http://www.articletrader.com/ Articles at ArticleTrader en-us http://www.articletrader.com/sports/ufc-best-of-the-best.html http://www.articletrader.com/sports/ufc-best-of-the-best.html Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0600
The UFC has five weight classes. Each weight class, with the exception of heavyweights spans 15 lbs and each class has their own sets of tried and true stars and outstanding performers.

The lightweight class goes from 155lbs to 170 lbs and features such great fighters as Sean Sherk, Spencer Fisher, Frank Edgar, BJ Penn, Joe Stevenson, Hermes Franca and Kenny Florian.

Welterweights go from 170lbs to 185 lbs and has such notables as Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, Diego Sanchez, Jon Fitch, Karo Parisyan, Josh Koscheck and Georges St Pierre.

Middleweights are between 170lbs and 185lbs. Top level UFC middleweight fighters include Anderson Silva, Rich Franklin, Evan Tanner, Dan Henderson (sometimes), Yushin Okami and Jason MacDonald.

The UFC light heavyweight division is perhaps the most talent deep of all the divisions in the UFC and covers 185lbs to 205lbs. The light heavyweight division has fighters such as Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Keith Jardine, Shogun Rua, Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Wanderlei Silva and Houston Alexander.

Heavyweight is the heaviest of all divisions in the UFC (there is no super heavyweight division). The UFC heavyweight division with it's recent resignation of Randy Couture has a bit of an identity crisis, but features fighters like Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, Mirko Cro Cop, Tim Sylvia, Brandon Vera and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Out of these five divisions, I could only find four fighters that I would bet on no matter who they were fighting (within their own divisions), but even having said that there is always one guy who you think might, just might take them down.

As far as I'm concerned, the king of all lightweights in the UFC isn't even the current title holder, in fact he's never held the UFC lightweight title. BJ Penn is best known to new UFC fans as a former coach on the Ultimate Fighter TV series and for holding a win over Jens Pulver. Long time fans will remember the younger BJ Penn who completely dominated competition in the UFC lightweight division before being defeated by Pulver and then leaving the UFC. Penn returned to the UFC as a welterweight and defeated then welterweight champion Matt Hughes by submission. In a re-match event, Penn dominated Hughes early on, but was eventually defeated by ref stoppage. It was later determined that BJ Penn had suffered a broken rib in that match up. BJ also had a very good showing against another top UFC welterweight, Georges St Pierre. In that fight BJ hurt St Pierre early on, but eventually lost a very close split decision. If there was one lightweight in the UFC who I would bet on every time, it would be BJ Penn. Honorable mention in this category goes to Sean Sherk, who I would bet on every time, except when he fights BJ Penn.

The UFC welterweight division is full of talent and full of matches which could go either way. For instance Matt Serra poses a problem for many UFC welterweights, but for others I think he is outmatched in size and strength. There is one guy in the UFC welterweight division who I believe stands head and shoulders above the rest, Georges St Pierre can match any of the other welterweights in size, strength, speed, stand up abilities and wrestling. He is likely the most well rounded fighter in all of mixed martial arts. Even with Georges physical advantages you need to look at Matt Hughes as well. Hughes has a victory over St Pierre, but St Pierre avenged that loss with a dominant TKO stoppage of Hughes. If there was one welterweight in the UFC that I would put money on every time, it is Georges St Pierre.

Of all the divisions in the UFC, the middleweight division is the easiest to pick out a dominant fighter. Anderson Silva has dominated just about every match up he's been in since joining the UFC middleweight division mid way through 2006. Silva has taken out 5 top UFC middleweight fighters and could be king of that division for a long time. In fact, the only guy who I see giving Anderson Silva trouble is his next opponent. Silva will take on Pride 185lb champion Dan Henderson in what should be an outstanding match up at 185lbs, still you've got to make Silva the odds on favorite given his performances over the last year and a half.

I do not have a pick in the UFC light heavyweight division. Sure, Quinton Jackson has looked great in his matches against Chuck Liddell and Dan Henderson, but still I wouldn't pick Quinton against say Wanderlei Silva. I believe Wanderlei Silva would have trouble with his former Chute Box team-mate, Shogun Rua, or maybe even against Chuck Liddell, a fight which takes place on December 29th. I cannot find a single light heavyweight fighter in the UFC who I believe can defeat all top contenders, that's the true mark of a talent laden division.

