Of Policies and Politics

I originally took this test a while ago, but only recently rediscovered the captured images when I had to migrate my documents to a new Windows XP system.

I have often wondered where I fit in the political spectrum. I am registered as a Republican, but I always vote policy above party. That has meant that I have voted across party lines several times. Personally, I don't know why anyone would vote a party line if their inklings lean in another direction. If you go to PoliticalCompass.org you can take a test that will categorize your way of thinking and plot you on a graph of Left vs. Right and Authoritarian vs. Libertarian.

As you can see from my score, I am pretty close to middle of the road. I know I definitely don't have any strong leanings on way or another, but there are some things that concern me, and I think they show up in the graph.

While I don't necessarily believe in communism, I do believe that the class structure of haves and have-nots has gone a bit too far. While not an anarchist, I do think that individual liberties do sometimes outweigh the need for state control.

Thankfully I am not in George Bush's or Sadddam Hussein's regions. And I think being in the same quadrant as Nelson Mandela and The Dalai Lama puts me in some pretty good company.

What about you, where do you fit in the political spectrum? Take the test and see. Let me know if you are in my neighborhood.

Just a quick side note. I retook the test when posting this entry, and it seems I have moved a little more to the left, but am the same on the anarchy scale.

Right On Target

My body may betray me at times and occasionally make me feel older than I am, but apparently my brain is right on target. I took the Brain Speed test at Positscience and it turns out I am in the top ten percentile for my age group. I guess my brain is better than I thought it was. Here is my score.
As you can see by the chart below (I am 42 years old), I am doing pretty darn well for my age. A lower score is better- faster brain speed. Thirty-two is the top ten percent for people in their 40's and I got a 31. :-)

I have to say I think it would be pretty hard to get a much lower score. You would have to have pretty darn good ears and a really fast brain. Apparently as we get older our brains slow down, as one might expect. But several sources say regular exercise of the brain can keep it young.

Whether the software these folks are selling works to exercise the brain or not, I really don't know. But I must say the person who wrote up the Brain Speed test needs to work on speeding up their own brain. If you look at that first image, you can see where they wrote "... find our how ..." instead of "find out how"

What is your Brain Speed score? Take the test and find out. If anyone buys the program, please let me know what it is like.

A New Photo Update

Yay! Hurray! Finally an update to my photo page. Quick! Go have a look while it is still fresh. Remember to leave a comment if you'd like.