The title seems ominous because it mentions that cults make an effort to change ones personality but in a sense we create artificial personalities all the time. We use one when we are shopping, another when we are dating and one when we are buying a car. They are all a different and useful form or “I/me”.

Cults may do this in the most dramatic way with an end result that even Jack’s family members agree “This isn’t the Jack I know.”

The methods that cults use can be used by anyone in any group setting and can be thought of as a “Management system” or a technique of motivation. Thus there is a benefit to applying this knowledge in other areas.

ISOLATION

An obvious way a cult does this is through isolation from other social networks. The extreme of a cult does not have to be applied. If this is applied to a work setting then the stated rule is “This is work. Leave the other parts of life at the door.” Likewise the person can go home and leave work at work. The result is a “work personality” and a “home personality”.

ENLIST THEM IN A CAUSE

Nothing is quite so motivating than to be involved in a glorious cause. To do this make the success of the group linked to the individuals success. Make the cause lofty and ideal and progressive always on the wave of the future.

DESCRIBE FOR THEM THE QUALITIES OF A “GOOD SOLDIER”

Once you’ve enlisted them in a cause you can now tell them how best to serve the cause. By describing the qualities of “good soldier” you create an ideal of behavior. On the one hand it’s important to point out qualities that they already have to affirm their part in the cause. But it’s also important to describe qualities that they will have to work to develop. These qualities can be actual behaviors or they can values that you wish to impose on them. Either way you are holding them to an ideal and letting them know that they play a vital role in the cause.

DRILL THE “GOOD SOLDIER” INTO EXISTENCE

A cult may do this process with intense drills and exercises that emphasize the qualities and values of a good soldier. They will create scenarios and situations where these qualities can be tested and followed up with feedback and correction when needed. You can do this in a management setting much the same way. The goal is to make them WANT to bring on this new personality and do it without prompting. This is done mostly by creating a high standard and through a subtle application of rewards and punishment.

CREATE A GROUP MYTH

Nothing will solidify the new personality than getting a group of “good soldiers” together and having them work with some great purpose in mind. By getting your employee, staff, cult member involved in a group and putting them into action as a group you help create an “esprit de corp” that unifies them and helps solidify the newly created personality. Thus, find tasks that your group can do together. It could be a project, a field trip or anything where they have to work together as a group.

Every one of these tactics can be used and applied in your business and social settings.

If your response to this is to recoil at the idea of using cult strategies then stop it. These strategies are used all the time in many different setting and situations. A good manager is a person who would make a good cult leader if they choose to do it.

The benefits of this strategy include highly motivated people who support the team and, when needed, can put work on hold to develop a personal life.

Many people in the world think acne is something that is really negative. Although acne does not really affect anything else but the physical look of a person, but to some this may affect them very negatively. There are many different ways to get rid of acne, one might try different acne treatment products. Because acne affects all age group, there are products made for many different age groups to help getting rid of acne.

Some acne treatment products include Zyporex and ClearPores. Usually these products should not give any side effects but in some cases they do give some side effects. Usually products like this usually get rid of your acne within a week and sometimes in a few days. Some of these products are very costly but sometimes they are very cheap, also sometimes they are even given out to you for free just so you can try it. Most of these products are simple to use and may also help you reduce any more acne appearing on your skin.

The second type of acne treatment is using natural remedies. This is getting more and more popular over the past few years and many are using it. This is because of two main reasons; it is cheaper and it does not give side effects. Some think that if they do not give side effects it will take longer for them to get rid of the acne. That is not true because natural acne treatment products, such as Green tea extract and Licorice Root Extract, still get rid of the acne before a week but most of the time within a few days. They give no side effect and these natural remedies have been used for sometimes thousands of years and most of these remedies are being used to cure other medical things.

The third popular way to get rid of acne is using home made acne treatments. This treatment is quite popular because one can use different remedies until they locate one they like and that functions best for them. So this way they can change around remedies a lot and usually these remedies are natural so it has the benefits of natural acne treatments.

