Morality, disgust, and authority

Interesting Nicholas Kristof article on how conservatives and liberals don’t just think differently, they feel differently.

Would you be willing to slap your father in the face, with his permission, as part of a comedy skit?
And, second: Does it disgust you to touch the faucet in a public restroom?
Studies suggest that conservatives are more often distressed by actions that seem disrespectful of authority, such as slapping Dad. Liberals don’t worry as long as Dad has given permission.
Likewise, conservatives are more likely than liberals to sense contamination or perceive disgust. People who would be disgusted to find that they had accidentally sipped from an acquaintance’s drink are more likely to identify as conservatives.

Interesting.

For the record, yes and no.

The larger point is that liberals and conservatives often form judgments through flash intuitions that aren’t a result of a deliberative process. The crucial part of the brain for these judgments is the medial prefrontal cortex, which has more to do with moralizing than with rationality. If you damage your prefrontal cortex, your I.Q. may be unaffected, but you’ll have trouble harrumphing.
One of the main divides between left and right is the dependence on different moral values. For liberals, morality derives mostly from fairness and prevention of harm. For conservatives, morality also involves upholding authority and loyalty — and revulsion at disgust.

The article also points to YourMorals.org, which has some of the study tests on it to explore one’s basis for morality.

I did “Moral Foundations” test, one of the ones discussed in the article, and found, that, yes, there did seem to be some correlations of the sort described. I scored right alongside Liberals on the Harm and Fairness scales, and was closer to them on Purity than Conservatives. On the other hand, I ranked closer to Conservatives on the Loyalty and Authority rankings (though lower than on the Harm and Fairness scales). Hmmm.

Interesting stuff. I’ll have to do some more of those tests at some point.

‘Cause you’ve got … personality …

So we’re doing personality profiles in my boss’ workgroup, this time working with Myers-Briggs. In keeping with past testing, I came up with an INTJ combo — which happens to be the same as the Boss Man (which may be good, may be bad).

Now, Myers-Briggs (MBTI) gets a lot of flack, mostly because people consider it some sort of magic oracle (“it slices, it dices, it tells you everything you need to know about someone!”). That’s silly, but I still find it fascinating to do just because it does seem to come up with some interesting insights into both me and those around me.

I’m a very strong “I” (Introverted, rather than Extroverted), which is probably no surprise. I hate interruptions and enjoy privacy. I can compensate and chit-chat and socialize if need be, especially with friends — but I always need a lot of recharging afterwards. About half of Boss Man’s group is I (including Boss Man).

On the next one — Sensing vs iNtuition — I’m usually a very weak “N.” Practicality, explicit instructions, enjoying the familiar, being a traditionalist and a “pencil pusher” wars just a scosh unsuccessfully against telling the overall story, recognizing the gestalt, running off on tangents, and being a “big picture” guy. Most of the Boss Man’s group is also an “N,” many of them stronger than me.

In Thinking vs Feeling I’m a fairly strong “T” — as is everyone else in the Boss Man’s group (IT people — go fig). Working off of principles and rules, worrying about precedents, using logic and analysis. trying to fix problems rather than understand them, being more prone to knee-jerk criticism than appreciation … yeah, for better and worse. I always did like Mr Spock more than Dr McCoy. No wonder the HR department, “The Land of ‘F’,” as Margie calls it, is always driving me batty.

In the last quadrant, Judgment vs Perception, I am a moderate “J” (as is half of the Boss Man’s group_. I tend toward planning and order and an organized lifestyle, having my life under control, with clear limits and categories. On the other hand, I’ve grown more accepting of flexbility and spontaneity in some circumstances (my vacation planning tends to be a lot less anal than it once was). Still, though I don’t always get things done before deadlines, I worry about them a lot.

So, INTJ … close to an ISTJ, maaaaybe a bit of ISTP. Looking at the descriptions for those, a lot of it fits me. Which, being known by my peers and boss (and vice-versa), maybe means I can work with them better. That’s the plan, anyway.

Very Progressive?

