My SEX I.D

SEX I.D! Find out how your mind works. Here are my results.

The scale below is an indication of where you fall in the male-female brain continuum. The results are based on the angles, spot the difference, 3D shapes and words tasks.

Bear in mind that your performance may be affected by many factors in addition to gender, like age and intelligence.

Your personal brain score: 50% male
Average score for MEN who've taken this survey: 50% male
Average score for WOMEN who've taken this survey: 50% female

I would have preferred if it said 100% male. At least I am with the average. My score for each task follows.


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: 20 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.

Pretty accurate there.



Spot the difference

This task tested your ability to identify which objects changed position. You lost points, if you incorrectly identified objects.
Your score: 50%
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.

Find out more about our spatial abilities.

Pretty sure I could have gotten a better score. Didn't read the instructions properly and didn't know what to expect.



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.

Highly suspicious and vague results.



Emotions and Systems

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

Your empathy score is: 2 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.

Whoops. Looks like I suck at empathising. I say it's pretty accurate. NOSE!(sorry, private joke)



Systemising

Your systemising score is: 11 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.

The systemising score isn't reliable because it's based on questions like: You find it easy to read a map, Strongly Agree, Agree, ... They should have posed some analytical problems.



Eyes

This task tested your ability to judge people's emotions.
Your score: 9 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. Find out more.

Sigh. There's no way I have Asperger's now. For those of you who notice that this result contradicts the previous one, here's an explanation. The test is assuming that I act upon my observations and start getting concerned and all. I don't. And when I don't wear my glasses, I may miss subtle cues as well.



Fingers

We asked you to measure your ring and index fingers. Your ratios came to:
Right Hand: 0.97
Left Hand: 0.98

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.

Good to know that I am as hOrny as any normal male.



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.

Make that Strongly Prefer Feminine Faces. The "beautiful models" used in the test must have skewed my results!



3D shapes

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

Your score: 12 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.

I actually took slightly longer than I would have liked for this test. Probably because I was taking the test at 4am. Shouldn't take these tests in the dead of the night.



Words

This task looked at your verbal fluency.

Your score: you associated 5 word(s) with grey and you named 9 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.

Think of words relating to Grey. At 4am. Ready. Set. Go! My thoughts were immediately filled with a grayscale image of a very stationary grey boulder. It remained in there for a long time. Think of words relating to Happy after being dealt the previous god-awful task.



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. Find out more about the role of testosterone.

Economics decision tree. I quivered and entered 25.

Badminton Miniature

P8180994
Originally uploaded by cjyoung.

I like this photo a lot. The neutral green against the strong purple starting strongly at the bottom and flowing upwards towards the background.

The center is filled with little details like the courts' lines and net, sponsors' logos and players, umpires and linesmen frozen in their respective activity which are gently brought out by the lesser detailed crowd.

It's as if you were looking at an incredibly realistic miniature of a badminton tournament taking place in a hall.

The courts have faultless lines and delicate nets(1st court), the players holding their detailed rackets and realistic play watched over by umpires in their high chairs(2nd court), linesmen in their neutral positions(bottom left), chairs and tables laid ever so slightly out of place(along the off-court area).

Nice.

I miss playing badminton. Had been playing tennis too often recently.

Star Wreck - In The Pirkinning And More

tiina3
Originally uploaded by Arnold Ho.

I watched 3 shows over the weekend.

On Friday evening, I caught Smallville(Season 5 Episode 4) - Aqua just after a few hours it aired over in the US. In this episode, Aquaman makes an appearance. Clark Kent(Superman) meets Arthur Curry(Aquaman). The effects were very cool. Like when Aquaman swam underwater at superspeed and we got to see how it looked underwater and from above. Ain't that right, bro?

Then around midnight, I chanced upon The Crow - Salvation running in the Friday Late Night Movie slot. I knew there are a lot more Crows than just Eric Draven(Brandon Lee) although he is my favourite and I was pleasantly surprised to see 5 airing another Crow movie. During the first commercial, I went to IMDB to check it out. I was disappointed when I saw that Salvation had a rather dismal score of 4.9/10. However, I was again pleasantly surprised when I saw that Kirsten Dunst(Spiderman, Jumanji) was in it too. It looked really good at the start so I decided to give it a chance. Dark painted faces, the undead, lots of violence. Perfect excuse to skip studying on a Friday night.

Now we shall turn to Star Wreck - In The Pirkinning.

"An epic film about the emperor of the world in the far reaches of the galaxy."

The first Finnish full-length scifi parody is made from astounding special effects, action and loads of dark humour. It is the product of a core group of five Finns and many people who've helped us during the seven years it has been in the making. You can download the entire movie by clicking here. For free, of course.

If you wish to know more you may want to watch the trailer, or read more about the film.

(I like to think of it as a core group of main developers working on an open-source project, being supported by the open source community. Only this time, it's not a program but an awesome full-length movie)

I had downloaded Star Wreck - In The Pirkinning a while back but never got down to watching it. So I did today! It was hilarious but felt totally like a real movie you would watch in a cinema. It's in Finnish(i think) and I had to multi-task by slipping my dinner into my mouth whilst keeping my eyes glued to the subtitles and the awesome Hollywood-equivalent special effects. The ending wasn't great but everything else was hilarious.

