Mindconnection eNL, 2021-05-16

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1. Bill Gates has been a key actor in much of the destruction done in the name of "Covid response". It's been a perfect opportunity for him. He has said many times in recent years we need to move more quickly to reduce overpopulation. He's got pull with the socialists; their latest multi-trillion dollar money grab to allegedly "rescue America" sent millions to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But now Bill has a distraction. After 27 years, he and Melinda are divorcing. It is not known if she left him due to his downward spiral into psychopathy or if there was some other trigger. Sad for them, but good news for their billions of victims.
    
2. On his seventh attempt, at 9:01 the morning of 12 May, Joe Biden successfully counted to three. This is really good news, because this achievement makes him look much smarter than he actually is. He is now training for an attempt in August to count to four.
    
3. Tennessee, a leader among the free states, has banned teaching the hateful delusion called "Critical Race Theory" in public schools. That form of child abuse isn't on their program. Read the full story here:
   https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/tennessee-bans-critical-race-theory-in-public-schools_3805489.html. CRT displaces actual learning, misusing students' time to actually learn anything and fills that time with demotivating, divisive, dishonest propaganda. While the America-hating, human-hating socialists whose coup gave them control of the federal government have been pushing this poison out, the free states have been fighting back by asserting the authority they have under the Constitution. In the other states, the situation looks hopeless. But things are getting so bad that in communist countries like California and New Mexico the people are pushing back and pushing hard. The possibility of converting some of these states to free states is significant.
    
4. Texas, another free state, recently passed legislation protecting school kids from "woke" mind-stunting. Apparently, mental health is important in Texas.
    
5. Kansas, another free state, over-rode the Democrat governor's veto of pro civil liberty legislation. Read the full story here:
   https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/05/kansas-legislature-rallies-around-election-integrity-reforms-overrides-democrat-governors-veto/
    
6. The anti-hatred movement continues to get stronger (see the previous three items). Many experts believe it is only a matter of time until the hatred movement collapses from a combination "hatred fatigue", emotional maturation among the "woke", and pressure from outside the hatefulness echo chambers. Observers of the hatred movement might conclude that humans are devolving, but when looked at in the larger context observers tend to conclude the hatred movement is a form of mass hysteria. That is, it will pass like other mass mental illness based on fiction (Salem witch hunts, Nazi Jew hatred, McCarthyism).
    
7. Many America-loving Americans have accepted defeat, assuming the radical socialists are unbeatable due to their exceptionally low moral standards. However, the willingness to lie, cheat, steal, kill, and slander is not a guarantee of victory. It is merely evidence that your offer is so poor you must resort to such behavior. In Texas, decent people have fought back and repelled the toxic grip of socialism. Read the full story here: https://www.conservativehq.org/post/texas-conservatives-prove-you-can-vote-the-clowns-out
    
8. Gretchen Whitmer, whose apparent life ambition is to be the worst governor of all time, has seen her approval ratings drop. However, those ratings are far higher than the facts would merit. See this analysis by Deneen Borelli: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pfyWh7vL-0
    
9. The rapid deterioration of America since the coup that put a mentally retarded man in the Oval Office (with nuclear security codes) is setting the perfect backdrop for a complete repudiation of socialism and of the stupidity movement that has given it legs.
   
   Far from being the pinnacle of human achievement that today's "Democrats" believe it is, stupidity keeps reproving itself to be a means by which disaster is born. While the most militant of "Democrats" are too far gone to see the damage and connect the very large dots, a significant portion of registered Democrats are not. These people will join with swing voters in about a year and a half to remove the socialists from both chambers of Congress. That leaves the legislative branch firmly in control of the socialists, and of course the Stupe-Preme Court is composed 5 to 4 against upholding the Constitution.
   
   Left Wing John Roberts is the Chief (in)Justice, but once an intelligent President replaces Kamala "Clueless" Harris (Biden will likely be in a nursing home before this year ends), that POTUS will have the power (and the obligation) to demote Roberts to Associate Justice and appoint somebody respectful of the law in his place. All the bad that is happening now is paving the way for a whole bunch of good news in the future. If we can survive this, that is.
    