Since Randy Couture has left the UFC heavyweight division I do see a top dog emerging. That top dog is Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Big Nog has defeated Cro Cop, Barnett and just about every fighter (except Fedor) that Pride has put in front of him. I expect Nogueira to do the same against all of the existing UFC heavyweights. Fighters like Lesnar aren't ready for him, fighters like Sylvia and Cro Cop aren't well rounded enough to compete with Nogueira on the ground. I could see Gabriel Gonzaga giving Big Nog a good match after about another year of experience.

Five divisions, four sure picks to win any match up within their divisions. The UFC is stacked with talent and there are some truly outstanding fighters-athletes who make watching mixed martial arts a real joy. Penn, St Pierre, Anderson Silva and Nogueira are all stand out fighters in their respective UFC divisions and I expect each of them to be title holders some time during 2008.

--
For UFC Results visit UFC Results, the best place to go for UFC Predictions, Results and News. Merry Christmas from North Pole Christmas at http://www.north-pole-christmas.com North Pole Christmas has a Christmas gift ideas section and a Christmas store. Check it out, maybe you'll find that special gift for that special someone.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/business/marketing/hard-work-is-the-key-to-building-web-traffic.html http://www.articletrader.com/business/marketing/hard-work-is-the-key-to-building-web-traffic.html Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0600
Let me give you an example of this misdirected guidance. Recently I've been looking for ways to broaden my base of advertising on my web sites, it isn't that I'm unhappy with my current advertisers, but as many people are, I'm always looking to improve my click-through-rate and payment per click. I found a thread on just such a subject on a well respected SEO forum. Almost every poster was gushing about a new ad agency, promising better ads, higher payouts, etc. I bought right into the hype , signed up (earning the person who's link I signed up through a $25 referral fee) and over the first 3 days made a whopping 34 cents.

A little disappointed, I went back to the forum and looked at that thread again. 95% of the posters who were touting this service as the second coming also had links to the referral program in their signature. They say there is a sucker born every minute, on that day I was the sucker. I've been doing this for two years now and for the most part think I'm getting things figured out, but for every good piece of advice there are twenty people trying to sell you a dream.

So, what have I found that works for building Internet traffic. I'll give you a hint, it's something you've heard about before, but something that is tried and true and works. Article Marketing is one of the very few techniques that truly builds traffic and it does it the right way, slowly, consistently and over the long term. I know you are looking for that quick and dirty solution. I know you are thinking maybe if you throw some money at it things will happen. I know you think you're smarter than all the other web masters and your "trick" will work. In the end, you'll likely end up spending a bunch of time and money on something worthless, or worse yet, do something against Google's TOS and end up indexed at page 500.

Get into the right frame of mind and write and article. Make sure your article is easy to read, make sure it is targeted. Realize that your final goal is not just to get your article submitted to the article directories, but to have web masters put your article on their web site. Quality is important, focus is important. Use relevant keywords and please, please check your spelling. A good quality article will pay dividends in two ways, first by the article directory itself and then again when publishers pick up your article and put it on one of their pages.

Let me give you an example of the second link kickback. Last year I wrote a Christmas article about sleigh rides. Okay, honesty time here, my wife wrote the article about sleigh rides. Anyway, I submitted the article to a few article sites and then didn't think about it again. What I did notice was that about two months later I had a big increase in traffic and wondered why. I did a search in Google on my domain name and found that my article was on the front page of a page rank 5 blog. Do you have any idea what a link from a high profile blog like that is worth in traffic? Of course you do, if you didn't you wouldn't be here reading this article.

I don't need to tell you that article marketing is a solid, proven technique for driving traffic to your web site and building up a wealth of quality back links to your site, you already know that. What I do need to do is tell you that it takes time, hard work and patience, but it will pay dividends. Sometimes it takes 4 or 5 months for an article you've written to start paying those dividends, but it will. I see you need another example.

I started an account on a popular article site more than a year ago and started submitting articles. I was recently doing a search and one of my articles on that site came up in the research results and I decided to take a peek, for old times sake. To my surprise the page that my article was on was a page rank 2 page. So page rank 2 isn't a big deal, but the face that I got three links in my article from a page rank 2 site and didn't pay a cent for it is a big deal. So I looked at the rest of my articles on that site, all of the older ones had a similar page rank. Then I looked at some other, older articles. Some of them had a page rank even higher! So, even if your article doesn't get picked up, it's value appreciates over time on the article site, the high page rank that the site enjoys is passed along to the hard working article authors pages.

Start writing articles today. I am being honest with you here, the article you write today will not generate huge traffic for you in 24 hours, but six months from now that article will be generating traffic and improving your search engine rankings. The good news is that the longer your article is out there in the web-sphere, the more it is worth to your web site. As the links pointing back to your site get older, your importance in Google's ranking algorithm gets higher. Article marketing is the one true, proven way to increase traffic to your web site.