And there is the babe you see up there! Download it quick! I recommend using Bittorrent to download it and remember to choose the version with English subtitles(unless you understand Finnish of course)!

Flip3D In Windows Vista

Flip3D In Windows Vista
Originally uploaded by Arnold Ho.

I enabled the Avalon engine that was disabled by default in beta releases.

In addition to the real window transparency (which I already have in Linux) and glowing buttons, Flip3D is one of the features. Other effects include small previews windows when you mouseover the taskbar.

After enabling the Avalon effects, stability has gone down the drain into the sewer. The User Experience thingy keeps on crashing on me.

I also took the liberty of disabling certain startup services that I was sure I didn't need.

Update
Ok. I dug up an old Linux screenshot from a year ago after getting bored toying around with Vista. The characters on the background update dynamically every few seconds and that's my root terminal in the middle. On the right are all my other desktops. Just thought some of you might be interested.

Windows Vista Beta Build 5231

Windows Vista Space Required And Performance
Originally uploaded by Arnold Ho.

Ok. I installed the leaked Windows Vista(build 5231) on my laptop.

It was frought with inconveniences.

Vista had a 8GB requirement for C:. Yes. 8GB. I had to repartition my drive. Move my data(even this was a headache because my server's data partition was 99% full).

Vista doesn't install on FAT32 partitions and gave me an cryptic error when I asked it to do a NTFS format. I had to put on NTFS using my old Win XP disc.

Vista halted and informed me it needed an additional 4GB of free space for temporary storage during installation. Obviously, I couldn't get it to use my 9 other Linux ext3 partitions. I had to plug in my USB HDD for it to use as temporary storage during installation. This is a first(installation proceeded, I don't really know if Vista actually made use of it because I went upstairs to bathe).

Installation took around an hour(doesn't include all the time I spent doing the things I mentioned above and the voodoo I had to do which I didn't mention). My LCD screen flickered a few times for no reason whatsoever. Everytime I look at the installation process, I felt like I was looking at a queer child who just may not make it to adulthood.

Surprisingly, it made it. You can see the few screenshots I took here.

After some pointing, some clicking and some pokin' around, I suddenly remembered the bootloader Vista was now using. Vista is probably not gonna boot with Grub. Great. Now how am I gonna boot into Linux without killing Vista?

Suggestions?


Update:
How to dual-boot GNU/Linux and Windows Vista Using GRUB
(keywords: vista linux grub boot)

Ok. I have found a temporary solution. You can create a static GRUB boot disk and boot your computer off it. Then at the GRUB prompt, enter the following commands.

grub> root (hd0,2)
grub> kernel /kernel-2.6.11-gentoo-r6-irda-bluetooth-dvb
grub> boot

I did what I did because my Linux kernel is on the 1st HDD in the 3rd partition. Those familiar with GRUB will know this. As for specifying the kernel, you can hit "Tab" to auto-complete the kernel path. Enter "boot" and you should be booting Linux without killing Vista.

Alternatively, if you were like me, who could only locate a stage2 but no stage2_eltorito as documented and was unsure, you can also use Grub Super Disk(GSD). Basically, it is a ready-made ISO of a GRUB boot disk with more features. It's supposed to be better than burning a static Grub boot disk but in my case, I was dropped to the standard GRUB prompt rightaway. Nonetheless, I got a working GRUB and I entered the commands as above to boot my Linux kernel.

You can get the GSD images from here. The GSD help forums are here. It is rather empty because this whole GSD thing is very new. In fact, the GSD-0.89.iso I am using was posted just 3 days ago. The GSD guy is called Adrian and he has a blog(it's in Spanish) too.

Qnext In Linux

Qnext In Linux
Originally uploaded by Arnold Ho.

Haven't been using Windows for some time now and I have pretty much fallen behind in keeping up with new good stuff coming out for Windows.

I chanced upon Qnext yesterday. I knew about it before but at that time, it wasn't ready yet and I soon forgot all about it. Now it looks really promising and according to SpywareInfo, it does not have spyware.

To my pleasant surprise, it works in Linux as well. I was slightly dismayed later when I realised this was because it was written in Java. Installation was a simple decompression and execute because Qnext came bundled with the necessary Java binaries. This also means that if I hated it, I could simply delete it.

$ tar -jxvf qnext.tar
$ cd qnext
$ ./qnext

It started up and ran smoothly without any hiccups and even began downloading small sensible updates.

Now, I usually try to avoid Java applications because they always tend to be slow, CPU intensive and take up hordes of memory. To it's credit, Qnext is fast for a Java application and doesn't take up much CPU for multi-protocol instant messaging but I would expect CPU usage to increase significantly for file sharing, music streaming, audio chat and video conferencing. It takes up ~21% of my 512MB memory at idle!

Nonetheless, it seems like a fun alternative to Gaim for now. MSN, ICQ, YIM users should give it a go as well.