Eagles soar, but weasels never get sucked into jet engines.
   —Elf Sternberg

How hostile are you?

Here are my results:

Cynicism Score: 10

• If your score is 0 to 3, your Cynicism level is very low.
• If your score is 4 to 6, your Cynicism level is probably high enough to be of some concern.
• If your score is 7 or more, your Cynicism level is very high.

Anger Score: 10

• If your score is 0 to 3, your Anger level is very low.
• If your score is 4 to 6, your Anger level is probably high enough to deserve your attention.
• If your score is 7 or higher, your Anger level is very high.

Aggression Score: 8

• If your score is 0 to 3, your Aggression level is very low.
• If your score is 4 to 6, your Aggression level is borderline, and you may want to consider ways to reduce it.
• If your score is 7 or more, you probably need to take serious steps to reduce your Aggression level.

Total Hostility Score: 28
If your Total Hostility score is 10 or less, some research suggests that your hostility level is below the range where it is likely to place you at risk of developing health problems. Any score higher than 10 may place you in the group whose hostility level is high enough to increase your risk of health problems.

Of course the test itself suffered from an annoying lack of options (i.e. each item only had two options, and the lack of viable choices ticked me off).

Link via Jay Solo.

As I was flipping through the Sunday paper, I came across an odd item in the Office Depot circular.  I couldn’t find the exact item online (Office Depot doesn’t sell the item online), so here’s the closest match I could find:

It’s a ball chair and it’s supposed to be ergonomically better, as they claim that it improves posture.  I have my doubts, though.  I don’t see how your posture is improved if you’ve fallen off the damn thing and hit your head on the floor…

Tom Clancy’s new book, The Teeth of the Tiger, will be released on August 11.  Even after Red Rabbit I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  I’ve got my copy on order at Amazon. 

I’ve already read the first chapter in PDF format (which Amazon gives you when you order the book), and I’m ready for more.

This is to serve as a final reminder that The Bitch Girls will be particpating in the Blogathon tomorrow.  They’re raising funds for Locks of Love, which is a charity that provides hairpieces for children who have lost their hair permanently due to a medical condition. 

If you can spare a few bucks, sign up to sponsor them.  It’s for a good cause.  Not to mention that we’ve been promised something cool involving a digital camera if the sponsorship hits $1000 (only $156 to go).

The Fort Worth Zoo was quite nice, although I would want to wait for cooler weather before going back.  The temperature was above 100 °F by the time we left.  Most of the animals were hiding in the shade and trying to keep cool.

We kind of wished we could make like the rhino and just sit in a nice cool pool:

Afterwards, we went to the gun show at the Will Rogers Center, which was only a mile or so north of the zoo.  So not only did my friend experience her first zoo she also went to her first gun show.  I made another acquisition, which I will add to my gun page in a few days.

After that I went to a friend’s housewarming party in Dallas.  I finally made it back home and into bed around 2:30am after a round trip of around 160 miles.  Oh, and to give you an idea of just how “pleasant” our recent hot weather has been, it was still in the upper 80’s when I got home.

The Bitch Girls are going to be doing a 24 hour blogathon on July 26th for the charity Locks of Love.  Locks of Love provides hairpieces for children who have lost their own hair because of medical conditions (and who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford one).

It’s not something I would have thought of, but on further reflection, the aesthetic is important too.  I think this is especially so for children who live in a harsh world where they are judged ruthlessly by other children.  I’ve signed up as a sponsor.  If you can afford it, head over and pledge your support as well by sponsoring them.

This looks like another argument for staying single (at least if you’re a man):

Creative genius and crime express themselves early in men but both are turned off almost like a tap if a man gets married and has children, a study says.

Satoshi Kanazawa, a psychologist at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, compiled a database of the biographies of 280 great scientists, noting their age at the time when they made their greatest work.

The data remarkably concur with the brutal observation made by Albert Einstein, who wrote in 1942: “A person who has not made his great contribution to science before the age of 30 will never do so.”

“Scientific productivity indeed fades with age,” Dr Kanazawa says.

“Two-thirds (of all scientists) will have made their most significant contributions before their mid-30s.”

But, regardless of age, the great minds who married virtually kissed goodbye to making any further glorious additions to their CV.

Within five years of making their nuptial vows, nearly a quarter of married scientists had made their last significant contribution to history’s hall of fame.

“Scientists rather quickly desist (from their careers) after their marriage, while unmarried scientists continue to make great scientific contributions later in their lives,” says Dr Kanazawa.

The energy of youth and the dampening effect of marriage, he adds, are also remarkably similar among geniuses in music, painting and writing, as well as in criminal activity.

Of course, I suppose none of this matters for me at this point, since I’m 33.  I think I’d be willing to take the tradeoff for marriage.  Now to find a libertarian-leaning gun-loving woman….

We went to the Dallas Boat Show on Saturday.  I’m generally not much of a lake-goer, but I wouldn’t mind having a Sea-Doo Sportster 4-TEC.  It’s not too big, yet it has a 155-hp engine and it can seat four.  Of course, I don’t happen to have $18,000 laying around, so I suppose I won’t be getting one any time soon.

One of the good things going on in the jet ski industry recently has been the introduction of four-cycle engines (and the 4-TEC is a four-cycle).  It’s been done because of emissions rules, but I like it for convenience.  I hate having to mix the oil with the gas and I hate breathing the smoke.  I guess it comes from too many dealings with two-cycle weed trimmers over the years.

The cable guy showed up a few minutes early and very quickly confirmed that the line was OK and that the cable modem itself was hosed.  He hooked up a new modem and got it provisioned and I’m back in business again.  All in all, Charter’s support worked well this time.

I’m about to head back to Big Sandy for the weekend.  It’s time to eat barbecue, drink beer, and set off fireworks.

I’ll be back next week.  Everyone have a great Fourth.