Hey Jim,
With the second example try moving the script that does the map initialization out of the head of the document and put it just before the closing body tag.
I reckon that show you a map.
Additionally, I'd probably consider moving your zipsnlats.js data file after that map initialization script section as that will improve the load time for the page. Basically anything in the head section will load fully before even attempting to load anything in the body of the document. That's one big file and is definitely slowing your load times down.
So essentially you want a document that structured something like:
<html>
<head>
...
<script src="jquery.js"></script>
<script src="tile5.cloudmade.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="mapContainer" style="height: 350px;" />
<script>
// map initialization
</script>
<script src="zipsnlats.js"></script>
<script>
// display the zips and lats
</script>
</body>
</html>
Obviously the script paths aren't accurate and there are more things that you would include in the head of the document but I think if you follow this structure you should be laughing :)
Cheers,
Damon.
--
Damon Oehlman
t: DamonOehlman