Thanks, everyone. I'm predicting that the money-grubbing will be spectacular.

My sympathies, shrift. I am glad she is no longer in pain. I do hope that problematic people will take subtle hints and stronger hints if those don't work.

I desperately wanted to lean over and say, "a) I think you'll find that your math is deeply flawed, and b) gross."

His math is ewww and, yes, additional ewww.

I'm sorry, shrift. Relatives~ma to you and your mom.

I bet there are perfectly decent people who are that stupid or clueless that they'll fall for a Ponzi scheme, or whatever.

What's confusing me is what it's called when the elderly, for example, are involved. It's not a con to get them to give you their Social Security number for whatever bullshit reasons you come up with? That's not them wanting something illegal or shady, that's them falling for it.

I think the difference between "con" and "swindle" or similar term is probably semantics at this point.

I think the difference between "con" and "swindle" or similar term is probably semantics at this point.

Yeah, that's probably the big confusing factor.

(And I'm lauging because the ads for White Collar recently have all been Peter and Neal arguing the definition of con.)

Ugh, Sophia. I hate when being polite gets in the way of escaping actual ickiness like that.

Has anyone dealt with an asthmatic cat? We're looking into getting an inhaler/flovent for Kripkat and are looking for an Rx place online, plus just some general advice if appropriate.

New White Collar tonight! Mmmm.

So sorry, shrift. And best of luck with the herding.

Reading up on the "confidence tricks" listings in Wikipedia where they break down a lot of the cons they go into the Spanish Prisoner, which lives on as the Advance Fee Scam or Nigerian spam scam. But they note:

Key features of the Spanish Prisoner trick are the emphasis on secrecy and the trust the confidence trickster supposedly reposes in the mark not to reveal the prisoner's identity or situation. The confidence trickster will typically claim to have chosen the mark carefully, based on his reputation for honesty and straight dealing, and may appear to structure the deal so that the confidence trickster's ultimate share of the reward will be distributed voluntarily by the mark.

And going back to confidence tricks in general...

A greedy or dishonest mark may attempt to out-cheat the con artist, only to discover that he or she has been manipulated into losing from the very beginning. This is such a general principle in confidence tricks that there is a saying among con men that "you can't cheat an honest man."[3]

So I think part of the trick, or the use of the word "confidence" actually relates to trust, or taking somebody into your confidence. The notion being that you set up a situation where you're seemingly vulnerable and dependent on the mark, and when the mark tries to exploit that to their advantage then you are able to take their money.

In that instance, you can't con an honest man. Because he won't try to exploit your vulnerable situation.

Uhg, bon. I'd guess you'd want some sort of tent cause the idea of putting a mask on a cat would be kinda problematic. Repurpose a cat cube or something?