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Past issues
Mindconnection
eNL, 2001-07-28
In this issue:
- The economy: what it is, why it is,
what to do
- Featured course
- Problems with certain product
searches on Mindconnection: update
- Polo shirt contest: update
- Nail the IRS
- Health factoids
- Thought for the day
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1. The economy: what
it is, why it is, what to do
Obviously, addressing
this topic in depth would require a book. Here, I am presenting some key points, only.
What it is: Stock
market depression, rampant layoffs, bad news in the financial and business journals--while
at the same time, consumer confidence is high as evidenced by high consumer spending. It's
not hopeless, but it is serious. It's also been going on for a very long time. We are
simply the Titanic now seeing the tip of the iceberg. Will we change course in time?
We've been on an
upward spiral of increased taxation, increased wealth transfers, decreased infrastructure
investment, and increased regulation since the huge Bush 1 tax increase. These factors
suck capital out of the economy, making business more expensive to conduct. At the same
time, CEOs have been raping and pillaging American companies with compensation packages
often reaching $1 billion a year--while (according to business experts) not understanding
what is going on in their companies.
All of this is bad enough, but because these things
are happening in an increasingly globalized economy, the U.S. national economy must
obviously decline. Companies have papered things over as long as they can, and now they
are taking their medicine. That's why we're seeing bad financial reports and then a domino
effect that hurts infrastructure players like Lucent Technologies. This is not a Bush2
thing--we had record layoffs for nearly all of Clinton's final term in office. Bush has
walked into a huge mess.
What to do: Get your
finances in order. Pay down debt--paying off the most expensive debt first. Invest in
making your home more fuel-efficient, and practice conservation habits (turn unused lights
off, adjust the thermostat, combine car trips). Mostly, though, invest in yourself. You
can choose between watching television and reading a book that makes you a more
knowledgeable person.
You can choose between listening to some drugged-out, depressed
rocker sing on the radio, or you can play a recorded book and learn something that will
help you on your job. Make the right choices. Network: go through your "Rolodex"
and identify folks who are good to know. Start calling them, just to stay in touch. Invite
the best ones to lunch, or to a cultural event with you.
Get involved in a trade
organization--doing so is very easy, and a resume-builder. Take care of friends and
family, as these are the people who will be your strength if you lose your job or have
lost it and are now looking. Take stock of your stuff: Give away junk you don't need. This
is cathartic, and it helps you build a sense of order in your mind.
2. Featured course:
Time Management
I give a presentation
called, "How to do 72 hours of work in 8 hours," and it's based this course. I
developed this course after noticing I did as much in a week as a coworker of mine did in
a year. That is no exaggeration. If you understand the difference between work and
activity, you are a rare person. This course is not expensive, but the knowledge in it is
invaluable. If you don't like the course after you take it, you can get a full refund.
Here is the URL: https://www.mindconnection.com/category/500TIME.html
3. Problems with
certain product searches on Mindconnection: update
The products in
question are ones we use third-party software to query Amazon and display for you. The
software developers have been trying to fix the problem, but now we can see the issue is
some kind of shennanigans at Amazon itself. So, we're watching to see when they get their
act together. If you know any ex-Amazon employees, you know it's a company with some
internal problems. However, they still do a lot of things right, including timely delivery
of what you order. So, stick with us on this one!
4. Polo shirt
contest: update
Promo City, our normal
supplier of these shirts, informed us Friday they will no longer supply them. Arrgh! So, I
contacted another supplier and they said they would like to do business with us but need
to see if they can do those particular shirts--they should know Monday. We have other
options, if that falls through. In the meantime, I have some of the shirts already on
hand. These were reserved for other situations, but I'll go ahead and mail them out so at
least some of the winners have their goodies!
You are automatically
enrolled in this contest simply by being a subscriber. To up your chances, visit https://www.mindconnection.com/contests/poloshirt.htm
or (URL deleted).
Just so you know, one person who sent in over two dozen referrals after the mid-year
deadline got a shirt just for doing that. We matched her to the lowest # of the other
folks who won by referral and put her balance into the end-of-year contest--which is
running now. We name extra winners because we appreciate good PR when we get it!
5. Nail the IRS
This is not a tax
issue. Most problems with the IRS are not tax issues--in most cases, they are issues of
incompetence and abuse. So is this:
You may be aware of
the $100 million dollar Hoyt Fiasco, in which the IRS took an active role in helping Jay
Hoyt financially devastate thousand of folks who thought they were investing for their
retirements. Jay Hoyt is now serving the rest of his life in prison on 63 counts of fraud,
but the IRs says the investors weren't defrauded. The U.S. Postal inspector and the SEC
say otherwise--as does a Circuit Court Judge. Read the fascinating story at https://www.mindconnection.com/hoyt. Fill out
the petition so you don't let the IRS start a dangerous precedent of doing whatever they
want. The IRS actions are despicable enough that attorneys are quitting their jobs with
the IRS rather than participate in this; that should tell you something.
Here's a thought about
the IRS: The purpose of the IRS is to let mentally deranged people make harassing phone
calls and send threatening letters, because this is cheaper than building sanitariums for
them and hiring a staff to look after them. They are allowed a few dozen casualties each
year, and we consider that normal.
