Candidates + Issues Matrix

A friend sent me an email today, and although her emails are usually infinitely forwarded YouTube videos of babies giggling or some other fantastic use of my time, this one was a real gem. It shows you (with pertinent videos) how each of the presidential candidates feels about a particular issue. You can scroll up/down or left/right between candidates or issues and rate each one of them as to how closely they resemble your own sentiments on the idea. At the end you're left with a color-coded grid that should help make your favorite candidate stick out clearer and the opinions of everyone else, too. It sure beats listening to all that trivial mudslinging or waiting for FOX news to actually cover the issues.

MSNBC's Candidates & Issues Matrix

Update:

After much thought (maybe too much as I spent a couple hours) I've compared my opinion to all the candidates still in the running. Though it's helped, I'm going to keep an open ear for what else happens the next few months. BTW, there was no way to make this readable and still fit on the page, so click to englarge. =)

A few random events

Last night I saw a shooting star when I just so happened to gaze up in the night sky while getting out of my car just in time to see it. It streaked down quickly at about a 30 degree angle, burning white with glowing orange bits breaking off and swirling behind it as it evaporated in the atmosphere. Who knows just how distant and inversely massive this thing was, we'll never know. I suppose judging by the time it took to burn up it was not very massive but very close.

Today I saw a middle-aged man driving a red VW rabbit, which I am now planning to buy next weekend (only in white most likely), just a-singin' his little heart. It made me chuckle as that will probably be me. I'm sure he's enjoying that 10-speaker Bose system as much as I will.

Today I broke out my old, baggy, black corduroy pants I must have bought back in 1994 and showed them off at work to the guys who joined me in reminiscing on them the other night. I felt I was surely going to catch them on fire, walking as much as I was, but they kept my legs warm and toasty! Actually, the discussion we got into that resulted my bringin'-it-back fashion statement began with them noticing I wasn't wearing skin-tight jeans for a change. Yesterday I wore really baggy carpenter jeans, because I was in desperate need of a laundry day. In my rush to get out the door for work yesterday morning, the bathroom door that is, that big hammer loop near my knee caught the knob of the false drawer where the sink is, completely ripping the entire panel off the cabinet base. My mom took the news of me deestroying her furniture pretty well, calling me "Edward!!" which is my big oaf a friend that comes over and breaks stuff. He's that guy.

Unfortunately I've been asked to work overtime tomorrow to help fill in for someone else, so I'll be there instead of at home doing nothing. I thought I'd drop you a note and let you know all about those little events that have made each of my days for the past week.

Heath Ledger is Taken from Us

And all too soon, too. The news made me sad all day. I'm sure it was an honest mistake. I'm just sad that his beautiful face can't grace any more films. I really did love seeing him in The Patriot.

My, Wikipedia is up-to-date, too. Just a couple of hours and the whole story was there, perfunctorily I'm sure.

Myst III: Exile

Okay, I just finished playing this game, and I'm proud to admit that I cheated from start to finish, LOL. It's mainly a visual game with some puzzles thrown in there, but who has time for all that??? The game's meant for kids first of all, so the puzzles are fairly easy, though they usually require WAY too much trial/error deduction, documentation, and reading of Atrus's babblings. Plus, it takes **forever** to maneuver around everywhere while you're figuring out how to fix these puzzles.

The Myst series is known for being one of the most cinematic game series out there. This one is nothing short of that, and it's diverse and engaging. Most fun however is the age of Amateria which is essentially a big marble roller coaster. It's broken when you first arrive, and you have to solve 4 interconnecting puzzles in order to get it to work. When you do, YOU become the marble and take a ride. (Blur song not included.)


YouTube Link

I've played the first three games in the series now, starting with Myst then Riven and now Exile. There are two more, Revelation and End of Ages, and I may get them eventually. One day.

I'm Having Way Too Much Fun With This

I actually can't believe I haven't brought this up before. Being the HUGE geography and astronomy *Geek* that I am, I have been absolutely riveted by Goole Earth ever since it came out, just staring for days at those flattened aerial photos taken from miles above. More and more they've been adding SO many new features to it -- landscapes you can actually move through and see in 3 dimensions, photos people have taken and posted, panoramics, gigapixel photos, even YouTube videos. And end-users are able to create their own (and your own) custom maps that save as a KMZ file. I used it to track the October wildfires in southern California.

There are two particular really neat features to the Beta Version 4. The first is blatantly advertised. (I think it's even the first pop-up you get upon installation.) Center yourself on any spot on the globe, hit the Space button, and your whole world is instantly and litterally turned inside out. You can persue the night sky, inlaid with Hubble Space Telescope pictures, constellation names, star names, watch movies and animations. Really it's something to check out if you're going to out to look at the stars at night. (Though I still prefer my Heavens-Above for the specific purpose of a handy starchart.)

