Entries from January 2009 ↓

Note that I didn’t say “The Great Redeemer”. The reality is that Obama hasn’t redeemed America – it largely redeemed itself by electing him in the first place, which is not to say that his ability and willingness to lead the country along the right path is not worthy of the highest praise – but he didn’t get there alone, and he knows it: “This election isn’t about me.” – how many times did you hear that during the campaign? I don’t think it was false modesty, he knew the American people were desperate for Change, and he was willing to offer it in no uncertain terms.

Still, after re-electing Bush, America has a lot to make up for. I cried that day back in 2004, and I suspect so did half the politically aware people on the planet (and we all cried again 4 years later, but for a different reason).

Realistically speaking, a huge leap has been made, but solid incremental improvements towards a return to international norms and good faith multilateral agreements, as well as strong leadership in progressive, non-military areas, followed by a public affirmation in the form of a re-election in 2012, are going to be required before the real skeptics, of whom I know plenty, will accept that America has truly redeemed herself and may deservedly claim some sort of leadership in the “free world” again.

Personally, I’m sold. The tenor being set by the first few days, along with the quality of the people going into key positions (more on some of them later perhaps) is going to make a significant difference to America’s standing in the next 4 years (heck, in the next 4 months), and I even believe they can sort out the economic crisis without the huge inflationary crash being predicted by some (probably some more on that later as well).

NB: This post grew from a comment I made on Jimmy Wales’ blog (which is currently in moderation but that may have changed by the time you read this).

I was thinking about New Years Resolutions, and how one of them ought to be that I should really post a few more things this year rather than just leaving half finished draft to finish off later. However, I got distracted, and never did finish making any resolutions! Since then, a dozen unfinished drafts seem to have turned up…sigh.

So, ok, I’ll make it official. Resolution #1: At least one half decent blog post per week, or 52 total, before the end of the year. I’ll start by finishing a few of those drafts!

…according to Typealyzer, anyway, which says that INTPs are:

“The logical and analytical type. They are espescially attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagining far-reaching implications.

They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.”

Most of that applies to me as well as my blog. Especially the “…finding subtle connections between things and imagining far-reaching implications” bit. I seem to be doing that all the time, and I really need to get myself into a position where it works to my advantage, rather than against it. The problem at the moment is that every new idea or insight is just another distraction keeping me from doing all the things people are expecting me to do (or, depending on the time of day, getting to sleep that night).

The initials INTP refer to Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Perceiving, and INTP is one of the 16 Meyer Briggs Type Identifiers (MBTI).

The last time I seriously looked into MBTI, maybe 4-5 years ago, I thought I was borderline INTP/INTJ. But after recently spotting Typealyzer (via Stowe), I started digging into MBTI again, and now it seems to me I’m well to the Percieving side of the INTJ/INTP divide. (eg, one classic INTP trait is to ignore the humongous to-do list and focus on understanding whatever currently has their attention, which in this case, is MBTI theory)

The Judging type, apparently, like to come to conclusions and move on, while the Perceiving type tend to suspend decisions until they have more information. If you could see my web-history and todo list, I’m sure you’d agree I’m a very P-type thinker.

Fortunately, Karl is very much on the J side of the spectrum, or Interclue never would have had a prayer. And perhaps with a little more self-knowledge and self-awareness I’ll be able to get more done in 2009.

Has anyone else tried Typealyzer? Did your blog’s personality match your own personality?

Oh, and Happy New Year everyone! May it bring great reward to us all, despite the, er, ominous signs and portents.

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