Mindconnection eNL, 2026-08-16

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

1. Another victory for democracy (which the "Democrats" fight tenaciously against):
   "Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced charges Thursday against a 66-year-old man investigators say illegally voted in seven general elections over the course of two decades, despite never gaining American citizenship." [Epoch Times, 02UAG2026].
    
2. RFK against a Communist. Priceless! She is rude, aggressive, dishonest, and disrespectful throughout. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPP5exb-2rw
    
3. This is heart-warming: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WmL29ON0hLI
    
4. "The nation’s first detransition clinic is set to open in Houston, offering restorative care to patients who regret life-altering gender procedures." [Epoch Times, 04AUG2026]. This is great news for the victims of the child mutilation industry. However, it is not possible to restore amputated body parts (breasts, penises) or reverse the damage done by the various drugs and hormones. These kids will bear the scars of the abuse the rest of their lives and will also be permanent medical patients with significantly reduced health.
    
5. "Immigration and Customs Enforcement made roughly 51,000 arrests in July, the highest single-month total in the agency's history and its second straight record-breaking month." [Freedom and Liberty Report, 05AUG2026]
   
   
6. I thought this might be motivating to those readers who are struggling to stay in shape. Here I am on a sketchy lead climb, one month and ten days before my 66th birthday: https://youtu.be/yIo8M1nKGv8
   

1. Here's a short discussion about Anthony "Mengele" Fauci: https://x.com/MegynKellyShow/status/2082549219236164084/video/1 (13.18)
   
   
2. The Senate voted to hold "doctor" Fauci in contempt. Senator Rand Paul moved the issue to the DOJ. Contempt probably won't put him in jail. But it is a start. One might question the value of going after an 85 year old man, he will likely be dead in a decade anyhow. It's not about punishing him, he has no soul that could suffer. It's partly about exposing his evil to daylight to help stop the next mass murderer do what he did.
   
   And it may open the door to going after the "supporting cast", some of them don't have pardons and can face severe legal penalties. I think it's mostly about (strategic thinking here) being able to dismantle the machinery that made Fauci's reign of error possible. The communists will have a much harder time stopping the needed reform if their pet monster's crimes are fully exposed. Which they are now, every comedian on the planet is joking about "Taking the Fifth".
   

• LIFE-CHANGING: The Rocket Pen will help your child read independently in just days. This is the reading pen most often chosen by teachers and recommended for dyslexia support.
• 6-IN-1 READING TUTOR SYSTEM: Go beyond basic text-to-speech with spelling, syllabication (Orton-Gillingham inspired), phrasal verb lookup, idiom definitions, color-coded dictionary fields, and real-time word highlighting—designed to improve decoding, comprehension, and fluency.
   
• READS ANY SURFACE. Scans what you actually read from: phone, tablet, PC, other screens - not just paper. We could not find a single other reading pen that can do this. But the Rocket Pen can.
   
• READER PEN: You scan, it reads aloud individual words and even multiple lines of text in natural voice. Helps those with dyslexia or other reading-challenges gain reading independence. Earbuds automatically mute the built-in speaker to avoid classroom stigma. Select different voices for playback, lefthand or righthand use, left or right scan direction.
• REALLY BIG DICTIONARIES: A reader pen's word recognition capability depends on the depth of its onboard dictionary references. The Rocket Pen has the New Oxford American Dictionary with over twice the entries of the best competing reading pens, plus the Oxford American Children’s Dictionary. It also has the Oxford Thesaurus of English and Oxford American Children’s Thesaurus. All of these are Americanized. The Rocket Pen scans English and French only, but contains an English to Spanish dictionary and a French definitions dictionary (French to French).
• COMES COMPLETE. Self-contained, no computer, tablet, phone, or Wi-Fi required. Kit includes Rocket Pen reading tutor, USB charging cable, Quick Start Guide, earphones, and case. Meets FCC, ROHS, and CE standards, and conquers illiteracy.
• BACKED BY EXPERIENCE. The lead developers of the Rocket Pen Reading Tutor each have over 25 years of experience in reading assistive devices, and yet the Rocket Pen is the newest and most advanced reading pen on the market. And the only one with reading tutor functions

In our Amazon store you will see more offerings, including:

Disability Products:

(We are the sole Amazon seller for these)

• BlindShell phones for the blind
• RealSAM Pocket, which is a voice operated Galaxy smart phone for the blind
• SmartPens4U Rocket Pen Reading Tutor Scanning Pen | Case Bundle Black | Case Bundle Lavender

Tools:

• AEM instruments
• Bahco tools
• Case tools
• CAT tools
• CPS tools
• Irwin saw blades
• Mayes tools
• Rigid Tools work lights and related
• Vessel tools
• Wera tools
• Wiha tools
• Williams tools

More:

• American Hard Bag aftermarket sound system parts for Harley Davidson motorcycles
• Centerpoint Archery devices
• Cold Steel knives
• Dead Downwind hunting products
• G5 hunting products
• Flexilla hose connectors
• Funko collectibles
• Liberty Monitors hidden camera gadgets
• Mike Holt Electrical Exam Preparation products
• Nagy's aftermarket sound system parts for Harley Davidson motorcycles
• Paraben Consumer data recovery sticks, porn detection sticks, and similar diagnostic/ IT tools
• ROK straps
• Rostra universal cruise control kits
• Swhacker archery products

In our eBay store, you will see a lot of radios and related gear:

Radios:

• Anytone 10 meter radios
• Connex 10 meter radios
• Dosy meters
• General (brand) radios
• Galaxy 10 meter and 11 meter (CB) radios
• President 10 and 11 meter radios
• Ranger 10 meter radios
• Texas Ranger radios (Chuck Norris not included, sorry)
• Uniden radios and scanners

Thinking Beyond the Parts: The Power of Systems Thinking

Most people solve problems using linear thinking: cause leads to effect, variable A drives output B. It’s simple, intuitive, and works well enough for basic daily tasks. But real-life situations—whether in business, engineering, home management, or physical training—rarely exist in a vacuum. Everything operates within an interconnected Web.

When you look at a problem as a isolated event, you often end up fixing symptoms while leaving the underlying dynamic intact (or making it worse). **Systems thinking** is the habit of stepping back to look at the whole architecture: how components interact, feedback loops reinforce or balance outcomes, and small leverage points create outsized results.

Why the Systems Approach is So Effectiv

1. It Eliminates Short-Sighted "Solutions": Fixing a symptom without understanding the system often creates unintended consequences elsewhere. Systems thinking forces you to map out ripple effects before you act.
2. It Finds High-Leverage Interventions: In any complex setup, pulling a massive lever in the wrong spot yields minimal results. Identifying key leverage points allows you to achieve maximum efficiency with minimal wasted force or energy.
3.  It Builds Resilience: Linear processes break when a single variable fails. Systems-oriented design incorporates feedback, redundancy, and adaptability, ensuring the overall structure remains durable under pressure.

Six Tips to Develop Your Systems Thinking

Developing a systems mindset isn't about memorizing complex dynamic modeling—it’s about changing the default questions you ask when faced with a challenge or design problem.

1. Map the Interconnections, Not Just the Components. When analyzing a challenge, list the primary elements involved and draw lines showing how they affect one another. Ask: *"What does this element depend on, and what depends on it? (that's called "identifying the dependencies").
2. Look for Feedback Loops. Distinguish between "reinforcing loop"* (where action fuels more of the same action, like compound interest or systemic burnout) and "balancing loops" (where forces stabilize the system toward equilibrium). Knowing which loop you are dealing with dictates how you intervene.
3. Focus on Root Structures, Not Surface Events*. Events are just the top layer of a system. When something goes wrong, don't ask only *"Who or what caused this specific event?" Ask: *"What structure or environment permitted this outcome to happen repeatedly?"
4. Identify Bottlenecks and Leverage Points. Before pouring resources into optimizing a process, locate the true constraint. Improving a non-bottleneck yields zero net throughput for the overall system. Find the single point that governs flow or outcomes, and focus your optimization there.
5. Respect Latency and Time Delays. Systems rarely respond instantly. Cause and effect are often separated by significant time lags. Factor in latency so you don't over-correct before the system has time to stabilize.
6. Audit Unintended Consequences First. Before implementing any new fix or tool, run a simple pre-mortem: "If this solution works exactly as planned, what new friction or imbalance will it create elsewhere in the overall system?"

