CharmingGeek.net Funness

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.

This is particularly for you, Tophile:
I’ve got my Shoutcast server up and running again. Click here to listen to Brad radio.
Let me know if the bit rate is too high or low.

I made a taco casserole today. Didn’t include onions. You know why. (Although I did get a lot of helpful suggestions.)
Here are some links (mostly videos) to keep you amused until I feel like posting again.
Matrix-style ping-pong match, performed by some asians on a game show. [Google Video]
This fellow knows how to rock out the classics with this rendition of Canon in D on lead electric guitar. (If anybody wants to download and save this video, I have it here somewhere. Let me know and I’ll look for it.)
Michael Grubbs is a fat bear. [Google Video]
Hillary and Kate want an asian boyfriend for all the right reasons. [Google Video] They’ve almost talked me into wanting my very own.
Lots of classic games for you to play over at GirlStart.com Don’t ask. Just enjoy the games.
These people go a little overboard with the holiday cheer. [wmv] That’s a highly choreographed Christmas light show set to a Transiberian Orchestra song.

PS. For whatever reason, my site has now moved up to Google’s #1 result when searching for “Brad Parker” with or without the quotes. This is also true for some other engines including Yahoo and AltaVista. I’m not as successful with all the engines. Don’t know why, but I am interested in seeing how long it is before the next shuffle. I mention that particular search phrase, because it’s really the only thing consistent about my web site.