10. We sane people who wish to both restore the rule of law and put stupidity back in its rightful place are getting help from foreign news services that are calling Biden out on his destructive behavior. That's because people in other nations are also being affected (not in a good way, at all) by it. See this, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fd9zQjYaUs. If you don't have time for the full five minutes, FF to 2.33.
     
11. Individuals are actively bringing others over from the dark side. It is important to not let this cancer grow in the free states. Millions have fled the People's Republic of California to free states such as Arizona and Texas. The downside is very few of them know how to be free, responsible individuals. They  bring with them their libtard politics, money grows on trees mentality, and other stupidity. The must be helped to overcome these mental deficiencies, or they will contaminate the free states and cause them to fall to socialism. It's good that so many sentient citizens are doing their part.
    
    It works best to ask questions you know the libtards can't answer. For example, asking them for an example. Remember how Donald Trump was "racist"? When challenged, not a single libtard in this whole country was able to give a single example supporting that (mis)characterization. In fact, Trump's successor put millions of "blacks" out of work and it was Trump who re-opened those employment opportunities.

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https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/03/11/1020600/facebook-responsible-ai-misinformation

When even a left-wing organization puts out an article about Facebook's honesty problems, you know they have to be pretty bad.

Typically, they will use one of these methods (listed in order from least damage to the seller to greatest):

1. Recondition the item themselves into new condition and sell it as New.
2. Recondition the item themselves into almost new condition and sell it as Used. Often, you will see a condition note "Like New" and that usually means the packaging is damaged but what's inside is new.
3. Send the item back to the distributor or manufacturer for a trade credit.
4. Try to sell the item dirt cheap, just to get rid of it.
5. Eat the cost of item and give the item away or toss it.

In all of this, keep in mind the seller is paying shipping costs multiple times. Once to send to fulfillment, once for fulfillment to send to the customer, once for the customer to return the item, and for methods 1 - 4 to ship to the next customer.

All of these methods provide you an opportunity to save money. What you do is this:

1. Find the item on the marketplace of your choice or use any search engine except Google to locate a non-marketplace seller (for example, https://www.mindconnection.com/ instead of mindconnectionllc on Amazon). Make sure the seller has "good marks" on the marketplace, if you go that route. This means at least 95% positive on Amazon and a Top-Rated seller on eBay.
2. Contact the seller and state you are looking for Item X. Inquire whether they have a return in decent condition that they could sell you.
3. If they do, iron out a few details such as what exactly is wrong with the item (damaged packaging, cosmetic blemish, missing accessory).
4. Agree to a price and a payment method. If you pay by c/c on their site, you have credit card protection. If they invoice you via PayPal, you have PayPal Buyer protection. The only way you aren't protected is if you send them a check, money order, or cash.

You are helping a small business deal with a problem that sucks down a lot of resources, and you are getting a nice discount in return.

That's an online method of saving money. It is analogous to finding local Mom and Pop shops and asking them if they have any slightly damaged merchandise or open box returns. It's also analogous to offering to buy a grocer's bruised bananas (you are making banana pie, so you don't care about the bruises). It's much like a scratch and dent sale, except you aren't waiting for the sale to happen.

I have a different rule when it comes to fighting. "One strike and you are out." Note that I said fighting, not self-defense. Let me explain.

'twas late one night

In my early adulthood, I traveled extensively. And that often meant being in unfamiliar or dangerous places. A particularly memorable time when I implemented my "One strike and you're out" rule was when I was in the process of moving my family from Michigan to Ohio. I had taken a job as a Neutron Monitoring System Test Engineer at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant and was staying in one of the cabins in a complex of cabins owned by a local family. My cabin was not far from their house. I was awakened one night by loud shouting. I put on some gym shorts and went outside to investigate. As I approached, I saw four people. The mother, daughter, father, and some giant of a man I had never seen before. The father was on the ground moaning, and the big guy bent down and cocked his arm back as if to strike the father. The mother jumped on this guy's back, prompting him to stand up. He threw her about ten feet away, and then started walking toward her.

