Mindconnection eNL, 2012-05-06

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Here's an advancement that brings hope to survivors of breast cancer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwpb&NR=1&v=xt55cTQEoHk

Today, you just can't be too careful. This is a professional level unit. Why would you need it?

Wireless transmitters vary in signal strength. Some are designed to transmit as far as three miles away while others can be received only within the distance of one room away. Micro spy cams are designed to output at low signal strengths to make them very difficult to detect.

To find micro spy cams, the detector has to be extra sensitive (and you have to be nearly on top of the device). But if the detector is too sensitive, it'll give false alarms and waste quite a bit of your time. This professional-level detector solves that problem.

Good for you, bad for the sneaks who are spying on you.

https://www.mindconnection.com/product/SECURITY-MG-CAMERADETECTOR-CDHUNTER.html

In many cases, the other person actually believes the disinformation. So sincerity isn't a good test. Here are some things to look for:

• Repurposed words. When a writer or speaker adds a new definition to a common word, you are being had. Sometimes this is done to convey new insight (even if there is none). Sometimes, this is done to perpetuate fraud. The most famous case of the latter was FDR's brand-spanking new definition of "welfare" so he could avoid the 10th Amendment. This is akin to redefining "STOP" as "Accelerate" when reading a stop sign.
   
• Big words used when small ones will do. People who have a weak case often try to gussy it up by choosing words that cloud what they're trying to say. This is what's called "gilding the lily." A related approach is stating something in long, obtuse text rather than stating it plainly--an example being legalese.
   
• Imprecise wording. Normally, simpler is better. But not at the cost of accuracy. Precise wording doesn't necessarily require words that aren't simple, but sometimes it does.
   
• It's hard to follow or understand. Engineering is supposed to be hard to understand. Public policy should be the opposite. If you think about the "why" in each case, you may get several "aha" moments out of that exercise.
   

These are only four of many possible signs that the information is flawed. And they are only signs. Any sign by itself doesn't mean the information is wrong. It does, however, alert you that there may be a problem.

Sometimes, the information is correct but the person conveying it is, shall we say, "challenged." Many people can't articulate a point very well, and others can't explain why they believe what they believe. If you apply the 5 Whys test to most viewpoints, they fail at about the second Why. One solution is to ask the person to provide you with a source. Another solution is to engage the person. Accept the statement as a hypothesis and engage in a reasoned debate over its veracity.

Another solution is to run the statement against standard tests of logic. Many common beliefs fail right here.

You can also run a quick analysis of "How does that work?" For example, consider Obamanomics. According to this theory, which I have a hard time believing Obama himself believes, the government can "stimulate" the economy by diverting massive amounts of capital from productive use (and away from businesses that badly need it) into what essentially amounts to raking leaves back and forth. This theory relies on three assumptions:

1. Simply circulating money creates wealth. In fact, it does not. Any circulating system produces frictional losses. Simply circulating money consumes wealth.
2. The government has money it can spend. If so, then why do we pay taxes? In fact, the government can only take money from one use and apply it to another. The Soviets called this "central planning" and if you believe this is beneficial then read up on how it worked for them. It does not and cannot ever end any way but badly.
3. If you spend money in one place, you aren't taking it from another. That is, you can use the same money to simultaneously buy multiple things. You don't have to make choices! Great. Walk into a Chevy dealer and hand the salesperson the same $1 bill 53,000 times and see if they accept that as payment for a new Corvette.

When you ask "How does that work," you find that "something from nothing" schemes never work. It isn't necessary to analyze the explanations of the scheme. It is only necessary to examine how the proposed scheme would work.

For the third year in a row, the organized crime syndicate known as "The U.S. CONgress" has failed to pass a formal budget. This isn't nearly as bad as it seems, because the budgeting process is so rampant with cheating and hocus pocus that the budget isn't a real budget in any sense of the word. And there's all that "off budget" stuff.

Part of the problem is the President's proposed budget is so beyond the pale that passing it could result in nasty consequences for the leeches now "serving" in CONgress. This refusal to own up to the magnitude of the proposed stealing by signing on the line is quite instructive. Among the many thing it tells us about the gangsta government, it tells us that even an elite class of criminals has its limits.

Closer to home, you make real decisions. You live by a budget, even if you don't draw one up. That's because you can't make payments with money you don't have, without taking on debt. But when the CONgress makes payments with money it does not have, you get the debt and you get the diminution of your existing and future wealth via the inflation tax that results from government "borrowing."

