Many of my online friends did this test and, for lack of any other entertainment herein, I finally decided I needed to start using fillers again…

… except I was not actually ready to do justice to a 120-item questionnaire, so the result turns out to be rather random. Human? Check. The rest? Really!?

And what’s up with constantly using “she” for “wizard”?

Not that I ever played D&D. I’m only slightly familiar with the universe. It could be more PC than I suspected.

I Am A: True Neutral Human Wizard (6th Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-11

Dexterity-13

Constitution-12

Intelligence-17

Wisdom-16

Charisma-14

Alignment:
True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn’t feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he’s not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.

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:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard’s strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

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

Idle Amusements

A really cool meme has been going around in my absence. I saw it on a number of blogs of friends, so I am going to tip the hat to the originator, Buzzfeed.

New meme: here’s a totally random way to make your new random band’s new random album cover. Post one!

Go to “Wikipedia.” Hit “random” and the first article you get is the name of your band.

Then go to “Random Quotations” and the last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

Then, go to Flickr and click on “Explore the Last Seven Days” and the third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

I got the awesomest picture, a properly profound – and even fitting – end of a quote, and an entry for the band name that I can actually pretend to like.
 

 
Now, all I need is a few catchy tunes, and it’s Goodbye office space, Hello world tours!

Image by 1D110.

Idle Amusements

The last question on the test was all that was required: “What do you consider yourself to be?”

Now, how I can have more dorkiness than geekiness in me escapes me!

I first saw this test a couple of weeks ago when I was looking for fillers for the blog, but decided against doing it. In the last few days, though, my brother started a chain of these in my blogosphere corner, and I felt like following suit.

Idle Amusements

My brother asked about the avatar that now pops up next to my comment replies on this blog. It is a simpsonized me, that I have long been using as Gravatar for blogs that support that service.

The big picture looks like this:

I think it certainly resembles me. Don’t you agree?

Just to add to this entertainment, here is what Becky looks like simpsonized:

Some resemblance, I guess, but very pale skin color…

Neither Natasha nor Kimmy tried.

Idle Amusements

Hah! I had no doubt that this is what I would end up with, because I honestly do not see myself much as anyone else among the choices. I could live with Indiana Jones, I guess, but I realize how his traits, as implied in various questions, do not fit with me.

Now, Maximus? How the hell did he end up the only close second? I said I had no sword-fighting skills… Maybe, it’s the natural-born leader thing…

		Which Action Hero Would You Be? You Scored as James Bond, Agent 007 James Bond is MI6’s best agent, a suave, sophisticated super spy with charm, cunning, and a license’s to kill. He doesn’t care about rules or regulations and is somewhat amoral. He does care about saving humanity though, as well as the beautiful women who fill his world. Bond has expensive tastes, a wide knowledge of many subjects, and he is usually armed with a clever gadget and an appropriate one-liner.
James Bond, Agent 007 83% Maximus 75% El Zorro 46% William Wallace 42% The Amazing Spider-Man 42% The Terminator 38% Captain Jack Sparrow 38% Lara Croft 38% Neo, the “One” 33% Indiana Jones 33% Batman, the Dark Knight 29%

I first saw it at my brother’s, but Jim started it, and several others followed.

Idle Amusements

Via Talk Wordy to Me, I attempted the etymology quiz. It gives you 10 random questions on word origins with multiple-choice answers.

I got 7 out of 10, which was much better than I expected. There was only one lucky guess, as a matter of fact. The rest were comparatively “simple” questions about etymology of agnostic or beer and meaning of free verse, but I’m also very proud to have known where azimuth or typhoon came from and of making a very educated guess on arachibutyrophobia (which is a fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth, in case you’re wondering).

Where I most royally stumbled was “What does the phrase apple of one’s eye really mean?”. I did not expect the choice of “From the ancient belief that the pupil of the eye was a solid, apple-shaped body” to be the right answer.

Feel free to try and let me know how you did.

Idle Amusements

A friend of mine sent me this little puzzle, which, truth be told, did not take me long to solve.

Since today shapes up as another really busy day at work, I decided to take an easy route out of blogging and post the puzzle here. Anyone who cares to post the solution – with an explanation – in the comments thread is afforded a humongous doze of satisfaction (but no other valuable prizes). Failing anyone who has an intellect as formidable as mine, I’ll post the solution comment in a couple of days.

1. There are 25 horses and a 5-track racing ring so the horses can run only 5 at a time.
2. You don’t have any timers, you can just watch the finish line and record the order in which the horses arrive.
3. Assume there are no ties.
4. Also assume that the each horse’s speed always stays the same, no matter how many times you run them.

PROBLEM: What is the minimal number of runs you need in order to pick 3 fastest horses?

Idle Amusements

A couple of fun quizzes that I picked over at Jason’s hit the mark in regards to my self-awareness.

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test…

Balanced, Secure, and Realistic.

25 Impressionist, -1 Islamic, 1 Ukiyo-e, -22 Cubist, -11 Abstract and -5 Renaissance!

Impressionism is a movement in French painting, sometimes called optical realism because of its almost scientific interest in the actual visual experience and effect of light and movement on appearance of objects. Impressionist paintings are balanced, use colored shadows, use pure color, broken brush-strokes, thick paint, and scenes from everyday life or nature.