--
Increase your internet traffic by submitting quality articles to Article Chimp Article Directory and for niche articles about free, open source and internet software submit your articles to Open Source Depot Article Directory at http://www.open-source-depot.com

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/internet/site-promotion/using-articles-wisely.html http://www.articletrader.com/internet/site-promotion/using-articles-wisely.html Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0600
The typical way that a publisher (web master) uses content from an article directory is to go to their prospective article and click on the "Ezine Ready" link. This will give you the option of a text or HTML version of the article, then they post the content in their blog. The article sits, in it's entirety on one page of the blog. This technique works just fine, but if we refine it a bit, you will see better results.

First let's talk about some options in your blog engine (Wordpress, Serendipity, Drupal) they all have these options, but they may be called something different. These options are "category" and "extended body". Using these options can have a major effect on how well you're article directory content works for you.

The category blog option is pretty self explanatory, it lets you divide your blog up into relevant sections. A sports blog could be split up by sport for example. Football, baseball, hockey could all be different categories, then when you make posts to your blog, you assign each post to a category. This much you already know, but have you thought about the implications to search engines?

The extended body option in your blog allows you to split up long posts. It essentially allows you to put a "summary" right up front, then the reader needs to click "continue reading" to read the rest of the article. Why in the world would they do this? Well, it's sort of a throw back to the old style in newspapers and magazines. You know, where they have ten stories on the front page, but only part of the stories. To continue reading you need to flip deeper into the newspaper. This allowed newspapers to have more headlines visible to the reader, more headlines equals more readers. So, now you know about the extended body, but have you thought about the implications to search engines?

What are these search engine implications I keep talking about? Well, consider how the search engine sees your web site. It sees it in pages, not articles. So what pages do the search engines see for your typical sports blog. There is the main page, one page for each category and each full article itself is a page. So if you don't use categories, you don't have the category page, if you don't use extended text, you have two full copies of the article on your site, the main page version and the full article version.

Now, consider this set up. Split your site up into categories (football, baseball, hockey) and only display the first paragraph or two of any given article, using the extended body for the rest. Now let's look at your site.

You have a front page consisting of summaries from ten or so unrelated articles (well, mostly unrelated), but since the author resource box for articles is at the end, there are no links out from your main page (yay)! The category page now becomes the same summaries, but only for one category. This way, it is more focused, more targeted and more keyword rich, again since you are using extended body there are no outbound links on this page (yay)! Then there is your full article page. The entire article, including the author resource box is on this page. This is the only spot on your site where the full article exists, so you won't suffer a duplication penalty and even if the same article exists on one hundred other sites, you still have unique content on your main page and category page (because they are a mix of different articles), so Google or other search engines will see these pages as entirely unique content.

I guess the question you need to ask yourself is whether or not this technique is morally correct. I look at it this way, the author of the article wants exposure and links back to his/her site. If the article is good, then your user will click on the "continue reading" link and read the entire article including the author resource box. The author still gets the links to his/her site, your site gets unique content and doesn't suffer massive page rank bleeding, everybody wins.

--
Free content for software websites at Open Source Depot Article Directory Open Source Depot is a niche directory for Open Source and Free software articles. Over 50,000 articles available at http://www.articlechimp.com

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/sports/houston-alexander-vs-thiago-silva.html http://www.articletrader.com/sports/houston-alexander-vs-thiago-silva.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0600
It took just forty eight seconds for Houston Alexander to prove to the world that he belonged in the UFC mix. If Keith Jardine wasn't a believer before the fight, he surely was one afterwards. Alexander landed a big uppercut, then didn't stop until the ref pulled him off.

After that fight, half of the UFC fans thought that Alexander had something, a big, strong, athletic fighter with huge power in his fists. The other half didn't see enough to make a decision.

Alexander's second fight, against Alessio Sakara took longer, thirteen seconds longer in fact. Alexander got caught early, but laid a beating on Sakara leaving the fans in disbelief, but wanting more. The fans are about to get it on November 17th when Houston Alexander takes on undefeated UFC light heavyweight fighter Thiago Silva.

UFC 78 "Validation" features a main event between Rashad Evans and Michael Bisping, but if you're like me you really want to see the Houston Alexander vs Thiago Silva fight. Thiago is undefeated in 11 fights with most of his victories coming by way of KO or TKO. His most notable opponent was James Irvin who suffered a knee injury and lost by TKO. Can Silva stand up with Alexander? Is Alexander a one trick pony, or is he more than a brawler?

