Facebook's Secret Benefit: Psychic Relief for Criminals

Tough guys don't dance, or eat quiche, but they do share their thoughts, hopes, and dreams on social media. If you're sulking around, feeling blue, in a bad mood, maybe you need to do what other gangstas are doing -- get on Facebook and start posting frequent updates.

Speak your mind, spill the beans, take a load off, vent and rant and let us know how you really feel -- and what you plan to do.

It's not your fault, the way you are. Society made you this way. We understand that. And we're here to help. So go right ahead and tell us what you're thinking right now. Who are you angry at? Who do you want to do something to? What specifically do you plan to do? Where, and at what exact time, will that happen?

It's not good to have no one to talk to, to wander around with bottled up rage and lust for revenge.

Telling others about it is very therapeutic. Facebook is a social network specifically designed to help you with these issues. Why do you think people get on Facebook and talk unreservedly about themselves, even uploading photos of themselves doing all sorts of things? Because it feels good, that's why.

Isn't it time you started feeling good? You deserve to benefit from the social media platform that everybody's using. They're feeling great as they unload their schemes, I mean plans, and now you can, too.

You'll feel so much better letting it all hang out on the Facebook psychiatrist couch. That's what it's here for -- for you to unburden yourself and set free the demons that plague your poor soul.

Don't keep it all pent up inside. Modern psychology has demonstrated that keeping all your secrets and plans locked up within is bad for your mental well-being. Scientific studies prove that talking is a cure. So talk, man, talk. Rest your weary head on the mighty shoulders of Facebook and let the community know what's running through your troubled mind.

I guarantee you'll love the results. And so will society. That's what we're here for. To listen to you. To sympathize with you. To seek to understand you and see things from your point of view. To admire your great skills and plans. Especially your plans.

Check out this article for more information.

Submitted by 98.253.234.41

How to Identify and Defeat an Internet Troll

Have you ever met an internet troll? A troll is a special class of sociopath.

These nasty individuals are the sadistic ne'er-do-wells of the digital realm, the misanthropic misfits of information age. Unlike a normal person, when a troll enters an online discussion, he is not seeking truth or clarification. He usually doesn't even know how to debate in an intelligent manner. All he wants to do is inflict pain, ridicule, and humiliation on a targeted person.

Encountering an internet troll can be a disturbing, even frightening, experience for someone who has not had to deal with one. It can be an unexpected event, a strange twist that takes the discussion to a whole other level. You are taken off guard and find yourself struggling to defend yourself, instead of exploring a topic.

You're posting comments on a blog, forum, or social media platform like Facebook or Twitter. There are probably other people expressing themselves, some agreeing with you and cheering you on, others disagreeing with you and trying to debunk your assertions. The conversation is heated, or passionate, but civilized. Strong opinions are stated and countered with other strident points of view.

Suddenly, someone, usually anonymous or using a nickname (pseudonym), starts attacking you. They may use filthy language, wild insults, and crazy misinterpretations. Often they will put words in your mouth, along the lines of "So what you're saying is...." or "Nutjobs like you are only interested in ...."

The main tool of the troll is accusation. It's a form of psychological torture, to break you down by turning your words against you, twisting your statements and pounding away at one aspect of your viewpoint. No matter what you declare, the troll will question you as a person. Understand this immediately: it's you as a person that they are attacking.

Personal attacks are often banned in forums, and not tolerated in blogs and social networks. Administrators tend to block and remove anyone who engages in trollish behavior.

The troll doesn't care. Trolls don't follow the rules or terms of service. They jump from one platform and one conversation thread to another, causing as much damage as possible. If they get kicked off a site, they'll try to return, using a different username or a different computer.
Trolls are easy to recognize by their mode of operation. They will never compliment you for a smart statement, or admit that your question is difficult to respond to, or tone down the rhetoric with a smiley emoticon.

Trolls accuse and insult. Trolls needle you relentlessly. They love to flame others. They enjoy causing grief, making another person feel bad. Trolls will quickly move from serious discussion about an issue to a sustained personal assault.

