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Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Open Thread - and Blogads Are Here (Almost)
Posted by DavidNYCIf you're reading this post, then you've probably already noticed that the SSP has a slightly new look. The new column on the left will host Blogads, as soon as advertisers start filling orders. The re-design is courtesy of my good friend Ben, who is a top-notch web designer and graphic artist. This modest site isn't a worthy showcase of his talents, so if you are thinking about building or re-doing a website (or know anyone else who is), I highly recommend you check out Ben's company, Media Mezcla.
I also moved all my junk down to my new apartment in DC (hooray!) & I'm now vacationing for a few days before school starts. Please feel free to use this as an open thread.
Posted at 06:45 PM in Site News | Technorati
Comments
Have fun!
Posted by: David Trinh at August 17, 2004 08:11 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Tell Ben that he needs to adjust his CSS for your site. Rather than have a nice even green bar across the top of the screen, IE6 on a 1280x1024 screen is appearing choppy with the green bar being higher or lower at different places. An odd dotted line also appears under the middle area. IE is full of CSS bugs so it's probably caused by one of them.
Looks good otherwise. My husband (a web designer) just redid Race2004 for me, so I know how hard it can be to get all the bugs out.
Posted by: Stephen at August 17, 2004 10:49 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Hmm. I'm not seeing a new column on the left at all. What I believe to be the content of the intended left-hand column ("Our Sponsers", "SSP Patron" box etc, ending with the Sitemeter counter) appears at the *top* of the blog, under the green banner.
This is true for AOL 9.0, IE 6.0 and Netscape 7.1.
Posted by: Ed Fitzgerald (unfutz) at August 18, 2004 12:27 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
I'm getting the same thing as Ed. I'm using Firefox 0.9.2.
Posted by: Joel Caris at August 18, 2004 05:56 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Sorry for the visual kinks - we are working on them as we speak. I appreciate the feedback. If you can send me any screenshots of what the site looks like on your system, I'd be very grateful. (My e-mail address is davidnyc -at- swingstateproject.com.) Thanks!
And if the site is working for you properly, you should be able to see our first ad, from the Minnesota Young DFL.
Posted by: DavidNYC at August 18, 2004 11:09 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Congratulations David!
It all looks fine here.
Posted by: rob at August 18, 2004 12:06 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
It looks great from Pepe's computer, David! Keep up the terrific work! :~)
Posted by: Pepe at August 18, 2004 02:49 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
I've been thinking of possible election scenarios...
I think FL, OH and MO will be the key states on November 2. FL will go Kerry unless they rig it (which I think they won't succeed at, since Floridians will be so on-alert anyway - and several Democrats have assured Floridians that there will be lawyers making sure every vote is counted in FL).
OH and MO seem complete toss-ups to me. However, if the election goes the same way it did last time, but with us getting FL, we have 287 electoral votes, to Bush's 251. If we also pick up NH, which seems likely, we have 291 electoral votes.
Bush won't get IA, MI, ME, MN or WI. Why? Because Kerry is still ahead in these states, and also these swings tend to go blue and not red. IA, MN, MI, and WI seem to be more like IL than IN historically, and ME has usually gone blue because of being surrounded by states like VT, MA, RI, CT, and NY.
We also seem to be ahead in WV, which would mean we have 296 electoral votes to Bush's 242. I am not going to pin hopes on AZ, AR, NV, NC, TN, or any places like those...but I'd say when all is said and done, we'll have these swings in our pockets:
FL (27 votes)
IA (7 votes)
ME (4 votes)
MI (17 votes)
MN (10 votes)
NH (4 votes)
NM (5 votes)
OR (7 votes)
PA (21 votes)
WA (11 votes)
WI (10 votes)
Plus maybe WV (5 votes), OH (20 votes) and/or MO (11 votes).
Posted by: Nathaniel at August 18, 2004 04:11 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
It looks great now, David. Very nice.
Posted by: Joel Caris at August 18, 2004 04:18 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
I'd be glad to take a screen shot and e-mail it to you. But how do I take a screen shot? I'm very good with computers but never learned that lesson. I'm on a PC using IE6.0.
