BillSaysThis

I recently started using Firefox. Now that I have I can see that the Jewish High Tech Community website that I built doesn’t display properly and doesn’t validate (honestly, I didn’t check this out when it came out fine in IE, mea culpa). I could use some help, if you care to take a look.

Some details:

• If I leave out the doctype declaration, everything looks good in IE; if I include it, strict or transitional, IE displays the same bad stuff as Firefox.
• The CSS validator gives me hassles for the use of a width attribute.

Uggh!

Sweet. Really sweet. Taking full advantage of the odd MLS first round playoff structure giving the lesser team of the pair the home game first, San Jose came out running and ran the entire 90. Dwayne Derosario opened in the 40th minute with a beautiful drive dribbling the ball the length of the offensive half and then lofting a hard angled ball over two defenders and keeper Bo Oshiniyi; our other score came from a long corner Jeff Agoos that landed on Craig Waibel’s leg before going past an out of position Oshiniyi.

Though thanks go to ESPN for giving this match a national showing, I was thoroughly sick of announcer Rob Stone’s constant mention that “this might just be Landon Donovan’s last game at Spartan Stadium.” He’s right to the extent that even if the Quakes win the series with KC that they wouldn’t have a chance for hosting the second round matchup against Colorado or Los Angeles (Colorado won the opener in that series 1-0). Will LD be called over to play for the German team that owns his contract rights, Bayern Leverkusen? No one knows because no one who could know is talking. Uggh.

Speaking of the poor playoff round setup: three of the four opening games were won by the lower ranking home clubs. New England and San Jose, two teams that squeezed into the post-season with the results of the last regular season match, both beat teams that finished the season with long undefeated streaks and there were no draws. So where is the reward for doing well? Mark it down as another change MLS needs to make to get in synch with the world game.

Meanwhile, props to the Earthquakes for winning when they had to, and not dropping back into a defensive block after the first goal. Because they kept on for the second score, next Saturday’s game in Kansas City will see all the pressure on Western Conference champion Wizards. Three rings for Landon would see him off well.

Boy was this Ashlee Simpson screwup last night on SNL fun to watch.

Who would have thought that even the Santa Clara County Democratic Party would have a blog (and an official blogger)!

In homage to Pam’s Pumpkin Stew (also known as Carbonada en Zapallo), I’m making this Atkins-provided Lamb and Vegetable Stew tonight. After the eating, I will note that the recipe could benefit from the addition of a bit more seasoning and also that I only used 1.5 pounds of meat.

Props to Dawn for a month without the ‘rettes!

What a beautiful win, just a week after the Reds mounted a massive second half comeback to defeat Fullham 4-2. The team’s place in the standings will have to wait for games tomorrow and Monday to be sorted but, despite lots of moaning and groaning and complaining over changes in the side, Liverpool has taken five more points this season than they did last year after the same number of games.

We utterly domominated the Addicks though looking at a 0-0 halftime score line that would not be clear. The Reds had more than a half dozen beautiful chances to score but couldn’t finish any. Ex-Liverpudlian Danny Murphy chested a Sammi Hyypia header off the line for one stop and Dean Kiely made a couple of acrobatic saves but mainly Milan Baros, Djibril Cisse and John Arne Riise just couldn’t get the ball on frame. Defensively the half, heck the whole game, was a gem and Charlton really never came close to scoring or troubling Chris Kirkland.

The second half opened much as the first, no substitutions and all forward for Liverpool. After winning a corner seven minutes in, the ball got cleared back but only as far as Riise on the left side just top of the box and he buried it in the left side of the net going away with no chance for Kiely. Lots of optimistic, aggressive play for the boys; Harry Kewell and Florent Sinema-Pongolle even made nice showings after coming on for Riise and Baros, respectively. Sanz Luis Garcia put the game away in the 74th minute with a 30-ish yard blast that took a wicked curve to end up in the top right netting.

One can only take great heart if the Reds’ style of play the last game and a half shows that Rafa Benitez has finally got the squad playing the way he intends. The next few weeks may be key to the year as matches in the Carling Cup, Champions League and Premiership all crowd together and endurance will be at a premium. Three thumbs up for today!

Questions for the future: We currently have three major injuries, or perhaps two major and two mid-level is a better assessment, and so who will get the bulk of playing time when Steven Gerrard, Josemi, Vlad Smicer and Nunez all heal up? Then there’s Kirkland versus Jerzy Dudek; as Kirkland is now injury-free and getting his first length run of starts since winning the starter’s jersey a couple of seasons back, is he Benitez’s preference for the remainder of the year?

This is so politics as usual someone asleep for the last three years and 42 days would be surprised by the fuss. Did that day really happen, or will I wake up from my shower dream? [via]

I was sitting in a room full of people

Everyone faced front, listening to the Man

Hearing his words, mesmerized by the tone

When I felt the room waver before me

My feet felt the floor swaying under me

I looked around the room but everyone

Was still intent on the speaker and no one

Seemed to have felt the earthquake as I did

This morning I woke up, coughed, and saw silver

Sparks in the air in front of my face

Little bits of airborne lint, silver, not truly

There though I watched them pop here and there,

For ten seconds at a time before they disappeared

Dramatic lines are drawn on the cavern walls

Ancient images of massive animals and the

Loved ones of the hunters, hunted all the same

The Man spoke volumes about his experience

Facinating stories about battles and conferences

Brave warriors fighting with financial instruments

Facing off with great legal minds protecting the

Flanks, enjoining the enemy stratagems

Gray suits may have replaced animal skins now

Computers and Mont Blanc replacing flints and lances

I don’t care, they’re all the same to me

No one else felt the Earth shake and I did

ConservationFilter: Soon cars, factories and other major users of oil for lubrication may never need to throw away their oil again thanks to the Miracle Boy.