Well, according to this survey, that’s how I rank — scoring 276/400, with the average American score 209.5.

I’ll confess that beyond my previous social liberalism, my economic moderate status has been provoked over the last several months. I do believe that central economic control is rarely a good idea, and it’s certainly possible for both “bread & circuises” and wishes-over-reality — not to mention governmental corruption, political hackery, and bureaucratic metastization can do great harm. While, on the other hand, competition, the marketplace of goods and ideas, the promotion of personal responsibility and entrepreneurial spirit can work wonders.

But …

The lesson of the last two decades, come home to roost in the last year, demonstrates that “survival of the fittest” in an economic sense leaves a lot more losers than winners … that corruption can manifest in unaccountable private as well as ostensibly representative public … that a rising tide doesn’t lift all ships, especially when it’s a tsunami.

In sort, there are times when government can, in fact, help. Can prevent exploitation, while not preventing innovation. Can support what individuals cannot, and the profit motive will not — while recognizing that individual achievement, and, yes, profit, can motivate powerfully and foster laudable success.

It’s a dream I have.

Dave needs …

Type “[your first name] needs” into Google’s search engine and list the first ten(ish) results. Nearly all will be amusing, but put an asterisk by the ones that are true about you.

Dave needs … a rest.*
Dave needs … help.*
Dave needs … a band.
Dave needs … a time out.
Dave needs … to chill.*
Dave needs … a little friendly help.
Dave needs … work.
Dave needs … pants.
Dave needs … servers.
Dave needs … your opinion.*
Dave needs … help walking through doors.
Dave needs … you!* [depending on who you are.]

(via Teresa)

Evidently all that blog reading and NPR listening makes me well-informed

Based on my score on the Pew “News IQ” test — 91st percentile of participants (with 11 of 12 answers correct). (The one I got wrong is the second-least likely…

Based on my score on the Pew “News IQ” test — 91st percentile of participants (with 11 of 12 answers correct). (The one I got wrong is the second-least likely question for folks to get right — though evidently that makes me and others headline-worthy.)

I suspect BD will get 100%, and perhaps DOF, but I’m not sure who else I know is enough of a news wonk to do so.

Well, just what I thought, couldn’t expect more that that …

Your result for The Deep and Meaningful Winnie-The-Pooh Character Test… Eeyore “Do you know what A means, little Piglet?” “No, Eeyore, I don’t.” “It means Learning, it means Education,…

Your result for The Deep and Meaningful Winnie-The-Pooh Character Test…

Eeyore

“Do you know what A means, little Piglet?”

“No, Eeyore, I don’t.”

“It means Learning, it means Education, it means all the things that you and Pooh haven’t got. That’s what A means.”

“Oh,” said Piglet again. “I mean, does it?” he explained quickly.

“I’m telling you. People come and go in this Forest, and they say, ‘It’s only Eeyore, so it doesn’t count.’ They walk to and fro saying ‘Ha ha!’ But do they know anything about A? They don’t. It’s just three sticks to them. But to the Educated–mark this, little Piglet–to the Educated, not meaning Poohs and Piglets, it’s a great and glorious A.

You scored as Eeyore!

ABOUT EEYORE: Eeyore lives in his own thistley corner of the forest and wonders why people don’t come to visit him more often. He is master of the Guilt Trip, and is always gently forgiving his visitors for neglecting him. Eeyore considers himself to be smarter than the other inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood, and is often exasperated by their habit of having adventures and general merriment.

WHAT THIS SAYS ABOUT YOU: You are an anxious person, and you tend to expect the worst. Your friends find you somewhat cynical at times, because you have found that it is best to expect disappointment. You often feel unappreciated by the people you work with, but you rarely actually try and do anything to change that fact.

Your close friends admire you more than you think they do. They wish that you would learn to stop worrying so much and actually start trying to fix what is bothering you. If something is making you unhappy… change it!

You scored 19 on Ego, higher than 85% of your peers.

You scored 17 on Anxiety, higher than 82% of your peers.

