Gone crazy for mangoes in the juice aisle

Okay.

BBC test

I. Spot the difference

This task tested your ability to identify which objects changed position. You lost points if you incorrectly identified objects.

Your score: 64%
Average score for men: 39%
Average score for women: 46%

II. Emotions and systems

This task looked at whether you prefer to empathise or systemise.

Empathising

Your empathy score is: 11 out of 20
Average score for men: 7.9 out of 20
Average score for women: 10.6 out of 20

Systemising

Your systemising score is: 11 out of 20
Average score for men: 12.5 out of 20
Average score for women: 8.0 out of 20

III. Eyes

This task tested your ability to judge people’s emotions.

Your score: 9 out of 10
Average score for men: 6.6 out of 10
Average score for women: 6.6 out of 10

IV. 3D shapes

This task tested your ability to mentally rotate 3D shapes.

Your score: 10 out of 12
Average score for men: 8.2 out of 12
Average score for women: 7.1 out of 12

(Perhaps I should have been an engineer.)

V. Angles

This task tested your ability to identify the angle of a line by matching it with its twin. This is a spatial task, which looks at how you picture space.

Your score: 10 out of 20
Average score for men: 15.1 out of 20
Average score for women: 13.3 out of 20

(Perhaps I can’t be an engineer after all.)

VI. Ultimatum

This task asked you how you would divide money.

If you had to split £50 with someone, you said you would demand £25

So far on the test, men have demanded 51.6% (£25.80) of the pot and women have demanded 51.0% (£25.50), on average.

Source: BBC test

Lonely angel, lost prince

My newest favourite TV show is Doctor Who. Like most of my other favourites (House, Bones, Dexter), Doctor Who initially appealed to me because its stories had nothing to do with my life. Every time I wanted to escape, I’d watch my favourite shows. Eventually, however, the subtext, which my TV shows apparently share, would reveal itself to me. The same single undercurrent would pull my feet, and I’d open my eyes, completely submerged.

“And what has made it so resonant is not the cast of silly monsters, the excellent jokes, the jolly special effects, and so forth — but its underlying deep melancholy. Mr Davies has taken a rickety old 1970s science-fiction series, and — by applying a little psychological seriousness to the premise; by asking what it would mean to be able to travel through time, and to live more or less for ever — turned it into an extraordinary study of loss. Its deep theme is loneliness.” — Sam Leith, The Telegraph, March 24, 2007

It occurred to me that fiction is how I explain how I feel. I can never write a memoir. I do not remember many of the facts, many of the details that would elevate my recollections into a well-written account that places my life within a broad social context. My personal recollections will always be filled with emotions and not facts. I can never use my life story to tell the world what I think about expatriation or justice — even if I had worked for the UN, and even if I had lived and built a house in Guatemala. I would have to create details, create characters, create plot that would concretely express how I feel about those subjects. And the details could involve alternative universes and time travel.

Guidelines for would-be memoirists by Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times, Jan. 28, 2011:

Only sometimes a glimmer

PETA: Pledge to Be Vegan for 30 Days

PETA: Pledge to Be Vegan for 30 Days

Some people go vegan after looking an animal in the eye and realizing that there’s a “who,” not a “what,” looking back. Others avoid meat, eggs, and dairy foods to ditch unwanted pounds or because they want to help the environment. Whatever the reason, there’s never been a better time to cut the meat and other animal-derived products out of your diet.

Change your life for the better and save the lives of animals by pledging to be vegan!

Sign the pledge to follow a vegan diet, and we’ll send you an e-mail with our top tips on the best places to eat out, our favorite recipes, the tastiest animal-friendly snacks, and the most delicious prepackaged vegan meals. PETA has all the information you need to adopt a healthy and humane vegan diet!

With the huge selection of delicious vegan meats and alternatives to dairy foods and eggs available, there’s no excuse not to give a vegan diet a try.

If you’re already vegan, you can still help animals by becoming a “pledge recruiter.” Ask your friends and family to take the pledge to be vegan!

Sign the pledge to be vegan now!

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Pledge to Be Vegan

Full Petition Text:

I want to eat better, feel better, and stop supporting cruelty to chickens, pigs, cows, and other animals raised for food. By signing my name, I pledge to be vegan for 30 days starting March 22, 2012.

Signed,
Skytalker

The Big Bang Theory

Penny: When one door closes, another one opens.

Sheldon: No, it doesn’t. Not unless the two doors are connected by relays or there are motion sensors involved. Or if the first door closing creates a change of air pressure that acts upon the second door.

Penny: Never mind.