meme – rich text https://www.lafferty.ca Rich Lafferty's OLD blog Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:04:14 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.2 Righting the failboat https://www.lafferty.ca/2008/02/27/righting-the-failboat/ https://www.lafferty.ca/2008/02/27/righting-the-failboat/#comments Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:04:14 +0000 http://www.lafferty.ca/2008/02/27/righting-the-failboat/ You’ve probably seen this image macro before:

failboat is full of fail

The Cougar Ace suffered a ballast tank pump failure when she was dumping her origin ballast water and filling — or, I suppose, trying to fill — her ballast tanks with local water, as required before entering American waters to prevent the accidental importation of invasive marine species. When the tank emptied but didn’t fill, over she went.

With the propellor out of the water she was adrift and taking on water, and despite being filled with brand-new Mazdas, was about to be written off by her owners until they and the US Coast Guard realized she’d break up on the Alaskan coast.

So 55,000 tons of flooded floating steel had to be righted, and Wired carries the story of the men who saved the Cougar Ace.

[via Metafilter]

]]>
https://www.lafferty.ca/2008/02/27/righting-the-failboat/feed/ 3
Accent quiz meme https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/11/14/accent-quiz-meme/ https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/11/14/accent-quiz-meme/#comments Thu, 15 Nov 2007 03:52:42 +0000 http://www.lafferty.ca/2007/11/14/accent-quiz-meme/ What American accent do you have? (Best version so far)

Canadian

People from outside North America probably think you’re from the States, but over here we wouldn’t make such a mistake.

Personality Test Results Click Here to Take This Quiz
Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests. ]]> https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/11/14/accent-quiz-meme/feed/ 6 Google image meme https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/11/10/google-image-meme/ https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/11/10/google-image-meme/#comments Sun, 11 Nov 2007 02:57:54 +0000 http://www.lafferty.ca/2007/11/10/google-image-meme/ Candice just did this one and even though it requires a ridiculous amount of effort for very little gain I will do it too. It’s image-y, so it’s behind a cut.

Take your answer to each question and type it into Google Image Search. Post one of the images from the first page of results.

1. The age you will be on your next birthday:

2. A place to which you’d like to travel:

3. Your favorite place:

4. Your favorite object:

5. Your favorite food:

6. Your favorite animal:

7. Your favorite color:

8. The town in which you were born:

9. The town in which you live:

10. The name of a past pet:

11. The first name of a past love:

12. Your best friend’s nickname/screenname (had to keep this one interesting, because most of the results for “nyxie” were actually Candice-related):

13. Your nickname/screenname:

14. Your first name:

15. Your Middle name:

16. Your Last Name:

17. A Bad Habit of Yours:

18. Your first job:

19. Your grandmother’s name:

20. Your major in college:

I was hoping for better. Ah, well. You can find out what I searched for in the image filenames.

]]>
https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/11/10/google-image-meme/feed/ 2
100 random things about me https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/11/03/100-random-things-about-me/ https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/11/03/100-random-things-about-me/#comments Sun, 04 Nov 2007 04:05:53 +0000 http://www.lafferty.ca/2007/11/03/100-random-things-about-me/ Ok, here’s another one I’ve put off and put off and can’t anymore: following Candice’s example here, here’s my list of 100 things about me. All factoidy and such, but here it is.

  1. I play the Irish flute and tinwhistle.
  2. My family is complicated: my father is in his third marriage, my mother is in a long-term relationship that would’ve been her third.
  3. I have a sister and two brothers but they’re really a step-sister, step-brother and half-brother.
  4. My parents named me “Richard” because it didn’t have any family connections. At the hospital, my uncle Gary reminded everyone that his middle name was Richard.
  5. My parents and siblings and so on call me “Richard”, not “Rich”. “Rich” was just a nickname from grade school, but no-one outside my family calls me “Richard” now. It’s particularly weird that Candice’s parents call me “Rich”. They do because Candice calls me “Rich”, but they’re parents, so they should call me “Richard”. I’m really glad that I got “Rich” and not “Rick” or “Dick” though.
  6. My middle name is Thomas, after my father.
  7. I’m a non-practicing Zen Buddhist. I believe it all, I just haven’t got my practice restarted after moving to Ottawa.
  8. I lived in Montreal from 1994 to 2001. I don’t quite consider myself a Montrealer anymore but it’s still a huge influence.
  9. I moved to Ottawa in 2001 to work for a little dot-com called e-smith, which was one of the most fun jobs I’ve had. They were bought by Mitel right after I started.
  10. I never intended to be a system administrator. If anything I planned on being a university professor in sociology, an economist, or a social worker (policy level, not case level).

