Random Notes from a Crank

After the horrible slayings in Orlando, the gun control/assault rifle debate is back again. And yet again under the influence of the NRA, no new legislation was passed. A person on a terrorist no-fly list is able to buy a gun. 

For a Canadian's take on the United States' gun problem, check out "The #1 Factor Experts Say Accounts for High Number of Mass Shootings in US."   

Then again, here is an article that provides good news for gun-control advocates. 

As a well-known introvert, I have to share these comics that help explain us: "10 Comics Explain What It's Really Like To Be an Introvert." My favorite is the shirt that asks, "Why are you still talking?" 

The work of one climate-change denier didn't go so well. 

DuPont is not a company I'm fond of because of its environmental pollution record, but they are working hard at trying to transform corncobs into fuel. I hope their research and innovation works. 

Random Notes from a Crank

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the sunk cost fallacy on a number of levels. I first got reminded of the concept in Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow, but McRaney has a post from '11 on his You're Not So Smart site that eventually turned into a chapter in his book. 

And here's a short article from Lifehack about it. 

This "10 Reasons Why Introverts Are Incredibly Attractive People" article from the same site cheers me up a little bit though. 

If you enjoy visual satire, check out "Artist Perfectly Captures Flaws of Our Society in a Series of Witty Illustrations." 

Random Notes from a Crank

Recently a couple of my FB friends provided some interesting links that relate to personality types. The first, "What's Your Animal Personality Type," connects Meyers-Briggs categories to animals. 

I'm an octopus. 

The second, "23 Signs You're Secretly An Introvert," has resonance with me because when I take the MBTI test, I'm over 90% introversion. Here are some initial reactions to specific points in the article:

• 1 - Yes, small talk is usually a waste of time, but don't other people feel that way?
• 2 - I go to parties to hang out with people I know.
• 5 - I have, on occasion, been called "too intense." Those people are usually fools.
• 7 - An afternoon home loafing and reading is pleasure. Solitude is good. 
• 9 - I hate being in the middle of people, aka surrounded/trapped.
• 10 - I can only take so much.
• 13 - I hate audience participation. 
• 14 - I don't like phones. Never have. 
• 16 - Yep, internal monologue. You don't know want to know what's rattlin' around in this brain, folks. 
• 18 - I don't know about the "old soul" stuff, but I've been called Stoic. 
• 21 - When someone tells me I need to "come out of my shell," my internal monologue starts with "Oh, shut the hell up!" but the outside effect is silence. 

I wish I still had my old Risk board game. I like the old one like below that had game pieces in Roman numerals. 

Every once in a while, I feel like going for world domination. Emperor Nasty is restless...

Posting Alone

I thought I'd pass along an article from The Atlantic that has probably gone viral. The title is misleading because the piece, at least to me, is more about loneliness than Facebook.

As a preview, here are some nuggets from "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?" that might make you want to read the whole thing:

• "We are living in an isolation that would have been unimaginable to our ancestors, and yet we have never been more accessible."
• "Facebook arrived in the middle of a dramatic increase in the quantity and intensity of human loneliness, a rise that initially made the site's promise of greater connection seem deeply attractive."
• "We know intuitively that loneliness and being alone are not the same thing."
• "The idea that a Web site could deliver a more friendly, interconnected world is bogus."
• "We make our decisions about how we use our machines, not the other way around."
• "Our omnipresent new technologies lure us toward increasingly superficial connections at exactly the same moment that they make avoiding the mess of human interaction easy. The beauty of Facebook, the source of its power, is that it enables us to be social while sparing us the embarrassing reality of society -- the accidental revelations we make at parties, the awkward pauses, the farting and the spilled drinks and the general gaucherie of face-to-face contact."
• "Among people older than 65, 3 percent reported symptoms [of narcissistic personality disorder]. Among people in their 20s, the proportion was nearly 10 percent."
• "What Facebook has revealed about human nature -- and this is not a minor revelation -- is that a connection is no salvation, no ticket to a happier, better world or a more liberated version of humanity. Solitude used to be good for self-reflection and self-reinvention. But now we are left thinking about who we are all the time, without ever really thinking about who we are. Facebook denies us a pleasure whose profundity we had underestimated: the chance to forget about ourselves for a while, the chance to disconnect."

Understanding the Introverts

I've taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator a number of times. The result is that I'm an INTJ, with strong preferences for introversion and judging. In fact, my introversion factor is usually around 90% most of the time.

So I was happy to see that one of my friends on FB shared this older article from The Atlantic that addresses the oppression of introverts. Well, sort of. Part of it has a some self-congratulatory back-slapping ("a majority of the gifted population," etc.).

Writing from this introvert's point of view, I usually don't like "conversations about feelings..." and how the presidents who were introverts were Coolidge, Nixon, and Reagan. Awkwardness and bad company right there.

I agree with the statement by Sartre that the author provides though: "Hell is other people at breakfast." And I like the motto of introverts that he offers: "I'm okay, you're okay -- in small doses."

So here's  "Caring For Your Introvert" by Jonathan Rauch. It's a short read that could help you cope with an introvert or yourself.