2784 Stupid test day.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

We must never confuse dissent with disloyalty.
-- Edward R. Morrow --

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Your result for The 3 Variable Funny Test...

Your humor style:

CLEAN | COMPLEX | LIGHT
Your humor has an intellectual, even conceptual slant to it. You're not pretentious, but you're not into what some would call 'low humor' either. You'll laugh at a good dirty joke, but you definitely prefer something clever to something moist.

You probably like well-thought-out pranks and/or spoofs and it's highly likely you've tried one of these things yourself. In a lot of ways, yours is the most entertaining type of humor because it's smart without being mean-spirited.

Take The 3 Variable Funny Test at OkCupid

Yeah, I guess. The fastest way for a new acquaintance to turn me off completely is to tell a dirty or mean-spirited joke. I also don't find video clips of people getting hurt at all funny, no matter how stupid their actions were.

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Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test...

English Genius

You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 100% Expert!

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!

Take The Commonly Confused Words Test at OkCupid

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Your result for The LONG Scientific Personality Test...

INTJ -The Mastermind

You scored 18% I to E, 47% N to S, 52% F to T, and 42% J to P!

You are more introverted than extroverted. You are more intuitive than observant, you are more thinking based than feeling based, and you prefer to have a plan rather than leaving things to chance. Your type is best described by the word "mastermind", which belongs to the larger group called rationals. Only 1% of the population shares your type. You are very strong willed and self-confident. You can hardly rest until you have things settled. You will only adopt ideas and rules if they make sense. You are a great brainstormer and often come up with creative solutions to difficult problems. You are open to new concepts, and often actively seek them out.

As a romantic partner, you can be both fascinating yet demanding. You are not apt to express your emotions, leaving your partner wondering where they are with you. You strongly dislike repeating yourself or listening to the disorganized process of sorting through emotional conflicts. You see your own commitments as self-evident and don't see why you need to repeat something already expressed. You have the most difficulty in admitting your vulnerabilities. You feel the most appreciated when your partner admires the quality of your innovations and when they listen respectfully to your ideas and advice. You need plenty of quiet to explore your interests to the depth that gives you satisfaction.

Your group summary: rationals (NT)

Your type summary: INTJ

Take The LONG Scientific Personality Test at OkCupid

Hmmm. Ok. I mostly agree with the first paragraph, but not so much with the second. I DO express my emotions, my partner never has to wonder. I enjoy sorting through emotional conflicts, and I have been accused of repeating stuff, just to make sure they "got it" and completely understand it, you know?

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Your result for The Best Personality Type for You Test...

ENTJ - Commandant

You scored 75 I versus E, 40 N versus S, 80 F versus T, and 100 J versus P!

Your ideal mate is known as The Commandant. As a romantic partner, this type is inspiring, but also somewhat challenging. They have a strong desire to be in charge and their clear need for an organized life and home can be overwelming to a partner. They like to confront conflict directly, discuss problems unflinchingly, solve them, then put them behind you both. However, they can be too impatient or unwilling to take the time to listen to their partners and give them a chance to express themselves fully so that their partners also have a sense of closure. They are generally uncomfortable dealing with emotions, so they are apt to dismiss their partner's emotions as illogical. They feel most appreciated when their partners ask for their opinions, take their advice, and rely on them to get a job done right.

The group summary: rationals (NT)

The type summary: ENTJ

Take The Best Personality Type for You Test at OkCupid

Hmmm. When I took this test, I very carefully did NOT consider any of the men I've been involved with, ever. I really did consider the choices carefully, and tried to choose descriptors of the ideal man, one whom I could both live with and respect. Some of the choices were between those two - be comfortable with, OR respect - and in those cases I chose respect over comfort. I vastly prefer that I respect my man over his being easy to get along with.

I am shocked. I ended up with The Man. That's him to a T, except that he avoids confrontation. Not surprising, since in the one big area where we have conflict, he knows he's wrong. Plus he's all Man, and Man-types avoid emotional conflict (settling on a nickname for him was not difficult!) I've seen him address exterior conflict, and I have a lot of respect for him there.
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2783 When recycling is bad

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Among wild dogs, the family that preys together stays together.

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I went to the recycle center today. They have a huge metal building there full of things people drop off, from small furniture, kitchen gear, toys and clothing, to books. Anyone can take anything they like.

When Jay was sick, the most amazing thing happened. All three years he was ill, some doctor's office dropped off copies of those huge pharmaceutical reference books, listing all medications, their purpose, dosages, interactions, and side effects, and results of all clinical trials of them. Several times I was able to head off problems using those books. What makes it so very amazing is that after Jay died, the books never appeared again.

I hadn't been in the building in a few years, so I decided to see what they had today. Not to get anything, exactly, but to see what they were accepting these days. I'm getting buried in stuff again, and thought I might load up some dross and drop it off one day soon.

