FriendTest answers!

[dougo]

OK, thanks to xythian I've recovered the questions and correct answers to my FriendTest. Unfortunately I don't have the statistics for how many people got each answer correct, but as I recall the first four questions were mostly answered correctly and the rest had a fairly uniform distribution across the choices.

1. In what year was I born? 1970
   I think I posted the test shortly after announcing my 33 1/3rd birthday party, so those on the invite list could have done some arithmetic to figure this out. The rest of you would have had to guess, probably, and what difference does a year or two make, anyway?
2. In what state was I born? New Jersey
   I grew up in South Jersey (outer suburbs of Philadelphia), moved to California when I was 13, then to Massachusetts when I was 24. So I don't really consider myself a New Jerseyan, though much of my family is still there.
3. Where did I get my undergrad degree? UC Berkeley
   1988-1992, College of Letters & Science, B.A. in computer science. For the first three years I commuted from home (Concord) while working part-time at the Software Etc. in the mall. Good times.
4. In what school am I currently enrolled? Northeastern University
   Yes, I'm still at NU, nearing the end of, uhh, 25th grade. I'm pretty sure it will be my last.
5. How many half-siblings do I have? 3
   This was not a trick question: I have no full siblings, but my dad has two other children (ages 22 and 19) and my mom has one (age 17).
6. What kind of car do I drive? Honda Civic
   I bought it new in December 1992, drove it across the country 3 times, and still use it to get around town, 120k miles later. I figured it would be a good reliable grad-student car, and it has been.
7. What color are my eyes? hazel
   I should probably have given partial credit for green, because some people have told me they're green. But I've always thought of them as hazel. They're not particularly noticeable behind my glasses, though, so even most of the people who've met me had to guess. (You could have searched for a picture of me online, though.)
8. Which of the following have I NOT used as an online handle? Dorian
   I totally screwed up this question. One of the wrong answers, Mote, was a name I used briefly on an obscure space-themed MOO over ten years ago (I don't even remember the MOO's name). I intended for this question to be more or less a gimme for people who know me from muds, but nobody would have known me as Mote so it didn't end up working that way. Dorian was the name of my most recent D&D character; WhiteRabbit was an old BBS name I used in high school, which became my first mud character on Atlantis, which I then used for many other muds including Islandia and the early days of LambdaMOO; Ragnar was my non-wizard character name on JHM, then my character name on Waterpoint MOO (named after a Nordic philosopher/pirate character from Atlas Shrugged); TomViolence is my character name on Dhalgren MOO, which I never visited much (named after a Sonic Youth song, as was Mote, and I think I was RainKing on OpalMOO which was yet another Sonic Youth song—but no, Silver_Rocket was someone else).
9. What is my currently registered party affiliation? Green
   Yes, I voted (for the first time ever) for Nader in 2000. (Not like it mattered in Massachusetts.) I've also voted for Green Party candidates for Governor and a few other local offices since then, but so far none of them have come close to winning—in fact I don't think I've ever voted for a winning candidate or ballot question (I tend to leave blank all the stupid unopposed races). I'm not particularly fanatical about being Green, but generally they seem closest to my own particular biases; Libertarian would probably be my second choice, social issues (especially personal freedom) being generally more important to me than economic issues, which I tend to waver on. I'm currently undecided about whom to vote for in 2004, but it's unlikely to be Kerry or Bush.
10. What color are the sheets on my bed? Green
    Yes, this was a silly question. I figured the two or three people who've seen my bedroom relatively recently would have gotten it right, but in fact they didn't and a lot of other people happened to guess it right instead. Maybe I should have put a "don't know" option to discourage guessing?

So anyway, it was an amusing experiment, but not particularly accurate or useful. Don't feel bad if you didn't score well, though I'm impressed at those who scored lower than they would have by guessing randomly! Apparently there are some things I should talk about more if I expect people to know them about me. Fair enough.

Comments

If only...

[mshonle.livejournal.com]

if only the Libertarian Party in America wasn't so wacko. If only the reasonable 30% of the Republicans and the fiscally coservative 30% of the Dems went and formed a less radical and less idealistic libertarian party. As is, I would say the libertarin pary is very weak on social issues: they say personal freedom is the way to go, but they don't support civil rights movements very much (lately, only the Greens seem to be doing that).

I support some elements of fiscal conservatism, but the obligation to help the poor should not be ignored. (Eg. give the poor food stamps, healthcare vouchers, and means based rent support, and then you can do all of the free market stuff you care to.)