Dec 31, 2009

Ten Most Dangerous Species of Team Leader by Jeff Dray

By definition, a team leader is someone (or in certain cases there may be multiple team leaders) who provides guidance, instruction, direction, leadership to a group of other individuals (the team) for the purpose of achieving a key result or group of aligned results. The team leader monitors the quantitative and qualitative result that is to be achieved. The leader works with the team membership. Just to shorten it, literally it a team leader is a leader that guides in a team. They are the one who helps, motivates and take care of the pact.

But of course, not all team leader are expected to be a role model, nor a good one. Jeff Dray identified ten of the most dangerous team leaders that existed and are most obviously seen in the IT industry. This might give you a good look on what is the profile of your team lead if you have one.


TEN MOST DANGEROUS SPECIES OF TEAM LEADER

1: Dux Timeris - Fearful Leader

This team leader was persuaded to take the leadership job for two reasons: First, the powers that be decided that there should be a team leader so they could devolve some of their duties to someone who can't answer back. They picked the least confident team member and tailored the promotion process to ensure that the correct candidate was appointed.

Second, this person was the last to get through the door when the call for volunteers went out. He may have been trampled underfoot in the rush and was slightly concussed when the job offer was made.

Now that this new leader is hooked, he's too timid to ask to be re-graded and spends a lot of his free time worrying about the job. This is completely unfair, as this type is usually a good person trying to do a good job.

Favourite saying: "Can somebody help me please? Anybody?"


2: Dux Fulvus Nasus - I will leave you to translate the Latin for yourself

This leader does not think for himself but hangs on every word passed down to him from on high. If the boss told him that the sun was inhabited by pixies he would send Christmas cards to them.

He cannot believe what he is hearing when somebody on the team disagrees with a management decision; more worryingly, every critical word uttered within his earshot is reported back directly. Once aware of this, a team can make good use of it for propaganda purposes.

Consider the day of the Christmas party, for instance, when our help desk team was told that it was not permitted to attend. We weren't expecting any calls, as virtually the whole company was at the bash. We decided, within the hearing of the Dux FN, that we would wait for the party to start and then go home. An hour later, our invite to the party had arrived, with an instruction to switch the phones over to voicemail.

Favourite saying: "I was talking to the boss this morning. Wonderful man!"


3: Dux Magnifica - The Paragon of all the Virtues

This person is under the misapprehension that he has arrived, that he or she is "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Yes, this jerk is full of himself. You would think he had just been appointed World President instead of a glorified tea boy. He took to wearing a pin-striped suit on appointment to the position.

He refers to the senior directors of the company as his colleagues or "fellow members of the management team." He is not a tattle-tale. The views of those under him are far too inconsequential to be listened to, much less acted upon.

Favourite saying: "Follow me lads; I know what I am doing!"


4: Dux Trogloditica - Cave Man

This leader is a technical expert who lives, eats, and breathes computers. He leaves the office at the end of the day and goes home to a techno cave where he spends his off-duty hours making his stock of computers, one that NASA would be proud to own, do things that they were never deigned to do.

When he is not thus engaged, he attends conventions dressed as his favourite character from a variety of science fiction films. D Trog is the first person to talk to about a technical problem and the last person to ask about any leadership or personal hygiene issue.

Favourite saying: "I think you'll find that James T. Kirk never said, 'Beam me up Scotty.' The nearest he got was, 'Scotty beam me up!'"


5: Dux Dictatorialis - The Dictator

You can say what you like about Dux Dictatorialis, but under him all the calls were logged on time. He (and it usually is a he) is an obnoxious person who can't understand that people have a life outside of work and wants the world to know that HE is in charge. People who disagree with him usually disappear and are never seen again, although a trip to the media library or any other dark and dusty storage facility may give a clue as to their fate.

The worst thing about any dictatorship is that the weaker members of the team find themselves siding with the bully and become bullies themselves. Fortunately, this species is becoming rare in the wild, as there are many predators and few allies.

Favourite saying: "Come on, get with the program!"


6: Dux Nihilistica - Leader of Nothing and Nobody

D Nihilistica is an unhappy and lonely leader. He was made team leader, but the snag is that his team consists of just one person: himself. He has been doing the same job for a number of years and generally speaking, he does a pretty good job. A year ago, he was surfing a recruitment Web site and was spotted by his boss. They don't want to lose him, as they would have great trouble in replacing him, especially at the paltry salary they currently offer.

Luckily, they persuaded him to stay by awarding him an upgrade in his status, a move that cost nothing.

Favourite saying: He doesn't have one; there's nobody to talk to.


