Mindconnection eNL, 2008-09-21

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The Infoscan TS Elite text scanning pen allows you to scan, store, hear, and transfer text anytime, anywhere. Scan and transfer images, too. Scans and recognizes (but does not translate) English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. View stored information on the integrated LCD display and easily transfer data to PC, PDA, or Smartphone via USB or Infra-red. Earphone included. Primary use: Quickly scanning text for transfer to PC (directly into any Windows application).

Sale runs through September, 2008 only.

This sale ends 9 days from now.

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. She said, "I think I'll braid my hair today." So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. She said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today." So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. She said, "Today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail." So she did and she had a fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head. "Yay!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!"

Perception is a powerful thing, but it's what you choose it to be.

You can choose to perceive a negative that may not even exist, or you can look at each situation for what it offers. Most of us will say, "Oh, yeah, I always look at the bright side." But is that really true? One quick test is to look in your closets and other places to see how much unnecessary stuff you have. The number one reason people buy things is to fill a perceived need.

Unfortunately, perception isn't always reality. What happens is people either overextend themselves to get their perceived needs and their actual needs met, or they run out of funding for things that would be most beneficial to own.

For example, Todd has repeatedly succumbed to advertising for various products due to a false emotional need generated by the advertising (along the lines of "you're not good/cool/smart unless you have Product X). Todd has a sales job and would really like a GPS unit--it would save him time and reduce his stress as he calls on various accounts. But when he goes to buy one, he just doesn't have the money. He spent it all on products that weren't particularly useful to him, overcoming his advertising-induced angst

What you need to do instead of allowing emotions to change your perception is to step back and analyze the situation you're in. Whether that situation is overcoming an impulse buy (so you later have the means to make a smart purchase) or wasting your vote on the Demopublican Presidential "candidates" due to a misperception that you have to vote for one of the two inevitable winners in the pseudo-election this fall, analysis trumps knee-jerk response every time.

As a human, you have an amazing amount of brainpower at your disposal. But you have to choose to use it. The more you use it, the more powerful it becomes. Don't let your perceptions stop you from doing that. More importantly, don't let the perceptions of others stop you from doing that.

But that's no reason you can't reduce the costs in the areas you do control. And food spending is one of those areas. Here is where you can seriously save some money versus the typical approach to buying food.

Your first line of defense is to buy groceries rather than eat out. This will cut the typical food bill by at least 75%. Plus it provides a nice reduction in health care costs to those who shop wisely.

Most of what people put in their shopping carts is far too expensive. Some entire categories of food are far too expensive.

For example, do you even bother to go into the snack aisle? This is the aisle stacked high with bags of hydrogenated oil and other toxins mixed with highly refined grains. Probably nothing in that aisle is safe for human consumption. But let's suspend the laws of chemistry and biology for a moment and assume you can somehow eat this crap without damaging your health. Look at the price per pound. Now, compare that to the price per pound of fresh fruit, or even raisins and dates. If you want a snack, you have far more choices than the sludge in that snack aisle.

Another example is the soft drink category. Why anyone would purposefully ingest "osteoporosis in a can" is something I just can't understand. If you value your bones, don't buy this toxic brew. But again, let's suspend the laws of chemistry and biology for a moment and assume you can somehow drink this crap without damaging your health or you just have a fondness for walking around doubled over in your old age. Compare the price per gallon to that of gasoline. Hmm.

I'm not recommending you drink gasoline instead of "bone remover," of course. Both are unsafe. I'm just comparing the price. Water is much, much cheaper per gallon (look at your water bill) and is highly recommended for human consumption.

What's interesting is that if you look at all of the processed foods (nutrient-depleted, toxin-enhanced), you will find those items cost much more than the safe and nutritious items they are intended to replace.

If you buy basic foods, you avoid these high costs at the cash register. You can use a fraction of the money you save to invest in a few books on food preparation, so that you get flavor and convenience. By replacing manufactured "food" with real food, you do not give up taste. You merely get a different kind of taste and far more flavors. Nor do you give up convenience, as there is nothing convenient about lying in a hospital bed after a bowel resection made necessary by your years of ingesting hydrogenated oil.

When it comes to buying food, the phrase "low hanging fruit" takes on a literal connotation. And it can save you quite a bit of money.

For example, many people subscribe to magazines. But they subscribe in their own name, which is a huge security violation. Most magazine publishers could not survive without "list rental," which means they sell their subscriber database information to other companies for limited use. Allegedly, the buyer will send out a mailing one time and then not use the information again. But not everyone is honest.

Rather than subscribe in your own name, make one up. Something like "B&R Advisors" or "KJM Services" sounds innocuous. Don't use your own initials. If a miscreant runs your name through a national database of magazine subscribers, that person will come up empty when looking for you.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "The cat is already out of the bag. I subscribe to several magazines in my own name already." Fine. Just start this practice with the next subscription. Your name will be less and less available via list rentals, until it disappears altogether.

Use a different fake name for each magazine, and keep a text file or spreadsheet showing which one fits which magazine subscription. If someone calls your home and asks to speak to someone at B&R Advisors, you know where that person got your name and you know to cancel your subscription to that privacy-risking magazine.

That's just magazines. Be thinking about other ways in which you give out your name and address together, and make an effort to break the connection between the two. The more you do this, the harder it will be for some whacko to find you or to use that information in an ID Theft scam against you.

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1. The most overdue book in the world was borrowed from Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge, England and was returned 288 years later. In the USA, we are long overdue for a CONgress that behaves responsibly.
    

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