Monday, February 27, 2006

Face Recognition Website

I found this really interesting website today, myheritage.com. Essentially, you upload a picture, and the site uses face recognition algorithms that match you up to celebrities that the program determines that you closely match based on your facial features. Now the site was originally designed for genealogy purposes, but has been updated to match people up to celebrities.

Because we had nothing better to do today at work (unless you consider jacking goofing off to be busy, in which case we were completely overloaded as usual), we played around with it and got some pretty funny results:

My matches:
Tom Cruise – 64%
Denise Richards – 58%
Eminem – 51%
River Phoenix – 48%

Josh’s matches:
Matt Dillon – 57%
Russell Crow – 53%
Quentin Tarantino – 51%
Tom Berenger – 49%

Carla’s matches:
Elizabeth Taylor – 72%
Salma Hayek – 72%
Beyonce Knowles – 71%
Heather Locklear – 70%
Lindsay Lohan – 70%

Sean’s matches:
Sean William Scott – 67%
Tommy Lee Jones – 65%
Joshua Jackson – 60%
Gwyneth Paltrow – 58%
Tom Green – 57%

Saturday, February 25, 2006

More Fun Quizzes

I took this first one from The Barlow, and the other I found while taking that test. I'd say that both tests are pretty accurate for me.

Klein Sexual Orientation Grid


I scored an average of 4



01 2 3 4 5 6
HeterosexualBisexualHomosexual

Meaning

This result can also be related to the Kinsey Scale:

0 = exclusively heterosexual
1 = predominantly heterosexual, incidentally homosexual
2 = predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual
3 = equally heterosexual and homosexual
4 = predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual
5 = predominantly homosexual, incidentally heterosexual
6 = exclusively homosexual

Summary

The idea of this excercise is to understand exactly how dynamic a person's sexual orientation can be, as well as how fluid it can be over a person's lifespan. While a person's number of actual homo/heterosexual encounters may be easy to categorize, their actual orientation may be completely different. Simple labels like "homosexual", "heterosexual", and "bisexual" need not be the only three options available to us.

Take the quiz


The Five Love Languages

My primary love languages are probably
Physical Touch and Quality Time.

Complete set of results

Physical Touch:
12
Quality Time:
12
Acts of Service:
5
Words of Affirmation:
1
Receiving Gifts:
0


Information

Unhappiness in relationships, according to Dr. Gary Chapman, is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. Sometimes we don't understand our partner's requirements, or even our own. We all have a "love tank" that needs to be filled in order for us to express love to others, but there are different means by which our tank can be filled, and there are different ways that we can express love to others.

Take the quiz

Friday, February 24, 2006

Perpetual Aurora Of A Vacuous Consciousness


Just to demonstrate the power ridiculousness of a lackadaisical mind (now we find out who has an extensive creative vocabulary and who speaks with a colloquial vernacular!) Anyway, I was thinking earlier today about this guy… The Count from Sesame Street.

If I remember correctly, his full name is Count von Count. I’d like to meet the guy who came up with this name… he has to be a master of naming… possibly has a doctorate in stupid ass-shit! I know that most children aren’t super geniuses or world-class scholars, but really… Count von Count. That’s about the same amount of creativity as Stan Lee’s the Thing.

So what’s up with this Count guy? Sure, he obviously has a fetish for counting, but does anyone actually think this guy has a degree in mathematics? I’d like to see him teach children some “advanced” mathematical concepts such as fourth-order homogenous differential equations addition or subtraction.

All this guy does is count anything and everything, regardless of size, amount, or how much annoyance he is causing anyone who is watching! If anything, the lesson that children should learn from the Count is that even vampire-puppets can suffer from various mental illnesses such as obsessive-compulsive disorder! In all fairness though, old folklore from Eastern Europe suggests that many vampires suffered from a form of OCD, being particularly fascinated with counting. Poppy seeds were often placed on the ground at the gravesite of a presumed vampire in order to keep the vampire occupied all night counting.

So other than the whole obsessive counting thing, I don’t know that this Count is actually a vampire. Does he cast a reflection in the mirror? Is he vulnerable to sunlight? Does he fear crucifixes? Does have an allergic reaction to silver or holy water? Can he enter a private residence without being invited? Who the hell knows!

Ok… that’s all I have to say about that!

Monday, February 20, 2006

Johari Results

Ok, it looks as if people are no longer giving feedback, so I'll go ahead and post the results. First of all, I appreciate those of you who decided to encourage my big-ass head! The money is in the mail! Hehe!

