Friday, August 31, 2007

Very clever

What do you call this? A parody of a joke? Too funny.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

I'm into taking test lately, this one says I have the brain of a woman.

Angles


This task tested your ability to identify the angle of a line by matching it with its twin. This is a spatial task, which looks at how you picture space.
Your score: 14 out of 20
Average score for men: 15.1 out of 20
Average score for women: 13.3 out of 20

What does your result suggest?

If you scored 0 - 12: You have more of a female brain. Scientists believe that people with a female brain find it more difficult to judge the slope of a line because they're not wired for spatial tasks. In past studies, 65 per cent of people who scored in this range were women.

If you scored 13 - 17: You found this test neither hard nor easy. This suggests your brain has male and female traits when it comes to spatial ability.

If you scored 18 - 20: You have more of a male brain. On average, men outperform women in this task and those with more mathematical knowledge tend to score quite high as well. In past studies, 60 per cent of the people in this range were men.

Interestingly, men's testosterone levels fluctuate through the seasons and studies have shown that men's scores are lower in the spring, when their testosterone levels are at their lowest.

Do our cave dwelling ancestors offer us any clues about why men and women score differently on this task? Find out more.

Spot the difference


This task tested your ability to identify which objects changed position. You lost points, if you incorrectly identified objects.
Your score: 29%
Average score for men: 39%
Average score for women: 46%

What does your score suggest?

If you scored between 0 - 33%: You may have more of a male brain. Scientists say men tend to under perform in this task. The corpus callosum, the part of the brain that links the right and left hemispheres, is a fifth larger in women. This means women can process visual and other signals at the same time more easily than men. There is also a theory that oestrogen levels in women give them an added advantage in spatial memory.

If you scored between 34 - 66%: You may have a balanced female-male brain.

If you scored between 67 - 100%: Those with a female-type brain generally score in this range. Your ability to remember where objects are may serve as an advantage to you when you're trying to find your way around places. You're more capable of recalling landmarks to get from one place to another.



Hands



You said your right thumb was on top when you clasped your hands together.

Right thumb on top: This suggests the left half of your brain is dominant. Many studies have tried to establish whether there is a relationship between handedness and brain dominance. Some scientists believe that if you are left brain dominant, you would be more verbal and analytical.

Left thumb on top: This suggests the right half of your brain is dominant. Some studies theorise that as a right brain dominant person, you may excel in visual, spatial and intuitive processes.

However, these theories are debatable and leave much to be said about the small percentage of people who are ambidextrous.



Emotions and Systems


This task looked at whether you prefer to empathise or systemise.
Empathising

Your empathy score is: 13 out of 20
Average score for men: 7.9 out of 20
Average score for women: 10.6 out of 20

What does your result suggest?

Empathisers are better at accurately judging other people's emotions and responding appropriately. If you scored 15 and above, you are very empathic and would be an ideal person to comfort people in a time of crisis. Women in general are better at empathising.

Systemising

Your systemising score is: 6 out of 20
Average score for men: 12.5 out of 20
Average score for women: 8.0 out of 20

What does your result suggest?

Systemisers prefer to investigate how systems work. A system can be a road map, flat pack furniture, or a mathematical equation – anything that follows a set of rules. A score of 15 and above suggests you're good at analysing or building systems. Men in general are better at systemising.

Scientists are keen to learn more about people who score high or low on both tests. They want to find out whether or not empathising and systemising are linked. Is a possible to make yourself more empathic?


Eyes


This task tested your ability to judge people's emotions.
Your score: 7 out of 10
Average score for men: 6.6 out of 10
Average score for women: 6.6 out of 10

What does your result suggest?

If you scored 0 - 3: Do you think you're good at judging how another person is feeling? Your score suggests this doesn't come to you quite so naturally.

If you scored 4 - 6: Your result suggests you have a balanced female-male brain and find it neither easy nor difficult to judge people's emotions.

If you scored 7 - 10: Your result suggests you are a good empathiser, sensitive to other people's emotions. Women generally fall into this category.