The rest are behind the cut:

  1. I have a class M2 motorcycle learner’s license. I have to turn it into a full M license by 2009 or it expires but I haven’t ridden in a couple of years.
  2. I am a clothes horse and shoe snob. I blame this mostly on my father, who owns a clothing store.
  3. Right now I don’t have a whole lot of clothes because I lost 20 lbs and 2″ off my waist in the first two weeks of school this year.
  4. I grew up in Belleville, Ontario. It’s a cute small city (40,000 people) but I was in a big hurry to get out of there by the end of high school.
  5. I ‘ve flown and landed a small plane solo — i.e., no-one else in the plane, not even an instructor. (A Cessna 152, in St Hubert, QC; I had my student pilot license but never finished, and I’m going to restart at some point.)
  6. My first (incomplete) degree was a B.Mus in Jazz Performance, on the double bass. I still own one, but I never play it.
  7. I switched out of music when I realized I could probably have a successful music career, but not a great one.
  8. The degree I graduated with is a B.A. (Hons) in sociology.
  9. I graduated seven years after I began. In the last few years I usually hung out with grad students, and I dated one of my TAs once. The university was surprisingly accommodating.
  10. I and a bunch of fellow students once occupied the Principal’s office at McGill for three days in protest of increases in student fees.
  11. I’m married to Candice, who I met on the Internet — specifically, on an IRC channel for people doing volunteer tech support for LiveJournal.
  12. Candice moved in with me about two weeks after we started dating because she needed a place. The plan was for her to find one and move out shortly thereafter and then that never happened.
  13. I’m… Haha, no, I’m not telling you about that yet.
  14. I’ve been on IRC regularly for thirteen years now, and in my current set of “home” IRC channels for a decade.
  15. I’m an “automotive enthusiast”. I drive a ’99 Saab 9-3. At this point I’m really sick of it, and I’m ready to get the next car any time now.
  16. Yet I’ve never driven a standard car. (Bike, yes. Not car though.)
  17. I’m a big music fan, and own about 1000 CDs and God only knows how much downloaded music. About 1/2 is rock/pop, and of the rest it’s probably 3/8 Classical, 3/8 Jazz, and 1/4 Irish music. But I own maybe 10 DVDs total.
  18. I host a web forum about tinwhistles. I used to be involved in the day-to-day running of the forum but not so much anymore.
  19. I don’t want children. In part I couldn’t trust myself with that level of responsibility, in part I don’t think I could handle birth defects or development problems at all, and in part I just don’t want the lifetime commitment.
  20. I’m a fan of good food but I don’t usually feel competent in the kitchen, unless I’m doing prep work. I’m good with a chef’s knife.
  21. I am more of a beer and scotch expert than a wine expert although I enjoy drinking all three.
  22. I’ve never broken a bone.
  23. I’ve only been hospitalized to have my adenoids (but not my tonsils) removed as a child.
  24. I was a bit crunchy in my first couple years of University.
  25. I smoked a pipe for a few years. I miss it, but mostly because of the ritual.
  26. I am an ENTP. I am a textbook ENTP.
  27. I have a very short attention span. I have (or “had” in some cases) a lot of hobbies which I never got past “dabbler” on because I got bored and moved onto the next thing.
  28. I read a lot. Mostly non-fiction. Lots of physics, economics, business, sociology, self-help, Buddhism. Of the fiction, there’s little concentrations of Beat writing and detective stories (think Raymond Chandler), otherwise it’s all over the place. And tons of magazines.
  29. I have five o’clock shadow at 9 am.
  30. I’ve never fired a gun but I’d like to.
  31. I can’t swim, at least not the way most people call “swimming”. I wouldn’t drown for a very long time but you’d laugh at me trying.
  32. I really admire octopuses. I liked them before liking octopuses was cool. A part of me really believes that their lifespan is the only reason we humans aren’t just all “workin’ for the legs”.
  33. I used to work on a crisis line. I often feel like I should do it again because I know I could still handle it.
  34. From the outside I look disorganized, but I usually get by just fine left to my own devices.
  35. I’m between jobs right now. I took a couple weeks to get my bearings after leaving school; at first I planned on going back to the IT world, then anything but, and now I’m back on the IT thing again.
  36. I have two cats. Rasha is a Birman and Mouse is a Balinese. Both are adopted from shelters — Rasha from the Montreal SPCA, Mouse from the Ottawa Humane Society. You’d think they were raised together.
  37. If I could go back and redo high school and university with the knowledge of possible professions I have now, I’d probably become a civil engineer.
  38. I live in Westboro, a trendy sort of neighbourhood in Ottawa, Canada. It’s a sleepy neighbourhood as trendy ones go, though, a little too much SUV-stroller for me, and I’d like to move somewhere a bit faster-paced.
  39. But not Montreal. I already did that once. Going back in a different context would be weird, and besides, Quebec is not a great regulatory environment for massage therapists.
  40. I dated a Jehovah’s Witness for a couple of years in high school. I wasn’t one myself but I was receptive to their message.
  41. But nowadays I’m atheist.
  42. Somehow I, uh, I know a lot of, um, power ballads. “Rain Man meets High Fidelity”, said Paul.
  43. I own a tiny toy accordion. I can play a dozen or so Irish tunes on it, enough such that I’d like to get an actual Irish button box and learn them the real way on.
  44. I used to collect vintage computers. I never had anything worth a whole lot, but I had some weird bits, like a Sun 386i. The last one to go out the door was a NeXTStation I gave away a month or so ago to a local collector who has a real collection. I’d only held onto it that long because it was the first computer (at the music faculty at McGill) that I’d used Unix on.
  45. Often people think I am Jewish. (Doubly so in Montreal.) Very, very few realize my heritage is Irish.
  46. Even when I need to be alone, I like to be alone in public, sitting in a cafe or in a busy city park or something. In Montreal I practically lived at a Second Cup just around the corner from my apartment.
  47. I was a roadie for the WWF whenever it came to Belleville when I was in high school. On one night I had to operate a spotlight after someone got sick. I know the secret of wrestling matches.
