Here’s a quick rundown of how my NBA Playoffs bracket automatically updates itself, and how it is designed.

First, my little PHP script goes and checks out the NBA standings over at ESPN.com. It grabs the team name (Detroit Pistons,) team slug (det,) that team’s conference seed, wins and losses. So then I make a list on the Playoffs page of all 15 teams from each conference. They are listed according to the order they appear in the standings. Of course this page is made up of 100% valid XHTML 1.0 Strict.
Using the wonderness of CSS, I use a background image to display the bracket/tree, and then absolutely position each list item in the correct spot. Only the top 8 teams in each conference are displayed, the rest are hidden from view but are still there if you View Source. I then replace the text of each team with their logo (again with CSS.)  All of this happens automatically, and not by me, by the page itself.

There are two links at the bottom: One to show/hide the Seedings for the playoff tree, and one to show/hide each team’s record. This is done with quick and easy Javascript.

The comments link directs people to the associated Wordpress post where they can leave a comment.

Finally, my latest addition shows the progress of the current NBA season. This is done by PHP, which divides the number of days into the season we are by the total number of days in the season as a whole (somewhere within Oct. 29, 2007 and Apr. 17, 2008.) I made a little chart to display in the background to show some benchmarks/milestones (the correct term escapes me right now.) The graph expands thanks to a CSS “width:” property.

And that’s it. Absolute magic, I know. When the playoffs start, I’ll be adding wins and advancing the logos along the playoff tree just like I’ve done ever since 2004. And I’m always looking for suggestions!

I never really understood the difference between these until recently (I never cared.) But I thought I’d look up some definitions and learn a little in the process about our political labels.

Democrat - Follows a broadly liberal program, tending to support social reform and minority rights.

Republican - Favors a right-wing stance, limited central government, and tough, interventionist foreign policy.

Liberal - Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded.

Liberalism - A political theory founded on the natural goodness of humans and the autonomy of the individual and favoring civil and political liberties, government by law with the consent of the governed, and protection from arbitrary authority.

Moderate -  Opposed to radical or extreme views or measures, especially in politics or religion.

Libertarian -  One who advocates maximizing individual rights and minimizing the role of the state.

Conservative -  Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change.

Conservatism - A political philosophy or attitude emphasizing respect for traditional institutions, distrust of government activism, and opposition to sudden change in the established order.

Reactionary -   Characterized by reaction, especially opposition to progress or liberalism; extremely conservative.

Dead On Tony Soprano Impression

Pretty good, watch the language

Optimus Prime’s Evolution of Dance

Better than the original?

Hey, you made it! Thanks for stopping by my new home at Breathingfire.com. It’s actually my old home, and one of the very first places I started posting things to the Web, wayyy back in 2001!  Well, before that my buddy Scott and I posted some stuff up at IntelligentStudios[dot]com, but we finally got too intelligent for that and moved on.

Anyways, I’ve kept this site up for a long time, mainly as a web design business name and have decided to return. I’m using a template right now but I’ve got lots of plans for this place now that it isn’t under my real name anymore! I was thinking about debuting the BiceGirls once again, but that’s probably not a good idea.

Ok, enough of the crap. Tahnks for reading, and stay tuned for lots of fun.

My Movies page was a little broken in that the list could not be sorted out by title or rating. I fixed that now and they can now be viewed all ways.

That, and I just added a new movie: “Dan in Real Life”

I’ve caught the Twitter bug lately and I’ve started using it to update my website as well as my Facebook status (yeah, I said Facebook.) A few people, including Shannon who I’m trying to get to use it, have asked “Just what the heck is Twitter and why would I want to use it?”

Well, Twitter is a free service that is based on the sending and receiving of text/SMS messages. You sign up, add some of your friends (via your email contact lists or through invites,) and start texting about yourself. You tell people what you’re thinking, where you’re at, where you’ll be, etc. Friends who have added you (aka following you, according to Twitter) will receive any updates you make as text messages on their phones. So basically it’s a way to let your personal circle know what you’re up to in your life.

The catch is that each message has to be under 140 characters, forcing you to make small updates. I’ve added a plugin to my Wordpress installation which also updates my blog each time I ‘Twitter.’

There’s also a Google-owned service called Dodgeball that would be very useful for those living in large cities (where it is solely available so far.)  You text message Dodgeball with your location. It tells your friends where you’re at and (somehow) lets you know where any friends of friends are within 10 blocks of you so you can meet up with them. I haven’t figured out how that works, but it does I guess, in 22 cities so far.

Here’s an article about why Twitter is good: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-07/st_thompson

You can also “track” certain words and/or phrases and get all updates from Twitter with those in them. Like 37signals, who uses this to help improve their products by listening to what people say about their services: http://blog.twitter.com/2008/01/37signals-likes-twitter-for-business.html

Here’s an interesting way a professor used Twitter in his class to bring his students closer together as a small community: http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2699/a-professors-tips-for-using-twitter-in-the-classroom

I basically use it because I like to hear what people are doing, because it gives me something to do when I’m waiting for something or bored and want to fiddle with my phone. And it allows for instant communication between my friends. Are you my friend? Then you should sign up for it!

I slapped together a website(webpage?) for an assignment I had to do in my Creativity and Engineering class. I had to talk about a certain invention and I picked the bar code (and I’m not sure why.)

Well, instead of writing a re-worded Wikipedia page about it, I slapped together some HTML with some Photoshop and some sexy, sexy CSS to make a very rudimentary but good-enough-for-what-it’s-for Bar Code page!

Check it out, BradBice.com Presents The Bar Code

(Beware, if you’re using Internet Explorer 6, you’ll be scolded. We’ve got heavy PNG’ing goin’ on over there.)

My friend Derick sent me this USA Today quiz for picking your presidential candidate based on the issues. Thanks, DJ!

I had originally sent out this quiz to a few friends and family before. (Though it may be outdated as it says last updated in August 2007)

I want more! I don’t trust any one quiz and these things really help not only in picking a candidate, but seeing how they’re positions on the issues are represented by multiple media outlets as well. Seen a good one? Let’s have at it!

I’m sitting in the middle of a frikkin blizzard right now. We’re getting plowed over by 45 mph winds and tons of snow, and a temperature drop in three hours from 45 to 15 degrees. Plus, it rained all day today which is all turning to a nice layer of ice below the snow.

There are times when I look out the window that I can not see 50 feet away. Yikes.

If I don’t post again, I probably didn’t die. I just never post.