I was, by then, about 15 feet from the big guy. I said, "Hey." As he turned, I rushed at him then zigged to the side and nailed him hard in the ribs with a tiger claw strike. When I say "in" the ribs, I mean exactly that. Not merely "on" the ribs. This strike dropped him. He was out of the fight.

The mother said she'd called the police before coming outside to aid her husband, so I waited until they arrived. The big guy lay on the ground moaning and wheezing the whole time. It turned out the father had a broken arm, the daughter had a broken ankle, and the mother was badly bruised. A few days later, the mother told me the big guy had massively torn cartilage in his rib cage. That is not surprising, since I had separated his ribs while simultaneously bending them sharply inwards.

The girl had broken up with him (they were both 20-ish) and gone home to her parent. He was angry about it. That's why he showed up at the house. Things just got out of control.

This was not self-defense. It was defense of others. And that is what I am prepared for, not merely warding off an attack on myself or doing some trick so I can get away. I am not there to get away, I am there to take the attacker down. I do not want to get injured, so I deal a fight-ending strike that quickly ends the threat.

Where to strike

I practice strikes against specific targets, both mentally (using imagery) and physically (not on another person, but on a punching bag or via "air punching"). When using a firearm, it's generally advisable to go for center body mass. Not so when fighting empty-handed. I strike these targets, selecting instinctively and automatically:

• Forehead. A palm strike to jar the head back and create a concussion. I used this technique to take out a "karate expert" who attacked me with a kick at my face (I deflected the kick, then palmed him out).
• Throat. Straight punch. A guy in a convenience store pulled a knife on me. I don't know why he did that, but he picked the wrong person.
• Side of neck. I have not used this one, except with minimal force as a demo when teaching a class. Sidestepping the onrushing attacker and punching him in the neck will drop him.
• Ribs. As noted above.
• Bladder. A powerful reverse punch to the bladder will cause anyone who has not urinated in the past half hour to wet himself. It also radiates intense pain through the pelvic region. I used a kicking version of this to stop a bully who simply picked on the wrong person.
• Quadriceps. There are a few sweet spots where a blow to the upper leg causes such intense pain the other person collapses. Rocky Marciano knocked a man out with one punch to the leg. I used this move on a case of mistaken jealousy. A man thought his girlfriend was cheating on him with me. He was waiting outside my apartment when I arrived home. After cursing me out, he launched a front kick followed by a round house. Wow, I was impressed! Nevertheless, I dropped him with a punch to the quadriceps. The particular technique I used was one that a Kung Fu instructor of mine drilled us on relentlessly (it is tricky to do). It was second nature. The next day, the man came to my door and apologized. I thought that was very manly of him, and I told him so.

Targets not to strike

• A variation of the above move is to strike the kneecap sideways and disconnect the patella. Only 16 pounds of pressure will do the job. I have never used this technique. It causes permanent injury of the lawsuit kind and is difficult to execute effectively in the heat of battle.
• Sliding kicks down the shins also hurt like heck, but they rarely stop a fight. This, however, is a good move for setting up the big strike. Stomping on someone's instep also hurts, but you are unlikely to break it. Step on the person's toes so they can't move, and you can more easily pummel them with a combination of strikes. I like collarbone, throat, forehead. The collarbone is bone, but it is easily broken with a hammerfist.
• Face. Most people strike at the other person's face. That's probably because this is done in movies. I don't like the idea of hitting all that thick bone. You might jar the person's brain, but not nearly as much as hitting six inches higher with the heel of your hand.
• Solar plexus. I used this in sparring, but never in a fight. I have, through training, closed the gap below the sternum that allows this to be effective so maybe the other guy has also. Plus, I don't want to hit the hard sternum and hurt my hand. There's also the fact that if the other guy is skilled at all, he is amply protecting this spot. It is seldom an easy target and you must commit to hit. It is much easier to strike something situated away from the core, such as the throat.

Prepare now

Not every fight can be ended with one strike, because you might not be in a good position to deliver that strike. Other options present themselves, such as turning your hip into the person and grabbing their lead wrist with one hand and then smashing their fingers with the other. That's immensely painful, and it's a fight-ender.

