|
In this issue:
Brainpower | Finances | Security | Health/Fitness | Factoid | Product Highlight | Thought for the Day
|
1. Brainpower tip
|
Practice "selective ignorance." This isn't as bad as it may sound. Your mind
has only so much capacity for information processing, you have only so much
time, your brain adapts to the inputs it has, etc.
You can list dozens of reasons, if you are so motivated to do so and
don't mind wasting the time, to justify ignoring things that have no real
value or that actually have negative value. But almost any one of them is
reason enough.
I do not read newspapers. People are sometime shocked, especially around
"election" time. They ask, "How can you know the candidates' position?" The
wrong answer is "By reading the crap peddled as news, or by listening to
anything any candidate says." The right answer is "By looking at what the
candidate has actually done."
People who are now shocked and dismayed at Obama's (mis)behavior since he
took office would have accurately predicted this very behavior if they had
only taken the time to look at his deplorable record as a senator. For those
who like to choose between dog crap flavored toothpaste and cat crap
flavored toothpaste (the Ds and Rs are different stinking brands owned by
the same company), McCain's record was also deplorable. The correct
selection was "spearmint" or probably any other flavor, unless you really
like having bad breath....
Anyhow, my point here is you do not learn what is going on in the world
by reading newspapers (or, as it turns out, by watching television "news").
So why bother wasting your time engaging in those activities?
Follow the same principle for having a healthy body: look for nutritious
selections. Don't load your mental plate up with junk. "You are what you
eat" holds true for the physical. For the mental, it's more like "You are
what you read" or You are what you view."
Your brain, a physical organ, can be helped or hurt by your food choices.
Your mind can be helped or hurt by your information choices. Choose wisely. |
2. Finance tip
|
Due to the current economic depression, which has been deepened and
extended by the Porkulus Package, roughly 1 out 5 American men aged 24
to 50 does not have a job. Many of those with a "job" own a small
business that isn't making any money (e.g., electrical contractors,
consultants) or work for some firm like Wal-Mart that preys upon its
employees instead of paying them a living wage (I will go without,
rather than spend a dime making the Walton Five any richer). And a few
years back, many professionals with billable hours (e.g., architects,
doctors, attorneys, accountants) got so fed up with the IRS and the
litany of taxes that steal the money they work so hard for that they
stopped working as hard. This just happened nationwide by synchronicity.
Now, do the math. An attorney who charges $225 an hour drops from 80
hours a week to 60. Multiply that by, say, 1/3 the number of attorneys
in your state. Repeat for others who bill by the hour. It adds up to a
huge drop in tax receipts. Nothing like killing the goose that lays the
golden egg, eh?
Combine these factors, and you have a massive reduction in the tax
base for state and local governments.
So, what is their answer? Is it to spend their money wisely so as to
conserve the more limited resources they have?
No. Their answer is to do "improvements" such as needless lighting
projects in already overlit areas, cosmetic work on curbings, and
various other little projects. But, wait, doesn't this additional
spending mean they are making their situation worse?
No. They are doing these "improvements" so they have something on
which the drive-by tax increaser (inaccurately called a "property
appraiser") has an excuse to give them the numbers they want for a
"value increase" on residential and commercial properties. This
increased valuation results in higher property taxes. But they'll claim
"We didn't raise taxes. Your mill rate is the same."
They'll raise the mill rates later, and claim they didn't raise your
property taxes any faster than the rate of inflation....
So, how do you stop this little game? Well, I can tell you these
folks don't announce ahead of time they are going to "improve" an area.
They just quietly sneak in the work and then hit people later with the
"increased value." Unfortunately, you can't trust people just because
you vote for them. You have to keep tabs on what schemes they are
hatching, what games they are playing, and what cons they are running.
One way to do this is to visit your city and county Websites. They
usually list pending projects. When you see one, contact them and
register a protest. Now is not the time to spend money we don't have,
purely for the purpose of creating an excuse to raise property taxes.