ThingFilter: Michael Chiklis on the ‘costume’ challenges of playing The Thing in next Summer’s release of The Fantastic Four.

BandwidthFilter: I have a feeling that unless Comcast does something I haven’t read about yet, SBC’s plan to bring fiber and much higher speed Net access to homes over the next three years will have me switching providers. Assuming they don’t fuck up the pricing, which is altogether possible.

CocoaFilter: Tonight’s JHTC meeting will feature Pete Slosberg. Originally a rocket scientist, Pete decided to take on the world of beer and created Pete’s Wicked Ale. Having scratched that itch, Pete’s now bringing the same idealism and insight to chocolate with his new company, Cocoa Pete’s Chocolate Adventures Company.

More…

Snarkfilter: Does Jack Black have the smug look on his face because he just did the Kerry daughters?

YaleFilter: From the school that gave us George Bush and John Kerry, in the same year no less, Porn for Progress.

GonzoFilter: Hunter Thompson unleashes his nasty, visceral fountain pen on George Bush’s ass in Fear and Loathing, Campaign 2004. If you’re familiar with his style, HST does not disappoint here.

Not that I’m much of a baseball fan, I didn’t even watch Game 7, but how the fuck did the Yankees lose this series! A day that will live in infamy in New York, for sure. Where’s Tony Soprano when you need some legs broken?

Matt dreams about jobs for Larry when Kerry wins.

Then there’s the optimist…

Rough metal shapes hover over tall trees

Reflecting light from cars driving on a highway

Off in the distance, drivers making their way

Home and elsewhere in the early morning hours.

I can see them looking out the upstairs window,

Missing a yellow Beetle that’s normally a landmark

Parked out on the street that tells me my home is

Just a few normal breaths and wheel turns away.

Momentum carries those cars up and over the

Rise, beyond the green, out of my sight, though

They aren’t of much concern to me, I’m looking

For something they don’t carry, something in the night.

In front of my eyes, into my eyes, in through my eyes

Come complete signals carrying information

Not meant for the likes of you or me, not ready,

Released too soon and there will be a breakdown

The darkness is dotted with those shapes,

Barely visible messages painted in barely visible

Colors in barely understandable scrabbles

And they twist and turn in the midnight wind

Dangerously a paradox whispers from the nightstand

Radio, trying to reinforce the metallic messages

Trying to break through the filtering screen

No words no teeth no mouth no freedom.

The New York Times has endorsed John Kerry for President. While this comes as no surprise to anyone, I think the simple straightforward wording (their summary: “John Kerry has qualities that could be the basis for a great chief executive and we enthusiastically endorse him for president.”) used combined with substantive, detailed explanation makes for a very powerful roundhouse to the Bushinator. I’m particularly moved by the next to last paragraph:

We look back on the past four years with hearts nearly breaking, both for the lives unnecessarily lost and for the opportunities so casually wasted. Time and again, history invited George W. Bush to play a heroic role, and time and again he chose the wrong course. We believe that with John Kerry as president, the nation will do better.

I’m proud to join the New York Times in endorsing John Kerry and I ask you to join me in voting for him on November 2. The last four years have been increasingly shrill, divisive and mean and believe John Kerry is the only choice if we wish to truly reunite this great country.

10/29/04: Enblogments for Kerry.

Adam Barr’s new book, Find the Bug, is now available from Amazon. This is a technical work from a guy with deep development experience at MSFT; his previous book, Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters, was a pretty interesting look at his life inside the giant.

NJ.com has a Bruce Blog, nice but no RSS feed.

Jon Stewart goes on CNN’s Crossfire, with hosts Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson expecting him to promote his new book America: A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy In Action, and instead Stewart rips them and the other cable political pundits a new asshole. This is one show I wish I’d seen; if you are torrent-literate you can grab a copy or perhaps even through more mere mortal means here thanks to MeFi’s User #1. [via MeFi]

So, probably great fun to see a comedian more respected for reporting current events than just about any CNN employee get up and tell the clowns to their faces that the job is just not getting done, that their shows are hurting Americans and not helping, but Stewart does not really give a straight answer on what he expects would be better. That is always the big question but, as here, one rarely answered. Granted, the hosts didn’t really try to get to that point given that they were trying to work through the shock of Stewart’s confrontation and trying to move him back to the pet on display book promotion normalcy but would sure have been nice.

Later: Okay I just watched the download. Stewart comes across ever more harshly than in the transcript. Carlson, the right wing representative on Crossfire, simply cannot deal with what he hears. I really wish they left the cameras running when the program took a short break in the middle to let Wolf Blitzer plug his show, one can only imagine what was being said on the set.

The shame is that Stewart was trying to have a serious discussion with guys who are supposed to be serious, about a topic on which they should be experts, and the hosts could not get past their personal discomfort to join Jon and perhaps make something meaningful. I could see the frustration in Stewart’s eyes though the director never gave us matching closeups of the hosts for comparison. I felt like Carlson and Begala were seeing at their pretty machinery breaking and looking everywhere and anywhere for a tool to fix it. Fortunately for them the show ended but with any luck Stewart will not drop this–election season may be the only time enough energy can be summoned to make any changes.

There’s an interesting story behind the fact that my dad was in both the Army and the Navy (one stint in each, not overlapping). [When I talk to him next I’ll try and get the facts straight to post here.]

To my fellow blog types, are you getting spam comeons from some guys at RSSCache that apparently have little to no clue?