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23 Signs You’re Secretly a Narcissist Masquerading as a Sensitive Introvert

source: Scientific American/  Scott Barry Kaufman | August 26, 2013

♦  I can become entirely absorbed in thinking about my personal affairs, my health, my cares or my relations to others.
♦  My feelings are easily hurt by ridicule or the slighting remarks of others.
♦  When I enter a room I often become self-conscious and feel that the eyes of others are upon me.
♦  I dislike sharing the credit of an achievement with others.
♦  I feel that I have enough on my hand without worrying about other people’s troubles.
♦  I feel that I am temperamentally different from most people.
♦  I often interpret the remarks of others in a personal way.
♦  I easily become wrapped up in my own interests and forget the existence of others.
♦  I dislike being with a group unless I know that I am appreciated by at least one of those present.
♦  I am secretly “put out” or annoyed when other people come to me with their troubles, asking me for their time and sympathy.
♦  I am jealous of good-looking people.
♦  I tend to feel humiliated when criticized.
♦  I wonder why other people aren’t more appreciative of my good qualities.
♦  I tend to see other people as being either great or terrible.♦
♦  I sometimes have fantasies about being violent without knowing why.
♦  I am especially sensitive to success and failure.
♦  I have problems that nobody else seems to understand.
♦  I try to avoid rejection at all costs.
♦  My secret thoughts, feelings, and actions would horrify some of my friends.
♦  I tend to become involved in relationships in which I alternately adore and despise the other person.
♦  Even when I am in a group of friends, I often feel very alone and uneasy.
♦  I resent others who have what I lack.
♦  Defeat or disappointment usually shame or anger me, but I try not to

Some personal objections:
- These 23 items are completely independent of whether one is extroverted or introverted.
- You can be an introvert and a narcissist. You can be an extrovert and be a narcissist too.
- These signs apply, more or less, to all human beings

But it is a smart list

THe Presidents of the USA

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The Presidents of the USA

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300- Greek Castles

A video from the site Greek Castles:

Syria is not Iraq

From the article "Syria is not Iraq" from the "Opinion Pages" of the NYT

Main points:

IN the search for an American response to the civil war in Syria, the favorite guidebook seems to be our ill-fated adventure in Iraq. We have another brutal Middle East autocrat holding power on behalf of a sectarian minority. We have another dubious cast of opposition factions competing for foreign patronage. We hear some of the same hawks — John McCain, Paul Wolfowitz — exhorting us to intervene, countered by familiar warnings of “quagmire.” We even have murky intelligence claims that the regime has used weapons of mass destruction. 

 ....

Of course, there are important lessons to be drawn from our sad experience in Iraq: Be clear about America’s national interest. Be skeptical of the intelligence. Be careful whom you trust. Consider the limits of military power. Never go into a crisis, especially one in the Middle East, expecting a cakewalk. 

 ....

The United States has supplied humanitarian aid and diplomatic pressure. But our reluctance to arm the rebels or defend the civilians being slaughtered in their homes has convinced the Assad regime (and the world) that we are not serious. Our fear that arms supplied to the rebels would fall into the hands of jihadis has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, because instead of dealing directly with the rebels we left the arming to fundamentalist monarchies, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and they are predictably using lethal aid to appease the more radical Islamists. 

.....

What you hear from the Obama team is that we know way too little about the internal dynamics of Syria, so we can’t predict how an intervention will play out, except that there is no happy ending; that while the deaths of 70,000 Syrians are tragic, that’s what happens in a civil war; that no one in the opposition can be trusted; and, most important, that we have no vital national interest there. 

....

Good points, I think. But then the article continues -and ends- with some lame arguments in favor of the American intervention in Syria.

I think the Anericans are ready to complicate their foreign policy again without good reason.
Or they just want to spend some money.


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/06/opinion/keller-syria-is-not-iraq.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130506&_r=0

Persistence

A quote by Calvin Coolidge:

 "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
 Talent will not; nothing is more common that unsuccessful individuals with talent.
 Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
 Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
 Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

It is often attributed also to Ray Croc, CEO of McDonald's,
but it is from Coolidge.

USA Presidents

A great site for a fast look in US Presidents and American History:

www.presidenstory.com

If you are interested in the Medieval History and especially in the Byzantine History, this is a good  site:

Byzantine Chronicle  (http://www.byzantium.xronikon.com) The emphasis is on the Byzantine Emperors which are presented in a unique way. A lot of info also about the Byzantine Battles. Again, in a very good presentation. A strong element of the site,  the various maps shown with every emperor and every battle. Don't miss it.

Greek Castles

A new site for all Castles, Fortresses and Towers in Greece. Mostly Byzantine and medieval and some newer.
Excellent presentation!
www.kastra.eu