Mindconnection eNL, 2015-05-17

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Florida Power and Light plans to install over 1 million solar panels by the end of 2016. Read more here: http://bit.ly/1DBLQJL

Item 2

California tends to be a trend-setter. It recently became the first state to pass the 5% level in solar power. Specifically, it now gets over 5% of its annual utility-scale power from solar (going by 2014 data). And 22% of its power comes from a combination of non-hydropower renewables (e.g., solar, biomass, wind, etc.). Source: Maintenance Technology Magazine, Apri 2015 issue.

Item 3

Sometimes, the technology of empire nations is used to help people in other nations:

http://www.technologyreview.com/video/537381/the-lake-that-could-light-up-central-africa

Item 4

Sometimes, people come to America and create jobs. Consider this example, reported in the May 2015 Edition of Inc. Magazine. Ayah Bdeir founded "...littleBits, a toymaker whose products inspire kids to engage in science and technology." Such products are sorely needed in a country like ours, where scientific illiteracy reigns and there's a severe shortage of kids going into science and technology. So she's really helping America. And she hired 45 people.

That's the good news. The bad news is she lives in constant fear of deportation. Apparently, the same government that won't deport a certain illegal alien who has destroyed millions of American jobs can't figure out how to make this woman feel welcome in America. I didn't find out if she wanted to become a U.S. citizen (and thus subject to the IRS, so not a good idea) or was just trying to help us on a Visa.

Item 5

This is good news for the people of Indonesia, only. Your fellow citizen, Barry Soetoro, still has not yet been deported from the USA despite having come here on an Indonesian passport and living here illegally under an illegally assumed alias and committing massively devastating crimes. You were SO lucky to get rid of him! Please tell us how you did it....

This charger is perfect for business trips, carpools, road trips, and nights out on the town.

Never worry about a low battery while on a trip, ever again.

The stylish Wagan Tech Travel Charge Quad USB Power Hub 6.8 Amp EL2891 provides 4 USB ports to keep all of your gadgets charged while your vehicle is rolling down the road.

Perfect for business trips, carpools, road trips or nights out on the town; everyone in your group can charge their mobile devices. Simply plug into your vehicle's DC outlet (accessory plug) to use.

Includes mounting tabs with screws, or if you prefer something less permanent it also includes mounting tape.

Sold out

• 4 USB power ports (2.4A each) provide 9.6 amperes total.
• Powerful enough to charge up to (4) tablets at the same time (2.4 amperes each).
• Quickly charges all your devices at their optimal speeds (up to 6.8A), including: mobile phones, pocket electronic translators, GPS, digital cameras, portable game systems, mp3 players, iPad, whatever charges from USB. No other charger on the market has this feature!
• Multiple safety features include: on/off switch, independent overvoltage protection for each USB port, short circuit protection, low voltage shut-off, and overheat protection.

In most cases, people believe what they believe because of brainwashing. That's a fact. To verify it, conduct this simple experiment. Take any belief you have that seems unshakeable (religion is a good place to go, if you're brave enough) and ask WHY you believe it. Most likely, it's going to be because you've been told this is true. If you've challenged this, you've received an explanation. But does the explanation actually make sense when analyzed logically?

You can apply this process to many areas, including:

• Food myths (e.g., eggs are somehow "bad" for you).
• Exercise myths (don't get me started).
• Fake politics and fake elections (these do not pass the smell test).
• Fake history as taught in schools (challenge it by visiting museums and reading the source documents such as personal letters that are under glass and also tapping other sources that have not been compiled).
• Religious texts (read with an open mind, instead of a pre-conditioned one).
• Stupid processes in the workplace (I saved several companies several million dollars each by exposing these faulty processes) that are done because that's "the way we do it here" rather than whether they make sense.
• Whether specific government agencies should be allowed to continue to exist (we'd be far better off without the DHS, DEA, BATFE, or IRS).
• Whether a particular war is just (hint, you will be very hard-pressed to find one that is just; these nearly always serve the interests of banksters).
• Technology enslavement fads (e.g., how smart is it, really, to be controlled by a "smart phone" or waste ten hours a week of your life with mindless exchanges on Facebook?).
• Poor food choice mania (just because others poison themselves, does this mean you have to poison yourself to be accepted?).
• Advertising (it's great if an ad informs you, but most ads are meant to manipulate with lies, distortions, and irrelevancies; the classic woman in a bikini in a car ad comes to mind).