Las Vegas Academy, one of the magnet schools of the Las Vegas Public School District, has prepared a series of student produced and student led theater performances.

The Five Plays

• You Want Freedom Fries With That?

“An original theater piece about being an American teenager in an increasingly small world, written and conceived by the Roncalli Drama Festival Ensemble, performed at the Roncalli Drama Festival in Poggibonsi, Siena, Italy, in the heart of Tuscany.”

• Mixed Babies

“Five teenage girls of color discuss life, love, relationships, and friendship in this compelling short play.”

• Coffee Con Carnage

“An original sketch conceived and performed by the students of the Mime and Improvisation Class.”

• Sorry, Wrong Number

“A classic one act thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.”

• The Intermission

“A playwright listens clandestinely to the reactions of the intermission crowd at the premiere of his new play: a surprisingly insightful look at how we perceive what others think about our art.”

History of the Las Vegas Academy

Established in 1992 by the Las Vegas Public School District and area universities, the Las Vegas Academy is committed to fostering student skills in the arts and communication. This magnet school includes students from all over Clark County at its campus in an historic urban shopping district.

Las Vegas Schools students pursue a major in one of the following fields: dance, vocal music, instrumental music, international studies, piano, theater, theater technology, and visual arts. The school operates longer than other schools in the area in order to pack in all the subjects that students need to study in this arts intensive program. Classes are organized on a block schedule, in which students take regular academic classes every other day and major classes every day.

This aggressive approach to education has earned the Las Vegas Academy many honors, both state and nationwide. Including awards from the White House, Senators Reid, Bryan, and Ensign, former Governor Miler and former Las Vegas mayor Jones, the Academy has also garnered attention from the International Network of Performing and Visual Arts schools and been labeled a STAR school. In addition to winning three Grammy Signature School awards, the Academy has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as both a New American High School and a U.S. Blue Ribbon School.

The Student Experience at Las Vegas Academy

Students of the Las Vegas Academy compete through a tough screening process just to attend, including an audition as well as maintaining a high grade point average in their regular academic subjects. While students at other area high schools attend class for 50 minutes a day, students at Las Vegas Academy go for 86 minutes. The school day also goes one hour longer overall. This hard work pays off with over sixty percent of graduates enrolling in four year universities. The series of short plays to be produced by the theater and theater technology departments will be just one of many ways in which Las Vegas Academy students present their hard work and dedication to the local community.

Metal detectors &ndash When people think of Metal Detectors, some people think of combing a beach in search of coins or buried treasure while other people think of security, or the handheld scanners at a concert or sporting event.

Metal detector technology is a huge part of our everyday lives, with a range of uses that span from recreational activities to work and to safety. The metal detectors in airports, office buildings and prisons for example help ensure that no one is bringing a weapon onto the property. Consumer oriented metal detectors provide entertainment to people and give chance in discovering hidden treasures.

There are many different kinds and styles of metal detectors - gold detectors, coin and jewel detectors, beach-hunting detectors, underwater metal detectors, handheld and walk through metal detectors. Buying a metal detector can be complicated. Before deciding on a metal detector, there are a few points you should carefully consider.

Where it will be used?

Who will use it?

How often will it be put to use?

How much do metal detectors cost? Metal detectors range greatly in price… anywhere from $75.00 to all the way into the thousands. It’s advisable to do your research thoroughly and find out which features you should be looking for when purchasing. Another option to consider would be purchasing a used metal detector. It is best to buy used metal detectors from a respected dealer as apposed to advertisements found in newspaper classifieds. Most dealers will not have the manufacturers warranty but will offer a money back guarantee or trade-in options.

By carefully examining your options you will be able to find a metal detector that is suitable for your needs without the need to dig deep unnecessarily.

Roots of the Disorder

Are the psychopath, sociopath, and someone with the Antisocial Personality Disorder one and the same? The DSM says “yes”. Scholars such as Robert Hare and Theodore Millon beg to differ. The psychopath has antisocial traits for sure but they are coupled with and enhanced by callousness, ruthlessness, extreme lack of empathy, deficient impulse control, deceitfulness, and sadism.