People that like Impressionist paintings may not always be what is deemed socially acceptable. They tend to move on their own path without always worrying that it may be offensive to others. They value friendships but because they also value honesty tend to have a few really good friends. They do not, however, like people that are rude and do not appreciate the ideas of others. They are secure enough in themselves that they can listen to the ideas of other people without it affecting their own final decisions. The world for them is not black and white but more in shades of grey and muted colors. They like things to be aesthetically pleasing, not stark and sharp. There are many ways to view things, and the impressionist personality views the world from many different aspects. They enjoy life and try to keep a realistic viewpoint of things, but are not very open to new experiences. If they are content in their live they will be more than likely pleased to keep things just the way they are.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

The outcome is fairly obvious – I have been a huge admirer of Impressionism forever. But the description – what’s up with that? Especially the bits about not valuing ideas of others, having few good friends and not being open to new experiences. I humbly don’t think that they apply here.

Your result for Howard Gardner’s Eight Types of Intelligence Test…

Logical

This area has to do with logic, abstractions, inductive and deductive reasoning, and numbers. While it is often assumed that those with this intelligence naturally excel in mathematics, chess, computer programming, and other logical or numerical activities, a more accurate definition places emphasis less on traditional mathematical ability and more reasoning capabilities, abstract pattern recognition, scientific thinking and investigation, and the ability to perform complex calculations.

Careers which suit those with this intelligence include scientists, mathematicians, engineers, doctors and economists.

Take Howard Gardner’s Eight Types of Intelligence Test at HelloQuizzy

The other types are linguistic/verbal, spatial, body/movement, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal/introspective, naturalistic (here is a Wikipedia article). While I think that I possess more than one of those, clearly, if I had to choose only one to describe myself, I’d probably go with “logical”.

This quiz actually had quite a few questions where I thought that either none of the answers applied to me or all of the answers applied rather equally. That it produced a result that I can get behind speaks in its favor.

And that’ll be all for the early-week internet time-wasting.

Idle Amusements

I picked up a couple of fun quizzes at my brother’s.

It’s a bit misleading, actually. I inexplicably screwed up the villain from Men in Black, but I also blindly guessed Jack Nicholson’s character, and with only two female villains, I had a 50/50 chance of correctly guessing the first one and then a single choice for the second one. I also suggested Cyrus the Virus for an unfamiliar shot, before eventually realizing that I did know the character correctly. On balance, I should be only around 50%.

I named 50 US states in 10 minutes

Here, in all honesty, I cheated. I typed 48 states in about four minutes (and I am a slow typist – I’m sure the feat can be accomplished in under two minutes). Two were escaping me, but after a minute or so of racking my brains, I figured I had enough time to look them up. I think the duration would be better at 5 minutes.

Idle Amusements

Again, Jim started it, and a few of my other friends followed suit.

This is supposedly a more in-depth evaluation of one’s political leanings, although I have a problem with how a number of questions were worded. Just as that other test, it seems to ignore some of the key political areas (crime? foreign policy?) – but, maybe, those cannot be fitted into such study.

In any case, I certainly like this outcome better, even though it is essentially the same verdict – “moderate libertarian” (but it does call me an “economic conservative”, which is how I always viewed myself).

You are a Social Liberal (71% permissive) and an… Economic Conservative (71% permissive) You are best described as a: Libertarian Link: The Politics Test

Explanation Of Results

We wanted to get beyond the two catch-alls of American politics, the Democratic and Republican parties, and see where people actually stand. Parties can bring together people with marginally differing values and make collective action easier. But party platforms can misrepresent their constituents, and blind loyalty to a party can convince individuals to harbor inconsistent views.

The goal of this test was to exactly classify your personal politics, without the traditional labels. We avoided the edgy party issues and focused on fundamental values. Your score is a measure of what you believe in, economically and socially.

Higher permissiveness, on either axis, indicates a “live and let live” philosophy. Of course, we’re almost conditioned in America, “Land of the Free”, to think positively of such a philosophy. But practically speaking, permissiveness (or its opposite, regulation) can create any number of outcomes:

For example, on the economic axis, a highly permissive system, like the American system of the early 1900s, might mean things like low taxes and increased scientific innovation. It might also result, as it did back then, in unrestricted child labor and millions of poor people with black lung.

At the other end of the economic spectrum, a highly regulated system might conserve the environment, establish national health care, and eliminate poverty. But as we’ve learned from the Soviet system, extreme regulation can also lead to stagnation, sameness, and unhappiness.

Idle Amusements

You desire substantially less government control of personal activity and somewhat less government control over economic activity than is presently the case in the U.S. I used to classify this area as part of “Moderate Libertarian;” but got many objections; I guess calling you a moderate libertarian is akin to calling a liberal Democrat a “moderate communist”.

Your views would be best represented by a mix of Libertarian and Democratic representatives—assuming that it was possible to get a significant number of Libertarians elected. The Libertarian Party is still dominated by people far more radical than you though there is an ongoing effort to make the LP more inclusive and less radical. If you have the patience and willingness do deal with infighting, you may want to join this effort.