7: Dux Amicus Bonissimus - The Best Mate

The Best Mate wants to please everybody all the time. Nobody ever explained the impossibility of this, so he continues trying, even though experience should tell him that he's on a hiding to nothing. These leaders are known to go home at night wondering why everybody hates them. This is not true. We don't hate them, we worry about them. In the futile commotion of trying to be all things to all people, they are in dire peril of going quietly mad.

Promotion is a double-edged sword that cuts both ways. When you are pleasing the bosses, you will upset the team. Stick up for the team and the bosses will blame you for not communicating their message properly.

Favourite saying: "Why does everybody hate me?"


8: Dux Reluctantis - The Reluctant Leader

The team had functioned well for a number of years, but there was a review and the question was asked, "Who is the team leader?" The answer was not what the big boss wanted to hear.

"You must have a team leader on every team." End of discussion.

People were invited to apply for the post, but nobody was keen. It was clear that the team dynamic was at risk and nobody wanted to rock the boat. Eventually, a person was picked, interviewed, and appointed. Even when the inevitable interview question was asked: "Why do you want this job?" the answer, "I don't really want it," was not enough to put them off.

Sometimes, a D. Reluctantis is appointed because HR feels he needs a challenge to reveal his full potential.

Favourite saying: "If that's okay with you..."


9: Dux Minoris - The Lesser Leader

This team leader is perfectly illustrated by Simon Travaglia's Pimply Faced Youth (PFY) in his celebrated BOFH series of comic IT spoofs.

He is keen but has been led astray by a scheming and manipulative section manager. He is drawn into the various scams and schemes to do down the bean counters and is not above using the Argon-based fire systems to discretely dispose of those who stand in the way.

In reality, this character is easily diverted from his true path and finds himself in a tight corner when the schemes inevitably go wrong. He is great fun to work for, but you should always make sure that you take the key to the server room door with you if you enter alone.

Favourite saying: "Illegitimi non carborundum..." and he has the T-shirt to prove it.


10. Dux Severus - The Serious Team Leader

When some members of the team get promoted it goes to their heads.

Gone is the sociable, easy-going friend you worked with and out comes the martinet. The person who used to take 30-minute bathroom breaks suddenly starts to time your breaks and make scathing comments when you take more than four minutes. Having an upset stomach is no excuse because he knows that the loo break is often used as an unofficial break and an opportunity to catch up on office gossip with help desk colleagues.

Favourite saying: "We run a tight ship here."


This typifies the arrogance of the breed. Adopting the "Royal We" is always a sign that things are going to the bad.


Dec 26, 2009

The Different Kinds of People That There Aren by Lindy West

Here is one funny description of Different Kind of People written by Lindy West. Honestly she is a genius and remarkably funny.


The Different Kinds of People that There Are
A Complete List

People Who Care About "Tweet" Being the Verb Form of "Twitter" and Have Opinions About its Usage
This includes people who think you should say "tweet" when you talk about the activity associated with Twitter and people who think you should just use the word "Twitter." Both opinions are equally unnecessary. If you must use the Twitter, or not use the Twitter, just do (or don't) do it. Let's not bring grammar and logic and giving a shit into this.

People Who Choose to Correct You About the Definition of "Hobo"
Am I making this up? I feel like every time someone uses the word "hobo" to mean "homeless person," somebody else has to climb waaay up on their high horse and don their semantics cap and start getting highfalutin all over town about how "a hobo is someone who rides the rails in the Great Depression, and is it 1934 right now? I don't think so! And I can't believe you don't even know what words mean. How embarrassing. Have you heard of Wikipedia? Hhhhhhhhhhhhh." Maybe I'm making all of this up, but if I'm not, I'd just like to say that I'm aware of what year it is, these people are annoying, and I am going to continue using the word "hobo" however I please (within bum proximity, of course), thank you very much, and the way in which I please to use it is, "No thank you, hobo, I do not wish to go on a date with you." Also I will accept "transient."

People Who Are Mean to Hobos
Lay off, man. Being homeless is terrible. Give the dude a dollar. (I'm still not going on a date with you, hobo.)

People Who Still Have Jobs
As bad as things are right now, this is still most people. Like, 93 percent of people. People with jobs are great, except for the few who talk shit to people without jobs (things like, "Hey, get a job!" or "Where's your job?"). In such instances, these people need to be reminded that they, too, possess jobs vulnerable to layoffs and should probably shut the fuck up.

People Who Are Quietly Less Than $100 Away from Complete Destitution
You have to hope it's going to be okay. This recession can't go on forever.

People Who Secretly Have Vast Family Fortunes/Trust Funds to Keep Them from Ever Knowing Complete Destitution, or Even Mild Hardship
Just do something interesting with it. You already won. Don't be a douche.

