Dilbert readers – Please visit Dilbert.com to read this feature. Due to changes with our feeds, we are now making this RSS feed a link to Dilbert.com.
via Dilbert Daily Strip
Comic for September 15, 2013
Air shows 2013
In the effort to celebrate and marvel at our ability to fly and see new technological advances, air shows are held all over the world every year. Attendees get the chance to witness complex aerobatic performances and sometimes up-close access to the aircraft on the ground. — Lloyd Young ( 35 photos total)
A Romanian boy plays with his toy plane while Jurgis Kairys, a Lithuanian aerobatic pilot and aeronautical engineer, performs a freestyle aerobatic maneuver with his modified Sukhoi SU 31, at the Bucharest International Air Show 2013, at Baneasa airport, in Bucharest, Romania, on July 27. (Robert Ghement/European Pressphoto Agency)
     |
Apple’s Fingerprint ID And How It May Take Away Your 5th Amendment Right To Protect Your Data
There was plenty of discussion about how Apple’s new fingerprint ID biometric system on the new iPhones might help the NSA build a giant database of fingerprints, but others quickly pointed out how unlikely that was. Some have even argued that it could lead to greater privacy protection (though, others are reasonably concerned since you can’t "change" your fingerprint if someone figures out a way to hack it — and fingerprint readers have been hacked many times in the past).
However, there are additional concerns, such as how relying on fingerprint scans over passwords might remove your ability to use the 5th Amendment to protect your private data. As we’ve discussed a few times, while not all courts agree, some have ruled that you can’t be forced to give up your passwords to unencrypt your data, because it could be seen as a 5th Amendment violation of self-incrimination. However, with a fingerprint, the issue is slightly different than with a password. As the EFF’s Marcia Hoffman explains:
The privilege against self-incrimination is an important check on the government’s ability to collect evidence directly from a witness. The Supreme Court has made it clear that the Fifth Amendment broadly applies not only during a criminal prosecution, but also to any other proceeding “civil or criminal, formal or informal,” where answers might tend to incriminate us. It’s a constitutional guarantee deeply rooted in English law dating back to the 1600s, when it was used to protect people from being tortured by inquisitors to force them to divulge information that could be used against them.
For the privilege to apply, however, the government must try to compel a person to make a “testimonial” statement that would tend to incriminate him or her. When a person has a valid privilege against self-incrimination, nobody — not even a judge — can force the witness to give that information to the government.
But a communication is “testimonial” only when it reveals the contents of your mind. We can’t invoke the privilege against self-incrimination to prevent the government from collecting biometrics like fingerprints, DNA samples, or voice exemplars. Why? Because the courts have decided that this evidence doesn’t reveal anything you know. It’s not testimonial.
It does seem odd that a simple switch from a password to a fingerprint could have constitutional implications, but welcome to the world where the law and the technology don’t always match up perfectly together.
Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
| |
via Techdirt.
Apple’s Fingerprint ID And How It May Take Away Your 5th Amendment Right To Protect Your Data
The Best Educational Apps and Games for Kids
Zero Install Downloads, Updates, and Runs Apps Without Installing
Windows: Portable applications are handy for running applications from a USB stick or using an app without messing with your Windows installation. For the remainder, Zero Install can run software without installing it.
The app features a sort of makeshift app store for a number of included applications. From a single menu, you can download from a host of popular apps like Audacity and Notepad++, and Zero Install will keep them up to date. You can also set up Zero Install to sync installations between computers so no matter which machine you’re on, it’s always up to date.
Run Windows Programs Without Having to Install Them | Make Tech Easier
via Lifehacker
Zero Install Downloads, Updates, and Runs Apps Without Installing
The GunBuster: What Nightmares Are Made Of
A company called GunBusters, LLC is marketing a scrap metal shredder fitted with a camera to law enforcement organizations around the country. The GunBuster “Alleviates overcrowded property rooms”, “provides safe, simple, & secure method to destroy firearms” and “reduces agency administration costs” all while being “SAFE, SIMPLE, & SECURE” … the company does not mention the […]
Read More …
via The Firearm Blog
The GunBuster: What Nightmares Are Made Of
The Science of What Makes an Introvert and an Extrovert
Do you like to make small talk? Do you prefer one-to-one conversations or group activities? These questions and many others often show up in personality quizzes to reveal how introverted or extroverted you are, but what does that really mean? Here’s what science tells us about extroversion and introversion.
What Are Extroversion and Introversion?
