Mindconnection eNL, 2012-02-19

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Year-to-date total of $4.1 billion is up 91.9% as compared with 2010. NEMA’s Electroindustry Business Confidence Index on current conditions reflects optimism, and its future reading is also positive.

Source: EC&M Magazine, 2011-12.

The ScanMaker 5950SD All-in-one Document Scanner is a duplex scanner on a simplex scanner budget. This easy to use flatbed scanner offers high 2400-dpi optical resolution and 48-bit color depth, ensuring color fidelity and detail capture in all your scans.

Bundled with ScanWizard DI, it makes short work of digitizing paper files. Compact enough to sit on any desktop. Includes 50-page automatic document feeder!

Benefits:

• Time. Comes with tools for fast digitization of paper files.
• Quality. The resolution and color fidelity are beyond what you normally find in this price range.
• Ease of use. Just push a button.
• Office-friendliness. Small footprint makes it suitable for any desktop.
• Connectivity. The USB 2.0 Hi-Speed Interface also allows for quick previews of your images to your computer.

Discontinued.

A couple of readers wrote regarding an error I made (and according to one it's not the first time and since he is a pretty sharp guy I believe him).

My error was I passed along the "Where are they now" bit without verifying any of it against a reliable source. Snopes, which has been caught with its pants down many times, says it's false. But since Snopes has made many more errors than I have, I don't use Snopes.

The item probably is false, at least in its details of exactly who did what. But I can tell you the substance of it has been verified exhaustively. See www.iousa.com for info on how Goldman Sachs people have infiltrated the government, especially those parts that oversee anything financial. You can find other sources, as well. That doesn't give me license to publish anything that agrees with my own preconceptions even if it's unverified. Being right in substance is not the same as being right in fact.

One lesson from this: Be careful about passing on information just because it "sounds right." (mea culpa)

Another lesson from this: Be careful how you interpret what people say, and what label you slap on it. Else, you may completely miss the point they are making.

That last point expands, based on another comment I received. The complaint was that my statements regarding taxation and government spending are "political" and can be summed up as "Democrats = bad." I'm sorry if I'm somehow giving people that impression.

Let's do a little fact-digging. If you read any biography of two-term President Grover Cleveland, you will find his sentiments are essentially the same as mine and our statements are similar in many regards. And Cleveland was a Democrat.

Some Grover Cleveland quotes:

• Though the people support the government; the government should not support the people. [How many ways have I been saying the same thing?]
• When more of the people's sustenance is exacted through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of government and expenses of its economical administration, such exaction becomes ruthless extortion and a violation.... [Sounds like one of my 10th Amendment rants]
• There is no calamity which a great nation can invite which equals that which follows a supine submission to wrong and injustice. [OK, I have not said it quite this bluntly]

In many of his vetoes (and he vetoed often, unlike GWB), Cleveland referred to the 10th Amendment. Today, that Amendment is violated as a matter of standard policy as if it does not exist (GWB, a Republican, never once vetoed a 10th Amendment-violating bill during his first term; I stopped watching during his second due to sheer nausea).

Note that during Cleveland's first term, the Treasury had a surplus of some $97 million (considering inflation, that's something like a trillion dollars today). There was no federal income tax.

Barely more than a quarter century later, Wilson would change all that and set the stage for massive plundering that would trigger the Great Depression (which we are still in), inflation of more than 96%, a debt burden that exceeds the average worker's lifetime earning potential, and other ills we are still experiencing.

Interestingly, the theft per citizen of the Federal Reserve's counterfeiting on behalf of the major banksters since 2008 works out to about $97,000. The repeat of 97 is just an anomaly, I suppose. Just to be clear, that's just this one counterfeiting operation, not the total counterfeiting.

Ike and Kennedy were the last Presidents to provide any substantive resistance to this rampant stealing. They were, respectively, a Republican and a Democrat.

You will also find, if you look into John F. Kennedy's presidential years, that he very much wanted the Federal Reserve gone. While it's true that Wilson, the worst President of all time, signed the FR Act into "law," was a Democrat it's also true that Kennedy, who wanted to undo that illegal Act, was a Democrat. Notice that only one of them took an open air limo ride in Dallas.

We get nothing but crap from either wing of what is, in reality, a single political machine. Whether it's dog crap or cat crap, it still tastes foul. The truth is I draw no distinction between Demopublicans and Republocrats. People confusing me as being "for" either wing of The Party are falling prey to their own preconceptions.

Don't let the spin of politics blind you to the crime. It is the crime that is the issue, not what gang colors a particular criminal happens to be wearing or which division of the same corporation he works for. That is why I don't vote Demopublican/Republocrat. Voting for crime just does not strike me as a good use of a vote. Especially when the consequences are as noted above.

When I speak of the egregious crimes committed by these gang members, I'm not expressing a preference for the Crips over the Bloods. I really don't care what colors they wear. Nor do I care if they work for the Cat Crap division or the Dog Crap division of Gangsta Govt, Inc.

