Strange-minded friends?

Gandalfe

Gandalfe

Striving to play the changes in a melodic way.
Staff member
Administrator
Found this interesting:

1- Find the C below...do not use any cursor help.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

2 - If you already found the C, now find the 6 below.

99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
69999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

3 - Now find the N below. It's a little more difficult.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

If you were able to pass these three tests, you can cancel your annual visit to your neurologist. Your brain is great and you're far from having a close relationship with Mr Alzheimer.

Eonvrye whocan raed this rsaie your hnad.

To my 'selected' strange-minded friends:

If you can raed this, you have a sgtrane mnid too. Can you raed this? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter
by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
 
For what it's worth, English spelling wasn't standardized until the 18th century. American English took until the late 18th (at least).

EDIT: I'm mildly dyslexic, but I could still do Gandalfe's exercises rather quickly.
 
No worries.

Story time: I'm a computer tech and I went to college (several times) for computer science. In Intro to Computers, I distinctly remember a teacher trying to show us that an algorithm is faster than a human by asking the class to look through a page of text and shout out when we found a particular word. The computer would do the same.

Yes, I was faster than the computer (and the entire class). Stupid Modula-3.
 
Gandalfe said:
Found this interesting:

1- Find the C below...do not use any cursor help.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

2 - If you already found the C, now find the 6 below.

99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
69999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

3 - Now find the N below. It's a little more difficult.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

If you were able to pass these three tests, you can cancel your annual visit to your neurologist. Your brain is great and you're far from having a close relationship with Mr Alzheimer.

Eonvrye whocan raed this rsaie your hnad.

To my 'selected' strange-minded friends:

If you can raed this, you have a sgtrane mnid too. Can you raed this? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter
by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
Click to expand...

I found every letter in the alphabet except "T"
Can somebody help me find "T?"
 
I was able to pass all three tests in about 15 seconds. The paragraphs were read at full speed relooking only at a word or two.

I doubt this is a good test against Alzheimers, and more of a test verifying some sort of asperger's. :p
 
I didn't even read each line in the arrays. I just looked at the whole, squinted a bit, and the different letter popped out at me.

The msesed up wrods wsa hrder for me. I could read it, but on certain words, when my 'prediction' mechanism was challenged, I had to stop on a word or two.
 
hakukani said:
The msesed up wrods wsa hrder for me. I could read it, but on certain words, when my 'prediction' mechanism was challenged, I had to stop on a word or two.
Click to expand...

It seems to work with people with different native tongues as well. It wasn't all that different from what you can read in certain newsgroups these days. ;-)

(book tip: "Native Tongue" by Carl Hiaasen. No, it's not a linguistic oeuvre)
 
As a young tad, I was always interested in ancient Carthage, the Phoenician city-state that was the greatest thorn in the side of republican Rome. I always saw Carthage as a US-analog, compared to the Soviet Union-equivalency of the Romans, and was fascinated how Rome moved to eliminate a (at first) non-military rival, fighting two massive wars in order to do so. (The Third Punic War didn't really count - that was a slam dunk for the Romans.)

One of many interesting things about the way that the baby-killing, loosely organized bunch that made up the Carthage city-state was that they used a written language that was totally devoid of symbols for vowel sounds. Not just limited, as was the case with many languages of the era, or not just awkward. as was the case with Latin, which used the letter "V" to represent both the "v" sound and the "u" sound - Punic had nada for the seemingly very vital vowel sounds that are present in almost every language.

However, when you get right down to it, vowels aren't the most important thing when writing stuff down. The test is to type out (writing it out doesn't work as well, but back in the days of all of those Hannos and Hasdrubals and Magos, there wasn't much "cursive" anyway - most everything was printed out like what comes out of a typewriter) a paragraph and then hand it to someone who doesn't know what they are getting into, asking them to make sense of it.

S y hv sn bv, t's qt fsbl t shrtn thngs p by mttng th vwl snds frm th prntd rslt. S, n ffct, as n s mny thr wys, th rsdnts f ncnt Crthg wr wll hd of thr tm.

Or, if you prefer the traditional approach:

As you have seen above, it's quite feasible to shorten things up by omitting the vowel sounds from the printed result. So, in effect, as in so many other ways, the residents of ancient Carthage were well ahead of their time.

(To make sense of the vowel-less version, try pronouncing the sounds of the consonants instead of "reading" the text.)

(The baby killing part of ancient Carthage, I dunno about. However, ancient Rome did their own share of baby killing as well - unwanted daughters were regularly left outside of the gates of republican Rome, either for others to pick up and raise or to be carried off by the wolves. The Carthaginians used their infant feedstock for religious reasons.)

(And, there was that whole fascination with elephants thing as well. Whenever Carthage brought elephants to the military table, they ended up getting trounced. The city fathers of Carthage spent a lot of treasure and effort to have elephants shipped to Italy (where Hannibal spent over a decade of his life, making the Romans miserable). Once the pachyderms were received, Hannibal couldn't wait to bring a Roman army to battle, only to end up in the tank as the beasts ran over everyone in sight, without discrimination as to national origin. There's a moral there, somewhere...)
 
SOTSDO said:
As a young tad, I was always interested in ancient Carthage, the Phoenician city-state that was the greatest thorn in the side of republican Rome.
Click to expand...
As my daughters will tell you, when I was young, I lived in Carthage.

...They used a written language that was totally devoid of symbols for vowel sounds. Not just limited, as was the case with many languages of the era, or not just awkward. as was the case with Latin, which used the letter "V" to represent both the "v" sound and the "u" sound - Punic had nada for the seemingly very vital vowel sounds that are present in almost every language.
Click to expand...
Like Hebrew. Which I've often found interesting because of the lack of vowels.

The other interesting thing about not havening vowels is that you won't be sure of the pronunciation of the words. As a matter of fact, Latin is interesting because no one exactly knows how words are pronounced. When I took my 5 years of Latin in HS and college, I was told that a "v" is pronounced as we currently pronunce a "w". Example: veni, vidi, vici ("I came, I saw, I conquered") is pronounced "wenney, wehedeh, winky".

Carthago delenda est.

In any event, one thing that everyone does agree on is that "classical" Latin isn't pronounced like Italian (no rolled Rs, for instance) and that it's not pronounced like the Catholic church uses it (my theory is that the Catholic church pronounces Latin the way it does -- closer to Italian -- primarily because it's more pretty for singing).
 
pete said:
my theory is that the Catholic church pronounces Latin the way it does -- closer to Italian -- primarily because it's more pretty for singing).
Click to expand...
<wails> pie iesu domine, dona eis requiem *bonk* < />
 
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