Mindconnection eNL, 2010-02-21

Home
 

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

Let's see what happens when we confuse the two. There is a strong correlation between breathing and dying. Studies have shown that everyone who died in 2008 was breathing just moments before. Therefore, breathing causes dying.

As you can see, though there's a correlation between two activities (breathing and dying), one does not cause the other.

Let me step into a highly emotional topic, here: global warming. So far, I have not heard a logical case supporting the hypothesis that human activity is causing the earth to warm to dangerous levels. While the idea may (or may not) be true, a logical case supporting it is conspicuously absent. Correlation does not equal causation, but the whole carbon thing is based on correlation. Not causation.

The whole global warming "debate" is rather pointless. We know that humans are fishing out the oceans, polluting vast tracts of land and sea, and generally living in an unsustainable manner.

Becoming more efficient and less wasteful necessarily reduces the human "footprint" on the planet. So if you believe in "global warming" (which thus far is faith-based), channel that angst into existing programs for conservation. Practice reduce, reuse, and recycle. Replace CFLs in your home (if you were duped into installing them) with more energy-efficient incandescent lamps. No, I did not get that backwards and I will explain in a bit.

This "major issue" (GW) isn't really an issue at all, but it's presented as one by using logical fallacies. The main underlying problem (energy waste) can be solved, however, by existing practices and technologies. So, here's another lesson in brainpower. Rather than using brain cycles to solve two apparently related problems, you solve for root causes common to both and thus solve both.

In the case of energy waste reduction, the solutions are already available. So, here's a third lesson in brainpower. Don't waste brain cycles coming up with solutions that already exist. Instead, find the solutions that are appropriate to your circumstances and use your brainpower to determine how best to apply them.

What about that CFL vs. incandescent remark, above? That brings us to lesson number four. You can cut through a great deal of cogitating by stopping to do the math. Be sure to include all of the relevant numbers. Studies done on CFLs vs. incandescents usually compare the two during running conditions, as if they are always on. But that is not how we use lights in the home.

In a home, you turn a light on for a short time and then turn it off (that is, if you are energy-conscious). When you start anything electrical, there will be a momentary inrush current. When an electrical engineer (which I was by training and then by practice for many years) runs the numbers, it turns out that a CFL may take 4 to 6 hours to catch up to the incandescent in terms of energy used for a given light output. Do you have any light in your home that you leave on for 6 hours every time you turn it on?

While you may not want to do complex vector calculations to decide what kind of light bulb to use, there is plenty of other math you could and should do so you don't churn brain cycles on fiction.

To recap:

1. Don't confuse correlation with causation.
2. Solve for root causes.
3. Use existing solutions, even if they must be modified.
4. Do the math.

I guess the idea of "welfare reform" died a long time ago. Welfare for the wealthy is on a tear.

A tiny sliver of our property tax dollars does actually go to people other than the ultra-wealthy. We have a public library system that is a true jewel. It's even won national awards. But it hasn't done it purely on the tax dollars provided. It has support from the Friends of the Library, volunteer workers, and random patron gifts.

• Friends of the Library. This is an organization. It provides funding through various means. It also runs book stores (on library branch premises) to sell items purged from the library collection and to sell other items patrons may want. Proceeds go to the library. All work is done by unpaid volunteers.
• Volunteer workers. These people agree to give X number of hours a week for an indeterminate time. They reshelve materials and do other jobs to assist the library staff.
• Random patron gifs. People just drop off DVDs they watched only once, books they read only once, and other materials that are essentially new. Some do this to get a tax deduction, others do it because they got the intended use from the donated item and don't want it to languish in a closet.

The library has many resources beyond books, DVDS, and other media materials. They have computers with Internet access, for example. I have a friend who doesn't own a computer. He checks his e-mail when he goes to the library.

The library also has meeting rooms. Students can use these to do group work away from the distractions of television and whatever else. People can reserve a room just to talk. And these rooms are often the venue for seminars, workshops, readings by authors, and other events of intellectual value.

Reading areas, complete with living room style furniture, also are a feature in some libraries. In my local branch, there are such areas tucked away in the racks for periodicals and newspapers.

The value of your local library is potentially immense. If you're not using your library, you need to change. If you're not supporting your library in some way, consider doing so.

In the USA, it's customary to gorge over the holidays and put on an additional ten pounds of fat (that's the actual number, from numerous studies). Then in the spring many people go on radical diets to get rid of some or most of this fat before summer.

If you added fat over the holidays, how can you be slim in time for summer? You can wait until May and take unhealthy measures that will help you lose some of that fat for a few months.

A much better, more sustainable, and less damaging approach is to start now and lose the body fat at a reasonable rate. You don't need any special diets for this. You just need to change from the typical "special diet" of processed foods and enormous portions. And make that your permanent way of eating, so you never again are fat.

Contrary to what many people think, it's not rocket science. Here are some tips:

1. Plan your meals. If you do this, you eliminate the possibility of overeating. Make meals ahead of time, and limit your eating to exactly those meals.
2. Eat per your schedule, not per hunger signals or when bored.
3. Eat six small meals, not three big ones. This has numerous advantages. But don't agonize if you eat a big meal occasionally, just adjust by reducing one of the others.
4. Reduce meals in terms of calories, not just size. If you at a lot at a business lunch, then for other meals that day (and maybe the next two), concentrate on vegetables (mostly greens). It's a lot harder to become fat from eating broccoli than from eating steak. Increase the amount of cabbage, broccoli, leafy greens, squash, and other low calorie, nutrient-dense foods.

As regular readers know, I was 48 years old in the picture (above, right), taken in December 02 2008. I don't diet down for summer. I don't have good genes for maintaining a lean body, either. 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.")

The 900-series pocket electronic translator now comes in three packages:

1. Standard.

2. Deluxe. Comes with text scanner.

3. Grand. Comes with text scanner, GPS, and car accessories.

The 900 comes in over 30 languages to/from English. For example, you can buy a Spanish/English one. You can also buy multi-language versions that have several language pairs.

Features include voice output, speech recognition, language teacher. Large word counts, 14,000 categorized phrases. Color touch screen. Virtual keyboards, full character sets, MP3 player, e-book reader.

Many 900-series units (all the multis, plus Russian, Spanish, and a few other languages) have a 183-language translating dictionary onboard. Are you curious as to what those languages are? Sure you're curious. And you can see what they are if you click the specs tab on the Spanish 900.

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.

- Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)