Profiling A Person; Three Initial Basic Techniques and Crystal, the Personality-Determining App.


Before attempting to “read” someone, get yourself into the correct mindset.  Stay relaxed and remain fluid.  Be comfortable, sit back and let the cues come to you.

Also, compare the makeup of a person to an onion:

Define four layers of an onion about a person’s being. The deeper you get into the “onion” will determine how much you can read someone.

  • The skin: The interactions and conversations we have with others on a superficial level – such as someone we meet at the bus stop.
  • Second layer: People whom we appreciate or get to know better, such as co-workers or classmates, rather than a random stranger, is now allowed to comprehend you better due to the comfort and trust between your relationship you have with them.
  • Third layer: Relationship bonds, such as best friends and marriages.
  • The core: Each person has a “core”, where the thoughts and secrets aren’t shared with anyone but oneself.

Determine which layer you are addressing or analyzing within the following techniques.

The First Technique:  Observe Body Language 

 According to Psychology Today, words account for only seven percent of how we communicate whereas our body language (55 percent) and voice tone (30 percent) represent the rest.

1.  Pay Attention to Appearance
Is the subject wearing a suit (indicating that he is dressed for success), jeans and a sweatshirt (comfortable, casual), a ow-cut blouse (seductive) or a pendant such as a cross (spiritual)?

2.  Observe Posture
Does the subject hold her head up high, confident?  Does he cower when walking, indicating low self-esteem? Or do they swagger, a sign of a huge ego.

3.  Watch The Physical Movements

  • Leaning and Distance— Generally, we lean toward those we like and away from those we don’t.
  • Crossed arms and legs—This pose suggests defensiveness, anger, or self-protection. When people cross their legs they tend to point the toes of the top leg towards the person they are most at ease with.
  • Hiding one’s hands—When people place their hands in their laps, pockets, or put them behind their back it suggests that they are hiding something.
  • Lip biting or cuticle picking—When people bite or lick their lips or pick their cuticles they are trying to soothe themselves under pressure.

The Second Technique: Listen to Your Intuition

Draw into your empathetic ability and tune into someone’s core.  Beyond what someone is saying, is what that person is thinking and feeling.  Intuition is the nonverbal communication that involuntarily occurs between human beings.  A person’s exterior tells a story, his interior puts that story into perspective.  Looking for the intuitive cues.

Intuitive Cues

1. Heed your gut

When meeting someone, especially for the first time, a visceral reaction occurs before you have a chance to think. It is a survival instinct that tells you  whether you can trust this person or not – your own internal truth meter.

2. Pay attention to flashes of insight

In conversation, you may get an “ah-ha” moment about someone which comes to you in a flash.  Try to embed that moment into a memory that you can revisit later to further analyze the information gathered leading to that intense feeling of clarity.

3. Watch for intuitive empathy

During an empath probe, you may actually feel your own body reacting to a verbal or non-verbal cue.  You can feel a sympathetic pain from a story told to you (the subject relays a childhood memory of a broken arm; you, involved in a similar injury, recall that painful memory) or feel mildly depressed after being with someone who is unusually withdrawn or depressed themselves.  Identify your intuitive empathetic responses and separate them from your subject.

The Third Technique. Reading Emotional Energy

What the Chinese refer to as someone’s “chi”, we refer to as that person’s “energy”.  We have all encountered people with a positive energy; they are fun and energizing to be around, as we have those emit negative energy, that which can make others in its presence feel drained, tired and emotionally void.  Emotions are a stunning barometer of one’s energy.

1.  Sense people’s presence

Analyze the overall energy atmosphere of your subject (regardless of words or behavior).  Do they have a welcoming presence or do they give you the willies?

2.  Watch people’s eyes

Our eyes transmit powerful energies. Studies indicate that the eyes project an electromagnetic energy similar to that emitting by the brain.  Watch people’s eyes.  Are they guarded or open?  Are they compassionate, caring or angry?  Try as one might to disguise one’s feelings, flashes of true emotion will inevitably appear in one’s eyes.

3. Notice the feel of a handshake, hug, and touch.

Physical contact is a shared emotional exchange – producing energy much like an electrical current. How does the handshake “feel” to you?  Warm, comfortable, confident, withdrawn, anxious, non-committal or timid? Bearing in mind that certain people can wilfully moderate the energy that they project, no one can exercise that type of control 24/7.