People Who Claim to Be Afraid of Clowns
These people (and they are numerous) are attempting to cultivate a quirk, but they are really just aping a quirk cultivated by thousands of quirk-cultivators before them in a giant, gross, boring feedback loop. Yes, clowns can be mildly creepy. (More important, they are unfunny.) But c'mon. Among the many things that are scarier than clowns: fire, earthquakes, a guy with a knife, riding the bus, colon cancer, falling down the stairs (it could happen at any time!), rapists, people who just kind of look a little rapey and are standing too close to you in line at 7-Eleven, Marlo from The Wire, influenza, and scissors.

People Who Don't Watch TV
Symbolically not doing something for the sake of not doing it is almost never evidence of sophistication. It is evidence of not knowing what you're fucking talking about. Are we really still having this conversation? Television is a part of the cultural landscape at this point—a lot of it is good. A lot of it is bad, some of which is also good. You know, LIKE ALL THINGS MADE BY HUMANS? Obviously it is also a good idea to go outside once in a while. But the presence of a television in your home does not make that decision for you. You make it. Feel free to still go outside at any time.

People Who Tell Me Things "Just FYI"
Thanks, thanks very much. Just FMI.

People Who Are White Who Call Black People "Brothas" When Talking to Other White People, as in, "A Lot of My Friends Are Brothas"
Jesus Christ.

People Who Are Old
Notable old people include: Methuselah, George Burns, Andy Rooney, an elephant, Dick Van Dyke, Slade Gorton the senator, Father Time, Slade Gorton the Gorton's fisherman, Chinese people (they kick white people's asses at not dying), Wilford Brimley, the old lady who dropped it into the ocean at the end, Harrison Ford.

People Who Are Old and Think Pigeons Are Their Best Friends
Listen, old people. Pigeons do not love you. Much like robots and the British, pigeons do not have the capacity to feel love. They only have the capacity to desire croutons. And when you spread infinity croutons across the grass outside MY house, for the purpose of making pigeons love you (WHICH WILL NEVER HAPPEN), the only result is infinite feces. I now have to walk upon feces-encrusted streets through a feces-encrusted world. Because of you and your delusions of pigeon love. Stop it.

Babies
The opposite of old people. They are like you and me, except smaller, more illiterate, and with less money.

People Who Are Secret Hookers
They're your friends, but they're hookers! Ssssh!

Recession Hookers
Oh. This hooker joke isn't that funny anymore. When the recession is over, and your friends and coworkers and parents come to you to tearfully admit that they had to do a little recession hooking at the end of the month to make rent, let's institute a nationwide policy of hooker amnesty. No judging. Sometimes these things happen. There but for the grace of writing a bunch of bullshit in the newspaper go I.

People Who Are Hot Waiters
Once, my sister and I were in a restaurant in Greece, having a fight, and the hot waiter (all waiters in Greece are hot) took one look at our bleak, tear-puffed faces and said, "Ouzo power." He brought us two little glasses of cold, cloudy ouzo, and the ouzo cured our fight.

People Who Are Pretty and Smart and Funny and Nice
You probably want to hate these people, but why bother? They are absolutely wonderful, and all we can do is deal with it and hope to be charming enough that they will some day mate with us so that our children can absorb some of their impossible magic.

Wizards
Assholes with beards who do magic. In modern times, wizards look just like normal people, because they've learned to wear tracksuits and tuxedos over their robes. This means that wizards could be anywhere. Can you trust the people you work with not to be wizards?

Russians
Citizens of Russia. The sworn enemies of wizards.

People Who Don't Know How to Navigate a Four-Way Stop or an Uncontrolled Intersection
Can a lady get a wave, please? Just a courtesy wave. That's all I ask. These people are under the impression that rules do not apply to them. They do not have to wait their turn because they are special. They are probably the worst people on this entire list, and that includes wizards.

Russian Wizards
Don't be ridiculous.

People Who Believe in Sasquatch
What's that? You couldn't afford your bunion surgery because you spent all your money on Sasquatch detectors? And now your bunion hurts? Bummer. A few years ago, a friend of mine told me that he'd discovered the secret to finding Sasquatch (he's a believer because once, in an Idaho forest, he "heard things" that he "couldn't explain") and called some cryptozoological society to announce his epiphany: "Just find out what it eats, and then go to where that is." He and I, we are not friends anymore.