  48. I can wiggle my ears, roll my tongue, and raise a single eyebrow.
  49. I’m a pretty hairy guy. I’d have been popular in the 70s. Think Tom Selleck.
  50. In university, I was the Music Student Association’s VP External Affairs for two years, and as a result was also the Music representative to the university student union and a fellow of the University senate. 
  51. I don’t have any living grandparents. I never met my father’s father, who was killed by gunfire when he was very young.
  52. I speak very, very little French considering that I lived in Montreal. Not enough to get by in French, that’s for sure.
  53. In grade school when everyone else had a crush on Alyssa Milano mine was on Tracey Gold.
  54. I moved at least once per year from about age 7 to age 16, either one parent or the other.
  55. After my parents divorced, and alternating weeks of custody were clearly not working out, I lived with my father and visited my mother on weekends.
  56. I spent much of junior high hanging out with my cousin Scott, to the point where we might as well have been brothers.
  57. I had a huge crush on a girl from grade 7 through 11. She moved away after that. She sent me a letter once telling me that she didn’t realize how much she’d miss me and then I never heard from her again.
  58. I am a die-hard modernist. Josh Zhixel: “You sure like things that don’t look like things, mendel.”
  59. I’d like to live in a converted warehouse loft someday.
  60. Seven Habits speaks to me.
  61. For a while in university I self-identified as gay. Now, not so much. I still enjoy being fabulous.
  62. I drink a lot of coffee. A lot of coffee.
  63. I type over 120 wpm. In university I did real-time transcriptions of physics lectures for deaf students.
  64. When I was 13 or so, my father, my stepmother, and I spent two weeks touring through Europe. I remember bits and pieces of it, but none of the Big Stuff we saw.
  65. I talk very, very fast. I can’t help it, because otherwise my brain gets backed up.
  66. I have no tattoos and no piercings. I had my ear pierced in a hair salon when I was a teenager. It went very poorly. Never again.
  67. In university I was a vegetarian, but in the end it was the sausages that did me in.
  68. Nowadays I can’t eat most sausages (or most red meat), or milk, or a bunch of other things that are everywhere.
  69. I have crowns on two of my bottom molars. I had them both done at the same time, which was convenient but meant that I didn’t have a “safe” side of my mouth to eat on. It took them about 8 months to settle down completely.
  70. I eat a lot of graham crackers. I tell myself they settle my stomach but really I think they’re just comfort food.
  71. I have no debt.
  72. I’m very glad to be Canadian. I think if it weren’t for the Internet I wouldn’t care much, but I do.
  73. I do my own laundry and ironing, and I can’t imagine Candice ever doing my laundry or ironing because I’m so particular.
  74. I have never given blood because they won’t take mine.
  75. I curl. Last year I played skip on our rookie league rink and we won the league. I also won a coaching session at a curling skills contest as part of the rookies program, but I always felt weird about winning it because the scoring system let me jump ahead of the husband of one of my teammates with one lucky shot. In the end I beat him by one point. I should really just give him the gift certificate.
  76. I’ve skydived before, a tandem jump from 10,000′. It was fun, and I’m glad I did the tandem jump first to experience freefall. I can’t imagine going through all of the training just to do it alone though.
  77. I don’t have favourites of the things most people have favourites of. Food, music, restaurant, movie, and so on? Too many good things to have one that stands out.
  78. If not for an alarm clock or guilt I would spend the entire day in bed. Even then I use the “sleep” function so often it’s really surprising I still have a wife.
  79. I knew how to sew in junior high, but I’ve forgotten everything. I’d like to get a sewing machine to be able to do alterations because otherwise I’m going to make a tailor a very rich man. “Another half-inch in the sleeves, Renaldo.”
  80. I’m slightly, slightly (suspected/self-diag) obsessive-compulsive. I never noticed this on my own, but Candice pointed it out to me very quickly and often. I straighten things.
  81. I have boycrushes off and on. The big one is on Rufus Wainwright.
  82. I feel like I have a responsibility to improve the condition of the world and I have no idea where to start.
  83. I had bright blue hair for a while in university, and then bright unnatural orange for a while after that.
  84. I used to be very weirded out by death. Candice got to visit the cadaver lab at the U of Ottawa when she was in massage school, and I couldn’t stand to hear about it. I realized that that was silly and got over it. Last summer we went to Body Worlds and it was great.
  85. For years and years I wore red low-top Converse Chuck Taylors, but I haven’t in years. When a former coworker of mine found out I’d left the MBA program, she told me she’d always figured me more of a red chucks sort of guy than a business suit.
  86. I love intense weather. Thunderstorms, blizzards, high winds, all that. I’d be a stormchaser if I lived somewhere one chases storms.
  87. I was supposed to wear braces for years, but I was already the unpopular kid in my junior high so I wore my headgear pretty much 24/7 and they were off within a year.
  88. I have a big head in some specific way I can’t quite put my finger on. “One size fits all” hats are too small, but in sized hats I take a large, not an extra-large.
  89. In my first summer of university, I was working back in Belleville, but I missed Montreal so much that I drove up every weekend and lived out of my van, parked in the university residence parking lot.
  90. I enjoy playing video games but I rarely finish them.
  91. I did this list in a single sitting, over the course of four hours and one bottle of wine.
]]>
https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/11/03/100-random-things-about-me/feed/ 4
Some personality tests https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/10/05/some-personality-tests/ Fri, 05 Oct 2007 13:51:52 +0000 http://www.lafferty.ca/2007/10/05/some-personality-tests/ Between Organizational Behavior/HR class, in which we learn about psychological tests, and all the stuff going on at school and at home, in which I’ve been doing them, I, uh.. I’ve done some psychological tests, is what I’m getting at.

