Morph3ous’s Weblog

How horrible is this? Teenage control and deterrent products for shops and homes Compound Security Systems Mosquito

The Mosquito ultrasonic teenage deterrent is the solution to the eternal problem of unwanted gatherings of youths and teenagers in shopping malls and around shops. The presence of these teenagers discourages genuine shoppers and customers’ from coming into your shop, affecting your turnover and profits.

What is this world coming to?

Wired News: Baiters Teach Scammers a Lesson

It seems that a new sport has developed on the internet. The idea is to turn the table on so-called 419 / advance fee scammers. The idea is to get them to waste their time and go through hoops thinking that they will receive a large payout. Some scammers have even been pursuaded to tatoo embarrasing phrases on their bodies.

Sites like 419 Eater then publically embarrass the scammer. They post the details of the scam, and what they got the scammer to do. If they get the spammer to send pictures of himself holding an off-color sign, they will often post that on the site as well.

Update:
For some reason when viewing the pictures in the Trophy Room
, I could not get myself to laugh. I felt a bit saddened. I hate scammers all the same, but it just didn’t seem funny.

Right now I am between jobs. My previous employer was acting a bit strangely. They confiscated some of my personal property, a notepad I brought to work, while I was in another office and did not tell me. I only noticed this after I went to look up some information in the notepad only to find the page missing. Naturally, I refused to continue working for the company.

I recently came upon the post 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job by Steve Pavlina. The points made are very insightful; however, I have some resistance to them. Here are the major points (paraphrased) and my reactions to them: (more…)

There are many different levels of friendship. You can have a best friend, some very good friends, some ‘normal’ friends. Then there are the people that some keep around as acquaintances. These are people from work that you only talk to at work. You would not normally try to make plans with an acquaintance, nor would you give their feelings much consideration. The question that I pose is:

How can we distinguish friends from acquaintances?

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Today I have spewed forth an incredibly large volume of crap on this blog. I have spent the day wondering about the Great Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything. Thinking, just as the computer did in the book The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I have been introspective and have enjoyed my own company.

The question, as we found out in the book, was overly broad. Ok, let me admit that I have not yet had the pleasure of reading the book. I watched the BBC series on it, and unfortunately also watched the recent theatrical adaptation. There, of course, is no true answer when a question does not really ask anything at all.

Then, if I was not thinking about solving a valid question, what was I thinking about? I was thinking that it was stupid to feel so alone on certain occasions. To feel alone, I have to let myself feel that way. Today, even though I was alone for most of the day, I did not feel lonely. I wanted to be alone.

(more…)

Today I had a philosophical discussion with a different friend. He quite convincingly argued that there are a lot of cases in which one should not apologize. That it is important sometimes to be selfish and have your own interests at heart. That the human animal is inately both good and evil making a constant struggle to be a good person a waste of time.

(more…)

This whole prolonged family drama has had its positives and negatives. For me it has spurred me to go out into the world and forge new friendships, to experiment, and to have fun. It has also made me more jumpy and susceptible to strange bouts of low self-esteem and the feeling that I have to appologize for everything.

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My Grandfather is doing much better, and for that I am glad. He aparently still has cancer, but his quality of life has gone up markedly. There is one big problem that existed before and has really messed up the family. My Grandfather has effectively shown repeatedly that he could care less about his children. My Mom has not taken this all too well, nor have my uncle and my aunt on that side of the family.

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I wrote about my Grandpa and his fight againt Merkel Cell Carcinoma in this post. The battle appears to be a losing one. He is now back at home in hospice care. This means that his life expectancy may be less than two weeks.

In the last few weeks he has refused chemotherapy, and it seems as if he is waiting to die. I feel as if he has given up. There have been tensions in the family lately, of which he played a key part, but despite all that it will be sad to see him go. There is no question in my mind that he will die soon. The idea saddens me to no end, but such is life.

He is now very thin. He has a feeding tube and a pump that measures out the proper amount of nutrition. The bed in his house is surrounded by machinery. An oxygen machine in the corner allows him to breathe easily. He says that he is not suffering. I hope that he is telling the truth.

Everyone has a good and a bad side. He is no exception. I choose to try to think of and preserve the memory of his good side while de-emphasizing (but not blocking) his bad side. I learned an awful lot from him. The time value of money was one thing that he taught me at an early age. When I went to business school at the Univeristy of Florida I already had a firm grasp on the idea.

In the last few years we used to eat all the time at Scotty’s Landing. I will always have fond memories of those times. We would sit out by the water, watch the sailboats and parasailers, and talk about almost anything.

We were really close. The problem is that he is no longer here. My Grandpa is still alive, but he is on his last legs. He is hallucinating, and just today mentioned that he saw the ghost of a beautiful woman as he stared at the white ceiling. When he was in the hospital earlier he mentioned that he was hallucinating. I think I remember him saying that he saw my grandmother standing in front of him with a basket of corn. My memory may be off as this has been a traumatic event.

I plan on visiting him again tomorrow, despite all the pain that seeing him in this condition causes me. Anything to make him more comfortable as he nears the end of his life. He has lived 87 years. His mind was there till close to the end. He remained sharp, and quick enough on his feet. He even continued to study at the IRP at the University of Miami. I think that was one of the things that allowed him to last this long. He had a thirst for knowlege, and was always trying to learn something new.

Now he is reduced to staying in a bed. He can not even hold a phone up for himself. This is especially hard to see considering how independent he has always been. As I was holding up the phone to his ear so that he could talk to my uncle, he kept trying to hold it up. His hand would spasm and then drop, but he tried. I kept the phone to his ear as he did seem to want to talk. To see him trying to be independent to the end is heartbreaking, especially since he is way too weak.

I really hope that he is not suffering.

I recently came to the realization that there are two ways to deal with difficult situations. One of these ways is very weak; the other allows you to come out of any situation for the better.

Most people when faced with difficulty feel victimized. They feel that others have been causing them pain and suffering, and that it is these others who are hurtful and unjust. While it may very well be the case that others are being unjust, or hurtful, there are constructive ways to deal with any situation.

To become stronger when faced with difficulty is not a simple matter. It takes someone who is able to step away from their defensive feelings for a moment to examine the essence of the conflict, why it is causing so much suffering, and then determine whether the situation is one that is under their control.

If a situation is not under your control, then constantly fretting about it will do nothing to remedy it. In life, a significantly large proportion of situations are not under our control. We can only control our reactions and how we go about understanding others and ourselves. To see clearly we must put aside our instinctive defensive thoughts and lies.

In trying to see the truth of a situation, we are then able to be honest and direct with others and ourselves. The hallmark of a weak person is to constantly hide their true thoughts in order to try to play a game with the situation. These games rarely, if ever, work. The truth will always come out somehow; no matter how hard one tries to obfuscate it.

Our own defensive feelings are very skilled at masking the truth. I have known people who feel that the world is ganging up against them. The problem was not the world; it was the person. Sometimes it is helpful to examine the feasibility of the exact opposite of your thoughts. This way you have at least considered more than your initial gut reaction.

My life has been one largely free of major pain and suffering. Recently there have been family situations that have been extremely uncomfortable. I have chosen to use these situations to become a stronger, better person.

Looking beyond my feelings for a moment, I was able to see the truth of the situation. My thoughts turned away from why things turned out as they did. The situation already existed, and there was little point in analyzing why. I began to think about where to go from that point. The answer came to me easily, and I acted upon it. My answer is not one that ends the conflict, but one that allows me to feel as if I have done right for myself. The answer has made me stronger. The conflict continues outside of me, but I am now at peace with myself.