People Who Are Just a Down-to-Earth Guy, Who Enjoys the Little Things in Life Like Going for Walks, Lifting Weights, or Just Doing Whatever (LOL), Whose Friends Would Probably Describe Him as Honest, Truthful, Loyal, Affectionate, Compassionate, and Romanceful, and Is Looking for a Woman Who Is That Rare Combination of Stunning on the Outside and Beautiful on the Inside, and Most Importantly Down to Earth, Enjoys the Little Things in Life, Loves Children, Animals, Has a Passion, Laughter. I Especially Like Asians.
Can we just skip to the part where you gun down everyone in the post office?

People Who Smile at You on the Street
It's always nice when any non-creepy stranger smiles at you. There is not enough interstranger smiling going on these days. I also appreciate it when people working in customer service behave in a genuinely nice manner. Thank you. I always leave a tip, but I feel extra happy about it when you are nice to me.

People Who Don't Know How to Drink
Sometimes a person forgets to eat dinner, or sometimes they just didn't have time or money, and then they ended up at the bar and the only snacks available were Rainier tallboys. And yes, sure, sometimes they grab your beard and tell you, "You are drinking the most successful sausage," even though that's barely even English, and then they lose their keys and have to sleep on your floor, where they wake up utterly bewildered and have to walk all the way home and drink a Big Gulp of Sprite for breakfast on a Thursday. Be kind to these people. They mean well.

People Who Are Only Interesting When They're Drunk
This one is a bummer, but it's so much less depressing than its half brother, which is People Who Are Just Boring All the Time.

People Who Will Just Have a Bite of Whatever You're Having
Please, please, please just order your own lasagna.

People Who Don't Believe in Evolution but Love Antibiotics
Seriously? Either you believe in science or you don't. If you want to say sentences to me like, "God made the earth 29 years ago out of Billy Graham's stool" or "Every time you take the morning-after pill, Satan has two orgasms," then go ahead and stay away from Dr. Syringey O'Medicine, M.D., from here on out. Because you know that pill that made your strep throat go away? Science invented that. For you. Hey, why don't you just pray for God to take care of that root canal? I'll tell you why: Because God didn't go to dental school, because dental school doesn't admit people who DON'T EXIST.

People Who Let Their Cat Walk Across Their Kitchen Cutting Board, Even Though Those Are the Same Fucking Paws that Have Been Tramping Around that Shit-Filled Cat Box and
I Don't See a Kitty Foot-Washing Station Around Here, Do You? ANSWER THE QUESTION.

People Who Are into Whimsy
You can't really be mad at people who send away for porcelain figurines of poodles wearing poodle skirts that they saw in the back of Parade, or who enjoy movies in which impish children attempt to call grandma in heaven on the CB radio. That'd be like punching Helen Keller in the face. These people just want to be left alone with their extremely lifelike baby replicas—small false humans filled with pretend love, that can be asphyxiated with attention and never poop, cry, or grow up to make fun of anyone's stretch pants and doily collection. Forever-babies. (Note: Sometimes people who are into whimsy vote against things like gay marriage. In which case, fuck 'em.)

People Who Studied Abroad in a Third-World Country
Congratulations.

Animals that Are Really People Who Got Transformed by a Witch
These are people who got on the wrong side of a witch. Now they are turkeys and iguanas or some shit, and all they can do is cry (except not really, because emotional tears are a physiological phenomenon unique to humans and possibly camels). Don't loan these people money, because they obviously have bad judgment.

People Who Try to Pretend Like They Already Knew the Story About Jimmy Stewart Smuggling a Yeti Hand out of Nepal in His Wife's Underpants
I do not believe you, unless your name is Jimmy Stewart's Wife's Vagina. And I'm pretty sure Jimmy Stewart's Wife's Vagina doesn't know how to read. So....

People Who Sit at Their Day Jobs All Day Anonymously Posting the Meanest Things They Can Think of in the Comments Sections on Blogs
These people are just mad because they all have herpes of the eyeball. And diarrhea of the heart. But just to save them some time: I am fat; I am a hipster; I am an idiot; this is the most boring, self-indulgent article ever written; I hate everything because I work for this newspaper, and if I ever say anything nice about anything I will be fired immediately because this is the policy; I should be fired right now; why don't I just go write in my LiveJournal; Dear LiveJournal, I am sooo idiotic and fat; I am a "hiptard" who thinks that everything not within spitting distance of Holocene is like that space desert in Beetlejuice with the giant sand worms, and I don't want to go there because I can't ride my fixie on the space dunes (and also I don't want to be devoured); anyway, I probably haven't even seen Beetlejuice because I'm too busy FIRING MYSELF FOR BEING FAT.

People Who Are Bill Paxton
I really enjoyed your work in Twister.

People Who Miss the Point
(See also: People Who Claim to Be Afraid of Clowns, People Who Choose to Correct You About the Definition of "Hobo," People Who Don't Watch TV, People Who Are Old and Think Pigeons Are Their Best Friends, People Who Are Bill Paxton, and Babies.)

