Archive for the 'diversions distractions and digressions' Category
Merry Christmas!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Many things to be thankful for this year so roast up your turkey (or your ham, or your manicotti or whatever your Thanksgiving tradition is), and celebrate with your family and friends.
Oh yeah, don’t forget the wine!
While watching a concert on Palladium the other day I was blown away by the performance of this group: Elbow
Grounds for Divorce:
The Bones of You:
One Day Like This:
Mirrorball:
Twittering
I don’t use Twitter. I have never really had the urge to use Twitter. However, it seems that everyone else in this corner of the blogosphere (or at least most of the bloggers on my blogroll) do use Twitter. The newly redesigned authors page at D5GW (very nice by the way) has, at least to my eye, a glaring hole in the middle of it because I don’t have a Twitter profile.
I still don’t especially want to Twitter (like I need something else to spend time on), but I can’t help feeling like I’m missing out on something.
ENTJ to INTP
The professor of one of my college management classes (a super-nice guy, one of the best profs I had and also the head of the college of Telecommunications) was a big believer in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)personality test. In this particular management class he had all of the students take the battery and we used the results in different ways throughout the course. When I took the test I got the result of ENTJ.
ENTJ stands for Extroverted – iNtuition – Thinking – Judging.
The ENTJ is sometimes known as the Field-marshal or Executive type.
“ENTJs focus on the most efficient and organized means of performing a task. This quality, along with their goal orientation, often makes ENTJs superior leaders, both realistic and visionary in implementing a long-term plan. ENTJs tend to be fiercely independent in their decision making, having a strong will that insulates them against external influence. Generally highly competent, ENTJs analyze and structure the world around them in a logical and rational way. Due to this straightforward way of thinking, ENTJs tend to have the greatest difficulty of all the types in applying subjective considerations and emotional values into the decision-making process.”
At the time I thought this described me pretty well and in some aspects of my professional life it still does. Through my school career and most of my extracurricular activities I tended to gravitate toward the leadership positions or planning functions. I also tended to not account very well for the ‘people’ factor of most groups I was leading or planning for. I hope I have overcome that deficiency but realize that in some ways I never will.
I recently re-took a Meyers-Briggs-like test. It wasn’t a full battery but I think the result is fairly accurate. I wasn’t surprised to see that my type had changed (My college prof warned that it was likely that it could over time). My new type is INTP, sometimes known as the Theorist, or the Absent-Minded Professor type.
INTP stands for Introverted – iNtuitive – Thinking – Perceiving.
“INTP types are quiet, thoughtful, analytical individuals who don’t mind spending long periods of time on their own, working through problems and forming solutions. They are very curious about systems and how things work, and are frequently found in careers such as science, architecture and law. INTPs tend to be less at ease in social situations and the “caring professions,” although they enjoy the company of those who share their interests. They also tend to be impatient with the bureaucracy, rigid hierarchies, and politics prevalent in many professions, preferring to work informally with others as equals.
INTPs organize their understanding of any topic by articulating principles, and they are especially drawn to theoretical constructs. Having articulated these principles for themselves, they can demonstrate remarkable skill in explaining complex ideas to others in simple terms, especially in writing. On the other hand, their ability to grasp complexity may also lead them to provide overly detailed explanations of “simple” ideas, and listeners may judge that the INTP makes things more difficult than they are. This to the INTP, however, is incomprehensible: They are merely presenting all of the information.”
Reflecting upon this description (Heh!) I think it fits me pretty well. With experience and understanding I much more now prefer to be on a team of equals rather than lead a group. I am fascinated by politics and the dynamics behind how the system works, but have no real patience for its practice and am easily frustrated by bureauecratic make-work and red-tape. Almost all of my friends and family will tell you that I overthink everything and have the annoying tendency to explain something rather than just say, ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ or ‘maybe’.
Doing more research I found the description of the INTP on the Kiersey temperament sorter to be very interesting, and a little scary.
Kierseyconsiders the INTP to fit in the Rationals and calls it the ‘Architect‘ type.
“Architects need not be thought of as only interested in drawing blueprints for buildings or roads or bridges. They are the master designers of all kinds of theoretical systems, including school curricula, corporate strategies, and new technologies. For Architects, the world exists primarily to be analyzed, understood, explained – and re-designed. External reality in itself is unimportant, little more than raw material to be organized into structural models. What is important for Architects is that they grasp fundamental principles and natural laws, and that their designs are elegant, that is, efficient and coherent.
Architects are rare – maybe one percent of the population – and show the greatest precision in thought and speech of all the types. They tend to see distinctions and inconsistencies instantaneously, and can detect contradictions no matter when or where they were made. It is difficult for an Architect to listen to nonsense, even in a casual conversation, without pointing out the speaker’s error. And in any serious discussion or debate Architects are devastating, their skill in framing arguments giving them an enormous advantage. Architects regard all discussions as a search for understanding, and believe their function is to eliminate inconsistencies, which can make communication with them an uncomfortable experience for many.
