Mindconnection eNL 2026-01-04

 
From: "Brainpower eNL" <mark@PROTECTED>
Date: January 3rd 2026

 

 

 
Subscriptions
Past issues

Mindconnection eNL, 2026-01-04

Home

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

 
Please forward this to others who might find it useful. If you have a social media acct (Facebook, etc.), please add our link: https://www.mindconnection.com
 
 

Happy New Year!

1. Good News: Where the Intel is Good

Political News?

I have long considered myself to be apolitical. Yet, when I talk about subjects such as economics or crime, nearly everyone takes that as political commentary.

I am against communism, which is a mental illness. We just underwent 4 agonizing years of Communist Occupation. It was during the Occupation that I began commenting in a way that many people consider political. I was surprised a few weeks ago when a friend referred to my newsletter as "your political newsletter" when stating it was one of only two subscriptions he actually reads.

In my view, I am just reporting on the facts and naming both the villains and the heroes. But because the villains are "Democrats" and the heroes are MAGA and America Firsters, the impression I give off is that I am being political. That's not the impression I want to give. And I say that because when it gets political, facts fall by the wayside and propaganda gets spewed. If it turned out that the "Democrats" were not devoted to destroying our country, society, economy, military, etc., and making debt slaves of all of us while ignoring not only our civil rights but our human rights, I would seldom mention their party.

Until such time as the "Democrats" free themselves from communist control, I will see the "demo" part as short for "demonic" because their behavior is, when objectively viewed, evil. They behave not rationally, but as if demon-possessed. And I will correctly report on their damaging communism.

I'm not a big fan of the Republicans either. I used to call them Repugnocrats and Demopublicans. Most of them are RINOs who give not one whit about this republic. Until Trump actually won his second term most of them were talking trash about him. Now they wear MAGA hats and give lip service, but the leopard does not change its spots. Most are still the same uni-party criminals getting filthy rich through insider trading and accepting bribes.

One big difference between the left and right wings of this uni-party is if you look at each of the past 40 years of spending increases, they are something like 80% from the Democrats. All of the huge policy failures have come from the Democrats. All of the wars in the past 120 years have come from the Democrats, with the sole exception being President-de-facto Cheney's Iraq War. But the Cheneys are neocon America-lasters and well-noted for their TDS. You can't really put that war in the Republican pocket. What about the first Gulf War? That was the only other war not actually started by a Democrat POTUS, but it was the result of Deep State meddling and the Deep State is run by the Democrats.

So if I seem to be political, that's because all of the big failures are coming from a single source and that source operates politically.

Full disclosure: Late last summer, I re-registered with the county election office as a Republican. I had been a registered Libertarian for decades. But the LP is irrelevant at the national level and I want to participate in Primaries. There's also the not inconsequential fact that only Republicans can defeat the communists. Neocons and ne'er do wells like Mitch McConnell no longer wield power in the GOP, so it is far less repugnant than before Trump 2.0.

Family Cat to the Rescue: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xnI4M6W8bCc.

  • It is going to be a Trumptastic year! So much has been done since Liberation Day, including trillions of dollars invested by other countries, to boost our economy instead of poison it.
     
  • "The U.S. economy exploded at a 4.3% annualized growth rate in the third quarter, smashing economists’ 3.2% forecasts, a delayed Commerce Department report revealed Tuesday amid fallout from the recent government shutdown." [The Capitalist, 23DEC2025]
     
  • The USA did not have a single hurricane in 2025. So much for Al Gore's dire warnings and the communists' effort during The Occupation to eliminate fossil fuels to "save the planet".
     
  • Here's a marketplace that connects buyers to USA businesses: https://www.rivly.com/
     
  • Hakeem "Lying Moron" Jeffries gets called on his BS by an informed interviewer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixzmfP8utaU. On the left-wing CNBC!
     
  • The People's Republic of California continues to address the perceived shortage of violent criminals by continually writing laws that make it safer for such criminals to rape and murder the innocent. One such law was recently struck down by the Ninth Circuit Court; it was a law banning open carry.
     
  • It is worth noting that for decades the 9th Circuit Court was one of the worst around, if your case went there it would not be heard on the merits, case law, or statutory law. This court frequently sided with the Institute of Reprobates and Sociopaths despite the fact IRS had an indefensible case in those instances. President Trump fixed this in his first term by appointing to the 9th Circuit judges who do not deeply hate human beings and who actually respect our laws. The 9th Circuit Court has, since then, been a beacon of hope and justice.
     
  • DHS released figures at the end of last year showing that the U.S. Coast Guard has seized more than 469,000 pounds of cocaine since Liberation Day.
     
