Something he wrote that I found especially interesting was this:

A section of Laney’s book maps out the human brain and explains how neuro-transmitters follow different dominant paths in the nervous systems of Introverts and Extroverts. If the science behind the book is correct, it turns out that Introverts are people who are over-sensitive to Dopamine, so too much external stimulation overdoses and exhausts them. Conversely, Extroverts can’t get enough Dopamine, and they require Adrenaline for their brains to create it. Extroverts also have a shorter pathway and less blood-flow to the brain. The messages of an Extrovert’s nervous system mostly bypass the Broca’s area in the frontal lobe, which is where a large portion of contemplation takes place.

Yup, I definitely need to get that book. Interesting stuff indeed. The author of the review also put together a nice list of 10 myths about introverts, which I found quite interesting. And I think that’s probably something everybody should know. So, I will copy them to this post so that I know where to find them in case they disappear from the source

Myth #1 – Introverts don’t like to talk.
This is not true. Introverts just don’t talk unless they have something to say. They hate small talk. Get an introvert talking about something they are interested in, and they won’t shut up for days.

Myth #2 – Introverts are shy.
Shyness has nothing to do with being an Introvert. Introverts are not necessarily afraid of people. What they need is a reason to interact. They don’t interact for the sake of interacting. If you want to talk to an Introvert, just start talking. Don’t worry about being polite.

Myth #3 – Introverts are rude.
Introverts often don’t see a reason for beating around the bush with social pleasantries. They want everyone to just be real and honest. Unfortunately, this is not acceptable in most settings, so Introverts can feel a lot of pressure to fit in, which they find exhausting.

Myth #4 – Introverts don’t like people.
On the contrary, Introverts intensely value the few friends they have. They can count their close friends on one hand. If you are lucky enough for an introvert to consider you a friend, you probably have a loyal ally for life. Once you have earned their respect as being a person of substance, you’re in.

Myth #5 – Introverts don’t like to go out in public.
Nonsense. Introverts just don’t like to go out in public FOR AS LONG. They also like to avoid the complications that are involved in public activities. They take in data and experiences very quickly, and as a result, don’t need to be there for long to “get it.” They’re ready to go home, recharge, and process it all. In fact, recharging is absolutely crucial for Introverts.

Myth #6 – Introverts always want to be alone.
Introverts are perfectly comfortable with their own thoughts. They think a lot. They daydream. They like to have problems to work on, puzzles to solve. But they can also get incredibly lonely if they don’t have anyone to share their discoveries with. They crave an authentic and sincere connection with ONE PERSON at a time.

Myth #7 – Introverts are weird.
Introverts are often individualists. They don’t follow the crowd. They’d prefer to be valued for their novel ways of living. They think for themselves and because of that, they often challenge the norm. They don’t make most decisions based on what is popular or trendy.

Myth #8 – Introverts are aloof nerds.
Introverts are people who primarily look inward, paying close attention to their thoughts and emotions. It’s not that they are incapable of paying attention to what is going on around them, it’s just that their inner world is much more stimulating and rewarding to them.

Myth #9 – Introverts don’t know how to relax and have fun.
Introverts typically relax at home or in nature, not in busy public places. Introverts are not thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. If there is too much talking and noise going on, they shut down. Their brains are too sensitive to the neurotransmitter called Dopamine. Introverts and Extroverts have different dominant neuro-pathways. Just look it up.

Myth #10 – Introverts can fix themselves and become Extroverts.
A world without Introverts would be a world with few scientists, musicians, artists, poets, filmmakers, doctors, mathematicians, writers, and philosophers. That being said, there are still plenty of techniques an Extrovert can learn in order to interact with Introverts. (Yes, I reversed these two terms on purpose to show you how biased our society is.) Introverts cannot “fix themselves” and deserve respect for their natural temperament and contributions to the human race. In fact, one study (Silverman, 1986) showed that the percentage of Introverts increases with IQ.

What do you think? If you’re an introvert, does it sound about right? If you’re an extrovert, do you think it would be helpful to know this?

sxc.hu

I have now been at LifeStyleTV since the middle of February, and things finally seem to at least somehow settle in a bit. The first weeks was a bit chaotic I must admit, but things are much better now and starting to get more regular.

What I do around here depends a bit on what needs to be done, but my main responsibilities consists of two things: Create playlists and develop internal software.

The playlists I create are daily files (one playlist per day) that contains a reference to every video file that our broadcast software will air. One file after another. Station ids, fillers, ads, actual programs, up next “screens”, you name it. For every single thing you see on LifeStyleTV now, I have used the mouse and dragged that thing from the Mac OS X Finder, into a playlist for the day. Hopefully we will get this process more automated in the future, but right now it really is that manual and it takes about 30-60 minutes to do the playlist for one day. And just to clarify, I do not decide the rough schedule (what programs that air). Those I get from someone else. I just fill in the blanks.

What I am developing of software I might write more about later. But just as a quick overview for the curious ones: Up till last week I have mostly been doing research and trying to get back into the world of web, PHP and Mac after almost two years of developing windows applications in C#. I have also looked at various PHP frameworks and for now settled with Kohana (which I will probably blog a bit about). What I will be developing is at the moment a small task management system for internal use. What needs to be done, who needs to do it, what needs to be done before I can do something else, et cetera. In time, however, the thinking is that this will evolve and grow and track more and more information and data about what is happening at LifeStyleTV. In the end (I’m only making things up here now though, but hopefully they will happen some day) it will help us be much more efficient, keep the LifeStyleTV website updated, make it easier to buy DVDs and find On-Demand programs, make the scheduling and playlist generation more and more automatic, et cetera.

That was that for now.

So… what are you doing currently?

Last Friday (January, 29th) I had my last day at SMS Development & Support AS where I have been working for the last 1.5 years. It was my very first job as a full-time software developer and I learned a lot. Both about developing software and about myself as a developer. Good stuff!

Next up I will return to LifeStyleTV where I spent a year as a Media Missionary. This time I will be working there as a regular employee and help out with various things. Mainly I will be developing some internal software systems with some of the others there, but I will most likely also help out with the TV production. I am going down there the 11th of February and I am looking forward to get started.

What am I doing now, during this interlude? Not a lot. Very little. Extremely little. My computer is dead. I’m sick. My energy reserves are non-existent. I’m sleeping, eating, watching tv, reading… and that’s pretty much it… To be honest I am actually kind of happy I am sick now instead of earlier or later. Just hope I will be back to normal before Thursday…

Yes, that diagram is also what I based my site title and tagline upon ;)

So, now I am going for WordPress and is hoping that I will manage to stick with it for a while. And hopefully get some stuff out here too. Will try out Scott’s advice on using drafts in Live Writer, etc.

Aaaaanyways, have a look around, drop me an email if you want, comment on stuff, subscribe to my feed, et cetera. Or just ignore me. That is fine by me too

By the way if you are interested in seeing that very good session, you can find them here. I recommend downloading it using the BitTorrent file you find there. If you think it is a bit much, just use a decent BitTorrent client like µTorrent and you can select just that file. However I really do recommend that you download the whole thing cause it is a lot of really great stuff there. For example some very good introduction sections to Test-Driven Development with Roy Osherove.