Like other personality disorders, psychopathy becomes evident in early adolescence and is considered to be chronic. But unlike most other personality disorders, it is frequently ameliorated with age and tends to disappear altogether in by the fourth or fifth decade of life. This is because criminal behavior and substance abuse are both determinants of the disorders and behaviors more typical of young adults.

Psychopathy may be hereditary. The psychopath’s immediate family usually suffer from a variety of personality disorders.

Cultural and Social Considerations

The Antisocial Personality Disorder is a controversial mental health diagnoses. The psychopath refuses to conform to social norms and obey the law. He often inflicts pain and damage on his victims. But does that make this pattern of conduct a mental illness? The psychopath has no conscience or empathy. But is this necessarily pathological? Culture-bound diagnoses are often abused as tools of social control. They allow the establishment, ruling elites, and groups with vested interests to label and restrain dissidents and troublemakers. Such diagnoses are frequently employed by totalitarian states to harness or even eliminate eccentrics, criminals, and deviants.

Characteristics and Traits

Like narcissists, psychopaths lack empathy and regard other people as mere instruments of gratification and utility or as objects to be manipulated. Psychopaths and narcissists have no problem to grasp ideas and to formulate choices, needs, preferences, courses of action, and priorities. But they are shocked when other people do the very same.

Most people accept that others have rights and obligations. The psychopath rejects this quid pro quo. As far as he is concerned, only might is right. People have no rights and he, the psychopath, has no obligations that derive from the “social contract”. The psychopath holds himself to be above conventional morality and the law. The psychopath cannot delay gratification. He wants everything and wants it now. His whims, urges, catering to his needs, and the satisfaction of his drives take precedence over the needs, preferences, and emotions of even his nearest and dearest.

Consequently, psychopaths feel no remorse when they hurt or defraud others. They don’t possess even the most rudimentary conscience. They rationalize their (often criminal) behavior and intellectualize it. Psychopaths fall prey to their own primitive defense mechanisms (such as narcissism, splitting, and projection). The psychopath firmly believes that the world is a hostile, merciless place, prone to the survival of the fittest and that people are either “all good” or “all evil”. The psychopath projects his own vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and shortcomings unto others and force them to behave the way he expects them to (this defense mechanism is known as “projective identification”). Like narcissists, psychopaths are abusively exploitative and incapable of true love or intimacy.

Narcissistic psychopath are particularly ill-suited to participate in the give and take of civilized society. Many of them are misfits or criminals. White collar psychopaths are likely to be deceitful and engage in rampant identity theft, the use of aliases, constant lying, fraud, and con-artistry for gain or pleasure.

Psychopaths are irresponsible and unreliable. They do not honor contracts, undertakings, and obligations. They are unstable and unpredictable and rarely hold a job for long, repay their debts, or maintain long-term intimate relationships.

Psychopaths are vindictive and hold grudges. They never regret or forget a thing. They are driven, and dangerous.

I wrote this in the Open Site Encyclopedia:

“Always in conflict with authority and frequently on the run, psychopaths possess a limited time horizon and seldom make medium or long term plans. They are impulsive and reckless, aggressive, violent, irritable, and, sometimes, the captives of magical thinking, believing themselves to be immune to the consequences of their own actions.

Thus, psychopaths often end up in jail, having repeatedly flouted social norms and codified laws. Partly to avoid this fate and evade the law and partly to extract material benefits from unsuspecting victims, psychopaths habitually lie, steal others’ identities, deceive, use aliases, and con for “personal profit or pleasure” as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual puts it.”

Artificial Intelligence as a research field was born in the summer of 1956 during a seminal workshop at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. It was just a year before that when Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, Claude Shannon and John McCarthy proposed that they should hold a workshop to put together a roadmap about how to make machines think and learn similarly to humans. The ultimate goal was to discover computational models in order to enable machines to do commonsense reasoning. Today, John McCarthy is rightly considered the father of AI. I should note that the term “Artificial Intelligence” appeared for the first time in the proposal put forth by the previously mentioned scientists. And so this new discipline that would eventually captivate everyone’s imagination was born.