The second and infinitely entertaining yet still somewhat educational feature new to Google Earth beta veresion 4 is its very well-kept secret of a built in ***Flight Simulator*** !!! Holy freakin' crap have I spent time flossin' 'n' flyin' all over the WORLD with this thing. I even catch myself calling it a game all the time. I really am having too much fun with it. Ever since I read online somewhere that it's possible, I've been "playing" it. Just hit Ctrl+Alt+A from any vista. It's like the ultimate free-range video game, LOL, but instead of just Vice City, it's the whole freakin' globe. Only as of late have I actually began to master the controls, though I still have a long way to go. Just last night I completed my first successful take-off and landing from the same airport as a I took a flight tour of the island of Bermuda. Taking off is quite easy as is flying through the dimensionally-challenged landscape of course, but landing, not so much. Just ask Indiana Jones. =)

Here's a little photo journey I compiled for ya. Hope you enjoy!

Mt. Everest, Nepal/Tibet	Cantabrian Mtns. of northern Spain
"Interstate" H-3 in Oahu, Hawaii	Cerro Azul volcano, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Arc de Triomphe & Eiffel Tower, Paris	The World archipelego off the coast of Dubai in UAE
London Bridge, London (yes, it's upside down, LOL)	The Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt

At this rate, I'm gonna know the location of all the major airports in the world, LOL.

The Maze Game

I'm sure most you out there have played this popular internet Maze Game, but if you haven't, give it a try. Just make sure your speakers are on first. The object is to get to the red area without touching any of the walls.

http://www.maniacworld.com/maze_game.htm





Okay....

I'm an evil bitch, hehehe. Hopefully by now you've already seen it and didn't fall victim to this little prank that's been going around for a while now. Now that it's properly introduced, I can show you what I REALLY wanted to share with you to begin with......cute boys! Now it's kinda hard to tell with these boys because even straight guys act really gay really fast whenever they get the shit scared out of them, hehe. I thought it was *so cute* how he lost a few times just to get his brother into it.

YouTube link

I'm stuffed!

My head, that is. I've got that sinus infection that's been going around, I hear. Actually I heard it described best just now: It feels like you've been beaten in the head with a baseball bat. Your nose is blocked and running constantly, you're sneezing and coughing, and all that sinus pressure. Come to think of it, I can't remember if I've ever had a sinus infection before. This may be a first.

So I went to the doctor and loaded up on prescription painkillers. LOL, sorry, I meant antibiotics. Funny how that just rolled out effortlessly. Anyway, unfortunately they weren't expensive enough. It only cost about a half a month's payment from my health insurance, LOL. Maybe I should go get physicals from all the doctors in town just to feel them out. Just Kidding! (I believe that counts as a double entendre...)

Anywho, I hope all these lovely green mucus stuff clears up so I can get back to my normal self again. That's all I can muster for now. Laterz.

Recent changes

Proudly Nerdy reaches 10,000 Hits!

Nevermind the last 2 were me proofreading, LOL.

Glad you like the new disclaimer, Greg. And Stevie likes the new banner though I had to poke him repeatedly to get him to admit it, hehe. I plan on changing both of them at random whenever the mood strikes me, and I'm thinking of creating a bunch of banners until I get a respectable repertoire for randomization. (I'm getting fancy now. =P )

Oh, and Greg, about the kissy kissy pictures -- I kinda get what you mean. All you who are still reading this blog should know by now that this is by no means a "porn blog" but more a place for my own self-expression, a place to share things that interst me with those who might be interested. It's like a public, multimedia journal. Which one of us fags didn't keep a journal when he was little at some point or another? I think I did one for a few weeks back when I was 11. I had a website or two back in high school during the whole Web 1.0 era of Angelfire, GeoCities, ICQ, and Netscape Communicator (killed by IE), way before MySpace, Gay.com, or any of the dozens of social network websites out there now.

Getting back to the beginning of this diatribe, I will soon be posting a separate list of links to porn sites and attempting to keep it updated (one-handedly) for those who wish I had more hot men on my blog. (I'm not sinking, I'm linking, LOL.) ...But to confess, I have been secretly stalking the tags on the sidebar all this time just to make sure "hotties" stays the most often used tag on the blog. Silly, I know, but I love to just go look at them every once in a while. It's like archived porn. I have been going back and rethinking those tags, too. Always changing.

Anyways, I'm just bouncing off ideas now. So I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any. Just don't say hot men, I mean, that's a given.

Mahalo David!!

I got an email from a reader this morning and it brightened up my whole day. Sounds kinda gay, I know, but it's true! His name is David and I hope he isn't too embarassed if I just paraphrase just a little bit of it for you.