  • A recent Gallup Poll showed an astoundingly high 8% of conservatives trust the media. My theory here is they were just messing with Gallup. What a stupid question to ask a conservative. "Do you trust the lying, "always gets it wrong", anti-America, anti-thinking, anti-freedom, leftwing mouthpiece media?" The question is disrespectful, as it is no different from asking, "Are you profoundly stupid?"
     
  • A recent Gallup Poll showed an astoundingly high 51% of Democrats trust the media. My theory here is they are profoundly stupid.

Testing A Planet-Saver

If some libtard expresses "green" virtue-signaling or support for stupid anti-fossil fuel policies, ask this simple question. "Do you drive a stick or an automatic?"

Why do this? In Europe, where the price of gasoline has been very high for decades, nearly everyone drives a car with a standard transmission. Here in the USA, where gasoline is a lot cheaper, the "standard" is an automatic. An automatic gives a smoother shift between gears and a smoother start from a dead stop, because of the torque converter that sits between the engine and the transmission. This torque converter slips a bit, while the manual gearbox doesn't slip at all. The only slippage you get with a standard transmission is what the driver produces in the way he releases the clutch. The torque converter slips all the time, not just during shifting. The fuel savings of a standard transmission is significant. But to get it, you sacrifice a little comfort (Europeans don't even notice this) and you have to (or get to, depending on your perspective) manually shift gears.

Of course, you can ask dozens of questions along this line and the typical "save the planet" libtard will have the wrong answer nearly every time. Here are a few:

  • Do you combine trips?

  • Do you use chemical fragrances?

  • Do you buy processed food or Big Agra food (very high use of petroleum)?

  • Do you use electric heat (very energy-wasting compared to gas)?

  • Gas stove or electric?

  • Do you have a top loading washer (inefficient) or a front loader?

  • Do you hang your clothes up to dry, or do you dry them completely in the dryer?

  • Have you replaced your incandescent lamp fixtures with LED fixtures or did you simply replace the lamp (bulb) with a retrofit?

  • Where do you set your thermostat?

  • Do you wear sweaters and such in the winter, or just crank the heat up?

  • Do you use fans in the summer or rely totally on air conditioning?

  • Do you take hot pans outside to cool off when your air conditioning is on?

Minnesota Mess

  • Tim "Incredibly stupid" Walz is Governor. Still.

  • Misrepresentative Ilhan Omar, who frequently badmouths America has somehow gone from a negative net worth to having a net worth of over $30 million while in Congress.

  • Welfare fraud in Minnesota is now estimated to exceed $9 billion. That's 9 followed by 12 zeroes.

  • Just about all of that fraud has been committed by Somali immigrants, the very people whom Omar claims are the victims of racism.

  • Minnesota, also sometimes called Taxesota, is #11 in the list of states with the highest tax burden. It's even greater than that of "Taxachussetts"

The Fake Election of 2020

"Did Biden win Georgia? 2020 election results now in doubt after county admits counting perhaps 315,000 uncertified votes." [Electoral Defense Digest, Dec 2025].

Given the gross "irregularities", not to mention common sense, one must conclude that only the willfully stupid believe that Brainless Biden with his zero-attendance rallies won the 2020 election without massive cheating. Especially when there were verified reports of things like more Biden votes than residents in some counties.

Those of us who saw that preposterous fiction for what it was took a lot of abuse, some of it pretty vicious. And our nation was plunged into four dark years of the Communist Occupation. It was a time of violence, censorship, religious persecution, racism, and financial malfeasance at extremes not seen before in our history.

That election fraud should have been stopped by VP Mike Pence, who had the Constitutional authority to remand the election to the states. But Mike was afraid, and rightfully so, of having his life destroyed by the criminals who had already been doing terrible things to Justice Thomas, President Trump, and many others they didn't agree with. Pence took the cowardly way out, and the entire world paid a very steep price for that.

What is happening now that the communists don't have total control is investigations are moving forward. Many years too late, but better late than never. The practical effect is not readily apparent, because the massive damage has already been done and cannot be undone, and the millions who died as a result of this are simply gone.

But proving that election was false and doing that beyond a shadow of a doubt will show very clearly that election reform is badly needed. Part of election reform will be the ability to arrest fraudsters and put them away for a very long time. Much of this needs to be done before the midterms, this November. The commies are counting on stealing dozens of seats in Congress via fraud, and we know that because they blatantly lie about everything and heavily gas light those who are imprudent enough to expose their minds to mental pollution such as CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, and other fake news outlets.