Professor Baron-Cohen at the University of Cambridge says that people usually perform better than they expect to on this test.

Men often think a person's eyes are sending signals of desire when that's not the case at all.

Fingers


We asked you to measure your ring and index fingers. Your ratios came to:
Right Hand: 1.02
Left Hand: 1.04

Average ratio for men: 0.982
Average ratio for women: 0.991

It's thought that your ratio is governed by the amount of testosterone you were exposed to in your mother's womb. The ratio of the length of your index finger to the length of your ring finger is set for life by as early as three months after conception. Even during puberty, when we experience intensive hormonal changes, the ratio stays the same.

Men generally have a ring finger that is longer than their index finger, which gives them a lower ratio than women, whose ring and index fingers are usually of equal length.

Studies have found that men and women with lots of brothers generally have more masculine finger ratios.

Faces


This task looked at how you rate the attractiveness of a series of faces. The images you looked at were digitally altered to create slight differences in masculinity.

Your choices suggest you prefer more feminine faces.

Highly masculinised male faces possess more extreme testosterone markers such as a long, broad and lower jaw, as well as more pronounced brow ridges and cheekbones.

Interestingly, women's preferences are said to vary across the menstrual phase. A more masculine face is preferred during the 9 days prior to ovulation, when conception is most likely.

A typical 'attractive' female face possesses features such as a shorter, narrower, lower jaw, fuller lips and larger eyes than an average face.

Are you surprised at what researchers think they can learn from your answers?

3D shapes


This task tested your ability to mentally rotate 3D shapes.

Your score: 6 out of 12
Average score for men: 8.2 out of 12
Average score for women: 7.1 out of 12

What does your result suggest?

If you scored 0 - 6: Do you find yourself having to physically rotate a map to point in the direction in which you're travelling? This might explain why you scored in the lower range in the 3D shapes test. Twice as many women as men score in this category. Previous studies suggest that those with a female-type brain or with an arts background fall into this range.

If you scored 7 - 9: In past studies, 50 per cent of the people who scored in this range were women and 50 per cent were men.

If you scored 10 - 12: Are you an engineer or do you have a science background? People with these skills tend to score in this range. Past studies have concluded that people in this range have a more male brain.

Nearly a third of men who took this test got full marks, whereas less than 10 per cent of women managed the same.

Words


This task looked at your verbal fluency.

Your score: you associated 11 word(s) with grey and you named 16 word(s) that mean happy. We are assuming that all the words you entered are correct.
Average score for men: 11.4 words total
Average score for women: 12.4 words total

What does your result suggest?

If you produced 1 - 5 words: You are more of the strong, silent type with a male brain. You probably find it easier to express yourself in non-verbal ways, preferring action rather than words.

If you produced 6 - 10 words: Most people in this range have a female-type brain.

Women are said to use both sides of the brain when doing verbal tasks while men mainly use their left side. Studies have shown that girls develop vocabulary faster than boys. This difference in brain power is caused by levels of pre-natal testosterone

Ultimatum


This task asked you how you would divide money.

If you had to split £50 with someone, you said you would demand £25

So far on the Sex ID test, men have demanded 51.6% (£25.80) of the pot and women have demanded 51.0% (£25.50), on average.

What does your response suggest?

Sex differences are small in this task. Demanding less than 60% of the pot (ie £30) is more typically female. Demanding more than 65% of the pot (ie £32.50) is more typically male.

Scientists believe that people with lower testosterone levels tend to take fewer risks so they are probably more willing to keep less for themselves. Those with higher testosterone levels tend to drive a harder bargain and are less compromising.

Men's testosterone levels fluctuate over the seasons and are at their lowest levels during the springtime. This is said to influence their bargaining power.

