Mindconnection eNL, 2012-08-19

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In this issue:
Good News | Product Highlight | Brainpower | Finances | Security | Health/Fitness | Factoid | Thought 4 the Day

• The bad news is that revenues of many businesses, including Mindconnection, took a tumble (yet again) following the public's response to yet again another negative "jobs report."
  
  The good news is these reports mean nothing. They have a margin of error of 100,000 jobs. That is one hundred thousand, not a typo. So if the report shows only 69,000 new jobs that isn't necessarily a shortfall from the 80,000 needed. It might be more than twice as many as needed.
  
  See Motley Fool's explanation at: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/05/31/3-misconceptions-about-the-jobs-report.aspx
  
  Don't pay attention to these reports. Don't pay attention to the "news sources" that are irresponsible enough to actually publish them.
  
  Please pass this along to others, so we can stop this self-defeating behavior and help get this economy back on track. Spreading stupidity such as these idiotic "job reports" is, IMO, an act of treason. Since we don't have a lawful federal government, stopping this treason is a DIY project. Ignore the disinformation sources, and explain to others why they should do the same. Write to advertisers that you will boycott if their ads support this irresponsible "reporting." Let's all do our part.
   
• The Unaffordable Care Act will create tens of thousands of new jobs. That's the good news.
  
  The bad news is because employers of 50 or more employees will be hit with a staggering benefits cost when this provision of the UCA kicks in, they will be firing their full-time workers and replacing them with lower wage, zero benefit part-timers.
  
  Not only does logic dictate this (it's do that or go out of business), polls are showing this is exactly the strategy nearly 100% of small business owners are planning. Even mid-sized businesses are looking at breaking themselves up into small, independent companies staffed mostly by part-timers and outsourced temps.
  
  If you become a part-timer, the upside is you'll have more spare time to send Obama a Thank You card for changing your life. It's change you can believe in.
   
• Even though regular workers are seeing ever-lower pay (even as the currency is debased), the good news is the criminals who pillage most of the Fortune 500 corporations by dint of being CEO are getting massive increases.
  
  Well, it's good news for them but bad news for consumers, employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders. In 2011, the 200 mostly highly paid CEOs raked in a median pay of $14.5 million. And it's projected to be much higher for 2012. Even more grating, most of these robbers are poor performers. The "C" in "CEO" more often than not reflects the report card grade. Compared to the performance of CEOs of mid-size firms, it's an inflated grade at that.
   
• The home-builder sentiment index rose to 29, in June. That's its highest level since April of 2007. That's the good news.
  
  The bad news is any score below 50 indicates a negative sentiment about housing. So this needs to rise another 11 points before it's merely neutral. At least it's up from what it was.
   

More about those home metrics: The good news is that sales of new homes (in the USA) have perked up a bit. For example, they increased by 7.6% in May. This is a bit before the summer home-buying season, when families with kids move while school is out. The seasonally-adjusted data indicate that new home buying is at the fastest pace since April 2010. That was the last month of the federal home-buying credit.

This is better than it was. However:

1. This rate is only about half the rate that economists consider healthy.
2. There is still a glut of "used" homes on the market. Many are due to foreclose, mostly because the banksters refuse to renegotiate their loans even though that wouldn't be painful for them. Better to just steal the home, so that's what they are doing.
3. There is also a glut of high-end "used" homes on the market. This glut is due to the increased exodus of wealthy Americans to other countries. Many are renouncing their citizenship; examples include one of the billionaire founders of Google, and Grammy-nominated songwriter Denise Rich.
   
   These people can afford to flee the gangsta govt, even though the Institute of Reprobates and Sociopaths will dog them for 10 years after they relocate. The rest of us need to figure out how to restore legitimate government. Obviously voting Demopublican won't accomplish that, so find something that makes sense instead.

While this is good news (not that people are leaving, but that home sales have perked up a bit), it's not good enough. However, it is still better than the really bad news we've been getting.

And some really wonderful news: If you have been going to the grocery store every day in hopes of seeing Obama's picture on a milk carton, hold on a bit longer. Check out "rappers against Obama" on Bing or on that "Do More Evil" search engine (Google). Granted, the presumed alternative (Romney) is no great shakes but at least we may see an end to Obamageddon in only six more painful months.