• If you have very fast hands and are a skilled puncher, you can unleash a flurry of blows to the ribs in rapid succession; that will crack or break two or three ribs and thus end the fight.
• If you are a skilled kicker, you can kick rapidly between two targets until the opponent falls. For example, if you can't get a clear shot for a fight-ending roundhouse kick to the neck you can front kick left shin and left knee alternatively.
• If your footwork is good enough, you can step diagonally toward your attacker. Then thrust both hands against or sweep both arms against his lead hand while moving behind him. From this point, you can punch his ribs with one hand and his neck with the other. He can't block and you're right on top of him so he's off balance.

One technique that does not work is dialing 911 and waiting for help. It would be faster, in most cases, to order a pizza and hope the driver is one of the smart ones carrying a pistol.

Today, with all the restrictions on police combined with the police shortage and the violence spurred on by the socialists, knowing how to implement a "One strike, you're out" rule is a practical security measure. You have to practice so that you can do it reflexively.

It is my sincere hope that you never find yourself in a physical fight. But prepare anyhow. Many times, just being prepared means you won't have to fight. Most people who attack other people are cowards. The confidence you exude because you know this fool is going down may end the fight without even one strike. I have actually stopped multiple attackers just by confidently facing them down. But don't try this unless you have reason for such confidence.

