Mindconnection eNL, 2015-03-15

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Good News | Product Highlight | Brainpower | Finances | Security | Health/Fitness | Factoid | Thought 4 the Day

According to some sources, the carnage from the first few days of this year's annual sleep deprivation program exercise (changing the clocks to Daylight Wasting Time) was lower than normal. Nobody has an explanation for this, but it's good news for those who weren't maimed or killed in this sadistic population control measure.

Item 2

Recently, Apple raised the bar for laptops with a new Mac (thinnest ever) that is yet another Apple coup. Disgust with Microsoft's apparent obsession with frustrating users and producing garbage operating systems is widespread and growing. The response to this insanity and abuse has been a fleeing of Windows computer users to something else (anything else). Many have looked at Mac, but high prices and compatibility issues have been the bugaboo there. This new laptop may tilt the balance for those quitting the desktop (thanks to Microsoft) but still wanting the large screen it provides.

Other options include staying with the desktop and buying a Mac. Or installing some version of LINUX or another OS. All of these have their downsides. Tablets, smartphones, and device sized in between are other options. But you can't do serious work on these "light" devices. You need a desktop or a laptop. Looks like Apple understands this.

Item 3

"A U.S. government-backed research effort has taken an important step toward mimicking a plant’s ability to convert sunlight and water into fuel. The problem is the researchers don’t have enough money to continue the effort."

Now, you can connect the dots. This process would solve our fossil fuel dilemma. But fossil fuel companies own most of the criminals in CONgress, so gee, why would government funding run out? I can't imagine!

The good news is the technology is almost here. Perhaps the government of a non-failed state will back it. We are running out of oil, and that is just a fact. Fracking doesn't solve the fossil fuel pollution problem, but it does hasten the day we run out of water. You can read the full story about this promising development in alternative energy, here:

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/535686/artificial-photosynthesis-takes-a-step-forward

Item 4

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is scheduled to restart this month. While it has no hope of detecting signs of intelligent life in Washington, DC, researchers believe they just might find supersymmetric particles. Those particles have defied detection thus far, but their discovery would be a major coup in physics.

Key points about the cPen 3.5 Bluetooth scanner:

• Can scan and load printed text to your computer with no strings attached.
• Bluetooth design allows on-the-go scanning up to 30 feet from your computer or mobile device.
• Perfect fit for both left and right handed users allowing text to be scanned in a simple and comfortable way.
• Scanning speed up to 15 cm/s Character size 5-22 points.
• Abbyy FineReader OCR Engine 8 with support for PC/Mac.

A competitor is also selling this, and they are engaging in "price nibbling." If you buy from us instead of from them, we will rebate you back $15. Just use the link below to buy it (making sure to choose Mindconnection), and then shoot an e-mail to us from right inside Amazon that you want your $15 rebate.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003UUEDR8/ref=olp_product_details

Outside the produce aisle:

• Items such as oats (I eat mine uncooked) help body and mind. Whole oats (not the instant kind, which are poisonous) provide your brain with a good carbohydrate source. Note here that the low-carb diet can make you stupid and wreak general havoc with various body systems.
• Olive oil, coconut oil, and organic butter, also found outside the produce aisle, provide your brain with good fats. Note here that the low-fat or fat-free diet can make you stupid and wreak general havoc with your nervous system.
• Coffee is a good source of anti-oxidants, but for brainpower purposes you will want it for it its caffeine. Note here that caffeine is also a common ingredient in fat burner supplements. The amount you can get from coffee is safe and remarkably effective for alertness. Overdoing it with caffeine pills or some obscenity such as Jolt cola is a good way to poison yourself. A healthy liver has no problem processing the caffeine you get from coffee; see note on produce department above for liver health.
• Spices such as turmeric have all kinds of benefits. Combine turmeric with ordinary black pepper, and you have something that does to cancer what Obama does to the economy. Check out the health claims about many other spices; it turns out most of these claims are actually true.

Foods can also make you stupid. The big problem here is that once you're on a "get stupid" diet, you can easily lack the brainpower to make smart food choices and thus get stuck in stupid-land. So don't go down that path. Eliminate these items from your diet. I do mean eliminate, not cut back:

• Tuna. It is very, very high in mercury. Two researchers for a Japanese tuna association (I forget its name) set out to prove that tuna was perfectly safe. They ate X amount of tuna each day, and charted their blood mercury levels daily. After only 5 days, they said they will never eat tuna again. Their blood levels of mercury were well above what's considered safe. Note that what's considered safe is way above what's actually safe.
• Anything containing "wheat." This "franken grain" causes stupidity in multiple ways. One of those is it contains a powerful neurotoxin (thanks, Monsanto, right nice of you to do that).
• Anything containing corn syrup. Eating endocrine modifiers is never a good idea; this one contains the same powerful neurotoxin that contaminates the "wheat".
• Instant anything. The instantizing process removes nutrients and converts the food into something that causes huge blood sugar swings.
• Anything containing baking powder. Unless you made the baking powder yourself or you paid dearly for the aluminum free kind (I make my own, it's cheap and the recipe is easily found using Bing or Yahoo), you're ingesting something that does brain damage.

Unless your goal is to get Alzhiemer's, don't eat any baked goods unless you have PROOF those goods don't contain aluminum. The odds are nearly 100% they do. And don't let any aluminum cookware or aluminum foil anywhere near your kitchen, either.