Arena

(known to self and others)

dependable, intelligent, knowledgeable, powerful, witty

Blind Spot

(known only to others)

able, accepting, bold, brave, caring, cheerful, clever, complex, confident, energetic, extroverted, giving, independent, ingenious, logical, observant, patient, reflective, relaxed, responsive, searching, self-conscious, spontaneous, trustworthy, wise

Façade

(known only to self)

silly

Unknown

(known to nobody)

adaptable, calm, dignified, friendly, happy, helpful, idealistic, introverted, kind, loving, mature, modest, nervous, organised, proud, quiet, religious, self-assertive, sensible, sentimental, shy, sympathetic, tense, warm

Dominant Traits

56% of people agree that LordValek is powerful

All Percentages

able (6%) accepting (31%) adaptable (0%) bold (25%) brave (43%) calm (0%) caring (6%) cheerful (6%) clever (18%) complex (6%) confident (31%) dependable (18%) dignified (0%) energetic (6%) extroverted (50%) friendly (0%) giving (12%) happy (0%) helpful (0%) idealistic (0%) independent (18%) ingenious (18%) intelligent (43%) introverted (0%) kind (0%) knowledgeable (18%) logical (6%) loving (0%) mature (0%) modest (0%) nervous (0%) observant (37%) organised (0%) patient (6%) powerful (56%) proud (0%) quiet (0%) reflective (12%) relaxed (6%) religious (0%) responsive (6%) searching (6%) self-assertive (0%) self-conscious (6%) sensible (0%) sentimental (0%) shy (0%) silly (0%) spontaneous (12%) sympathetic (0%) tense (0%) trustworthy (6%) warm (0%) wise (12%) witty (50%)

Created by the Interactive Johari Window on 21.2.2006, using data from 16 respondents.
You can make your own Johari Window, or view LordValek's full data.

What Famous Leader Are You?

I took this quiz off of Josh's blog.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Candy Heart Quiz

Your Candy Heart Says "First Kiss"

You're a true romantic who brings an innocent hope to each new relationship.
You see the good in every person you date, and you relish each step of falling in love.

Your ideal Valentine's Day date: a romantic dinner your sweetie cooks for you

Your flirting style: friendly and sweet

What turns you off: cynics who don't believe in romance

Why you're hot: you always keep the romance alive

Friday, February 10, 2006

Johari Personality Quiz

Here's a great personality quiz taken from The Barlow.

My Interactive Johari Window

The Premise:

The Johari Window was invented by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingram in the 1950s as a model for mapping personality awareness. By describing yourself from a fixed list of adjectives, then asking your friends and colleagues to describe you from the same list, a grid of overlap and difference can be built up.

This should be interesting to say the least! :-P

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

My Highly Productive Day

Wow… today seemed like a long ass day, but in retrospect I pretty much just wasted it away! I only had two things I needed to try to get done today (get the car’s oil changed and pay a speeding ticket), neither of which got accomplished. In fact, I even remember specifically telling Edward (check out his new addiction, the new MySpace profile) that I needed to really get these two things done today, but I’d probably end up wasting the day away. I was right. Instead, I slept most of the day while watching episodes of House interlaced with Children of Dune. That made for some fucked up interesting dreams!

I got to hang out with Jennifer a bit today. We went out to eat at some little Vietnamese place on the east side of town (great food!) She informed me that BruceCampbell.com announced that The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. will soon be released on DVD! That show and more importantly, Bruce Campbell, are freaking awesome! That’s a definite must buy! Too bad it won't be out before the b-day; that would be the only gift I'd really want! Hehe!

Today’s Moment of Zen had to be on the car ride back to Jen’s place. Most of the time we have no problem with agreeing on what music to listen to (we like pretty much the same stuff), however she wanted to listen to Michelle Branch and I wanted to listen to Simple Plan. As we’re flipping through the XM channels trying to decide on which of us was gonna get our way, we stumbled across Foreigner’s I Want To Know What Love Is. It was a lot like that scene in Tommy Boy where they come across the Carpenters’ Superstar. Neither one wants to admit that they want to listen to it, but by the end of the song, they’re both singing it together!

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Funny New Family Guy Clip

Perhaps it's the sadist in me or simply just the love of great slap-stick, but here's a very funny, new Family Guy clip:


Click Here To Play

Monday, February 06, 2006

Vita Contin Git, Vive Com Eo!

I feel I should post something exciting and insightful right now, as I’m bored out of my mind, but I’m finding it really difficult. I’ve just been so uninspired the last several days. I can make checking the mail sound like an Indiana Jones adventure if need be, but even that has been particularly dull! Here’s the current rundown…

Work:

Though work has been quite dull for me personally, I’m beginning to get that old burdened feeling back… the one where people (my employees, my peers, my friends) are getting screwed over by the company (once again), and I feel that they think there’s something I can do to fix it. There’s nothing I want more than to be able to fix these problems for them, but these issues lie outside my control. I’d gladly put all I have on the line to make things right… I’ve done it before… but there’s simply nothing I can do but watch.

