Your Personality Revealed through Twitter

 I just read an article about some research they've been doing on social networks--specifically Twitter.

Researchers have developed special software that does personality-profiling and then categorizes the user into one of five "dimensions of personality" as recognized by modern psychology.

Those categories are: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. Research has already proven that extroverts prefer Coca-Cola over Pepsi, and Agreeable people prefer Pepsi.

By analyzing specific words in our Tweets, they can determine our personality type. This profiling software can draw a reasonably accurate personality profile from just 50 tweets, and very accurate from 200.

What is all this personality information good for? Advertising of course.

Advertisers currently try to understand their customers through basic demographics and existing buying habits. But with this new software, the researchers believe, they would have a better approach to advertising by discovering our deep psychological profiles.

Hmmm. Interesting. 

How do you feel about this? 

[Information from The Economist, May 25-31st 2013; "No Hiding Place"]

[graphic from google images]

The Truth Is Out There

I thought today might be a good day for a science update:

You've all heard of SETI--the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. The foundation that uses volunteers to scan data from space in hopes of detecting radio signals from intelligent aliens. Actually, what they really use is the volunteer's computer. SETI@home uses spare processing power on the participant's computer to analyze the data.

Now SETI has a new program where they send live waterfall signals to volunteers who then use their own brain processing power to distinguish between regular space "noise" and alien signals. SETILive.

Why is SETILive better than SETI@home? As the name implies, with SETILive the viewer is filtering live feeds instead of the computer scanning data that could be months old.

Image from SETILive (www.setilive.org)

Last time they found a signal that looked like it was from ET, by they time they noticed it and set their instruments on it, it had vanished. With SETILive, they could zoom in immediately.

Who knows? Maybe the first contact with intelligent alien life could take place in your own home.

Which gives me a good idea for a couples Halloween costume: an alien, and the science geek who discovered it!

See www.setilive.org or www.setiathome.berkeley.edu for more information.

Related posts:

Why are Aliens So Lame

How to Survive an Alien Invasion

Important Life Lessons Everyone Should Know

Lately I've been watching the TV show Supernatural. All the old episodes are on Netflix.

The problem is, my husband has been out of town, and I end up watching them late at night when the rest of the house is asleep. Not such a good idea because some of these episodes are freaking scary.

I couldn't look in the mirror after watching Bloody Mary. And all my kids have to do while we're out driving is say, "Mom, is that a scarecrow in that orchard?" and they know I'll cover my eyes and scream. I find myself constantly glancing over my shoulder.

On the other hand, I've learned many important lessons from this show, and that is what I want to pass on to my readers:

~ If something creepy is after you, it will ALWAYS sneak up from behind. And usually from the direction you were just looking a moment ago. Watch your back.

~ The surest way to meet something scary is to split up. People of the movies, when will you ever learn?

~ Never leave any part of your body exposed outside of the covers. The covers are your friends, stay under them.

~ If you hear a strange noise coming from your closet (or the room down the hall, or--heaven forbid--from the cellar) DO NOT CHECK IT OUT. I repeat, do NOT slowly and hesitantly approach the sound, especially if the lights won't turn on and there is intense, unsettling music playing in the background.

~ Never back up to a window. Inevitably the creature/demon/zombie/evil clown/vampire will break the glass and grab you.

~ Salt is your friend, keep it close. Silver or lead blades are also recommended, but harder to take on airplanes.

I know these are only the very basics, and there are lots of other important life lessons out there, but I hope you find these useful when you are home alone late at night and it's dark and eerie outside. They help me.

What important tips can you share?

Leap Seconds & We Have a Winner

Congratulations to Erin Shakespeare: winner of the $25 gift card. Thanks a ton to everyone who participated and for following me. You all totally rock!
Winner selected via random.org.

• And Now, Leap Seconds:

Who knew that such a thing existed? Apparently, every so often the global time keepers of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service have to stretch time by adding an extra second to the 24 hour period in order to keep our clocks in sync with the heavens.

Now scientists want to abolish the leap second. If they do, the time on our clocks will no longer have any relation to the planetary movements.

In our days of everything electronic, the leap second complicates things such as global positioning satellites, electronic communications, and the internet. Computerized clocks aren't wired to compensate for a leap second.

The downfall is that over time (ha ha) atomic clocks would say it was midday in the middle of the night. In 500 years the man-made time would be off by one hour. Eventually, we would lose the time-based link we associate with night and day.

So, no more looking at the sun to calculate the time of day? Call me sentimental, but it kind of makes me sad.

What do you think?