4. Listen To The Tone of Voice and of Laughter

Sound frequencies create vibrations. Emotions affect the sound emitted.  When reading people, pay attention to how the tone of their voice or laughter affects you.  Does it appear natural, comforting, energizing or abrasive, angry or whiny?

Wrap up: When beginning to profile a subject, again, let the answers come to you naturally.  Trust your instincts, especially the initial reactions and let the person unfold in front of you.  If the subject attempts to “play” you, if you are centered, she can’t subvert your innate reactions – your instinct belongs to you and you, uniquely, alone.

Finally, we’ve been working with the beta version of Crystal Knows – an app that determines others personalities – primarily geared for business relationships and synches well with LinkedIn – that is scary accurate.  Give Crystal a try and see for yourself.

BNI OPeratives: Situationally aware.

As always, be safe.

DashCams, Amplifiers, Unshredders, etc. Our Five Favorite Spy Gadgets, Fall 2015.


1.  Personal Video Recording DashCam

How many times have you been driving on the road, only to witness someone pulling right out in front of you? Or weaving in and out of traffic?  Catch bad drivers red-handed with the Vehicle Safeguard Video Recording Camera  (several brands carry this dashcam). Attach the cradle to your vehicle’s dashboard and place the recording unit inside the cradle. Set the recording angle in any direction of your choice and insert an SD card (up to 2GB capacity)  to store the recordings. The camera weighs one pound and operates on four AAA batteries. (Use discretion; playing Highway Patrol may just get the real cops on the scene.) 


2. Sound Amplifier

So, what are the boss and the CEO discussing?  (Those of you with imaginations can interpret usage to suit your needs.) With the Motokata Bionic Ear-Hearing Amplifier sound-magnification technology,  you can hear any conversation clearly up to 20 feet away.  Effortlessly wearable due to its one ounce weight, the amplifier reaches up to approximately 50 decibels and can be easily attached to your shirt or jacket pocket or belt.  Attach the  amplifier to the included stereo earphones to comfortably hear spoken words and control the volume.


3. Unshredder

(Bet you didn’t think we could beat the dashcam!) I leave it to our readers to determine why they might need documents unshredded but when necessary, Unshredder, said to be the first commercial document reconstruction tool in the world, is a computer program capable of reconstructing documents that have been strip-shred and cross-shred, and documents with torn pages. Instead of aligning each little shredded piece by hand, this Windows-based application automates the reassembly of documents through four simple steps: collate, segmentation, reconstruction, and report. The finished results can then be printed, e-mailed, or copied. Used by government agencies, police departments, lawyers, private investigators, and security agents, Unshredder is available with a monthly license for $90 or a yearly license starting at $950.

sim card spy

4. Cell Phone Sim Card Spy

Has your loved one been acting a bit weird lately when he or she is on the phone? As our dedicated readers know, Brickhouse Security is our favorite spy shop and they’ve now come out with the  Cell Phone Sim Card Spy. This software and hardware solution allows you view, save, and edit files on a cell phone by removing the SIM card from the phone, placing it into the Cell Phone Spy reader, and connecting it to a USB port on any computer.  You’ll even be able to recover deleted files—including photos and text messages—and view them right on your computer. Just be prepared for the results.

vehicle chaser
5. Vehicle Chaser

Ok, YOU can’t have one (yet) but it’s nice to know that the new vehicular technology from StarChase. helps police prevent a dangerous live car chase.   StarChase developed is a system that is capable of aiming a laser at the back of a vehicle and firing a projectile that contains a GPS receiver, wireless transmitter, and battery. This, in turn, tracks a vehicle’s whereabouts. The data is then transmitted via secure Internet connection to a dispatch center. There are more than 100,000 high-speed pursuits in the U.S. every year according to the company, but StarChase is hoping to reduce that with this safer and more effective way to catch criminals.

If you don’t have a spy gadget swag closet, your life in incomplete.

(We verify our links to products but have no control over the sites’ redirects.  If a link doesn’t take you exactly to the information you are seeking, send us an email – – and we’ll track it down for you.)

BNI Operatives: Situationally aware.

As always, stay safe.