The Takeaway

The next time a recurring issue crops up or a process stalls, resist the urge to jump straight to a quick fix. Step back, look at the ecosystem as a whole, and adjust the structure, not just the symptom.

Example of the Takeaway:

I adopted a shelter cat who was abused to the point he fears everyone (for some reason, he has never feared me). I have analyzed the whole "ecosystem" as he sees it. Someone who is looking for a cat to fit the myth of "low maintenance" would have instigated his "bad" behaviors by giving him an unhappy "ecosystem". All cats are high maintenance. They are very intelligent and also very sensitive to social and emotional cues. Cats need positive attention.

If you deprive a cat of this emotional support, he will "act out" by scratching furniture, dumping food on the carpet, or constantly annoying you. A particularly affectionate or affection-starved cat will rub against your legs or perhaps mewl incessantly; these behaviors drive many people into states of angry outbursts at the cat. Cats remember those angry outbursts, such things can send them into a bad emotional place for days. During that time, the cat will seek affection but then again get the wrong message in response. The problem is not the cat.

The solution is to give a cat a few minutes of your attention when you are asked for it and also proactively give the cat some attention without being asked. This sets up the cat's "ecosystem" to be a happy place for the cat. Those symptoms of "bad" behavior go away.

4. Finance tip

A reader asked me about this power-saving gizmo that keeps showing up in YouTube ads. He thought it sounded possible, but was leery because the video went on and on and on. In one version of this video sales pitch, an 80 year old man installed one of these at his residential service panel and he is not particularly handy.

A device *could* reduce your power bill by correcting your power factor. Any motor will affect your power factor; your HVAC blower, refrigerator, dishwasher, and vacuum cleaner would do this. So would any kind of power conversion device, such as the power supply for a computer, television, or LED light.

But:

• The amount of energy loss is not 50%. It is probably closer to 10%.
• Power factor correction at the service might fix a power factor rate penalty from the utility, but residences are not charged this penalty.
• Power factor correction at the service has no effect on the power efficiency at the load. You would need to install power factor correction capacitors at each big motor. Nobody does that because the cost does not justify the savings.
  

I would also caution any DIY against working in the service panel. This is best left to a professional, for a variety of reasons including personal safety. The idea that "it won't kill you because it is only 120V" has been disproven countless times by people who have died due to contact with 120V. It is lethal, don't mess around with it. For readers who don't know, I am a degreed electrical engineer with significant electrical experience and  I have been writing electrical safety articles for an electrical trade magazine for 30 years. I was also a Master Electrician when I lived in Tennessee, and you take an exam to get that state license (very high failure rate on it, no easy feat).

Here are some tips for reducing your electric bill:

• In the summer, take hot pots and pans outside to cool after you boil, fry, or whatever with them.
• Plan a logical layout for the inside of your refrigerator. Use labeled containers, if you must. Prep your meals ahead of time so portions are precise and there simply are not leftovers to go into the refrigerator (this saves space and makes organization much simpler). Now you can easily have a mental map of where things are, no need to hold the door open while you gaze or hunt through things. Big tip: I do have leftovers from cat feeding (can gets emptied into glass bowl with lid). To get the cat's food storage bowl out, I just open the door and stick my hand down to grab it. That bowl is exactly in the same place every time.
• When shopping, bag your refrigerated items together and separate from non-refrigerated. You can easily save $50 a year if you are not already doing this.
  
  
• Learn where your mouth is. Once you know this, you will not need to turn on the light to brush your teeth (to apply toothpaste, yes). Most people brush with their mouth closed to avoid drooling all over the sink. So what exactly do you need the light on for?
  