Posted by: Stephen at August 18, 2004 04:26 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
I'm bemused by reports out of Oregon that a local union has found Nader ballot petitions to be riddled with fraudulent signatures. How many states are the Nader people going to lose out of their sheer imcompetence or half-assed chicanery?
Posted by: Tom at August 18, 2004 08:25 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Anyone reading Doonesberry this week? I know a few Nader people just like that. If you haven't read it, go to the site and check it out. r
Posted by: Michael at August 18, 2004 09:57 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Looks good. The bottom of the green line is a bit erratic (high on both right and left column), that's it.
Posted by: Ed Fitzgerald (unfutz) at August 19, 2004 02:32 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Interesting article here in the Guardian (UK newspaper)about the undemocratic nature of Bush's campaign appearances.
They've got a lot of good election coverage actually. As a Brit I reckon it's the only UK paper worth reading, and it's the country's most popular newspaper website by a long way.
Interesting fact - the site has more US readers than it has UK readers! More here.
Posted by: Dave Holden at August 19, 2004 08:47 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
I'm one of those Americans readers of the Guardian. It's well worth checking out for those who aren't familiar with it.
Posted by: Pepe at August 19, 2004 09:00 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Back to the election outlook . . . frankly I cannot see Kerry winning Missouri, but I CAN see him winning OH and certainly Florida.
On the lighter side . . . in Florida, I think they should use the exact same "butterfly" ballot as last year (maybe on the west coast this time), with Bush, Kerry and Nader in the same places, respectively, as Gore, Bush and Buchanan last time. THEN we'd see if the Republicans think it's a perfectly clear ballot. It WOULD be an interesting experiment, no?
Posted by: Jason at August 19, 2004 10:15 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
FOr those of you like me, that enjoy the concepts of love and hope expressed by the gospels in the new testaments but are turned off by some of the fanatacism that is preached today as peopel have perversed the meanings to fit their own agendas, there is a great article on Yahoo that was on the AP wire. A group of religious experts got together to discuss how Jesus would vote. Some highlights include one proclaiming Jesus was a bleeding heart liberal, since he believed in novel concepts such as helping the poor and feeding the hungry. They also thought that he hold far more stock in that than over issues such as gay marriage or abortion. In other words, he would take care of the Maslow basic needs before looking at things that were lower on the priority list. It concludes with saying he probably wouldn't vote as he tried to stay above politics back in the day. Interesting article especially as the Republican Party has seemed to claim Christianity as its own personal group.
Personally, I got tired of churches preaching hate and saying anyone who doesn't share our beliefs will burn. I got into a debate with someone who said that being gay is wrong and abortion is wrong and those who practiced would go to Hell. So I said my belief that as long as you led a good life among your fellow man, you would go to heaven. She told me I was wrong and that the ONLY way to get to heaven was by believing Jesus died for sins...you all know the rhetoric. I asked about a murderer...If he killed someone then accepted Jesus, would he go to heaven. She said Yes absolutely, it doesn't matter what you do on Earth as long as you believe. Well, some of you can see chess move coming, but she was blindsided by it. My next statement was pointing out by that rationale then being gay or having an abortion is ok. As long as the person believed in Jesus then it was Ok, they would go to heaven. She kind of stammered for a few moments then walked away in a huff.
I do have to thank her though. I was so turned off by this common conservative and illogical behavior, I searched for a more liberal churched that preached the "radical" concepts of love, hope, and acceptance. For the first time in a long time, I actually enjoy going to church again.
Anyway sorry to bore you...Check out that article, you will get a good laugh from it.
Posted by: Michael at August 19, 2004 11:04 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Screen Shots - Either hit CTRL-Printscreen or ALT-printscreen (just above the insert key on most keyboards) and then paste into a word document or email or something. Also you can use a program like snag-it by techsmith.
Posted by: Michael at August 19, 2004 11:10 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
To those few and proud who had trouble with the left-hand column: is it better now? To those who have the erratic green bar, it is on my list.
Posted by: Ben at August 19, 2004 03:35 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment