Author: iandick

Thinker Quiz

First saw on mad musings, the BBC has a thinker quiz for your delights. My results are:

Logical-Mathematical Thinker –

  • Like to understand patterns and relationships between objects or actions
  • Try to understand the world in terms of causes and effects
  • Are good at thinking critically, and solving problems creatively

    • Other Logical-Mathematical Thinkers include Isaac Newton, Archimedes, Albert Einstein.
    Careers which suit Logical-Mathematical thinkers include Physicist, Chemist, Biologist, Lawyer, Computer programmer, Engineer, Inventor.

    Interpersonal Thinker –

  • Like to think about other people, and try to understand them
  • Recognise differences between individuals and appreciate that different people have different perspectives
  • Make an effort to cultivate effective relationships with family, friends and colleagues

    • Other Interpersonal thinkers include Winston Churchill, Mother Teresa, William Shakespeare.
    Careers which suit Interpersonal thinkers include Politician, Psychologist, Nurse, Counsellor, Teacher.

    Usually these net surveys are pretty inaccurate and just a bit of fun. Maybe its just coincidence but I’m surprised by the results which I think match me pretty well.

    MSN Chat Closes

    I’m surprised that Microsoft announced they are to close their MSN chat rooms from October 14th. I can only see this as a publicity and cost reduction exercise. The BBC website features some reactions from net users and also a poll which currently shows 55% against closing chat rooms.

    Microsoft are pandering to the growing hype around internet safety and the parents who want the pc to be a ‘virtual nanny’ for the child while they have a bit of peace and quiet. They are also letting the corrupt few win over the vast majority of honest net users who are more and more being tarnished. If your an adult and use the net then you must be one of those dodgy chat room users.

    Parental responsibility has to be encouraged to try and combat child safety on the net and they must do more to understand the potential dangers and what can be done to combat them. They should also reduce the amount of time their kids spend on the net – there are far healthier and more sociable activities for kids. Stiffer penalties for paedophiles are also required. And hopefully common sense will rule and most other chat rooms stay open before they are driven underground where control really will be lost.

    Chancers

    Just watched a BBC Scotland documentary called Chancers. The programme follows the Airborne Initiative which tries to help persistent young offenders and change their ways. What struck me was the determination and faith that some of the Airborne workers had and just how difficult their job is. I thought my day-to-day job offers challenges and problems – theirs is an absolute nightmare. Constant abuse, threats of violence, persistent drug-taking and a total lack of discipline and respect yet throughout the course they must show they have belief in the offenders. And looking at the Airborne website I’ve seen the salaries offered – that�s a low wage for the stress they go through.

    More desperate are the offenders themselves. Even though they are in last chance saloon they still push their luck taking rules to the extreme. Some of the behaviour……can’t put it into words.

    But what�s left me confused is how best to deal with the offenders? Lock up and throw away the key? More initiatives like Airborne? Just don’t know which is why it’s so difficult to fix.

    Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy

    Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

    This has been doing the rounds via e-mail over the last week – pretty spooky. To make up your own paragraphs, use this word scrambler. If you are really interested in a kind off science geek type way, here an article from Nature that describes the phenomenon.

    Colin Mcrae 04

    Picked up Colin Mcrae 04 today. First impressions are favourable. Graphics are improved over previous version, handling does feel more weighty – I tried 03 a couple of days ago just to make sure I would notice differences like these.

    However there are some usability niggles that should no longer exist in games and smack of lazy programming and/or cash-in of an easy upgrade. Firstly you can’t assign your own controls, with the ability to only choose from one of five pre-defined control settings. This is pretty nasty and while I can find one that almost suits me why couldn’t I assign controls to buttons of my choosing. Allowing the user to map controls to any buttons should be a pre-requisite on all games.

    Every time you start the game you have to enter your name – why doesn’t it hold the previous entry? The LIVE scoreboards are a good edition although proper multiplayer is would have been a better option. In fact the LIVE scoreboards seem to load separately meaning you come ‘out’ of the game when accessing them. When you go back to the game it restarts but without the loading intro’s – weird.

    Overall a good game, better than the last one but a fairly weak update.