You work for your money. Don't let these people just steal it. |
3. Security tip
|
Beware of common phone traps at the office. A popular outgoing message
on voice mail is:
"Hi, you've reached Bob Jones in Marketing. I'm either on the phone
or away from my desk. Please leave a detailed message."
This is wrong. Let's look at these three sentences.
- The first sentence is fine. You've identified yourself, which is
expected. More about this in just a bit, though.
- The second sentence essentially says, "My work is so unimportant
and mindless, that I can and do answer the phone whenever it rings."
Is this really the statement you want to make to your customers and
the management above you?
- Do you really want to waste time returning messages and playing
phone tag? That is what you are asking someone to do. You need to
discourage message-leaving, or you'll be spending your work days
wasting time with phone games when you could be using that time to
do work that proves you are worth keeping during the next layoff.
On that second one, you do not need an excuse for not answering the
phone. The other person has chosen to try to interrupt you. It's their
problem if they were not successful in doing that, and you have nothing
to explain.
On that third one, provide another means for someone to reach you.
Most people have zero consideration when leaving a phone message, so
they leave you nothing to reply to if you call back and get their
voicemail.
- If you leave a message, ask for something specific. "I need to
know, by noon tomorrow, if you are still wanting that order for the
31 widgets. You can leave a voice mail with your preference, or just
send me an e-mail to orders at acmewidget.com confirming this
order."
- If you answer a message, it's unlikely the other person had
enough respect for your time to do this. If they leave a vague "call
me" message, reply back by e-mail if possible. "Can you please reply
to this e-mail with some info about why you called? Also, I'd like
to return your call a little before 1500. Unfortunately, I have only
a few minutes at that time and so want to be prepared so I can best
serve you and make good use of your limited time."
- Think about various ways to reduce phone tag, message checking,
and all the other hassles involved with the telephone. You'll come
up with some rules that work well for you.
What about that first item? What can possibly be wrong with
identifying yourself in your outgoing message? It's not wrong, really,
but it is a giveaway. It's another piece of information about you. In
itself, no problem.
But because you have given this away, you do not want to give away
any other information such as your login ID or password. "Yeah, but they
need both and I'm giving only one." Sure. Next week, you'll give only
one and it'll be the OTHER one.
Here's a scenario.
Bob Burglar twisted his ankle during a house robbery a few years
back, and now likes to commit his crimes in a less physically demanding
way. So he ran for CONgress but didn't get elected. Darn the luck. Next,
he chooses to try his hand at being a phone burglar.
He trolls Websites to find phone numbers. He calls them at night, and
listens to such things as "For Steve in Marketing, dial 02. For Betty in
Accounts Payable, dial 03." Then he dials those. "Hi, this is Steven
Schwartz in Marketing...."
Bob calls during the day, and reaches Betty. He says, "Oh, I'm sorry,
I was trying to reach Steve Schwartz. I'm such a klutz. Can you transfer
me over?" She does. Now Steve's phone rings as an inside call instead of
an outside one.
Steve answers the phone, "Steve Schwartz."
Bob resists the urge to say, "No, you guessed wrong. I'm Bob Burglar,
YOU are Steve Schwartz." Whether Steve answers the phone with his name
or not, Bob already knows it. He says, "Steve, this is Gary in IT. We're
trying to remap the shared folders and you have a document open on the W
drive. Can you please close it? I'll hold while you do."
Steve fumbles around, and then says, "I don't see a document in W
drive."
Bob says, "You're logged in to W drive right now?"
Steve confirms this.
Bob says, "I see the problem. I have to log in as you, and your login
ID is right here but the password is asterisked out. You wouldn't mind
telling me what it is, would you?"
Steve, "knowing" this is Gary in IT (a name Bob got by phoning and
getting Gary's "I'm out until Wednesday" message and today is Tuesday so
no chance Gary will walk by while Steve is on the phone) happily
complies.
Gary says, "That's it. Now, I need you to reboot your computer and
after it comes up log in again. I just want to make sure I didn't wipe
out your password. I'll hold while you do this."
