All Entries in the "Just For Fun" Category

Learn About Yourself With 100 Free On-Line Quizzes and Tests

I’m constantly amazed at all the free stuff available on-line.   My latest find - quizzes and tests. For example, I’ve found that I’m an INFP Myers-Briggs personality type, and “pretty moral” from the Robin Hood Morality Quiz.

Yea, many of these “free” tests are designed to just get my contact info. Once I swam passed the sharks, though, I found a lot that were legit, from places like:

• newspapers and magazines - such as CNN, Psychology Today, Oprah and, oh yes, even my new friends at AARP ( I just turned 50, for all you new readers.)
• researchers at universities or other organizations gathering data
• helpful organizations such as religious groups or Alcoholics Anonymous
• developers of tests who are refining them through data acquisition
• computer geeks
• marketers showing you a little of their product in the hopes that you’ll purchase the souped- up version.  These are sharks, but of a higher class.  They at least give a little.

If you want to find out more about yourself, I’ve compiled a list of links.  Dive in.  These should not have annoying pop-ups, etc.

Find any of these to really be sharks?  Know any others to add to the list?  Leave a comment or e-mail me.

Money

MSN Financial IQ Test - Can you manage your money?

Career

Three sites offer free Myers-Briggs tests:

• Humanetrics.
• The Personality Test Center
• Similar Minds

Aging

Real Age Test as seen on Today, MSNBC and 20/20

Longevity Calculator at AARP

Psychology

IQ Test

Personality Tests

The Robin Hood Morality Quiz - How honest are you?

Psychology Today - Self Tests on just about everything you do.

Do you drink too much?  How Much is Too Much?

Keirsey Temperament Sorter

Rate Yourself on dozens of different topics

Personal DNA

The Personality Lab

Learn Myself

Relationships

The acclaimed Gottman Institute has Quizzes on Relationships

Spirituality

Eclectic Energies -want to know where you are on the Enneagram?  Or your strongest Chakras? I-Ching?  6 different spiritual quiz assessments.

Miscellaneous

Math, vocabulary, or geography skills - also for teachers.

Typing speed

Design Your Own Test

Test Design

photo credit: PicApp

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9 Best Ways to Get Laid Off

When it comes to layoffs, it’s not about seniority anymore.  Are you staying below the radar? Here’s some suggestions on what NOT to do.

1.  Call your mother regularly during work.  Did I forget to mention that she lives in China - and you’re using the company phone?

2.  Go golfing on the company expense account.

3.  Brag about your seniority.

4.  Ask for more personal time.

5.  Don’t use deodorant.

6.  Schedule your haircuts during work hours.

7.  Supply your child’s class with company pens and notebooks.

8.  Sell company stationary at the local flea market.

9.  Have your supervisor overhear you making fun of his hairpiece.

Photo Credits:  PicApp

If “Global Recession” Was a Jeopardy Category

“I’ll take ‘Global Recession’ for $200, Alex.”

• “And the answer is spend.”
• “What is: How to solve the current economic crisis?”

“Global Recession for $400.”

• “And the answer is spend.”
• “What is: How to solve the current high jobless rate?”

“Global Recession for $600.”

• “And the answer is spend.”
• “What is: How to stabilize deflation?”

“Global Recession for $800.”

• “And the answer is spend.”
• “What is: How to increase the national debt?”

“Global Recession for $1000.”

• “And the answer is spend.”
• “What is: How to increase credit card debt?”

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O Christmas Tree…Cha Ching

My spouse and I opted to buy a pine scented pillow and forego the Christmas tree this year.

Save money.  Save time.  Save a tree.  Save putting my foot through the ceiling whilst digging the ornaments out of the attic - an exciting episode of last year’s tree experience.

At first, I felt relieved.  We’ll hang the mistletoe in a high traffic area, deck the halls with boughs of holly, spike the egg nog, and be done with it.

But now I’m not so sure.

Since childhood, the tree has always been my central decoration for the holiday.  All activities revolved around it.  For years, my two nieces and I slept on the floor next to it on Christmas Eve, in the hopes of tripping up Santa.  It was where we congregated with family and friends, where my mother and I sat talking quietly in the late winter evenings.

I know there’s still time to change our mind.  We’ll see what the next few days bring.  It might just be too hard to pass up seeing the little wooden bird ornaments, or the tacky bubble lights, for a whole nother year.

There’s something just a little bit magical about it.

I’d love to hear about your Christmas tree traditions.

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Attention Weekend Warriors - To the Maul!