• Organize your clothes. If you need the light on to get dressed in the morning, reduce the time it's on by having your clothes logically sorted in your closet(s) and drawer(s).
• Air dry your clothes. Remove clothes from they dryer before they are totally dry. Invest in a folding clothes drying rack if you have no place to hang them. You can use a small room fan or table fan to move the air, this is much cheaper than exhausting your room air to the outside via the dryer (especially if it's heated or air conditioned).
  
  
• Have a place for people to remove their shoes when they enter, and ask them to do so. This will reduce your need to vacuum, mop, etc.
• Pull your refrigerator out every other month and vacuum the coils clean. If this is hard on your linoleum floor, buy a desk chair pad to put under your refrigerator (it will roll out much more easily, and you will have no dents in your flooring).
• If your home is equipped with a television, turn it off unless there is a specific reason to watch it. Having it on by default is bad for a lot of reasons, electrical bill included.
  
  
• Turn off all PCs at night. Not sleep mode, off. This not only saves electricity, it clears out the RAM and fixes things that go wrong and require a reboot anyhow.
• Clean or replace your vacuum cleaner filters as needed. Check them regularly.
• Keep your AC condenser clean.
  
  
• Don't use your garbage disposal, other than to run some ice cubes in it every few weeks to help clean it. This is the dumbest kitchen appliance ever invented. It helps clog your pipes, for one thing. The alternative I use is to compost food scraps. If that's not an option for you, then put them in the regular garbage--not down the drain.
• Use a front-loading clothes washer. Yes, these cost more upfront but the energy savings is spectacular and your clothes are cleaner. As a bonus, the mid-range and better models spin your clothes so nearly dry that dryer time is reduced more than half.
• Stop using night lights and landscaping lights. The former interfere with your sleep, and the latter expose small nocturnal animals to a much higher level of lethal danger than natural night lighting does.
  

5. Security tip

The communists are the "Huns at the gate". They are an existential threat to western civilization. Please note that while in most countries you can vote communism in, you can end it only with war. Because under communism, there is no "will of the people". There is no rule of law, no private property, no personal dignity, no freedom of expression, and no right to petition your greivances to the government. All of these "no"s were played out in the USA's four years of Communist Occupation (there was private property, but they either stole or destroyed vast amounts of it).

I've listened to the commies for many years, OK, for many decades. They have yet to make any sense. I watch the clips on YouTube, Rumble, and X, only to wonder at how absolutely stupid these people are. And how "low-information" (ignorant) they are. This leads to a strategy for defeating communism.

Since communism can grow only in the soil of abject stupidity, we can prevent its spread by going directly after the stupidity itself. Some things you might want to do:

• Contact a local elementary school and offer to read to a classroom from a book. This helps kids understand that reading is good. Make sure that you dress nicely, so they associate reading with good personal presentation.
• Take the time to learn about the history of western civilization. Thread this knowledge into conversations.
• Read at least one book per month. Share this reading habit with another person. Getting a child to have a daily reading habit is a great way to stave off stupidity and ignorance.
   
• Teach a younger person how to do something practical. For example, how to bake a pie, use a string trimmer (with proper PPE), fix a broken fence, how to change oil in a car, correctly wash a car, check the furnace filter, wash clothes, change a toilet flapper, etc. Most communists can't do anything useful, and useful people tend not to be communists.
• Show the value of truth by being truthful. The communists depend on dishonesty to spread their mental illness.
• Show the value of hard work by working hard.
   
• Give a book on finance to a niece or nephew.
• Hire a neighbor kid to do some work for you. If that would be mowing, be very careful here. That kid is a human being, so ensure he has proper ear protection, proper eye protection, and proper footwear. Most people don't do this, because they are clueless about safely using power equipment.
• Listen to other people speak, and encourage them to share what they know. Extending this respect will encourage them to learn more. However, you should not waste time listening to bull**** artists; encourage them to leave you alone and find some other target.
  

