Shyness Gene

FuturePundit offers the following:

A professor at the University of Maryland Child Development Laboratory claims the short version of a gene involved in metabolism of neurotransmitter serotonin combined with stress creates a shy kid.

In a study published in the February issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, Nathan Fox, professor and director of the Child Development Laboratory, and his team found that kids who are consistently shy while growing up are particularly likely to be raised by stressed-out parents, and to possess a genetic variant associated with stress sensitivity.

...

He concludes with the view that:

"Suppose this gene's short version works as advertised. When offspring genetic engineering becomes possible will prospective parents choose to make shyness a thing of the past? Will some future generation be anywhere between extroverted and extremely extroverted? If so, what will we lose? My guess is that governments will become more corrupt as people with genetically engineered lack of shyness feel less fear of getting held up to public condemnation."

We are just as the beginning of learning about ourselves. We have only a glimmer of what our findings will mean. Our history shows we have not handled this topic well.

If Only

What other "If Only..." moments have we seen?

"In 1997 we were working with IBM on electronic music distribution and could have put this out five years earlier [than iPod]. But we couldn't get our people to understand software. And we are a music company. They saw digital media, panicked and didn't like it."

-- Sir Howard Stringer, chairman and CEO of Sony, ponders what might have been (Hat Tip to GMSV)

There are the personal ones. The ones we examine in moments of quiet repose. The ones where we say "If Only....." Then say "Yeah But...." Hopefully we follow it with a "Next Time...." and learn from our experiences.

In business, we do this all the time. We make plans, examine the future, the possibilities, the competition and see opportunity. We next build the Business Case. We have to clarify and quantify why this opportunity represents a realistic chance of reward worthy of the risks. This must be sold to the organization, management, the Board of Directors, the engineers, marketing, sales, etc.. Wading through the morass of negativity is hard. Fighting the entrenched who are set in their ways and looking towards retirement is hard. 10,000 cuts, suggestions, alterations, amendments and delays will doom the project. Opportunity exists only for a brief time. Situations evolve and competition moves faster so that the Business Case may be invalid by the time the funding is approved... It's the rare manager who will finally win the funding but then turn back because events are no longer right and success for the opportunity has diminished.

We spend much of our life planning for failure. We are ready for catastrophe at any moment. We do not plan for success in the same degree. Success is a bet on the Roulette Table. Failure is a mangy dog that roams the neighborhood looking for someone to bite...

On the whole, things go better than they fail. We are successful in more of our activities than times when we fail. Yet, we ignore the good and anticipate the bad... Hard wired? Do optimists die younger?

It is hard for people to look past the -Worst Case- and see the -Most Likely-.

Car Porn

From Galley Slaves comes this video of a Bugatti Veyron reaching its top speed--253 mph.

I couldn't think of a better headline either.

Nothing to Add

The LATimes offers the following:

Obama the 'Magic Negro'

The Illinois senator lends himself to white America's idealized, less-than-real black man.

By David Ehrenstein, L.A.-based DAVID EHRENSTEIN writes about Hollywood and politics.
March 19, 2007

"The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. "He has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist," reads the description on Wikipedia http://en.-wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro .

Like a comic-book superhero, Obama is there to help, out of the sheer goodness of a heart we need not know or understand. For as with all Magic Negroes, the less real he seems, the more desirable he becomes. If he were real, white America couldn't project all its fantasies of curative black benevolence on him."

Polls, UK-Style

It makes you wonder just what is really going on in Iraq?

Or rather.... What is Really going on in the UK?

Who really answers polls anyhow? Who are these people?

McCain -Straight Talking-?

Is it just me or does McCain seem dispirited? The fire in the belly seems to be missing. Does he really care?

The Old Straight-Talking-John seems to be missing. He is hiding from the Republicans and playing cozy with the middle ground. Has he been annointed? Is he truly the heir apparent, slow walking towards a coronation? He has been given that position for the entire Bush Presidency. No challengers have arisen and he has collected a big war chest.

This is 2007. we are a long way from 2000 when he had nothing to lose by running his mouth to his friends in the back of the bus. His "straight talk" was never that straight. He was just saying things for headlines. It worked. He was behind and had everything to gain. His announcement that he would make an announcement on Letterman was sad. He looked tired.

The Republicans ran Dole in the traditional Next-in-Seniority position. He lost for many many reasons, some of which had to do with his opponent. The world has changed and is picking up speed. McCain is "Yesterday's Man" as they would say in the UK.

Snow Storms

Oh Poor Baby-.... "God made it snow for everybody"... Ticket agent to passenger who complained that the other airlines were flying.

"NEW YORK (AP) - Hundreds of passengers were stranded for hours overnight on airliners that couldn't take off from John F. Kennedy International Airport because of the ice and snow storm that pummeled the Northeast.

The exact number of planes stuck on the tarmac was unclear, but irate passengers reported that the problems affected several airlines. Pilots and officials blamed some of the problems on a shortage of deicing fluid and a new federal regulation giving pilots a narrow window to get their planes in the air once the chemicals are applied. The change has meant some jets need to get doused repeatedly if their takeoffs are delayed."

Having spent WAYTOO many years of my life aboard airplanes, I have no sympathy for passengers who don't appreciate the miracle of aviation. I have seen people become irate because their morning flight from JFK to SFO was delayed by an hour or two due to head winds. The poor dears had luncheon meetings within 30 min.s of arrival downtown or down the Peninsula.

I have stood in line and listened to people tell tired and frazzled ticket agents why -THEY- must get out because THEY are important, have important things to do, have important people to meet. They do not realize that in the best of times taking several thousand tons of metal, fuel and human bodies from a standing start to over 300 mph is a miracle. That it is done safely, routinely and boringly is a credit to the professionals who run the airlines. Some think that it only snows on their airline, that the rules and regulations that make it safe were created simply to frustrate.

The practical, everyday reality that we can cross thousands of miles in comfort and on schedule is always amazing... to me. I find that being patient and polite and working with the airlines makes an unpleasant situation much more bearable. Stuff happens. Yes, God did make it snow for everyone. Isn't it great!