You scored 11 on Agency, higher than 23% of your peers.

Take The Deep and Meaningful Winnie-The-Pooh Character Test at HelloQuizzy

(via BD)

I am the very model of a Modern Spiffy Husband

So Boing-Boing ran a story a few days back: 1939 marital rating scale for wives – Boing Boing George W. Crane, MD, was a marriage counselor and wrote a…

So Boing-Boing ran a story a few days back: 1939 marital rating scale for wives – Boing Boing

George W. Crane, MD, was a marriage counselor and wrote a syndicated national newspaper column called “The Worry Clinic.” He developed a test in the late 1930s called the Marital Rating Scale — Wife’s Chart.

Actually, it turns out (due to someone who quite nicely scanned the whole thing to Flickr) that the test has both a Marital Rating Scale for Husbands and Wives. And while, mebbe, the Wifely Test is a bit more sexist than the Husbandly page, there’s plenty of … um … interesting cultural items in both categories.

One accures wifely demerits on the test for “wears red nail polish,” “wears pajamas while cooking” (or “wears pajamas instead of a nightgown”), “fails to wash top of milk bottle before opening it,” and “insists on driving the car when husband is along.” Hubbies can get demerits for “argues with or curses other rmotorists,” “objects to wife’s driving auto,” or being “angry if newspaper is disarranged.”

The test was based on interviews with 600 husbands and 600 wives, in which they listed “the chief merits and demerits” of their spouses, further weighted by Crane based on “my judgment as a psychologist and physician.” (Commentary from the APA.) And, yes, someone really needs to translate this into an online test.

For what it’s worth, doing it manually, and without going into actual scores, Margie and I both ranked as “Very Superior.” Ahem.

Now, if only she darned my socks and wouldn’t put her cold feet on me at night. *Sigh* At least we scored big-time on the “ardent” and “delighted” “marital congress” questions …

Much Ado

Your Score: Much Ado About… You scored 32% = Tragic, 46% = Comic, 42% = Romantic, 23% = Historic You Scored Much Ado About Nothing! First published in 1600,…

Your Score: Much Ado About…

You scored 32% = Tragic, 46% = Comic, 42% = Romantic, 23% = Historic

You Scored Much Ado About Nothing! First published in 1600, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s most enduring comedies, and probably his most performed to this day. Much Ado About Nothing tells the story of two pairs of would-be lovers and the hysterical events that happen surrounding the wedding. As Claudio and Hero prepare to marry, Don Pedro and his friends, bored with the length of preparation time, take it upon themselves in the meantime to play matchmaker to Benedick and Beatrice, two sharp-tongued would-be lovers whose love for each other is masked by the “merry war of words” in which they are engaged that both of them are too stubborn to lose.

Based on your results, we believe you to be a quick-witted, light-hearted romantic who is probably very charming and charismatic. While your stubbornness may sometimes get the better of you, we are confident that you always eventually come to your senses and do what’s best. You probably have a lot of friends and we like you too!

Link: The Which Shakespeare Play Are You? Test written by macbee

Huh. I actually saw that movie.

(via BD)

Eat me up, yum

It’s good to help others. (via J-Walk)…

It’s good to help others.

(via J-Walk)

Kid Stuff

Via Les: List 5 things you still do, that you did when you were a baby/little kid. Some of the below stretch “little kid”dom, but not by all that much…..

Via Les:

List 5 things you still do, that you did when you were a baby/little kid.

Some of the below stretch “little kid”dom, but not by all that much..

I still avoid bananas and raw tomatoes like the vile and disgusting things they are.
I still watch Star Trek. Though having a DVR makes it easier to time-shift.
I still sleep well at night, usually. I was (I’m told) a placid baby
I still don’t keep my desk / room clean.
I still read. A lot.

