I spring cleaned my computer, and redesigned it for the new spring season. This is why I love Linux’s customization!
Monthly Archives: March 2008
Wednesday, I took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a popular personality test, with a group of about forty other people. Personality tests* used to frighten me because of their unnatural ability to describe me to a T. I considered them to be creepy, invading—how the heck do they know so much about me? I also wasn’t fond of the fact that I was able to be shelved so well into a predefined category—that meant that there were others just like me, ruining the “I’m so unique!” ideology that I learned in first grade when we made paper snowflakes. Recently, I’ve grown to appreciate them, not because of the deep insights I learn about myself, but because of the extraordinary powers of manipulation I can derive from the tests. As I learn more about the different types of people, I also learn what makes them tick, what turns them on, and what makes them cry. The ability to exploit others by knowing which buttons to push and what pressure points to attack is nifty.
While I won’t divulge the results of my test or my specific personality type for fear of being exploited myself (I’m such a hypocrite), I will admit that I was quite pleased with the results. The portrait for my certain type was 98% accurate. Still, I’m not sure what to think about this particular personality test. After researching the Myers-Briggs test, I discovered that only 47% of those who take the test again score the same. Others say that this test (and other personality tests) can cause confirmation bias, the tendency to interpret any given information in a way that reinforces one’s inclinations while ignoring or discarding any contradicting evidence or information. It can also lead to the Forer effect, where individuals interpret broad, general statements as statements specifically for them. (The Forer effect can also be observed in fortune cookies and horoscopes.) Still, the Myers-Briggs test did provide me with accurate information, so I’m not really too concerned about it.
What does concern (and annoy me) about questionnaires like this is the extreme way people apply their results. It’s been two days since we took the MBTI, and I still hear people coming up with the stupidest applications. For example:
Rob: I finally figured out why people don’t seem to like me!
Me: Oh really?
Rob: Yeah. I’m an ESFJ. The majority of my peers are ENFPs. I don’t think the two types get along.
Me: Oh. I had always thought it was because you talk too much and never give anyone a chance to—
Rob: You think I talk to much? You must be an INTJ. You’re too critical.
Me: Actually, I am an—
Rob: Yeah, you’re definitely an “I.” That’s for introvert.
Me: I know, we have the same—
Rob: I guess your people and my people just don’t get along.
Me: “My people?”
Rob: You have “J” qualities too. Always over-analyzing and turning everything into a racial slur.
Me: What?
Or:
Jaylan: No wonder we broke up.
Me: What?
Jaylan: Me and Eric. We’re totally different types. We SO wouldn’t have lasted as a couple. None of our letters are even the same.
Me: Didn’t you dump him for Brian?
Jaylan: Oh yeah! Thanks for reminding me; I need to see what type he is. I bet we share at least three of the same letters.
Me: I hope so; it’d suck if you had to dump him because you only shared a single “E.”
Jaylan: Oh, don’t be dumb. It’s only a stupid personality test.
These are the types of people I want to exploit.
The first colorwar challenge has begun.
The great zefrank is behind it, so you know it’s going to be awesome.
I’m constantly being reminded just how screwed up the human race is. For the smartest living things in the universe, we really are quite stupid. Not only are we stupid, we’re cruel, heartless jerks who will do anything for entertainment at the expense of others.
Today I’m particularly piqued at radio hosts.
I’m sure we all remember last year’s Wii Water-drinking contest. The levels of stupidity involved in this obtuse stunt is unfathomable. It’s one thing to promote asinine, dangerous forms of entertainment if you don’t know about its harmful effects (then you’re just ignorant, or dumb), but it’s another to continue to promote such behavior after being warned of the consequences (then you’re a douche).
A more recent example (the one that triggered this post), though not fatal, is as equally repulsive as the Wii incident. A couple of inane DJs promised a woman Kanye West tickets if she would convince her husband that their 9-year child did not belong to him. Great job, guys. Way to ruin a marriage.
Of course, it would be unfair to entirely blame DJs for either of these unfortunate circumstances. While I’m sad about the death of Jennifer Strange, and even sadder for her son (he won’t ever be able to experience the joy of a Wii), she deserves a Darwin award for her foolish actions. She should have known better. The couple with an inevitable divorce were both at fault–the wife shouldn’t have been so cruel, and the husband…indeed, the husband had some skeletons in his closet. Both the hosts and the people involved share the blame in each situation. Both sides were stupid. Like all of us, they were stupid.