The very rappers who helped bring on this disastrous Presidency are now wanting Obama "to be OTP" (One Time President). At least they can admit that they were wrong, and are trying to fix their mistake.

Do you know an electrician? That's a rhetorical question. Of course you do. You may even be one. Mindconnection has many products that can help electricians make more money and have more job security.

Long-time readers are aware of my involvement in the electrical industry. Part of that has included working with Mike Holt and other electrical experts to produce the best electrical exam products bar none.

Yes, other merchants sell these. But we offer freebies that they do not, and you get those when you buy from us (or your favorite electrician does). In addition to FREE shipping, we offer:

• Our harmonics course for FREE.
• A formula book for FREE.

Those FREE items are a Mindconnection exclusive. Buy an electrical exam prep course and get those gifts today.

The stupidity epidemic has much in common with other types of epidemics, for example, a flu outbreak. People tend to get infected due to where they go and what they do.

Consider the lung cancer epidemic that raged in previous decades. It was 100% behavior-driven. As more and more people decided to reject the lethal products peddled by psychopaths, lung cancer rates dropped accordingly.

There's a similar choice for those not wanting become a mindless zombie, stupidly stumbling through life. Just as we were able to observe the "smoke these things, get cancer" cause and effect for many decades, we can also observe many kinds of behavior that surprisingly stupid people have in common. And we can choose not to engage in those behaviors and thus not get "infected."

We can also observe what kinds of things smart people do. You know who the smart people are without needing to see their IQ test results; they are just really interesting to talk with. They can engage in a substantive conversation, because they have a substantive interest in the world around them.

Some behaviors to reduce or eliminate:

• Watching television. I honestly do not know why people do this. It's like drinking from a toilet, in terms of your "mental drinking water." You fill your brain with crap, and there's no room left for the good stuff. Avoid at almost any cost.
• Reading newspapers. These are to brainpower what candy is to fat loss. Mark Twain said it's better to be uninformed than disinformed so he refused to read newspapers. Think about the insight in his comment. It's quite brilliant.
• Listening to pop music. OK, I did the language abuse thing. It's not actually music but that's what people call it. Have you noticed how brain-dead the "lyrics" are? Have you researched the "artists" and noticed how messed up their lives are? Why would you want to listen to their thoughts and advice set to bad music? Yes, go ahead and enjoy (some) good music. But don't subject yourself to the commercial garbage that spews forth from far too many audio systems today.
• Eating high fructose corn syrup. This toxin does all kinds of damage to your body, in addition to wreaking havoc on your endocrine system. The kinds of garbage you'll find it in are also nutrient-poor, depriving your brain of what it needs to be healthy. By simply eliminating this toxin from your diet, you necessarily skew your diet toward brain-building foods.

See note on HFC, below this list.

Some positive things you can do to build brainpower:

• Watch documentary DVDs. These are free at your public library. You might consider buying one occasionally, watching it, and then donating it to your library.
• Read works of nonfiction. Well, that leaves out newspapers and most magazines. You can find good nonfiction at your local library. For free. Pick a subject and study it. Become an expert. Buy related books and donate them to your library after you've read them. Go to www.mindconnection.com/books for some solid reviews of such books.
• Listen to good audiobooks. You can download them from your library for free. Load onto an MP3 player, and listen to mind-building books being read to you.
• Eat nutrient-dense foods. If most of what goes into your grocery cart comes from the produce aisle, you're probably doing the right thing in terms of diet. If you eat out quite a bit, you're not even in the ball park.

Note on HFC

I want to note something on HFC. It's also contaminated with RoundUp, which is a neurotoxin. The more sodas you drink, the more HFC-contaminated bread you eat, the more HFC you get from whatever processed foods, the more stupid you will be. That's simply a fact. There is no other possible outcome. Eliminate HFC from your diet. The only acceptable level is dead zero. Period.

Sadly, stupidity isn't the only problem arising from this poisoning. As this stuff destroys more and more nerve tissue, don't you think that might put you at great risk for neurological disorders such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, etc.? I don't have medical data on this, but let's apply a little common sense here.