The goal of a troll is to disrupt an online discussion, picking on one person, or on everyone who expresses a particular point of view. Trolls will also invade a presentation on a live videoconferencing channel or an audio podcast where people can phone in and ask the presenter questions.

Recently I encountered my first audio troll on my internet radio broadcast on BlogTalkRadio. My topic just happened to be dealing with trolls. Someone called into my online studio and I connected him to my show. Immediately, instead of thanking me for taking his call, he started accusing me.

"You haven't mentioned the intelligent troll. Why is that?" he asked, all pompous, with a deep professorial voice. I replied, "There is no such thing as an intelligent troll, sir. That's a contradiction, an oxymoron, an impossibility."

I let him pester me for several minutes, mainly to demonstrate to my audience how the guy was a troll, how he behaved, and how to mess with a troll. I kept hammering away at how an intelligent person doesn't pick fights with people just for a sadistic thrill. He kept trying to advance the idea that intelligent trolls exist and should be respected for their high IQ. I set a trap for him. I asked, "Do you consider yourself an intelligent troll?" He replied, "I think there's a little troll in everyone."

I cut the troll off by saying, "Well if you have anything more to say about the alleged intelligent troll, go ahead and say it, otherwise, I'm going to return to the topic of my show." He started to mumble another accusation about how I refuse to acknowledge the "intelligent troll" and I hung up on him in mid-sentence.

This brings me to the issue of how to defeat a troll. Here are a few quick pointers on troll-smashing that you may want to copy and paste into a text editor, print out, and tape to your computer monitor for future reference.

(1) Ignore the troll. Just refuse to interact with him. Respond to others in an online discussion, but shun the troll and give no reply to any of his accusations or remarks.

(2) Post "don't feed the trolls" in the debate thread and leave the conversation. Let others deal with him if they want. Just identify the troublemaker as a troll and move on to other websites or activities. If a person is trolling you via email, just stop opening and reading their messages. If you can blacklist them to prevent them from sending you emails, do that. If it's on Facebook, block -- don't just unfriend, but block – the person and if necessary, report him as abusive.

(3) Keep hammering away at your viewpoint, harden yourself like steel, and never give in. If you want to disturb the troll for a short while, just to give him a taste of his own medicine, you can relentlessly restate your opinion, in complete oblivion to anything the troll says, like you're not even reading his remarks.

(4) Misinterpret his statements. This is a very effective technique for derailing a troll and making them upset. You may even provoke the troll to give up and leave the conversation thread. Twist what they say and make it seem like the troll is agreeing with you. "I agree. Thanks for seeing my viewpoint. We seem to be on the same page now. That's exactly right. Glad I was able to convert you to my opinion."

(5) Praise the troll in a facetious way that translates into not-so-subtle rebuke. "Oh my, you are so incredibly well informed. You are the smartest person in the whole universe and everyone should sit at your feet and soak up your wisdom. Nobody can argue with you, for you have all the answers." Then sign off and leave the discussion with "You sad and silly troll."

Remember that the only purpose of a troll is to antagonize and cause trouble. There is no point in trying to reason with a troll. Generally, they are not educated in debate or rhetorical skills. All they want to do is hurl slurs and incriminations. They want to make you angry, upset, confused, and exasperated. They want to take over the conversation and reframe it as an analysis of how bad or stupid you supposedly are.

Trolls may have been victimized by a mind control cult based on humiliating people to cause them to go into meltdown mode, so they can replace a personality with their cult's indoctrination. Other times you may suspect that a troll has been abused by a rogue psychiatrist who was keen on dismantling a person's inner self and then manipulating the defenseless victim.

No matter what their origin may be, trolls enjoy raining on parades, maliciously pouncing on innocent people, and acting like a verbal predator. Trolling can turn into cyberstalking and cyberbullying (intent to cause serious harm or even suicide).

Learn how to quickly recognize a troll and you've won half the battle.

Mess with them briefly to expose their true nature to others in the audience or the discussion, then kick them to the curb by leaving the conversation. If necessary, report the troll to an administrator.