I dunno — maybe my Mom can think of a few other things. 🙂

Won’t tag anyone, but feel free to take up the thread …

Mugs

I have taken to choosing mugs as my “wow, I like this graphic / want to remember this place / want to show of my fanboyishness about this book / movie…

I have taken to choosing mugs as my “wow, I like this graphic / want to remember this place / want to show of my fanboyishness about this book / movie / TV show” icon of choice. Used to be t-shirts, but they have two big problems. (1) It’s way too easy to get too many t-shirts (just glance in my closet some time, please don’t), and (2) t-shirts, if you wear them, wear out. Then you have to get rid of them, which is sorrowful, or they go into the gardening / knock-around t-shirt drawer, which also quickly spirals into “old man living alone found crushed under pile of old t-shirts” proportions.

So I’ve changed to mugs, since they usually don’t fade much, they are useful, you can put them into peoples’ hands (or let them search through themselves), they don’t take up much space, and are generally much more durable (Jackie’s chortling maniacally right now).

We have a lot of mugs in the basement, but here’s what we have up in the kitchen cabinet at the moment. Consider this one of those personal “surveys of stuff” that either reveals all sorts of stuff about Margie and my psyche, or else is utterly boring and you should go on to the next post.

Or, maybe, I should make this one of those “meme” thangs — Besides the stock coffee cups in your dinnerware, what sort of coffee mugs do you have sitting around your house?

Far Side “Fat Woman Being Sucked into a Candy Store”
Hellboy BPRD logo.
The Tiger that Katherine drew for her art class last fall.
IX
Les Miserables (from the UK)
Stonehenge (from the UK)
Reduced Shakespeare Company “I Love My Willy” (from the UK)
Dilbert “Supermodel”
Dork Tower “Igor ‘Huzzah!'”
Mars (part of a series of planet mugs I got from the Field Museum in the late 80s)
London Transport “Mind the Gap” (from the UK)
Cheshire Cat (vanishes when the cup is empty, except for the smile)
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, with sheep logo
ZEBRA ALERT!
Starbucks “Cymru / Wales” (from the UK)
Starbucks Skyline Series One “Denver”
Starbucks “Colorado”
Starbucks “Los Angeles”
Starbucks City Scenes “Los Angeles”
9 Chickweed Lane “What is Love?”
Foglio “Ask Me About My Evil Plan”
Foglio “Winslow ‘Hi!'”
Foglio “… is a BAD PLAN!”
Foglio “Heterodyne Coffee”
Foglio “Don’t Make Me Come Over There!”
Scenic Colorado
Scenic Los Angeles*
EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival 2006 (shaped like a garden pot)
Disney – Pooh Drawing Guide
Disney – Tigger Drawing Guide
Disney “Stitch Hawaiian Coffee”
Disney “Tink Fairyland English Tea”
Disney “Tink Walt Disney World”
Disney “Many Faces of Tink”
Get Fuzzy “My and the Shirt’s Nerdnesses Stack”

*Yes, Colorado/Denver and California/LA mugs are pretty standard gifts-from-Dave’s-business-trips items.

Music, hark!

An iTunes meme via John Kovalic: How many songs total: 8,269 How many hours or days of music: 18.5 days Most recently played: “Recoil” by Kevin Riepl Most played: “Dr…

An iTunes meme via John Kovalic:

How many songs total: 8,269
How many hours or days of music: 18.5 days
Most recently played: “Recoil” by Kevin Riepl
Most played: “Dr Who – Opening Theme (Eccleston)” by Ron Granier, Murray Gold (19 times)*
Most recently added: “Not Ready to Make Nice” by the Dixie Chicks

Sort by song title:
First Song: “A” by the Barenaked Ladies
Last Song: “99 Luftballoons” by Nena

Sort by time:
Shortest Song: “Star Trek TOS – End Sting” (:05)
Longest Song: “Gwilan’s Harp” by Patrick Ball (30:05)

Sort by album:
First album: “Aa! Megami-sama – the Complete vocal Selection”
Last album: “The ’80s Hit(s) Back”
First song that comes up on Shuffle: “When You Dream” by the Barenaked Ladies

Search the following and state how many songs come up:

Death – 23
Life – 131
Love – 299
Hate – 5
You – 637
Sex – 13

Most Represented Artist: The Beatles (151 songs)

Yet another Personality Quiz

Which are, of course, an excuse for folks to talk about about themselves, in the guise of (publicly) talking “just answering the quiz.” Pandora’s meme via BD: 1) Are you…

Which are, of course, an excuse for folks to talk about about themselves, in the guise of (publicly) talking “just answering the quiz.” Pandora’s meme via BD:

1) Are you currently in a serious relationship?
A. Absotively. And quite happy to be there, too.