You probably already have figured out that I am a MBTI ENTP. The description fits me to an NT. I’ve always tested as ENTP, so that’s pretty stable.

But Candice and Trevor did the IPIP NEO-PI, which came up recently in OB/HR and which you can take here, so I figured I’d do it too. I did the full 300-question version.

The results are very long and are very <pre>-heavy so I’ve put it behind a cut. It still displays kind of ugly but it’s legible at least.

Extraversion

Extraversion is marked by pronounced engagement with the external world. Extraverts enjoy being with people, are full of energy, and often experience positive emotions. They tend to be enthusiastic, action-oriented, individuals who are likely to say “Yes!” or “Let’s go!” to opportunities for excitement. In groups they like to talk, assert themselves, and draw attention to themselves. Introverts lack the exuberance, energy, and activity levels of extraverts. They tend to be quiet, low-key, deliberate, and disengaged from the social world. Their lack of social involvement should not be interpreted as shyness or depression; the introvert simply needs less stimulation than an extravert and prefers to be alone. The independence and reserve of the introvert is sometimes mistaken as unfriendliness or arrogance. In reality, an introvert who scores high on the agreeableness dimension will not seek others out but will be quite pleasant when approached.

  
Domain/Facet........... Score 0--------10--------20--------30--------40--------50--------60--------70--------80--------90--------99 
EXTRAVERSION...............85 ************************************************************************************* 
..Friendliness.............93 ********************************************************************************************* 
..Gregariousness...........70 ********************************************************************** 
..Assertiveness............94 ********************************************************************************************** 
..Activity Level...........40 **************************************** 
..Excitement-Seeking.......41 ***************************************** 
..Cheerfulness.............94 ********************************************************************************************** 

Your score on Extraversion is high, indicating you are sociable, outgoing, energetic, and lively. You prefer to be around people much of the time.

Extraversion Facets

  • Friendliness. Friendly people genuinely like other people and openly demonstrate positive feelings toward others. They make friends quickly and it is easy for them to form close, intimate relationships. Low scorers on Friendliness are not necessarily cold and hostile, but they do not reach out to others and are perceived as distant and reserved. Your level of friendliness is high.
  • Gregariousness. Gregarious people find the company of others pleasantly stimulating and rewarding. They enjoy the excitement of crowds. Low scorers tend to feel overwhelmed by, and therefore actively avoid, large crowds. They do not necessarily dislike being with people sometimes, but their need for privacy and time to themselves is much greater than for individuals who score high on this scale. Your level of gregariousness is high.
  • Assertiveness. High scorers Assertiveness like to speak out, take charge, and direct the activities of others. They tend to be leaders in groups. Low scorers tend not to talk much and let others control the activities of groups. Your level of assertiveness is high.
  • Activity Level. Active individuals lead fast-paced, busy lives. They move about quickly, energetically, and vigorously, and they are involved in many activities. People who score low on this scale follow a slower and more leisurely, relaxed pace. Your activity level is average.
  • Excitement-Seeking. High scorers on this scale are easily bored without high levels of stimulation. They love bright lights and hustle and bustle. They are likely to take risks and seek thrills. Low scorers are overwhelmed by noise and commotion and are adverse to thrill-seeking. Your level of excitement-seeking is average.
  • Cheerfulness. This scale measures positive mood and feelings, not negative emotions (which are a part of the Neuroticism domain). Persons who score high on this scale typically experience a range of positive feelings, including happiness, enthusiasm, optimism, and joy. Low scorers are not as prone to such energetic, high spirits. Your level of positive emotions is high.