Baseball: fathers playing with sons

The Cubs' home opener is hours away as this is written, a time of hope and memories of the National Pastime and of fathers and sons.

Opening Day means everything's fresh and new (if cold and dormant); everyone has an equal chance (depending on off-season acquisitions and injuries); and endless possibilities (at least through 162 games).

It also conjures pleasant recollections of cigar-smoked, beer-fueled, ice-packed treks to Wrigley with a few friends. Starting in 1987, it was an annual trip of long-underwear-and-parka patience, and with time and age it shifted to a cigar-smoked, beer-fueled afternoon in a much-warmer TV room. This year, we few survivors will share hope and libations at a local sports bar and re-live 1994's amazing 12-8 loss to the Mets when Cubs outfielder Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes hit three home runs off Doc Gooden and prompted an editor pal to repeatedly murmur, "Who the f*** is Tuffy Rhodes?"

Before that Opening Day, Rhodes had 5 homers in 280 at-bats; afterward he had 5 homers in 306 more at-bats and went on to a successful career playing pro ball in Japan.

That Opening Day also featured Harry Caray hoopla, Olympian Bonnie Blair and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton (whose presence sparked a creative misogynist who held up a sign blasting "Tonya Rodham Bobbitt" (managing to also reference skater-thug Tonya Harding and scissors-wielding wife Lorena Bobbitt in one poster).

My son accompanied us a couple of times, cementing a father-son connection we shared through many days at Wrigley, a couple of playoff appearances, and even one summer's trip to eight Major League Baseball games in seven cities over a week and a half escape to Baseball Nirvana. (He's a lawyer now in St. Louis, where he delights in dressing in Cubs regalia at the very nice Busch Stadium, but he's also home featured in a framed photo above my desk, catching a fly ball in Wrigley's right field in 1995 on one of those days the club lets fans run around the ballpark.)

In a couple of weeks my own dad, a lifelong Redbirds fan, turns 85 (or "eighty-damn-five," as he says), and concedes he's going to watch the Cubs this season because he can no longer stand Cardinals announcers. We'll certainly share some hopes and shocks recounting adventures with Anthony Rizzo and Carlos Marmol, and we still recall playing catch 50 years ago, when he taught me a decent knuckleball when my fastball just couldn't compete with two fireballers on my team.

Each Opening Day – and occasionally while playing senior softball and watching the Cubs or Chiefs all summer – baseball reassures and comforts and warms me.

I swear: I hear crowds that never really existed at high school or Pony League games; I smell sweat decades dry and glove oil long evaporated; I see impossibly green grass between rows of bridal wreath bushes and Dad smiling, squatting at the garage backstop beneath a big shade tree and showing me a target and waiting for the pitch.

Several writers have described baseball as fathers playing catch with sons (as opposed to football: brothers beating up each other). That's true, I believe.

Whether it's Opening Day or another Fall Classic without the Cubs, I can feel the ball return to the pocket in my glove and I swear I hear my son – or maybe me – saying, "Just one more throw, Pop. C'mon, Dad, one more."

Central Illinois Auto Show opens Friday

Ah, spring. The time when every man's fancy turns to love, baseball, golf and the Central Illinois Auto Show.

At least that's what Rod Dixon is hoping for. As president of the Peoria Metro New Cars Dealers Association, he would like to see 40,000-plus turn out for the 24th Annual Central Illinois Auto Show, which opens Friday at noon at the Peoria Civic Center.

"That is one of the great things about the timing of our show. Sure, we are all busy at our own dealerships when spring gets here, but the season also brings people to the auto show when they are just getting the spring buying fever. It gives them the opportunity to see what's new and available and gives us the chance to show off what we have," Dixon said.

Displays for the 29 auto manufacturers who will be present at this weekened's Central Illinois Auto Show started going up Wednesday at the Peoria Civic Center. Organizers said Toyota will have its largest presence yet at the local show, the largest auto show in downstate Illinois.While no selling or dealing is permitted at the auto show, dealers do get to meet people and network with potential new customers. "It's a good thing for everybody," he said.

