Category: Net: Polls

According to the category description at the ODP,are “Geeks and Nerds, those misfits of society. Whatever your interest, be it coding, books, Role Playing or online gaming, there are sites out there to promote the geek lifestyle and reassure you that you aren’t alone, and you might just be cool too.“. Personally, I tend to think of Geeks and Nerds being people who really enjoying (and spend a lot of time) at computers out of choice.

Anyway, I picked a test at random out of the Geeks and Nerds Tests category – and now we’ll see if I am a Nerd via the Archie McPhee Nerd Test.

1: Own website+own domain name- yes, several times. 2: Have you ever taken Latin – no, because that option hasn’t been available to me, but I do like the Latin language and I’ve learnt a little bit of it and occasionally use it in conversation (especially on IRC). 3: In the UK, exchange ‘Radio Shack’ for Tandy (as that is it’s UK trading name) – or Maplins. 5: Do you use a computer for 4 hours or more everyday and has your computer time ever been ‘rationed’ – yep and yep.

My score? 529 (after losing 25 points as I did the test via a Windows machine) – my Nerd rating is 113.28%. So I’m more of a Nerd than Bill Gates and George W. Bush – but not as much as a Nerd as Dilbert.

According to the “What the Hell Kinda Attitude is That?” quiz at AKA Cooties, I have a British attitude (which is good, as I’m largely a Brit) which can be summed up by saying “Oy! Oy! Oy! You have a British Attitude! You’re a stout-slogging, fish-battering, monarch-having, mac-wearing, pastey-white, eccles cake eater”.

Well, apart from the fact that I dislike Stout (it’s more for the “older generation” and the Irish in my eyes – and, yes, Guinness is stout), I don’t like fish – battered or otherwise (but I do like pineapple fritters – pineapple slices fried in batter – doner-meat fritters and chips: and that’s what I had for dinner earlier), I don’t have a Mac (it’s kind of coat) and I’ve got no opinion about Eccles Cakes it’s quite correct.

Yes, we do have a Queen (Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the II) and I do think we are better having a monarchy than other countries (if the government of the day really messes up she can override their decisions and totally dissolve/break-up the government: its formal title is, I believe, Her Majesty’s Government) and I’m reasonably white – I did go down to beach around 9 months ago now and get a bit of a tan, but it’s beginning to fade. Oh, I’m sure quite a portion of the current inhabitants of the British isles would disagree with the “pastey-white” comment (Leicester, in fact, is the second largest Hindu city outside India according to the UK Asian Population Report – and the people that follow the Hindu religion only make up two thirds of Leicester’s Asian community).

A recent entry on KillUglyRadio pointed me towards the Color Quiz (or, as we would say here in the UK, Colour Quiz). You just select 8 squares of colours in the order that suits you – wait a couple of minutes – and then select 8 coloured squares again and then it gives you your personality test results.

Like most polls that I have previously done, I wasn’t willing to read too much into the results of a personality profile conducted using a bunch of coloured shapes – but the results are extremely good and practically spot on. I do agree that my ‘existing situation’ is “Readily participates in things that provide excitement or stimulation. Wants to feel exhilarated.” and the “stress sources” seem spot on as well – only things I don’t feel are quite right are the bits about my “restrained characteristics” (i.e. sex life). I would say the test is better than 50% accurate…

What about you? Take the test and see if those colored (sic!) squares can tell you a lot about yourself – is it accurate for you or did I just read a little “too much” into the results…

Brian (of the Friday Group Therapy fame) also maintains a separate weblog in which he recently blogged about the “Which Science Fiction Writer Are You?” quiz/poll (which he got via The Gamer’s Nook)

This quiz shows you which popular sci-fi author you are most like (again, no scientific evidence behind it) from the choice of: Isaac Asimov, Alfred Bester, Arthur C. Clarke, David Brin, Octavia E. Butler, Philip Jose Farmer, Gregory Benford, Frank Herbert, Samuel R. Delany, Jerry Pournelle, Mickey Spillane, Ursula LeGuin, Stanislaw Lem, William Gibson, Olaf Stapledon, Philip K. Dick, Hal Clement, Robert A. Heinlein, E.E. “Doc” Smith, James Tiptree Jr, Jules Verne, Kurt Vonnegut, H.G. Wells, Cordwainer Smith, Ayn Rand and John Brunner.

Out of all of those I’ve read some of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, one not-very-scifish book by William Gibson and I’m a big fan of Arthur C. Clarke, the late Douglas Adams (who wasn’t included in the list) and the late Isaac Asimov.

Anyway – the quiz decided that I’m most like Isaac (“You are: Isaac Asimov -One of the most prolific writers in history, on any imaginable subject. Cared little for art but created lasting and memorable tales.”) – so I’m quite happy with that conclusion 🙂

The quiz is Javascript based and the disclaimer in the source code shows how accurately you should interpret the results: “Generally speaking, the answers that I attach to each writer should not be construed as necessarily accurate or factual. When I have no idea what the right answer is, I just make one up.”

Taking after Neil again, here’s the results of my ICQuiz (by WannabeGirl).

It seems my ICQ status is ‘Away’: “I get distracted very easily. Even you can’t get my full attention.” I don’t quite agree with that statement, but I’m sure it’s not meant to be a scientific test… Oddly enough, that is the same result as Neil…

A few things about the quiz: “1. Do you have a long ICQ contact list?”. Define long :). “3. Are you avoiding any of them [people on your contact list]” – no, if I’m avoiding someone I block them and then remove them from my contact list. “11. Can people see your online status from your website” – not from this website, but some other websites that I contribute to have my ICQ status displayed.