Should I be worried about ad servers affecting my site's speed and ranking?

Does the number of subdirectories in a URL affect its ranking?

Government Seeks Back Door Into All Our Communications

"The New York Times reported this morning on a Federal government plan to put government-mandated back doors in all communications systems, including all encryption software. The Times said the Obama administration is drafting a law that would impose a new 'mandate' that all communications services be 'able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages' — including ordering '[d]evelopers of software that enables peer-to-peer communication [to] redesign their service to allow interception'."

Government Seeks Back Door Into All Our Communications | Electronic Frontier Foundation

PubCon Update Blog : steve plunkett

PubCon Update Blog:: "Plunkett will be speaking on the much-anticipated analytics and measurement sub-conference session entitled 'Competitors From the Dark Side: Rogue SEO Tactics,' where he will be joined by CSHEL.com principal Carolyn Shelby, Gallucci, and WebmasterWorld founder and chief executive Brett Tabke.

“I'm looking forward to the great brains that are going to PubCon,” said Plunkett. “From social media to search, this is the conference of the year,' added Plunkett."