Until enough people actually exercise their right to vote (e.g., not surrendering your vote to the Demopublicans), the plundering will continue. It can be abated somewhat by those of us who show up at Town Hall Meetings and ask our CONgressman or senator why they get $160,000 a year but can't make decisions any tougher than those made by a poverty-level wage earner working as a manager of a fast food outlet. When Nancy Reagan began her "Just Say No" campaign, she aimed it at the wrong bunch of people.

There isn't anything particularly impossible about vastly reducing federal spending. All 50 states operate on a no-debt model. Why can't the federal govt? In a nation of 311 million people, we can't find 535 who can manage a budget?

Well, about 14% of Americans live below the poverty line (the number was lower before Obamageddon began). And those people make hard choices every day. Should I eat the rest of those beans now, or save some for tomorrow so I won't be as hungry? How many holes is too many for socks and underwear before I should buy new ones? Should I go to the doctor for this infection, or let it run its course so I don't run out of food this month? Do I pay my electric bill or my water bill--can't do both, so which utility is less likely to shut me off?

But when you're making $160,000 a year and sitting in budget meetings, you are making choices like, "Should I reset this Solitaire game, or keep playing this losing hand?" And that assumes you actually show up. Of course, they never make tough choices like, "Should actually I represent the idiots who voted for me, and thus lose that $1.5 million a year post-Congressional career consulting gig with Company X by voting against this godawful bill?"

While many of us know about this skullduggery, we lack the means to install a lawful government or at least to elect non-criminal individuals these offices (The Party largely controls ballot access, strongly helping retards and reprobates while strongly opposing anyone decent). And we lack the means to effect any change in the short term.

When you're stuck in a situation you can't change, your best option is to adapt. To adapt to the current situation, you can increase income and/or decrease expenses.

Recently, I watched a movie called "Good Hair," which featured Chris Rock. Mr. Rock's expose of this huge scam is worth learning about. Find the movie, and watch it. What Mr. Rock is looking at here is the predatory marketing done against black women to brainwash them into thinking that somehow their beautiful, thick, curly hair is inferior. To correct this alleged deficiency, they spend huge sums of money way out of proportion to their income. And they subject their bodies to some really nasty poisons.

Do you have this kind of expense in your life? Before dismissing that question, look at all of your expenses. You will likely find things that just aren't necessary. They are status expenditures. These kinds of expenses might help you to think you are impressing people you don't even know, but in fact nobody is impressed. Things from putting fertilizer on your lawn (dumb, dumb, dumb, in most cases) to frequently dining at expensive restaurants really bring you nothing you can't live without.

And what about income? Oh, you asked your boss for a raise. What incentive did your boss have for saying yes? Instead of asking for a raise, look around for opportunities. These may be in the company you work for or in another. Or maybe they are additional, moonlighting kinds of things. In your company, maybe you have a great idea for a new business opportunity.

Super. Don't bring this to your boss. Instead, work up a basic business analysis as if you were asking investors for money. Then start talking to the Vice Presidents in your company about this and be very clear that you are capable of managing this venture (give your credentials). Show passion for it, but also be sure to give them the dollar figures. Rather than rely on your boss to go beg for a raise that won't even match inflation, you create a new job for yourself. It's a DIY promotion and raise.

My sister did this, and went from being just another grunt to being the national director of a major program. Her approach wasn't to beg or to say "You owe me." It was to say, "Here is what I can bring you" and "Don't you think this is the right thing to do?" Take the approach that you can bring new benefits to the company, and the money will follow. If you don't know how to give a compelling sales presentation, we do have a presentations course.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oHbwdNcHbc

What surprised me was that, since we last saw each other she had ballooned out considerably. Someone with a cute figure became morbidly obese in a couple of years.

In talking with her, I came to see why this happened.

For whatever reason, she and her husband (who had also packed on the pounds) starting eating out for lunch and supper. Breakfast consists of boxed cereal. Gone is the bowl of fruit she used to have on her table. The mid-afternoon snack (which should be small meal #4) was some kind of store-bought pie (naturally, I declined to eat this). I don't know about the other two meals, but one can safely deduce they aren't nutritional bonanzas.

Eating out is a huge problem. The portions are, here in the USA, far too large. So even if you were eating food fit for humans (a challenge in the typical restaurant), you would be eating too much of it.

Age 50.

I suspect this behavioral change happened because some event triggered the start of new habits. For example, maybe they went out to eat because they had company or to celebrate something. No real problem, there. But that felt good, so they did it again. They felt bored the next night, so went out to eat. And soon, they were just eating out more than at home. This put them into a condition of calorie overload, nutrient deprivation, and unbalanced diet.