There's a good chance Gary will SAY his login ID when the login
screen comes up. But if not, no problem. This last step is about giving
Gary some assurance. If Bob had stopped just after he got the password,
Gary might be suspicious. But, no, Bob is making sure Gary can log in
just fine. A great IT guy, that Bob.
This scenario is part of what security experts call social
engineering. It works by getting people to bypass security barriers for
you, because they think it's OK to tell you information that they should
not be telling you. If the company suffers a huge financial loss and
they lose their jobs, they will surely blame someone other than
themselves--but that's a different issue. The point here is you do not
reveal any of your security information to anyone.
If you get pressured, go directly to your boss and report it. If you
do give such information to a legitimate source, change it as soon as
possible. Just in case. It may well be that your
legitimate source is simply accumulating a self-made golden parachute or
is selling the information (so he can pay off IRS levies for taxes he
doesn't owe but the IRS says he does).
Another scam is to stand out in the parking lot and offer people free
Cokes just for telling you their password. You claim you're looking for
the funniest password and it's all fun. The winner of the funniest
password will get four cases of Coke!
Why anyone sane would drink that stuff, I have no idea, but
apparently offering this toxic brew to people makes for a pretty good
bribe--what's next, offering to amputate their thumbs?
A variation is the additional grand prize is...lunch with the CEO!
Well, if the CEO is participating, it must be legitimate, right? Yeah,
sure.
If you run into this scam, look for some kind of identification--car
license number or anything, and call the police immediately. Describe
the criminal to the dispatcher, after an officer is on the way.
It might not be possible for the police to catch this criminal,
because he will probably see them coming. There is a solution. I can't
advise you to do this, but if it were me, I would tackle this criminal
and restrain him. If you don't know any restraining holds, take the time
to learn and practice them. They really do come in handy.
But if you haven't trained for restraining someone, there's no reason
properly motivated coworkers can't help. And remember, people do have
"accidents." It's not your fault he rushed you while you had that tire
iron in your hand and you accidentally capped his knee. Gosh, you
thought you had a flat tire and were just taking a look.... Probably
won't hold up in court, though.
Very important: With any breach of security of this magnitude,
everyone in the company will need to change their login information
right away. Be sure you report this breach of security to at least two
"C" persons, preferably the CFO and the CIO. If they tell you it's no
big deal, start looking for another job right away. I do mean right
away, not later that week. It is almost certain your company will be
laying off, due to a huge financial loss resulting from a security
breach. |
4. Health tip/Fitness tips
|
Many people have backaches and tired feet at the end of the day. They accept
this as normal. You should not do likewise. One of the major reasons for this
problem is a muscle imbalance caused by overworking the thighs relative to the
hamstrings.
The solution is, of course, to also work the hamstrings. A popular exercise
for this is the hamstring curl, which you do with an attachment to a weight
bench or a dedicated machine. This is not my favorite exercise, and I don't
bother doing it.
A better exercise is the front squat. You can do these with weights or you
can do "sissy squats" using a door jamb for "fall protection." The key is to
balance without use of any support. This is what recruits the muscles that work
your core, in addition to forcing your hamstrings to work to support you going
up and coming down. |
About 100 days before age 50 |
|
You need to stretch both muscles and you need to do contraction workout with
both muscles. But never do stretching before weight training, no matter what
some doctor or trainer tells you. There are sound biomechanical reasons for
this, and they add up to "injury prevention." If you are working contractions,
a muscle that has already been stretched is going to be weak at the end of the
range of motion. This greatly increases your risk of injury.
Stretch gently after you work out. Not before.
|
 |
Photo notes
In these photos, I was at 5.1% body fat. I dropped to 5%
after the shoot and am still there several weeks later, as I write
this. One reason I can be that lean is the way I have these
workouts scheduled. This kind of scheduling plays off the cortisol/testosterone responses the body goes through when
subjected to the kind of stress that an intense workout puts on
it. It may be more accurate to say I schedule my recovery
windows so they don't overlap, and thus I maximize the time during which my
natural testosterone level is elevated.
