Halloween Documents

Follow this link to the Halloween Documents. I am not too good at anti-MicroSoft rhetoric, so I'll leave it to those who are.
http://www.catb.org/~esr/halloween/

All in all, it's a good read even if you don't care about the monopolization of software. It's got a good conspiracy theory ring to it, rather than simply the corporate buffoonery it is.

Mind Control by Parasites

Bill Christensen
www.technovelogy.com
Sat Feb 11, 8:00 AM ET

Half of the world's human population is infected with Toxoplasma, parasites in the body—and the brain. Remember that.

Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite found in the guts of cats; it sheds eggs that are picked up by rats and other animals that are eaten by cats. Toxoplasma forms cysts in the bodies of the intermediate rat hosts, including in the brain.

Since cats don't want to eat dead, decaying prey, Toxoplasma takes the evolutionarily sound course of being a "good" parasite, leaving the rats perfectly healthy. Or are they?

Oxford scientists discovered that the minds of the infected rats have been subtly altered. In a series of experiments, they demonstrated that healthy rats will prudently avoid areas that have been doused with cat urine. In fact, when scientists test anti-anxiety drugs on rats, they use a whiff of cat urine to induce neurochemical panic.

However, it turns out that Toxoplasma-ridden rats show no such reaction. In fact, some of the infected rats actually seek out the cat urine-marked areas again and again. The parasite alters the mind (and thus the behavior) of the rat for its own benefit.

If the parasite can alter rat behavior, does it have any effect on humans?

Dr. E. Fuller Torrey (Associate Director for Laboratory Research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute) noticed links between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia in human beings, approximately three billion of whom are infected with T. gondii:

* Toxoplasma infection is associated with damage to astrocytes, glial cells which surround and support neurons. Schizophrenia is also associated with damage to astrocytes.
* Pregnant women with high levels of antibodies to Toxoplasma are more likely to give birth to children who will develop schizophrenia.
* Human cells raised in petri dishes, and infected with Toxoplasma, will respond to drugs like haloperidol; the growth of the parasite stops. Haloperidol is an antipsychotic, used to treat schizophrenia.

Dr. Torrey got together with the Oxford scientists, to see if anything could be done about those parasite-controlled rats that were driven to hang around cat urine-soaked corners (waiting for cats). According to a recent press release, haloperidol restores the rat's healthy fear of cat urine. In fact, antipsychotic drugs were as effective as pyrimethamine, a drug that specifically eliminates Toxoplasma.

Are parasites like Toxoplasma subtly altering human behavior? As it turns out, science fiction writers have been thinking about whether or not parasites could alter a human being's behavior, or even take control of a person. In his 1951 novel The Puppet Masters, Robert Heinlein wrote about alien parasites the size of dinner plates that took control of the minds of their hosts, flooding their brains with neurochemicals. In this excerpt, a volunteer strapped to a chair allows a parasite to be introduced; the parasite rides him, taking over his mind. Under these conditions, it is possible to interview the parasite; however, it refuses to answer until zapped with a cattle prod.

He reached past my shoulders with a rod. I felt a shocking, unbearable pain. The room blacked out as if a switch had been thrown.. I was split apart by it; for the moment I was masterless.

The pain left, leaving only its searing memory behind. Before I could speak, or even think coherently for myself, the splitting away had ended and I was again safe in the arms of my master...

The panic that possessed me washed away; I was again filled with an unworried sense of well being...

"What are you?" "We are the people... We have studied you and we know your ways... We come," I went on, "to bring you peace.. and contentment-and the joy of-of surrender." I hesitated again; "surrender" was not the right word. I struggled with it the way one struggles with a poorly grasped foreign language. "The joy," I repeated, "-the joy of . . .nirvana." That was it; the word fitted. I felt like a dog being patted for fetching a stick; I wriggled with pleasure.

Still not sure that parasites can manipulate the behavior of host organisms? Consider these other cases:

* The lancet fluke Dicrocoelium dendriticum forces its ant host to attach to the tips of grass blades, the easier to be eaten. The fluke needs to get into the gut of a grazing animal to complete its life cycle.
* The fluke Euhaplorchis californiensis causes fish to shimmy and jump so wading birds will grab them and eat them, for the same reason.
* Hairworms, which live inside grasshoppers, sabotage the grasshopper's central nervous system, forcing them to jump into pools of water, drowning themselves. Hairworms then swim away from their hapless hosts to continue their life cycle.