Some foods that are nearly guaranteed to contain aluminum:

• Pizza
• Spaghetti
• Noodles of any sort
• Sliced bread
• Sandwiches
• Rolls
• Bread of any sort--pita bread, "whole wheat" bread, etc. Read the label; if it contains baking soda, don't eat it unless you have it in writing from the baker that the baking soda is aluminum-free.

Clabber Girl and Rumford are two popular baking powder brands that contain aluminum.

If you've been spending much for clothing, ask yourself what you're getting for your hard-earned dollars.

Some ways to reduce clothing costs:

• Think in terms of flexibility and combinations. For example, a plain white shirt with simple collars can go with almost anything and tends not to "go out of style" for long, if ever. Contrast that with something flashy or trendy, which loses its appeal after a few wearings. Same thing for pants (buy a few basic colors, plain styles).
• Buy natural fibers. They smell better and last longer than polyester.
• Repair minor damage. If you don't know how to sew, learn. A few stitches can save a $25 item so that it lasts another 10 years.
• Use a high quality laundry soap, and use only 1/5 to 1/3 the recommended amount (the recommended amount is way too much, so much that it actually retards cleaning).
• Do not dry on high heat and do not dry completely in a dryer.
• If you have the "expanding waist" problem, the solution of buying bigger clothes leaves your finance in a poorer condition, but also does that with your health. Follow this newsletter's tips (see our archives) on making smart food choices (high nutrition, low calorie density).
• Good posture does much more for your appearance than flashy clothes. Dress nicely, stand tall.

What other clues might you give criminals about your vulnerabilities? For example, do you hang clothes on an outside line? No only does this mean your clothes pick up pollen, but it gives a great deal of information about who lives in your home.

Here's another issue, though admittedly it's not very common in the USA. It makes no sense to have people traipsing through your home with their shoes on, unless you have a passion for vacuuming, cleaning up dog crap, etc. Have a place where people can shed their shoes upon entering. In many Korean homes, that place is outside the door. If the place is inside the door, the shoes stay warm and dry and you don't advertise who is coming and going at your front door.

Do you have a home security system? Those can be helpful, but if you have the company's sign in your front yard you've just let burglars know which system you have and if they are pros they will know exactly what to do upon entering your home.

Do a "security advertising" audit of your home and, if you have one, your automobile. What clues are you giving off that a burglar might find valuable?

If this exercise produces that deer in the headlights feeling for you, ask your local police department about providing a 20 minute security presentation for your neighborhood focused on making homes more secure. Most PDs are happy to put these on, if arranged in advance and if enough attendees will be present.

It's ideal to have this in a home, given the subject matter. But if you don't have enough seating in your home and nobody else can or will accommodate, see if a local church would like to host and invite their members. Generally, it is best to communicate that food will not be provided and people don't have to pay anything or bring anything.

How do most people train shoulders? They hold a couple of dumbbells and flap their arms up and down. The exercise they are trying to do is the lateral raise. Typically, it becomes a momentum exercise and does very little to actually develop the median deltoids. It does nothing for the front deltoids and nothing for the all-important rear deltoids.

You should exercise any joint/muscle group in three ranges of motion. I won't go into that theory in this eNL, except to say it's pretty much Gospel among serious lifters.

Instead of doing lateral raises, try lateral drops. Here's how I do them:

1. Bring the weights together in front of you, as if starting lateral raises.
2. Punch out to the side, extending your arms fully so there's a straight line from hand to hand across your shoulders.
3. Lower the weights to about waist high, while counting slowly to twelve.

This is very difficult. I do one or two reps per set.

Working the eccentric this way gives you far more muscle growth than raising the weight does. I also like to mix in the standard lateral raises, but only 2 or 3 sets of 3 or 4 reps (one for warm-up).

That works the median delts. Before doing this exercise, you need to work the front delts. For that, we turn to overhead presses. Here is how I do them:

1. Hold the weights in front of shoulders, just above shoulder height, palms facing in.
2. Raise the weights up, while rotating arms during the upward motion.
3. End with palms facing out.
4. Start lowering the weight, and fully rotate palms facing in over 3 inches of lowering.
5. Stop. Count to eight.
6. Lower weight to mid point. Stop. Count to eight.
7. Lower weight to 2 inches above shoulder height. Stop. Count to eight.

I do a couple of reps per set, and maybe four sets this way. Then I do single-rep sets without fully stopping but just really, really sloooooowing down. Three of those, and my front delts are toast.

Rear delts need a similar emphasis on the eccentric, if you want amazing rear delts. Since it's atypical for people to work their rear delts, I can't assume you know how to do so. Please, do a Bing or Yahoo search on "develop rear delts" and then put that new-found knowledge to use. Weak rear delts put you at high risk for shoulder dislocation. Always give these the attention they deserve.

You can also use this eccentric technique with flyes. Try it, some time. I use 55lb dumbbells for my flyes. This is a lot of weight for someone my size, but I've developed the strength to handle it. When you find you can do only one rep in a set, it means you are doing something right. Not that doing more reps is bad, but finding that sweetspot where one is your maximum means you are really in tune with your body. Make those muscles sing!

• The best workouts are short and intense.
• A good diet contains far more flavors and satisfaction than the typical American diet.

The military salute is a  motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armor raised  their visors to reveal their identity. The one-finger salute, often presented to IRS agents and other detritus of society, evolved differently but no need to go into that now.

Scratch a cat (or a dog) once and you will have a permanent job. Politicians have found a similar force at work; they accept payola from their corporate sponsors and have a permanent job. Universal principle!