Radio/Checkbox widget for nodereference?

I know that usually people prefer the dropdown select or list select style element for selecting items like this, because they save screen real estate, however...

I have several cases where I'd like people to be able to select (especially multiple) items as related nodes, where it would be much easier and more understandable for the end user if they were able to see a list (or table) of check boxes or radio buttons. For instance, when someone is adding many items from a large list, they are a lot less likely to become confused or make errors in data entry if they can click checkboxes on and off, rather than have to control-click (or shift-click on a mac) lots of items in a tiny scrolling window.

I actually prefer menu selects to radio buttons for single-item selections, but I know that if checkboxes become available, someone will want radios also (and some people might prefer them, especially in cases where a selection menu would scroll for a zillion miles).

Yes, it does take up a large amount of screen real estate, but there are times when this feature would make things a lot easier for assigning large numbers of related nodes (or from large listings).

For instance, I have one site where people can create "extended user profile" type nodes - and on one of them, they are able to select from a large listing of interests and hobbies (another node type). Users are able to make additions to the interests listings (by submitting new interests nodes), and the results is that there are hundreds of items, which each user may select dozens of to indicate in their profile.