Mindconnection eNL, 2008-12-21

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In this issue:
Product Highlight | Brainpower | Finances | Security | Health/Fitness | Miscellany | Thought for the Day

It includes quizzes and inspection checklists. This self-paced course requires no textbook or instructor.

Each year, about 15 million Americans buy a used car.

If you are planning to be one of those people any time soon, this course will help you. In fact, it may save you hundreds of dollars and a major headache.

This course will help you, whether you are buying from a used car dealer or a private party.

The areas you need to understand include:

• What models to consider.
• How to find accurate information (safety, repair frequency, mileage) on the car you want.
• How do deal with dealers.
• What you need to know about mechanical inspections.
• Financing options.
• ...and more, which this course covers.

I guess the theory is if you wash your brain constantly, you'll never have to worry about anything of value getting stuck in there. This is presumably why people park in front of their televisions, a habit I abhor and also opt out of.

1. Consumer spending is down, and that's hurting the economy.
2. Savings are too low, and that's hurting the economy.

If we are both spending too little and saving too little, where did this money go?

Taxes.

As money does not grow on trees, every dime (mis)spent by CONgress is a dime that is taxed. One way or another. There is no getting around this.

The cure for the economy doesn't lie in another $27,000 per capita lump sum tax (aka, "AIG bailout") or some other "gasoline thrown on a fire" spending measure.

It lies in the opposite direction: slashing the absurdly high levels of federal spending. The more you spend when you are in a hole, the deeper the hole gets.

Of course, any third grader can tell you that the more you "take away" from a number, the less you have. Maybe we need third graders to run this country, as the current crop of idiots can't do the job and the incoming crop of idiots is already showing their mathematical ignorance.

Make this basic math known to your misrepresentative in CONgress, and maybe they will rise to the level of competence we could expect if a third grader were the office holder.

In our last eNL, we talked about signs your identity theft measures have been breached or compromised. In this issue, we'll look at what to do when you believe you are a victim of identity theft.

As reported in the previous issue, there is nothing you can do if an IRS employee decides to start getting credit cards in your name or sells your information to a third party for that purpose. The number of documented cases (and we are talking about cases documented by the federal government's own investigative agency) of such employees committing felonious actions and not even being arrested is mind-boggling. The only truly preventive measure is the passage of the Fair Tax, which would eliminate this security hole by eliminating the IRS.

If other thieves steal your information, then you have recourse. Your first action is to halt further intrusion. You do that by:

• Contacting one of the credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion) and explain what happened. They will usually recommend putting a fraud alert on your credit reports. Such an alert provides you with all sorts of protection, including automatic notification of the other two agencies.
   
• Contacting the card issuer, if the "sign of fraud" is an unauthorized charge on a particular credit card. Cancel the card, and get a new one issued.
   
• Contacting your bank, if there are any other signs of fraud. It's a pain, but you will have to cancel your checking acct and order new checks. If you have structured things correctly, you have multiple checking or savings accts structured in a security arrangement--ask your banker (not a teller) about how to do this.
   
• Contacting your local police, regardless of the type of fraud. It may seem like an annoyance and a useless one at that. But it isn't. There is now a national fraud database, and the local cops submit reports to it. Very clever criminals who do everything right get caught this way. So help stop these creeps by reporting them. You do not have to contact the FBI, as some "experts" advise. In fact, don't do that--it just sucks down their time. The FBI uses that same national database.
   

Before you report any of this stuff, organize your notes and thoughts so you can present the facts in a logical and complete manner. Rambling on about things, making guesses, complaining about the situation, or repeating yourself puts you on the side of the criminal when it comes to solving this crime because those behaviors impede the work of investigators.

If you've never reported a crime, call your local police and tell them you need to report a fraud incident but don't know what details to provide and need some guidance so you can properly prepare what the officer needs. They may just tell you, or they may point to a Website. Let them know you will call back to actually report the crime, and will do so within 24 hours but first you need to organize things so you don't waste everyone's time. You will have one very happy cop on the other end of the line.

Keep a running record of things. I like to do this in Outlook. Note the basics that every reporter does: who, what, when, and where. Start every entry like a diary entry, so it begins with the date and time. Don't use the funky 12-hour clock, because it causes confusion. Also, use the standard international date format. So, it's something like this:

12MAR2008; 0900. Called Mytown PD and spoke with Sergeant Smith (always refer to police by title and last name). Sgt Smith advised me to.... [whatever the rest of the entry is].

12MAR2008; 1100. Finished doing the things Sgt. Smith of Mytown PD advised me to do.

12MAR2008; 1500. Sent an e-mail to Sgt. Smith of Mytown PD with documents pertaining to my case.

13MAR2008; 1600. Met with Officers Jones and Martinez, to officially file a report. Provided them with photocopies of additional information I had not submitted to Sgt. Smith.

Suppose that Sgt. Smith contacts you three months later to follow up on your case. Sgt. Smith has a summary on file, but not your complete records and the Anytown, USA police want to see those. Sgt. Smith is reasonably sure that the police in Anytown USA will be able to use your information to get a warrant issued for the arrest of a suspect. So you send Sgt. Smith your notes. Because these are in the standard date and time format, Sgt Smith can forward them on instead of spending spare minutes over the next week correcting things before doing so.

So, I sent away for HMB. The results were great (there I am, off to the right--at age 48).

As the ad promised, my recovery times were shorter. I was also able to get more muscle gains from my workouts, because HMB helps create the environment for that to happen.

What is this stuff? HMB is the branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) metabolite ß-hydroxy ß-methylbutyrate monohydrate. It's also my favorite supplement, because it flat out works. If you want faster muscle recovery and more muscle growth, then you want to be taking HMB.

The FDA won't allow us to come out and say this stuff actually does what we know it does, because it's a "supplement" and all supplement promotions can only say something "may" do this or that. But try it for yourself, and you'll see the FDA isn't doing you any favors in regard to HMB. Do you know that, before coming to the market for bodybuilders, HMB was used to help burn victims recover? Yep. It's got a great track record.

What HMB does. HMB has been shown to support the body's ability to minimize protein (i.e., muscle) breakdown and damage to muscle cells, which can occur after intense resistance exercise. By reducing muscle tissue breakdown, HMB may tip the scales of protein turnover in favor of new muscle growth.

EAS was the first company to bring HMB to the market. Since then, HMB has been written up in numerous health and fitness magazines. It's been featured on dozens of TV news programs as an exciting, breakthrough supplement that might (FDA parlance, again!) allow people to get better results faster from the time they spend exercising.

Usage. The recommended use is to take 4 capsules 3 times per day with meals. Do not exceed recommended servings--taking more HMB won't provide more benefits (but it will cost you more money). Consult with a pharmacologist prior to use if you have any medical conditions. Do not use if pregnant or lactating.

Value vs. cost. HMB ranks near the top of all supplements for benefit. If you want to improve performance, take HMB.

1. Every day the human stomach produces about 2 liters of hydrochloric acid. Every day, CONgress finds more ways to waste your money and give you heartburn.
    

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