Mindconnection eNL, 2004-04-19

In this issue:

4. Finance tip
5. Security tips
6. Health tip/Fitness tip
7. Thought for the day

And sitting in a meeting is often not much different from being put on the rack--at least, it feels that way. This does not have to be! You can have successful meetings that people actually look forward to.

For most people, the phrase "mindless meetings" is redundant. Yet, in some organizations, meetings are productive. Those meetings build energy, increase enthusiasm, move projects forward, and motivate attendees to higher levels of performance.

In this course, you will learn how to have this second kind of meeting. To get these kinds of results, you don’t need to do magic tricks, tell jokes, or "wow" people. We’ll show you what you need to do and how to do it.

https://www.mindconnection.com/product/CRS-EFFMTGS.html

Typical problems:

• Can't find car keys.
• Can't remember why you came into a particular room.
• Can't remember a phone number.
• Forgot what your boss told you five minutes ago.
• Forgot why your spouse sent you to the store.
• A thought is "just on the tip of my tongue" but you can't recall what it was.

We typically try to solve these kinds of problems by trying even harder to remember. That's the wrong response. Have you ever noticed "it just comes to you" quite a bit later? The memory is stored in one area of the brain, and your conscious mind is in another. When you force your conscious mind to search its brain area, it can't access the memory storage area.

So, the solution here is to reduce the demand on the conscious mind so it can use its processing power to access the memory banks. You can avail yourself of all kinds of tricks to do this. These tricks range from simple relaxation to consciously thinking of something other than the problem at hand. 

One technique that works really well is using the sense of smell to remember. For example, spray your car keys with a particular scent (be careful not to get this on the part that goes into the lock). When you can't find your keys, go inhale that scent. This will activate the memory area associated with your keys, and you will remember where you left them. Sound hoaky? Ask why a mother with a dead child smells her child's clothing, even years later. This evokes memories of the child.

There is very good science behind this. The brain is actually two brains--if you were to dissect it, you would see two distinctly different structures--one layered over the other--with two distinctly different fold patterns. The outer layer is the modern brain, and the inner layer is the reptilian brain.

This reptilian brain operates on smell. It's fascinating to read about this stuff. Many new books have come out on this subject. Here's one: Mind Wide Open : Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life 

Note:

• In CONgressmen, this structure is traced directly back to the brain of the Spendasaurus Rex.
• Some folks are half-witted, so the two-brain explanation is irrelevant.
• Some folks have to bend over to access their brains. We call these people politicians.

I am not endorsing any political party over another, here. I am talking facts, not party allegiance or propaganda. There are major faults in both major political parties, so I am not proposing one is better than the other. I am proposing you do not vote along party lines.

Note here, I am removing propaganda and euphemisms by referring to a "tax increase" by what it actually is. It is a wage cut, nothing more and nothing less.

Proponents of the wage cuts say wage cuts are necessary to balance the budget--we hear this myth during every federal election. While this might sound right in theory, it is wrong in reality. Again, I remind the dear reader to place facts before propaganda and/or wishful thinking.

Looking back in American history, every time a wage cut has been passed, CONgress has subsequently increased spending. There have been no exceptions to this since the founding of this nation--one that got started over a wage cut revolt. Why on earth would anyone believe "this time it will be different?" The insinuation politicians make when they say a wage cut is needed to pay off the budget deficit is that we are all either very stupid or very masochistic. They are like abusive spouses who say, "I won't ever hit you again, honey" despite the fact that we get two black eyes every time we turn around.

OK, so we get a wage cut passed to "balance the budget." What happens next? The budget goes out of balance, and then yet another wage cut is "needed" to balance it.

The logic CONgress (and the folks who keep electing these thieves) uses is akin to this. You wastefully spend money you don't have on things you don't need, and run up a huge credit card debt. You then tell your employer it's "necessary" to cut company profits and divert the earnings of all of your coworkers so you can balance your budget. How is this ethical? It's not.

Unions will invariably back the Wage Cut Party. It is completely illogical for union members to follow the advice of their leaders, but they do this in response to the heavy brainwashing and diet of lies they are continually fed. Union leaders put their personal agendas ahead of the best interests of their union members--by helping propagate a problem to solve, they justify their own jobs and high wages. But, union folks aren't the only ones who are duped into basically writing a "rob me blind" request by the way they vote. We see it most pronounced among Hollywood celebrities.

The effects of the wage cuts differ for different people.

Let's do some math.

• Members of CONgress make $160,000 per year at the time of this writing, in a country where the average wage is $30,000 a year.
  
• You can calculate the the minimum required for living expenses from IRS tables. Where I live, it's about $25,000 per year.
  
• A 10% wage cut uses up half your disposable income if you are an average wage earner here.
  
• If you are a CONgressman, a 10% wage cut uses up less than 12% of your disposable income.
  
• Thus, a CONgressman--who is left with 88% of his/her money vs. your being left with half of yours--feels an entirely different level of pain from a wage cut than you do.