Aloha Richard: Discovered your site a few months ago. Love your site! Found it interesting that you seem to have an interest in Astronomy, as well as being a computer scientist. [I'd hate to reveal where he works without asking first, so I hope it suffices to say he works at a large optical/IR observatory on the Big Island of Hawai'i as a computer scientist.] With your interests, you might consider a career in the astronomical community. With 12 world class telescopes on our Mauna Kea (at 13,796 ft) this is a great place to work (not to mention it *is* Hawaii and Hawaii is also very gay tolerant - and plenty of hot men with few clothes are everywhere :)

He goes on to give me some links to employment websites and gave me a few job hunting tips. It got me so excited reading it. And then the thought occured to me....

Why the HELL haven't I thought of this before!?!?

Astronomers rely on computer software. I love software. I love astronomy. Hell, I spend every free minute learning more about it. It's perfect marriage of passion and profession! And this couldn't epiphany couldn't have been delivered at a more perfect time. My casutic, miserly boss again reminded us of how we all loathe him with his promises to make our jobs even more miserable. So I spent my lunch break browsing the job postings online.

Thanks so much for the email David! You'll be hearing from me. You can count on that!

I'm on YouTube!!!

Okay, this is a first.

A guy at work got me to look up "BME Pain Olympics" on the internet and he filmed the reactions of myself and a couple other guys at work. (At work!! I hope my boss isn't Googling me! LOL!) This is much like the 2 Girls 1 Cup video. If you haven't seen it, don't look it up! You WILL scar yourself for life! This images will haunt you until the day you die. I don't recommend searching for or watching the video. I usually have a strong stomach, but I could barely bring myself to watch any of it. Here's our reaction:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqsTyRy3LEY

P.S. Yes, that's a chocolate milk and a Butterfinger on my desk. I try to eat healthy at work. LOL. And don't go making fun of me queenin' it up and fannin' myself with a church bulletin either. =)

Lookie! I iz lolcat now!

Pucker Up!

I hope you haven't taken down that mistletoe!

Notice I'm taking advantage of the wider format!
(All the old posts are screwed, LOL)

HubbleSite.org

In keeping with the last post about sounds from space, I've collected a few of my favorite Hubble Space Telescope pictures from this really wonderful gallery website:

HubbleSite.org

They've got some really amazing photos on there, some planets in our own neighborhood, some at the edge of the visible universe. It's truly a host of vivid and baffling images, downloadable as icons, wallpapers, or billboards.

Spooky Sounds from Outer Space!

Do not attempt to adjust your...radio. NASA controls the horizontal and the vertical ... and the pitch, compression, and visualization. But as for the rest of it, it's all straight recorded from outer space!

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/sounds2/index-nasa.html

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has posted some interesting sound clips from several missions, including some very peculiar ones from the recent Cassini mission to Saturn and its Earth-ish moon, Titan. I especially enjoyed hearing the nail-biting sounds from the hailstorm that the Cassini probe endured while punching through Saturn's ice-packed rings and the magnetic maelstrom Voyager 1 recorded while passing into Jupiter's turbulent, elongated magnetosphere.

I Want This SOOO Bad

I want it. I really do, but I just can't. This shirt says EXACTLY what I think about Nascar and all the bullshit surrounding it. But it cannot be. I live less than a mile from Lowe's Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor Speedway although it sits within Concord proper) and even closer to the mall next to it. What a constant traffic nightmare that is. But can you imagine what would happen to me if I wore this to our mall? To the Nascar Speedpark STORE?!? They'd call me a faggot and it'd be true! Hell, imagine if I wore this to the Hooters! LOL. They wouldn't find me for weeks!



But still I fuckin' LOVE it!

Happy New Year 2008!

Here's wishing each of you had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Years Eve and someone special to spend it with! For me, I guess one out of three ain't bad... wait, yea it kinda is. I spent New Year's working, and of course there wasn't a hot boy for me to spend it with anyways.... at least I had an okay Christmas.

So now it's time for the New Year's resolutions I suppose. (I hope I'm not too late.) Hmmm, let's see.. I've already resolved to start working out again, and I have. Actually I really enjoy it, too. That was back in September/October. Around November sometime I decided I'd start practicing the piano more often, and here in the last few weeks I've compiled a list of books I wanted to tackle. So what's left?

I could resolve to get out of my parents house (again) but it would have to be to some place of my own. I could look for a better job closer to home (wherever that might end up being), but I think before I do that, I need to do something I've been putting off for too long. I need to resolve to take a few of those tests for which I took all those classes after college. I often think I need to spend time actually developing software and getting my hands dirty in it, but let's face it. Tests are not about lessons learned in real-world experience; they're about memorizing shit. If I can just memorize that shit I could ace them now and spend all the time I want getting my feet wet later. There. That's it. Now who's got some TestKings for me? =)

So, Greg, Michael, and Steve, what are your New Years resolutions?