If Houston Alexander wins this fight convincingly then there is no doubt that he belongs right up there in title contention with the big UFC light heavyweight stars. It's crowded at the top, but I'm sure that somebody with Houston Alexanders strength and power can push his way through. I don't want to make a prediction for this fight, but it's difficult to ignore a fighter who has been so very dominant with fighters of the stature of Jardine and Alessio. Especially when you consider that Keith Jardine has wins over Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. Between those two they've defeated Shogun, Tito, Randy. Babalu, Bonnar and the list goes on and on. Keith Jardine is at the very top of the UFC light heavyweight division, the deepest division in MMA and Alexander man handled him.

Does Houston Alexander have the tools necessary to climb to the top of the UFC light heavyweight division? Will he eventually hold the belt currently held by Quinton "Rampage" Jackson? We need to see more of Houston in action to decide, but one thing is for certain, Houston Alexander will make every second of the journey exciting for the fans of the UFC.

--
For UFC Fight Card information visit UFC Results, the best place to go for UFC Predictions, Results and News. 1000 Chimps at 1000 typewriters couldn't do it better than http://www.articlechimp.com .

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/sports/who-is-the-best-heavyweight-in-the-ufc.html http://www.articletrader.com/sports/who-is-the-best-heavyweight-in-the-ufc.html Sun, 11 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0600
Here are the fighters that I am considering for the top dog position.
- Randy Couture, although he has said he is leaving, but Dana White says he is still under contract.
- Tim Sylvia former UFC heavyweight champion.
- Andrei Arlovski also a former UFC heavyweight champion.
- Brock Lesnar has an outstanding amateur wrestling background, but can that translate into MMA success?
- Mirko Cro Cop, former pride standout and Pride open weight champion.
- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira who was a long time Pride heavyweight champion.
- Frank Mir, former UFC heavyweight champion.
- Gabriel Gonzaga, the guy who KO'd Mirko Cro Cop.

Picking the UFC heavyweight top dog is no easy task. The division is full of talented fighters and with the exception of Fedor and Josh Barnett has the best fighters in the world of MMA. Randy Couture is on the list, but because he's decided to step down I cannot pick him as the top UFC heavyweight fighter.

Tim Sylvia is the former UFC heavyweight champion and prior to him loosing decisively to Randy Couture would have been my pick as the number one heavyweight in the UFC. A lot has changed since his reign of terror however and Tim has lost to three of the fighters on my list. He lost of course to Randy Couture in a five round decision. Tim also lost to Andrei Arlovski by submission. Tim's most crushing defeat was to Frank Mir. Mir broke Sylvia's arm and submitted him, but it's worth noting that even with a broken arm Tim did not submit, the ref who heard the snap stopped the fight. Tim Argued, but of course the fight had to be stopped. Most recently Tim won over highly touted contender Brandon Vera in a three round decision. Tim is certainly a top runner as one of the best heavyweights in the UFC.

Andrei Arlovski was at one time considered the most dominant heavyweight in the UFC. He was knocking out and finishing opponents at a feverish pace. His quick victory over a very tough Paul Buentello was the last in a series of six dominant victories, including one ove Tim Sylvia. The rematch with Sylvia looked like it was going to be the same thing when suddenly something happened. Arlovski landed a crushing shot and Sylvia went down, but Sylvia got up and when Arlovski moved in for the kill big Tim nailed him, knocking him to the canvas and then rained down strikes to finish him. Still, I think Arlovski is a contender on any given night for the heavyweight title.

The "Next Big Thing" in the UFC heavyweight division may be Brock Lensnar, but not yet. Brock needs to prove himself against real competition before he rises to the top of this list.

Not too long ago people were calling Mirko Cro Cop the most feared striker in MMA, the heir apparent to the UFC heavyweight crown. Two losses later and people are questioning Mirko's future in the UFC heavyweight division.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira ( Big Nog) was the Pride heavyweight champion and as such deserves respect. The only fighters to defeat Big Nog are Fedor, Josh Barnett and Dan Henderson. Fedor is not fighting in the UFC and Big Nog has avenged his losses to Henderson and Barnett. Until Nogueira gets beaten by someone in the UFC he must be considered one of the top dogs in the UFC heavyweight division.

Frank Mir hasn't done enough lately to deserve to be the number one ranked fighter in the UFC. However, Mir has a long history of winning big fights and he's been looking better and better lately. Something tells me that we'll see the championship quality version of Frank Mir again before it's all over.

