Porter profile picture

Porter

I am here for Dating, Friends and Networking

About Me

Fooling around with the IQ test at Tickle says the following about me:
Congratulations, Porter!
Your IQ score is 133
This number is based on a scientific formula that compares how many questions you answered correctly on the Classic IQ Test relative to others.
Your Intellectual Type is Visionary Philosopher. This means you are highly intelligent and have a powerful mix of skills and insight that can be applied in a variety of different ways. Like Plato, your exceptional math and verbal skills make you very adept at explaining things to others — and at anticipating and predicting patterns.

69%

Some Photos I took Spring '08:

In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
- Douglas Adams

It may be that the old astrologers had the truth exactly reversed, when they believed that the stars controlled the destinies of men. The time may come when men control the destinies of stars.
- Arthur C. Clarke

I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true.
- Carl Sagan

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ...'
- Issac Asimov

We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
- Richard Feynman

Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
- E.W. Dijkstra

You might however consider whether you should not unfold as a background the great privilege of habeas corpus and trial by jury, which are the supreme protection invented by the English people for ordinary individuals against the state. The power of the Executive to cast a man in prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government, whether Nazi or Communist.
- Winston Churchill

He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.
- Friedrich Nietze

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all.
- Thomas Jefferson

Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
- Benjamin Fanklin

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.
- Mahatma Gandhi

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Life's too short to drink bad beer. Oh yeah, it's also too short to eat bad food.
Booze List - Tequila - Sauza, El Tesoro (for Margs) Cabo Wabo (for drinkin). Just say no to Jose. Vodka - Belvedere for pretty much anything. Level, 3 Olives, and Gray Goose are all good too. Beer List - Stout - Murphy's, Beamish or Guinness; although when I have a couple extra Sam Smith's. Ale - Newcastle or Bass; again Sam Smith's when I can afford it. Porter - Anchor, or Sam Smith's. Others - Harpoon and Dogfish Head IPAs, Brooklyn and Tremont Ales, Chimay Grand Reserve, and anything from Thomas Hooker Wine Rack - Woodward Canyon (Cab), Hartford Court (Pino), Clicquot, Tattinger, and I'm out of Port! Food List - Abe and Louie's, Grill 23, Icarus, The Palm, Brasserie Jo, The Fedralist, Parish Cafe, Union Oyster House, Jasper White's Summer Shack, Red Bones, Anna's Taqueria, Jacob Wirth's, Brown Sugar Cafe, Looks like a lot, but it's far from exhaustive!

What can I say? Me likey my food and beverages. So - a "Panini Bar" turns out to be an amazing idea for Super Bowl Sunday. I cooked up some chicken, pork, and turkey - and picked up some fresh bread from the bakery - and prepped a bunch of other ingredients. That way people could pick and choose and make their own. In spite of being a bit of a nerd - the whole computer guru thing for a living, I can cook.

My Interests


Let Your Inner Kink Out

I'm pretty ecclectic when it comes to interests. A day at the MFA is as good as spending some time racking up some "frags" online. One thing that is fairly consistent is a definite bias toward good food and drink... There is almost nothing better than sitting down to a fine meal with friends.

I'd like to meet:

Just about anybody in my Friends section would be cool to meet! :)

So, I've noticed that most of my friends that I've added here at MySpace have been beautiful women... Oh well, what can I say? I guess I'm a pretty typical guy, and my resistance to clicking the 'add friend' button is pretty low when I'm looking at the profile of a hottie. As far as I know, it's not a crime to like to look at lots of lovely ladies! Even better when they're more than just a pretty face.

Oh, you mean famous people? Well hmmm. Bruce Lee would be cool but he's dead, and so's Albert Einstein . :( Out of people who are alive - John Cusak and his sister Joan seem really cool. The Dalai Lama or Bill Clinton or Camille Paglia have really impressed me (duh!). U2 seem like a band that you could actually hang out with without having to party all the time. Oh yeah and for less cerebral reasons I wouldn't mind hanging with Tera Patrick or Bianca Beauchamp ;)

Music:


I think it's easier to say which music I _don't_ like. I'm not usually very fond of a lot of the "new" country music. I'm partial to rock, classic rock, techno, old-school R&B, and Classical and Operas. Reggae is good, Punk, SKA too. I don't really go to many concerts though - as I'm more partial to actually being able to hear the music as opposed to being part of a group of people. Although I must say the Koto Drum group I went to see, I had no trouble hearing them!

Some specifics (in no particular order) : Jimi Hendrix, The Crystal Method, Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Presidents Of The United States of America, Morphine, Beastie Boys, Beck, The Clash, Sublime, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Lucsious Jackson, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Bob Marley, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Pearl Jam, Queen, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Santana, Propeller Heads, Lauryn Hill, James Brown, Talking Heads, The White Stripes, Dire Straits, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cypress Hill, The Doors, Green Day, Jane's Addiction, Nirvana, The Pixies, R.E.M., Public Enemy, Lou Reed, INXS, Men at Work, Elvis, The Police, Deee-Lite, Depeche Mode, Peter Gabriel, Marvin Gaye, The Grateful Dead, KMFDM, The B-52's, Tom Petty, Henry Rollins, Steppenwolf, Peter Tosh, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Animals, The Cure, De La Soul, Devo, Los Lobos, LL Cool J, Lords of Acid, The Ramones, The Prodigy, Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Otis Redding, The Bee Gees, Seal, Stone Temple Pilots, The Violent Femmes, Tower Of Power, Black Sabbath, The Zombies, David Bowie, Queens Of The Stone Age, Eminem, The Vines, Aerosmith, Tracy Chapman, The Fugees, The Foo Fighters...