Extroversion and introversion (E/I) are recognized as core aspects of people’s personalities. Today, they are included as part of a number of different personality scales, including the ever-popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Big Five Aspects Scales, but the idea of E/I goes back nearly a century.
In the 1920s, noted psychologist Carl Jung coined the terms "introverted" and "extroverted" in his 1920s work, Psychologische Typen (Psychological Types). In his model, differences between the personalities basically boil down to energy: Extroverted people are energized by social interactions, whereas those same engagements are energetically taxing for introverts. So after attending a party or other social gathering, introverts need time alone to "recharge."
Extroverts are typically thought of as those people who are outspoken, outgoing and predominately concerned with what’s going on with the outer world. Introverts, by contrast, are quiet, reflective and focused on the inner (mental) world. However, E/I is often seen as a kind of continuum, with people exhibiting a mix of introverted and extroverted tendencies — "ambiverts" fall somewhere in the middle of this continuum.
Even Jung didn’t think people could be completely introverted or extroverted. "There is no such thing as a pure introvert or extrovert," he reportedly said. "Such a person would be in the lunatic asylum."
Several decades ago, German psychologist Hans Eysenck came up with a more biologically based model for E/I. According to Eysenck’s theory, the behaviors of introverts and extroverts are due to differences in cortical arousal (the speed and amount of the brain’s activity). Compared with extroverts, introverts have naturally high cortical arousal, and may process more information per second.
This means, essentially, that if you put introverts into an environment with a lot of stimulation, such as a loud restaurant, they will quickly become overwhelmed or overloaded, causing them to sort of shut down to stop the influx of information. Because of this fact, introverts tend to avoid such active environments. Extroverts, on the other hand, are only minimally aroused, so they seek out highly stimulating environments to augment their arousal levels.
Other theories for E/I also exist. One prominent idea stresses the involvement of people’s brain reward systems, suggesting that extroverts’ brains are more sensitive to rewards — such as those inherent in social interactions — than introverts’ brains. This sensitively leads extroverts to gravitate towards certain situations and events.
Different Brains
Given that some theories behind E/I invoke a neurobiological explanation, scientists have long tried to find experimental evidence for these theories. And let’s be clear: There have been tons of neuroscience studies conducted on E/I over the years, many of which show that the brains of introverts and extroverts really are different.
Back in 1999, scientists measured the cerebral blood flow of introverted and extroverted people with positron emission tomography (PET) scans while they thought freely. They found that the introverts had more blood flow in their frontal lobes and anterior thalamus — brain regions involved with recalling events, making plans and solving problems. Extroverts had more blood flow in brain areas involved with interpreting sensory data, including the anterior cingulate gyrus, the temporal lobes and the posterior thalamus. The data suggested —as Jung believed — that the extroverts’ attention focused outwards and the introverts’ attention focused inwards.
Research has also shown that introverts have more neuronal activity than extroverts in brain regions associated with learning, motor control and vigilance control, and that their premotor cortexes process external stimuli more quickly.
Various studies have supported Eysenck’s arousal model of E/I — the research shows that the reticular activating system (RAS), which is responsible for regulating arousal, has higher basal activity for introverts than for extroverts. Interestingly, the "lemon juice experiment" also lends credence to the arousal theory. The RAS responds to all types of stimuli, including food — because introverts have increased RAS activity, they salivate more in response to lemon juice.
At the same time, other research shows that there’s something to the reward theory of E/I. In a study published earlier this year, researchers gave participants Ritalin, a drug that stimulates the release of the chemical dopamine, which is involved in reward and motivation. While on Ritalin, the participants watched videos showing random nature scenes. After three days, the scientists took away the drug, and then had the participants watch videos in the lab again — the extroverts were excited by the videos, while the introverts were not. LiveScience explains:
The results suggest that Ritalin’s effects on the dopamine system didn’t translate into reward or motivation for the introverts. That suggests that introverts have a fundamental difference in how strongly they process rewards from their environment, with the brains of introverts weighing internal cues more strongly than external motivational and reward cues, the researchers write in the paper.
Studies have also suggested that the brains of extroverts pay more attention to human faces than the brains of introverts. In fact, researchers have found that the brains of introverts respond to faces in a similar way that they respond to images of flowers, whereas the extroverts’ brains show a stronger response to faces — this suggests that human faces, or people in general, hold more significance to extroverts (which, perhaps, partially explains why they seek out other people’s company).