Gabriel Gonzaga has made his name mostly off his big win over Mirko Cro Cop. Gonzaga started by catching Cro Cop's leg kick to the body, taking him to the ground and then ground and pounding him for most of the first round. When the ref stood the fight up, Gonzaga KO'd Cro Cop with one of the nicest kicks to the head (aside from Cro Cop's) that I've ever seen.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira must be considered the best heavyweight in the UFC. Of course the champion Randy Couture should also be considered #1, but since Randy has said that he won't fight in the UFC again we cannot pick Randy as top dog. I look forward to seeing all the UFC top heavyweights battling to reach champion status over the next year.

--
North Pole Christmas has excellent Christmas gift ideas and UFC Results has UFC predictions, results, news and fight cards. Come to http://www.ufcresultslive.com to see.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/sports/the-ufc-middleweight-division-needs-help.html http://www.articletrader.com/sports/the-ufc-middleweight-division-needs-help.html Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0500
Let me start at the top, the UFC heavyweight division. There are a couple of UFC heavyweights who could make 205lbs, remember Randy Couture fought as a light heavyweight for a while, he even held the light heavyweight title. There is really only one UFC heavyweight who I want to talk about dropping weight. Brandon "The Truth" Vera just dropped a three round decision to former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia. Brandon didn't loose this match because of his skill-set. He lost because of Tim's size. Tim pushed Vera up against the fence and used his weight to close the distance, essentially negating Vera's superior kicking game. If Brandon Vera dropped down to 205lbs I feel he would be competing on an even playing field and would likely quickly move into title contention.

The UFC light heavyweight division has the majority of guys who should consider dropping weight. There are three that I'd like to discuss, they are Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson. You'll note that Bisping and Evans are the main event fighters at UFC 78. Both of these fighters are undefeated at light heavyweight.

Michael Bisping is an outstanding fighter, a good striker with an adequate ground game. However, his recent fight with Matt Hamill shows that he can be manhandled by a stronger opponent. Bisping mostly stayed on the outside in this fight and let Hamill control the action. I believe that this is because he was staying away from Hamill's strength...with is wrestling, and physical strength. We all remember on the Ultimate Fighter when Hamill was overwhelming the other fighters with his physical strength, a move to 185lbs would not only put him into title contention, but would allow Bisping to be stronger than other opponents in that weight class.

Rashad Evans has already dropped a weight class. Rashad competed at heavyweight on the Ultimate Fighter TV series and did very well, winning his division, but his recent bout with Tito Ortiz showed that Rashad, despite his superior wrestling skills is a small light heavyweight. Rashad will have no problems matching strength with Bisping at UFC 78, but when fighting the larger light heavyweights like Forrest Griffin, Wanderlei Silva and Tito Ortiz he will get manhandled, essentially negating his wrestling advantage. A move to 185lbs would likely make Rashad an immediate title contender.

Dan Henderson has already fought at 185lbs and is the current, and likely last, PrideFC 185lb champion. Dan is strong, even for a 205lb fighter and Dan probably has the best wrestling in the UFC. Dan's last fight with Quinton Jackson showed that he can have trouble with a guy who is a good wrestler, a good striker and is as physically strong as he is. There simply isn't a fighter at 185lbs with Dan's strength. With a decisive strength advantage, Dan's heavy hands and fantastic wrestling would take him not only into title contention, but in my eyes he would defeat Anderson Silva.

The UFC 185lb division is probably it's weakest. With a dominant champion and everyone else way below there are seemingly no challengers, but just above at 205lbs there are a bunch of small light heavyweight fighters who might want to consider transitioning to 185lbs.

--
If you'd like more PHP optimization tips, go to Jon's Open Source Depot blog. For do's and do nots of the AdSense world, visit Project Adsense at http://projectadsense.gocurious.com

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/computers/speeding-up-php-using-alternative-php-cache.html http://www.articletrader.com/computers/speeding-up-php-using-alternative-php-cache.html Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0500
There are advantages to being able to deploy source files though. It makes it easy to do on the fly modifications or bug fixes to a program, much like we used to do in the early BASIC languages. Just change the file and the next time it's accessed your change is reflected. So, how do we keep the dynamic nature of PHP, but not recompile our files every time they are accessed?

A PHP cache. It's surprising to me that this concept isn't built into the base PHP engine, but perhaps that's because some company's can sell this add on to speed up PHP. Luckily for us, some companies/open source projects provide this plug in to PHP at no charge. These plug ins are generally known as PHP accelerators, some of them do some optimization and then caching and some only do caching. I'm not going to pass judgement on which one is the best, any of them are better than nothing, but I decided to use APC, the Alternative PHP Cache. I chose this one because it is still in active development and is open source and free.