If they are breaking the law they are breaking the law. Since Bush's reign of error ended, the crimes that are relevant are those being committed by the current misadministration. Not Bush. Thus, discussion in a current frame of reference might seem like "Democrat = bad." But only because a nominal "Democrat" is in office. The real issue is the crime.

"I called my stockbroker and asked him what I should be buying. He said, "If the current administration is in office much longer, canned goods, a generator, water, and ammunition are your best bet."

You probably don't have the time or desire to go to your local shooting range every day. I don't. And I no longer own a home adjacent to a pasture ideal for outdoor shooting.

Something I learned from the unarmed martial arts also applies to the armed martial arts. Visualize. Create a sort of shooting range in your home, complete with target. Empty whichever pistol or other weapon you're practicing with, and do dry run "shooting." This isn't the same, of course, as actually shooting. But it does program your mind for shooting. If you haven't done visualization before, you will be amazed at what an effective tool it is.

Now, here's something else to consider. How would you use your weapon in an emergency? Would you place it on a tripod and carefully squeeze off rounds with one eye shut? Nope. You'd pick that baby up, point, and shoot. Do the same in your practice.

If you don't have a firearm and somehow think your home is safe and secure, please contact me immediately. I have a great deal on the Brooklyn bridge, and it will make you RICH!

When seconds count, the cops are only minutes away.

One query was, "It's fine for an active person such as yourself to talk about keeping your weight down, but I work at a computer all day. Do you have any tips for me?"

I don't talk about keeping my weight down. In fact, I work very hard at increasing my weight. It's the fat I don't want. Like you, I work at a computer all day. My neighbor's cat now stays with me for reasons nobody can fathom, and she is also on the computer all day. She sleeps on top of the thing. I guess it's warm there. Though she has continuous access to food, she stays trim. What's her secret, you might wonder?

Years ago, I worked for a trade magazine. The publishing company owned dozens of such magazines. One of the ladies on my floor had a perfect figure and a nearby coworker was legally required to paste a Wide Load sign on her butt. Well, OK, that's not actually true. She was huge, though.

So what accounted for the difference?

Age 50.

The woman with the dozens of pounds of extra body fat even used the point system, while the one with the perfect figure used no system at all. The one with the perfect figure also had a passion for peanut butter, and twice a day opened a jar of it at her desk and snacked while reading.

Doesn't it seem like there's something profoundly unfair, here? Must be genes, right?

In fact, there was no unfairness. The woman with the perfect figure did enjoy her peanut butter (which, though calorie dense, is a healthful, nutrient-rich food). And she'd have even more calories during her peanut butter snacks by having them with an apple or a banana. But when you look at her total calorie intake for the day, it stayed below the "store fat" level. That's how she kept her body composition in line.

As for having a perfect figure, understand that the curves on a body come from the muscles. This woman regularly rode bikes long distances. That's how she met her husband, who also (for a guy) has a perfect figure (physique). Like other athletes, they enjoyed other physical activities besides their main sports interests. He was a graphic designer, so also spent a lot of time sitting at a computer.

The other woman didn't even go for walks. She did nothing to raise her basal metabolism. She counted "points" and that did help reduce total calorie intake. But like so many people looking for a magic answer, she cheated. She didn't count all the candies she took from a big candy bowl she kept at her desk (she "estimated"). Nor did she count the several soft drinks she had.

Do you see the difference? It's not a matter of excluding any and all "fattening" foods such that you starve the fat away. If you want a lean figure:

• Eat six small meals a day.
• Eat foods you enjoy, so you don't have cravings (but aim for nutrient-dense foods and don't be a pig).
• Get out and enjoy life. Move. Use your body.

Yes, using a scientific, measured approach does have its appeal. And it does work. But it's very difficult to stick with and cheating is the natural response (even if you don't mean to). The typical person who just wants his or her pants to fit again does not need to go on a special diet, count calories, track points, or ban peanut butter. You do, however, need to ban being on your butt all the time.

And you need to just eat less. How much less? That's not important. Just make it less, and you will see results. Everyone with excess body fat got there one spoonful at a time. You get rid of it the same way. Cut back by a couple spoonfuls here and a couple spoonfuls there, and you painlessly get things under control. Yes, you may need to do a few other things such as eliminate endocrine modifiers (fruit juices, sodas). But if diets have failed you in the past then don't do diets again.

Instead, just eat less with each meal--and be sure you are eating six small ones. If you are eating fewer than six meals a day, you are putting your body into its catabolic (muscle-wasting, fat-storing) state at least once a day. After about 2.5 hours with no food, your body goes into this mode. That's why eating only three meals a day leaves you under-muscled and with too much body fat even if you do everything else right.

If you have been eating too few meals, don't eat more total for the day. Figure out how to divide up your total food intake across six meals, and then just make each one a tad smaller. You'll have more energy during the day, because you won't go catabolic, and the fat will melt off in the coming weeks.

Oh, and the cat. The food she gets here and at home is not the cheap corn-based garbage. It's not expensive, but it is real food. She eats and is satisfied. She's a happy, active cat. Sitting around counting calories and points must be depressing, and she skips that step. So did the woman with the perfect figure.

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.