Ruthless pragmatists about ideas, and insatiably curious, Architects are driven to find the most efficient means to their ends, and they will learn in any manner and degree they can. They will listen to amateurs if their ideas are useful, and will ignore the experts if theirs are not. Authority derived from office, credential, or celebrity does not impress them. Architects are interested only in what make sense, and thus only statements that are consistent and coherent carry any weight with them.
Architects often seem difficult to know. They are inclined to be shy except with close friends, and their reserve is difficult to penetrate. Able to concentrate better than any other type, they prefer to work quietly at their computers or drafting tables, and often alone. Architects also become obsessed with analysis, and this can seem to shut others out. Once caught up in a thought process, Architects close off and persevere until they comprehend the issue in all its complexity. Architects prize intelligence, and with their grand desire to grasp the structure of the universe, they can seem arrogant and may show impatience with others who have less ability, or who are less driven.”
Yikes!
I challenge some of my follow bloggers to take a Meyers-Briggs test and share their results and thoughts.
I tag:
and
I guarantee that at this very moment computer keyboards are clacking away at the script for the movie that will be made, depicting the events of the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama yesterday. It has everything a Hollywood producer could dream of (and if it doesn’t I sure it will be dreamed up). What better heroes than the daring and resourceful crew of twenty one Americans. What better action sequences than their inevitably doomed water hose defense of their ship and, never giving up, how they bravely took back control of their beleaguered vessel from the heavily armed, evil pirates. There is even the suggestion of a love story when second in command Shane Murphy uses a satellite phone to call his wife to tell her they have retaken the ship and that he is safe. All they need now is a happy ending, so lets all hope that the Alabama’s Captain Richard Phillips is safely rescued from the lifeboat where the escaped Somali pirates are currently holding him; drifting in the gun sights of the USS Bainbridge.
Quick, see if Matt Damon is available for the part of Shane Murphy!
South Park: Margaritaville
South Park has long been one of my favorite television shows, not only because most of the story lines are so completely absurd they have to be funny, but also because their just-in-time production schedule allows them to create very funny and topical episodes about current events.
‘Margaritaville’ has two main story lines, each covering an aspect of the financial crisis:
In the first story line Stan’s father becomes prophet who denounces spending of any kind because the all powerful ‘Economy’ has become very angry with the people and is punishing them. He advocates wearing bedsheets, eating only bread and water (and margaritas), that everyone should ride llamas and that the children should amuse themselves by playing with squirrels . Kyle (as the Jew) tries to convince the people that spending is good.
The second story line involves Stan trying to return his father’s Margaritaville machine. He soon learns that the machine was purchased on a payment plan, which was bundled with other Margaritaville machine payment plans into Margaritaville machine payment plan backed securities.
“Contrary to the image of Generation Y as the “Net Generation,” internet users in their 20s do not dominate every aspect of online life. Generation X is the most likely group to bank, shop, and look for health information online. Boomers are just as likely as Generation Y to make travel reservations online. And even Silent Generation internet users are competitive when it comes to email (although teens might point out that this is proof that email is for old people).”
The Pew Internet and American Life Project has quite a few interesting reports. More of them can be found here.
“A team of writers is hired to use the new content creation tools in the game City of Heroes to promote the worst superhero in the world, Captain Dynamic. Starring Ed Roberston of Barenaked Ladies.”
Rooster Teeth is one of my favorite Internet time wasters. For any gamers out there (and for people who aren’t gamers but like irreverently funny stuff), this site should be a daily stop for you. I highly recommend their longest running series, a Halo based machinima (using a video game engine as a platform for film making) called Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles. The first few seasons can be found on their YouTube channel.
New Toy
The Black and Decker Energy Saver Series Power Monitor
I got this last week as a late Christmas present and so far it seems pretty cool.
Insallation is allegedly very easy, and probably is for most people. The device is basically two parts. This first part is the monitor that mounts on the outside of your electric or electronic meter (though check the Black and Decker website to make sure yours is compatible). Mine was supposed to be compatible but the spinning disk on my particular meter didn’t quite line up as nicely as advertised with the sensor arm and took a bit of very frustrating adjusting before it was able to correctly take measurements. I’ll bet later versions mount the arm on an adjustable swivel to make installing easier instead of currently having to adjust the entire unit, mounting bracket and all.
The second part is also very easy. With a bit of middle school math you plug (no pun intended) your electric rates into the base unit and then you are set to go. (The instructions are fairly easy to follow on this part but be sure to read the troubleshooting sections where they hid how to re-syncronize the base with the meter monitor.)
The monitor keeps track of your energy usage in kilowatt hours and in dollars and will estimate your monthly useage (provided you give it an accurate sample). The most useful thing about the monitor is the ‘tare’ function that allows you to isolate the energy usage from a particular appliance even your air conditioner, something other power monitors are unable to do. It also has a tempurature and time display that can be handy.
Although you will probably have to put some effort into cutting your energy useage to justify the $100 price tag, a teenager or two might make it very worthwhile.
A couple of other handy reviews:
the gadgeteer (One horror story comment: here)
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