Alexa?

I noted today that there was an update to a Firefox plugin I installed a million years ago to display Alexa rank. To my knowledge it had never worked before, not only for my site, but for ANY site. Now it works for every site I try it on.

You can view more information about the SearchStatus plugin, and download it if you use Firefox.

The Google Rank function within the same plugin was working the whole time, but the Alexa function did not. The Google PageRank measurement -- which I've menitioned a few times before - 1 2 3 -- I can see in multiple places and different toolbars designed for it. The number is an exponential scale from 0 to 10 with the top being nearly unreachable. Google.com is one of only a few dozen sites with ten. Alexa's rank is measured based off of Traffic Rank, which is measured off of users that have the Alexa Toolbar . Each site is ranked in order with each site having an individual number measured against other sites. Since this tool has such a bad reputation for spyware, I've never used it and probably never will, except for the Firefox one.

I see that my own site (arconati.us) is ranked 3,834,468^th!

See more about Alexa's Traffic Rank for arconati.us: 3,834,468

I'd like to thank whoever it is who has this tool and is occasionally browsing my site. However, perhaps you should uninstall it. Just a thought!

Bible Quote From Pulp Fiction

My journey as a christian began late in life, after marriage and kids. I was also raised a Catholic and apparently, the learning of Bible verses was not an effective part of my religious education, both formal (PSR class) and informal (sitting in church).

Therefore, it is not surprising that the first verse from the Bible that I memorized was from a movie that came out while I was in college called Pulp Fiction. I imagine that I am like a lot of the group from my generation in that respect. The quote is used fully twice in the film and is spoken by a hitman named Jules, played by one of my favorite actors, Samuel L. Jackson. It goes like this..

Ezekiel 25:17

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.

In truth, the film is a classic, though violent in the extreme --a surprise for Quentin Tarantino, to be sure-- and certainly treats the bible quote irreverantly.

FoxTrot recently lampooned the quote for their newspaper and online edition. Since the link I found it on will likely be dead in 205.3592 seconds, I will post a thumbnail below.

Do you want to know the truth behind this Bible verse? It is misquoted.

It's not that this should have been a surprise, least of all to me when I looked it up more recently. I expected it to be a little off obviously, but not by this much.

The 25^th chapter of Ezekiel is --in my limited understanding-- a warning and a list of lands and peoples that had turned away from God and to whom His anger would soon be shown. Noted are Ammonites, Moab, Edom, and Philistines. The last section of which, A Prophecy Against Philistia, is the closest in relation to what was said in the movie.

Ezekiel 25:15-17

¹⁵ This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because the Philistines acted in vengeance and took revenge with malice in their hearts, and with ancient hostility sought to destroy Judah, ¹⁶ therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Kerethites and destroy those remaining along the coast. ¹⁷ I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I take vengeance on them.

The effect is not quite as chilling as the movie upon first reading, but when you consider the implications to those living in these lands about to be punished by a living God, it sounds very dire. Check these out for yourself.

• BibleGateway.com - Ezekiel 25:1-17
• Ezek. 25
• Book of Ezekiel information

The final thought? Not really sure. I'd say that the film-maker should have read the Bible more carefully, but that's not important. Perhaps what I came to realize is that I should read the Bible more and watch movies less, but I didn't need Pulp Fiction to tell me that, now did I?

Okay, what do I really feel? Shame on me. There is still a long way to go. Lord, walk with me.

More Information

Updated 2010-04-12

• Secrets Of "Pulp Fiction"(5/95) by Roger Ebert
• Wikipedia: Pulp Fiction: Jules' Bible Passage
• Pulp Fiction Movie Blooper

Apparently, this misquote was done on purpose to (a) heighten the dramatic effect and (b) to pay an homage to other films of which Tarantino was a big fan. Now you know!

ZoomInfo Web Summary: Jim Arconati

I may seem vain, but like a lot of people I occasionally check out the results from a Google Search of my own name. When I first checked back in 2003 or earlier, only my Dad showed up. Then slowly the company I've worked for since then and also my own web page have crawled to page one and then the top results.

This past December, I found an interesting entry about me on a site called ZoomInfo which appears to be a corporate or job entry search engine. The only results that will be shown will be people or companies.

The search engine for discovering people, companies, and relationships

I'm a privacy buff, so my initial reaction was not wanting my details there but all it seemed pretty innocuous when I realized that the only details listed were the same ones that could be pulled from the online directory of people and positions at our regular web site -- which was already listed on Google at the time.

For a good example, check out ZoomInfo Web Summary: Jim Arconati

What's funny about this result is that the page at work where these details were pulled no longer has me listed on it. Basically as the company passed the 100+ team member mark last year, they probably decided it would be prudent to strip the publically available company directory down to just the top dogs --i.e. top 10 or 15 members of management. This is probably easier to keep updated as everyone else's role changes so frequently (including mine).