Artificial Intelligence had its ups and downs in the last 50 years. Early success solving small problems in simulation ignited a flurry of predictions about super intelligent machines taking over the world before the coming of the 21st century. Hampered by a lack of a good understanding of how commonsense reasoning works in people and a lack of computational resources, computers being very slow up until the mid nineties, AI research stalled in the 80s. Many people rushed to dismiss it as nothing more than hot air.

However, science is all about proposing and testing new theories in order to find the best ones. Since the mid-90s, AI research has advanced by leaps and bounds. We now have a better understanding of how the human brain works and that has helped us to find and test better computational models for AI. These in turn have also helped us to better understand the functions of the human brain. New techniques such as statistical analysis are helping intelligent agents to copy with large amounts of information and noisy sensors. Faster computers with vast amounts of storage are allowing us to experiment in more challenging domains and solve larger problems.

It is true that AI has not yet been able to produce a machine capable of commonsense reasoning. However, by specialization, many AI systems are actually running our world today. AI helps us fly airplanes and drive our cars. It aids doctors perform surgery. It helps us find information in the vastness of the World Wide Web. It helps us discover spam email and promptly delete it. It helps us schedule traffic lights and public transportation. It helps us analyze financial markets and make predictions about the outcome of sports events. It aids in surveillance of public spaces improving security and safety. These are only a small sample of the penetration of intelligent systems in our daily lives. Artificial Intelligence is here to stay and I bet it won’t be long before we have the understanding, methods and resources to finally construct thinking and learning machines. Let us wish and hope that such technology would only be used to benefit mankind and not destroy it.

You can find lots of information about AI’ and its50th birthday on the Internet. However, I think that best reading about this topic is the 1955 proposal for the AI workshop. You can read it here.

Dallas Schools are dedicated to providing the best education possible, while keeping the children safe. Unfortunately, our world has changed in the past few years. It is no longer as safe as it once was to visit other countries, to fly from one city to another (especially the truly large and/or important cities, such as Washington D.C.), or to even go to school, especially in a large metropolitan city like Dallas. Terrorists living within the borders of the United States have become a real threat. In Iraq, terrorists think nothing of bombing schools, so why would they restrain themselves here in America. This disregard of human life creates a heightened sense of fear, especially for our children. Dallas schools are doing something about it.

Ever since September 11, 2001, and the increase in student shootings within some U.S. schools, Dallas schools, under the Dallas Independent School District (DISD), have been instituting measures and programs to ensure they remain security focused and safety aware.

While allowing children and school personnel to go about their daily lives in as normal fashion as possible, Dallas Schools are maintaining a heightened awareness of any suspicious activities in order to lessen the fears of the children while adding greater safety and protection for both the children and school personnel. They have enlisted the help of every school employee &ndash security officers, teachers, principals, administrators, custodial staff, and maintenance crews, as well as parents and students. Each has been asked to be vigilant of anyone who enters school property, including buildings and sporting events. They are asked to report any suspicious activity or concerns to the proper authorities or school personnel.

After 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security in Washington D.C. implemented our current system of security awareness. A yellow alert means the security threat is elevated, an orange alert means it is high, and a red alert (the highest) means it is severe. In the event of a red alert, Dallas schools will monitor recommendations from the federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. From these recommendations, they will take the appropriate actions to ensure the safety of the children. They will provide updated information concerning their intended and taken actions to parents and the community through the local television stations, radio stations, and at their web site.

Dallas schools currently provide counselors to assist children, who have any related fears or anxieties. Additionally, all of the Dallas schools have been asked by the DISD to carefully review their campus level emergency plans, as well as the school board’s emergency operations manual.

Dallas schools are putting the safety of your children at the top of their priority issues list. You can be assured that your child is able to focus on each school day of learning within a safe and secure educational environment.

