Mindconnection eNL, 2017-11-05

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Item 1. If you weren't already aware, in the penultimate week of October President Trump gave approval to the release of some of the sealed documents involving the government-orchestrated murder of JFK. You may recall that for the official story to be true, one particular bullet had to do U-turns and also pause in mid-air for 1.6 seconds and yet emerge pristine after penetrating multiple bones. You can see the archives here: https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/2017-release

Item 2. It looks like a massive "tax reform" bill will soon be signed into law. This is perhaps the best national news in over a century, because this particular bill greatly erodes the lame excuses for funding the terrorist group known as the Institute of Reprobates and Sociopaths. Also, the 1040 system generates such massive compliance costs that it hugely dampens the economy via massive misallocation of limited resources. Abolishing this insane system outright would put millions of Americans to work in useful jobs and increase federal revenue. This bill takes big steps toward that outcome.

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Insufficient sleep makes you stupid. Here's an article (along with 11:45 video) that helps underscore the point:

https://futurism.com/heres-how-sleeping-too-little-literally-transforms-your-brain/

Many people can reduce their discretionary spending 50% or more. Little things add up.

Note that I am defining "discretionary" as that pittance you have left over after paying a myriad of federal taxes, plus state and local taxes. The inflation tax affects what's left over. Because of all of the taxes and stealing in general, most of us don't have much to show for our 50+ hour work week. That makes guarding that money all the more important.

So how can you reduce frivolous spending?

One way is to identify an expenditure (e.g., pedicures) that you can live without for six months. Then just put a 6-month moratorium on it. You keep repeating this until you've hit every expenditure that might be frivolous. To me, this is too taxing emotionally. Too much calculation.

Another way is to identify the expenditures you MUST make. It's not a very long list, but make that list. Then for 90 days do not spend on anything that's not on that list. This really gets your spending under control and develops a whole new mindset about money. It takes real discipline, but it's easy because you aren't making a lot of decisions.

This way is how one person I know survived three years on a total of $6,000. Yes, he borrowed and played balance transfer games, but he really spent zero beyond what he had to. I mean really had to; he even let his thermostat down to 52 Degrees at night and 60 during the day in winter. It is amazing how much money a person can avoid spending, if properly motivated.

People with-8 figure incomes have money problems. The cause is the spending that crept up on them. That's why I say to focus on the spending. Else, you will simply spend what you make from any additional income and never get ahead of the debt.

We had this situation with personal computers for many years. Solutions emerged, including:

• Being behind a physical firewall, such as a router. Not done with the phone (unless on Wi-Fi).
• Being careful about what sites you visit. Not usually done with the phone.
• Avoiding programs, especially free ones, just because their promoters have a good sales pitch. Not done with the phone.
• Avoiding sweepstakes, contests, and other data mining operations. Not done with the phone.
• Using only on a secure network. Not usually done with the phone. In fact, many phones are set up such that data can be transmitted to/from another phone nearby. Automatically.

Your first line of defense is to remember it's a phone. It's not smart, but you should be. Keep in mind your practices for securing a PC and practice those to the extent you can with the phone.

Banking via your phone? That's just asking for trouble unless there is an encrypted way to do it and your phone itself is not accessible from a nearby phone. What else is risky? Always ask this question before adding another function to do with your phone.

And remember those "anti-virus" programs for the PC? Worse than worthless, they suck down computer resources and provide no protection from anything the OS doesn't already protect you from. A few notable exceptions include Malware Bytes (also available for Android) and Hitman Pro. Don't load your phone up with dubious "protection" software. Instead, be smart about how and where you use your phone.

I told him, "I train with weights almost every day. Whether weights are light means something different to every person. Let me put it this way. Those workouts are very hard. I put a lot of tension into the muscles."

Notice, I didn't say that I exercise. The difference between exercising and training isn't merely semantics.

The goal of training is to elicit the adaptive response. Your body will adapt to the stresses placed upon it. I'm telling my body to produce lots of power quickly and not to store fuel. It adapts by providing a powerful, lean physique. This regimen of training also means my body has adapted to producing fast recovery. I do hard work, and recover much faster than someone without such a regimen.

My injuries also heal far more quickly. I suppose if I got sick (it does not happen), I'd recover more quickly from that too.

Then there's exercising. I don't know what the goal of this is. People who merely exercise do get some benefit, but mostly they slow down atrophy and decay they should not be experiencing in the first place.

The exerciser is "presiding over a decline" (of the body) while the trainer is trying to elevate himself/herself.

