Wolf n' Moose Spoor

::: Thursday, June 12, 2003 :::

BTW I'm experimenting with LiveJournal right now. So if you're interested it's at

::: Thursday, June 05, 2003 :::

http://www.mindmedia.com/brainworks/profiler

You show a slight right-hemisphere dominance with a moderate preference for auditory processing, an unusual and somewhat paradoxical combination of characteristics.

You are drawn to a random and sometimes nonchalant synthesis of material. You learn as it seems important to a specific situation, and might even develop a resentment of others who attempt to direct your learning down a specific channel.

Your right-hemispheric dominance provides a structure that is only loosely organized and one which processes entire swatches of reality, overlooking details. You are emotional in your reactions and perceptual more than logical in your approach, although you can impose structure and a language base when necessary.

Your auditory preference, on the other hand, implies that you process information sequentially and unidimensionally. This combination of right-brain and auditory modes creates conflict, as you want to process data more rapidly than your natural processes allow.

Your tendency to be creative and free-flowing is accompanied by sufficient ability to organize and be logical, allowing you a reasonable degree of success in a number of different endeavors. You take in information methodically and systematically which can then be synthesized rapidly. In this manner, you manage to function consistently well, although certainly less efficiently than you desire.

You prefer the abstract and are a theoretician at heart while retaining the ability to be practical. You find the symbolism in a great deal of what you encounter and are something of a "mystic."

With regards to your lifestyle, you have the mentality which would be good as a philosopher, writer, journalist, or instructor, or possibly as a systems designer or social worker. Perhaps most important is your ability to "listen to your inner voice" as a mode of skipping over unnecessary steps to achieve your goals.

::: posted by Wolf at 3:25 PM 860 comments

::: Monday, June 02, 2003 :::

Woohoo: From boing boing
419 Scammers Jailed:

One Swiss professor - presumably he wrote his doctorate on complete stupidity - gave the gang $482,000 on the promise of a $9 million return. Among the "expenses" he shelled out was a sum for chemicals needed to "clean" the illicit cash. This is a 419 classic - the notes have allegedly been marked with a special dye to prevent recirculation. Obviously, getting it off requires special, expensive liquids...

The prof did, however, eventually get his revenge on the ne'er-do-well Nigerians. He helped the Dutch police lure the scammers to an Amsterdam railway station in the Summer of 2002, where the whole bunch had their collars duly felt. Sadly, the total amount accrued by the jailbirds is unknown. The authorities believe it runs into millions of euro, none of which is likely to be recovered.

::: posted by Wolf at 1:52 PM 1338 comments

::: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 :::

And the dungeon master poured forth his bowl saying, It is done.

::: posted by Wolf at 7:05 PM 263 comments

::: Monday, May 26, 2003 :::

Sorry to rant and dump my complaints on you, but why is it that nearly every singer that is asked to sing the National Anthem has to "make it their own"? I'm not talking about simply singing it in a key that fits their voice (more of them should probably do this) but they have to add notes (running melismas that have no point), hold on notes (probably for effect -that again have little point), and otherwise butchering the melody. As a singer, I will be the first to admit that our National Anthem is not the easiest to sing, nor is it the most beautiful melody I have ever heard, but what ever happened to singing it traditionally? Perry and I were watching the National Memorial Day Concert from Washington D.C. and I forget who was singing, but she was adding notes, holding on to notes that didn't need to be, etc. At one point the cameras panned the audience, and I noticed one person (at least) that was trying to sing our National Anthem with her, but was lost as to what she was doing; he looked confused because she was holding on to a note that shouldn't have been held, and he didn't know whether to go on singing or not. Isn't the point of this song that our citizens should be able to sing it as we are LED by the soloist or group - not standing dumbfounded as the soloist does things to it that make it impossible for others to sing?

Right after that atrocity, a male singer came out (again I forget who) and sang the British National Anthem, "God Save The Queen." Not only did he do it traditionally, but very well, I might add. Perry and I were both impressed that there were people in the audience singing along and not looking confused like before.

As a music teacher, I know that we still teach our National Anthem to students each year (at least I do) with the intention that they are able to sing it at concerts and other events, and I would think that in other countries, the same thing is done (so Pope and any Canadiens, Germans, etc. can help me out here - for example, in Canadien schools, you probably had to learn "God Save The Queen" and "O Canada" at one time or another).

So why at the concert was the British National Anthem done properly, so people did sing along; while the American National Anthem was pulverized (although I will say we could at least recognize the melody) to the point where the audience could not sing along? Maybe I just learned too much in college, because we were taught that there are certain musical styles and periods where the music is expected to be altered, improvised, etc. (and our National Anthem was not one of the songs listed, at least as I remember). Sorry again to rant, maybe I'm too picky for my own good.

::: posted by Moose Cadet at 11:52 AM 284 comments