How do I know that RoundUp is a neurotoxin? There's an organized crime outfit known as "Monsanto" and it makes RoundUp. Monsanto is involved in the whole chain of GM grain, seed control, HFC production, etc. Factory beekeepers, who are responsible for most of the bee honey on the market, don't follow the old principles. Instead, they raid the hives and take as money honey as possible. Then they replace it with HFC. But the HFC is contaminated with RoundUp, and that, my dear readers, is what is killing off the bees. Do not, I implore you, buy any Monsanto products. Especially RoundUp.

Now, you may be asking, "If it's so bad why hasn't the govt taken it off the market?" My answer is Monsanto, the same company that put 30 million Mexican farmers out of work, OWNS enough judges, members of CONgress, and others in govt that it can get by with anything it wishes. Only we consumers can take Monsanto out. Let's do that.

Doing this at his place was a difficult task. He has a cheap vinyl hose that easily kinks in multiple places at once, has several leaks in it, and is hard to roll up when done.

I have solid rubber hoses. Even after more than a decade, they look like they are new. They don't kink, don't leak, and are easy to roll up. Rather than repeatedly buy a new "10 year guarantee" crappy hose that will fail within months (and for which you will not get the promised warranty compensation), I bought a rubber hose one time (I have one for each of three faucets). Yes, it costs more initially. But the total cost of ownership is much less than that of the cheap hose. Plus, I don't have the frustration of leaks and kinks to deal with.

Buying quality tools, garden equipment, clothing, shoes, furniture, bedding, and other durable goods is how you ensure they actually are durable. And it's also how you save huge sums of money over the many years you are going to own either something crappy or something worth buying.

But exclusion alone can actually make you less secure than you otherwise would be.

Consider two people, Paul Paranoid and Sam Secure. Both have decent-paying jobs with paid vacations, and live in non-foreclosed homes. So perhaps they are a bit unusual. But try to follow along, anyhow.

When Paul takes his vacation, he locks his house up tight. He's got an extensive alarm system, with motion detectors, sensors on all of the windows, pressure mats, the works. Nobody comes in, nobody goes out. Paul believes his home is completely secure.

When Sam goes on vacation, he also locks his house. But a couple of neighbors each have keys to his place and each neighbor has a specific daily task that requires entering the home.

1. Carol walks the exterior of the house, takes care of any plant needs, and picks up any trash. She checks his furnace, appliances, toilets, etc. She makes sure to run some water so the traps don't dry out and allow explosive gases to build up. She opens the blinds in the morning. She also picks two lights at random and turns them on.
2. Brad takes the trash out on the night before trash day (placing some from other neighbors in the trash barrel), and gives the interior a quick check to make sure all is well. He closes the blinds at night, and turns off the lights that Carol turned on. He waters the houseplant. He mows the lawn, rakes the leaves, or shovels the drive as needed.

Which house do you think has less chance of being broken into? Which house do you think has more chance of providing a nice welcome when the owner returns?

Let's consider Paul's house, first. If a pipe breaks, Paul is going to face a huge water bill plus the extensive damage from the water. If someone broke into Paul's house, nobody would know until he got back and the trail had turned cold. In fact, if anything goes wrong it's going to keep going wrong until, returning tired and hungry from his travels, he opens his door to see the mess. Or pulls up to see a pit where his burned down house was....

You're smart enough not to need an explanation of the ways in which Sam's house is far more secure. Now, how will you make plans to have your home actively monitored while you're gone?

Also consider what happens if you're not gone. You fall and break your leg. You can call 911, then call your neighbor to come unlock your house. Or suppose you accidentally get locked out. Do you want to spend $100 and three hours getting back in, or just have your neighbor unlock your home?

The bottom line is that you are best protected when you have built trusting relationships and make those part of your security strategy. Of course, you need to reciprocate.

A tip on those keys you're holding for your trusted neighbor: Keep them in an obscure place (not the freezer, which is one of the first places burglars check for valuables) and don't put tags on them that disclose the name or address of the other person. You can identify them in some coded way; for example, get a different type of keyfob for each neighbor's keys and just remember which goes with which neighbor. Insist that your neighbors also take such basic protective measures with the keys to your home.

The cans of stuff typically contain one or more of these three powerful carcinogens: toluene, benzene, trichloroethane. A person chronically exposed to the fumes will build up carcinogens in his/her lymph system, thus raising the risk of a lymphoma or other cancer to a near certainty.

Every community has a designated disposal site for such things. Contact yours and clear your home of these poisons. Help your neighbors do likewise.