6. Health tip/Fitness tips

	Watch what you chase When people derisively comment on "gym muscles", they are on to something. It's common to chase the wrong thing, and usually that is more weight on the bar (or deck, if using a machine). Why is chasing more weight wrong? Isn't the goal of weight lifting to make you stronger? Yes, that is a goal but just because you can lift more doesn't mean you got stronger. Let's say I have a goal of a 300lb bench press. How would I get there as quickly as possible? I'd cheat. Cheating involves recruiting other muscles, for example by arching your lower back and pushing with your legs while arching your upper back the wrong direction. It involves shortening the range of motion, for example by lowering the bar to within 6 inches of your chest instead of all the way down. It involves rounding your shoulders forward to bring in those front delts. It involves It involves rolling your shoulders forward and lifting your elbows high and wide away from your body—shifting the heavy load off your chest and dumping it directly into your front shoulder joints. After a year, I finally can cheat enough to try the 300lb lift. The week  before this lift, some strict form trainer dude insisted I try doing them "the right way". What a moron he was, I could lift only 110lbs! Next week, I'll show him! So the day of my very impressive one rep max (remember, this is a fictional example so the character is allowed to be deluded), I was jacked. I drank three Red Bulls and took a preworkout supp. I have GOT this! But I had not "earned" that weight. I have cheated. So none of my tendons were strong enough to hold that load. And one of them snapped. Also this came at the cost of odd-looking pecs instead of good-looking ones. I also blew out something in my gut due to holding my breath, looks like a hernia surgery is coming up soon. Now suppose my goal, instead, is to train for an aesthetic and powerful set of pecs. That trainer dude agreed to watch me to get it all perfect. I arrive calm, not jacked up on stimulants, and I am totally present. I might not even use the bench press for this, I might go to dumbbell presses instead (less use of the front delts). [In my own personal case, I do both]. Let's say for this example I am using only the bench press. I would load it very lightly for my first session, just enough for stiff resistance. I would do four sets of sixteen reps, focusing on my breathing and my form. Each session, I take the resistance up a bit and the reps down a bit. Any time the weight is too much for me to take my pecs to full extension, I reduce the weight.
	What is full extension with the pectorals? This is something our fictional character was clueless about, mainly because you set aside ego to train this way. Training this way is how you get strong, aesthetic muscles and high functional strength. For the bench press, you bring the bar down until it almost touches your chest. Don't bounce it off your chest. Enjoy the burn at this position, don't use momentum. Don't rely on the bench press for full chest development. I recommend three other exercises for this workout. The next one is the dumbbell press. With these, you  want to come out and to the side, pulling your arms down such that your hands can drop just below the level of your chest. If you cannot comfortably (no tendon pain) do this, reduce the weight until you can. Lest this type of chest training make you feel like a wuss at the gym because of the light weight you're using, remember that this full extension movement is exactly how Arnold trained. He called it "opening up the chest". Nobody called him a wuss, so don't worry about what other people in the gym might think. Next is where the real work of chest development comes in, at least for me. Using cables or bands while standing, pull across the center line of your chest and get a full, hard contraction. Gravity, which interferes with the bench press and similar work, does not interfere here. Come past the center line, then rotate your stance slightly as you come back so you can get the full extension. If you select the right weight (for cable) or resistance (for band), the resistive force will increase the right amount (maximally) at full contraction and still decrease enough to allow full extension. Because you are relaxed and fully present, you can adjust your stance as needed (slightly pivot on your feet) to get the exact resistance you need. Now, stop a moment and think about what I just said. You are so tuned into what you are doing (mind body connection) that you are adjusting the tension on the muscle exactly as needed because you can feel it. For the cables or bands, one set consists of eight reps high on the left side, eight reps high on the right side, eight reps mid-height on the left, eight reps mid-height o the right, eight reps low on the left, and eight reps low on the right. Do four sets, then finish with one set doing just the middle. Finish the workout with flyes. Again, we defer to Arnold. Flyes are a stretching exercise. Use a very light weight. Start wit 10lbs if you are unsure how much to use. Start slightly above chest level, then lower the weight to stretch those pecs as far as they will go. Do two sets with an incline bench and two sets with a flat bench.

The United States of America now produces $31 trillion of goods and services per year. This is one-third more than the more populous Europe or China.