Alternative php cache can be found at php.net, just look down the left column for APC. It comes in source form, so you will need to compile it before installing it, don't worry about that part. If you're using Red Hat 4 or CentOS4 I'll tell you exactly how to do it. If you're using something else, you'll need the same tools, but getting the tools might be a bit different.

1. The Tools
Do you know how many web sites, forums and blogs I went to with my error messages before I found the answers as to what I was missing when I was trying to install APC - Alternative PHP Cache? Two days worth, but I finally found the correct combination and it's really quite obvious as is everything once you know the answer. There are three sets of dev tools that you will need.

1a. You'll need a package called "Development Tools" this will include all the important dev tools like the GCC compiler, etc.
1b. You'll need a package called php-devel which as you might guess are development tools for PHP
1c. You'll need a package called httpd-devel which of course are dev tools for Apache web server.

On Red Hat or CentOS getting these should be as easy as the following 3 commands:

yum groupinstall "Development Tools"
yum install php-devel
yum install httpd-devel

You'll do these three one at a time and follow any instructions (usually just saying yes).

Now it's time to follow the instructions contained in the APC package. Since these may change over time I'm not going to go through them. They are very complete. If you follow the instructions and get an apc.so file out of it, then you're all set, just modify your php.ini file and you're good to go.

There are two problems that I encountered that you may encounter too. The first is an error when running phpize. I ignored this error and everything succeeded okay, but not before I spent hours looking for the solution to this error. Here is the error.

configure.in:9: warning: underquoted definition of PHP_WITH_PHP_CONFIG
run info '(automake)Extending aclocal'
or see http://sources.redhat.com/automake/automake.html#Extending-aclocal
configure.in:32: warning: underquoted definition of PHP_EXT_BUILDDIR
configure.in:33: warning: underquoted definition of PHP_EXT_DIR
configure.in:34: warning: underquoted definition of PHP_EXT_SRCDIR
configure.in:35: warning: underquoted definition of PHP_ALWAYS_SHARED
acinclude.m4:19: warning: underquoted definition of PHP_PROG_RE2C

People would have had me updating my PHP version from 4.3.9 and everything else under the sun to get rid of this error, but in the end it didn't matter. My APC compiled and installed nicely and I am good to go.

The other slight problem that I ran into was the location of php-config. The install instructions wanted me to do the following:

./configure --enable-apc-mmap --with-apxs --with-php-config=/usr/local/php/bin/php-config

However my php-config is in /usr/bin/php-config. Making that change allowed this part to work.

So, have at it, once it's done you can expect to see huge improvements in your web site response times and reductions on your CPU load. One more quick note, My server hosts about 20 web sites, but only 3 or 4 are really busy. To reduce the memory footprint of caching everything for all 20 sites I used the apc.filters property. Although this property is slightly flawed for non qualified includes, it worked nicely for my Serendipity blogs. Your mileage with this property will vary according to the software you are using and how it does it's includes.

--
Jon is the web master at may successful web sites including his North Pole Christmas web site at http://www.north-pole-christmas.com and his Open Source Depot web directory. For free software and open source software listings visit Open Source Depot.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/sports/chuck-liddell-vs-wanderlei-silva-at-ufc-79.html http://www.articletrader.com/sports/chuck-liddell-vs-wanderlei-silva-at-ufc-79.html Fri, 19 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0500
UFC 79 on December 29th, 2007 is the rumored date for the fight to take place. The venue is in Las Vegas and the anticipation could not be any higher. It's true that both Wanderlei and Chuck are coming off back to back losses, but when you look at those losses and the quality of opposition it's clear that both of these guys are still at the top of their game.

Wanderlei Silva has fought an absolute who's who of 205lb mixed martial artists and won the vast majority of those battles. He's defeated Quinton Jackson twice in dominant fashion, defeated Dan Henderson, Ricardo Arona, Kazushi Sakuraba, but has yet to face the best of the "new" UFC. How will Wanderlei match up against Chuck Liddell, Keith Jardine, Houston Alexander or Forrest Griffin? I personally think that Wanderlei's strength, power and aggression is difficult for any fighter to deal with. He has a wild style that could either make it a very easy night for Chuck, or the worst night of Chuck Liddell's career.