After I arrived at the center I discovered I'd brought all the recyclable paper and cardboard, but had forgotten the two big bags of glass/plastic/metal. Phooey. I visited the building, and left with a stack of hardcover books (new-looking, with dust covers), including
A Reporter's Life - Walter Cronkite
Dating Dead Men - Harley Jane Kozak
Rising Sun - Michael Crichton
The King of Torts - John Grisham
The Age of Turbulence - Alan Greenspan

Clutterwise, this is not helpful. Now I remember why I seldom enter that building.
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2782 Not at all politically correct

Friday, February 19, 2010

I distrust those people who know so well
what God wants them to do,
because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.
-- Susan B. Anthony --

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I watched Tiger Woods' statement this morning. He did well, will come out of this ok. There was one thing that bugged me, though. He apologized to everyone in his family, his fans, his supporters, his team, a whole bunch of people. Fine.

But he left out one group he should apologize to - all the women he used and whose affections he toyed with, whose trust he destroyed. He lied to them. He told (some if not all) of them that he loved them and needed them. In most cases it was not a simple "we both know what this is, a one-night-stand". He schmoozed them into falling in love with him. He hurt those women, each of whom thought they were the only ones, and who thought they were helping a man who was staying in an unloving relationship only for the sake of the children.

A lot of people have no sympathy for those women, because "they knew he was married". But those people don't know how easy it is to fall in love with a charismatic man who goes after you and really turns it on. Regardless of how one feels about those women, he absolutely owes them a public apology, too. He lied to them and he used them.

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The Palin family is now all upset at "Family Guy" for the episode where Chris is on a date with a girl with Down Syndrome. The girl was very nice and extremely proper. Taught Chris some date manners. The girl, after reminding Chris that he should ask her some questions about herself, said that "My dad's an accountant, and my mom's the former governor of Alaska." Clearly a reference to the Palins.

What bugs me is that Sarah Palin has said that it's "an insult." How is it an insult? Something is an insult when it offends. Something offends when it's not true, or if true, it's something you are sensitive about, or ashamed of.

So, Sarah, are you ashamed of your son?

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Which leads to another not politically correct thought. The definition of retarded is "slowed down". Ex#2's brother had a rough birth, and although he doesn't have Down's, he was most definitely developmentally delayed. When he was 16, he thought and acted more like an 8-year-old. However, he continued to develop, just much more slowly than the rest of the world. For the first half of his life he was quite literally retarded in the dictionary sense of the word.

I understand objections to the use of "retarded" as an insult. In using it as an insult, you're sneering at the condition. That's not fair. But as a simple description of a true condition, simply a descriptive term, it's not inherently a bad word.

It bugs me that so many of the people who object so strenuously to the word "retarded" in any context will quite happily use "dumb" to mean stupid.

Hypocrisy. As bad as people who frown at fur coats while wearing goat leather shoes and belts.
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2781 Feelin' Blah

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Too many people don't know the difference between "probable" and "possible".
-- Me --

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I hate winter.

Yesterday morning four different sources predicted 2-4" of snow. No big deal. It snowed gently all day, and by late afternoon, when we already had 5", they changed it to 6-10". Gee, thanks. I wish I could be paid so much for presenting bad guesses. I had scheduled "The Last Station" for my movie group, and canceled it when I heard that the roads weren't being plowed. Rescheduled for Friday.

I hadn't called Plow Guy, but he came anyway. I knew he'd arrived when the headlights swept across the den window and I heard the thumping and banging.

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It seems like my life has become all about food. Three meals and three snacks all day, evenly spaced. Protein at every one. All low- or no-fat stuff. No fruit except berries until lunch. I eat slowly, so it seems like I'm eating constantly, or thinking about what to eat next. It also seems like I'm eating a lot more food, so I was afraid I'd be gaining weight, but the scale says I've actually lost a little bit. I have a few trips and hotel stays coming up, and I'm already fussing about how I can manage the regime on the road, or without a refrigerator, or on a long flight. Cheating or saying the heck with it is not an option.

When I go to the village this afternoon, I'm going to check on that Glucerna stuff, if I can find it. Maybe that would be good to fill the snack gaps. I wonder if I can smuggle it into Morocco....
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2780 Exploding water

Monday, February 15, 2010

You can tell you've made God into your own image when He hates the same people you do.

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I wanted a pot of tea this morning. I put a 16-oz glass measuring cup of water in the microwave oven, started it, and went to the den, where I forgot about it.

A few minutes later I went to the kitchen, and the water was hot but no longer boiling. So I set the microwave to 2 minutes and started it again, and watched it from the sink.

The water sat there. Nothing happened. No little bubbles. And then suddenly, all at once, ONE HUGE bubble sprang into existence in the bottom of the cup, shot to the top, and blew almost all of the water out of the cup with a bang that rocked the microwave on the counter.

Never saw that before. Bit of a shock.

Told ya I had hard water....
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2779 Ghosts of the past

Sunday, February 14, 2010

"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock."
-- Will Rogers --

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There's a male friend who likes me, and would like a more intimate relationship with me. But I have absolutely no inclination in that direction at all. None whatsoever. I've been thinking about why I can't even consider him.

On the plus side, he's cute, cheerful, social, and wealthy, and a good dependable friend. He certainly has a lot to offer and would treat me like a princess. On the negative side, he's a bit loud, a right-winger, and shaped like a brick.

