Monday, September 16, 2013

9:40 Instead of the news, I am watching an old tape I made from the TV in 2000 of a documentary called “Raising The Mammoth,” which is the story of an expedition to excavate and carry a frozen mammoth (of which there are quite a few in Siberia) to a laboratory. It is done in the autumn to keep it from thawing and therefore rotting. The scientists enlist the help of the Dolgans, a reindeer herding people of Siberia. The Dolgans often find mammoth tusks and know where to look for them. The scientists are using ground penetrating radar to find anomalies under the soil. They find a mammoth buried in the permafrost except for the tusks, which are protruding out above ground, and dig it out, carrying it by helicopter. The scientists' goal is to use the cells from the mammoth to implant their DNA in an Asian elephant's egg and produce a living cross-breed, to be used over a series of generations to develop a pure mammoth. I looked up this kind of experiment on the Internet and got an article from Wikipedia. It will probably take 5 years, and have a 1% to 5% chance of success. The mammoth DNA that is available to scientists is fractured into short pieces. According to the Wikipedia article, there were mammoths as late as 3,800 years ago on the small Russian island of Wrengel. Most, in their original range of Africa, Asia, North America, Central America and Europe, were extinct by about 7,600 years BP. Theories about their extinction include a large meteor that changed the climate and simple extermination by human hunters.

I was just thinking of Lannie, my first college roommate. I lost touch with her in the 1980's, and was hoping to find some hits on the Internet for either her or her husband, but neither shows up. She is one person I used to be close to, but as time passed I didn't write or communicate and now I can't. I was never one to write very often to anybody. I didn't like to sit down with pen and paper and do it. It seemed like a difficult task. Emails are much easier, and there is almost instant gratification since the message goes through so fast. I feel much more in touch now. I hope I never have to give up the Internet.

11:22 Finishing my mystery now. Done – It was a satisfying finish, with the lead character Kathryn Dance making the correct decision between two men with whom she was having a borderline romantic interaction without any sexual involvement yet. She chose the man who was free of entanglements, and who represented a new direction for her. Dance has been in a number of Deaver's books, so I have followed her. She was half in love with a married police officer with whom she worked frequently, and he showed no sign of leaving his wife, but didn't distance himself from Dance. That kind of thing is bothersome to me. It can't go forward, and keeps people bound into the situation, but unsatisfied. Better to just avoid the situation. Being “in love” can happen again with a more appropriate partner.

12:13 PM news – A major shooting has occurred at the DC Washington Navy Yard, with 4 killed and 10 injured. There are thought to be two shooters, whose identity and background has not been given, but one was black and the other was white. They were wearing “military style” uniforms. According to the TV at noon, one of the shooters has been killed. I'll keep track of this as the day goes on.

1:22 PM I'm starting one of the two non-fiction books that I got recently. Neither is all that fascinating, but they were the best that I spotted the other day. This one is called Introvert Power, by Laurie Helgoe, a PhD psychologist and part-time actor and model. She is quite pretty. She has written other books, including The Complete Idiots Guide To Raising Boys, The Anxiety Answer Book, and an article in Psychology Today called “The Revenge Of The Introverts.” Her advice comes from her own life, as she is herself an introvert. Introverts make up 57% of the population, rather than the 30% that psychologists formerly thought, and are no longer assumed to be maladjusted. This book is a serious study rather than just another self-help book, and her work is well-known and referenced by other authors. Let's see what she has to say. The following quotation from Buddha is in the front of the book: “Believe nothing. No matter where you read it, Or who said it, Even if I have said it, Unless it agrees with your own reason And your own common sense.” I don't think he is advocating self-centered self-satisfaction, but thoroughly and boldly thinking for oneself to come to our “beliefs.” I couldn't agree more with the statement. I don't think God gave us a critical and incisive brain to require us then not to use it, or run the risk of a fearsome Hell. We do have to make a life habit of keeping in sight the fact that our thoughts and observations could be wrong, and therefore opening our mind to new viewpoints and information. That is what I call humility, and is the counter-balance to overly developed self-confidence. Given that, I'll try to learn something from this book.

First, introverts and extroverts are very different in the way they think, make decisions and learn. In the introvert the person's brain works more effectively when they are left alone to develop their thoughts. They will solve problems, come to new understandings and absorb new information better in a quiet mode than in a loud and exciting or competitive group interaction session. According to the author, studies have been done of brain activity, and the introvert's brain is more constantly active than the extrovert's. Maybe because of this, they are subject to over-stimulation, causing the need to get to a quiet place and think for awhile. The group problem solving method that is often considered superior is not as effective for them. Unfortunately most school classrooms are geared to group interaction. So is American society in general. Japan is contrasted, with a gentler and less competitive emphasis.

The “secretive” or less expressive introvert may be suspected by extroverts as being subversive or otherwise dangerous, or even snobbish. They don't slap each other on the back because they are more reserved. They don't get a kick out of listening to gossip, because it is either threatening or simply not as interesting as ideas are. The introvert is less likely to go along with the group direction no matter where it is leading, so they are more prone to object to group excesses or just be a “wet blanket” and keep others from having fun. The introvert is harder to convince of any dogma or sales spiel, because they are more mentally “aroused.”

The author argues against introversion as indicating mental illness or maladjustment, because there are differences in the way the introvert's brain works. She doesn't consider them to be “anti-social” (having a lack of empathy and conscience), “asocial” (not interested in social interactions), or “snobbish.” Extroverts respond to external stimulation and introverts to internal. All people, according to the Myers Briggs test, are mixtures of introverted and extroverted. I gather most of the modern thought about introversion and extroversion is based on this test, which divides people roughly into groups according to how they answer questions about their preferences.

The author talks about alienation, comparing it with mere “aloneness”, in which the person may feel basically “connected” or “recognized” and is therefore comfortable The alienated person does not feel recognized or understood. Alienation is connected with more problematic psychiatric conditions than simple introversion. “As adults, we see ourselves as being empowered or understood when we see our values reflected in society.” One can be alienated from society (social alienation) or from oneself (self-alienation). “Some introverts … embrace alienation from society … drop out of the mainstream. These are the Shadow Dwellers … keep a low profile or become openly hostile.” The author goes on to describe those who look on the outside like an extrovert, achieving through great effort social success, but not “having fun” or fulfilled This self-alienation... can lead to depression.”

Ending on page 27. News now.