Wanderlei likes to throw looping heavy punches, much like Chuck does, although Chuck's are just a touch straighter. The difference is in the clinch and ground game where I believe that Wanderlei Silva has a distinct advantage over Liddell. If Wanderlei gets Chuck in at close quarters it will be a very tough night for Liddell and three losses in a row may spell retirement for the "Ice Man".

Chuck Liddell needs no introduction to mixed martial arts and especially UFC fans. He has defeated two legends of the sport twice each. With big wins over Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell established himself as the UFC's top light heavyweight player for much of the last three years. However, Chuck is coming off of two losses. The first was a flash knockout loss to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, with that loss the belt changed hands and Quinton became the new light heavyweight champ.

Chuck's second loss is more interesting. It came to Keith Jardine, now most MMA fans would argue that Jardine is strong and tough, but Chuck went into that fight as the favorite. The fight was close and the judges gave the decision to Jardine. There wasn't a single take down in the fight meaning that Chuck, formerly the most feared striker at 205lbs has been beaten twice in a row, both time on his feet.

In the fight with Wanderlei Silva, if Chuck can keep his composure and land some big straight shots inside of Wandy's wild looping punches he can make a short night's work. Chuck hits very hard, but most of his really hard shots seem to be looping overhand rights, I don't think those will be particularly effective against Wanderlei Silva; Chuck needs to throw straight. Also, Chuck Liddell should avoid the clinch with Wanderlei at all costs, if he needs more incentive he should watch Wandy's two fights with Quinton Jackson.

Let's all just hope that this fight happens as the rumors state on December 29th. I'm not picking a winner or a favorite in this fight, I just want to see it happen.

--
Jon is a contributing editor at UFC Results - Come to UFC Results at http://www.ufcresultslive.com for UFC Results, UFC Predictions and UFC Fight Cards.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/sports/ufc-middleweight-rankings.html http://www.articletrader.com/sports/ufc-middleweight-rankings.html Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0500
The UFC middleweight division is probably the weakest in all of the UFC. By weakest I mean that there is one clear cut champion, a clear cut second and then everyone else is way below. Mixed Martial Arts has come a long way in a very short period of time, so things could change overnight. Let's get started with my rankings.

5. Chris Leben; I think most MMA fans would not include Chris Leben in the top 5 of the UFC middleweight division, but Leben is coming off an impressive come from behind win over a very tough Terry Martin and fought a close decision loss with Kalib Starnes. I personally thought that the Starnes fight was a draw or even a narrow Leben victory.

The thing I've been most impressed with lately with Leben is his ground game. Sure, he's not at the level of Jason MacDonald or Travis Lutter yet, but he's defended very well and even attempted some submissions in the Starnes fight. It's clear after his loss to MacDonald Silva that Chris Leben has gone back to the drawing board and made some real improvements to his game.

4. Jason MacDonald had a real streak going before he met Rich "Ace" Franklin. He had back to back wins over ultimate fighters Ed Herman and Chris Leben winning both fights by submission. MacDonald had a bit of a set back when he faced recently de-throned champion Rich Franklin. This fight showed just how big of a gap there is in the UFC middleweight division, but MacDonald is taking it all in stride and a recent victory at UFC 72 over Rory Singer shows that "The Athlete" is back on track. Jason MacDonald takes on Yushin Okami at UFC 77, likely to see who will face the winner of Anderson Silva and Rich Franklin.

3. Yushin Okami and Jason MacDonald have both faced Rich Franklin, but neither has faced middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Since Okami got less beaten up by Franklin than MacDonald did, I give him the #3 spot. I think that if Okami had committed himself earlier in the fight he would have possibly decisioned Franklin.

2. Rich Franklin is defintely deserving of his #2 status. He has defeated both the third and fourth best fighters in the division and deserves to get his title rematch against Anderson Silva. Until Silva arrived on the scene, it looked like Rich Franklin would remain on top of the middleweight mountain for quite a while. Franklin took a beating at the hands of Silva and I'm interested to see what improvements he has made to his game/strategy for the rematch.

1. Anderson Silva is the best middleweight in the UFC, maybe the best middleweight in the world. Real MMA fans would love to see a bout between Matt Lindland and Anderson Silva to decide the best MMA middleweight, but since Lindland doesn't fight in the UFC we have Anderson Silva reigning supreme. His dominant performances against Chris Leben, Rich Franklin, Travis Lutter and most recently Nate Marquardt indicate true dominance. In fact, in his last 4 fights only one has gone into the second round and they represent only 10 minutes of total fight time.