What these fake news outlets do isn't protected by our First Amendment. They are involved in active sedition, libel, and slander; all of which are criminal acts. Part of election reform should, but probably will not, involve severe penalties for disseminating fake news about a political office seeker. What is happening instead is Citizen Trump is suing these a--holes for very large sums of money and thus inflicting nearly mortal wounds on their companies. As President Trump, he is gracious to the non-fake news even if he doesn't like their questions. And he is brutally honest with the fake news people that they are awful at their jobs. We all need to do the same. Let friends know that the Communist News Network is a sewer and the New York Times is a joke. It'll be like the "wearing white socks" thing, nobody will want to be associated with the ridicule. This will go a long way to preventing another Biden-geddon.

Obamarama

The criminal going by the name "Barrack Hussein Obama" (even though he was adopted by Lolo Soetoro and did not legally change his name back to Obama) has been strongly implicated in several felonies related to the Russia Hoax of 2016. Tulsi Gabbard talks about it at a recent White House Briefing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nko8kyu_kPc.

How do we know she's telling the truth, aside from the fact "Obama" was a racist scumbag and communist operative who did immense damage to our country? Politifact, known for its leftwing bias, claims she's "misleading" people and MSN, known for being absurdly leftist, belittles her and the evidence she talks about. You cannot get a better endorsement if you are telling the truth!

The Fake News Never Stops

Trump detractors have to make sh** up because they can't find anything actually wrong. It is amazing how low they will stoop and how desperate they are. Recently, a consumer of the fake news system told me, "They were really close to finding a cure for Alzheimer's but Trump cut the research funding."

Notice the vagueness. "They" were really close. Notice the disrespect. Not "President Trump" but "Trump"

  • I cracked a smile and replied, "Did you read that in the New York Times? Nobody is anywhere close to finding a cure for Alzheimer's. We know the major risk factors for it, one of those being the consumption of seed oils."
  • He said that several people had told him this.
  • I said it's all fake news, and just because people repeat it doesn't mean it is true. There's no cure on the horizon, these "researchers" were simply scamming the government for research dollars that would produce nothing.
  • He then said he was sorry he brought it up.
  • I told him it's good he brought it up.
  • Then he said he has never heard anyone else express the view I expressed on this subject.
  • I replied, "Which means you need to talk to more people, and get out of your echo chamber."

Thank You, Elon

"Once Twitter/X was freed in 2023, the other platforms followed suit out of commercial necessity. Ironically, the only place where censorship remains fully in control is in corporate media itself. They’re still operating under the old rules." [Jeff Childers, Coffee & Covid, 29DEC2025].

 

 

2. Product Highlight

We are proud to offer the Rocket Pen Reading Tutor. Click the image for more info, such as videos. Highlights:
  • READING TUTOR: The only reading pen with learn-to-read functions, and we have six: spelling, syllabication (how the word is "built"), lookup of phrasal verbs, lookup of idiomatic expressions, colors for different dictionary fields, and it highlights words as it reads from scanned text. These combine to dramatically improve literacy and reading fluency.
  • 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.
  • 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.
     
  • MASSIVE ONBOARD DICTIONARIES: The Rocket Pen has the New Oxford American Dictionary with Oxford Thesaurus of English (Americanized) with over twice the entries of the best competing products. It also has the Oxford American Children’s Dictionary with Oxford American Children’s Thesaurus (both Americanized). The Rocket Pen scans English and French only, but also contains an English to Spanish dictionary and a French definitions dictionary (French to French).
  • COMES COMPLETE. Self-contained, no computer or Wi-Fi required. Kit includes Rocket Pen reading tutor, USB charging cable, Quick Start Guide, and earphones. 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.
     
  • MISSION-FOCUSED. The Rocket Pen isn't loaded with other features a struggling reader doesn't need. Its focus is on helping the reading challenged master not only the texts they encounter but reading itself. This reading pen is the only one that is also a reading tutor. Unlike other products in this space, the Rocket Pen is truly a learn to read pen not just a text to speech scanning pen. It provides six different methods for users to learn how to read rather than just being read to. It's a powerful dyslexia reading tool for students and adults, and for anyone else with reading challenges. It provides six different methods for users to learn how to read rather than just being read to.
  • READY TO USE, EASY TO USE. Comes ready to use, no setup needed, easily customized. 1.9 inch color touch screen; Physical buttons for screenless scan and read; Select English or Spanish user interface.

Rocket Pen

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

Disability Products:

(We are the sole Amazon seller for these)

Radios:

  • Connex 10 meter radios
  • Dosy meters
  • 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

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
  • 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

 

3. Brainpower tip

Have you ever noticed that people who are especially stupid, such as that coworker who consistently gets things wrong, seem to be on some sort of autopilot? At the other end of the spectrum are those people who apparently never have any major problems, who can figure out just about anything, and who frequently come up with insights. Then there are the rest of us.

What's going on here?

