The Rorschach Inkblot Test

This article is taken from this link. If you want to take the test, click here.

 The Rorschach inkblot test is a method of psychological evaluation. Psychologists use this test to try to examine the personality characteristics and emotional functioning of their patients. The Rorschach is currently the second most commonly used test in forensic assessment, after the MMPI, and has been employed in diagnosing underlying thought disorder and differentiating psychotic from nonpsychotic thinking in cases where the patient is reluctant to openly admit to psychotic thinking.

There are ten official inkblots. Five inkblots are black ink on white. Two are black and red ink on white. Three are multicolored. The psychologist shows the inkblots in a particular order and asks the patient, for each card, “What might this be?”. After the patient has seen and responded to all the inkblots, the psychologist then gives them to him again one at a time to study. The patient is asked to list everything he sees in each blot, where he sees it, and what there is in the blot that makes it look like that. The blot can also be rotated. As the patient is examining the inkblots, the psychologist writes down everything the patient says or does, no matter how trivial. The psychologist also times the patient which then factors into the overall assessment.

Using the scores for these categories, the examiner then performs a series of mathematical calculations producing a structural summary of the test data. The results of the structural summary are interpreted using existing empirical research data on personality characteristics that have been demonstrated to be associated with different kinds of responses. Both the calculations of scores and the interpretation are often done electronically.

A common misconception of the Rorschach test is that its interpretation is based primarily on the contents of the response-what the examinee sees in the inkblot. In fact, the contents of the response are only a comparatively small portion of a broader cluster of variables that are used to interpret the Rorschach data.

 

Ebooks Versus Paper Books: The Pros and Cons

This is an interesting article I found here: http://hubpages.com/hub/Ebooks-Versus-Paper-Books-The-Pros-and-Cons. Here is an excerpt of the article -

What Makes a Book?

In essence, the two formats are very similar. Both allow you to do the most important thing – read a book. The text is the important thing, not the medium. Reading Sumerian legends on clay tablets can feel more “authentic”, but doesn’t necessarily enhance your understanding of the subject matter – just your experience.

Depending on the type of material you’d like to read / look at, however, one does have advantages over the other.

The “Classic” Paper Book.

Paper books offer multiple advantages:

• They’re easily obtainable (Bookstores are everywhere).
• They’re easily portable.
• They don’t normally cause significant eye-strain.
• They’re cheap.

Okay, that much was obvious. Specifically, some types of content paper books are better for are:

• Textbooks (or any books which are generally large-format).
• Picture / Photo books.

Another factor to bear in mind is that paper books don’t need power to function. They can be read anywhere with sufficient light, and are perfect travelling companions for exactly this reason.

The rest of the article can be found on this link.

 

Back to blog after a long time

Hello Friends,

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted something interesting on this blog. As a matter of fact, I owe it to my laziness to post something in a blog since I found posting links on facebook or twitter easier. But then, I found that sharing ideas in this manner doesn’t work the way I want it to. Hence, I’m back to blogging. Now, I promise that, periodically, I would post amusing articles that would kindle your passion for learning things that span a wider range.

To start proceedings, I would like you to know something about impossible structures. The Wikipedia says

An impossible object (also known as an impossible figure or an undecidable figure) is a type of optical illusion consisting of a two-dimensional figure which is instantly and subconsciously interpreted by the visual system as representing a projection of a three-dimensional object although it is not actually possible for such an object to exist (at least not in the form interpreted by the visual system).
In most cases the impossibility becomes apparent after viewing the figure for a few seconds. However, the initial impression of a 3D object remains even after it has been contradicted. There are also more subtle examples of impossible objects where the impossibility does not become apparent spontaneously and it is necessary to consciously examine the geometry of the implied object to determine that it is impossible.
Impossible objects are of interest to psychologists, mathematicians and artists without falling entirely into any one discipline.

