In relation to the Technorati rank it's pulled down via an API (geez I think that's what it's called) as is Alexa rank & the script calculates the index - I just need to record the figures in a spreadsheet for upload.,
I like the idea of a private blog if getting the RSS and reading posts was as simple as public. If there are too many hoops just to get notice of and read a single post it will get frustrating.,