Non-Domain Related

One of the reasons why I am a big supporter of the Chabad movement is because of their welcoming nature. Whenever I have visited a Chabad house, be it in Venice, Italy, Dubrovnik, Croatia, New York, New Hampshire… etc. every Rabbi I have met has been warm and welcoming. My good friend Rabbi Levi Baumgarten runs the Mitzvah Tank on behalf of Chabad, and I enjoy spending holidays with him and his family.
I think the scrolling headline across the homepage of the Chabad of Mumbai website says a lot about Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg who were killed in the recent terror attacks:

“Open Hut Sukkah! All welcome!! We look forward to welcoming you for Maariv followed by Kiddush at the Sukkah and Hakafot October 20 at 8:00 pm at the Chabad House for more information call 022-2283-1770.”

I have a heavy heart today, and my condolences go out to their families and friends. I also learned that Chabad established a fund to aid relief efforts in Mumbai, and people interested in making a contribution are encouraged to visit ChabadIndia.org.

Have you ever typed in a domain name, and when the name doesn’t resolve, you land on a landing page provided “courteously” by your ISP? In my case, Road Runner graciously provides a landing page with Sponsored Results and Web Results for the sites I type in that don’t resolve. If I click on a Sponsored Result, they (and Yahoo) get paid by the advertiser.
That said, if I accidentally type in MircosoftWidnows.com in my browser, Time Warner Cable, the parent company of Road Runner, would get paid if I click on the Sponsored advertisement that says “Low Prices on Microsoft Windows XP Save Now on All Windows XP Software. $1.99 Same Day Shipping, Buy Now. www.TigerDirect.com.”
Anyhow, I was looking at the error page today, and I saw a link for “Why Am I Here” referring to the landing page. When I clicked on that, I received this message:

“Why am I here?
You entered an unknown web address that was used to present site suggestions that you may find useful. Clicking any of these suggestions provides you with search results, which may include relevant sponsored links.
If this service is not right for you, please visit your Preferences page to opt out. At any point in time, you can opt back in to the service by visiting your Preferences page.
If you have other questions about this service, please visit our FAQ.
For further assistance, please go to http://help.rr.com. “

This service is definitely not right for me, and I opted out of it. Also, I found out they offer a Typo Correction Service.” According to the note on the Preference Page, “This preference allows you to opt in or out of the Typo Correction Service. This service will automatically fix many common typos in web addresses (for example: ww to www and .cmo to .com). If you enter a non-existent web address, and this service is able to typo-correct your domain to a valid web address, you will be taken there automatically.”
Thanks, but no thanks!

About a year ago, I bought a new limited edition Hermes tie to mark the opening of their Wall Street store. The tie has bulls on the wide section and bears on the thin section, and it is lime green. Tonight I was feeling under the weather and didn’t go out, so I spent some time on eBay.
To my surprise, I saw the exact tie that I purchased on sale for $1,900. I also saw another similar tie in red selling for $250 (with 13 hours remaining), and the seller mentioned that he’s seen this tie selling for over $1,000.
So my question is this, do I try to sell the tie or keep it? I don’t need the money right now, but I also don’t need a $1,000 tie 🙂

I really like Google for many reasons. Not only do they have some fantastic applications that I use on a regular basis, they also help people find my blog. There are many search phrases where I rank pretty high in Google, including “Elliot’s Blog” and I’d like to think most people who search for Elliot’s Blog are looking for me.
Today, I noticed a large spike in traffic from Google, with many people looking for search variations including “baby elliot’s blog,” “elliot on oprah,” “baby elliot’s journal,” and others that were similar. Curious, I went to find out what people wanted, since Google was clearly sending people to the wrong site. I found that people were looking for something featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show today, “99 Days with Eliot.”
I found the Baby Eliot “99 Balloons” video, so instead of sending people on a wild goose chase to find it on Google, I embedded it above. It’s a tearjerker and quite a story.
If you are interested in learning more about Trisomy 18, or if you’d like to make a donation to help with researching this disease, please visit the Trisomy 18 Foundation’s website.