Approximately 14% of the takers of this quiz scored in this area.

Oops!

Not the label I thought appropriate for my political views. Although I always kind of thought of myself as “moderate”, and I long realized that my general distaste for big governments is nothing but “libertarian”.

Come to think of it, I’ve always said (most recently here) that I tend to agree with the Democrats on most of the major issues. I guess I should have been using the word “left” in place of the word “Democrats”. At close range, the only thing that puts me off in liberals is the government social programs and economic spending bit.1 Too bad that it happens to be by far my most important issue.

Via Jim.

——
1 Before anyone attempts to take me to task for being inconsistent (on the strength of my advocacy of the recently passed $700Bln rescue package), I am expressly for targeted government spending in times of crises. To me, an ability to avert – or, at a minimum, soften – an economic meltdown is a key responsibility for any government, alongside with matters of international trade, security, infrastructure and law enforcement.

Idle Amusements

I find the label funny, but I think the description matches how I perceive myself (which is not to say that my friends must perceive me the same way – but I hope they do, except that “fake” stuff).

Your result for The Social Proficiency Test…

SOCIAL BUTTERFLY

You scored a total of 38 out of 43!

Take The Social Proficiency Test at HelloQuizzy

Via Jason.

Idle Amusements

It does not often happen that a personality test gives me a result that I can totally see myself as.

Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics) created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Carrot Ironfounderson You are Captain Carrot Ironfounderson of the City Watch in the greatest city on the Discworld: Ankh-Morpork! A truly good natured, honest guy, who knows everyone, and is liked by all. Technically a dwarf, but only by adoption. You’d rather not be reminded that you are the true heir to the throne, but that does explain why people naturally follow your orders! Carrot Ironfounderson 75% Lord Havelock Vetinari 63% Commander Samuel Vimes 56% Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax 38% Gytha (Nanny) Ogg 38% The Librarian 38% Greebo 19% Cohen The Barbarian 19% Death 19% Rincewind 19%

Via Tania.

Idle Amusements

I don’t have much to write about the weekend (a number of chores was done, a mild stomach virus dealt with just in time for the friendly dinner with old pals, which was a complete success). Instead, here is a curious item that has come to my attention via a friend ages ago.

Instructions:

1. Go to http://www.tatuagemdaboa.com.br/ (let it load).
2. Type your first name in line 1.
3. Type your last name in line 2.
4. Ignore the other two lines – no need to type your email.
5. Click Visualizar and observe.

I know what you are going to try after seeing it for the first time: You are going to type some gibberish in the first/last name fields to see whether it would take. Go right ahead.

Looks cool, doesn’t it? I’ve been a developer too long ago in my previous life to be able to explain how it’s done.

Idle Amusements

A number of people whose blogs I read have done this, so apologies for absence of credits. This is an online test that paints me in a whole new light.

Actually, it’s not that much off…

Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test…

NBPC – The Daydreamer

Nature, Background, Big Picture, and Color

Take The Perception Personality Image Test at HelloQuizzy

Idle Amusements

I practically cried…

Disclaimer: The level of obscenity contained herein, both in English sound and in Russian subtitles, exceeds what I normally post on my blog. Not for children. Viewers beware.

Via.

Idle Amusements

Everybody in my blog feed aggregator seemingly has done one of these, so I will refrain from tipping hat to anyone in particular. I have not seen another member of my race, though.

Your result for The What Middle Earth race do you belong to Test…

Wizard

Take The What Middle Earth race do you belong to Test at HelloQuizzy

Idle Amusements

This is just too hilarious. I have to post it, even though any non-Russian-speaking reader of mine may not get to fully appreciate the hilarity (not that you shouldn’t try – the flash-card text is a hoot all by itself).

Thanks, Dad.

Idle Amusements

In a moment of lull, I suddenly decided to take a test to see what my IQ is. You know, I always pegged myself as a type of a quiet genius, possessing formidable intellect, but too lackadaisical to put it to any entrepreneurial use or scientific pursuit. Yet, vain person that I am, I never before bothered to find out exactly how smart I was.

So, I take the online test and end up with the score of 133. That puts me in something like Top 3 percentile, but earns me only a designation of “gifted”, rather than “genius”. Bummer!

But, hey, I wouldn’t be calling myself a genius if I did not occasionally have ingenious ideas. Despite my obvious proficiency in English, it is not my first language. What if I take the test in Russian?, I say to myself, Surely, I’ll break 150 then!

So, I find a Russian-language online test. Which turns out to be somewhat more demanding, I must say. My score? Drum roll, por favor… ta-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-dum… 135. No, really!…

I was skeptical about the validity of these tests, to start with, but taking two different ones, at different websites, in different languages, and getting scores this close would be too much of a coincidence…

I’m going to have to accept that I fall short of the genius threshold. Still, not too shabby, if I humbly say so myself… [walks into the sunset, preening...]

Idle Amusements

Trust me, you do not need to know French to appreciate the ingenuity.

Via Exler.

Idle Amusements