Second to last weekend to shop, guys.  “Let’s Go To the Mall,” with Robin Sparkles in her ’80’s Classic Video.

8 Reasons Why Moving Forward is Really Moving Backwards

Today someone told me that she thinks moving forward is really moving backwards.

It’s like the human life cycle.  You start out as a blithering baby, and at 80, you end up as one.

When I was in college, my advisor read me a quote that went something like this:

“The youth today will have no future.  They have no respect for their elders, for society, for the way things should be.”

This is a quote from Socrates during one of those B.C. years. And probably by every parent in the world since then.

Go figure.

So here’s 8 reasons why moving forward is really moving backwards - and why sometimes that might not be so bad.

GOOD REASONS

• More is Less. Keeping up with the Joneses has become spending less than the Joneses.
• Walking is better than taking your car.
• Growing your own food is better than buying it.
• Gas prices are at 2005 levels, and dropping.
• Obama brings back the Clinton Brigade.

BAD REASONS

• We’re in a depression.  Oh, I mean recession. First we couldn’t say the “r” word, now we’re not supposed to say the “d” word.
• Foreign countries own most of the land in America. BAD for us, GOOD for them.
• The modern day health system is a joke. I guess that’s never changed.

Kangaroos only move forward, never backwards.

Go figure.

No-Frills Chic

I have friends that swing either way.  Some are All-Chic, some are All No-Frills. But now, in a “you got chocolate in my peanut butter” kind of way, Trendwatching surfaces the latest worldwide craze - No-Frills Chic.

The definition:

“low cost goods and services that add design …or exceptional customer service to create top quality experiences at bottom prices.”

Think Walmart meets Ritz Carlton.

Some examples they site:

• Target -”stylish products at low prices”
• Trader Joes - “who stocks eclectic and upscale foodstuffs for the chic wine and cheese set at no-frills prices.”
• JetBlue - reasonable prices without giving up roomy seats and personal TVs.

Some of my own:

• Minor League Baseball Games.
• Free Walks at the local Bird and Wildlife Sancturary.
• Making a lobster or filet mignon dinner at home ( you can make a pretty great lobster dinner for 2 for under $30 here in New England.)
• Shopping in an ethnic neighborhood at one of their local food stores.
• Catching a great sale at one of my favorite stores on-line.
• The Library.

I am not always No-Frills Chic. During these recession times, I can be Cheap Chic, but I don’t want to give up my Eco Chic and Health Chic for Cheap Chic if I don’t have to - knock on wood.

<——————Here’s an example of Eco Chic.

I have never been Cool Chic, but am sometimes considered Geek Chic. My daughters are considered Art-Nouveau Chic.

They dress something like this:————->

Where are you at with the chic?

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Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

The age old question is answered by the politicos, the rich, and/or the famous.

Why did the chicken cross the road?????

BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a change! The chicken wanted change! The chicken needed change! CHANGE!

JOHN MC CAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road…

SARAH PALIN: BECAUSE, PRAISE JESUS, I WAS GONNA SHOOT HIS SORRY LIBERAL ASS OFF FOR BLOCKING MY VIEW OF RUSSIA!

HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn’t about me.

GEORGE W. BUSH: We don’t really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

DICK CHENEY: Where’s my gun?

COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.

BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken. What is your definition of crossing?

AL GORE: I invented the chicken.

JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken’s intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.

DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won’t realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he’s acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems.

OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I’m going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.

NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he’s guilty! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmers Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I’ve not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die, in the rain, alone.

JERRY FALWELL: Because the chicken was gay! Can’t you people see the plain truth? That’s why they call it the other side. Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay, too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like the other side. That chicken should not be crossing the road. It’s as plain and as simple as that.

GRANDPA: In my day we didn’t ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS: Isn’t that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.

ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken2008. This new platform is much more stable and will never crash.

ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

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Bad Evan’s Halloween Costume Contest

You’re dressing up anyway.  Take a  snapshot of yourself in your Halloween costume attire, and get it off to Bad Evan by November 3rd.  Email to: costumes@badevan.com

You could win $500!

Rules:  File can be no larger than 1MB and contain no nudity. 

That’s it!

Sponsor:  BuyCostumes

These are the judges:
Wisdom Hypnosis
Ken Armstrong
Canucklehead
FragileHeart
Odd Vantage
PhoneSexLife
Diet Pulpit
MTMD

Don’t let any black cats cross your path, and you just might win!

Some Halloween Facts:

HOW DO YOU SPELL ESCAPE? 