2) What was your dream growing up?
A. At various times a lawyer, a teacher a computer programmer, a journalist, a history professor ….

3) What talent do you wish you had?
A. I wish I were better with casual people skills.

4) If I bought you a drink what would it be?
A. At a lunch, most likely iced tea. If a soda, a diet cola (preferably a Coke Zero). If a wine, a Zinfandel (red, natch). If mixed drinks, a gin martini, very dry, with a twist.

5) Favorite vegetable?
A. Corn, most likely.

6) What was the last book you read?
A. Just today finished Jim Butcher’s latest Harry Dresden novel, White Night (review likely to follow soon).

7) What zodiac sign are you?
A. Capricorn. If one believed in such things, one would point to my relative conservatism (not so much political as existential) as proof of that.

8) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where.
A. None. Needles and other flesh-piercing bits are so not my bag, baby — and my tastes vary such that getting a tattoo is almost a guarantee for lifelong regret. I can imagine, were I not a Professional at an Engineering Company, possibly getting an ear stud, but it’s all generally unlikely.

9) Worst Habit?
A. Followin my innate fear of making a fool of myself.

10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride?
A. I generally dress nicely and look friendly, even harmless, so — assuming I actually got up the nerve to hitchhike — probably so.

11) What is your favorite sport?
A. Golf.

12) Do you have a Negative or Optimistic attitude?
A. I have an innate optimism about people and things. I also tend to be contrarian, so in the midst of other optimists, I’ll be the one pointing out all the possibilities of things going wrong.

13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
A. Engage in idle chit-chat. Talk about families, passtimes, etc. If you decided to be anti-social, I’d likely have a book with me I could read.

14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?
A. Dealing with a profoundly mentally/emotionally disturbed spouse for, oh, two years or so. Ironically, in some ways, also the best thing that ever happened to me (in terms of outcomes and personal growth).

15) Tell me one weird fact about you.
A. My brother-in-law and I were born in the same hospital — and my wife and brother were also born in the same (different) hospital, only a few weeks apart..

16) Do you have any pets?
A. Two cats, at the moment..

17) What if i showed up at your house unexpectedly?
A. Nngyeah, politeness, hey-how’s-it-going, but likely somewhat antisocial behavior in my part. I’m an introvert (people close to me roll my eyes at the understatement) and tend to react less hospitably than I think I should when thrust into social situations I’m not expecting or prepared for.

18) What was your first impression of me? (hmmm…careful!)
A. [Okay, at this point I have to presume it’s the person I inherited the quiz from.] Big smiles, sense of humor / bon mots, wide range of interests.

19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
A. Never have gotten into the scary-clowns meme.

20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
A. For the love of God, please do something about my complexion.

21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
A. Conscience, most likely.

22) What color eyes do you have?
A. Hazel.

23) Ever been arrested?
A. Nope.

24) Bottle or can soda?
A. Individual serving bottles > cans > 2L bottles.

25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?
A. Fix the thrice-bedamned sewer line problem in the front yard.

27) What’s your favorite place to hang at?
A. Home.

28) Do you believe in ghosts?
A. I am rational enough to mistrust others’ anecdotal evidence, and romantic/emotional enough to be influenced by my own.

29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
A. If pressed to a single thing, read.

30) Do you swear a lot?
A. More than I used to, and less than I used to. Having a 7-year-old daughter makes one sensitive to such things.

31) Biggest pet peeve?
A. I have a zillion of them. The first that comes to mind (though I sense it’s not the “biggest”) is kids commercials / shows where the point is to show what idiots adults / parents are. Folks who mistake aesthetics for morality are probably a bigger one, though.