People Who Don't Miss the Point
Thanks.

Dec 24, 2009

The Wireless and its Modern Role

Everyday, a new advancement of technology, in remorse to the old technology that we have in the past decades, have been made and reviesed by a lot of people over and over again. Wireless technologies, high end gadgets and mobile phones, touch screen tv's and even computers are well done with this year. What could we expect more on this coming year. 2009 has been a great advancement with technology. But one thing that amazed me off is the advancement of wireless technology.

This wireless technology that we have now a days has changed the lives of many people. Not just national or international but globally. Literally, it changed a lot, actually everything the way we live our lives. Usually it comes in form of communication that we barely know that its wireless. Some comes too obvious, sometimes it doesnt thats because were to inclined to it that we dont even bother what it is.

I looked around and researched to this idea, and found some fascinating ideas that I thought of sharing. Here shows the time line discovery of innovation in wireless technology. Thanks to wikipedia for this one.

  • David E. Hughes, eight years before Hertz's experiments, transmitted radio signals over a few hundred yards by means of a clockwork keyed transmitter. As this was before Maxwell work was understood, Hughes' contemporaries dismissed his achievement as mere "Induction". In 1885, T. A. Edison used a vibrator magnet for induction transmission. In 1888, Edison deploys a system of signaling on the Lehigh Valley Railroad. In 1891, Edison obtained the wireless patent for this method using inductance (U.S. Patent 465,971).
  • In the history of wireless technology, the demonstration of the theory of electromagnetic waves by Heinrich Hertz in 1888 was important. Theory of electromagnetic waves were predicted from the research of James Clerk Maxwell and Michael Faraday. Hertz demonstrated that electromagnetic waves could be transmitted and caused to travel through space at straight lines and that they were able to be received by an experimental apparatus. The experiments were not followed up by Hertz. Jagadish Chandra Bose around this time developed an early wireless detection device and help increase the knowledge of millimeter length electromagnetic waves. Practical applications of wireless radio communication and radio remote control technology were implemented by later inventors, such as Nikola Tesla.
And you might be thinking what are the changes that wireless technology had made to everybodies lives. Well try to check on this and maybe you have one of them and you are not just aware of.
  • Security systems - wireless technology may supplement or replace hard wired implementations in security systems for homes or office buildings.
  • Television remote control - modern televisions use wireless (generally infrared) remote control units. Now radio waves are also used.
  • Telephony (phones and modems) - perhaps the best known example of wireless technology is the cellular telephone and modems. These instruments use radio waves to enable the operator to make phone calls from many locations worldwide. They can be used anywhere that there is a cellular telephone site to house the equipment that is required to transmit and receive the signal that is used to transfer both voice and data to and from these instruments.
  • WiFi (for wireless fidelity) - is a wireless LAN technology that enables laptop PCs, PDAs, and other devices to connect easily to the internet. Technically known as IEEE 802.11 a,b,g,n, Wi-Fi is less expensive and nearing the speeds of standard Ethernet and other common wire-based LAN technologies. Several Wi-Fi hot spots have been popular over the past few years. Some businesses charge customers a monthly fee for service, while others have begun offering it for free in an effort to increase the sales of their goods.
  • Wireless energy transfer - wireless energy transfer is a process whereby electrical energy is transmitted from a power source to an electrical load that does not have a built-in power source, without the use of interconnecting wires.
  • Computer Interface Devices - answering the call of customers frustrated with cord clutter, many manufactures of computer peripherals turned to wireless technology to satisfy their consumer base. Originally these units used bulky, highly limited transceivers to mediate between a computer and a keyboard and mouse, however more recent generations have used small, high quality devices, some even incorporating Bluetooth. These systems have become so ubiquitous that some users have begun complaining about a lack of wired peripherals. devices tend to have a slightly slower response time than their wired counterparts, however the gap is decreasing. Initial concerns about the security of wireless keyboards have also been addressed with the maturation of the technology.
On the contrary, scientist have been complaining with wireless technology since this interfer with their expirements. This interference forces them to use lesser optimal peripherals because the optimum wired ones are simply not available in wired version. This has become especially prevalent among scientists who use trackballs as the number of models in production steadily decreases.

Dec 19, 2009

Psychosis

Psychosis (from the Greek ψυχή "psyche", for mind or soul, and -ωσις "-osis", for abnormal condition) literally means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality". People suffering from psychosis are said to be psychotic.