That person who seems to be on autopilot actually is. And this is what you must replace with deliberateness, which is also called mindfulness or intent. People aren't inherently mindful or not mindful. Mindfulness is a choice, notice again the words "deliberate" and "intent". Rather than passively letting things flow past you, choose to control those things. The more you do this, the more it will be your default mode. It's a habit that needs nurturing.

A caveat here is there's a toe-dipping aspect, we can think of it as superficial mindfulness. Rather than give things no thought, you give them a little thought and then move on. It may seem like this is fine for things that are neither urgent nor important, but sometimes we overlook the contribution that mindfulness can make to little things that are often repeated.

Consider, for example, how you organize a drawer in your kitchen. You access that drawer regularly, and holds things that you frequently use. But it also holds somewhat related things that you never use. The clutter inside the drawer is inefficient. By putting the few things you frequently use into a drawer bin (or putting all the other stuff into drawer bins), you end up with an efficient way of storing and accessing the things you really need.

The benefits of mindfulness, of course, can be come from many other things than drawer organization.  If you were to deliberately think through each of your systems for doing things, you would make life easier and have more free time. But it's easier to just be on autopilot and live with the loss of time that comes from inefficiency. All of those little inefficiencies add up. If all of your life routines took 50% less time (this is more achievable than you might think), the effect could be the same as living an entire extra decade (depending on how old you are when you optimize and whether you continue to optimize).

Practice mindfulness on your job, and watch what happens. The vast majority of people are on autopilot at work, which is a major reason something like 80% of people say they are not happy in their job. Be mindful, and your job happiness will increase exponentially. As will your prospects for promotion, plum assignments, greater pay, and being recruited by a better employer.

Practice mindfulness in your marriage. Rather than reacting to what comes along, deliberately make some happiness. Look for something you can do to make your spouse happier, even if just a tiny bit happier. That will have a snowball effect.

Practice mindfulness in adversity. This is where the benefits are often outsized. Whether it's a single small problem such as a needed fix-it or a major "life sucks" situation, deliberately putting your smarts to work on it can pay enormous dividends on even small efforts. Going on autopilot and reacting accordingly will often make matters worse.

The more you practice mindfulness, the better you will be at it. Partly that's because when you are mindful you are exercising your mind and thus making it stronger. People who are on autopilot often seem hopelessly stupid, and that's because of the mental atrophy from not tapping their brainpower. They will have to start with really small efforts, and build up their strength. If such a person is important to you, provide encouragement by noticing they actually put a little thought into something and complimenting them on "using the ol' noggin".


4. Finance tip

In 1988, I bought an electric clothes dryer. I still have it. A few years ago, the drum seal failed. I replaced it. A few weeks ago, the drum drive belt broke. I bought another one at Lowe's (Home Depot does not have them in stock) and replaced it. I have a 28 inch dryer. The belts for the 27 inch and the 29 inch are 92 inches long and 1/4 inch wide. They cost $12.82 and $16.14, respectively. The difference is the one for the 29 inch dryer is stronger, so I installed that one.

Out of curiosity, I looked online to see how much a replacement would cost. It would be about $800. Copilot says a dryer should last between 12 and 18 years. Mine is now 36 years old. So I have saved about $1600 on dryer repairs by properly maintaining my dryer, properly using my dryer, and fixing it as needed (very cheap to fix).

Volume

And I do a lot of laundry for a single guy. I change bedding every week, change my mattress pad every month, and use cloth rags instead of paper towels. I wash bath towels, hand towels, and wash towels weekly. There are two and a half baths with towels. Plus a towel on my weight bench. When guests eat here, we use cloth napkins (which get washed). I have cloth dish towels, too. When it rains, the cat likes to go outside and then come in to be toweled dry. As soon as he's dry, he goes back outside. Then we repeat this a few times. Each time, he gets a fresh hand towel (one use on him, and in the hamper it goes). Sometimes, there is much more laundry than this. For example, when a guest visits from out of town. The extra bedding and towels, sure. But also they will typically wash everything they've packed. Plus I go through more cloth rags.

Every year, I wash two canvas tarps, eight bedsheets, and two large (fold over three times when using them) garden covers. And I dry them in that dryer. The use of these keeps some plants well past Christmas, those being cabbages such as bok choy and kale.