Agreeableness

Agreeableness reflects individual differences in concern with cooperation and social harmony. Agreeable individuals value getting along with others. They are therefore considerate, friendly, generous, helpful, and willing to compromise their interests with others’. Agreeable people also have an optimistic view of human nature. They believe people are basically honest, decent, and trustworthy. Disagreeable individuals place self-interest above getting along with others. They are generally unconcerned with others’ well-being, and therefore are unlikely to extend themselves for other people. Sometimes their skepticism about others’ motives causes them to be suspicious, unfriendly, and uncooperative.

Agreeableness is obviously advantageous for attaining and maintaining popularity. Agreeable people are better liked than disagreeable people. On the other hand, agreeableness is not useful in situations that require tough or absolute objective decisions. Disagreeable people can make excellent scientists, critics, or soldiers.

  
Domain/Facet........... Score 0--------10--------20--------30--------40--------50--------60--------70--------80--------90--------99 
AGREEABLENESS..............37 ************************************* 
..Trust....................74 ************************************************************************** 
..Morality.................13 ************* 
..Altruism.................52 **************************************************** 
..Cooperation..............26 ************************** 
..Modesty..................3 *** 
..Sympathy.................86 ************************************************************************************** 

Your level of Agreeableness is average, indicating some concern with others’ Needs, but, generally, unwillingness to sacrifice yourself for others.

Agreeableness Facets

  • Trust. A person with high trust assumes that most people are fair, honest, and have good intentions. Persons low in trust see others as selfish, devious, and potentially dangerous. Your level of trust is high.
  • Morality. High scorers on this scale see no need for pretense or manipulation when dealing with others and are therefore candid, frank, and sincere. Low scorers believe that a certain amount of deception in social relationships is necessary. People find it relatively easy to relate to the straightforward high-scorers on this scale. They generally find it more difficult to relate to the unstraightforward low-scorers on this scale. It should be made clear that low scorers are not unprincipled or immoral; they are simply more guarded and less willing to openly reveal the whole truth. Your level of morality is low.
  • Altruism. Altruistic people find helping other people genuinely rewarding. Consequently, they are generally willing to assist those who are in need. Altruistic people find that doing things for others is a form of self-fulfillment rather than self-sacrifice. Low scorers on this scale do not particularly like helping those in need. Requests for help feel like an imposition rather than an opportunity for self-fulfillment. Your level of altruism is average.
  • Cooperation. Individuals who score high on this scale dislike confrontations. They are perfectly willing to compromise or to deny their own needs in order to get along with others. Those who score low on this scale are more likely to intimidate others to get their way. Your level of compliance is low.
  • Modesty. High scorers on this scale do not like to claim that they are better than other people. In some cases this attitude may derive from low self-confidence or self-esteem. Nonetheless, some people with high self-esteem find immodesty unseemly. Those who are willing to describe themselves as superior tend to be seen as disagreeably arrogant by other people. Your level of modesty is low.
  • Sympathy. People who score high on this scale are tenderhearted and compassionate. They feel the pain of others vicariously and are easily moved to pity. Low scorers are not affected strongly by human suffering. They pride themselves on making objective judgments based on reason. They are more concerned with truth and impartial justice than with mercy. Your level of tender-mindedness is high.

Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness concerns the way in which we control, regulate, and direct our impulses. Impulses are not inherently bad; occasionally time constraints require a snap decision, and acting on our first impulse can be an effective response. Also, in times of play rather than work, acting spontaneously and impulsively can be fun. Impulsive individuals can be seen by others as colorful, fun-to-be-with, and zany. Nonetheless, acting on impulse can lead to trouble in a number of ways. Some impulses are antisocial. Uncontrolled antisocial acts not only harm other members of society, but also can result in retribution toward the perpetrator of such impulsive acts. Another problem with impulsive acts is that they often produce immediate rewards but undesirable, long-term consequences. Examples include excessive socializing that leads to being fired from one’s job, hurling an insult that causes the breakup of an important relationship, or using pleasure-inducing drugs that eventually destroy one’s health.

Impulsive behavior, even when not seriously destructive, diminishes a person’s effectiveness in significant ways. Acting impulsively disallows contemplating alternative courses of action, some of which would have been wiser than the impulsive choice. Impulsivity also sidetracks people during projects that require organized sequences of steps or stages. Accomplishments of an impulsive person are therefore small, scattered, and inconsistent.

A hallmark of intelligence, what potentially separates human beings from earlier life forms, is the ability to think about future consequences before acting on an impulse. Intelligent activity involves contemplation of long-range goals, organizing and planning routes to these goals, and persisting toward one’s goals in the face of short-lived impulses to the contrary. The idea that intelligence involves impulse control is nicely captured by the term prudence, an alternative label for the Conscientiousness domain. Prudent means both wise and cautious. Persons who score high on the Conscientiousness scale are, in fact, perceived by others as intelligent.