2.  Computer Mouse Transmitter

Need to hear and record . The Computer Mouse Transmitter houses an ultra-mini microphone and transmitter circuit, which can pick up sounds from up to approximately 32 feet away. For the rich spy, this sneaky mouse sells for £575 ($1,128 USD) from UK-based SpyCatcherOnline.

The Future of Lie Detection: Computer Voice Stress Analysis v. Polygraph


The heightened pace of the digital age is rapidly transforming lie detection reliance from the mostly commonly  used testing, polygraph, to computer-based voice stress testing (CVSA).

According to SpeechTechMag,

“Nearly 1,800 U.S. law enforcement agencies have dropped the polygraph in favor of newer computer voice stress analyzer (CVSA) technology to detect when suspects being questioned are not being honest, according to a report from the National Association of Computer Voice Stress Analysts.

Among those that have already made the switch are police departments in Atlanta, Baltimore, San Francisco, New Orleans, Nashville, and Miami, FL, as well as the California Highway Patrol and many other state and local law enforcement agencies.

In one of the most famous uses of  CVSA, after the fatal shooting of Floridian Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, Zimmerman was given a voice stress analysis test by the police department of Sanford, Florida. He passed the test.  A videotape of the test was publicly released in June 2012.

How does Computer Voice Stress Analysis work?

In a nutshell, CVSA works by measuring involuntary voice frequency changes that would indicate a high level of stress, as occurs when someone is lying. Muscles in the voice box tighten or loosen, which changes the sound of the voice, and that is what the CVSA technology registers.  The first CVSA devices came on the market in 1988.

(In contrast, the polygraph measures and records several physiological characteristics, such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration while the subject responds to a series of questions. The technology was developed in 1921.)

Who uses CVSA?

Employers, law enforcement, litigators and others with a vested interest in establishing the veracity of information or testimony.

How reliable is CVSA?

An 18 year study conducted by Dr. James L. Chapman, Professor Emeritus, Former Director of Forensic Crime Laboratory, State University of New York at Corning, evaluated the use of the Voice Stress Analysis technology for the detection of stress associated with possible deception. Using a combinatorial approach of VSA and a standardized questioning process, Dr. Chapman was able to show that VSA detected stress associated with criminal activities in 95% of the confession obtained cases studied. Dr. Chapman found no cases wherein a confession was obtained in the absence of stress. In particular, the most considerable stress levels were detected during the investigation of murder, grand larceny and sexual crimes. Dr. Chapman identified that when VSA is utilized as an investigative decision support tool in accordance with required operating procedures, and standard VSA interviewing techniques are employed, elicited confessions from criminal suspects can strongly be predicted based upon results of their VSA examinations. Further, VSA can be used by trained professionals to support the acquisition of court admissible criminal confessions at a rate superior to other legal interrogation methods currently employed by the criminal justice system

Source: Wikipedia

How does the court view CVSA?

A U.S. federal court in the Northern District of New York in early March, 2014 ruled that sex offenders can now be required to submit to CVSA examinations as part of their post-release supervision.

Why CVSA rather than polygraph?

  • Units can be carried into the field. The technology can be brought to the suspect rather than having to take the suspect to the technology.
  • Training is required to operate the CVSA, but the training is not nearly so expensive or so extensive as that required for a licensed polygraph examiner.
  • The changes in voice detected by the CVSA occur simultaneously with the speech, not in a delayed fashion as with the polygraph.
  • The CVSA is less physically intrusive. The suspect is not strapped down and wired.
  • The equipment itself is less expensive than a polygraph machine.

All in all, we see CVSA technology as the future of lie detection.

BNI Operatives: Situationally aware.

As always, stay safe.

How To Unsend Email


There is not one person reading this who has not wished for a way to unsend email. Although the mailmeisters would have had us believe that there was absolutely no way email can be retrieved once sent because , we have always known that the technology existed to save us from our snarky selves.

Without further ado (and before the powers-that-be take back the email take-back feature), how to unsend email:


Does Gmail’s Unsend do just what you think it does? Kinda sorta.

While you can’t actually go in to the receiver’s inbox and extract your snippy missive, you can pull it back within a few precious seconds as that sinking “oh no!” moment hits you.

  • Go to Settings in the drop down menu directly below your profile photo.
  • Click “Enable Undo Send,”  and then
  • Select the cancellation period from these options: five, 10, 20 or 30 seconds.
  • Save Changes.