Talk to someone who trains, and that person is almost always seeking better athletic performance or has a physique goal that is extraordinary.

Talk to someone who exercises, and that person usually wants to "be more toned" (whatever that means) or "lose a little weight" (probably means become leaner).

This mindset of "exercising" is self-limiting. If you've been thinking that way, you've probably experienced frustration.

Years ago, a boss of mine complained that he was getting fatter. "Must be age catching up with me." So I asked him what he was doing to get leaner.

First, he scaled down breakfast to just a plain bagel. This means he started his day training his body to adapt to a nutrition shortage, in addition to stimulating endocrine modification with this highly glycemic "food."

Second, he jogged every morning. Jogging is a low-intensity activity that trains your body to reduce lean tissue (e.g., muscle) and store fuel (e.g., fat).

Gee, I can't imagine why he was getting fatter.

Top photo taken 16SEP2016, just days before 56th birthday; bottom photo taken 3 days after 56th birthday

1. Eat a big breakfast. Maybe a couple of scrambled eggs with a bowl of plain oatmeal and some fruit.
2. Replace the jogging with duck walking or lunging squats. But only once a week. Just start duck walking or lunging until your legs feel like rubber or your heart wants to burst, then stop. Walk back to where you started, and do it again. Repeat a few times.

He tried the duck walking and said that was for the birds. No joke, he actually said that. I said, "I suppose you mean for the ducks. That was a pun you made, right?" No, he just meant he totally hated it. Too much work.

He did, however, make the breakfast change. And the fat slowly started to melt away.

His basic problem was he wanted the easy fix. Hey, eat just a bagel--that's easy. Go jogging, another easy "solution" but it has the opposite of the intended effect. Eating a bigger breakfast--that's easy. Grueling, high-intensity exercise is hard, and that's why it works. But to him, it wasn't worth doing because it was hard. To him, doing worthless exercise was worth doing, because it was easy.

By contrast, my friend Joe consistently trains hard and looks fantastic for a man who is 30 years old. Joe has a "do it right and make it count" attitude toward training. He doesn't mess around, so for 30 he looks awfully good. I will note here that Joe is 67 years old.

A basic principle that everyone would do well to remember is your body adapts to the stresses placed on it. Thus, any kind of easy exercise has no adaptive value (there's no real stress).

That said, let's keep this in perspective:

• Totally sedentary. Muscles are barely used, so the body adapts by reabsorbing them. Muscular atrophy sets in, and along with it various skeletal, hormonal, and organ deficiencies. Gradual loss of mobility becomes profound loss of mobility usually by early 60s if the person lives that long.
• Light exercise, done regularly. Less reabsorption, etc. Gradual loss of mobility becomes profound loss of mobility by early 70s. Poor body shape, poor posture, very little physical strength--by age 30.
• Moderate exercise, done regularly. Gradual loss of mobility begins in early 50s. Profound loss of mobility likely to occur in mid-80s.
• Hard exercise, done regularly. Gradual loss of mobility begins in early 30s. Joint pain is normal from about then onward. Chronic muscle imbalance, poor body shape, poor posture, various aches and pains all the time.

Whoa, what happened there? You might be asking, "Isn't hard exercise what you've been recommending?" No, it's not. What I am recommending is systematic training. Don't confuse exercise with training. Go back to that basic principle of adaptation. But also note what eight-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney says about training: "You want to stimulate, not annihilate, your muscles."

Mr. Haney is just shy of 60 as I write this, and he looks really good (even better than Joe). He was the last "classic look" Mr. Olympia, and he is living injury-free. No hip or knee replacements, no chronic pain. There are limits to what you can put your body through, before your efforts do more harm than good.

Stimulating the adaptive response is hard work, which is why relatively few people do it. But it's not work that's hard on you.

Intensity is the key. You have to put a great deal of tension into the target muscles for a short duration. That signals your body to "build a race car". That means it is going to go for "more powerful engine and less fuel storage" to adapt to the demand of a high intensity (or burst mode) demand. Just like a quarter mile dragster. Your body will adjust various factors so that it produces more power.

Take a look at the world's greatest athlete, Usain Bolt. He doesn't exercise.

He trains. And with zero "cardio." His whole training program is based on intensity. Which makes sense, since his sport (sprinting) requires massive energy expenditure in a short time. He is the fastest sprinter in human history and has a lean, powerful physique that comes only from systematic training.

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

Hospital errors kill nearly 200,000 more Americans each year than all cancers combined do.