Mindconnection eNL, 2006-01-30

Past issues

In this issue:

1. Product highlight
2. Brainpower tip
3. Time tip
4. Finance tip

5. Security tip
6. Health tip/Fitness tip
7. Miscellany
8. Thought for the day

There are various mechanisms by which fatburners work, though most are just over-priced caffeine. If you want that kind of effect, then just drink coffee and tea. For a different effect, try this night-time fatburner

http://www.mindconnection.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=NTR-FAT-BURNERS

There are a few common causes for all three of these situations--but the cure is the same. The most common cause  is a sort of saturation or burnout in a particular part of your brain (the part you are using for the task at hand). The is analogous to what happens to your leg strength after you climb ten flights of stairs. It's why your attention wanders or your thinking feels muddled.

The cure is to take a break. Even if you are under a time crunch to finish. When you give that part of your brain a bit of rest, it can recharge (or cool down from overheating, depending on how you want to look at things) and once again allow you to tackle the problem at 100% capability.

That break doesn't necessarily mean a walk or a nap. It just means switching to a different activity--one that uses a different part of the brain. For example, if you are crunching numbers and things aren't going well, then switch over to editing that letter you had started. When you come back to the number crunching, you'll do it better.

Now, think about how you can apply this to maximize your brainpower all day long, rather than waiting until your IQ drops to the level of the typical federal bureaucrat. Well, OK, it's not going to drop that low without a lobotomy--so let's be more realistic and say "waiting until your IQ drops to the level of the typical rock."

That is, don't wait until there's a problem. Arrange your work such that your mind switches from one kind of work to another fairly often. I like to use slots of 30 or 60 minutes at a time. These also work quite well with my Outlook calendar. What happens when you run your brain at full tilt for 30 minutes at a time? That kind of intensity not only gives you more brainpower now--it increases your brainpower over time. The more you do this, the smarter you get.

I imagine if we made this a requirement for federal bureaucrats, even the average ones could become smart as a rock. Call me an optimist.

More restaurants are actually including food fit for humans on their menus, these days. In fact, such restaurants are becoming the rule rather than the exception. And you can request sauces and dressings be "on the side," which is a polite way of requesting that those things come in a separate dish so you can have the server remove them untouched later.

I developed some time-saving restaurant techniques while working for an engineering sweatshop about 15 years ago and trying to eat lunch within the tight time limits they allowed. Here are my tips:

• Go early. You are probably already aware of this one, but do you do it? I eat lunch at 11:30, so I never have to wait on the crowd. The other option is to go late. The "go late" option doesn't work for dinner, because so many people do go late. So, an early dinner is a time-saver but a late dinner usually is not.
   
• Make a precise reservation. You'll have to use the 12-hour clock when you make your reservation (I wish we'd all go to the far less confusing 24-hour clock). But don't make a reservation for 5:30. Make it for 5:27. Now, when you arrive at 5:25, you won't have to wait. Those schmucks who reserved at 5:30 will be waiting until 5:40 before they are seated.
   
• Chat only after everyone has ordered. When your server appears and tries to get you to buy "appetizers," alcohol, and other high-margin junk that destroys your health, you can say. "We'll skip all of that. We're ready to order now." If your server has to keep coming back to see if you are ready to order, you are going to have a late-running meal.
   
• Order simple. Simpler food is better food, and it's also less time-consuming to prepare. Many people think salads take a long time to make. Typically, these are served from a large pre-made batch. Ditto for soup. So, preparation time is minimal. This tip isn't a major one. But things like baked fish, for example, do take longer to prepare than something grilled.
   
• Ask for your check when your order arrives. The only reason not to do this is if you plan to order desert. But if you are ordering desert, you are already committed to spending time on dealing with the fallout of poor dietary decisions. Let's assume, instead, you care about your body. There is no reason to wait until you are done to pay. Let the server handle that whole payment thing while you are eating. Then, you can leave without having to sit around glancing at your watch while you are waiting on the check.
   
• Tip generously. This is especially important if you plan to go back there. You do get better, faster service if you tip well. Plus, it's the right thing to do. Don't forget about the American Taliban's ruthless policy toward restaurant help. These folks pay income tax on tips whether they make them or not.
   
• Tip in advance. If you plan to tip in cash, set your tip out before your food arrives. People have told me that's stupid--what if you are poorly served? Try this, and see if you ever get poorly served. It's not going to happen. Make the server happy before you get served, and guess what happens to your level of service? And the speed....

This finance tip item is for our USA audience, but you folks in New Zealand, UK, and other places are having similar scams run on you. The good news is you don't have to take it anymore!

What can you do about this egregious violation of the (now laughable) public trust? Well, voting  is not the answer--the results of an "election" depend on too many factors that have nothing to do with putting an honest candidate in office.

There are two things that get the attention of a U.S. Senator:

1. A hefty contribution. Fundraisers for Senators include such things as $10,000 a plate dinners. The average American can't do this.
2. Public outcry. Interestingly, a very vocal minority can give a U.S. Senator the impression they are speaking for everyone else. What do you need to say? How about, "Stop giving yourself a raise, when you so carelessly throw away the money I slave away for. And I don't like the sneaky ways in which you raise my taxes--which is a pay cut for me."