In the quantum vacuum there are many transient acceleration vectors of mean magnitude a randomly oriented. If the vacuum is viewed from an accelerated frame, the vectors going with the frame appear diminished, and the vectors going against the frame appear enhanced, resulting in a net polarization of the vacuum. If the frame’s acceleration g is small, the effect is linear, and if the vacuum is filled with vectors the coefficient of the polarization will be unity. The standard exponential term for suppressing high-energy fluctuations must also be applied. Hence the vacuum polarization is g exp (g/a). The terms of the exponent when multiplied by the dipole moment have the dimensions of energy.

The rest frame of the galaxy, for example, is accelerated with respect to local inertial frames that fall into the center. In this rest frame the vacuum appears polarized and enhances the galaxy’s gravitational field g. So we have

g= -GM/r2 + g exp (g/a)

where g is understood to be negative. For g much greater than a, the exponential is negligible and Newton’s law results. But for g less than a, the exponential can be expanded to 1 + g/a and we get

g2 = aGM/r2

This is precisely the formula found empirically by Milgrom to explain the motion of stars and galaxies in the weak-field region, except the law of gravity is altered, not the law of motion (Scientific American, August 2002). He finds that a is about one Angstrom per second squared, which is near the “surface gravity” of an electron, the field of a one-kilogram mass at one meter, or the field of a galaxy in its outer parts. Also, the square of a is not far from the value of the cosmological constant, in units where c=1. In this model, a may be viewed as the saturated field strength of the quantum vacuum.

The observations can be adequately explained by assuming a plausible amount of ordinary matter M and using the correct quantum law of gravity. There is no need for dark matter.

As space accelerates away from us, the resulting apparent polarization would enhance the acceleration, and indeed might cause the acceleration, once the process has begun, due perhaps to some disturbance long ago. If space is collapsing in some remote region, the same process would enhance the collapse. So the cosmos may consist of interspersed regions of expansion and collapse. When expansion becomes extreme, a big bang would result as virtual particles are ripped out of the vacuum. A collapsing region would produce a big crunch, where matter is crushed back into the vacuum. The whole process is presumably infinite and eternal.

ABSTRACT

Bio-fuels are non-fossil fuels, produced from agriculture sources, residues, and waste. Bio-ethanol refers to ethanol produced from crops (e.g., corn-ethanol and sugar-ethanol) and from waste (i.e., biomass-ethanol). “The motivation for developing bio-ethanol as a transportation fuel is based on concerns about energy security, environmental quality, economic competitiveness, and stabilization of the agricultural sector.” (National Research Council [NRC], 1999, p. 6) Brazil’s three-decade experience in sugarcane-ethanol is considered a success by its government, although criticized by some researchers (Pimentel, 2001; Pimentel et al., 2002). Corn-ethanol production in North America is highly controversial; its cost, its energy balance, and its socio-economical effects are strongly debated between researchers. Biomass-ethanol, produced from farm and municipality waste is still in its early technological and industrial development. This quantitative research presents and analyzes the arguments, and concludes with recommendations for the short- and the long-term; recommendations that are best suited? for North America and that take into account all the aspects presented in this research paper.

Corn-ethanol is not expected, and will never replace the fossil-gasoline consumption in North America, but could only be an alternative for up-to-fifteen percents at most: “increased production of ethanol from corn is a low-risk, viable short term solution” (Herwick & Wheeler, 2005, p. 28). Biomass-ethanol, in contrast to corn-ethanol, could be “an effective strategy for displacing petroleum…. Ultimately, producing ethanol from biomass will be more cost effective and necessary to achieve significant volume…. In total, 66B [billion] to 107B gallon of ethanol could be produced annually from [all sources of] biomass: it would be sufficient to support E60 to E70 [i.e., 60 to 70 percent of liquid fuel consumption], [and] displace approximately half of the petroleum used” (Herwick & Wheeler, 2005, pp. 27-28). Nevertheless, the technology for economical production of biomass-ethanol is still in early development, and President George W. Bush’s pledge, in his January 29th, 2006, State of the Union Address “to fund the research on cutting-edge methods of producing [biomass] ethanol” (Energy Policy Act, 2005; U.S. Energy Bill, 2005) is key to achieving the goal of producing 7.5 billion gallons of bio-ethanol in 2015.

