I purchased the DirectKick package because it was cheaper to get it than to upgrade our monthly plan to one that includes Comcast Sports Net, the local broadcaster for DC United games. It was a no-brainer, \$70 per season to get pretty much every MLS game broadcast every weekend.  Getting the next package up woule have been \$120 more per year. So, its WAY more MLS matches than you could watch but its nice to have in the background.

Right now, I'm watching the Colorado-San Jose match on DirectKick.  Mostly a boring affair. Its too bad San Jose can't scare up a local investor who'll get them a stadium of their own (here's hoping I'm wrong). The field at Spartan Stadium is just way too small for soccer and the ball bounces around like a ping pong ball and the sideline is obscured by the large rail in front of the seats. I laughed when the announcers said that San Jose was deep at forward since they were playing Alejandro Moreno and Ronald Cerritos. Moreno is overrated and couldn't hack it in LA and Cerritos was a good player when MLS defenses were more porous. The guy runs his heart out though but lacks that real killer touch in front of goal.

The best part of the game so far is the Rapids midfielder named Nkong.  Mostly cause everytime he gets a touch or makes a pass I imagine him talking like the Hulk. "Nkong make pass! Why you foul Nkong? Nkong hate ref..."

In case you haven't already read, there's a pretty serious vulnerability related to XML-RPC in some PHP applications including Serendipity. Read more at hardened-php.

In case you haven't heard yet, the Google Maps API has been made public. This opens up their mappping capabilities to more developers without having to rely on the hacks and workarounds you may have seen earlier. Here are my ideas for some useful applications:

• A map view of an address book type list. It could be your personal Address Book, an page on an Intranet hooked up to an organization's contact management system. An large organization could use this to present lists of affiliated organizations, members, events.
• A "Matches-tonight" map showing what soccer matches are being played today and where, from D3 to MLS to international matches.
• A volunteer map showing upcoming volunteering opportunities near you.

How feasibly can Google Maps become THE light-weight, web-based GIS system?