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Introverts run the world -- quietly. The theory of evolution. The theory of relativity. The Cat in the Hat. All were brought to you by introverts. Our culture is biased against quiet and reserved people, but introverts are responsible for some of humanity's greatest achievements -- from Steve Wozniak's invention of the Apple computer to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. As the science journalist Winifred Gallagher writes: "The glory of the disposition that stops to consider stimuli rather than rushing to engage with them is its long association with intellectual and artistic achievement. Watch an interview with Susan Cain Introverts make up a third to a half the population. Yet our most important institutions -- our schools and our workplaces -- are designed for extroverts.

Picture the typical classroom. TED.com: Carl Honore praises slowness The same thing happens at work. Of course, we all fall at different points along the introvert-extrovert spectrum. But many of us recognize ourselves as one or the other. Bucket List: 225 Things to Do Before You Die. Breaking-up Britain? - Features. Britain once ruled a vast empire from India to Singapore and South Africa, but its own borders are now being threatened. The Scottish National Party, which won last May's Scottish election, has pencilled in autumn 2014 as the date for a referendum on independence. Voters will be asked whether Scotland should secede from the UK and become the world's newest independent state. It is likely to be the most important democratic decision that many Scots will make.

Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, on a visit this week to the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, told Al Jazeera, "I want Scotland to be independent because independence is the natural state for most nations around the world - not being independent is the exception. " A concern for Cameron British Prime Minister David Cameron has good reason to be concerned. It has become a common joke that his ruling Conservative Party has fewer Scottish MPs than the number of giant pandas in Edinburgh Zoo.

UN Position at stake? Hairstyles that only take three steps. North Korean Defectors Traverse a Dangerous Journey to Reach South. In Chiang Saen, Thailand’s northernmost town along the Mekong River, locals are dealing with almost daily arrivals of North Koreans. This sedate town has become one of the last steps on the road to a new life; a key destination for defectors fleeing the pariah state of North Korea. When North Koreans manage to escape their country, many take a long, and often dangerous, route through China and Laos. The destination of this underground railway is Thailand, where authorities quietly pass the defectors off to South Korean officials. Locals in Chiang Saen say North Koreans often come ashore a few miles north of here. Then the defectors, sometimes families, march down the main riverside road and into town.

Just outside town, a group sits under a roadside awning, out of the late afternoon sun. The number of refugees leaving South Korea has skyrocketed over the past decade. Tu Sanaroon runs a guesthouse along the main road. “The other old woman, she cannot walk,” Sanaroon said.