Addressing the problem of energy crisis in general, the 2005 symposium concludes that “the reality is that we can no longer just drill our way to global energy security. We must innovate our way to energy security&ndash we must find new technologies that uncover new fossil energy sources, that conserve energy, that protect the environment, and that provide multiple, sustainable sources of energy.” (National Academy of Engineering [NAE], 2006, p. 163)

TABLE OF CONTENT

ABSTRACT 1

BACKGROUND 2

Background 2

Bio-fuels 3

Anhydrous and Hydrous Ethanol 4

The Research Paper 5

CORN-ETHANOL 6

Economical Cost/ Benefit Analysis 6

Production cost. 6

Energy balance. 7

Consumer’s preferences. 11

Governments’ role. 13

Environmental Aspects 17

Greenhouse gas emissions. 17

Waterways contamination. 18

Soil contamination. 18

Groundwater contamination. 18

Negative impacts. 20

National Aspects 20

Social Aspects 21

Moral Aspects 23

BIOMASS-ETHANOL 25

Sources of Biomass for Ethanol 26

Agricultural Residues 26

Energy Crops 27

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) 27

Forestry and Mill Wastes 28

CONCLUSIONS 28

REFERENCES 31

CONCLUSIONS

Current corn-ethanol production methods use a significant amount of energy; by using alternative sources as energy inputs (other than petroleum) in the ethanol conversion, the net energy balance of corn-ethanol would be positive. When we include externalities, the ethanol energy balance would even outperform that of petroleum-based liquid fuel. Assessing all the factors, the corn-ethanol has overall positive economical cost/benefit value. The social aspects of corn-ethanol, as discussed in this paper, emphasize the possible risks, and their negative impacts on rural North America &ndash some of which are irreversible &ndash and local farmers should be educated about them, before they have jumped on the wagon and it is too late. The moral aspects of agriculture-for-fuel are a real concern, but as long as other products (e.g., tobacco) are grown freely in third-world countries, the argument cannot touch ordinary North Americans. The U.S. and Canadian federal governments, as well as state and provincial governments, should keep the current (relatively low) level of subsidies (i.e., 52 cents for a gallon of pure ethanol, in the US), along with fuel-tax removal &ndash this is more or less the cost of oil’s externalities. Providing low-interest long-term loans to farmers, for the construction of ethanol plants, will not cost much to the tax payers, but will enable those farmers who have excess yield of corn to receive more value for it.

However, corn growth in North America is limited, by means of land. From the total of about ten billion bushels of corn grown in the US, only 25 billion gallons of ethanol could be produced, out of 140 billion gasoline consumed annually; therefore, corn-ethanol will never replace the petroleum liquid fuel in the US (Herwick & Wheeler, 2005, p. 7); corn-ethanol can, at highest production, provide solutions to E10 (or to E15) blends in the US. The Canadian supply of corn (and corn-ethanol) will have a very limited impact on the North American market, and will not significantly change the conclusion above.

Biomass is a great source of renewable liquid fuel, and has the potential of replacing up to half of the petroleum fuel consumed in North America. The major obstacle for reaching that goal is technology related; we need to develop an efficient conversion process, one that is cost effective and consumes less energy, and at the same time produces food- and feed-byproducts. For achieving this goal, the U.S. federal government must invest heavily in research and development.

For the long term, the solution to transportation fuel crisis should focus on fuel efficiency and reduction of fuel consumption, along with diversification of fuel sources, as concludes a symposium by National Academy of Engineering: “the reality is that we can no longer just drill our way to global energy security. We must innovate our way to energy security&ndash we must find new technologies that uncover new fossil energy sources, that conserve energy, that protect the environment, and that provide multiple, sustainable sources of energy.” (NAE, 2006, p. 163)

FOOTNOTES

Ezra Bar, MBA, PhD Student, is a Business Process Reengineering Consultant, for Small, Mid-size, and Large organisations, and an Online Academic Mentor to Management and Engineering Students, operating globally from Toronto.