Maintenance

  • Cleaning the lint trap is your first line of defense. I clean mine before and after each use. I also clean around the dyer. Sometimes I will unplug it, then remove the top and front panel so I can clean all the lint out of the inside (this is the main thing that will cause the motor to fail).
  • Sometimes, dryer vent piping has to go around a sharp bend or two and then up. This means that lint will eventually build up in that pipe. Most lint is due to using high heat settings and/or using clothes made of polyester. How to fix this: Pull the dryer out and disconnect the dryer vent hose. Use an electric leaf blower to blow into the hose, forcing any lint to go out the vent. If you do not have such a blower, you could use the blow feature of your vacuum if it has one. To avoid having lint blow back over your face, stuff newspaper or similar into the first several inches of the vent, jamming it in there around the vacuum cleaner hose. Then, with the other end of the hose inserted into the blow port of your vacuum, turn the machine on and let it run for a full minute.
  • Do not use your dryer top as a storage area. If you need storage, install a shelf or cabinet. Never stand or sit on your dryer (it is OK if the cat does it, that's not enough weight to hurt anything). Never use anything harsh to clean your dryer; an old sock that's been made damp should be sufficient.
  • Ensure the ventilation for your dryer is not blocked. You will notice vents on the back, if you look at any new dryer on the showroom floor or pull yours out and look at the back. Heat from the drum will escape into the dryer body, which is where your motor is. Heat is the number one enemy of motors, and it's not so great for the other parts of your dryer either. Air must flow around your dryer. Ditto for your washing machine.
  • Maybe once a month, wipe the drum down with a damp cloth or vacuum it.
  • Ensure your dryer sits level. If you've bumped it and now it vibrates, see if you can jiggle it back to where it was. If not, you'll need to adjust one or more of the leveling feet. Use at least one bubble level when doing this. I like to use several magnetic levels (be careful, and they will not scratch the coating which may be paint, anodization, or enameling), each one on a different plane. Unlike the washer, the dryer is light so you can easily lift it. Leveling a washer is more challenging, I use small crowbars to do the heavy lifting.

Usage Best Practices

  • Use a front loading washing machine. This is the single best way to preserve your dryer, because it wrings out the excess water.
  • Don't overload the dryer. It is better to do multiple small loads than one big load. If something is heavy with water, wring it out by hand. Try to avoid putting more than 15 lbs into the dryer at a time.
  • Do not start and stop it frequently, doing so will burn up your motor. If you stop it, wait ten minutes before starting it again.
     
  • Allow a good 30 minutes between dryer loads. This allows
  • Don't use the high heat setting. It damages fabrics and also is hard on your dryer.
  • Don't completely dry anything. I use a combo strategy of a small clothes drying rack, a large overhead rod, and one of those over the door hangers. I also hang things from my chinning bar and drape them over my Olympic bar; in those cases, I let the portable air cleaner blow dry them. I have another portable air cleaner that I set in front of the clothes rack.
     
  • I hang damp bedsheets over my bedposts, then run the ceiling fan to finish drying them. Over time this will wear the varnish off those posts, but that is easily and cheaply repaired--something you can do when repairing the finish on moldings and on other bedroom furniture .
  • If you have a portable air cleaner, use that for the final drying.
  • Do not use fabric softener sheets. Those petrochemicals cannot be good for your dryer's finish, the conductor insulation (wiring), or your drive belt. If your clothes feel rough, reduce your detergent by half and if your washer has a fabric softener bin then add plain white vinegar there. Also, do not dry clothes fully or (as mentioned already) on high heat; these bad practices damage fibers, making them feel rough.
     
  • Turn jeans inside out so the zippers don't scratch your drum.
  • Use a delicates bag if drying bras, the hooks can destroy the drum finish.
  • Don't put polyester in your dryer. It will "pill" and that's going to fill your lint trap. And it's going to cause your dryer to spew microplastics everywhere. In fact, don't put polyester it in your washer either; once it's dirty, throw it away and replace the item with a fabric that isn't so toxic and that won't melt into your skin due to a grease splatter or similar occurrence. Now, there is an exception. Microfiber is so tightly woven it doesn't behave like normal polyester. So go ahead and wash your microfiber lens cloths and cleaning cloths, but hang them to dry rather than put them in the dryer.

 

5. Security tip

Animals in the wild will typically try to intimidate the animals they feel threatened by rather than engage in a fight. Even housecats do this, they puff up their fur and hiss at the other cat. When threatened, humans (especially men) do this, also. Men will shout at each other, one will threaten to kill the other or say something to show bravery such as "Bring it." Or maybe he will wave a knife at the other person.

On the surface, this sounds reasonable; scare off the attacker and avoid getting hurt. But it's legally called assault and it is a crime. Battery, a separate crime, is when things go beyond threatening and verbal attacks to a physical attack. If you do both, you can be charged for both.

Better

A much better approach, for those of us capable of doing it (and anyone can become capable), is to simply attack your opponent without the warm-up drama and without warning. You will not get charged for assault, even if you do get charged for battery. But your chances of getting caught are about nil, because you didn't spend time creating an audience via a drama show. You end what could have been a dangerous confrontation by surprising your opponent with quick delivery of excess force when they had expected a few minutes of idiotic battery first.

