.htaccess rules for your WP 2.0+ blog

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I keep finding my blog rewrites the rules for the *.htaccess files. Don’t know why. I’m placing the text here so you can copy and edit it any time you need it! This set of rules is for people who use Wordpress 2.0~2.0.7 on their own hosted server and who need to access their *stats* packages in a folder off the main URL, as here. In standard WP2.0+ .htaccess files, the commands return a 404 error. This fixes that problem.

# BEGIN WordPress

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/stats/(.*)$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/failed_auth.html$
RewriteRule ^.*$ – [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php

# END WordPress

Happy Blogging 2007!

John Mauldin: The Inverted Yield Curve

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In his latest newsletter, John Mauldin is harking on several recent phenomena in the financial world. The one I am most interested in is the Inverted Yield Curve. It is a situation that he has commented on since December 20005 in his newsletter when he looked at the probability of a recession. In this newsletter, several quotes jump out about the likelihood a recession this year:

…the studies suggest we should see a recession as early as the late second quarter of this year, or more likely in the third quarter…

and

But a yield curve does not cause a recession. It simply tells us that something wicked this way comes. Something is out of kilter in the economy. Looking back at past recessions, it has been different things, so we can’t look to history with any sense of reliability to say, “This is it!”

Now, I’m not really an economist, but it is interesting to note that you can go into a bank and put your money on a CD or deposit. Take a look at the one year rates and two-year rates from E-trade right now. Look for yourself…

Period Interest APY
3 Month 4.88% 5.00%
6 Month 5.12% 5.25%
1 Year 5.26% 5.40%
2 Year 4.88% 5.00%
3 Year 4.88% 5.00%
5 Year 4.93% 5.05%

So something is going on. Could John be right? Well, I guess we’ll see. Right now, though, if you are opening a CD to create an income stream, the optimal rates seem to be at 1 year right now.

Alexa toolbar: A Review – of sorts!

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Investorblogger initially tried to create an Alexa toolbar as per Alexa’s tools for webmasters. I thought it would be helpful in a number of ways:

  • 1. to generate additional revenue from affiliate sales for Amazon
  • 2. provide a useful and relevant toolbar function for IB’s users
  • 3. generate additional views for this website.

HOWEVER, I have decided NOT to create one for the following two very important reasons:

1. There is NO toolbar supported for Firefox. In fact, they currently do not plan to develop any Firefox component. Why? I cannot believe that in this day and age, my users are forced to use IE6.0 or IE7.0. Since I no longer recommend Microsoft Browsers of any number, I cannot recommend any product or website that doesn’t have full functionality under Firefox at the very least. Many people now access the web through a variety of platforms. Why should my readers be restricted to using IE? For PC users like me, that’s a choice I have, but for Mac/Linux and mobile phone users, it’s not even a choice.

2. Before I discovered the first issue, I found that the Alexa system couldn’t find a file that was put clearly on my server, chmodded and available to anyone else. I would have liked to create a toolbar for my visitors, but this reason made it technically impossible at this time.

Unfortunately, the first reason made it philosophically impossible. I don’t favor Macs over PCs or the other way around. I have been a PC user for ages, and a Windows user for nearly as long. However, given that FF is one of the very few cross-platform browsers, why should I restrict that option for y’all. Comments? I doubt the people at Alexa Internet, Inc. could care less, though, so I don’t expect to hear from them!