Halloween is the 2nd most commercially successful holiday, with Christmas being the first.  In spite of the recession economy, consumers will spend $5.77 billion dollars on Halloween this year, estimates Reuter’s Blog Shop Talk.

TRIVIA

- Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange is associated with the Fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.

- Halloween, referred to as All Hallows Eve, was originally a pagan holiday in which they honored the dead. It was celebrated on October 31 since this was the last day of the Celtic calendar. The celebration dates back some 2,000 years.

- The ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts wondered the streets on all Hallows Eve so they began wearing masks and costumes in order to not be recognized as human.

- The jack-o-lantern tradition comes from an old Irish folk tale about a man named Stingy Jack. It was said that he was unable to get into heaven and was turned away from the devil because of his tricky ways. So he set off to wander the world looking for a resting place. For light, Stingy Jack used a burning coal ember in a hollowed out turnip. When the Irish immigrated to the U.S. during the Great Potato Famine of 1845-1850, they found that turnips were not as readily available like they were in the homeland. So they started carving pumpkins as a replacement for their tradition.

- On Halloween, Irish peasants would beg the rich for food. For those that refused, they would play a practical joke. So, in an effort to avoid being tricked, the rich would hand out cookies, candy, and fruit – a practice that morphed into trick-or-treating today.

Famous Children’s Halloween TV Specials:

• It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
• The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone (1980)
• Garfield’s Halloween Adventure (1985)

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Church of Blog - October 12th, 2008

It’s difficult for me to pick just one favorite blog to write about for the latest Entrecard Giveaway Bash.

I have a favorite blog for every mood.  On Sundays I’m usually drawn to “real world reflective” type blogs.  Today’s favorite on real world reflective is Nigerian Curiosity.

I can’t read this blog on Friday.  Fridays I want to escape from the real world.  So I read Kitchen Retro or, of course, Margie and Edna.

But by Sunday, I’m usually ready to face the world again.  Nigerian Curiosity is a real world blog, only it’s not sharing my real world, it’s sharing the real world of Nigeria.

Here’s an example:

“Consider that the majority of Nigerians are young people, particularly as the life expectancy rate is a pitiful 47 years. In fact, according to a Wiki list, Nigeria is 174 out of 191 countries ranked according to the life expectancy rates as listed in the 2007 CIA World Factbook, falling behind Haiti and Somalia. At a 2007 speech in Greenbelt, MD, the Governor of Nigeria’s Central bank, Chukwuma Soludo, shared an interesting and terrifying statistic. According to Soludo, 50% of the people in Nigeria are under the age of 18.” 

This blog delivers its message in a professional and unbiased “news-like” style, making its point, while giving voice to both the politicos and their struggling and angry critics.

These global blogs - and there are many - make the world a whole lot smaller for me.  They help me appreciate how lucky I am even as my 401k is plummets, and my grocery bill skyrockets.

Nigerian Curiosity keeps me in touch with a “real world” that would slip under my radar if I let it.  Like most third world countries, Nigeria is a complex mixture of old traditions and modern infrastructure, incongruent to any life experience I’ve ever had.

And I want to - and need to - be aware of it.  If you do, too, check out this blog.

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Want to Join My New “You Comment - I Comment” Entrecard Movement?

“You drop- I follow” just isn’t cutting it.  But how about “You comment - I comment?”

It won’t slow down the “300 drops in 12 minutes” crew, but for the rest of us trying to improve our quality blog traffic…?

So-

Help Create Quality Entrecard Traffic

Leave me a comment!

Widget to follow.  All who post a widget will be listed in my links.

Just a few rules:

•   MUST BE THOUGHTFUL AND ON A POST YOU CONNECT WITH - EITHER POSITIVELY OR NEGATIVELY.
•   MUST BE AT LEAST TWO THOUGHTFUL SENTENCES.
•   COMMITMENT TO LEAVE TWO THOUGHTFUL COMMENTS PER DAY.

An accompanying stumble will also be reciprocated.  Just leave a note in the comment.

For the EntreCard Bloggers - A Contest

eXavier Domain Name and UK Webhosting is running a weekly contest for EC Credits.  All you have to do is visit there site and click on their card.  Every day you do, you’ll be entered in that week’s contest.  If you click 7 days, that will be 7 entries.  The EC Credits given away each week equals the total number of clicks on their entrecard for that week.

Put a widget on your site like I did - just below my entrecard - and you’ll also be entered in the Jackpot contest.

Here’s the link with more details

Better Than Fiction

 ”Man Eats 23,000 Big Macs in 36 Years“…and lives to tell about it.