People experiencing psychosis may report hallucinations or delusional beliefs, and may exhibit personality changes and thought disorder. This may be accompanied by unusual or bizarre Justify Fullbehavior, as well as difficulty with social interaction and impairment in carrying out the daily life activities.

A wide variety of central nervous system diseases, from both external poisons and internal physiologic illness, can produce symptoms of psychosis.

However, many people have unusual and unshared (distinct) experiences of what they perceive to be different realities without fitting the clinical definition of psychosis. For example, many people in the general population have experienced hallucinations related to religious or paranormal experience. As a result, it has been argued that psychosis is simply an extreme state of consciousness that falls beyond the norms experienced by most. In this view, people who are clinically found to be psychotic may simply be having particularly intense or distressing experiences.


SIGN AND SYMPTOMS

  • Hallucinations
A hallucination is defined as sensory perception in the absence of external stimuli. They are different from illusions, or perceptual distortions, which are the misperception of external stimuli. Hallucinations may occur in any of the five senses and take on almost any form, which may include simple sensations (such as lights, colors, tastes, and smells) to more meaningful experiences such as seeing and interacting with fully formed animals and people, hearing voices, and having complex tactile sensations.

Auditory hallucinations, particularly experiences of hearing voices, are a common and often prominent feature of psychosis. Hallucinated voices may talk about, or to, the person, and may involve several speakers with distinct personas. Auditory hallucinations tend to be particularly distressing when they are derogatory, commanding or preoccupying. However, the experience of hearing voices need not always be a negative one. One research study has shown that the majority of people who hear voices are not in need of psychiatric help. The Hearing Voices Movement has subsequently been created to support voice hearers, regardless of whether they are considered to have a mental illness or not.


  • Delusions
Psychosis may involve delusional beliefs, some of which are paranoid in nature. Karl Jaspers has classified psychotic delusions into primary and secondary types. Primary delusions are defined as arising suddenly and not being comprehensible in terms of normal mental processes, whereas secondary delusions may be understood as being influenced by the person's background or current situation (e.g., ethnic or sexual orientation, religious beliefs, superstitious belief).


  • Thought disorder
Thought disorder describes an underlying disturbance to conscious thought and is classified largely by its effects on speech and writing. Affected persons show loosening of associations, that is, a disconnection and disorganization of the semantic content of speech and writing. In the severe form speech becomes incomprehensible and it is known as "word-salad".



CAUSES

Causes of symptoms of mental illness were customarily classified as "organic" or "functional". Organic conditions are primarily medical or pathophysiological, whereas, functional conditions are primarily psychiatric or psychological. The DSM-IV-TR no longer classifies psychotic disorders as functional or organic. Rather it lists traditional psychotic illnesses, psychosis due to General Medical conditions, and Substance induced psychosis.

Functional causes of psychosis include the following:

  • * brain tumors
  • * drug abuse amphetamines, cocaine, alcohol among others
  • * brain damage
  • * schizophrenia
  • * bipolar disorder (manic depression)
  • * severe clinical depression
  • * severe psychosocial stress
  • * sleep deprivation
  • * some focal epileptic disorders especially if the temporal lobe is affected
  • * exposure to some traumatic event (violent death, etc.)
  • * abrupt or over-rapid withdrawal from certain recreational or prescribed drugs

A psychotic episode can be significantly affected by mood. For example, people experiencing a psychotic episode in the context of depression may experience persecutory or self-blaming delusions or hallucinations, while people experiencing a psychotic episode in the context of mania may form grandiose delusions.

Stress is known to contribute to and trigger psychotic states. A history of psychologically traumatic events, and the recent experience of a stressful event, can both contribute to the development of psychosis. Short-lived psychosis triggered by stress is known as brief reactive psychosis, and patients may spontaneously recover normal functioning within two weeks. In some rare cases, individuals may remain in a state of full-blown psychosis for many years, or perhaps have attenuated psychotic symptoms (such as low intensity hallucinations) present at most times.

Sleep deprivation has been linked to psychosis. However, this is not a risk for most people, who merely experience hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations, i.e. unusual sensory experiences or thoughts that appear during waking or drifting off to sleep. These are normal sleep phenomena and are not considered signs of psychosis.

Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause symptoms of mania and psychosis.

Vitamin D deficiency can cause altered thinking and psychosis.

Genetics may also have a role in psychosis. The Genain quadruplets were identical quadruplets who were all diagnosed with schizophrenia.