 Here are some impossible objects:

Penrose Stairs

The Penrose Staircase which was also shown in the movie ‘Inception‘, is a classical example of how the mind can be deceived into believing that the structure can actually be constructed, although an in-depth observation would reveal discrepancies in the physics of the staircase.

Another example is the Penrose triangle, as depicted in the picture below

Penrose Triangle

As per the Wikipedia definition,

The Penrose triangle, also known as the Penrose tribar, is an impossible object. It was first created by the Swedish artist Oscar Reutersvärd in 1934. The mathematician Roger Penrose independently devised and popularised it in the 1950s, describing it as “impossibility in its purest form”. It is featured prominently in the works of artist M. C. Escher, whose earlier depictions of impossible objects partly inspired it.

The tribar appears to be a solid object, made of three straight beams of square cross-section which meet pairwise at right angles at the vertices of the triangle they form.

There are various other structures that are impossible to construct. Some of these are given below. Feel free to Google search for impossible images/structures.

Impossible Crate

Impossible Seating

Impossible Knots

Impossible Circle

 

Prince of Persia – Movie Review

Cast :

1. Jake Gyllenhaal
2. Ben Kingsley
3. Gemma Arterton
4. Alfred Molina

Director:

Mike Newell

Genre:

Action, adventure, fantasy

Synopsis:

You’d probably know the story of POP if you had played the game, so there’s actually no need of a synopsis here. However, here’s a short version of what Wikipedia had to say, of the synopsis of POP: The Sands of Time.

Adopted from the streets of Nasaf by King Sharaman of Persia, young Dastan grows up amongst royalty and quickly earns his place as a mighty warrior and prince. As his brothers Garsiv and Tus plan battle strategies, a spy sends word that the Holy City of Alamut has been supplying weapons to enemies of Persia. Taking matters into his own hands, Tus orders an attack on the sacred city and upon its fall Dastan encounters the beautiful Princess Tamina. When King Sharaman dies under mysterious circumstances shortly after, and Dastan is accused of his murder, he flees with the princess on a harrowing mission to clear his name. Learning from Tamina the true motives behind Alamut’s invasion, Dastan must embark on a perilous quest to stop an evil mastermind’s plot for ultimate power with a mystical weapon that can control the very fabric of time.

Review: (Taken from http://fwd4.me/Qp8)

Like sands through the hourglass, these are the days of movies based on video games. "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," which is moderately entertaining chaos, dates to the Reagan administration (game creator Jordan Mechner gets executive-producer and story credit). What little story there is, however, goes out of its way to reference more recent political events. In the opening, the Persians invade a holy city to seize weapons of mass destruction (fancy swords, mostly) on false pretenses and bad intel. And the movie’s most engaging character, played by a blessedly exuberant Alfred Molina, is an ostrich race promoter (!) who spews anti-government and tax rhetoric straight out of a tea party rally.

Molina saves the film from itself. A Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer co-production, "Prince of Persia" combines the mythic bombast of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" outings with the peppy brainlessness of the "National Treasure" films. Working with a credible lower-class-British dialect, that great Persian actor Jake Gyllenhaal stars as the grown-up street urchin adopted by the king. Ben Kingsley is his uncle figure and protector (or is he?). Gemma Arterton, straight from a barrage of second-rate computer-generated visual effects in "Clash of the Titans," plays a young royal trying to keep a magical dagger out of enemy hands.

What can the dagger do? It can turn back time and, in the wrong hands, unleash Armageddon. This is what you, the video gamer, are trying to prevent from happening. Oh, wait. This is the movie version. The viewer has no control over events.

The script races from set piece to set piece, in the gaming spirit, with dialogue on the order of: "OK, there are two gates." Or: "They’ve broken through to the first level of the tunnels!" Director Mike Newell, who fared well with the fourth " Harry Potter" film, is working a little lower down the fantasy chain here, and it’d be wrong to suggest that "Prince of Persia" offers anything like true magic. He keeps the camera rammed close to the action and to the actors’ faces, and the battles have been diced into bits by no fewer than three editors. Plus, this may be the most orange movie ever made: Working in Morocco and on London soundstages, cinematographer John Seale’s chief inspiration appears to be the heat lamps at Arby’s.