The benefits of high conscientiousness are obvious. Conscientious individuals avoid trouble and achieve high levels of success through purposeful planning and persistence. They are also positively regarded by others as intelligent and reliable. On the negative side, they can be compulsive perfectionists and workaholics. Furthermore, extremely conscientious individuals might be regarded as stuffy and boring. Unconscientious people may be criticized for their unreliability, lack of ambition, and failure to stay within the lines, but they will experience many short-lived pleasures and they will never be called stuffy.

  
Domain/Facet........... Score 0--------10--------20--------30--------40--------50--------60--------70--------80--------90--------99 
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS..........22 ********************** 
..Self-Efficacy............45 ********************************************* 
..Orderliness..............23 *********************** 
..Dutifulness..............57 ********************************************************* 
..Achievement-Striving.....38 ************************************** 
..Self-Discipline..........4 **** 
..Cautiousness.............29 ***************************** 

Your score on Conscientiousness is low, indicating you like to live for the moment and do what feels good now. Your work tends to be careless and disorganized.

Conscientiousness Facets

  • Self-Efficacy. Self-Efficacy describes confidence in one’s ability to accomplish things. High scorers believe they have the intelligence (common sense), drive, and self-control necessary for achieving success. Low scorers do not feel effective, and may have a sense that they are not in control of their lives. Your level of self-efficacy is average.
  • Orderliness. Persons with high scores on orderliness are well-organized. They like to live according to routines and schedules. They keep lists and make plans. Low scorers tend to be disorganized and scattered. Your level of orderliness is low.
  • Dutifulness. This scale reflects the strength of a person’s sense of duty and obligation. Those who score high on this scale have a strong sense of moral obligation. Low scorers find contracts, rules, and regulations overly confining. They are likely to be seen as unreliable or even irresponsible. Your level of dutifulness is average.
  • Achievement-Striving. Individuals who score high on this scale strive hard to achieve excellence. Their drive to be recognized as successful keeps them on track toward their lofty goals. They often have a strong sense of direction in life, but extremely high scores may be too single-minded and obsessed with their work. Low scorers are content to get by with a minimal amount of work, and might be seen by others as lazy. Your level of achievement striving is average.
  • Self-Discipline. Self-discipline-what many people call will-power-refers to the ability to persist at difficult or unpleasant tasks until they are completed. People who possess high self-discipline are able to overcome reluctance to begin tasks and stay on track despite distractions. Those with low self-discipline procrastinate and show poor follow-through, often failing to complete tasks-even tasks they want very much to complete. Your level of self-discipline is low.
  • Cautiousness. Cautiousness describes the disposition to think through possibilities before acting. High scorers on the Cautiousness scale take their time when making decisions. Low scorers often say or do first thing that comes to mind without deliberating alternatives and the probable consequences of those alternatives. Your level of cautiousness is low.

Neuroticism

Freud originally used the term neurosis to describe a condition marked by mental distress, emotional suffering, and an inability to cope effectively with the normal demands of life. He suggested that everyone shows some signs of neurosis, but that we differ in our degree of suffering and our specific symptoms of distress. Today neuroticism refers to the tendency to experience negative feelings. Those who score high on Neuroticism may experience primarily one specific negative feeling such as anxiety, anger, or depression, but are likely to experience several of these emotions. People high in neuroticism are emotionally reactive. They respond emotionally to events that would not affect most people, and their reactions tend to be more intense than normal. They are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and minor frustrations as hopelessly difficult. Their negative emotional reactions tend to persist for unusually long periods of time, which means they are often in a bad mood. These problems in emotional regulation can diminish a neurotic’s ability to think clearly, make decisions, and cope effectively with stress. At the other end of the scale, individuals who score low in neuroticism are less easily upset and are less emotionally reactive. They tend to be calm, emotionally stable, and free from persistent negative feelings. Freedom from negative feelings does not mean that low scorers experience a lot of positive feelings; frequency of positive emotions is a component of the Extraversion domain.

  
Domain/Facet........... Score 0--------10--------20--------30--------40--------50--------60--------70--------80--------90--------99 
NEUROTICISM................46 ********************************************** 
..Anxiety..................42 ****************************************** 
..Anger....................61 ************************************************************* 
..Depression...............62 ************************************************************** 
..Self-Consciousness.......12 ************ 
..Immoderation.............35 *********************************** 
..Vulnerability............66 ****************************************************************** 

Your score on Neuroticism is average, indicating that your level of emotional reactivity is typical of the general population. Stressful and frustrating situations are somewhat upsetting to you, but you are generally able to get over these feelings and cope with these situations.