32) In one word, how would you describe yourself?
A. Nice. (If I had two words, I’d probably fall back on the Douglas Adams “Mostly Harmless.”)

33) Do you believe/appreciate romance?
A. I am a hopeless romantic, yes. Though, in the face of others being romantic, that contrarian streak tends to come to the fore.

35) Do you believe in God?
A. Yup. Though I tend to be more than a scosh heterodox in what I think She’s like.

36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?
A. QED.

Come on over for dinner! I’ll supply the chianti!

37% (via j-walk) …

37%

(via j-walk)

Um, groovy, dude

You are 23% hippie. You’re not in the lowest bracket of non-hippie-hood, but you’re close. I advise a field trip to a food co-op or a farmer’s market. Do…

You are 23% hippie.

You’re not in the lowest bracket of non-hippie-hood, but you’re close. I advise a field trip to a food co-op or a farmer’s market. Do a few interviews and take notes, because there will be a quiz next week to see if you’ve learned anything.

Are you a hippie?

That’s, ah, “far out.”

(via Terry)

Privilege

This exercise was developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate…

This exercise was developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright.

To participate, bold the items that are true for you.

Father went to college – Stanford
Father finished college – I believe he had a Business degree (I know he got an MBA from Stanford Business School.
Mother went to college – Stanford
Mother finished college – Yup. Think she was a Music major (with an Ed minor?)
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor. – Don’t believe so.
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers – Pretty much the same class, so far as I knew or perceived such. My mom taught elementary school (subbed, generally), so I felt close to the “ed biz.”
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home. – Scattered about, most of the perm ones in our room.
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home – Owned? No. But we went to the library regularly, my dad had a lot of business reading to do, etc. Plenty of scanning eyeballs at home.
Were read children’s books by a parent – By my mom.
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18 – By which I assume my violin lessons count.
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18 – Don’t recall anything other than violin lessons.
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively – Racial/ethnic? Yes. Geek/nerd types? No.
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18. – Nope. At least a few years after that.
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs – For which I am tremendously grateful.
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs. – I paid for my books and my incidental expenses out of my savings, and what I earned during the year and over the summer. But those were relatively small compared to tuition and housing, so I’m going to answer Yes here (see above).
Went to a private high school – I went to a private HS for a year and a half, Damien (Catholic), mostly due to the public alternative at the time.
Went to summer camp – Oddly enough, never did. Not something people I knew did, either.
Had a private tutor before you turned 18 – Not aside from my mom giving me violin lessons.
Family vacations involved staying at hotels – Usually, at least en route.
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18 – Mostly new, but there were a few good-quality hand-me-downs along the way, as well as a few things my mom sewed from patterns.
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them – Nope. Bought my first car from my own savings, used (’71 Super-Beetle), in college.
There was original art in your house when you were a child – Not a lot, but a few small pieces, I believe.
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18 – Not until I moved into my own place, post-college.
You and your family lived in a single family house – Early on we were in a fourplex and a duplex, but we were in a single-family home by the time I was in 1st grade.
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home – Well, the bank owned it, but that’s what most folks mean by home ownership.
You had your own room as a child – Around the time I was in junior high, I moved into the guest room (though I had to give it up when guests came).
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course – I don’t think so — I took some AP courses, but nothing specific on SAT/ACT testing.
Had your own TV in your room in High School – A small b&w unit my mom won in a raffle. There was a definite trade-off between “watching the color TV” and “watching what I wanted.”
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College – Nope.
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16 – Once, when we moved down to LA, we took a trip first south by plane. Alas, I that very day had my eyes dilated, so I couldn’t see much from the window. After that, not until I was in some speech contests in high school.
Went on a cruise with your family – Not our bag, baby.
Went on more than one cruise with your family – Ditto.
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up – It wasn’t a focus of our outings, but it happened now and again, esp. history/science museums.)
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family – I knew that there were thermostats and issues of energy savings and the joys of air conditioning and all that, but nothing on the specifics. In California, “heating” per se was not as much of an issue as elsewhere.

