Scientists have discovered that shy people neurologically react differently to new faces, than outgoing people. Furthermore, a "strong inference" was found between the way people react to new faces as infants and as young adults. However, that doesn't necessarily mean shiness is inherent, or a result of childhood conditions. One scientist is quoted as saying "That a person has difficulty with novelty doesn't mean they are unable to change - the adult brain is more plastic than the man in the street would imagine."

That would make a lot of sense. For example, I don't have any problem dealing with new conditions and environments. In fact, I think I have less resistance towards unfamiliar places than most people. Undoubtedly, this is the result of my moving around a lot during my childhood, and perhaps is also the result of my parents encouraging me to travel on my own starting at an early age. On the other hand, I can't recall a single instance when my parents tried to encourage me to be social. They did tell me not to talk to strangers when I was younger, but then never reversed that when I grew older. Could that have had an effect? Who knows.

For years we warded off relentless attacks by a better equipped foe. Many simply defected to the other side and our ranks grew smaller, year by year. Those few who remained loyal to the cause were forced to live in the shadows. Some were driven into denial, and claimed that it didn't matter. Some of us simply hunkered down, waiting for the betters times that we knew lie ahead. And so it was, that we endured for years, waiting for this day to happen.
This day, when Macs could again rightfully claim to be faster than PCs (UPDATE: thanks to an anonymous commenter for pointing to an alternative analysis).

In other news:

• Safari 1.0 is out.
• Apple unveiled a Mac-only video conferencing solution based on iChat and iSight (a webcam + mic + speaker).
• There's a new codec in town called Pixlets (Pixar + Wavelets). This new codec supports 48bits per pixel... and exactly why you need (2^16)^3 colors is beyond me (or maybe it's for other data besides color...).
• And all kinds of other stuff that you can find all over the web.

Aaaaaahhhh!!! My server carshed. It's the first time it crashed since I got it over a year ago... hope it doesn't get into a habit. On the bright side, they got it back online in < 15 minutes.