General medical

Psychosis arising from "organic" (non-psychological) conditions is sometimes known as secondary psychosis. It can be associated with the following pathologies:

* neurological disorders, including:
  • o brain tumour
  • o dementia with Lewy bodies
  • o multiple sclerosis
  • o sarcoidosis
  • o Lyme Disease
  • o syphilis
  • o Alzheimer's Disease
  • o Parkinson's Disease

* electrolyte disorders such as:
  • o hypocalcemia
  • o hypernatremia
  • o hyponatremia
  • o hypokalemia
  • o hypomagnesemi
  • o hypermagnesemia
  • o hypercalcemia
  • o hypophosphatemia
  • * hypoglycemia
  • * lupus
  • * AIDS
  • * leprosy
  • * malaria
  • * Adult-onset vanishing white matter leukoencephalopathy
  • * Late-onset metachromatic leukodystrophy
  • * Cerebral involvement of scleroderma (a single case report).
  • * Hashimoto's encephalopathy, an extremely rare condition (about 100 reported cases).

Psychosis can even be caused by apparently innocuous ailments such as flu or mumps.


... I am not crazy. I just want to remind myself that I have to be somewhat aware of whats happening to myself. Maybe I am, maybe I am not. But either ways I have to be keen or else.

Dec 9, 2009

How to Catch a Liar

Inspired with the post below, I looked for an article how to catch a Liar. This is helpful and pretty obvious, if your observant with the people around you and or had talked to that had lied. Got this one from AOL Health written by Robynne Boyd.


Liar, Liar?
Pinocchio wasn't very good at it. And neither are most of us. There are dozens of verbal and non-verbal cues that suggest a person is fibbing, says Bella DePaulo, PhD, a psychologist specializing in relationships. So if you can handle the truth, here are the signs that are as obvious as Pinocchio's nose.


1.) Cause for Alarm


Ever heard your guy start a sentence by saying, "The truth is," or "Let me be honest with you"? If so, an alarm should go off in your brain. Anyone who has to preempt a sentence by saying they're not going to lie to you, has already littered the conversation with lies, or is about to begin.


2.) Eyes Wide Open

If your wife says she can't remember how she spent that $200, search her eyes for the truth. It's not as noticeable as a twitch or a blink, but when someone is hemming-and-hawing, their pupils can dilate dramatically. "This suggests that liars are more tense than truth-tellers, that they are thinking harder, or both," explains DePaulo.


3.) The Sound of Silence


Your best friend tells you how great her date was last night, but you heard she was stood up. When you meet, she mumbles a few words about her date and falls silent. The total amount of time a fibber speaks falls short of someone who's speaking honestly. The reason? Liars tend to supply fewer details, so their stories seem incomplete or don't add up.


4.) Fever Pitch

"Sorry, honey, I have to work late again tonight." In truth, he's off to share a brew with the boys. But there's nothing like the nagging fear of being caught to rattle his good time. You can actually hear it in his voice. If he's lying, he'll talk in a higher pitch than usual. The change-up is caused by the tension in his vocal chords.


5.) Lip-locked


You've watched their eyes and heard their voice. When searching for untruths, don't forget the mouth. Lips can reveal a lot about a person. According to DePaulo, liars are more likely to press their lips together due to stress and tension in the face. Fibbers also tend to raise their chins as they speak, making them seem cocky.


6.) Add It Up


There's truth to the notion that if a story doesn't add up, it's made up. For example, your friend at work tells you he has to move to save money. But his new place is even more expensive. What? Only later do you find out his wife is pregnant. When the facts in a story just aren't as compatible, it's time to start doubting.


7.) Broken Record


"Sorry I'm late, but I had a flat tire. Really, you wouldn't believe it. My tire was so flat." Repeating parts of a fabricated story over and over doesn't make them any more factual. Liars are more likely to repeat words and phrases, says linguist Cati Brown of the University of Georgia. "Repeating the same phrase is usually a sign that a person has rehearsed their conversation," says Brown.


8.) Hemming and Hawing


"There's a difference between fluid speech and language punctuated with modifiers such as ums, ahs and eers," says Brown. This kind of hedging is compatible with being deceptive. Still, an 'um' here or an 'ah' there are also perfectly normal space fillers. They are best used as deception detectors when they come at you fast and furiously.


9.) Devil's in the Details


Fibbers aren't even enticed by their own yarns. Ever had your man tell you that he can't make this weekend with your parents because he "has plans." When you ask for details, he's just not that convincing. In fact, liars generally use fewer illustrators, such as hand gestures, that emphasize their words. How it that important? It demonstrates a lack of conviction and yearning to convey their point.

Hope this would be helpful for everybody.

