I’ve already posted this at Tambayan.ph last October 2007 with the title “Are you right-brained or left-brained?” Initially, I was planning on posting it here, but since my other blog is more popular (more visitors) I posted it there to get comments from readers.

The image below is an animated GIF image, so it is actually moving. The image moves faster when viewed using Firefox browser, and slower if using Internet Explorer.

Ok here it is… just stare at the image.

To know which side of your brain is more dominant, just look at the moving picture. If you see her going clockwise, then you are using the creative side of your brain which is the right. If she moves counter-clockwise, then the logical part of your brain is working, which is the left side.

My first impression on the image is that she was moving clockwise, I was surprised since I know that I have a balanced-brain (according to the PHD test I took last year), or I use my brain’s left side the most. But then after a few seconds of staring at the picture, it gradually turned direction. I don’t know how that happened, but I know one thing, I suck at creativity.

The animation contains 34 still images But when I look at the arrangement (sort order) of the image, it looks like it is going clockwise halfway, then going anti-clockwise halfway.

You can read other people comments at my original post at Tambayan.ph. Some only saw it moving in one direction, while others have seen it moving in both directions. Now I can actually see it move in both directions, and switch its direction at will.

How about you, what is the initial direction of rotation do you see the image?

Tags: brain, dance, dancing, illusion, spinning, test

I was browsing my old posts lately, then I came upon this topic of speed typing. In today’s generation, a majority of computer users already have fast typing skills. I also wonder if my typing speed improved these past few years.

So I decided a test. I took various online typing test (I don’t want to bother downloading and installing a software). I took 5 sessions (no resets or repetitions) on each test so I can measure the average. The tests also differ in recording your WPM (Words-Per-Minute) speed, and some are long paragraphs while others are short sentences.

The results:

Calculatorcat.com: 71-75-65-64-55 = 66 average
A quick typing test. Short paragraphs and you can edit the mistakes you made. It calculate in real time as you type. It doesn’t record mistakes you’ve made.

Typeonline.co.uk: 57(2)-56(3)-60(2)-58(1)-65(1) = 59.2 average (mistakes)
A long paragraph typing test. You can edit your mistakes but it will lessen your speed. It records your mistakes after the test.

Powertyping.com: 61(5)-61(7)-67(3)-65(5)-59(7) = 62.6 average (mistakes)
An average length paragraph, you can’t delete mistakes but you need to type the correct character. You can’t go back, and you don’t need to hit the enter key. Everything is done in a one line format. It records everything, including your mistakes-per-minute.

Typingtest.com: 50(55)-55(56)-60(62)-55(57)-49(54) = 53.8 average (56.8 WPM gross speed)
Before the test you can choose the time duration, the text, and the speed unit. In typing, you have to type the whole text, including the title. You have to type the underlined-blue text. Mistakes can be edited as long as you are still within the word itself, once you hit space bar or enter you can’t edit the word. WPM is calculated in real time, and mistakes are subtracted from it. And because it runs on Java, sometimes it doesn’t load the next page properly. I ran my own test in 1 minute durations.

Learn2type.com: 49(48/1)-53(52/1)-55(54/1)-55(55/0)-65(64/1) = 55.4 average (54.6 adjusted speed/mistake)
An average length typing test. It measures WPM and reduce it by your mistakes. The result shows your WPM, along with your mistakes and adjusted speed. If you get a mistake in a punctuation, the whole sentence after that is already a mistake.

Speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com: 58(305/1)-58(326/3)-57(314/1)-54(327/0)-61(331/1) = 57.6 average (CPM/mistake)
This is a quick test with random words appearing. Just start typing the highlighted words and press space until the timer reaches zero. The results show characters per minute (CPM) as well as mistakes.

Testmytyping.com: 52(216)-47(228)-64(248)-68(280)-58(275) = 57.8 average (CPM)
It measures both your WPM and CPM. And also shows your typing accuracy based on your mistakes. Since it runs on Java, sometimes the interface stops due to the way of typing too fast.

In speed typing, spelling accuracy and punctuations are very important. Also another thing to remember is your position in front of a computer like, sitting, the monitor’s eye level, and the placement of your mouse and keyboard.

As a side note, typing tests is not 100% accurate. Because when you are typing something, there is always a chance that you will encounter a special character, like a bullet, or a word format. And gradually, if you type long paragraphs and different formated document, your frequency of typing varies.

Tags: speed type, speed typing, test, WPM