Mindconnection eNL, 2009-08-16

Home
 

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

Basically, he accepts whatever half-baked story is "on TV" without asking any critical questions. Any source can be wrong or give incomplete information, so asking these questions is important regardless of the source. This fact is why, for example, police detectives interview eye witnesses with probing questions.

"So, Mr. Jones, you say that Mr. Robbins fell flat on his face. Was that the left side of his face or the right side?"

Or, consider this:

Did you actually see the man throw that rock?"

Yes.

 Which hand did he throw it with?

Uh, I think his right.

Overhand throw or underhand?

What the detective is trying to do is get the facts, not the conclusions. Too often, people confuse the two. This leads to positions and opinions that conflict with reality.

When two people are arguing, listen to what they are arguing about. Very seldom are they disagreeing on anything factual. They are arguing over conclusions. And of course, they aren't really arguing in the classic sense but just competing to see who can make the other person give in. Neither of them builds a strong argument, because a strong argument begins with a statement of the facts and in the typical dispute the facts are seldom even considered.

Look for the elemental facts, just as a police detective would. Elemental facts are those which are not a matter of opinion. An example is "I saw him throw the ball with his right hand."

A conclusion might be "He threw the ball with his right hand." How do we know which hand he used? We didn't see it. He didn't tell us. We are merely concluding that. What elemental facts support that conclusion?

As you use this technique, practice will make perfect. Not only that, your analytical powers will increase because you exercise them when doing this.

If you make a point of looking for the elemental facts, you will tend to form correct opinions and conclusions. You'll also develop a sense of which information sources to avoid, because you'll grow a distaste for those that spin conclusions to you and a preference for those that give you the elemental facts (conclusions and/or analysis with those isn't necessarily bad).

If you have the facts, you can apply proper logic and reach your own conclusions. They may not be correct conclusions, but at least they won't be baseless. I'm not questioning your ability to draw conclusions. This is leading somewhere....

I may reach a conclusion that is supported by the facts I have on hand. But you disagree. One option I have is to tell you my facts. Another option is for me to ask you for your facts. When two people are having an intelligent argument, this is what goes on.

For example, I tell you that rabbits are excellent drivers. You disagree. I point out that I've never seen a rabbit texting while driving (an elemental fact), and ask if you've ever seen a rabbit drive erratically. You agree that my fact is true and you concede that you've never seen a rabbit drive erratically.

If I'm a fair arguer, I'll try to probe you for facts that support what I see as a ridiculous position, that rabbits aren't excellent drivers. Despite all the evidence I've presented that they are, I still want to understand your viewpoint.

Your facts include such things as rabbits are too short to reach the gas pedal and in fact don't actually drive cars. Occasionally, they get run over by cars but that's about as close as they get to the steering wheel. I end up agreeing with you that my original statement was wrong.

From this short example, you can see several principles illustrated. Did you notice that my logic seemed correct at first blush? However, I can only conclude that rabbits are not dangerous drivers. I can't conclude that they are safe drivers, because I didn't establish that they are drivers. In our argument, the fact emerged that rabbits don't drive, so my original statement is false. It's false even though there were facts that "supported" it. Be careful of this kind of analysis, in which facts seem to support a statement but really don't.

In previous editions of this eNL, we've talked about fallacious reasoning. It's so pervasive, that I sometimes find myself asking, "is there any other kind?" There is, of course. But listen to many of today's pundits and you have to wonder if they are aware of any other kind.

It's a fact of life that other people control the value of the dollars you earn and save. In the last ten years, those very same people have reduced the value of your dollars by 50%. This is equivalent to your taking a 50% pay cut and giving away half of what you own.

Generally speaking, people do not improve their financial situation by taking a 50% pay cut and giving away half of their savings and possessions.

What can you do about it? Write, call, and visit your misrepresentative in CONgress with one message: No new spending. Period. Regardless of the reason. Cut somewhere else, but don't increase the federal budget and don't increase off budget spending.

If you are maxed out on credit cards and can't even make minimum payments, you don't go to a bank with a serious look on your face and insist they issue you another credit card that you intend to max out so you can spend more.