It’s upsetting to see the company I work for treat people the way it does, especially when there’s so much internal hype on how they want to focus on the employees… make the company one of the 100 best retailers to work for. In all fairness, it may not be correct to blame the company for this blatant disrespect for employees. The problem lies with inept store managers put in position without any form of leadership characteristics. Now as much as I could gripe about my store in particular (which has more than it’s fair share of issues with this leadership problem), I can clearly see that this is a widespread issue.

I’ve found that there are two specific kinds of administrators… “managers” and “leaders.” “Managers” instruct their employees on what needs to get done, follow up on assignments, and they don’t really think outside the box. For the lack of a better term, they manage people. The only problem with “managed” people is that they constantly require someone to manage them. “Managers” also seem to be very distant from their employees. To them, their employees are simply property of the company once they clock in for work; hence, a “manager” doesn’t really treat their employees as respectfully as they should. “Managers” are typically of the mindset that the business is more important than the people who work for them.

A “leader” provides a vision for others to follow, provides an enthusiasm for others to feed off of. People who are lead typically don’t need constant supervision. They can take initiative on their own. People who are lead are also typically much more productive as they feel they have more of a stake in the success of the business. “Leaders” also are aware that their people are the most important thing to the business. Business is important, but not at the expense of the people who work for you. To me it’s always been clear that a business can be so much more efficient and prosperous when run by “leaders.”

I think a “manager” can run a completely successful business… it’s just not as likely as a “leader” running the show. Most “managers” will do what is easiest, while the “leaders” will do what is right. Sometimes they’re the same thing, but many times not.

Anyway, that’s all I want to say about that. Josh and I see eye to eye on almost everything, which is probably why we've pretty much been best friends for the last five years. Read his posts on the subject matter: Post #1 and Post #2.

Personal:

My first personal trainer, Justin (who’s been my trainer for over a year), quit mid-December for personal reasons. He was having some medical issues and couldn’t really come in on a regular basis, so he decided to quit until he could get stuff straightened out. My new trainer, Jake, just quit this week. He just got a job in advertising up in Dallas. He’ll be making more money and will probably be much happier with the new job, so I’m happy for him.

So, I’m left looking for a new trainer when all of a sudden I get a call today. A great call! It was from Justin! He’s back! I can’t describe how relieved I felt when he called me this morning. I’ve been worried about him. Haven’t really talked with him since December (speaking of which, I’ll need gloat a bit about UT’s glorious National Championship to him since he’s an Aggie.) So, I’ll be seeing him tomorrow.

On to a new topic. Veritas vos liberabit - The truth will set you free. I can’t tell you how true this is. Why do people fuck stuff up with lies? One of my biggest pet peeves is being lied to. First of all, it’s just plain insulting because I know most of the time when I’m being lied to. Secondly, the things that most people lie about are just plain stupid to be lying about to begin with. Perhaps this is just the human condition and a fact of life… people just lie. I don’t even know why I’m surprised anymore. I guess I keep expecting people to be more virtuous. Should I not?

Speaking of virtue, I’ve been tweaking my MySpace profile a bit today (haha… that had nothing to do with virtue… it just seemed an easy way to transition to a new topic!) I’ve been using this MySpace thing for a couple months now, and I still don’t know what its true function is. I simply use it to waste all the free/dead time I have outside work, specifically at night when I can’t sleep and have absolutely nothing to do. Maybe that’s its true function. Who the hell knows though?

Perhaps I’ll visit my parents this week if they’re home… I wasted a trip up to BFE Hutto this last weekend to visit my mom who was asleep. I waited around for about 45 minutes, playing with my ferrets and watching TV (nothing on of course, which is why I don’t watch TV in the first place.) Then I left to go see my dad in Pflugerville to find that he wasn’t home. WTF! They bitch at me all the time for not visiting, and when I do try to visit they’re not even around! Mental note to self: call before going next time!

Final Thought:

“Just remember what ol' Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big old storm right in the eye and says, ‘Give me your best shot. I can take it.’” – Jack Burton (Kurt Russel) / Big Trouble in Little China

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Personality Cocktail


How to make a Frank

Ingredients:
5 parts pride
5 parts silliness
3 parts instinct

Method:
Stir together in a glass tumbler with a salted rim. Serve with a slice of wisdom and a pinch of salt. Yum!

Username:


Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com