Want to take this test? Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sex/index_cookie.shtml

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

right brain vs. left brain

Which are you? This is just a quick, simple test you can take and there are a ton of them out there. Here are my results:

Brain Lateralization Test Results
Right Brain (64%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain.
Left Brain (32%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain
Are You Right or Left Brained?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Monday, August 27, 2007


Today was our daughters first day of Kindergarten! Very bittersweet. It's exciting because she was looking so forward to it. It's also a bit sad because it's a step away from us and toward her independence.
I stuck out of work for a bit this morning to walk her into her new school. She was fine with the whole situation. All of the kids were fine with it. It was the parents that wouldn't leave and were doing all the crying.
I imagine this moment is especially hard for stay at home moms. Your kiddo is your whole world for 5 years and then you send them off where others have more influence than you throughout the day. That would be hard to adjust to.
Raleigh was a real trooper and seemed to enjoy her first day. We were anxiously waiting for stories on the way home, but she seemed so unimpressed with her first day.
What did you do today that was fun?
Nothing.
What was your favoritie part?
Nothing.
Typical kid I guess. We're looking forward to getting this first week under our belt and settling into the new routine. If she starts going to bed early for the first time in her life, I can finally start watching prime time tv again!

I'm so proud of my little girl. So far, perfect attendance!
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Thursday, August 23, 2007

Every mom should read this.

I was in the Doctors office getting follow up on my tendinitis on my right foot today. I had some time in the waiting room and started flipping through the new issue of Parent Wise Magazine. This is the magazine that was very kind to ask me to do a fathers day article in June. I was reading the article from the editor, Kim Pleticha and I think all mothers out there will appreciate it.
She does a great job of painting a picture and sharing with you just how frustrating motherhood can be on a daily basis and how one woman reaching out to her changed her world. This is a fantastic story.
Click below to load the pdf file and read the article by Kim on pg. 2. If you can relate to this article at all, I'm sure she would love to hear from you. editor@parentwiseaustin.com

http://parentwiseaustin.com/Archive/2007/08_August/2007_08_PWA.pdf

American Gladiator is coming back!

I loved this show back in the early 90's. I used to stay up into the wee hours watching it on late night cable. Gladiators where such big stars it compelled me to go see the live tour at Reunion arena in Dallas. Can't wait til this is back! God bless Gladiators.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Flustered?

I've noticed a funny thing about myself, but it's not necessarily a good thing. When I'm feeling the least bit overwhelmed I prefer to do manual labor. I had some time this afternoon and I had a million things that I needed to do. I needed to work on some details for my wifes car loan, organize some stuff for a rent house we are selling, organize some receipts, work on the show, read, write, and a few other things.
I often find myself flustered, overwhelmed and confused when I have serious things to do... so what do I do instead? I got on the roof in the scorching heat and trimmed trees and cleaned the gutters. I don't know why I do this.
I think it just feels like more accomplishment than many of those other intangible things, especially with our work. Sandy would understand this. We could spend all day working on the show and no one thinks we did anything. It's at time a very rewarding job but also at times very unrewarding in the fact that people think we coast through 4 hours day to day. Sometimes I envy people who have jobs that build things and have a start/finish with projects. We really are never done, there's always the next day and another 4 hours. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining and I wouldn't change a thing. I'm just trying to figure out why sometimes I go outside and pull weeds, wash the car or move rocks. It sometimes just makes more sense, feels better and has a moment where it's finished.

Always have a good "spotter" when pole dancing

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Are your young kids driving you crazy?


This is pretty fun. I found this on the internet. If you are like me at all, you are going a bit crazy with a bored kid running around your house. on this site http://readymech.com/
you can print out pdf's of pirates, animals, aliens, etc... then cut them out and fold them into an object. Check out the link, print them, cut them out and have some fun. Of course, you will be doing the project in it's entirety while your kid does something else, but it will make you feel like a cool parent. I found that it works pretty well on 8x10 printer paper if you have some laying around, but regular paper will work too.

I love movie mistakes. This one really made me laugh

We miss you on the anniversary of your death Elvis.