Movies:

I do like a good time at the theater. Thanks be to whoever came up with ordering your tickets online and picking them up at the kiosk! Makes the theater-going experience much more tolerable. I'll happily go to see most major block-busters at the theater (The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, etc) - and a number of smaller films (The Ring, Ghost in the Shell, etc).

Some of my favorite DVDs: Unforgiven , Band of Brothers , Saving Private Ryan , Lord of the Rings , Cowboy Beebop , The Ring , The Seven Samurai , Last of the Mohicans , Office Space , Batman Begins , Shaun of the Dead , Hot Fuzz , 300 , Pan's Labyrinth , Casino Royale

Movies I'm looking forward to: The Golden Compass , Beowulf , The Dark Knight , I am Legend , 1-18-08 .

Television:

Battlestar Galactica , Heroes , The Shield , Carnivale , MI5 , The Amazing Race , Invader Zim , Drawn Together , The Daily Show , Myth Busters , Mind of Mencia , Chappelle's Show , The Pacific In production mini-series for HBO, by the same people behind Band of Brothers.

Books:

I do have a guilty pleasure when it comes to reading though... Sci-Fi. While much of the genre is not necessarily of "literary" note, some authors have really stood out: Connie Willis , Alfred Bester , Phillip K. Dick , Vernor Vinge , Orson Scott Card , Dan Simmons , Ursula K. LeGuin , Tad Williams , and George R.R. Martin . Of course even listing a few then leaves open, "why isn't X on the list?" Well because I don't have all day to type.

Of a more literary bent, authors such as Franz Kafka , Joseph Heller , Fyodor Dostoevsky (and other Russian authors - Turgenev , Gogol ), Alexandre Dumas , Gao Xing Jian , Edgar Alan Poe , Murasaki ... Again this list is incomplete - and shouldn't be considered a "top" list of any sort.

Outside of trade books (computer science) - I'm not usually a huge fan of non-fiction... the occassional Bio - Benjamin Franklin for instance, as well as history, Band of Brothers - sprinkled with various sciences, social or otherwise. Jared Diamond , Steven Jay Gould , Martin Fowler , Sun Tzu . Cook books as well - Alton Brown , and anything by the team at Cook's Illustrated .

Heroes:



Charles Darwin
has got a Posse'

Diesel Sweeties
Manages to extort a laugh outta me and put a smile on my face. Maybe that's not so heroic, but it's a start.

Other Web Comics:
PvP , Penny Arcade , Least I Could Do

Wikipedia
Anything that helps increase, expand, and preserve knowledge is a good thing.

My Blog

Long Bets

So Warren Buffett (the investor, no relation that I'm aware of to Jimmy) has made a $1,000,000.00 "Long Bet" about the performance of Hedge Funds versus the S&P 500 - once you take into account th...
Posted by Porter on Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:36:00 PST

Think long and hard

So - I've been watching the news on television, and reading the news on various web sites from various news agencies... And I keep hearing the following from women being interviewed about being upset...
Posted by Porter on Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:26:00 PST

Political Machinations and Power Grabs

OK - just for the record, any of you who thought that Hillary wasn't in the race for the sake of power alone - you can kick yourself in your own ass right now.  Yes.  I will wait for you to...
Posted by Porter on Mon, 02 Jun 2008 07:47:00 PST

Alternative Boondoggles

Interesting new blog/diary entry by Charlie Stross titled "Alternative Boondoggles" - wherein he wonders (and asks for input on) what else we could have spent the money we've wasted in Iraq.  De...
Posted by Porter on Tue, 27 May 2008 09:33:00 PST

So red chili guava margaritas are good

Yes, yes they are.OK -So grab a bottle of tequila.  A bunch of red chilies.  Slice tops of said chilies...  and infuse (soak) in the tequila for a few days.  Note - silver tequila ...
Posted by Porter on Sun, 25 May 2008 01:50:00 PST

Pork and Beans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI Very cool. Weezer makes a music video starring You Tube celebrities. Television is dead. Old media grab your ankles and kiss yourself goodbye....
Posted by Porter on Fri, 23 May 2008 02:01:00 PST

Obligatory Hot Dog Blog

With Memorial Day almost here, I feel the urge to make an obligatory post about Hot Dogs.  As Memorial Day is often considered to be the official kick-off to the out door grilling season... ...
Posted by Porter on Tue, 20 May 2008 12:22:00 PST

America. You’re doing it wrong.

Now I don't deny that we're having problems.  But this goes too far.But the future of the Dallas program is uncertain. Mr. Pottinger's company, the Center for Criminal Justice Solutions, is seeki...
Posted by Porter on Mon, 12 May 2008 12:03:00 PST

Required Reading.

OK -so I'm only 40 pages into it...  But already this is required reading for young adults and adults alike.  Cory Doctorow has followed up "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" with "Little B...
Posted by Porter on Fri, 09 May 2008 06:30:00 PST

I have now lost all respect for Ben Stein

OK -on some ocassions Ben Stein (the guy who said:  Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?) has had some good things to say in various editorial forums...  And I respected him for that.  Then came ...
Posted by Porter on Mon, 05 May 2008 12:37:00 PST