You can avoid a similar fate. Here are some tips:

• Budget your eating out experiences. Come up with some number, for example twice a month. If circumstances cause you to exceed it, then reduce caloric intake to adjust and count the excess eat-out against next month's budget. Don't eat out until you've "paid off the loan."
   
• Keep a bowl of fruit out where you can see it. The colors are pleasing, and so is the scent (even if you don't actually notice it, the smell from fruits has a positive mental effect). And it will remind you to eat fruit.
   
• Think green. Stock your refrigerator with fresh greens. Examples include bok choy (one of the best calcium sources available, handily beating cow's milk), broccoli, kale, green onions, and green beans. Notice that iceberg lettuce is not in that list; it's a waste of grocery money.
   
• Think colors. OK, make green your base. Now add other colors. Black eggplant, red bell peppers, orange acorn squash, white garlic (buy fresh, and dice it by hand), yellow zucchini, etc.
   
• Note that you don't actually have to "cook" to have satisfying, nutritious meals. Take those veggies just mentioned above. You can make up a veggie dish, toss in some canned garbonzos, and flavor with an olive oil and vinegar dressing you make in your own dressing cruet.
   
• Note that to get enough protein from your meals, you will need to do some cooking. But boiling eggs and boiling rice are not activities that require much culinary finesse. You can also throw sweet potatoes into the microwave to get an amazing nutritional punch.

And here's a final tip: Use a crockpot.

An uncle of mine spent the past 10 years caring for his dying wife (they were married two months short of 61 years; she died earlier this year). She had Parkinson's and when it got to its advanced stages, she was no longer able to do anything. She relied completely on him.

A few years back, we were talking by phone and I asked him how he managed to do all that care for her and still get meals made. His secret weapon was the crockpot. He said he makes a big batch of soup or whatever, and just leaves it on simmer in the pot until it's about gone. Very convenient, and he can thus make it nutritious without much fuss.

I told him I have a nice crockpot and occasionally make beans in it but usually buy them canned because cooking beans all day means a lot of heat added to the house. His advice was to stop with the cans and just use the crockpot. He said if it's hot outside, put a small table on the back porch and set the crockpot on that. As he lives in south Texas, he knows a thing or two about cooking when it's hot outside. I took his advice and use my crockpot regularly now.

If you eat out for "convenience," change over to crockpot cooking. It's far more convenient than driving to a restaurant, trying to find something safe to eat, and then waiting while it's being prepared. You just put stuff in the pot and your meal is waiting for you when it's time to eat. You can't get much more convenient than that.

You can make an endless variety of soups. Some ingredients that can make them tasty include mushrooms, carrots, diced eggplant, and celery. Spices include bay leaf, any kind of pepper (but always use turmeric with pepper because this particular combination is among the most potent of all anti-carcinogens), diced garlic, and oregano. Use cumin if you want a TexMex flavor, basil and rosemary if you want an Italian flavor, and of course use curry if you want an Indian flavor.

I would like to thank long-time reader and contributor Howard Jacks for information he recently sent me on garlic. This plant is amazing. Among its many benefits, it also aids the body in ridding itself of mercury. Why does this matter? All fish that comes from our oceans is laden with mercury now. You simply cannot get nontoxic ocean fish. And it's not the only mercury-contaminated food source. See note at the end of this column.

If you make a crock pot of beans, get a completed protein by having a grain with that. The best choice is whole grain rice. Amazingly, popcorn is a pretty good choice also. While not a grain, a sweet potato on the side is also a decent complement to beans. A particularly tasty treat is a sweet potato opened and generously powdered in cinnamon. That spice also has huge health benefits.

Going through "treatments" for the high blood pressure, cholesterol, and obesity that result from typical restaurant fare has never struck me as being very convenient. Pulling a lid off a pot and ladling out something that smells wonderful, however, is quite appealing.

Note to Obama supporters:

You have yet another reason to stop supporting Obama. He's pushing for 1 million coal-powered cars added to our roads by the end of this decade. Guess where all that ocean mercury comes from? Right: coal-powered generating stations; the same ones that would power "electric cars." If you care about kids, you can't support Obama; it's an either/or choice. He's not out just to wreck the economy. He's also making a play for our environment.

At www.supplecity.com, you'll find plenty of informative, authoritative articles on maintaining a lean, strong physique. It has nothing to do with long workouts or impossible to maintain diets. In fact:

• The best workouts are short and intense.
• A good diet contains far more flavors and satisfaction than the typical American diet.