Test Time redeaux
Meerkats
Originally uploaded by jigarne Well, it seems that it's test time again.
My score on The "What's your Soul Instrument?" Test:
Baritone Saxophone
(15 individuality, 10 complexity)
Congratulations! Your soul instrument is a baritone saxophone. So cool, the name even rhymes. The lowest-pitched of the saxophones in regular use, the bari sax - like you - often finds itself holding everyone else together. It's dependable, hard-working and frequently admired... And a solo from this beast of a horn will have audiences shouting for more!
Like your soul instrument you manage to find the balance between flashy individualism and solid hard work and companionship. Yeah, you can take the lead, but you're equally happy supporting others. You're not deep and complex to the extreme, but you're not an open book either. You are classy without pretention or fussiness. Overall it seems you've turned out to be a nice, balanced individual. Nice one!
Link: The "What's your Soul Instrument?" Test
(OkCupid Free Online Dating)
Interesting, I actually played this instrument in middle school band. I'm not sure if guitar was an option or what I would have had to answer to get that response.
Your Score: Sane Scientist
You scored 30Mad, 60 Scientist!
You've got the smarts and fortunately enough sanity to keep from destroying the world with them! Keep up the good work!
Link: The Mad Scientist Test written by JenovasWitness7 on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test
Apparently I've got the smarts, but not the mad part down.
Your Score: Happy Absurdist
You are 88% absurd!
You don't believe that life is ordered, pre-planned and meaningful. In fact, quite the opposite; you find it chaotic, random and essentially meaningless. But that doesn't stop you living it to the full.
It is likely that you have spent some time thinking about your place in the universe. You have revolted against blind faith and the hope for life after death and this has led you to realise that you are free to create your own meaning.
In touching the Absurd you have realised that human endeavour is ultimately futile; some people would find this outlook depressing but you have accepted it. Instead of worrying about your fate, you immerse yourself in the here and now and enjoy life in all its bizarre, random beauty. Good for you!
Link: The Absurdism Test written by Three-Fifteen on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test
I thought this one was going to be about absurdest comedy like News Radio or Andy Richter Controls the Universe. Oh, well. I guess I've found I'm absurd by this person's philosophical standards.
You want to take the next test before you read the details of the result because it reveals the author's correct answers!
You scored 24 out of 40 on niftiness!
1) “In a male-female pair of seahorses, the males produce the eggs and bear the offspring.” -False. The male gives birth to the young, but the mother still has to transfer the eggs to his pouch first.
2) “Albino dolphins are bright pink.” -True. They are rare, but one was recently spotted and an article about the sighting can be found via google pretty easily. I included a picture of this sighting at some point in the test, too.
3) “A newly-discovered species of spider has been found to use electrical currents to briefly stun its prey. This process allows the spider to kill its prey with greater ease.” False. I just made this up.
4) “The animal pictured above can interbreed and produce fertile offspring with domestic housecats.” -True. The animal pictured was an african serval. Some breeders crossbreed them with domestic housecats. The resulting breed is referred to as a “savannah cat.” These offspring can reproduce. The crossbreed is the largest breed of “domestic” cat. It is unusual in that it likes water and wouldn’t hesitate to jump into the bathtub.
5) “There is a type of crab that resembles an abominable snowman to such a degree it was named after one.” -True. I placed a picture of the crab later in the test, if you noticed. It was a species of crab that was just described in 2005 and was given the common name “The yeti crab.”
6) “A polar bear's hair is white.” -False. It is actually translucent and appears white due to the reflections of light.
7) “Some firefly species ambush others by mimicking the blinking patterns of these species and then ...gulp, well you know.” True. I don’t remember the details off hand, but I’ll elaborate more later.
8) “The legendary chupacabra of folklore appears to be a new species of canine.” -False. All “chupacabras” that have been captured have been determined to be preexisting canine members that had a case of mange.
