although I’m sure most would agree that us British are a lot less patriotic than the USA, does it really make a difference?
Besides, what with an increasingly diverse range of cultures in Britain, does our national flag anymore. We already have the flag of Saint George for England, the cross of Saint Patrick, the Saltire for the Scots and the Welsh Dragon. It certainly doesn’t stop there. What about the Indian, Pakistani, Jamaican, Caribbean, Chinese and that’s just a few? Do we incorporate all the cultures of 21st century Britain into a ‘new’ flag, or just put out the flags of everything we feel part of? From our national flag to the local football team. Or just none at all?
