CharmingGeek.net Funness

If you’re looking for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra light show there it is.
My common poor spelling seems to have made this site very popular for other people who would write “Transiberian Orchestra.”

You need to know this about Chuck Norris.

Now, assuming that my shoutcast up and running, you can view my most recently played songs in your favorite RSS feed reader.
RSS feed here
I’ll even let you have the source.

I’m not going in to why you should be interested in this, because it’s late and I want to go to bed, but this is a very thorough, informative paper on ECHELON.
Disclaimer: I always encourage questioning and verifying any information you receive, and that’s most of the reason for supplying this link. In this case, you have to be particularly aware that much of the information provided is classified, top-secret, and as such, is completely unverifiable for the vast majority of us.

The gender gap in computer science is growing.
The proportion of women among bachelor’s degree recipients in computer science peaked at 37 percent in 1985 but has fallen to about 28 percent in the last few years. That number is only 17 percent within research universities. (From the Globe article)
Overall, the number of new computer science majors in 2004 was 40 percent lower than in 2000.
I’ve always been convinced that as a whole, women just have different interests than men, so I’m rarely surprised to see a gender gap in any field. The main thing I’m concerned about here is the decline in the major. Are my skills about to be in more demand, or as outsourcing increases, are more perceptive women fleeing a doomed profession like rats from a sinking ship?
Then again, maybe women just don’t have what it takes to make it in challenging technical fields.

Utah State Fair Commercial: Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro talk up the Utah state fair.

In days of yore, the Utah State Fair didn’t have sweet rides.

Find some more sweet ads at the official Utah State Fair website. (TV 1&3 are linked above.)

I recently found out that Harris Teeter may be the only grocery store inside the beltline (or is it beltway?) where you can buy instant cheese grits.
Some of you need to read this Wikipedia article on grits. Even I learned something.
Picture of a good southern grocery store’s grits section.
Edit: It’s not a perfectly clear picture, but can anybody identify the store by the shelf labels?
(flamdingle)

I don’t suppose that needs any explanation.
So, I’m just trying to include a post so I don’t go too long without corresponding here. (Some people get fussy if I don’t post regularly.)
Well, I’ve been working on making an rss feed for my SHOUTcast stream. When I’m done, I’ll be able to post my currently playing song on this page somewhere. I’m already using the alpha version of (I think I’ll call it…) rsSHOUTcast in conjunction with the Google Portal. Check it out if you don’t know what it is, and add a section for the CharmingGeek.net site feed.

There seems to be this thing going on with spammers and random name generators. Now I at least check my spam folder to see who’s emailing me.
Here’s a selection of senders names I gleaned from my junk mail folder.
Embarrassments Q. Grout
Uneventful H. License
Intransitive K. Statistician
Inclemency L. Thru
Infallibility H. Irony
Paperback H. Rumpled
Flatbed F. Yawl
Ribbentrop D. Perceptively
Untimeliness D. Desperado
Reinventing G. Blowout
A related link.

No relation to this picture.