Elvis Drunk on Stage

Posted Sep 24, 2003

The fat Elvis obviously popped some pills and chased 'em with Jack Daniels before hitting the stage.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Show pics in Chicago


Good times goofing on the streets of Michigan Ave. in Chicago.
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Monday, August 13, 2007

What Made Milwaukee Famous


I can't get over how good this cd is. Craziest thing, I fell in love with this cd before I even knew they were from Austin. If you are like me and grew up and cool, edgy brit pop with cool choppy sounds, you will love this cd. I don't know why there isn't more buzz on this disc. I have been listening to it more than anything else in my collection these days.
There are so many killer tracks on this cd. In an era where bands seem to rush something out becuase there is one great song to get out, it's nice to have so many incredible songs on one cd.
You can listen to a few tracks for free on their myspace page here:
If you are bold enough to trust me and go grab their new cd, listen to the song "hellowdrama". It's interesting because these guys obviously have a knack for good melodies, but this song is like three killer hooks rolled into one song. It's weird as far as putting out hits, but really fun to listen to over and over without getting bored with too catchy of a song.
Hope to hear more about these Austinites soon.

In Chicago


My co-workers and I spent several days in Chicago for a morning radio conference. Saturday, after the conference ended we went down to Michigan ave. to goof around with my new camera. We had a bunch of fun and it's amazing how people freak out if more than one person is taking pictures of the same person. What an amazing city. This might be the best place in America during the summer.
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Wednesday, August 8, 2007

I'm so jealous... incredible design




My dad and his wife did the coolest thing. They rented an authentic Frank Lloyd Wright cabin for a week in Wisconsin. Apparently, it was a two year waiting list to get the place. FLW had an amazing talent to keep things simple, make them feel very warm and have them fit their surroundings. He also often integrated the furniture and shelves into the design of the home and would design furniture to fit the design of the specific home. Truly amazing. A few of favorite things about FLW is that he would always build in these great overhangs and patios that made it sort of grey as to where the house ended and the surroundings began. He would often incorporate natural light and windows and doors that would open to let it all in. One of my favorite things about FlW is that he never put in attics. He figured that you never put anything up there worth keeping anyway. Truly brilliants design. I am so, so jealous

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Fun with hair salons

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I recently visited the Alterations store. It is cleverly called "Alterations". I have noticed that Alterations stores put no effort whatsoever into naming their businesses. They are generally named Alterations, A-Alterations or sometimes they go out on a limb and call them AAA-Alterations.
Nail salons are equally un-inventive. They are often called just Nails, Nails and more or possibly even Nails, Nails, Nails.
But the privately owned hair salons. These are creative geniuses who love a good pun. They crack me up with their silly names. Here are some of my favorites:

Bangs For The Memories
Best Little Hair House
Blood Sweat & Shears
Clippity Do Da
Cliptomania
Comb One Comb All
Combing Attractions
Directors Cut
Dye Hard
From Hair To Eternity
Hair & Now
Hair & There
Hair Force
Hairs Johnny
Hairraiser
Hair-Riffic
Hair Say
Hair's Lookin' At You Kid
Hair Today Hair Tomorrow
Hairway To Heaven
Hair We Are
His And Hairs
Homecombing Queen
Julius Scissor
Locks Of Luck
The Locks Smith
MillionHairs
Scissors Palace
Shearlocks Home
Sophisticuts
The Hair Port
To Dye For
Well-Comb All

You know how you know I'm gay?

Two reasons. Yesterday I took three pair of jeans to the alterations place. A year ago I would have told you that you were insane if you were a guy and getting jeans altered. Jeans are high fashion now and I've fallen into the trap. I went jeans shopping with my wife and she made it sound so simple and matter of fact that this is what you do with a new pair of jeans. They are still at the alterations store. I get them tomorrow. As if they weren't expensive enough, I am going to add another 20-25 dollars to have them hemmed. I miss the "off the rack" days. Can we please go back? Once you bite the bullet on one fancy pair of jeans there's no turning back. If you are a guy and you don't own any high end jeans, don't do it. Don't get them. Honestly, once you have one pair you have to have 10 so people don't notice that you are wearing the same pair of fancy jeans over and over. This world sucks.