I started using this approach when I was a little kid being bullied by other kids who were much larger than I was. They never saw it coming, and nobody else really heard or saw anything until the bully was running away or lying on the ground moaning. I used it in high school when a kid twice my size attacked me for wearing my Naval Junior ROTC uniform. He knocked my books out of my hands, and the next thing he knew he was flat on his back (I charged at him and lifted him at the knees, a classic wrestling takedown move). When I traveled all over the country on construction products, I would run into low-life deadbeat dads and other people who needed one of my lessons in why bullying isn't a good idea. They'd start blustering, and I'd hit them in something soft, such as the throat. Fight ended. In once instance, I interrupted an enraged football player who was beating his estranged girlfriend while her father lay on the ground with a broken arm. I just rushed up and tiger-clawed into his rib cage, something that is excessively painful to experience.

Anyone can practice and become adept with two or three "go to" movements for disabling an attacker. If someone is a threat, let your actions speak for you. Don't say a word. Not only will you be physically safer, you will avoid being charged for assault and stand only the slimmest chance of being charged with battery.

Best, if applicable

An even better defense tactic may present itself. If someone is bellicose or threatening, simply stay calm. It is easy for me to do this, because I know what will happen if the other person tries to attack me. It is not easy for most people, but make the effort. Think of something nice and smile. Say something like, "Yep, I think I get where you're coming from. Tell me more about it." Now all of the sudden you have changed the dynamic. You're a friend. You want to listen. This usually brings the anger down several notches.

I have used this tactic far more times than a quick and brutal assault. But it is not appropriate in all situations. Use your common sense and you'll be able to determine when to use this. It is always appropriate when dealing with an upset or scared police officer (the physical attack never is). It is not appropriate when (for example) the other person is closing in on your personal space or your odds of prevailing are not so good unless you hit first and hit really hard. If you feel scared and cannot get calm, your system is telling you something. Launch the attack.

Return to the wild

Back to those wild animals. A bear or a mountain lion is likely to make short work of you, even if you could whup just about any human. There simply is no contest. But they don't know that, and so your best option (if there is room enough between you and nobody is charging at you) is to puff up and make yourself look bigger. You make noise, but slightly retreat (not yelling, that escalates things). I did find this works with mountain lions, they just back off. I have never encountered a bear, but my cousin's boy did. A black bear charged at him, and his response was to calmly take aim with the one arrow he had and shoot the bear in the neck. The bear took a few more steps, then dropped dead.

Dogs

This blustering can also work with dogs; but keep in mind if a dog is defending his turf and you are on it such antics will just make him even more likely to come after you. There's a lot of conflicting advice on this, but my advice is don't turn and run. Here is how I have handled the few dogs that have come after me: Keep facing the dog, but back slowly away and speak calmly unless the dog lunges.

Something else I have done with success, but that is risky, is to just squat down and talk to the dog like he's a puppy. "Good boy. Are you a good boy?" That's for a mildly aggressive dog, it won't work on a dog that is snarling or rushing at you.

So only once have I had to hit a dog. He jumped at me and while he was in mid-flight I punched him in the nose. The force knocked him back and knocked him out. The soft tissue of his nose protected the bones of my hand, if I'd hit him in the teeth I would have been injured. The face is generally not a good target, but in this case it was all I had.

Note also that dogs are naturally people pleasers. If a dog attacks you, it's either because you pose a threat due to raising your voice or doing something else to cause the threat response, or his "owner" is an abusive a--hole who should never have a dog (or a kid). The latter case is the most common. Either way, reporting the incident to the proper authorities is in the best interests of everyone. If you are uninjured because you acted per the above, your report should not end in a euthanasia action by the government (especially if you say the dog "threatened" you instead of "attacked" you). People have a right to walk in neighborhoods without being attacked, but when they are attacked it is almost certainly the "owner" who is at fault.

Footwear

Whether confronting aggressive humans or aggressive dogs, your odds of success are greatly diminished if you are wearing flip-flops. My fighting style relies heavily on footwork, and I always wear shoes that facilitate that. If you go around in flip-flops, maybe you should just dial 911 and wait 6 minutes for the cops to arrive. They can fill out a report and take you to the hospital.

 

 

6. Health tip/Fitness tips

Age 65 in these pics

See all of my climbing videos here: https://tinyurl.com/ClimbingSigChannel. Some cool climbing  videos:

My hardest climb ever, a 5.11d on lead: https://youtu.be/UT5h0heUUBc . I made a dumb mistake initially, letting the rope wrap over my shoulder. Watch what happens.