Abstraction and Risk-Taking
Our personality is part of what makes us who we are, so it’s not so surprising that our levels of introversion and extroversion have wide ranging effects on our lives, including on everything from our language to our risk-taking behaviors to our mental health and happiness.
In terms of language, research has suggested that extroverts and introverts speak differently. Specifically, extroverts talk more abstractly, while introverts talk more concretely, at least when it comes to describing things. Researchers had participants describe (out loud) what was going on in different photos, and found that introverts were more precise in their descriptions.
But when it comes to learning a second language, extroverts may have the upper hand because they are more likely to "take their existing language system to the limit." Unlike their quiet counterparts, extroverts more readily use what they learn and engage in conversations both inside and outside the classroom — they have more risk-taking behavior.
That risk-taking behavior extends to other areas of life. For example, researchers have found that risky sexual behavior, such as having unprotected sex, is associated with "sensation seeking," a trait that is related to high extroversion. People with personalities that are low in conscientiousness but high in extroversion or neuroticism are also more likely to be the ones getting involved with high-risk sports, including paragliding and skydiving. Additionally, research has linked high extroversion (and high self-esteem, which may be influenced by extroversion) with adolescent smoking.
Scientists have found numerous other behavioral traits that are influenced by E/I. In 1990, a study suggested that extroverts wear more decorative clothing, whereas introverts are more practical in their clothing choice. More recently, researchers found that unlike introverts, extroverts tend to go for immediate gratification and pass up on potential future opportunities.
Perhaps one of the most important (and consistent) findings in E/I research is that extroverts are overall happier than introverts, and this increased happiness lasts for decades. Scientists have struggled to pinpoint the cause of extroverts’ happiness, though they are certainly not without ideas.
Researchers have proposed that extroverts may feel greater happiness than introverts because they are more sensitive to rewarding social situations (as seen above). On the other hand, others have suggested that extroverts are happier because they engage in more social activities. Some scientists think that extroverts’ perpetual happiness stems from their greater mood regulation abilities. Or maybe they’re happy because they hold on tightly to all of those good memories.
At the same time, however, scientists have questioned whether extroverts really are happier, or if they’re just more declarative with their feelings. There’s also the issue of how, exactly, you define and measure "happiness." Whatever the case, extroverts and introverts likely benefit from different happiness increasing strategies, given the inherent differences in the personality types.
In a recent book on introversion, author Susan Cain explains that although introverts make up a third to a half of the population, Western society — the United States, in particular — is extroversion-centric. She notes that schools and workplaces are designed for extroverts, under the belief that collaboration is key to creativity and productivity (the opposite of which is true for introverts). What’s more, extroverted traits, such as being a gregarious "people person," are highly valued in today’s society, and this can make introverts feel like something is wrong with them (and perhaps, make the unhappy). She calls for a new system that gives introverts the solitude they need to thrive.
Check out her inspiring TED Talk below.
Top image via AbbyD11/Flickr. Inset image via RCraig09/Wikimedia Commons, wales_gibbons/Flickr.
via Lifehacker
The Science of What Makes an Introvert and an Extrovert
The night light
Flybridge Dock Adapter Makes Old Apple Docks Lightning-Compatible
Whether you plan on upgrading to one of the new iPhones or iPods announced tomorrow or you already have a device with a lightning cable, you don’t have to buy a new dock if you’ve got an old one. Flybridge created a little adapter that turns your old iPod 30-pin dock into a lightning-compatible one.
Simply take your existing 30-pin dock and lightning adapter, connect them, then slide on the Flybridge adapter. This will make your dock actually hold your iPhone up rather than connect it with a lot of potential wobbling. While this solution could be a bit cheaper, the Flybridge adapter saves you from buying an entirely new dock.
Flybridge Dock Adapter ($15) | Flybridge
via Lifehacker
Flybridge Dock Adapter Makes Old Apple Docks Lightning-Compatible
The Cold War Bunker That Offered Subterranean Suburbia Below Las Vegas
The real estate listing for 3970 Spencer St. shows a foreclosed two-bedroom on a suburban street east of the Las Vegas Strip. That’s nothing remarkable in Vegas, which has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, but this house is special: It’s 25 feet underground. A high-end fallout shelter built in secret, it’s a small monument to the Cold War—as well as the dream of post-War suburbia in the American west.
| |
via Gizmodo
The Cold War Bunker That Offered Subterranean Suburbia Below Las Vegas