Click here: http://www.msnbc.com/news/580498.asp:
"The Fleecing of America" (edited 08JUL2005: link no longer
active)
Read this: Judge sentences Hoyt, then
rebukes IRS for their behavior.
Read the ultimate
Hoyt Fiasco article, quoting an IRS attorney who quit in disgust: http://augustachronicle.com/stories/071501/bus_124-5219.shtml
--send a copy to your Senator and your Congressman.
6. Health factoids
There is no
correlation between the amount of cholesterol you eat and your blood level of cholesterol.
This is because stomach acid destroys cholesterol. So, eating eggs does not raise your
cholesterol. Two factors that can raise your cholesterol are eating to much saturated fat
and eating too little unsaturated fat.
Eggs have a balance of the two. I used to eat a
dozen eggs a day, and my cholesterol was 128. Too little exercise raises cholesterol
(because your body doesn't generate enough testosterone), and too much exercise raises
cholesterol (because your body releases cortisol when you
overtrain). For more info, see https://www.mindconnection.com/leanbody.htm
Early evidence
suggested fluoridation in the water caused a decrease in dental cavities. This was
probably true before the advent of fluoridated toothpaste. Many experts are now saying not
only is fluoridation of water unnecessary and costly, but it has undesirable health
consequences. Tip: filter your water. If you can't filter it, let it stand uncovered for
about an hour. The first minute water is in a glass, it loses a significant portion of
dissolved chemicals (chlorine, fluoride). Fluoride in your toothpaste is OK, because it's
topically applied. Ingesting the stuff is the problem. Let's hope we don't see sunscreen
in our water anytime soon.
Plain bagels are
among the most fattening of foods you can eat! They are less so, if you eat them with the
customary cream cheese (though it's better to add a nut butter--peanut, walnut, pecan,
etc.). Why is this so? As with most flour products, the grain particle size in bagels is
extremely small. Think of a fire with kindling vs. logs. The kindling burns hot and
fast--too hot and too fast to be of any use other than lighting the logs.
When you eat a
fine grain, you essentially bypass an entire series of digestive steps and the sugar from
the grain hits your bloodstream like a freight train. This causes your pancreas to go into
panic mode, and it over-secretes insulin in an attempt to bring the sugar levels back
down. Many other undesirable things happen in this process, but the one dieters are most
concerned about is the way this process suppresses some hormones and increases others such
that your body loses muscle and gains fat when you eat this way.
Check your bread
labels. If you see "high fructose corn syrup" or "partially-hydrogenated
oil" on the package, don't eat it. You can ask an endocrinologist about the syrup and
you can ask a cardiologist or cancer specialist about the hydrogenated oil. Never eat food
that has either of these ingredients.
Your doctor has less
nutritional education than your pharmacist. In fact, doctors have just a single course on
nutrition--none of it preventive. However, doctors often dispense nutritional advice. Not
surprisingly, they are wrong more often than they are right, and their patients get sicker
as a result. Some doctors do have solid nutritional knowledge, but they are by far the
exception.
If your doctor starts dispensing nutritional advice, ask, "Where did you
learn that?" Don't accept the advice until you can verify it, because it's probably
wrong. This is especially true if you ask about food and drug interactions--your doctor
probably doesn't know. A few years ago, many people died from eating grapefruit while
taking a certain allergy medicine (since pulled from the market), because their doctors
had no clue. Yet, the information was in Bottom Line Personal Magazine and
well-circulated among pharmacists.
The Center for
Disease Control (CDC) attributes 1,000 deaths per year to firearms accidents. Several
sources say those numbers are inflated, but let's assume they are true. With 60 million
gun owners, that's about 0.0000167 deaths per gun owner (that's right, four zeroes). Those
1,000 deaths are offset by the number of violent crimes thwarted by gun owners (depending
on the source, the estimate runs from a few thousands to 1.3 million). Draw your own
conclusions.
The Journal of the
American Medical Association reports that doctors accidentally kill 120,000 patients per
year. You can bet the AMA's information isn't completely unbiased. The actual number is
probably far higher. Again, draw your own conclusions.
7. Thought for the
Day
It's not the size of your vehicle
or how many things you own that bring respect from other people. It's how well you respect
other people. Often, you can show this respect simply by listening to what they have to
say.
Wishing you the best,
Mark Lamendola
Mindconnection.com
Authorship
The views expressed in this e-newsletter are generally not shared by criminals, zombies, or brainwashed individuals.
Except where noted, this e-newsletter is entirely the work of Mark Lamendola. Anything presented as fact can be independently verified. Often, sources are given; but where not given, they are readily available to anyone who makes the effort.
Mark provides information from either research or his own areas of established expertise. Sometimes, what appears to be a personal opinion is the only possibility when applying sound logic--reason it out before judging! (That said, some personal opinions do appear on occasion).
The purpose of this publication is to inform and empower its readers (and save you money!).
Personal note from Mark: I value each and every one of you, and I hope that shows in the diligent effort I put into writing this e-newsletter. Thank you for being a faithful reader.
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