The scale:

  • Beginner: 5.6. 5.7. 5.8, 5.9  (roped) / VV, V0, V1, V2 (boulder)
  • Intermediate: 5.10a, b, c, d ;5.11a, b, c, d  / V3, V4, V5, V6
  • Advanced: 5.12a, b, c, d; 5.13a, b, c, d. / V7, V8, V9, V10.
  • Elite and Pro: Even harder. Almost nobody climbs at either level at any of the 6 local climbing gyms.

 

Over the past few years, I have informally interviewed dozens of athletes about their training methods. Most of the interviewees are climbers, and that is so because that's convenient for me. I have found a variety of training methods used, but some common themes that simply do not vary.

First, I need to set the stage a bit. Climbing at the Intermediate or higher level is physically demanding. The posterior muscles are worked especially hard; this is in direct contrast to the typical gym routine which practically ignores these muscles. So climbers have a different emphasis:

  • They almost never work arms, chest, or abs.
  • They do a lot of squats.
  • Most do not do the bodybuilder split routine (involves 4, 5, or 6 training days/wk). A common approach is two days per week for weight training--there's a leg-emphasized day and then a day primarily for the shoulders and the large muscles of the back. Climbers tend not to do a lot of sets, but do tend to go to failure.

Bodybuilders, climbers, and other athletes are trying to do something unnatural with their training. If you look at old pictures, black and whites from a century ago, you do not see the modern athletic physique. That physique is the result of training in a specific way, one that is not natural. Which also means if you don't train for it, you won't get it. In other words, it is an enhanced physique and it does not happen by accident.

Bodybuilders aim for symmetry plus size. Other athletes aim for balance plus strength. How is symmetry different from balance? In bodybuilding, each muscle group must be proportionate to every other muscle group. In Pumping Iron, Arnold said if he increased the size of one muscle, he would then have to increase the size of every other muscle or he'd lose his symmetry. Balance is typically a lateral thing. You want the left side of your back to be as strong as your right side, but your back doesn't have to be proportional to your legs.

Both get vascularity because of the time spent in high metabolic stress. But bodybuilders will typically chase vascularity, while other athletes get is as a secondary result. You don't need big veins to climb, so you don't train for those. But the training that you do will enlarge your veins. Make sense? When you see the typical squat-free, count reps and stop at eight, "use poor form and excess weight" gym rat, the vascularity is missing. They exercise in the comfort zone, they don't push into high metabolic stress.

Getting high metabolic stress is one requirement for hypertrophy (the other two are muscular damage and time under tension). Most athletes get into the high metabolic stress zone by engaging in big compound movements. These also train the nervous system, as they require coordination. But the main feature of these is the metabolic response. The massive calorie burn depletes the muscles of glycogen while simultaneously pushing the heart and lungs into the red zone. Doing supersets and/or taking hardly any rest between sets keeps the metabolic stress high. When you see gym rats walking around with a towel over their neck or texting between sets, you are seeing metabolic stress going away. Which is counterproductive to having a good training session.

One of my gym climbing buddies is also a rock climber. I have seen him do his Leg Day routine in the weight room of a local climbing gym.

  • He does walking lunges using 40lb dumbbells. Once around the entire weight room, then from one wall to the other and back.
  • Then he does calf raises while standing on something that allows him to dip his heels.
  • Then he does another set of walking lunges using 25lb dumbbells.
  • Calves again.
  • Then he does a set of walking lunges with no weights at all.

This doesn't seem like much, only 5 sets total. But try it and you'll understand just how well he jacks his metabolic stress through the roof. No rest between the walking lunges and the calf work, though he does sometimes pause for a few seconds during a walking lunge set. That is a huge amount of alternate leg squatting, none of which is particularly easy, so he gets intensity and volume in one go.

He also is very in tune with his energy store. I once briefly disagreed with him about how long I was resting between multiple attempts on a V7. I said it was enough to get your heart rate back down. He said to give it another five minutes. I did that, and I proved myself wrong; I got my best attempt ever on that try. This is how climbers "argue," generally. Each states a position, then we test to see which position is correct. Nobody who has advanced in the sport has ever been stubborn about an opinion. As Cicero noted, "Anyone can make a mistake, but only an idiot persists in his error."
 

Of course, I am talking about opinion. This is something often confused with fact. If someone wants to argue with me about whether you should do squats, I'm outa there. Not going to waste my time. On the proven fundamentals, there is no room for argument. But, you need to be careful as to what is a proven fundamental and what is not.