I used to think that it was those negatives that held me back. But really, they're nothing I couldn't work with. Life with him would be pleasant.

I figured it out a few weeks ago.

When I was 21 years old, my apartment building was set on fire by a young woman who liked to watch fire engines. The fire was mainly in the ground-floor stationery store's storage room, directly under my apartment. I was 8 months pregnant at the time (married to Ex#1, who was in the army, in Germany), suffered smoke inhalation problems, and lost the baby the day after the fire.

When the fire department and the landlord finally let me back into the building, I found I just couldn't live there any more. I'd managed to save my cat and myself, but I'd lost my baby and the pair of lovebirds, and everything I owned was seriously smoke damaged. I found I couldn't sleep there. So I moved.

One of the more successful businessmen in town owned several apartment buildings, as well as car dealerships, etc. It was his office that I hid out in after that woman tried to kill me. I went to him to see if he had anything available. He had just installed a mobile home behind one of his buildings, which was ideal. I'd feel safer if I had control over my home, and direct access to outside.

He stopped by often to see how I was doing. Pretty soon it was almost every day. I didn't know quite how to handle him. He was 20 years older than I. At 22, 42 is ancient! Then the gifts started. Roses. A full liter of Jean Nate (the popular scent in those hippie days). A gold bracelet. I had to tell him it wasn't appropriate, and that I couldn't let him visit as he had been doing, and I certainly couldn't accept gifts.

So then he started turning up late evenings, almost every evening. I wouldn't open the door to him, so he'd sit on the steps outside with a bottle of whiskey, and talk. We'd talk through the screen door. And talk and talk and talk. I knew he needed to talk and had no one else to talk with, so I couldn't turn him away.

I knew he lived in (what in that neighborhood would be) a mansion on the golf course. I knew he was 20 years old than I. I knew he had no children. I asked around and found out he was married, but no one had seen his wife in fifteen years. She was rumored to be either an invalid or agoraphobic, had a live-in maid/nurse. At any rate, she never left the house, rarely left her bedroom, and seldom left her bed. When I asked him, he said she stayed in her room when he was home, and he was not allowed in her room. He seldom saw her. I didn't ask and he didn't say what was wrong with her, but I got the impression he'd never left her because they were Catholic and he expected her to die --- and had been expecting her to die "any day now" for fifteen years.

When the cold of winter came, he gradually stopped coming by, and then Ex#2 came home, and I moved away.

About five years later I went back to visit friends. We were in a tavern when he bustled in, bought a bottle from the bartender, and bustled out. He didn't see me. My friends laughed at him after he was gone. They said "There's probably a woman waiting in his car. He's been catting around the past few years. Don't know where he finds these women, maybe York or Lancaster. Real floozies. He's a joke."

I felt very sorry for him.

Anyway, I just recently realized that the reason I can't drum up any interest in my current friend might be because he reminds me so strongly of my old landlord. The age difference isn't there, but they look a lot alike, both play golf, both financially comfortable, both square-built, both get maudlin when they drink, both uncomfortable with sex, both lack confidence in sexual matters, both in sexless long-term relationships, both relate to me in similar ways.

My old admirer would be 85 this year. I wonder if he's still alive. If he is, I'll bet his wife is, too.
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2778 Implosion in Texas?

Sunday, February 14, 2010

“Politics is a pendulum whose swings between anarchy and tyranny
are fueled by perpetually rejuvenated illusions.”
-- Albert Einstein --

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Note: The following is not an endorsement for anyone.

Debra Medina is a Republican (Tea Party) candidate for governor of Texas. In a telephone interview on Glenn Beck's radio show, Beck asked her if she was a "9/11 Truther", i.e., if she or any of her advisers believed that the US government was complicit in the fall of the towers:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j2Ov6u9e38]
[http://politifi.com/news/A-Tea-Party-Candidate-Implodes-on-Becks-Show-185543.html]

Several social commentators and political bloggers whose opinions I usually respect (and a TV/radio host whose opinions I do not respect) have declared that, on the basis of this interview, she is a conspiracy nut and has blown her candidacy out of the water.

Huh? I don't understand.

That's not what she said. I'll agree she blathered a bit and didn't handle the question well, but what she actually said was that she doesn't have enough information to form an opinion either way. She said that there are good questions that have never been completely answered. Pressed on what any of her advisers believe, she said she didn't know and didn't care, and they weren't advising her on that anyway.

Now, I don't know anything about her, have no feelings either way about her, but I think there's something very wrong in concluding that she believes in a government 9/11 conspiracy.
Since when is an open mind suspicious?
Since when is it bad to say "I don't have an opinion because I don't have all the information"?
Since when is wanting the whole story before forming an opinion wrong?
Since when is it wrong to not simply accept what others tell you?
Is it a Republican requirement that one has to never ever ask questions about the motives of a Republican administration? (And the corollary - always question those of a Democratic administration.)

That attitude scares me. Don't think. Don't question. Follow the party line. Parrot the script. Above all, close your mind.
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