Not all science-fictional parasites are harmful; read about the Crosswell tapeworm from Brian Aldiss' 1969 story Super-Toys Last All Summer Long (the basis for the Kubrick/Spielberg film AI), which keeps people who overeat from becoming obese. Not to mention robots based on parasites.

Business Basics

Idiot bosses exist only to stomp the life out of their intellectually superior and more innovative subordinates.

This keeps many good workers up at night. Some can't figure out why their ideas are rejected and their work is denigrated. Others sink into cynicism about their careers. A few devote all their energy to plotting revenge against the dummy in the corner office.

Instead, use a little jujitsu: Turn your boss's cluelessness to your advantage. Call it idiot engineering.

"A clueless boss gives you a wide-open field," says John Hoover, author of How to Work for an Idiot: Survive & Thrive--Without Killing Your Boss. "Learn what's important to your boss, understand what your company is looking for and help the fool meet those expectations."

Tips on how to deal with seven types of idiot bosses
Some workers, fed up by the knuckle-dragging incompetence of the idiot boss, spend a good part of the day making the twit look bad. The shrewd employee works around the idiot boss by becoming a boost to the ninny's career--not an impediment.

"You want to diminish the power of the boss's cluelessness to harm you," says Hoover, a corporate psychologist who holds a Ph.D. in organizational behavior. "You do that by becoming an enhancement to the boss."

Start by paying attention to what interests the bumbler and listen carefully when the schmo grunts. This will provide vital information in planning your winning assault on idiocy.

If your boss has a hockey stick in the corner, uses a puck for a paperweight and has the jersey of his favorite player mounted on the wall, you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out that he's a hockey nut.

Rather than laying out your proposal in detailed and complex language peppered with chatter about the "leading edge" and "getting the lion's share of resources," try this:

"Wasn't it Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky who said you shouldn't skate to where the puck is but to where the puck will be?"

A true idiot will miss the metaphor. Relax, you're talking hockey, and your favorite jackass will listen. If you make your presentation in hockey-speak, chances are the boss will love your idea--even if he doesn't understand it--and will give you the go-ahead.

That's your opening, and, as a non-idiot, the rest is up to you.

Some may see efforts to handle an idiot boss as butt kissing, but anyone who thinks that probably believes the road to advancement starts by making the boss look stupid.

"Idiot engineering isn't butt kissing," Hoover says. "The whole idea is to make working conditions more conducive to your career growth."

Remember: The key to overcoming an idiot boss includes blending your ideas with the nincompoop's language and agenda. If the schmuck adopts your ideas as his own, you've hopped the first hurdle to success.

"Even though idiot bosses are inevitable, they don't have to be terminal," Hoover says.

But no matter how successful your idiot engineering efforts are, remember who's the boss.

"The person with the institutional authority is always the 800-pound gorilla," says Hoover. "People who go to work thinking they'll out-wrestle the big monkey will lose every time."

A clueless boss isn't necessarily unconscious, and most know they're in over their heads. This creates great insecurity. As a result, the idiot boss spends most of his day defending his turf against all threats rather than advancing the interests of the company. The idiot boss's imperative is clear: prevent others from seeing his near-terminal cluelessness.

The turbo-charged jerk in pinstripes is more than happy to slaughter a sacrificial lamb on the altar of his own incompetence. You can avoid being that innocent lamb by making yourself indispensable to the big goof.

The rare non-idiot boss does a genius thing: talk to employees, ask about their job and how it can be done better. Jack Welch, former head of General Electric (nyse: GE - news - people ), nailed it. Clearly, someone knows which end is up at top-notch companies such as Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ), Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ), Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ), Apple Computer (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ), Southwest Airlines (nyse: LUV - news - people ) and JetBlue Airways (nasdaq: JBLU - news - people ).

"I'm a recovering idiot boss," Hoover says. "If I stop talking to my people, I'm dangling precariously. I've got to engage them and learn from their skills. If I do that, I've taken my personality out of the equation, and that creates consistency."

However, if your boss is dumber than a fence post and beyond redemption, it may be time to find another job. Hoover says an inability to get along with the boss is cited as the top reason for changing jobs. Then comes job dissatisfaction, followed by inadequate pay.

"In a free market, we can vote with our feet," Hoover says. "Leaving may have consequences--pay and location, for example--so do a cost/benefit analysis before giving notice."

The battle against idiocy is a long, twilight struggle. As you gird for battle, take a hard look at yourself.

"Beware your inner idiot," Hoover says. "Success and stupidity don't mix. Your boss's stupidity is only half the problem. Your own stupidity can easily complete the disaster."