Neuroticism Facets

  • Anxiety. The “fight-or-flight” system of the brain of anxious individuals is too easily and too often engaged. Therefore, people who are high in anxiety often feel like something dangerous is about to happen. They may be afraid of specific situations or be just generally fearful. They feel tense, jittery, and nervous. Persons low in Anxiety are generally calm and fearless. Your level of anxiety is average.
  • Anger. Persons who score high in Anger feel enraged when things do not go their way. They are sensitive about being treated fairly and feel resentful and bitter when they feel they are being cheated. This scale measures the tendency to feel angry; whether or not the person expresses annoyance and hostility depends on the individual’s level on Agreeableness. Low scorers do not get angry often or easily. Your level of anger is average.
  • Depression. This scale measures the tendency to feel sad, dejected, and discouraged. High scorers lack energy and have difficult initiating activities. Low scorers tend to be free from these depressive feelings. Your level of depression is average.
  • Self-Consciousness. Self-conscious individuals are sensitive about what others think of them. Their concern about rejection and ridicule cause them to feel shy and uncomfortable abound others. They are easily embarrassed and often feel ashamed. Their fears that others will criticize or make fun of them are exaggerated and unrealistic, but their awkwardness and discomfort may make these fears a self-fulfilling prophecy. Low scorers, in contrast, do not suffer from the mistaken impression that everyone is watching and judging them. They do not feel nervous in social situations. Your level or self-consciousness is low.
  • Immoderation. Immoderate individuals feel strong cravings and urges that they have have difficulty resisting. They tend to be oriented toward short-term pleasures and rewards rather than long- term consequences. Low scorers do not experience strong, irresistible cravings and consequently do not find themselves tempted to overindulge. Your level of immoderation is average.
  • Vulnerability. High scorers on Vulnerability experience panic, confusion, and helplessness when under pressure or stress. Low scorers feel more poised, confident, and clear-thinking when stressed. Your level of vulnerability is average.

Openness to Experience

Openness to Experience describes a dimension of cognitive style that distinguishes imaginative, creative people from down-to-earth, conventional people. Open people are intellectually curious, appreciative of art, and sensitive to beauty. They tend to be, compared to closed people, more aware of their feelings. They tend to think and act in individualistic and nonconforming ways. Intellectuals typically score high on Openness to Experience; consequently, this factor has also been called Culture or Intellect. Nonetheless, Intellect is probably best regarded as one aspect of openness to experience. Scores on Openness to Experience are only modestly related to years of education and scores on standard intelligent tests. Another characteristic of the open cognitive style is a facility for thinking in symbols and abstractions far removed from concrete experience. Depending on the individual’s specific intellectual abilities, this symbolic cognition may take the form of mathematical, logical, or geometric thinking, artistic and metaphorical use of language, music composition or performance, or one of the many visual or performing arts. People with low scores on openness to experience tend to have narrow, common interests. They prefer the plain, straightforward, and obvious over the complex, ambiguous, and subtle. They may regard the arts and sciences with suspicion, regarding these endeavors as abstruse or of no practical use. Closed people prefer familiarity over novelty; they are conservative and resistant to change.

Openness is often presented as healthier or more mature by psychologists, who are often themselves open to experience. However, open and closed styles of thinking are useful in different environments. The intellectual style of the open person may serve a professor well, but research has shown that closed thinking is related to superior job performance in police work, sales, and a number of service occupations.

  
Domain/Facet........... Score 0--------10--------20--------30--------40--------50--------60--------70--------80--------90--------99 
OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE.....99 *************************************************************************************************** 
..Imagination..............94 ********************************************************************************************** 
..Artistic Interests.......89 ***************************************************************************************** 
..Emotionality.............89 ***************************************************************************************** 
..Adventurousness..........92 ******************************************************************************************** 
..Intellect................91 ******************************************************************************************* 
..Liberalism...............98 ************************************************************************************************** 

Your score on Openness to Experience is high, indicating you enjoy novelty, variety, and change. You are curious, imaginative, and creative.