But, this math assumes a CONgressman needs that full $25,000 per year--that is too high of a figure, because your CONgressman does not pay as many taxes as you do (e.g., no SS tax, etc.) and has certain things provided by the government that you do not. So, the real figure is closer to 8% loss for the CONgressman vs. 50% loss for the average American. This is why wage cuts are so easy for CONgress to foist onto the rest of us. The difference is like that of getting bit by a mosquito (CONgress) vs. that of getting bit by a great white shark (the rest of us).

Now, run your own math for what happens when a rabidly pro Wage Cut Party person like Julia Roberts gets a 10% tax increase on an $8 million annual income. You're now looking at a fraction of a percent vs. 50%. Do you actually pay to go to a movie she is in? If so, you are supporting someone who is doing you great harm.

Before you go to the polls:

1. Find out who your CONgressman and senators are (links provided below).
2. Go to the a watchdog Website, such as that run by the National Taxpayers Union (http://www.ntu.org) and find out how your alleged representative treats you in regard to wage cuts.
3. Vote that sucker out of office, if this person has his/her hand in your pocket.

Remember what happens with the money taken from you via a government-mandate wage cut. It is mostly used for "re-elect me" favors, not for goods and services that benefit those whose wages are cut. Please note, these folks are not all necessarily members of the Wage Cut Party. For example, Bob Dole (Republican Party candidate for President in 1996) had a tax and spend record that was horrendous.

Some members of the Wage Cut Party are actually voting in favor of workers, rather than against them. So, while the official party line is X, various legislators will occasionally vote Y. Find out who votes what way:

• Identify your Congressional rep: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
• Identify your Senators: http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html
  
  Senator (name)
  Senate Office Building
  United States Senate
  Washington, D.C. 20510

If we don't prevail upon them to stop stealing our money, nobody will. Yes, some taxation is right and necessary. But today's confiscatory rates and the fact that this money is basically flushed down the toilet--c'mon, let's wake up here!

For people who really don't like their wages, I suggest contacting your employer and asking for a wage reduction from your employer. That will be far more beneficial than having your government do it. One reason is your employer can use the savings to stay more competitive, thus saving jobs.

 If you are self-employed and vote for wage cuts (not likely), then cut your prices drastically. This way, you can have your income reduction without forcing such pain onto everyone else.

What is going on today is people are stealing actual credit cards or the information on them. Then, they place orders over the Internet, over the telephone, and in person to various merchants using that information.

One way these folks obtain this information is they call you pretending to represent some charity. And they may even use the name of a real charity. They thank you for your past support, figuring you won't remember if you supported them or not and will assume you have and thus know these people. Then, they'll ask you for a small donation. Hey, it's a small donation for a worthy cause. They then ask you which credit card you want to use. So, you give them your credit card information.

To your utter amazement, you start seeing unusual charges on your credit card.

Some folks have found a $10 charge to a gas station--normally, no big deal, but they don't use this particular station. These kinds of charges are designed to stay under the radar. Other folks have found $15 a month p*rnsite memberships on their cards--small charge, and to an innocuous-sounding company name.

Other folks get their bill and see thousands of dollars charged. After changing into clean underwear, they gain the presence of mind to call the credit card company.

Credit card companies love this kind of thing. They charge the merchant (e.g., Mindconnection) 4% or so for the initial charge, a $15 fee to contest the charge, and 4% to reverse the charge, plus $1 in gateway fees. So, for $5,000 worth of stolen credit card charges, the merchant will pay $416 plus lose any merchandise shipped. This kind of incentive is why my company has a tight policy on credit cards and will choose to lose a sale rather than take a chance on a fraud. It's also why credit card companies do zilch about this problem.

Did you know the FBI does not even investigate these kinds of crimes? It's true. Check out their Website for their "we don't go there" statement. Amazing.

So, you need to do the following:

• NEVER give out your credit card information to someone who calls you.
  
• Avoid giving out your credit card information over the phone. Phone signals are extremely easy to monitor.
  
• Look for the "https" in the URL when making an online purchase (this will be in the credit card area or shopping cart area, only). Look for the padlock symbol or similar in your browser. This means the browser is encrypted. The standard is 64-bit encryption. The US Navy tried to break a 64-bit encryption using a Cray computer. It ran for 6 months on that same problem and failed to crack it. Mindconnection uses 128-bit encryption.

Joint Protection

When man makes a part for a car, that part is fixed in structure and dimension. Damage it, and the damage stays. Don't use the part, and--unless it rusts--it stays in perfect condition (which is why these parts are often coated in grease when stored).

Human joints are made of living tissue. This means they are, to a large extent, regenerative. They are also adaptive. Fail to exercise a joint, and it weakens. It will then fail prematurely.

This is an extremely effective, all natural, proprietary blend of herbs, enzymes and vitamins that helps you repair and maintain healthy, pain-free joints, tendons and cartilage. Exercise puts tremendous stress on your joints and the ingredients in Nitro Flex™ are very effective for combating & rejuvenating joint deterioration and helping you naturally control inflammation.

Discontinued.