The Patrician Blog - Semi-Random Events

Taking Advantage of the Windows 7 Upgrade Offer

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:33:00 -0500

Well, Windows 7 has been released, and it is a hit, and has garnered good reviews. Upon looking at the list of features included, I think I'd like it as well.

Perhaps the last side effect of my own technological debacle, in which I had to purchase a new laptop, is connected to this event. With the purchase of my Toshiba Satellite L505D-S5965, I got an offer for a free Windows 7 upgrade to my system.

I decided to wait on taking advantage of this until Windows 7 came out and any issues lurking with it could be reported. Now that it's been 3 days, I believe the window has passed for reporting major issues with the system, and it is also compatible with Simcity 4 (as Microsoft CEO Balmer broadly promised), thus I have sent out the required information to get my copy of Windows 7.

I probably will not upgrade my computers as soon as I get it, but I would like to have a copy around in case I do decide to go through with an upgrade.

That's my tale of Windows 7, and feel free to share yours in the comments column.

Miscellaneous Reilgious and Political Quiz Results

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:54:00 -0500

Well, I decided to take some religion and politics quizzes today (just for amusement), and here are my results:

From the What Religion Suits You? test:

[q]Your Result

Atheism: You are most suited to be an athiest. Athiests believe that there is no god. Most likely you believe in science and the cold, hard facts that science brings. You probably don't like to think about what comes after death, focusing more on life. That can be a good thing, but people need something to believe in. Remember that and try not to criticize people if they are religious.[/q]

No surprises there. Now moving on to my second publicized Belief-O-Matic test:

[q]

How did the Belief-O-Matic do? Discuss your results on our message boards.

1.	Secular Humanism (100%)
2.	Unitarian Universalism (90%)
3.	Nontheist (76%)
4.	Liberal Quakers (74%)
5.	Theravada Buddhism (70%)
6.	Neo-Pagan (62%)
7.	Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (62%)
8.	Taoism (49%)
9.	Reform Judaism (49%)
10.	New Age (47%)
11.	Mahayana Buddhism (39%)
12.	Scientology (36%)
13.	Sikhism (35%)
14.	New Thought (34%)
15.	Orthodox Quaker (31%)
16.	Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (27%)
17.	Baha'i Faith (24%)
18.	Hinduism (24%)
19.	Jainism (23%)
20.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (22%)
21.	Seventh Day Adventist (20%)
22.	Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (18%)
23.	Eastern Orthodox (13%)
24.	Islam (13%)
25.	Orthodox Judaism (13%)
26.	Roman Catholic (13%)
27.	Jehovah's Witness (11%)

[/q]

No surprises there, either, although my score for Unitarianism has dropped to 90 percent from 97 percent.

Next, I took another Beliefnet quiz, this one being the What's Your Path to Peace? test. I scored:

[q](on a scale of 1-40)
18 - 27
You take the non-violent path. Like famed Indian pacifist, Mahatma Gandhi, you believe that peaceful civil disobedience is the best route to social change. There are rare moments when violent resistance may be considered as a better option. Nonviolence, you emphatically believe, is not to be confused with cowardice, but rather the highest expression of bravery. Find prayers for peace here.[/q]

An interesting result, and I think a reasonably accurate one.

I retook the Politics Test on OkCupid, and my result was a little more economically permissive than last time, but otherwise the same:

And lastly, the Political Personality Test.

My results were:

[q]HMPI

Horizontalist - Militant - Progressive - Individualist

You are opposed to big government and state welfare, and believe that the market would function much more efficently without any government intervention. You are prepared to take radical action against a state which tramples over individual rights.

Examples of historical HMPIs are:

Max Stirner - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Stirner

How your result is calculated

This test measures your preferences in four areas;

The first variable measures your attutude towards authority. If you believe in a strong, vertical power structure, then you will recieve the designation of Authoritarian. However if you are distrutful of such systems, and prefer small governments, then you will recieve a designation of Horizontalist.