Some ways brainwashing is inculcated:

• Fear. This is very common in cults. You'll be ostracized and lose all of your "friends" or, worse, be obliterated for all eternity.
• Reward. Typically, the reward is given, then withdrawn. It's a game of teasing. When the reward is withdrawn, the victim becomes compliant to get the reward re-established.
• Lies. This is where the analysis comes in really handy. Most lies are easily debunked, yet they are generally accepted as true.
• Guilt trips. You do nothing wrong, but the manipulator acts as if you did. As humans, we don't like being "wrong" so we tend to go along rather than challenge this particular manipulative behavior. This particular method is used very widely, and typically goes unchallenged. There are entire belief systems built solely on this.

This is just a quick summary; many excellent books cover this topic in detail.

Brainwashing is harmful for many reasons, one of which is it puts your own brainpower on hold. To protect yourself from brainwashing, make a conscious effort to challenge and examine ideas, suggestions, and beliefs upon which you act. If you act upon something, that means you made a choice. Often, that choice is not in your best interests. By challenging the underlying reasons (or manipulations) for your choices, you can better ensure you make smart ones.

Here in this time and in this galaxy, Google totally stinks and eBay has lost its "great bargain" vibe.

The reason for eBay's decline is its abusive policies toward merchants. The folks at eBay apparently sit around dreaming up ways to jack up the cost of doing business on eBay, which has earned it the nickname "feeBay." Not only that, feeBay processes are illogical and hugely waste time for merchants.

For example, instead of taking 45 seconds to submit a ticket about a problem, a merchant must phone eBay. The typical phone call takes 30 to 60 minutes. That's a huge sinkhole for time, which is a business cost (contractors and employees typically work by the hour, so a 30-fold increase in time spent on an issue means a financial hit).

Adding and editing products, conducting returns, managing inventory, etc., are all inordinately difficult on feeBay compared to doing these same functions on Amazon. Worse, eBay orders don't have order numbers, and that is just insane.

Other issues also make feeBay difficult for merchants. In our own case, a very happy customer wrote a glowing review of our company and his experience dealing with us. But feeBay would not let him post it. Meanwhile, another customer wrote a totally bogus review that was negative and feeBay would not take it down even after we proved it was false. Amazon, by contrast, takes the integrity of its review system very seriously. If a customer writes a dishonest review, Amazon doesn't want customers misled by it. The folks at feeBay don't care if customers are misled.

Yes, we still sell on feeBay but have cut the number of our offerings by 80%. Our Amazon sales in one week dwarf what we sell on feeBay in an entire quarter. And many other merchants have ditched feeBay entirely.

But you can still get the great deals that you USED TO find on feeBay. Because of the extreme dissatisfaction that merchants have had with feeBay, another marketplace that touts itself as the cure for eBay has arisen. And because merchants don't endure the feeBay abuses there, you'll find lower prices on this site than on feeBay. What's the site? Bonanza.

Go check it out, hoss: www.bonanza.com

Instead of casing the joint so they can come back when the homeowner isn't present, they are actually intent on invading while the homeowner is home.

In this case, it's a woman who poses as the sales person. She comes to the door and starts yakking about her carpet cleaning service. When the homeowner opens the door to let her come in and look at the rooms, she grabs the door and holds it open while two men rush toward it.

Now, I live in Kansas and if you found a home where there aren't any guns you had to look pretty darn hard. Thus far, each of these incidents has resulted in no robbery or injury, because someone in the home came forth brandishing a firearm.

I think eventually, they'll hit on a home where the occupant believes in protecting violent criminals from innocent targets rather than the other way around, or it'll be a home where there's a single occupant and nobody to "run to the gun" while he's busy confronting the intruders.

Dialing 911 isn't the solution, because the cops are minutes away and seconds count. By the time the cops arrive, you could already be bleeding out.