9) “Pigeons are able to fly thousands of miles and locate the same roosting spot they previously visited. They accomplish this task strictly by remembering landmarks they passed along the way.” - False. The first part is true, but they primarily use the earth’s magnetic field to guide them on this journey.
10) “The fastest insect is the dragon fly.” -- True. It obtains speeds of about 37 miles per hour.
11) “Humans and the great apes are the only animals known to use tools.” -False. Several other animals use tools to a lesser degree. If my memory serves me correctly, there is a type of fish that places food down for its prey and then when the prey comes to eat it the fish sprays it with water before moving in for the kill. Also, decorator crabs place pieces of sponge and coral on their backs as camouflage from predators. I’m sure there are several others I’m not thinking about.
12) “Cowbirds are known to hatch their eggs in the nests of other bird species. That way, the cowbird can eliminate parental investment. They don't lose all interest in their children at this point, though. If the bird host rejects the eggs and the cowbird witnesses this while hidden in the surrounding bush, the cowbird will kill the other bird's young while the host is away.” -True. Nothing else really needs to be said about this.
13) Bats use echolocation to ward off and confuse enemies. -False. Bats use echolocation to navigate through their dark environment.
14) Sloths determine the health of a tree by striking the base with their teeth and then listening to the vibrations produced. The sloth will move along if it determines that the tree is too weak to support its weight. -False. Blind moles do something like this, though, where they bang their teeth on the ground and react to the vibrations.
15) There is a primarily black species of cockatoo. -True. I showed a picture of it. One also appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock movie “The Birds.” I like the Palm Cockatoo best, but there are a few other smaller rare types that are black as well.
16) “The thing pictured is not a real animal, just a whimsical work of art that someone placed in front of an ocean scene.” -False. The picture was a real depiction of a weedy sea dragon. These animals are rare relatives of seahorses found off the coast of Australia that get about 15 inches in length. There is also a similar species called the leafy sea dragon.
17) “One species of kangaroo has a pouch on its back rather than in front.” -False. I made this up.
18) “The creature pictured above represents a rare cheetah species.” -False. It is just a mutation of a regular cheetah that was for awhile believed to be a distinct species. Cheetahs are so small in population and imbred to such a degree that lots of weird things like this are popping up. You can find out more about this mutation by doing a search for “king cheetah.”
19) The image above shows a well-crafted model, but a model that represents a figment of the artist's imagination--that is, no real species of owl looks like this. -False. The owl pictured is a super rare species that has only been spotted once in the wild once. Here’s a link to a brief article about it, it’s common name is the Strange Owl: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/03/070323-owl-picture.html
20) Other than the Borneo Clouded Leopard, no large cat species have been newly discovered in the last two years. -False. Marc van Roosmalen recently discovered a new black jaguar in Brazil. This finding is so new that it has not been formally announced yet except on his webpage. This man is responsible for numerous new species findings, many of which have not even been named yet. All are visible on his personal website: http://marcvanroosmalen.org/pages/indexpag.html
21) “Scientists are in the process of cloning Woolly mammoths.” -True. There’s a ridiculous storyline to this; some prominent asian scientist was using money received for stem cell research to illegally fund the project. He supposedly gave money to the Russian mafia to locate mammoth corpses preserved in the ice in Siberia. There are others trying to clone mammoths, too. Indeed, a park has already been put aside for the creatures, “Pleistocene Park,” which is supposed to be similar to their original habitat. At first the cloning process wasn’t looking like it would be too successful, but recent carcasses have been so well preserved that over half of the mammoths genetic code has been broken and more will likely continue to be broken.
22) “There exists a miniature species of manatee in the world (NOTE: I am NOT talking about environmental dwarfing in a species that is typically larger, but a distinct small species).” -True. This is another unnamed Marc van Roosmalen discovery. This guy was named Time’s person of the year a few years back and is not slowing down with the new discoveries one bit. Pictures of this animal can also be found on his website.