Keep in mind that these folks have yet to do the one thing that would most promote civil liberties and freedom from terrorism in the USA. Of course, that means abolishing the American Taliban. Not sure who that group is? They go by the initials Idiots, Retards, and Scalawags.

This is the same group that kidnapped a bunch of toddlers at gunpoint in a Michigan daycare center in one year, and stole 4300 computers from their own offices in another year. We taxpayers fund this behavior (and worse), while our Senators give themselves a $4100 and pretend they don't know what is going on.

Look at it this way. You are the customer. You pay more for "government" than for all of your other expenses combined. If you count up your taxes, you see that they amount to between 70% and 80% of your income. Don't you think that gives you some say on what you are getting for all that money?

Call and write to your Senator. It's your money. Insist that it be used with honesty and integrity, for a change. And it would be a big change, at that.

Identify your Senators:
http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html

Then, send a snail-mail letter to this generic address (just fill in your each of your Senator's name for each letter):

Senator (name)
Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Note that e-mails sent to Senators almost never get there. They want paper, so send that to them. One-page letters work best.

These folks need to hear from the people they are fleecing. Let them know that you work too hard to see your money just thrown away on such things as funding the American Taliban, and you are personally insulted that they give themselves a $4100 raise while showing complete apathy toward your huge tax burden.

Even if taxes were cut in half, they would still be your single largest expenditure. Think about that.

And do the math. How many 25 cent coupons would you need to clip (and use) to save 75% of your salary?

If you still don't grasp the significance of just how burdensome your taxes are, then try this. Multiply your annual salary by 0.75. Now, take a calculator and a camera with you, and go shopping in an electronics store until you have enough merchandise to equal that amount. Take a picture of it, then put it all back. Put the picture on your refrigerator to remind yourself of how much you could have if not for the forced extraction of the fruits of your hard labor.

But even this is an understatement. There are 128 taxes on a single loaf of bread. So the amount of merchandise you piled up is actually less than half of what you could buy if you paid zero taxes (I'm not advocating zero taxes--just illustrating a point). Assuming taxes are cut in half (which I am advocating) the experiment helps form a pretty decent picture.

It would be easy to cut taxes in half. The answer to a balanced budget isn't more taxes--it's less spending. And that means at federal, state, county, and city levels. You might also talk to your state rep about combining thinly populated counties as a cost-saving measure (eliminating duplication of services typically saves millions of dollars annually--maybe several thousand per household).

Corporations are constantly cutting costs. Yet, the cost of "government" keeps rising. We have more taxpayers than ever, but the burden on each individual keeps rising. That simply isn't right.

Relying on 911 when there's an intruder is just plain dumb.

So, what can you do? There are two aspects: Prevention and protection.

Prevention is a matter of reducing the factors that attract criminals (other than the gov't type, which are attracted to you simply because you have an SS number). There are many things you can do along these lines, such as a neighborhood watch, break-in resistant doors and windows, security lights, and so on. But none of these things will guarantee your home won't be broken into.

Protection is a very simple matter. But, many people don't understand the dynamics. So, let's illustrate the principles with this imaginary experiment.

Imagine, for a moment, someone offered you $90,000 cash if you could grab a grizzly bear cub from its sleeping mother. But another person offers you $5,000 if you grab a baby chicken from its sleeping mother.

Which offer will you take? What? You'll pass up that $90,000?

The bear is obviously going to kill you if you try to take its child. The chicken isn't capable of this.

Now, assume it's late at night and you awaken to the sound of someone in your home. You stagger out of bed and see this person is armed with a butcher knife and is headed toward your bedroom. Nope, wait--he's taking a detour. He's headed into your daughter's room. Memories of famous abductions flash through your mind, your pulse races--you have only seconds to act.

What are you going to do, call 911 and wait? No. You're going to grab your firearm, then use it and your firearms training to keep your kid alive.

This scenario (armed citizen protects home and/or loved ones) plays out all over America, all the time (search online for "the armed citizen" or subscribe to America's First Freedom magazine). Unfortunately, not all homes contain armed parents capable of protecting their children.

Do you want to be a grizzly or a chicken?

Think about it.

1. Please forward this eNL to others.
    

2. We have dropped prices on our translators and added new models. Check it out: http://www.mindconnection.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=0002LANGUAGE
    

3. Factoid #1: The REAL reason ostriches stick their head in the sand is to search for water.
    

4. Factoid #2: Nobody knows why taxpayers stick their heads in the sand. See this issue's finance tips.
    

5. See: http://www.mindconnection.com/main/specialoffers.htm. It has some great offers that are worth following up on.

If there's one thing you could change about yourself, what would it be? Go ahead, write it down. Now, what did you write? Was it a physical characteristic, like thicker hair or a smaller nose? Or was it something that would help you make the world a better place--even if only just a little? This exercise helps people get centered on what matters. You might try this at your next party or other get-together. It can be a real eye-opener.