Find many other Academic and Business Articles and Papers at Ez-B-Process.Com/Resources.htm

Visit Ez-B-Process.Com/PhD.htm for Academic Mentoring.

Visit Ez-B-Process.Com/SME.htm for Reengineering and Small Business Consulting.

Confabulations are an important part of life. They serve to heal emotional wounds or to prevent ones from being inflicted in the first place. They prop-up the confabulator’s self-esteem, regulate his (or her) sense of self-worth, and buttress his (or her) self-image. They serve as organizing principles in social interactions.

Father’s wartime heroism, mother’s youthful good looks, one’s oft-recounted exploits, erstwhile alleged brilliance, and past purported sexual irresistibility - are typical examples of white, fuzzy, heart-warming lies wrapped around a shriveled kernel of truth.

But the distinction between reality and fantasy is rarely completely lost. Deep inside, the healthy confabulator knows where facts end and wishful thinking takes over. Father acknowledges he was no war hero, though he did his share of fighting. Mother understands she was no ravishing beauty, though she may have been attractive. The confabulator realizes that his recounted exploits are overblown, his brilliance exaggerated, and his sexual irresistibility a myth.

Such distinctions never rise to the surface because everyone - the confabulator and his audience alike - have a common interest to maintain the confabulation. To challenge the integrity of the confabulator or the veracity of his confabulations is to threaten the very fabric of family and society. Human intercourse is built around such entertaining deviations from the truth.

This is where the narcissist differs from others (from “normal” people).

His very self is a piece of fiction concocted to fend off hurt and to nurture the narcissist’s grandiosity. He fails in his “reality test” - the ability to distinguish the actual from the imagined. The narcissist fervently believes in his own infallibility, brilliance, omnipotence, heroism, and perfection. He doesn’t dare confront the truth and admit it even to himself.

Moreover, he imposes his personal mythology on his nearest and dearest. Spouse, children, colleagues, friends, neighbors - sometimes even perfect strangers - must abide by the narcissist’s narrative or face his wrath. The narcissist countenances no disagreement, alternative points of view, or criticism. To him, confabulation IS reality.

The coherence of the narcissist’s dysfunctional and precariously-balanced personality depends on the plausibility of his stories and on their acceptance by his Sources of Narcissistic Supply. The narcissist invests an inordinate time in substantiating his tales, collecting “evidence”, defending his version of events, and in re-interpreting reality to fit his scenario. As a result, most narcissists are self-delusional, obstinate, opinionated, and argumentative.

The narcissist’s lies are not goal-orientated. This is what makes his constant dishonesty both disconcerting and incomprehensible. The narcissist lies at the drop of a hat, needlessly, and almost ceaselessly. He lies in order to avoid the Grandiosity Gap - when the abyss between fact and (narcissistic) fiction becomes too gaping to ignore.

The narcissist lies in order to preserve appearances, uphold fantasies, support the tall (and impossible) tales of his False Self and extract Narcissistic Supply from unsuspecting sources, who are not yet on to him. To the narcissist, confabulation is not merely a way of life - but life itself.

We are all conditioned to let other indulge in pet delusions and get away with white, not too egregious, lies. The narcissist makes use of our socialization. We dare not confront or expose him, despite the outlandishness of his claims, the improbability of his stories, the implausibility of his alleged accomplishments and conquests. We simply turn the other cheek, or meekly avert our eyes, often embarrassed.

Moreover, the narcissist makes clear, from the very beginning, that it is his way or the highway. His aggression - even violent streak - are close to the surface. He may be charming in a first encounter - but even then there are telltale signs of pent-up abuse. His interlocutors sense this impending threat and avoid conflict by acquiescing with the narcissist’s fairy tales. Thus he imposes his private universe and virtual reality on his milieu - sometimes with disastrous consequences.