Anderson Silva is extremely comfortable throwing punches from all angles. He isn't afraid of being taken down, so he allows himself to take risks throwing big flying knees and other high profile strikes. It's that kind of fighting which will both keep Anderson on or near the top of the middleweight division for quite some time. Fans love to see the big strikes and there is nothing more satisfying than a KO.

That rounds out the UFC middleweight top 5. Time to start working on the UFC heavyweight top 5, but with the departure of Randy Couture and the recent signing to M-1 of Fedor Emelianenko, that could be a real chore.

--
Jon runs a number of web sites from one dedicated hosting account including Halloween Village, featuring scary halloween wallpaper and UFC Results at http://www.ufcresultslive.com - come to UFC Results and see what Dana White has said lately.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/internet/shared-vs-dedicated-hosting.html http://www.articletrader.com/internet/shared-vs-dedicated-hosting.html Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0500
Once you've chosen your hosting service you will be asking yourself one more important question. Do I choose shared hosting or dedicated hosting? There is not an easy one or the other answer to that question. In fact I'm having trouble even phrasing it generically so that you can size up your situation and decide, but I'll lay down a few rules and gotcha's and see where we end up.

On the surface shared hosting seems like a great deal. For instance from Go Daddy you can get shared hosting plan for just $3.99 a month. The plan will give you 5GB of disk space and 250GB bandwidth. For a little more, $6.99 you get 100GB disk and 1000 GB bandwidth. Now, I just used Go Daddy as an example, but Host Gator and others are similar, some with slightly higher prices and some with slightly lower, but all have the same rules.

Hidden somewhere in your shared hosting agreement there will be a clause about not hogging system resources. What that means is that even if your site is not busy 99% of the time, if you get a big spike they have the right to shut you down. You see, the factor to be concerned with is not bandwidth or disk storage, it's CPU cycles. It's not average CPU cycles over the month, if you spike even for a short time all hosting services will shut down your shared account.

How do I know about the shared host shutdown? It happened twice to me. I'm not complaining, that's the price of having a successful web site while paying for bargain basement hosting. In my one case I got shut down because I had 8000 hits in about an hour. My daily average was about 500 hits. It seems that the blog engine I was using was using too much CPU time on my shared host, so they shut me down. Okay, so you're thinking that you can go shared and when you get to around 7000 then you can switch over to dedicated. Maybe that'll work, but in another case I was shut down with just 346 hits. Now for the 346 hit case my host sent me the log file and to my eyes it didn't seem that I was using much CPU at all. It showed my account using 100% CPU for .2 seconds. It also showed (in another case) my process taking 29 seconds, but using 0% CPU. I believe this was a case of mistaken identity. They saw that their server was slow and looked for long running processes, but didn't look at actual cycles taken. The long wait by the way was because of a YouTube vid running on my site.

So, after a full year on two shared hosting accounts, from two different companies, it was time to try my hand at dedicated hosting. One thing you must know about dedicated hosting is that you are running and responsible for all aspects of the box. That means that you are "root". There is nobody else monitoring for hung processes, nobody else installing software for you, but the best part is nobody kicking you off for using too much CPU for 10 seconds of the month.

My shared hosting accounts were $6.99 and $10 (total of $17/month). My new dedicated hosting account started at $79/month, but I bumped up the memory and CPU on the box and the final price is $111/month. That's a huge difference when you're just starting out, and over the first year I've saved $1200 going that way, but now I feel to move forward with my web sites I need the freedom that dedicated hosting allows. Freedom to have a busy day, freedom to be successful.

I don't want to make you shy away from shared hosting when you're just starting out. It's a great way to get your feet wet, establish a proof of concept and build your knowledge while keeping your budget low. Many small businesses or personal pages may never need more than a shared hosting account. For me, one year on shared hosting gave my little business enough time to grow enough for me to justify paying for dedicated hosting.

As a closing note, my ongoing move from my shared hosting accounts to my dedicated hosting account has taken about two weeks. The first couple of days was experimenting and learning, followed by a few days moving my best performing sites over and the last week has been spent moving the rest of my web sites over, cleaning up security and doing more learning. In the end, I chose Go Daddy as my dedicated host. I figured they deserved it, at least when they shut me down at 8000 hits it was conceivable that I was over stressing my shared account. As for the other company, the one who shut me down with the log file which proved nothing at 350 hits, sometimes you only get one mistake and in the web business when your site is having it's best day ever and your host shuts you down without good reason, it's time to move on.

--
Jon runs UFC Results from his new dedicated hosting account at http://www.ufcresultslive.com - search google for the term UFC Results and see that this site gets lots of traffic on the night of UFC PPV events.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]>