David S. Atkinson's Blog, page 118

There’s Even Less To Some Of Those Internet Tests Than I Thought

I knew that most of those Internet tests were worthless. You know the ones, the ones that supposedly scan your Facebook profile and somehow determine which of the seven dwarves you are at work or whatever. I knew they were garbage already, but I recently learned that there was even less to them than I thought.

I had decided to make that joke version of one of them, the “Am I the Sort of Person Who Takes This Test?” test. The idea was that if you click it would determine that you were the sort of person who takes the test. That’s it.

So do you know what was involved in creating the test? I gave it a title. I picked the templates for what the intro screen would look like and what the result screens would look like. I picked an image to use. Then I picked the results. It prompted me to design four, but I could select for more. I filled in the results that would get presented for each. The analysis? It prompted me for a selection as to whether the result was for male profiles, female profiles, or didn’t matter.

That’s it.

Literally, there was nothing connecting any result that was presented to anything about the person who took the test other than male/female/don’t care. Nothing connecting results to anything used to select the results. There was literally nothing under the hood…and there doesn’t appear to be for any of these test that “scan your profile” rather than ask you questions. No one is even trying.

This is like the giant sword in the original NES Final Fantasy.

Honestly, I kind of expected this. I just thought I’d report back since I found out a little more about what goes into the “analysis” for these tests. They’re even more of a waste of time than I originally thought. At least mine is pretty accurate (It doesn’t tell people they’re the sort of person to take my test if they didn’t take it.).

Am I The Sort Of Person Who Takes This Test?

I made a test. It’s the “Am I the Sort of Person Who Takes This Test?” test.

Am I the Sort of Person Who Takes This Test?

People should share this around.

Should I Tell People I’m Joking Or Not?

A friend recently posted how he had some of those Nest cameras on his house and was alerted while on vacation to the fact that some strange person inexplicably dropped off a box of lizards on his porch. The Nest cameras didn’t actually give that level of detail, but you get the idea and this is what the alert eventually led him to discover. I decided to make a joke on his post about it. He has a thing for crusading against scam artists, often in creative and humorous ways, so I commented:

Presents of lizards are standard for apologies in Nigeria. One of the scammers you took down must be trying to assuage your anger.

Then I wondered, should I mention that I’m joking? I’m sure he’d get it, but…would everyone else he knows who sees it? Would someone really think this is a custom in Nigeria? Lizard presents? It seems ridiculous, but people sometimes end up believing quite ridiculous things…often on Facebook. I wanted to say something mildly witty, not contribute to American misconceptions about Nigeria.

Could someone think I’m serious? Should I have been more obvious I was making crap up?

I’m Getting Sick Of Sweet Potatoes

I’m getting sick of sweet potatoes.

Trying to eat less processed food, I started making healthier snacks for the week. I typically bake and bag up 6-7 ounce chicken breasts along with a steamed small potato (usually Yukon Gold since they have more vitamins, though purple or such when available) and a vegetable (most often Brussels sprouts, though sometimes radishes or corn on the cob). My prep time improved quite a bit when I found the microwave steam in a bag Brussels sprouts and that I could also microwave steam potatoes if I bought the wrapped ones or wrapped them in microwaveable plastic wrap myself.

I recently got sweet potatoes for a whole week instead of potatoes.

The reason was simple. I felt lazy, and the store had prewrapped microwave steam sweet potatoes but not the same for regular potatoes. I’m not huge for sweet potatoes, despising most candied, canned, or otherwise preserved versions. I generally only like steamed. This wasn’t too bad, but my threshold is small. After most of a week of having steamed sweet potatoes every day, I’m getting pretty sick of them.

I need to go back to potatoes next week.

Ides!

Ides! Ides! Just sayin’.

July has ’em too.

Maybe They Should Have Picked A Different Name

My wife and I were at the grocery store the other day and I saw a new product that really made me think someone should have chosen another name. It was Ripple, a milk substitute. Of course, I thought of Ripple, the cheap, fortified wine that was so iconic back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I do believe it was almost listed as a character on Sanford and Son due to the number of times it was referenced in the show, though I could be mistaken.

Is this really the name one should have chosen for a milk alternative that is supposed to be healthy? Healthy is its whole schtick. Do thoughts of cheap, fortified wine jibe with that? It was so iconic that I doubt that no one will remember. This seems like a bad idea to me.

As part of a discussion on this, Steven Dunn mentioned that Red Bull faced a similar situation, having first been a malt liquor before being an energy drink.

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However, it does strike me that Red Bull is by no means supposed to be healthy. Further, it’s pretty heavily paired with alcohol too (Red Bull and vodka, Jägerbombs, and so on). I just don’t think the energy drink will hit the same issues from the malt liquor that a milk substitute would hit from a cheap, fortified wine.

Personally, I’d rather have the wine. (Yeah, I talked about this on Facebook already. Whatever.)

 

*Thursday

*Thursday

Just sayin’.

Wondering About Little Chengdu

I’m a little nervous about Little Chengdu Asian Cuisine. I really want to try the place because they’re apparently the only Denver restaurant to serve hand-pulled noodles.  I tried that recently at a small place in the East Village when I took a trip to New York, and would love to find that locally. It’s pretty far from my house though…and a few one star reviews about some service nightmares have me concerned.

Will it be a problem? There are 8 one star reviews. There are 10 five star reviews, but 8 complaining about service is pretty significant. Did they just have a bad day? Were the diners unreasonable? Are there actually problems? Would I have those problems if I went?

I’m unsure. I’m still probably going to try it. The place sounds good enough to risk. Guess I’ll find out.

I Can’t Get This Out Of My Head

A friend posted recently how he had a whole case of Nathan’s hot dogs and decided that meant he should have a barbecue. I immediately posted the below on the comment chain.

Now I can’t get it out of my head. This just keeps playing in my brain, endlessly. Dancing hot dog.

I kind of don’t want it out of my head though. It’s happy there.

I’m Getting Spam On Here For Drugs I Haven’t Even Heard Of

I must be really out of it. I’m getting spam on this blog for drugs I haven’t even heard of. What function could that possibly serve?

I’d say something like 75% or more of the spam comments I get on here are for drugs. I’m not sure what they are actually selling, if anything, but they claim to be cheaper versions of, herbal versions of, or more easily obtained versions of some kind of highly desired drugs. I could understand pain meds like Vicodin or sex drugs like Viagra, but I’m getting tons these days for drugs I haven’t even heard of.

Like Medrol. I don’t even know what that is. Is that desired enough, costly enough, and/or hard enough to get legitimately that there is a market for conning people into thinking they can get it other than through normal channels? I have no idea, but I’m getting spam comment for it.

It baffles me. You’d almost think I was on some of the drugs the comments offer.