When our current president took office, we were in a debt crisis to the tune of about 9 million million dollars. So far, he's managed to ratchet up the debt load so that the share for an average working American is now actually more than s/he can earn in a lifetime.

Indentured servitude is prohibited by the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Thus, the President's budget is not only immoral but also illegal.

For our readers who are not US citizens, you also have a right to petition members of the US CONgress because what they are doing is wreaking havoc on the economy of the entire world.

To see where we are headed, watch the National Debt Road Trip Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5yxFtTwDcc

For the typical semi-athlete, this is more appropriate than a straight protein powder because you get all three macro nutrients in it,rather than just one.

Here's an article about MRPs: http://www.supplecity.com/articles/mrps.htm.

As noted with protein powders, this is food. It has calories. The correct way to use it is as a meal replacement as the name implies.

If you simply add this to your existing meal plan without subtracting something else, you're going to add fat rather than build muscle. Why? I explain below.

Keep that lean summer look, with Nitro All Natural Night Time Fat Burner.
 

You do need enough calories and protein for your body to add muscle. Once you satisfy that requirement, taking in more calories and protein won't make muscles grow any faster or any larger. What it will do is cause your body to store the surplus as fat.

Many people believe that the fatter you are, the stronger you are. This is not at all true. Strength comes from muscle, not fat. Carrying around extra fat doesn't exercise your muscles into being stronger. It does add bulk that slows you down. And it does something else, as well.

The amount of body fat you have is a factor in your body's various hormone levels. If you are too fat, your body will depress testosterone, the hormone that signals muscles to grow and bones to store calcium.

This is why you don't "bulk up" and then "diet down" to add muscle. When pro body builders prepare for a contest, they go through short-term severe calorie restriction to get that extra tight look. But they don't walk around all fat and bloated to get strong. They are nearly always far learner than the average person when not preparing for a contest.

In fact, one of the primary justifications for using an MRP is to have a known calorie load for a given meal. Let's say you make two of your meals each a 200 calorie MRP. That's 400 calories, leaving you with a decent calorie budget for your remaining four meals of the day.

If you toss in a couple scoops of raw oats with each MRP, your remaining budget drops by the amount of the calories in the oats. This leads to another principle about using MRPs: Don't load them up with tons of added fruit, ice cream, and other calorie sources. If you want to have an apple with an MRP, great. But don't toss half a pound of blueberries into a blender and then expect to meet your fitness goals.

Determining how many calories you need each day is a bit tricky. I personally don't count calories. I count portions and measure my body fat every couple of days. If body fat goes up, meal size goes down. This way, I'm able to keep body fat within a desired range. I know if it heads up past 7% to just cut back on what I'm eating with my MRPs for a couple of days. If it drops to less than 5.4%, I eat a little more.

Pretty simple.

As regular readers know, I'm 48 years old in the picture (above, right), taken in December. I don't diet down for summer. I don't have good genes for maintaining a lean body, I really have to be conscientious and disciplined about it. That doesn't mean I suffer, eat bland foods, or starve myself.

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.

Nor does it mean being hungry all the time (you are less hungry on six small meals a day than three large ones), being weak from hunger (on a proper dietary regimen, you will have much more energy than otherwise), or "giving up pleasures" (I have no idea where this concept comes from, unless a person considers being sick a "pleasure.").

Created for the emergency response community, the Ectaco Medical, Fire & Rescue MD-5 electronic translator provides two-way communication in English and Spanish.

Voice output, speech-activated phrasebook. Specific tools for fire, trauma, pre-hospital, history, registration, medications, other situations.

Over 1 million words; 14,000 categorized phrases. Color touch screen, virtual keyboards with full character sets. Smart phone sized, similar controls. 19-item extensive accessory kit included.

Comes with this accessory pack--free!

We don't run ads in our newsletter, despite getting inquiries from advertisers all the time. This eNL is supported by sales from www.mindconnection.com. Please shop there, as appropriate.

Which has a higher cost, failure or success? Which are you really planning for, day to day?