The other reason you know I'm gay is because I have started paying attention to song lyrics. Lately, if I hear a melody that draws me in I want to know what the song is all about. Why did I start doing this? I am currently trying to figure out this song by The Shins. Please respond if you can figure out what the heck it means. I love the flow of the song and it's currently one of my favorite songs. I just don't know what the heck it means. Please help. Also, buy the song and/or cd. So worth it.

"Red Rabbits"

Hurled to the center of the Earth again,
The place where it's hot, love,
You know, it hurts to breathe in,
And the watershed you balance on is begging it,
Well did he ever know,
Will he ever know?

The trees in the moonshine are a dark lattice,
So you catalog in the angle you notice,
In a vacuum you recharge to record this,
So you won't make it easy on me.

And I can't go into this no more,
It puts too many thorns on my mind,
And the necessary balloon lies a corpse on the floor,
We've pissed on far too many sprites,
And they're all standing up for their rights.

Born on a desert floor, you've the deepest thirst,
And you came to my sweet shore to indulge it,
With the wan and dreaming eyes of an orphan,
But there is not enough,
There is not enough.

Out of a gunnysack for red rabbits,
Into the crucible to be rendered an emulsion,
And we can't allow a chance they'd restore themselves,
So we can't make it easy on you.

Undaunted, you bathed in hollow cries,
The boils were swollen, sunburned eyes,
A reward for letting nothing under their skin,
So help me, I don't know, I might,
Just give the old dark side a try.

Don't cast your warring eyes on the shore,
Did we even the score?
I still owe you for the hole in the floor,
And the ghost in the hall,
Who decides who paddles over the falls?
Yeah, who makes the call,
Who makes the call?

Well, I know there's an eventual
Release from every scale of crime,
But the necessary balloon lies a corpse on the floor,
We've pissed on far too many good intentions held by clever sprites,
And they're all standing up for their rights.

Monday, August 6, 2007

The House of Drool!

I got a filling at the dentist a couple hours ago. I am trying to drink a delicious beer, a Firemans Four to be exact. It keeps dribbling down my chin. I'm such a loser.
I have been dairy free for over two years now. I have recently discovered goat and sheep cheese. Life is good again. These are very different from the the simple cheddar I used to eat, topped with jalapeno slices. Goat and sheep cheese are much more of the "rotting foot" variety, the kind of cheese my dad likes to eat.
So, here I sit with beer dribbling out of the left corner of my mouth and I shovel rotten foot into the right side. Life doesn't get any better than this.

I just read John Mayers more recent blog about his sound engineer. John's blogs always crack me up. He's now on my "people I would like to meet" list.

http://www.johnmayer.com/blog

Thursday, August 2, 2007

A simple request.

Hey, I've hit the 100 blogs mark! (marching band enters stage left) Pretty exciting.
I've felt a bit absent lately as far as contributing any original thoughts. Mainly because... I haven't had any original thoughts. I've really been in full blown loser mode lately. Hopefully, I will snap out of it soon.
I must share with you my new simple request of all people who use the phone. When you call someone, ask one of these three questions immediately.

Do you have a second?
Are you in the middle of something?
Can you talk right now?

Also it's important to listen to their answer to this question. Try to be considerate of the fact that the friend/co-worker/loved one might be in the middle of something. I know several people who NEVER ask me one of these questions. This leads me to not answer the phone as often as I would like or it keeps my short and irritated on my end and that's not good for either of us.

I hope this doesn't come across as snotty. It's something I try to do when I'm placing the call.

Cool Discovery Team Celebration Video

This is a great video you that you all might enjoy. I know that my friend PJ puts a lot of time and effort into shooting video all season to give people a behind the scenes look at bike racing. Here's some killer footage from this years Tour De France. I love watching this stuff unfold over three weeks. Here's an easy what to see what happened in a hurry.