Openness Facets

  • Imagination. To imaginative individuals, the real world is often too plain and ordinary. High scorers on this scale use fantasy as a way of creating a richer, more interesting world. Low scorers are on this scale are more oriented to facts than fantasy. Your level of imagination is high.
  • Artistic Interests. High scorers on this scale love beauty, both in art and in nature. They become easily involved and absorbed in artistic and natural events. They are not necessarily artistically trained nor talented, although many will be. The defining features of this scale are interest in, and appreciation of natural and artificial beauty. Low scorers lack aesthetic sensitivity and interest in the arts. Your level of artistic interests is high.
  • Emotionality. Persons high on Emotionality have good access to and awareness of their own feelings. Low scorers are less aware of their feelings and tend not to express their emotions openly. Your level of emotionality is high.
  • Adventurousness. High scorers on adventurousness are eager to try new activities, travel to foreign lands, and experience different things. They find familiarity and routine boring, and will take a new route home just because it is different. Low scorers tend to feel uncomfortable with change and prefer familiar routines. Your level of adventurousness is high.
  • Intellect. Intellect and artistic interests are the two most important, central aspects of openness to experience. High scorers on Intellect love to play with ideas. They are open-minded to new and unusual ideas, and like to debate intellectual issues. They enjoy riddles, puzzles, and brain teasers. Low scorers on Intellect prefer dealing with either people or things rather than ideas. They regard intellectual exercises as a waste of time. Intellect should not be equated with intelligence. Intellect is an intellectual style, not an intellectual ability, although high scorers on Intellect score slightly higher than low-Intellect individuals on standardized intelligence tests. Your level of intellect is high.
  • Liberalism. Psychological liberalism refers to a readiness to challenge authority, convention, and traditional values. In its most extreme form, psychological liberalism can even represent outright hostility toward rules, sympathy for law-breakers, and love of ambiguity, chaos, and disorder. Psychological conservatives prefer the security and stability brought by conformity to tradition. Psychological liberalism and conservatism are not identical to political affiliation, but certainly incline individuals toward certain political parties. Your level of liberalism is high.
]]>
Make my funk the P-Funk https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/07/11/make-my-funk-the-p-funk/ https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/07/11/make-my-funk-the-p-funk/#comments Wed, 11 Jul 2007 14:56:55 +0000 http://www.lafferty.ca/2007/07/11/make-my-funk-the-p-funk/ Last night at Bluesfest: George Clinton! George and his P-Funk All-Stars put on a great show last night despite a smallish and subdued crowd, half of whom who have apparently never seen George Clinton! Judging by the people around us and the SMS messages on the big screen beside the stage, a significant minority of the crowd mistook “Doo Wop” Shider, diaper-clad P-Funk guitarist and vocalist, for Clinton, who came on stage around the third or fourth tune. There was a noticeable round of mumbling confusion when Clinton finally appeared. But it was a good show with no lawnchair issues.

George Clinton at the Ottawa Bluesfest 2007 - photo by flickr user bouche
(Photo by Mike Bouchard)

The great part about George Clinton is that it’s so unrehearsed. Everyone on stage — and there’s a lot of them — is just up there playing (or perhaps strutting around in a pimp outfit, but it’s P-Funk). I think Ottawa is probably the whitest city I’ve ever watched funk in, though. Easily two-thirds of the crowd was hardly moving at all, and I think Clinton got annoyed a couple times after trying to get the crowd screaming and dancing.

(And about that screen: You can send SMS messages to a short code to have them appear on a ticker at the bottom of the video screen beside the stage, and I’ve been entertaining myself by trying to get Internet memes from a certain place up there to see if anyone else in the audience returns with related ones. I tried but could not get SO I HERD U LIEK MUDKIPS last night, but I did get a LOL WUT, a POOL’S CLOSED DUE TO FUNK, and a SHOE ON HEAD! up, the latter of which inspired a DO A BARREL ROLL and a A CAT IS FINE TOO from someone else in the crowd. I am determined to get MUDKIPS up there by week’s end.)

As a study in contrasts, tonight we’re seeing Cat Power on the smaller Rogers stage at 8. It’s always easy to get right up to the Rogers stage so that should be a good show providing she decides to perform at all, which is always a question with Cat Power, although she’s apparently much better about it now than earlier in her career.

(Speaking of contrasts, immediately before George Clinton was Randy Newman, who I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to see but who was fun to listen to anyhow. When he wasn’t playing tunes that scream “Randy Newman”, he actually reminded me a bit of Dr. John, which is always a good thing.)

]]>
https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/07/11/make-my-funk-the-p-funk/feed/ 2
lolfeeds https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/05/31/lolfeeds/ Fri, 01 Jun 2007 01:31:06 +0000 http://www.lafferty.ca/2007/05/31/lolfeeds/ LOLfeeds turns any RSS feed into cat macros. For example: yours truly, Ask Metafilter, or Craigslist personals.

]]>
Fine, I give in. https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/05/24/fine-i-give-in/ https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/05/24/fine-i-give-in/#comments Fri, 25 May 2007 01:29:52 +0000 http://www.lafferty.ca/2007/05/24/fine-i-give-in/ Ok, I’m giving in. I’m on goddamn Facebook now. Here’s my profile. If you know me, add me as a friend so I won’t be a wallflower anymore.

Am I going to regret this? Jesus, there are people from my highschool there. WHAT IF THEY FIND ME

]]>
https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/05/24/fine-i-give-in/feed/ 4
yes, another https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/05/21/yes-another/ https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/05/21/yes-another/#comments Tue, 22 May 2007 00:15:13 +0000 http://www.lafferty.ca/2007/05/21/yes-another/ Because this was clearly miscaptioned:

FAIL cheesecat

Seriously, though, it’s like icanhascheezburger doesn’t even know about the cat macro 4chan connection. (Specifically, this “tutorial” makes me think they’re just making things up as they go.)

]]>
https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/05/21/yes-another/feed/ 12
I has a cat macro https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/04/13/i-has-a-cat-macro/ https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/04/13/i-has-a-cat-macro/#comments Sat, 14 Apr 2007 04:57:27 +0000 http://www.lafferty.ca/2007/04/13/i-has-a-cat-macro/ sup

 

]]>
https://www.lafferty.ca/2007/04/13/i-has-a-cat-macro/feed/ 1