For example, we can all agree that you must train your core muscles--including your abs. But what does this mean? A few years ago, I was talking with another climber about scaling back my ab work. He said he stopped doing separate ab work a long time ago. I asked him for his rationale. He said climbing is so core-intensive, your abs get plenty of work. That's one reason we climbers are known for our abs. Then he went on to say the only training he did outside of climbing was one day for upper body and one day for lower body and the squats alone sometimes meant he'd wake up the next day with sore abs. This is exactly in tune with what Shawn Phillips wrote in his book Absolution decades ago. Shawn was asked what exercises he does for his abs, and his reply was "All of them." That's profound, think about the implications. I am sure many people just did not get his point because they were fixated on their own opinion.

Now, when my climbing buddy said "squats" he was not talking about dipping your butt down a few inches by barely bending your legs. He was talking about the kinds of squats that all serious athletes do, the kind that load your quads, glutes, and hamstrings until they practically scream.

In my own case, I have not adopted the typical climber approach. I know many other climbers who have not, either. I started with the wheel, a gift from my grandpa, when I was a pre-teen. Then I dabbled with the Universal machine in the high school weight room until the spring of 1977 when I did more than just dabble with it. I did the recommended circuit on it almost every day after school. I have not missed a workout since. But I have changed how I work out. I moved to Kansas in 1996 and met a stunning beauty with very vascular arms. Of course, I started a conversation with her. She was a trainer, in the bodybuilding style with the split routine. No more circuit training for me. Over time I deviated from what she told me, doing things like radically slowing my tempo.

A few years ago, I got back on the "regular plan" with a tune-up from a gold medal winning body builder. And since then, I have gotten both bigger and leaner. I don't intend to change my program to the climbing one, even if that means not optimizing for climbing. One of my climbing buddies is almost my age and very developed from years of body building training. When asked about this by a young climber why he wanted to carry around so much weight while on those walls, he replied, "There's more to life than climbing." Which is how I see it. If another climber thinks differently, that's fine; she or he is still going to be remarkably fit.

One thing I won't do is downgrade my training to make it in line with what's recommended for seniors. Everything I do is deemed wrong by the "experts" who don't have the first clue about training. And you know what? I'm fine with that. They are parroting baseless opinion that they have been told, I am living the science that I have learned. And that science is confirmed by other athletes on a regular basis. It's also confirmed by actual experts, such as Dr. Rick Cohen of Pure Clean Performance, https://purecleanperformance.com/. That's a free plug, just because this guy knows what he is talking about because it comes from a ton of research. It also helps that he, his wife, and their adult son are extreme athletes and they work with a lot of extreme athletes. Testing things at the extremes tends to cull the BS artists from those who are telling the truth.

I hope this insight into how athletes train is helpful to you.

 

At www.supplecity.com, you'll find plenty of informative, authoritative articles on maintaining a lean, strong physique. It has nothing to do with long workouts or impossible to maintain diets. In fact:

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

7. Factoid

Government "service" has long been a euphemism for "Where they send the incompetent people who are especially stupid and especially dishonest". It's very discouraging for the accomplished, honest people who take a government job and then have to deal with the morons and crooks who surround them. This has radically changed under the Trump administration.

 

8. Thought for the Day

"I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts." - Will Rogers

 

 

 

 

Please forward this eNL to others.

 

Authorship

The purpose of this publication is to inform and empower its readers (and save you money!). The views expressed in this e-newsletter are generally not shared by socialists or other brainwashed individuals. That's because those fools live in an alternate reality and have not bothered to learn the basics of how life works. They cannot do basic math, cannot apply logic, and cannot be bothered to learn the basic facts relevant to any topic that they are passionate about.

 

Except where noted, this e-newsletter is entirely the work of Mark Lamendola. Anything presented as fact can be independently verified. Where sources are not given, they are readily available to anyone who makes the effort. Mark provides information from either research or his own areas of established expertise. Sometimes, what appears to be a personal opinion is the only possibility when applying sound logic--reason it out before judging! (That said, some personal opinions do appear on occasion).

Personal note from Mark: I value each and every one of you, and I hope that shows in the diligent effort I put into writing this e-newsletter. It is an act of service, almost no money is generated for me through this effort. Thank you for being a faithful reader. Please pass this newsletter along to others.

 

 
  • This mailing list is a public mailing list - anyone may join or leave, at any time.
  • This mailing list is announce-only.

We send out two issues per month. Each issue is designed to provide you with insight and practical information. It's not designed to pretend to offer something but merely be a sales flier instead. Look through the contents in our archives, and you'll see the benefits are extensive. And those benefits come without banner ads, pop-ups, spyware, or other stupid stuff. Our goal isn't to bombard you with obnoxious junk, but to help you live a better life on this crazy planet.

Privacy Policy:

We do not share your information with anyone, nor do we use your providing it as some kind of excuse for spamming you.