And yet … it’s sort of fun, certainly more so than the "National Treasure" pictures, as well as less manic (a little less) than the recent "Mummy" films. Mainly, for folks like me, it has Molina. His character’s zest may be in a broader vein than Peter Ustinov’s peerless turn in "Spartacus." But Molina’s wit enlivens a product you might otherwise forget as it slips in one eye and out the other.

 

Those final moments..

It’s ironic that the worst accident of the decade happened while the plane was just about to land on the runway. A misjudgment in the distance to land proved fatal as the plane from Dubai to Mangalore snapped and went down the cliff. Our hearts go out for the deceased as we see the news of death and fire all over. Bodies charred beyond recognition, the various theories of what might have happened, and the tales of the survivors are depressing to see.

It is, without doubt, one of the worst accidents ever to have happened in the history of Air India. Though the pilot and the co-pilot were experienced, the accident happened. Reasons? The terrain of Mangalore’s runway is such that it doesn’t permit the slightest of error in judging the place of landing. There are other places like Srinagar as well, where the runway is unidirectional – wind flows in only one direction, where the risk of landing is high. Some other theories like the pilots attempting a take-off after misjudging the landing still doesn’t prove the case. Nor does it bring back the dead.

There is something curious about this incident. The pilots, reportedly, didn’t call distress any time during the journey, which further complicates the case. The black box, found some time later, is believed to deliver the exact details and the conversations between the plane and the ground officials.

Some say that a hard-landing would have saved the plane, but the rules of DGCA declare the only a smooth-transition in landing take place. When a pilot records two cases of hard-landing, he is sent for training. In the case of “special” airports like Mangalore, only the most experienced pilots are allowed to operate the plane. Whatever happened as a cause of the accident still remains hazy.

 

Here is the tale of one survivor of the accident. http://sify.com/news/the-plane-broke-into-two-pieces-news-exclusives-kfwom4bcghf.html

On behalf of friends and family, I express sorrow for the deceased and their families.

 

Team India’s World T20 Horrors Continue

For the second year in succession, Team India have been “bounced” out of the World Cup T20. Despite clearly knowing their weaknesses, the team was unable to cope up with it. And for the first time, I feel sorry for MSD. Though T20 is not a real test of cricket, BCCI will watching MSD closely now. I wouldn’t really blame MSD this time, because of the fact that even the best of captains fail when the team fails to deliver.

There’s also a question of whether the selection was right in including some of the players like M. Vijay who prospered in the IPL but succumbed at the international level. Players must be groomed for International Cricket at the National Level before sending them for really big tournaments. This is the best that you can get out of a team that is considerably unprepared for World Cups. It’s fairly good that India didn’t proceed any further in the tournament.

The likes of Robin Uthappa, Pragyan Ojha and Irfan Pathan, who have had at least some experience, were left out, which further ditched down India. And Gambhir was not able to perform well in the T20s, despite the fact that he is a good Test Match player and had revived India from deep trenches  (against New Zealand, for instance).  Every team practically bounced him out, as the replays show.

Finally, MSD, an in-form captain, wasn’t able to do much, owing to his team’s inexperience and incapability in coping with situations. There’s nothing more you can do, as a captain, when you have a team like this. You can’t rely on Raina alone for India’s victory.

The situation is bound to improve when the most destructive Virender Sehwag joins the team, along with some experienced players. The selectors have experimented far too much which has ultimately led to India’s downfall in two successive tournaments. Experimenting with young players is enough. Try to win tournaments or at the very least, fight back even when the whole world is against you. Never give up easily.

