Ping Sitemaps to Google, Yahoo and Bing

Recently we discovered that our sitemaps-- the list of pages on the site-- for Yahoo and Bing were not updating on their own. Google handles this task automatically, so we had blissfully assumed it was the same case with everyone else. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be. You should manually ping the other major search engines each time your sitemap changes.

To help save you the time, here are all the addresses you need to hit:

Google Sitemap Ping Address:
http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ping?sitemap=[your sitemap url]

Yahoo! Sitemap Ping Address
http://search.yahooapis.com/SiteExplorerService/V1/ping?sitemap=[your sitemap url]

Ask.com Sitemap Ping Address
http://submissions.ask.com/ping?sitemap=[your sitemap url]

Microsoft Bing Sitemap Ping Address
http://www.bing.com/webmaster/ping.aspx?siteMap=[your sitemap url]

You can also include your sitemap (or sitemap of sitemaps) in your robots.txt file.
Just add the following directive to robots.txt:

Sitemap: http://www.example.com/sitemap.xml

Hope this helps! Happy sitemap indexing! For more information, check out the sitemap protocol site.

How Cute is Obama's Dog? Is Bo "the Cutest Dog Ever?"

In a recent survey, respondents rated Obama's new dog, Bo, cuter than 95% of all dogs -- with most respondents considering Bo "extra cute."

America recently watched Bo's arrival at the White House closer than it has that of any world leader, men and women of all ages fawning over this Portuguese water dog's every move.

Upon hearing my colleague Deven proclaim "OMG I think I am going to faint...that is the cutest dog ever!" I took it upon myself to figure out how cute Obama's dog really is. Is Bo really "the cutest dog ever?"

As many of you know, here at Experience Project we have a large and vibrant community of pet lovers among the tens of thousands of passionate life experience groups members have formed. One of the things that pet lovers enjoy on the site is the EP Pet Project which, among other things, allows them to share pictures of their pets, adopt virtual pets, and play "Cute or Not" -- a fun game where they can rate how cute they think a pet is.

To help me answer whether Bo is "the cutest dog ever," I asked a friend to submit a photo of Bo as a "contestant" in EP's Cute or Not game.

Within a day, Bo's cuteness had been voted on by nearly 600 people, and we had come to an average cuteness rating of 4.4 out of 5. So, how does that stack up against all dogs in America?

Since the EP Pet Project has had over 2,000 different pets submitted, I was able to look up my answer. Based on his cuteness score, Bo was rated as being cuter than 95% of all dogs! That's pretty remarkable and certainly places Bo as one of the cutest dogs in America -- quite an honor, if being America's First Dog wasn't enough!

UPDATE: the "Cute Puppies" Page on Facebook and @PuppyOfTheDay on Twitter also ran an informal poll on how cute fans thought Bo was as part of their Puppy of the Day game. According to them, Bo is cuter than 85% of all puppies. Nevertheless, Bo is still being considered cuter than most!

Experience Project Finds Osama Bin Laden, Receives Strategic Investment from Central Intelligence Agency

April 1, 2009 SAN FRANCISCO: Experience Project Inc, the world’s largest living archive of life experiences, announced today that the company has found international terrorist Osama Bin Laden as a member of its anonymous online community.

Mr. Bin Laden’s identity was spotted through the company’s new location-sharing feature, where members can share the location of where a confession or experience took place. Mr. Bin Laden shared his location as Sar-e-Raqowl, Afghanistan – a cave dwelling in southern Afghanistan inhabited by 6 people and 2 mountain goats.

Mr. Bin Laden, or “SamaBabby” as he is known on the site, shared a confession about his secret love for Mochi Ball kebabs, a dessert previously forbidden by the Taliban. Mr. Bin Laden and his supporters continue to protest Mochi Ball kebabs as a tactic by the “imperialist demonic powers” to brainwash his supporters through the Mochi Ball Kebab’s soft and delicious flavors.

Mr. Bin Laden was an active member of the community, and a member of communities including “I Loved Someone that Didn’t Love Me,” “I Want to Lose Weight,” and “I Live in a Sexless Marriage.”

Immediately following the announcement, the Central Intelligence Agency announced a $200 million investment in Experience Project at an undisclosed valuation. The funds will be used to develop state-of-the-art location technology and algorithms to match the writing style of Experience Project stories to that of international criminals.

50 Things You Didn't Know about Sarah Palin

Lots of talk today about Sarah Palin-- McCain's surprise VP pick. Learn 50 Things You Didn't Know about Sarah Palin here

Dream Meanings

Every now and then we want to highlight a hidden treasure of the EP community. Today it is our dreams section, which helps with dream interpretation and dream meanings.

Dreams often reflect our innermost thoughts in their most raw form, so they are a staging ground for EP users to help better understand themselves and get help and input from the community on an often pressing question of What Does My Dream Mean?

Check it out and share your dreams today!

George Carlin RIP

We just learned that George Carlin passed away on Sunday Night. Rest in peace-- like him or not, he was a true comedic giant that changed the landscape forever.

George Carlin Tributes and Video Clips at Experience Project

Hillary Clinton to Concede Defeat on Friday in Democratic National Primary

According to ABC News, a senior person in Hillary Clinton's entourage said she would concede defeat in the United States Democratic National Primary on Friday.

After Tuesday's split decision in the Montana and South Dakota primaries, and the en masse endorsement of Senator Barack Obama on Tuesday morning by nearly 70 party superdelegates, it was only a matter of when and how, not if.

It has been a truly historic occasion, and we, alongside the EP community, have been enthralled by it. Now it becomes Obama versus John McCain, a
nd the EP communities are ready to throw their support behind their chosen candidate:

I Support John McCain for President

I Support Barack Obama for President