(Why would anyone select anything other than 30 seconds??)



  • Select Mail | Sent Mail from the menu in AOL.
  • Highlight the message you want to pull back.
  • Click Unsend.

Which Emails You Can Unsend

Note that you can (effectively) unsend an email only if:


There are a few browser plug-ins that offer unsending features.  One of our favorites for its ease of use and effectiveness is Criptext.   At this time however,  it’s just for Chrome and Safari.

Enabling Criptext on an email encrypts the message and any attachments, tracks it so you know when it’s been opened, and gives you the option to “recall” it. Messages can also be set to expire after a certain amount of time. is a similar service that works with more browsers and email services than Criptext. It offers all of Criptext’ features, except encryption. You will also need to configure your email service to run through UnSend’s servers.

Then you can send email and attachments to anyone. If you decide to unsend the email, just click a button in your email service. You can also track when someone opens the message or you can set it to self-destruct.

BNI Operatives: Situationally aware.

As always, stay safe.




What Part Of The Body Most Accurately Reveals Someone’s True Feelings?


Liespotting is a necessary tool for anyone involved in the legal and law enforcement fields.  This week’s Bulletin covers the human body’s “tells” – subconscious actions that reveal the subject’s true feelings and intent. 

So, as the article title asks, what part of the body most accurately responds and revels someone’s true feelings?

The Feet


The Eyes


or the Hands?


It may come as a surprise to many people that the most accurate anatomical indicator of our true feelings is our feet. Sounds off?   You’re thinking the eyes (or face) or hands?  No, it’s definitely the feet.   Taking a quick refresher course on anatomy 101:

Our feet are the most reactive to our subconscious thoughts, mainly because they’re linked to our limbic brain; our brain is separated into three parts:


Our brain controls ALL behaviors. Whether that’s going to the sleep (reptilian), feeling happy about a relationship  (mammalian), or figuring out how much paint is needed to cover an accent wall (neocortex).

The key to understanding the mind/body connection is that it’s reciprocal.  While medical science – through biofeedback –  has proven that our mind can control our body, conversely, our body can control our minds   Think about the latter for a moment and then try the two below exercises to control your mind via your body:

– Force a smile for three minutes.   (Dale Carnegie explores the power of smiling in his book How to Win Friends and Influence People:  “Don’t feel like smiling? Then what? Two things. First, force yourself to smile. If you’re alone, force yourself to whistle or hum a tune or sing.  Act as if you were already happy, and that will tend to make you happy.”)

– Stand with your hands on your hips for 2 minutes.   (Harvard social psychologist, Amy Cuddy, ran a study that became one of the most-watched TED Talks of all time  – currently at 27 million views. She explains how “power posing” can significantly boost our confidence and decrease stress.)

So why the feet and legs? Most people are not even aware that their feet send out strong signals as to their true state of mind. What you do with your feet and legs when you are bored, impatient, nervous, cautious, shy, stressed, confident etc. Virtually all our emotions manifest themselves in our feet and legs. This is in large part due to millions of years of human evolution.

A lot of what our feet convey today, comes from what we learned to do instinctively a long time ago. Our feet and legs would freeze when a danger is near, run away to further ourselves from that danger or kick in an effort to defend ourselves. These reactions were so effective (We are the proof. We are still here.), that they are still embedded in our DNA to date. We still react the same way when danger is near or when we are faced with something unpleasant. This is instinctive and for that reason, it is hard to hide what our feet and legs are saying.

Below we note the foot/leg activity and its corresponding meaning:

Point feet towards the speaker: Interest

Point feet away from speaker; Dis-interest, hostility

Knee clasping while seated; Desire to leave

Feet/Legs moving apart; Dominance, claiming (figurative) territory

Crossing legs; Confidence

Locking the feet while sitting; Anxiety, insecurity, feeling threatened

Freezing feet or leg movements; Deep emotional change has occurred (fight or flight reaction has kicked in)

Jiggling feet; Nervousness

Leg cleansing (rubbing hands along sides of thighs); Attempting to comfort oneself or wipe sweaty palms

Granted,  the body has many more subconscious intent “tells” than those just by the feet but always check these extremities and limbs first when trying to determine your subject’s true thoughts.

BTW, I just ordered a glass conference table.

BNI Operatives: Situationally aware.

As always, stay safe.

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