23) “The largest documented squid caught on record was some 250 ft in total length.” -False. Colossal squids are estimated to ONLY reach about 46 feet in length. Just 6 and a half times Shaquille O’Neal. Oh, and colossal squids also have sharp, swiveling hooks on their tentacles; don’t confuse them with the miniscule “giant squid” which is slightly smaller and only has suction cups on its tentacles-lame!.
24) “Each individual breeding unit of florida panthers (defined as 1 male with up to five females for this sub-species) has a naturally territory of 50 square miles that does not overlap with the breeding territory of other breeding units at all.” -False. The range is even larger! Two-hundred square miles per breeding unit! As you can imagine, Florida’s struggling with putting aside enough land to maintain a large population of these creatures.
25) The black and white coloration in panda bears results from heat-sensitive enzymes. The dark areas represent the areas of the body that encounter the coolest temperature while in the mother's womb. -False. I made this up, but it is why siamese cats have different colorations.
26) “There is a type of snake that escapes from predators by acting as if it is dying, writhing around in awkward movements until the predator leaves.” -True. I don’t know the name off hand, though. We learned about it in one of my classes. I feel like it also gave off a gross stench as a further indication it was dying, or something like that.
27) After a group of giraffes have moved to a new, hotter climate for several years, new offspring will start to develop noticably shorter necks and thinner body frames; possibly, as an adaptation to the change in temperature. -False. I made this up, but I seem to remember hearing that it was sort of true of humans, as we diffuse body heat through the top of our heads. Except I think humans tend to become taller and skinnier in hotter climates like Africa over time to make the adaptation. I could be wrong.
28) “A type of fish that was thought to have gone extinct nearly 100 million years ago was rediscovered.” -True. This fish is my favorite thing ever, it’s called a coelacanth and was rediscovered in 1933ish. It appears to be more or less a living fossil, barely different at all from its ancestors on the fossil record.
29) “The platypus is one of the only poisonous mammals AND one of the only egg laying mammals.” -True on both counts, echidnas also lay eggs and they’re closely related to the platypus but not quite as funny looking.
30) “The animal represented above is now extinct, but used to exist.” -True. I forget what the crazy shark is called but I got that picture from a “Believe it or not” site if you want to seek it out.
31) “There are no bioluminescent animals capable of producing light in all the colors of the rainbow simultaneously.” -False. I’d rather just have you watch this video than say anything further on the matter as it leaves me speechless: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubIg-WtjUg0
32) “Pit vipers primarily use their heat-sensitive pits to locate their young at night when they are most active.” -False. They are used to locate prey animals.
33) “The largest living rodent species reaches nearly five feet in length.” -True. It’s called a capyara.
34) “Corals are in the animal kingdom.” -Strange, but true.
35) “The present day human (homo sapiens) has shared the earth with less than three of its homo genus relatives during its stay on earth.” -False. I count three; h. florensis, h. neanderthalis, and h. erectus.
36) “Deep sea anglerfish males bite into the bodies of their mate, physically fusing with their partner's body for the rest of their lives.” -True. The males are super small compared to the females and more or less live on their own for just a little while before finding a mate and fusing with her for the rest of his life. This is an adaptation to the scarcity of food in the deep sea.
37) “There is a purple species of Macaw with yellow bands on its wings.” -False. I made this up, but I wish there was.
38) “A shrimp has recently been documented killing and eating the deadliest octopus in the world.” True. Mantis shrimp are evil: http://www.reefcentral.com/vid/bluering/bluering_content.html
39) The largest wingspan of a living bird is 12 feet. -True. Look up the wandering albatross for more information.
40) “Killing off animals through mindless pollution is more fun than discovering new species before they go extinct.” -False. There’s too much out there we haven’t discovered yet that is rapidly disappearing.
Link: The Maybe-Real Creatures Test written by animatronic_taco on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test
I guess I'm not as environmental as I possibly could be, or my biology trivia isn't up to date.