Dixon said dealers are more optimistic this year than they've been in recent years about how much interest the auto show will churn. "We're very optimistic here," said Dixon, general manager of Bob Lindsay Honda. "Our numbers are back up to where they were pre-recession. A lot of people are buying because they put it off during the recession and now have no choice but to replace their vehicle but more people are buying because they just want to," he said.

They will be able to see a lot of options this weekend at the Civic Center, he added.

This year there will be 29 auto manufacturers represented at the show, with more than 300 vehicles displayed on every square foot of the Civic Center exhibit hall, theatre lobby and the foyer between them as more than 110,000 square feet will be used for the show, said Carl Bunker of R&B Productions, which is in its 23rd year of producing the show for the New Car Dealers Association.

"This is the largest auto show downstate of Chicago and one of the largest outside a major city in the Midwest. We're kind of a 'B' show, which is still very good because the show sizes are based on population. We do pretty well here. The tech people who come in an set up for the manufacturers all say we do a good job and that we're doing it efficiently. That's what we want to hear," Bunker said Wednesday as crews began uncrating and setting up the displays of the various manufacturers.

It takes more than 40 hours and four days to set up the show, starting with installing the electrical power according to a mapped out grid of the Exhibit Hall floor, then installing the carpet and the plastic over that, marked with the names of which displays go in which place. Then the displays themselves, delivered in 20 semi-truckloads, take a full day to install before the vehicles start moving in.

"It's quite an undertaking every year, but we've gotten pretty good at it. We still enjoy doing it," Bunker said. "We have great crews that come in, the Civic Center people are very efficient and we have a lot of great volunteers."

Show times are noon to 8 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Dixon said there again will be a lot of activities for families and kids to enjoy while at the show, which cost $5 to get in for those 16 and older. Those under 15 are free if accompanied by an adult and Friday is half-price for seniors 60 and older. Sunday is family day with two adults and children admitted for $8 all day.As usual, the high-end vehicles to be displayed at this weekend's Central Illinois Auto Show will be kept in the Civic Center Theatre lobby, behind the glass entrance shown here. The vehicles will be displayed by Autohaus of Peoria.

"We have a lot of great attractions this year that will appeal to anybody," Dixon said. "We want people to come down and see the cars, of course, but we also want them to come and have fun."

Attractions include:

• Appearances by pro football players Sherrick McManus of the Chicago Bears, a Richwoods High School graduate, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, and Andy Studebaker, a Eureka High School alumnus who most recently was a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. The St. Louis Rams cheerleaders will appear from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday.
• Megan Erwin, Miss Illinois, will be at the show from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and will speak about distracted driving.
• A CarCode Scavenger Hunt will take place all weekend. Attendees will get the chance to win various prizes by using their cell phones to scan a code, which enters them into the contest.
• Magician Rob Thompson will do shows each day as well as walk the floors of the exhibits.
• Marvel Comics superheroes Ironman and Spiderman will walk around for photo opportunities, as will Sponge Bob SquarePants and Nora. Jugglers, clown, stilt walkers and face painters will be on hand, as well.
• A NASCAR simulator, which gives people the chance to see what it's like in the cockpit of a NASCAR racer.
• The Red Cross will conduct a blood drive from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
• Special giveaways will include items from Batteries and Things.com, Red Carpet Car Wash, McDonalds, Reynolds Cinemas and a Buy-One-Get-One adult admission tickets available at CEFCU member locations.

But the real stars of the show will be the vehicles on display, Dixon said.

"The most popular ones are always the sports cars and the prototypes, as well as the high-end stuff. The auto show gives people the chance to sit in cars they otherwise will probably never own," he said.

Dixon said based on sales at dealerships he again expects people to gravitate to pick-up trucks, "which today are almost as luxurious as cars," and SUVs. Vans remain popular, as well, he said.

SUVs have remained popular for more than a decade "because customers want and need people-movers but don't want to drive around in a minivan and look like soccer moms," he said.

Again this year the Peoria Metro New Car Dealers Association will donate a portion of proceeds from the auto show to charity. Last year the association made donations to the South Side Mission, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Young Life.