GRE

I just took the GRE again, just about exactly 7 years after the last time I took it. I miss the old analytical section, with all the constraint-based logic problems. Those were fun. Now you have to do 2 written sections instead. Not nearly as much fun, and you don't get the results back from those for weeks.

Part of the sign-in procedure is copying out this paragraph of 'I will not cheat or tell anyone about the contents of the test'. By hand. In cursive. Yes, they actually specific cursive. I have no idea what the legal standing of cursive is, but blah. Who uses cursive anymore? Do they still teach it to kids? What a waste of time. Nothing like starting an important test with a hand cramp.

For those of you who haven't taken it in the last 10 years, it's on a computer now. Which is nice, because the questions are adaptive -- correct answers mean you get harder questions, which means the test is more accurate at the extreme ends of the scale. You also get some of the results back immediately. But the computers they use are absolute crap Compaqs, several years old, with not-completely-clean mechanical mice. And the refresh rate was set to 60Hz, aaaaaaaa. I asked if that could be changed, and they gave me a glare filter. Which did help a bit, but no more than turning down the brightness would have. Bah. I'm all for using new technology, but use it in ways that doesn't make my eyeballs twist inside-out, kthx.

End result: I am extremely well-rounded. Or at least the non-analytical 2/3 of me is.

Facsimiles

'Fax' is a cool word. Why did we waste it on such a stupid technology? I think it's very telling that faxes are the only form of long distance communication ever invented that never attracted a geekish/hacker following. There is nothing interesting or aesthetic about the technology. There is only suck.