 

Raavan – Music Review

It’s a folksy-tribal beginning to ‘Beera Beera’ which appears to be the introduction song of the character played by Abhishek Bachchan Raavan. In a routine scenario a song belonging to this genre would have immediately fallen into Sukhwinder Singh’s lap. However, expect Rahman to do something different in each of his outings as he instead ropes in Kirti Sagathia and Vijay Prakash to come up with a cracker of a song which is a chartbuster in the first 60 seconds itself. Whether it’s the lyrics, a massive orchestra, vociferous rendition by both the singers, or the overall spirit that ‘Beera’ carries, there is no looking back once one moves ahead in the album after this quick 3 minutes outing.

What follows next is relatively subtle, in fact almost oriental in appeal, as a beautiful amalgamation of different sounds come together to make ‘Behene De’. Once Karthik comes on scene behind the mike, it is crystal clear that ‘Behene De’ has a trademark A.R. Rahman stamp all over it. The song sees many variations when it comes to its flow right through its six minutes duration as Karthik sings for a character which has a desire to break free and live life on its own terms. Situational, yet the kind of song which should make a very good impression on screen.

However, for those who were looking at yet another catchy number, there is ‘Thok De Killi’ which instantly reminds one of the spirited encounter that listeners had in Yuva. Sukhwinder Singh puts all stops as he brings in his characteristic singing style that differentiates him from the rest. Watch out for Gulzar’s lyrics here, they are truly different and something that one has never heard before in a Hindi film parlance. Rahman too just lets himself loose in making this number orchestra heavy and ensures that audience would be glued to screen once this fast paced song plays in all its fervour.

Just when one had thought that this team had reached its peak with ‘Thok De Killi’ comes ‘Ranjha Ranjha’. A number which is not just the best in the album (or even the best of the month), ‘Ranjha Ranjha’ will clearly stand out as one of the best that 2010 had to offer this year. Clearly, even Subhash Ghai would be proud of this song which reminds one of many a terrific song that his Taal has boasted of years back. This song by the trio of Rekha Bhardwaj, Javed Ali and Anuradha Sriram is a killer to say the least and has all in it to reach the top of the charts within a fortnight of the release. With a folksy base to it, ‘Ranjha Ranjha’ is energetic, sensual and exciting.

Reena Bhardwaj, who has sung primarily with Rahman during her limited singing career so far, is sweetness personified in ‘Khilli Re’ where she gets an opportunity to go solo. Presumably picturised on Aishwarya Rai, the genre of the song may limit its popularity due to its situational appeal but isn’t a bad fit at all in the album. A poetic track which yet again clearly belongs to Rahman’s background, ‘Khilli Re’ is almost devotional in appeal and is extremely soothing in appeal, hence creating a good balance in the album.

The ending of the album is vociferous though with a grand chorus coming together to sing ‘Kata Kata’. A song which is about a man getting married and a bunch of friends teasing him on his last night of bachelorhood, ‘Kata Kata’ sees Ila Arun, Sapna Awasthi and Kunal Ganjawala coming together. In a way, the song is an antithesis of Rahman’s first big hit, ‘Rukmani Rukmani’ [Roja] which was about an interaction amongst friends post the first night. A good situational track which should find good prominence coming its way if the film succeeds at the box office.

Overall

Raavan delivers as expected. Now that’s a good sign in itself since to begin with, the expectations were huge in any case. There are number of gems in the album, most notably being ‘Ranjha Ranjha’, ‘Beera Beera’ and ‘Thok De Killi’. Go for it, this one is not to be missed as it has Rahman coming up with one of his best soundtracks in recent times.

Taken from http://hindi.galatta.com/entertainment/hindi/livewire/id/Raavan_Music_Review_37935.html

 

Top Ten Must-Have features in Today’s Homes

Taken from ezinearticles.com

1. Large Kitchens, With an Island.

The kitchen is the heart of the home and takes on several roles throughout the course of the day. People love islands – it’s where we prepare meals, our families gather, homework is shared, emails are answered and our work is done.

Kitchen islands provide the perfect surface for all these tasks and more. If you have the space, include an island in your kitchen plans. A great kitchen should yield a return on investment between 75 – 100%.

