How do you feel?

I waste plenty of time on the magical interweb. Sure, I learn plenty from it but most of that stuff is probably stuff that I could live a long and happy life not knowing. I'm not talking about wanting to be ignorant and escape bad news, just that nobody really cares that "the Black slug is the only species of slug that when disturbed contracts into a hemispherical shape and starts rocking from side to side to confuse predators" (Thank you, Wikipedia).

I'm okay with using some of my energy for such inane pursuits. I think that is, in part, true because every once in a while you come across a real gem. If not a gem, then at least something that strikes you as an interesting and valuable use of your time and that of those that put it together. I think We Feel Fine might just be one of those gems. So, this site "harvests" blog postings of people talking about how they feel. To someone who has yet to unlock all the wonders of the interweb (now that they've got it on computers), that is pretty damn impressive in and of itself. But wait my friends, that is not all they have in store for us. Not only does the site pick up blog postings with words like "feelings" or "I feel" but it also captures the "feeling", be it happy or weak, big or amorphous. Impressed yet? You ain't seen nothin'. It uses some of the info built into many blogs to figure out gender, age and location. Wow, eh? Not done... it then cross-references the location with the weather report from when it was posted. It then takes all of this info and presents it in a visually stimulating way. You can just see all the feelings as colourful shapes bouncing around. Each one that you settle on with your cursor will tell you where they were, what they were feeling and what the weather was when they posted. You can select by where in the world, what the weather was, the feeling, gender, age...

Check it out. Don't be stupid like me and do it after 11pm when you need to go to sleep because you'll want to spend lots of time on it. As for me, I feel happy. I've found another gem to go along with Talk Like a Pirate Day and am happy with life outside of the glow of the computer screen. That being said, I have some feelings to explore.