6. Health tip/Fitness tips

	The photos tell you something important about my credibility. Statistics on 60th birthday, when these photos were taken: Height: 6'0" Wingspan: 6'1" Weight: 148lbs Bodyfat: Unknown, but well below what the Tanita scale says is 5%. Waist: 29 Chest: 48 Arms: 15 Quads: 20 Max bench press: Unknown, but I do three sets of 12 reps with 150 lbs to warm up on chest day Training days per week: 6 Type of training: Split routine, heavy on supersets Meals per day: 7 on training days, 6 on rest day Percent of diet that is processed food: 0 Amount of meat, wheat, corn, or soy eaten annually: 0 Number of eggs eaten per day: Between 8 and 10 Cholesterol: In normal range, on low side Last illness: 1971 Last workout missed: Spring of 1977
See my climbing videos here: https://tinyurl.com/ClimbingSigChannel
A common training mistake is to focus on the muscles you see in the mirror. This typically means a training regimen dominated by biceps curls and bench pressing, with perhaps some leg presses thrown in. This results in muscle imbalance, poor symmetry, prime mover atrophy, and poor functional strength. A powerful back (see photo on right) is essential to functional strength. Climbers, boxers, and many other serious athletes have thickly muscled backs. The back is part of what is commonly called "the core". The typical training regimen completely neglects the back. Below is my back and biceps workout; notice how hard the lats are hit. Just to clarify, where there is a / between two exercises, it means I do them back to back (no pun intended). So I do a set of chin-ups and immediately do a set of biceps curls when those are done. I briefly rest before doing the next pair of sets. Chin-ups / biceps curls, mid-range; 4 sets of 12 Lat pulldowns, wide / Bentover rows; 4 sets of 12 Lat pulldowns, narrow; 4 sets of 12 / Arnold curls; 3 sets of 12 Midback pulldowns; 4 sets of 12 / Arnold curls; 1 set of 12 / 1 set light weight full range curls to failure Bentover biceps curls/ Pull-ups; 2 sets of 12 Hammer curls/ Pull-ups ; 2 sets of 12 1 set light weight full range curls to failure Biceps curls, full extension; 3 sets of 10 But this isn't the only time I work my back. These are all isolation exercises that specifically target the back and the biceps. In other workouts, I also do compound exercises such as front squats (every other Monday) and pistol squats (every Monday) that hit the back. I climb nearly every Sunday all year long and during decent weather I supplement that with climbs on my home wall 2 to 5 times per week. The glutes are generally not considered part of the core. Considering how much their size and shape figure into a person's ability to attract the opposite sex (not to guys, she's checking out your rear end too), you would think focusing on the muscles you see in the mirror would never happen. But (no pun intended), it's the normal approach. This is why you see gym rats with butts that are flat, fat, tiny, or flabby; and these people have no functional strength. Those are just two of the important muscle groups that are often neglected. How do you ensure you develop and maintain a balanced physique with no "weak link in the chain" problems that keep you from having functional strength? Design a workout program that includes specific exercises for specific muscle groups. You need to group some groups to be done in the same session. Notice I have a "back and biceps" workout. This is because the back exercises also work the biceps and the biceps exercises also work the back. But other people train biceps and triceps; this also makes sense, can you figure out why? Their back and chest day is never the day  before or after their biceps and triceps day. Can you figure out why? Perhaps you've encountered the "controversy" regarding whether to do a split routine (my frame of reference for the above examples) 5 or 6 days a week or to do a "full body" circuit 3 days a week. You find persuasive arguments for each, with the difference being proponents of the "full body" circuit do not get sufficient intensity or sufficient volume for any given exercise and they fail to train the whole body after all. So their arguments are persuasive in the sense that if you leave out all the relevant facts you can be persuaded. One of these "full body" people tried to tell me he trains legs three times a week. I train legs every other week, because recovery takes me about 10 days. It turns out his "leg training" involved a single set of leg presses performed on a machine. Compare that to my leg training: Front squats. 4 sets. Hamstring curls / Leg extensions. 4 sets of 12. Adductor floor exercise / Abductor floor exercise. 4 sets of 12. Bench pistols. 4 sets. Step-ups for butt. 3 sets. Sissy squats / Reverse leg raise butt-ups. 4 sets. Pelvic thrusts with butt squeeze/ Deep squats. 3 sets. To get sufficient intensity and volume to stimulate the adaptive response, you've got to take that workout well past your comfort limits. Your body has no reason to increase muscle mass, bone mass, or capillarization unless you give it a reason. Those tissues all require metabolic energy, which means the body doesn't want excess amounts of them. Atrophy is the adaptive response to not stimulating what is normally referred to as the adaptive response (growth triggered by stress). But what if you just want to "be toned" and not grow muscle? This idea of "being toned" is jargon left over from the exercise video era, when people were lied to that "being toned" was some kind of physical fitness condition that was good enough. In fact, you can't "be toned". You can develop your muscle to your natural limits and not have the hypertrophy we associate with steroid-taking Mr. Olympias. Take a look at Usain Bolt, whose training regimen is very big on both intensity and volume. His physique is perfect by some standards. He never aimed for "being toned". The "being toned" crowd wants to check the box they did something that will keep them from atrophying. But look at anyone who espouses this. You see underdeveloped quads (bird legs), underdeveloped glutes (pancake butt), and other atrophied body parts. They don't have much more functional strength than their couch potato counterparts. One of these people proudly showed me his home gym. He had a rack of shiny dumbbells, ranging in 1lb increments from 1lb to 20lbs. Really? I wanted to ask him how he knew to use the 19lb one rather than the 18lb one, but decided not to. His whole system was a complete waste of time and money, from a fitness standpoint. The fact is, you are either working your body hard enough for it to stay strong or you are not. There is no in-between place. As I have said before, if weight training does not appeal to you there are other ways. Whatever way you choose, it must work all of your muscle groups to the point of adaptive response. Anything short of that means atrophy somewhere. I have not been sick in the past 50 years and have not missed a workout in nearly 45 years. This isn't due to luck. The same mindset that has allowed me to accomplish these things also has moved me to watch how people age. I've had a lot of time to observe people age. Some age badly, some age well. Those who aged badly nearly always lost their mobility before spiraling down into a hellish existence. Those who aged well had some kind of challenging fitness regimen that included their legs. In some cases, their regimen was focused on the legs. The legs and core are the most important to protect from atrophy, but it's exactly these that are left out when training only what you can see in the mirror. I've had this conversation with people who have excellent, powerful physiques. These include climbers, competitive body builders, police officers, and just people devoted to having such a physique. When I've asked the question, "If you were somehow forced into a situation in which you could train only one body part, which would you choose?"  I have yet to hear a different answer from the one I keep getting. Can you guess which four letter word comprises the response? If not, do four sets of squats and then try to guess.

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

One does not have to be stupid to act stupidly. Mere carelessness is enough.