2. Energy Efficient Appliances, Insulation and Windows.

People want greener homes and product manufacturers are making it easier than ever for us to incorporate eco-friendly materials appliances and windows into our lives.

Whether your appliances need to be replaced or you’re purchasing for your new and improved home, Energy Star appliances lead the way. Double and triple pane windows in all shapes and sizes immediately save you money on heating and cooling costs throughout the year.

3. Home Office/Studies.

Homeowners are spending more time working from home, and with the homepreneur trend growing people are opting for an extra space dedicated solely to operating their home-based business.

It seems that many folks would rather have a home office allocated and are willing to sacrifice a formal dining room if need be.

4. Main Floor Master Suite.

Access to the main floor is gaining in popularity.

Empty nesters and others, who no longer want to tackle stairs, prefer to have the master bedroom and bath retreat on the main floor level of the home. Immediate access to a gorgeous deck or patio outdoors also creates added living space and provides a quaint corner for morning coffee.

5. Outdoor Living Space.

People want to spend more time outside and need a peaceful oasis to unwind. Outdoor living spaces naturally transition the interior to the exterior – instantly expanding your living space.

Growing in popularity are wood-burning fireplaces, casual seating areas, hot tubs and outdoor kitchens – all of which add to the "vacation home" atmosphere – and it’s all in your back yard.

The remaining 5 "Must Haves" to incorporate into your home are:

6. Ceiling fans
7. Master suite soaker tubs
8. Stone/brick exteriors
9. Community landscaping
10. Two car garages

 

Song of the month – Dreams on Fire

Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted the song of the month. I’ve skipped the previous month’s song, but what’s gone is gone. The song of this month is Dreams on Fire from the album Slumdog Millionaire.

Here goes:

Album : Slumdog Millionaire

Title : Dreams on Fire

Composer : A. R. Rahman

Singer : Suzanne D’Mello 

You Are My Waking Dream, You' re All That’s Real To Me
You Are The Magic In The World I See
You Are In The Prayer I Saying, You Are In My Two My Names
You Are The Faith That Make Me Believe
Dreams On Fire, Higher N Higher
Passion Burning, Ride On The Path, Once For Forever Yours
In Me, All Your Heart, Dreams On Fire, Higher N Higher

You Are My Ocean Rage, You Are My Thought Each Day
You Are The Laughter From Childhood Games
You Are Things Further Down, You Are Where I Belong
You Are Make Me Feel In Every Songs
Dreams On Fire, Higher N Higher, Passion Burning
Ride On The Path, Once For Forever Yours, In Me
All Your Heart, Dreams On Fire, Higher N Higher

Hearing this song, if you don’t get a chill down your spine, be sure to consult a physician – you may actually be dead. I’m damn glad I heard this song.

This song uses different styles throughout – a talent exhibited by the two time Oscar winner A. R. Rahman. After listening to this song, you’d be inspired to achieve something in life.

You can download the song here

 

The Centenarian Post

Here it is! My 100th blog post. It’s been a long long time since I’ve posted to this blog and this post, being special, is definitely a milestone. I’ve always wondered if I could survive 100 posts in a blog – I couldn’t survive three months writing in my diary. Fortunately, I’ve reached this far thanks to everyone I’ve encountered in my life.

At this moment, I just wish to say that as life goes on, it encounters many hurdles. People however, shouldn’t get bogged down. To make this easy, take an hour out of your life to analyze yourself – what you’ve been so far, what you’ve done previously, and what your future plans are. And once you’ve realized yourself from an outsider’s point of view, you’ll accept yourself and be yourself from that moment on.

Everyone is special be it God’s grace or whatever. Every fingerprint is different – every human is different and has his/her own style of perceiving the world. The day we restrict ourselves of this speciality is the day we lose our true nature. Hence, leave your footmark in the sands of time and let it stay on for a very long time.

Finally, I want to say that despite circumstances – good or harsh, don’t lose your true nature – it costs far too much in the future.

Be yourself and enjoy the world.