query_post() and Main Loop Strangeness

Hi, all,

query_post() in my replication of the main loop is not acting like I expect it to. Of course, I don’t entirely understand how it works so I could just be using it wrong. How is it that the following code:


include ('blog/wp-blog-header.php');

query_posts('cat=1&showposts=10');
if (have_posts()) :
//now run a new query
query_posts('cat=1&showposts=10');

while (have_posts()) :
the_post();
echo '<b>';
the_date();
echo '</b>: <a href="';
the_permalink();
echo '">';
the_title();
echo '';
endwhile;
endif;

Can generate this the content at this page?

Specifically, note that there are two posts on 5/25 but the call to the_date() is returning an empty string for the second one. Why is that?

Thanks,
Scott