(via BD)

Dæmon

What is your (Golden Compass-style) dæmon? Your profile reveals that you are: modest, solitary, spontaneous, humble, and fickle. You are therefore matched with the Chimpanzee Dæmon. Your Dæmon Ariel…

What is your (Golden Compass-style) dæmon?

Your profile reveals that you are: modest, solitary, spontaneous, humble, and fickle. You are therefore matched with the Chimpanzee Dæmon.

Your Dæmon Ariel is one of the 26,329 chimp Dæmons within the total population of 848,790.

Ariel is a female Dæmon, as human and Dæmon pairs are typically the opposite sex.

Okay, not quite as cool as a ferret or a snow leopard, but cool enough — and certainly one of the most “appealing” aspects of the movie.

Note that the link is to the GC official site, which requires a bit of (obvious) digging to the test. Note also that the site’s Shockwave is a horrible resource hog.

“I attack the darkness!”

I Am A: Lawful Good Human Cleric (6th Level) Ability Scores: Strength-12 Dexterity-14 Constitution-14 Intelligence-15 Wisdom-12 Charisma-12 Alignment: Lawful Good A lawful good character acts as a good person is…

I Am A: Lawful Good Human Cleric (6th Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-12
Dexterity-14
Constitution-14
Intelligence-15
Wisdom-12
Charisma-12

Alignment:
Lawful Good A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. He combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. He tells the truth, keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honor and compassion. However, lawful good can be a dangerous alignment because it restricts freedom and criminalizes self-interest.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Clerics act as intermediaries between the earthly and the divine (or infernal) worlds. A good cleric helps those in need, while an evil cleric seeks to spread his patron’s vision of evil across the world. All clerics can heal wounds and bring people back from the brink of death, and powerful clerics can even raise the dead. Likewise, all clerics have authority over undead creatures, and they can turn away or even destroy these creatures. Clerics are trained in the use of simple weapons, and can use all forms of armor and shields without penalty, since armor does not interfere with the casting of divine spells. In addition to his normal complement of spells, every cleric chooses to focus on two of his deity’s domains. These domains grants the cleric special powers, and give him access to spells that he might otherwise never learn. A cleric’s Wisdom score should be high, since this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?

I tend to think I’m a little bit more tolerant of freedom/diversity, but a bit more conventional of demeanor — but hard to argue with overall.

(via De)

A writing assignment

Another one from Terry: This comes from Stephen Leigh, who in September posted this assignment that he gives his writing students. What color is fear? Bright, actinic blue, blinding and…

Another one from Terry:

This comes from Stephen Leigh, who in September posted this assignment that he gives his writing students.

What color is fear? Bright, actinic blue, blinding and sharp.

What sound does affection make? A soft whisper.

What texture does Autumn have? Crisp and delicate.

What shape does a conversation make? An elipse, like a slot car track.

What fabric is a kitten made of? Cashmere.

What noise is made by curiosity? A bloodhound’s whuffing sound.

What is the smell of knowledge? Musty old paper, leather, fabric, and the ozone of fluorescent lighting.

How do you punctuate life? Question marks, followed by exclamation points, parentheses, elipses, and, eventually, semi-colons, before a full stop.

What does death taste like? Dry dust, lightly chilled.

If a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one there to hear it, what kind of tree is it? Fallen.

Good to know I’m some sort of elite …

What kind of Liberal am I? My Liberal Identity: You are a Reality-Based Intellectualist, also known as the liberal elite. You are a proud member of what’s known as the…

What kind of Liberal am I?

My Liberal Identity:

You are a Reality-Based Intellectualist, also known as the liberal elite. You are a proud member of what’s known as the reality-based community, where science, reason, and non-Jesus-based thought reign supreme.

Take the quiz at www.FightConservatives.com

An amusing (if not very in-depth) quiz. A number of answers gave me quite a chuckle.

(via Terry)