The second variable shows how inclined you are to radical action. If you are likely to take up arms against the system, you will recieve the designation of Militant. However, if you prefer to work within the system and show a more pacifistic nature you will recieve the designation of Reformist.

The third variable demonstrates your attitude towards change. If you are sceptical of change then you will recieve the designation of Conservative. If you believe in the necessity of change you will recieve the designation of Progressive.

The last variable determines your attitude towards economics. If you support an economic system in which the needy are cared for then you will recieve the designation of Collectivist. If you are in favour of an economic system which allows individuals to amass large amounts of resources for their own private use then you willrecieve the designation of Individualist.[/q]

While I don't believe the overview was entirely correct, since it made extrapolations based on the designations it gave me, it is to be expected in a short test such as that.

To clarify the designations, I prefer:

- as large a government as necessary. It shouldn't be larger or smaller than is required to perform state functions.
- I would only take up arms against a government if all peaceful methods have failed, and only then if the government is totalitarian in nature.
- The third and fourth variables are entirely accurate

I found the tests to be quite interesting, and I would recommend them to anyone who is interested in such things.

Change of AFDES Domain

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:29:00 -0500

The AFDES site address has been changed to afdes.co.cc. If you are following one of the links in "Return of the AFDES", insert afdes.co.cc in lieu of afdes.byethost12.com.

Results of the Belief-O-Matic

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:34:00 -0500

Well, I've decided to, out of curiosity, take the Belief-O-Matic quiz, and below are my results:

1.	Secular Humanism (100%)
2.	Unitarian Universalism (91%)
3.	Nontheist (78%)
4.	Liberal Quakers (74%)
5.	Theravada Buddhism (70%)
6.	Neo-Pagan (65%)
7.	Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (62%)
8.	Taoism (51%)
9.	New Age (49%)
10.	Reform Judaism (44%)
11.	Mahayana Buddhism (39%)
12.	Orthodox Quaker (32%)
13.	Scientology (31%)
14.	Sikhism (31%)
15.	New Thought (30%)
16.	Baha'i Faith (26%)
17.	Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (23%)
18.	Jainism (23%)
19.	Seventh Day Adventist (18%)
20.	Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (18%)
21.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (17%)
22.	Hinduism (17%)
23.	Eastern Orthodox (9%)
24.	Islam (9%)
25.	Orthodox Judaism (9%)
26.	Roman Catholic (9%)
27.	Jehovah's Witness (4%)

I was not surprised at the top three results (even though I'm not precisely a secular humanist), but I was surprised at the high rank of Liberal Quakers and Neo-Pagans. Also note that most sects of the Abrahamic religions scored at the bottom. Interesting to see all of our results, isn't it?

Google Earth Flight Simulator

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:06:00 -0500

Well, a few weeks ago I finally downloaded Google Earth 5.0, after putting it low on the priority list for months. 5.0 has many great features, including bathymetry (ocean depth), historical imagery, variable brightness of the landscape, and a flight simulator. The flight simulator is what I have tried out most often since I have obtained 5.0.
[More]

A Glitch on CNBC.com Shows High Oil Price

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 20:09:00 -0500

This is the first entry in my blog, so first, some information. To see general information, go to the Information page. Other than that, you may have noticed the theme of this blog. In the background, there is a picture of a cloudy reddish sky with a plume to the right. In fact, it is a picture from an undisclosed location taken by myself, showing a sunset sky with a rather three-dimensional contrail. To see the full picture, click here.

On the subject of the post, a few days ago, I noticed on CNBC.com that the price of NYMEX Crude Oil was displayed as being $170.34 a barrel:

I found out the cause of the glitch: the Dow Jones Banking Index was substituted for the real oil price, which was around $49 at the time. However, will this very sight - $170 oil - be in our future? Is this just a random glitch, or a taste of what is to come?