But wait. These aren't the only dangers in the typical home. Most household cleaning products are laden with severe toxins. You'd be amazed at what you can do with baking soda and vinegar; try to replace as many cleaners as possible with these and other human-friendly cleaners.

Age 50.

What about those vanilla-scented room fresheners? Hint: That's not vanilla you're smelling. It's a scent manufactured from chemicals that nobody has tested for long-term health effects. The same goes for all the other scented room fresheners people commonly use. These products are not safe for living things. Don't permit them in your home. There are plenty of natural scents you can use; I'll discuss those in a moment.

You may "think" you "need" one of these cancer in a can products in case someone "does nasty" in your bathroom. There's a reason why bathrooms have exhaust fans. Use yours. If the smell is especially bad, there's a medical problem. Not maybe. There is one. It might be a bad diet, and thus stuff fermenting (and creating cancer cells). For example, the average American (USA) man has 6 lbs of fermenting red meat in his lower bowels by the age of 65. A can of spray is not going to fix that. It might be something other than a bad diet; seek medical attention rather than just covering up the smell with scented poisons.

Here are some things you can do to reduce or eliminate household odors:

• Air out the house. To avoid sucking in pollen, do this before 1000 hrs or after 1700 hrs. I air out part of my house when I pop popcorn. I open two windows and place a portable fan in one. Clears the air pronto.
• Peel an orange. Any citrus fruit will do, lemon being the other obvious choice. You can put the peels on a plate and set it down by a register vent. Or, if you want faster results, bake the peels in your oven or simmer them in a shallow pan of water.
• Bake the ground. Well, many grounds actually. A trick Realtors sometimes use is to sprinkle fresh coffee grounds on a cookie sheet, slide that into the oven, and set the oven for its lowest temperature. You can also put grounds in a bowl and set by a register (not on a plate, as the grounds will blow off).
• Herbalize. Many herbs have delightful aromas. Basil, for example. You can grow fragrant herbs indoors, or pick some leaves off ones you grow outside and do the coffee ground trick with them. Eucalyptus is another great choice, and don't forget rose petals!
• Do the coffee ground trick with nutmeg or cinnamon.
• Slice up an apple, sprinkle cinnamon on the slices, and microwave it. You've just put a fantastic scent in the air and prepared a delicious, healthy snack.
• Open the baking soda box. It's not just for refrigerators. Set a box by a cold air return or register vent.
• Clean your sinks, drains, dishwasher, and garbage disposal with vinegar. Sinks and similar surfaces can easily become slimy homes to huge colonies of stinky bacteria. Vinegar solves the problem three different ways. Use liberally.

Also, clean your sink drains. Buy a brush that fits down the drain, so you can run it up and down to clean the sides of the drain pipe all the way down to the trap. Your grocery store should have one. Then, rinse everything off. Your next step is to pour about half a cup of baking soda down the drain. After that, grab one of your gallon jugs of white vinegar (you do have several, don't you?) and pour it over the baking soda. This sure beats breathing in the fumes from regular drain cleaner.

• Here's another use for vinegar. Spray it on broadleaf weeds, on a hot and sunny day. You can drink vinegar, but just getting regular weed killers on your skin can make you sick. Which weed killer is the only sane choice? You can buy a cheap sprayer bottle at any store that sells stuff for the kitchen. Or if you have a spray applicator with pump and tank, put two cups of vinegar in the tank instead of the normal human-killer, er, I mean weed killer.
• Here's another use for baking soda. If you find an ant hill next to your home, dump a pile of baking soda on it. The ants will leave. While termites eat the wood from homes, ants are just as harmful. Instead of eating the wood, they hollow it out to make nests.

Need to actually kill those ants? Put down some ground grits, the same stuff you'd eat for breakfast. Ants eat the dry grits, then it swells up and their stomachs explode. To kill a dog the size of a beagle (not that you'd want to), you'd have to get the dog to eat a pretty big box of this. So, it's considered safe for kids and pets.

Another toxin that people over-use is herbicide for the lawn. One common use is to kill moss. Here's a tip. Leave the moss alone. It makes a good erosion-fighting ground cover, while the grass you're trying to establish in that shady place will always be problematic. Bonus: You don't have to mow moss. Unless you're really weird....

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.