Mindconnection eNL, 2013-02-17

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The January issue of IEEE Spectrum ran an article on 3D transistors. The advantages are immense. They just might be immense enough to counter enough of the damage being inflicted by Obama and his fellow economy wreckers that more Americans will get good jobs than lose them, once these hit the mainstream (and that's supposed to be soon).

This same fine magazine noted that BMW is introducing the first affordable cars made with super light carbon composites. A lighter car uses less fuel and produces less wear on the roadways, but this material also makes it possible to produce some visually stunning designs. BMW was able to accomplish the price breakthrough via a technology that can mold a woven sheet of carbon fiber into a completed car part in under ten minutes.

Except the vocabulary isn't quite what your teachers had in mind.

All the cussing and carrying on won't restore your lost data. But we have something that will.

We have thumb-drive USB devices that allow you to you recover deleted data (and other data) from specific devices, such as Apple iPhone, Android, or PC.

14FEB14 Update: Discontinued.

We also have a USB stick that detects p*rn so you can protect your computer from unwanted images such as those of underage children. Such an image can be placed there without your permission or knowledge, putting you at risk.

That is exactly what happened to Rod Stewart a few years back. It was a frame-up done by corrupt govt investigators, but fortunately Mr. Stewart had an expert who proved his innocence. You don't have Mr. Stewart's wealth, I'm guessing, but for less than 80 bucks you can protect yourself even better than he protected himself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

Read the whole story here: http://www.nsba.biz/?p=5197

Just to put this into perspective, Obama's deficit last year alone was THREE TIMES the the total cost of prosecuting both World Wars combined. Staggering, isn't it?

Basic mathematics tells us the egregious deficit spending is an egregious problem, because it subtracts capital from the productive sector of the economy. We can assess the degree of devastation by looking at the various metrics such as the estimated number of unemployed, the number of homeless, and the number of people on food stamps. While this maniac has been draining the economy of capital, all of these metrics have gotten profoundly worse.

Look at food stamps, as an example. A record 47.7 million Americans are currently on food stamps. Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's more people than the entire population of Spain. It's quite an increase, too--nearly 50% over the number of Americans on food stamps when Obamageddon began in 2009. It works out to 11,269 people per day being added to the food stamp program.

Mercilessly attacking the economy does have that kind of effect. Given the startling facts, it seems obvious that our King wishes to greatly impoverish all but the elite and has made great progress toward that goal already.

What can you do?

First of all, don't let Obama apologists/supporters off the hook. Their willful ignorance helped bring this on. Ask them to explain how subtracting is adding. It isn't, so they can't. Score one for you. So now they agree that Obama's massive subtracting of capital from the economy is not adding capital to the economy. Since capital is the fuel on which an economy runs, subtracting capital has only one possible outcome.

Then ask them if we are better off now than we were four years ago. If they say yes, then ask them why they feel it's better that nearly twice as many Americans are on food stamps now than when Obama took office.

Third, contact your misrepresentative in CONgress. Pose to them the same questions. Ask them if they intend to earn the huge salaries paid to them for holding the office they hold--allegedly "representing" the people in their district or (in the case of senators) their state. No, of course this combative communication won't persuade them. But neither does asking nicely. So come to the point and state it plainly.

Fourth, write a very nice letter to our King (if it's not nice, you might be hearing a drone) based on the same facts but asking him to see if he can't roll back deficit spending to the $400 billion we had in his predecessor's last year in office. Something like this might help:

"If GW could do it, why can't you? Are you sure he is really that much smarter than you that he racked up a deficit only 1/15th as large as the one you racked up last year alone?" Perhaps appealing to our moron King's desire to appear intelligent might be a motivator for him to scale down the crime. It's worth trying.

With the Pope retiring, you might throw that bone to our King "I hope you get elected Pope on the same criteria for which you got the Nobel Peace Prize, my warrior King." But he may already have a lock on that job (yet another for which he isn't qualified but is his if he wants it anyhow) so it's probably not worth mentioning.