Actually, I take that last sentence back. We’re not all stupid. Some of us have enough sense to think through our decisions and see their consequences. I hope that you are smart enough to discern your actions. Learn from the mistakes of others. Don’t be stupid. Don’t be a douchebag.
(Yeah, I intentionally left Imus out of this one. Jesse Jackson has enough spit flying Imus’s way for me to worry/care about him.)
My article is now my own. The offending account has been suspended. I am appeased.
Thanks to Jonathan at Plagiarism Today for his help. The detailed information and DMCA templates on his site proved very useful. I owe him big time.
I’ll be sleeping well tonight.
To celebrate Diesel Sweetie’s 8th Anniversary, Richard Stevens will “be releasing his entire webcomic archive in ten volumes.” Released under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial license, the volumes will be available on volume per week for ten weeks, with a special art book released at the end of the ten weeks. Although the official date for this ingenious project’s beginning is tomorrow, March 12, Stevens has released the first volume of his work a day early.
I admire Richard Stevens for his willingness to distribute his artwork freely. This act of kindness serves as comfort to me during my current “copyright infringement crisis.” Creative Commons works wonders; it is my wish that everyone complies to the license and uses his works in ways that will both provide laughter to many and increase Stevens’s fame.
Props to you, Stevens.
Links:
Someone has stolen my last article and used it on their site.
http://www.linukx.com/miis-for-linux/
As you can see, the person blatantly copied my article without giving any credit or asking for my consent.
Yeah, I’m ticked.
Quite a few months ago, I created my first Mii for the Nintendo Wii. Even though I spent hours tweaking all of the features of my character and yet came up with not-so-satisfying results, I enjoyed the feeling of being able to create an extremely exaggerated cartoon version of myself. I wondered if there was any program for Linux that allowed you to do similar things. After a bit of searching, I discovered MeMaker, a new program that enables users to create caricatures of themselves.
When I first played around with MeMaker, I was disappointed with its lack of features and its somewhat confusing interface. Now, months later, MeMaker has more options set and better interface. MeMaker’s features are divided into “styles,” with each style representing a different artwork style. The current feature set held my attention for a quite a while, and I’m sure that as more people contribute artwork, I’ll be spending a lot more time creating random avatars for no reason at all.
While the upcoming version of Ubuntu, Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron), will have MeMaker packages included in the repositories for easy installation, Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) doesn’t have a .deb package that I know of, meaning that you’ll have to install it from source. Don’t worry, the process isn’t very complicated at all:
First, install the required bzr and python-lxml packages.
sudo apt-get install bzr python-lxml
Next, create and navigate to a directory where you can grab the source code.
bzr co http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~encompass/memaker/trunk memaker
Next, run MeMaker! There’s nothing to install, so you’ll have to browse to the directory each time you want to run the program (unless you create a shortcut).
cd memaker/src/
python memaker.py
Have fun modeling! Here are some of my quick impromptu creations.
If you have any questions, or see any mistakes in my instructions, leave me a comment and I’ll do my best to get things straightened out.
I’ve noticed a trend developing among my fellow “hxcChristian” friends. In conversations about our maturity in the faith, they tend to use semi-erotic phrases to describe their relationship with Christ.
“I want to be intimate with you, Lord.”
“Jesus and I are lovers.”
“We kiss you passionately with our praise, dear God.”
“I’m so intoxicated by your love, Jesus.”
Of course, I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with these phrases. People have different ways of expressing their love for our Savior. These statements are perfectly okay (unless they are said without sincerity and are only used for dazzling effect). I just found it quite amusing.
(And isn’t sad that when googling “hxcChristians,” Google asks if you mean “hypo Christians”?)
An actual conversation I had today with a woman known for her feminist beliefs:
The Feminist: Did you know that all males think about sex every ninety seconds?
Makario: Not all males. And I bet that if people didn’t mention that every ninety seconds, the statistics would be a lot different.
The Feminist: You’re just in denial. How often do you think about sex?
Makario: Definitely not every ninety seconds. I have better things to focus on. What about you?
The Feminist: Oh, I don’t think about sex.
Makario: Oh really now?
The Feminist: Well, hardly. We girls are wired differently from you guys, and we have more productive things to do than think about sex all day.
Makario: Mhmm. I suppose I can’t convince you that not every man treats a woman like a trophy and allows himself to be completely consumed by sexual thoughts?
The Feminist: Are you one of those men who doesn’t treat women like trophies?
Makario: Why yes, I am.
The Feminist: Well…you’re either a liar or a prude. Neither get far in life.
I can’t win. I no longer try.
(No, I don’t hate feminists. I do dislike the irrational ones, though.)
