Google Says: Happy Valentines Day with a Twist

Have you seen today’s Google Doodle? If not then I’ve saved it just for you:

manukhanna.com-Valentine Day

Did you notice the error? No! Can’t blame you, at first I too didn’t notice that Google has misspelt itself. The “l” is missing from Google and the Google Doodle reads “Googe”

I first noticed this error yesterday afternoon and now at 03:40 AM (15th February) the same logo is still there, surely this is intentional, else somebody from Google’s army of geeks would have noticed it and got it removed.

UPDATE: The alphabet “l” isn’t missing; the stem of the strawberry is the “l”. Here’s why they did what they did:

When you look at the logo, you may worry that we forgot our name overnight, skipped a letter, or have decided that “Googe” has a better ring to it. None of the above. I just know that those with true romance and poetry in their soul will see the subtlety immediately. And if you’re feeling grouchy today, may I suggest eating a strawberry.

Couldn’t have been more subtle

Here’s what blogss from across the blogosphere have to say about this:

Death of a Blog

Over the years I have learned to take regular backups of all my word, on my local system or on the Internet. So a data loss has hardly ever given me sleepless nights, not until now.

As you would have noticed, this blog as it existed prior to 26th January 2007 is now dead. It so happened that during my vacation up North I did something really silly (no I don’t know what caused it) that rendered this website bare, void of any content. This didn’t bother me much as I had four backups, all created using…

Over the years I have learned to take regular backups of all my word, on my local system or on the Internet. So a data loss has hardly ever given me sleepless nights, not until now.

As you would have noticed, this blog as it existed prior to 26th January 2007 is now dead. It so happened that during my vacation up North I did something really silly (no I don’t know what caused it) that rendered this website bare, void of any content. This didn’t bother me much as I had four backups, all created using Skippy’s WP Database Backup Plugin, now managed by Austin Matzko stored safely on my system here in Hyderabad. So once I got back, I fired up my FTP client, uploaded the WordPress 2.1 setup files and executed the installation script. Next, I dug up the backup and restored the database using phpMyAdmin.

After the restore finished, I viewed my site and noticed that all the content except the posts were back. So I emptied the DB and imported the backup once again. Still same result. I tried restoring using the other three files as well, but the result in each case was the same. After close examination of the .sql file, I noticed that the code for the wordpress_posts table was missing, all of it. I looked far and wide to find a way to figure out why the plugin left out only the “wordpress_posts” table while creating the backups?

This is really annoying and frustrating for me as I had put in a lot of effort in writing the 70-odd posts, not to mention tweaking the plugins and themes to meet my requirements. I’ve decided to chuick this plugin and use WP-DbManager instead.

UPDATE: Thanks to Tina and Technorati’s cache of my blog, I’ve recovered 10-odd posts from the original 70. I wonder what I would do without Tina! Thanks sweety!

10 Most Misspelled Words in Blogs

Ok, so technically the following words aren�t misspelled. They�re misused. The reason you should review this list is because a spell checker won�t correct these for you. Make sure that you�ve got foolproof control over them (especially if you tend to write around 3:12 AM like I am now). Extensively misusing them throughout your posts may actually cost you a visitor or two every now and then because some folks do get caught up on these, which means they won�t focus 100 % of their attention on your incredibly valuable content!

1. Your – You�re
As mentioned above, your message might lose…

Ok, so technically the following words aren't misspelled. They're misused. The reason you should review this list is because a spell checker won't correct these for you. Make sure that you've got foolproof control over them (especially if you tend to write around 3:12 AM like I am now). Extensively misusing them throughout your posts may actually cost you a visitor or two every now and then because some folks do get caught up on these, which means they won't focus 100 % of their attention on your incredibly valuable content!

1. Your – You're
As mentioned above, your message might lose impact if you're not paying attention to this number one word maltreatment. If you find it particularly difficult to separate them from each other, stop using 'you're altogether and notice how you are starting to improve your spelling.

2. Then – Than
The next step is then to tell yourself that it's better late than never to get that vowel placement in order. Then your readers might find something more useful to comment on than your apparent spelling impediment.

3. Its – it's
It's best to write an article and its words properly for optimal reader engagement. Again, if you still fail to tell the difference without effort, just write how great it is not having to worry about misusing or misspelling words.

4. To – Too – Two
To write two posts per day, or not to write two posts per day. That too is the question.

5. Were – Where – We're
Where in the world were you? We were at Billy's and we're staying for another day. Make sure your blog visitors do that too.

6. There – Their – They're
They're moving their cursor over there. By focusing more attention on proper word use, your visitors won't highlight and pinpoint your mistakes.

7. A – An – And
A flawlessly written article serves as an eye-opener and should provide lasting value. Remember also that an abbreviation like SUV starts with a vowel pronunciation and requires an 'an' in front of it.

8. Off – Of
Of all the mistakes you could prevent from appearing, start off by checking out this common mix up. You should have paid attention at school when they told you not to write 'should of'. Or off your visitors go.

9. Here – Hear
Hear ye! Hear ye! Here is a blog worth reading. You can almost hear the distant clicks of new visitors finding their way over here this very moment.

10. Lose – Loose
But if you're too loose on your writing discipline, you will end up losing those readers after a while. You'd have a bolt loose if you don't apply these 10 writing rules from now on with greater care. You win some and you don't lose anyone.

Can you find the misused or misspelled word in this article?

Store Backups Online for Easy Access

Data backups are no good if they aren’t available to you irrespective of the location you are in. Today while working on this blog from my house in Chandigarh, I messed up the WordPreess database and had to drop all tables and the content stored within them. I created a new database and installed WordfPress 2.1 effortlessly. Once I finished doing this, I realized that I was in my Chandigarh house, and not in Hyderabad, which is where the backups are stored, stacked neatly in a folder. So now I am left with a clean slate, at least till the 5th of February. So to prevent anything similar happening in the future, I have three options: Don’t play with the WordPress installation: Highly unlikely Blog only while in Hyderabad Doable as I leave Hyderabad for a week to 10 days at most Store data backups online: This is the one I like best and am going to follow religiously. There are so many websites that offer free storage, might as well use them.