Faces of a Liar

Lies has been a part of a human life. Checking back on history, Adam was also the first person who lied and theoritically because of that, was thrown out from the Garden of Eden. This has passed through all the generations and somewhat spread through to everybody. Everybody has their own reasons for being a liar. Some good, some bad and some are even saying it not to hurt anybody. But is it a good thing? Is it justifiable? Is it reasonable? Or is it because everybody are afraid to tell the truth and the fact that lies on it. Sooner or later liars get stomped on because the truth will out whether it is tomorrow or next year or the next decade. Each lie leaves a trail. And the most unfortunate thing of all is that lies tend to have infinite lives!

Liars have to lead a difficult, if not impossible, life. They merely live in a fantasy. They hide their sins and their transgressions in a cloud and web of lies. They have to remember each and every detail about their lies, to whom they told them and why they told them. They spend their lives looking over their shoulders to see if any of the lies are catching up with them. They are always on the run; trying to outrun their lies! A liar leads a most miserable and horrible life.

Reasons why they are lying? Well it could be because (1) a liar doesn't like himself/herself as a person, (2) they consider their accomplishments inadequate, (3) they cannot stomach or accept the truth about whatever (4) they are afraid of the truth and (5) they cannot stomach the consequences of the truth. I could go on but you get the point. I read on to this article made by Pierre A. Rinfret and found some profiling of the liars which might help us categorized some of the people we know or had jumped in to us with a lie.


Perpetual Liar

This are the most difficult liar that you will encounter. This liar is one of those people who had great brain, and basing on an IQ tests are incredibly Genius. These people lies about anything. Important or unimportant, basically everything. Its like they had used to it and had lived with it. You could not believe anything at all of what he said. If he said that he called you X times in a day (after you had not talked to him in months) you knew he never made a single call at all.


Dangerous Liar

Dangerous liar (they are, of course, all dangerous) is the one that lies only about major or important facts. This is the kind of person that lies about his education, his studies, his degrees, his background, his family, his prior jobs, his war (or military) experiences, facts of all kinds, if he is in an argument and whatever suits him at the moment.


Political Liar

The political liar is legend. Political liars do not care one iota, one bit, one scintilla about the truth or the actual facts. They argue strictly on the basis of their emotions and their concept of what is "right" and what is "justice." We have all met them. They are the worst kind and it is hopeless to argue or debate them because they "know" and they lie and make up facts to suit whatever argument. The worst are of course, the media who lie and cheat to the ultimate and they have zero conscience and less responsibility. All they care about is winning no matter how they win.It is NOT how the game is played which to them is idealistic nonsense. All they care about is WINNING, no matter how, including lying and cheating to the extreme. Lying and cheating are pretty much the same thing, aren't they?


Social Engineering Liar

The social engineering liar is among the most dangerous because they want to change the social order according to their vision of what it should be. They lie about anything and everything and the worst of all is that they are self righteous about their lying. When they can't win a social argument with facts they resort to emotionalism (another form of lying). And when the emotionalism doesn't work they lie to high heaven in whatever mode suits them; just as long as they win their argument! My entire experience with these kind of self-righteous, guilt prone individuals is that they lie and lie some more.They know they are lying but they don't care!


Community Liar

The most incredible of all is the Community Liar. This is where a mass of people agree silently and without any overt or noticeable agreement that they are going to lie en masse! This also comes under the title of "lying to oneself".

Ranting for Disposition

Lately, we just had an update that shocked the whole floor. Agent and supervisors are like awfully shocked with what the management has rolled out and disputed whatever things that they are trying to show out. Everybody was alarmed and you can see in our faces (for supervisor's position) that disposition of such action should be done.
I just realized that I am actually already showing a motherly care to my agents that I just had mate. Humanitarian is the only answer I knew off but I knew what the managements are doing is unreasonable. You cant just kill a sheep that you are tending for a couple of years because they are rumored to have sickness. By legal means, it should have been investigated first, went through a process before being rolled out. Sheesh, everybody should really take and listen to their Law subjects and have an innate with proper legal means especially for work codes here. Not all employees are working dumb, especially now a days.

Dec 6, 2009

Wheel of Life

Because of my boredom I jumbled in to this website that gives you evaluation and drawing of wheel of life. Here is the result of my boredom. I got this one at mindtools.com

Living and Working

Lately, I was so busy with everything happening to me. I have been missing my favorite series or movie, have not updated my blog and even updating myself to music. I have been rolling myself round and round to know more with my work and getting the hang of it. I know it would sound burning on my end but thats how I usually master myself to be good with something which later on I would get tired with. I've been enjoying much here the business that my work has, the occupancy of myself on my work. I've been exposing myself much on this work that much that when I go home, the only thing I could do there is sleep. I'm thinking about having something to destress out so that is why I am moving to my colleauge's house and live there cause probably that would help. Either ways, I am enjoying my stay here though I know that description is just blunt. Oh well, everybody has to grow.