This story fascinates me.  Why am I eating all that chicken again?

From CNN:

“The Fond du Lac [Wisconsin] man said he hit the 23,000 milestone last month, continuing a culinary obsession that began May 17, 1972, and is fed by his obsessive-compulsive disorder.

“I enjoy them every day,” said Gorske, 54. “I need two to fill me up.”

Gorske has kept every burger receipt in a box. He says he was always fascinated with numbers, and watching McDonald’s track its number of customers motivated him to track his own consumption.

Despite a diet some would call unhealthy, Gorske says he keeps himself in good shape. He says he’s 6-foot-2 and weighs 185 pounds, and walks as many as 10 miles a day.

He used to order fries every day in the 1980s but began to cut back in the ’90s, now eating them about once a month. He eats two Big Macs and two parfaits a day. Gorske has written a book about his experience.

“Sometimes people call me a freak but it doesn’t bother me. I just say respect people as they are,” he told The Associated Press. “I just want to make sure people understand I’m not going to change.”

He can instantly recall the eight days in which he failed to satisfy his craving. One was in 1988, the day his mother died, to respect a request she made.

“I made a promise to her and I always keep my promises,” he said. “I also promised her I wouldn’t cut my hair and in 20 years I haven’t.”

He twice failed to attack a Big Mac because of his job. A correctional-institution employee, he said a number of work emergencies kept him on the clock past midnight so he recorded those days as missed days.

Three other times he was traveling and couldn’t find a McDonald’s. He also went Big Mac-less on Thanksgiving Day 2000, and during a 1982 snowstorm that prevented the local McDonald’s franchise from opening.

“That’s when I started a habit where I kept them in the freezer,” he said. He keeps one or two burgers on hand but increases his inventory to four to five during the winter. “

A Big Mac has 540 calories, and 29 grams of fat.  If I ate 2 a day I’d break the scale.

Anyway, when I fall off the wagon, I’m a Whopper girl.  How about you?

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Hillary Triumphs in Late Night Comedy Jokes Race Against McCain and Obama

If late night comedy jokes were any indicator of who would become our next president, Hillary Clinton would win hands down.

She was the target of 382 jokes to McCain’s 329.  Obama pulled up the rear at 169.

A decisive victory.

Between January 1st and July 31st, the Center for Media and Public Affairs monitored the monologues of Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Conan O’Brien for joke content.  The results are not surprising.

Here are some examples of the jokes:

John McCain

McCain was asked how he’s going to conserve energy. He said by taking three naps a day. – Leno

McCain said Iraq and Afghanistan have a common border. No wonder they can’t find Osama bin Laden. We’ve been searching an imaginary border. - Letterman

The only way McCain could get less coverage is if he got a primetime show on NBC. – Leno

Barack Obama

Obama said he’ll visit Iraq and Afghanistan because he wants to see an area overrun by violent extremists. So it sounds like he already misses his old church. — Leno

“Barack Obama is campaigning very hard, going everywhere these days to get the vote out. Barack Obama’s staff recently announced that Barack is planning to hold a campaign event at a NASCAR race. Yeah. The event will be called ‘Meet your first black guy.’” –Conan O’Brien

Hillary Clinton

Brett Favre says he has reconsidered his decision to retire and he wants to get back in the game. Today Hillary Clinton said, “You can do that?” – Letterman

It’s not looking good for Hillary. Today even Yogi Berra said, “It’s over.” – Leno

I don’t have thick enough skin to be in politics.

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Trust Fund Fantasy

Last summer, we went to Italy, totally trashing our vacation budget for maybe the next millenium. So this week, we’re having a stay at home vacation. Since we live in a coastal resort area - in the cheapest house in town, mind you - it’s pretty easy to do. After all, many people come here for vacation.

How to make a stay at home vacation worthwhile? One word. Embellish.

That’s where Trust Fund Fantasy comes in. You have to believe that you’re choosing to stay home.

The Rules of Trust Fund Fantasy

• Believe you’ll never have to go back to work. Ever.
• Spend little money. Rich people are notoriously cheap.
• Dress avant-garde - which for me is in the oldest clothes possible. The picture above is my “clam-man” outfit. It’s a very sophisticated look, don’t you think?.
• Don’t wear socks. Wear a hat.
• Have a dog, preferably of an unusual breed.

And finally, remember, it only works if you stay in character.

Now, we’re off to a free outdoor jazz concert downtown with our chicken sandwiches and cucumbers.

What did you do for your summer vacation?

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