The solution is this. If people look or act suspicious, don't let them into your home. I always go out onto my porch and close the door behind me. They have no idea what's on the other side of that door, but this being Kansas they really don't want to find out. If you see a nondescript vehicle pull up or there is no vehicle, that's your first sign something isn't right.

In this case, it's a plain white van.

Here's something to know about small business owners such as those who own carpet cleaning businesses or interior painting companies or other real businesses. They are very proud of what they've accomplished and what they are doing. Their service vehicle will have artwork on it, proudly and boldly proclaiming the name of their company. It will probably have their phone number and Website address on it, too.

If you don't see that bold advertisement at your curb, the person claiming to offer X service is a fake. Don't dial 911 until you've loaded and aimed 357 (or equivalent). But do call 911, and report as much detail as possible. A license number is always good, if you can get it.

Over the past few months, some readers of this column have asked about time and exercise. Comments typically are along the lines of, "I really don't have time to work out" or "I can't stick with my program because things come up."

It's polite to say, "I understand" but honestly I don't. I have not missed a workout since the summer of 1977. That's no typo, James Earl "Jimmy" Carter was in the second year of his Presidency the last time I missed a workout.

That's despite traveling, working 12 hour days for weeks at a stretch, relocating many times, going through graduate school, dealing with personal issues and financial issues, being targeted by terrorists, and basically going through life. Not a single miss.

Perhaps the first thing we need to do here is get a handle on what a workout is. I don't like to use the term, because it does not convey in the listener the meaning I intend. That's why I often say "I train" instead of "I work out."

The idea of a "workout" has been inculcated in people to mean spending a couple of hours at a gym. First, you drive there, then you "work out" then you drive home. So maybe three hours, total. No wonder people don't have time to work out every day!

Nearly all professional athletes and nearly all bodybuilders use an approach called the "split routine." There are several of these, each working a different muscle group. You do them in sequence, doing only one on any given training day. You might do the same one every Wednesday, or you might (as I do) have a few that end up rotating in their days.

Here's the combination I use:

• Back and biceps. About 30 minutes. Rotating (T,W,S,S).
• Chest and triceps. About 25 minutes. Rotating (T,W,S,S).
• Shoulders. About 25 minutes. Rotating (T,W,S,S).
• Abs and calves. About 20 minutes, except I work calves every other Friday. Done Fridays.
• Squats. About 20 minutes, every other Monday. Sometimes an extra week of rest in there.

Let me explain rotating. There are three of these workouts. There are four training days that use them. So if I do Back and Biceps this week on Tuesday, it will fall on Sunday of the following week. Doing Chest on Triceps on Wednesday of this week means it falls on Saturday of the following week. And so on.

I have all of my equipment at home, so no round trip to the gym. With this schedule, I spend less time training all week than the typical gym rat does in one session. And I get far, far better results. If you can't find 25 minutes a day to really focus hard on training a given muscle group, you're not trying. Note also there are rest days (always Thursday, for me, and often Monday); this allows you to move a workout forward or backward a day if there's an exigency that will interfere with performing it on its normal day.

By spreading things out over the whole week instead of doing a poor job all on one day (and repeating that poor job twice that week by chasing the "3 workouts a week" thing), you are able to do a proper job of training in much less time. That's 120 productive minutes a week versus 360 marginally productive minutes a week. That is, I spend only one-third the time.

You may not have time to "work out," buy you do have time to train.

Now, I need to modify what I told you above about my schedule. I train very early in the morning. On those rotating workouts, I do a second, VERY intense version in the afternoon. So add another 15 to 20 minutes per week to my total. I don't recommend this additional workout unless you really know what you're doing; it can retard your progress due to overtraining or possibly even injury. The schedule I presented (not showing the additional training sessions) is more realistic for most folks.

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

In Roman mythology, Trivia was the goddess who haunted crossroads and graveyards. She was also the goddess of sorcery and witchcraft.  She wandered about at night, and was seen only by the barking of dogs who told of her approach. Just a bit of trivia to start your week....

I've reached the age where the happy hour is a nap.