Fifth, get involved in the National Taxpayer's Union and the Libertarian Party. Both of these organizations are making a difference, but they need more horsepower to turn things around. Having two major political parties rather than just one could make federal elections something more than just a farce.

In the short-term? Manage your money. You don't have to live like a monk, but watch that you are spending your money in ways that actually mean something and actually improve your life. Look for opportunities to reduce waste. Plan your spending rather than thinking about it after the fact.

Also, watch Carla Howell's response to the 2013 State of the Union Address.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFALonjLay0

As a foundation for excellent balance, regularly do front squats. Done properly, front squats strengthen the whole chain of support muscles that your body calls upon to keep from falling over. The front squat has many other benefits, but my focus here is on balance. It takes more than one exercise to develop great balance.

Before I go much further, I want to mention glutamine. Front squats are extremely hard on the body. It was on the advice of a professional athlete that I started using glutamine. At the time, I was doing front squats once a month because that was all I could handle. Now I do them every other week in addition to my balance training, climbing, and other activities that work many of the same muscles. Instead of taking 10 days to feel adequately recovered, I'm there in three days. In a recent discussion with Mike at LG Sciences, we noted that, heck, glutamine is cheap too. And it builds your immune system. OK, so back to balance.

Age 51.
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No, I do not rely solely on squats to build balance. But I do pity the people who think that leg presses are a reasonable substitute for squats, because they give up the main benefits--including improved balance. In fact, their balance deteriorates because they overwork their quads, under-work their core, and don't work hamstrings at all. Trying to make up for that by doing hamstring curls doesn't cut it, because those curls put your back in a bad position. They are a dangerous exercise. Skip the leg press; do squats instead, so you avoid the problems, save time, and get the benefits.

The most important thing you can do to build balance is to purposefully be aware of your balance. All the time. In the second martial arts school I trained at, a Shotokan dojo, the sensei made sure we understood this concept. He stressed that you must think of your torso as balancing on a ball bearing (your hips). Move it in a manner that keeps it over your hips, and move your legs in a manner that they stay under your hips.

That works for Shotokan, with its deep stances. But it can't apply to every athletic endeavor. In climbing, for example, it's more complex than that. However, any climber will tell you that the idea of being purposefully aware of your balance very much does apply. And this purposeful awareness is your primary balance training tool. It takes an effort to develop this, so don't assume you have it unless you've been making that effort for a while.

Go to a public place some time and watch pedestrians go by. You will notice that most of them are not actually walking, but are instead falling on the front foot as they stroll. They are off balance, and any motion analyst can show you why if you care to take one with you on a future outing for this purpose (a good dance instructor can spot this, as well, and is easier to find).

But watch a black belt martial artist walk, and you see an entirely different sort of motion. Watch an accomplished basketball player walk, and what would you expect to see? It won't be the falling thing. The black belt and the basketball star have the same balance awareness and very similar walking motions. Both know where their feet are in relation to their center of gravity, though they never look at their feet. Watch a figure skater, and you will see this same body kinesis at work. Ditto, a ballerina.

But what else will you see among these athletes? Excellent posture. You'll also see excellent posture among all pro body builders. Have you ever heard of one of them falling over during a show?

The great posture you see among these athletes is a clue as to what you should be doing to maintain your balance. Keep your shoulders back, chest out, head up. Yes, the old military cliché is part of what you should be doing to maintain good balance.

I started off talking about squats and then stressed awareness and got to posture. Where do these dots connect? As a foundation, train hard with the compound exercises that really build a strong, muscle-balanced body. That should be the basis for your entire physical training program. While you can develop good balance without specific exercises for balance, I personally feel it's best to do these exercises. But whether you do them or not, being mindful of your posture and balance as you walk, run, and do various other physical activities will program your body to finely tune your balance as you move.

If you take the normal way of simply falling onto one foot than the other as a substitute for walking, then you won't exercise the amazing balance system you were born with. Use it or lose it definitely applies here.

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.

The federal income tax code is 44,000 pages long and growing. Almost nobody at the IRS is familiar with it.