Of course, eating six small meals a day and paying attention
to what's in those meals is another factor in allowing a 50 year
old person to be at 5% bodyfat.
|
|
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.
|
5. Factoid
|
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated. Graft and corruption in
CONgress last forever, no refrigeration required. |
6. Product Highlight
|
We hear a lot about the TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party, all of it good until you get
the mudstream media version.
There's another T you should be thinking about, and it's just as important for women as
for men. It's testosterone.
This is the hormone that signals your body to store calcium in your bones. It does many
other things as well, and low T can be a huge problem. |
 |
 |
|
The typical American man has low testosterone (mostly due to diet). You may have noticed the gradual
feminization of men over the past couple of decades. Not all men are
undergoing this, but most are. As
bad as this is, real damage can
occur before the secondary signs are
apparent.
With women, it's not feminization that's an
issue (obviously). Women have a
different hormonal profile and
environment, so their testosterone
needs are different from those of
men. Different, but not
insignificant. Low testosterone in a
woman carries considerable health
risks and fairly guarantees she will
develop osteoporosis if it isn't
corrected. The good
news is there are natural, healthy
ways to raise your testosterone to
where it should be--and these will
work for most people. But do you
know where it is? If a doctor gives
you a blood test for testosterone,
you will not know any more than
before you took the test. Why is
this? Because those tests don't tell
you the active part that matters.
They tell you the total, including
the protein-bound fraction. The test
runs about $300 and ist worthless
because it provides wrong
information. The good
news is we offer a $49.49 test that
measures only the active part. It is
the standard today for testosterone
assessment. Click on the picture
above for more information.
This is actually a test sample kit. The form that's included will let
you use the same sample for three additional tests (for three
additional fees): DHEA, DHT, and
Estrogen. Once you
know your hormone levels, you can
implement a few things and then take
another sample to see if you've done
enough. For some people, there isn't a natural way to
sufficiently raise testosterone (due
to toxins, organic damage, etc.).
That's one reason this test is so
important. For others, some stress
reduction techniques or stopping a
soda pop addiction will provide
enough correction. You can't know
without before and after tests. You
could spend $600 getting the useless
blood test, or you could spend less
than $100 doing it the right way. Your call. |
|
|
7. Thought for the Day
|
Do you make a conscious effort to make others feel appreciated? If not,
how will they know? |
Please forward this eNL to others.
Authorship
The views expressed in this e-newsletter are generally not shared by criminals, zombies, or brainwashed individuals.
Except where noted, this e-newsletter is entirely the work of Mark Lamendola. Anything presented as fact can be independently verified. Often, sources are given; but where not given, they are readily available to anyone who makes the effort.
Mark provides information from either research or his own areas of established expertise. Sometimes, what appears to be a personal opinion is the only possibility when applying sound logic--reason it out before judging! (That said, some personal opinions do appear on occasion).
The purpose of this publication is to inform and empower its readers (and save you money!).
Personal note from Mark: I value each and every one of you, and I hope that shows in the diligent effort I put into writing this e-newsletter. Thank you for being a faithful reader.
Wishing you the best,
Mark Lamendola
Mindconnection, LLC
Authorship
The views expressed in this e-newsletter are generally not shared by criminals, zombies, or brainwashed individuals.
Except where noted, this e-newsletter is entirely the work of Mark Lamendola. Anything presented as fact can be independently verified. Often, sources are given; but where not given, they are readily available to anyone who makes the effort.
Mark provides information from either research or his own areas of established expertise. Sometimes, what appears to be a personal opinion is the only possibility when applying sound logic--reason it out before judging! (That said, some personal opinions do appear on occasion).
The purpose of this publication is to inform and empower its readers (and save you money!).
Personal note from Mark: I value each and every one of you, and I hope that shows in the diligent effort I put into writing this e-newsletter. Thank you for being a faithful reader.
To subscribe, change your e-mail address, offer your own tidbit, tell
us how much you love this eNL, ask how to put us in your will <grin>, or to (gasp) unsubscribe, write to
comments @ mindconnection.com (paste that into your e-mail client, and remove
the spaces).
Let other potentialreaders know what you think of this e-zine, by rating it at the Cumuli Ezine
Finder
|
