Practical Tips, Etc. & Format

Daryl wrote:I wasn't seriously suggesting that government dictate salary caps, in that while I deplore the social injustice of people who don't really contribute anything useful (light entertainment for the masses isn't high on my preferences), the cure would be worse than the disease. Possibly what has been suggested in France of having a very high tax rate that cuts in at say $5M a year would do it, and have the benefit of preventing CEOs making short term decisions to maximise their bonus.

I'm curious as to why government jobs would alone benefit from a salary cap? Many bureaucrats work very hard and do good things for the community, do you want second raters in those positions?

The reason I am for salary caps on government jobs who pays the salary. With a normal business, it's the employer/company that has to meet payroll and such. As such if the business fails, the employees find other work, and if the employees demand too much money, the business looses profitability. With a government, all of that is thrown out the window. Governments get most of their money from taxation. Governments also don't have to and in fact aside from a very few select agencies, don't ever show a profit. They operate at a loss every year. So any increase in salaries has to come from taxpayers.

It is highly notable that a President that supported unions and social programs, FDR, specifically stated he was against public sector unions because they would be demanding higher wages and benefits at the cost of the taxpayer's pocketbook. Who they would be getting their pay and bennies from was important. Businesses =/= government in how and why they pay employees. A business that can't meet payroll increases might go out of business or be sold off. A government that can't meet payroll increases can just raise taxes or skim off other revenue sources and raise taxes later to compensate.

A habit can make things easier. A bad habit also damages!

Info: "The Power of Habits" by Charles Duhigg. Written by a journalist, this readable book covers recent research on habits. It states the structure of a habit is: 1) trigger, 2) routine, 3) satisfaction. God gave us a design with habits so we can do many things without needing to think them through bit by bit. Do you remember how slow you were when learning to drive?

Many habits are learned without thinking them through properly; because of youth, poor training, poor examples, misunderstanding, etc.. Once formed, they can be hard to break Our sunday school teacher shared how he quit smoking. Breaking the physical addiction was easy - he locked himself in with food, etc. but no smokes for several days. But even seventeen years later, he avoids certain things because they act as triggers for the habit requiring him to think about it and use self control. Habits are weak enough to let us change them, using thinking and self control.

It is easier to modify a habit than eliminate it. Example: a few years back I realized I was driving largely by habit, and not paying enough attention. So a modification was purposely added; deliberately looking left, right, ahead, behind, and checking the instrument panel. It has reached the point where I notice myself doing this without thinking about it - unless something needs attention.

Duhigg's book covers habit formation, background information, and how to change existing habits. It includes some known good methods to break bad habits, such as the AA twelve step program, and relates them to the research.

We should manage our habits. Otherwise the habits manage us instead. I'm working on building a habit of reviewing my habits and making changes as needed, which is too often.

I've often wondered how the people you hear about going adventuring do it. How do people find the time to sail around the world, go on adventure treks in their 20s and 30s and 40s, or play sport every weekend? During those years I was working 50 to 60 hours a week to pay the mortgage, plus slowly developing my house and things, and every small amount of spare time was devoted to my family.

Recently we had a news article about a 30yr old who disappeared on a surfing trip in Bali presumed taken by a shark. Sad for his young family, however the news said it was on his regular two week solo break. How could someone at his life stage have the money and time free to do that?

On an other matter I worked both in private enterprise (employer and employee), and in government (junior clerk to DG), and don't buy the story that government workers are lazy non productive drones. In all sectors I found many hard workers and some work dodgers. So sorry Zakharra, I disagree with your approach that government workers shouldn't have union protection, and the resultant improved work conditions that union membership generally brings. If you have lousy work conditions you attract lousy workers. Perhaps that is the reason that many US posters here don't have faith in their government's ability to efficiently deliver services?

There is a lot of knowledge about good nutrition.

Humans don't make their own vitamin C. Guinea pigs don't either. There are probably others, but most animals do. So we need to get it from our diets.

Food at the grocery store is often selected for the ability to be stored well, rather than for nutrition. Supplements are cheap, it is worth learning what works, and what to watch out for. One winter we had a lot of squash from the garden, and didn't think to cut down on the vitamin A supplements, which caused a problem

Living mid continent, iodine can be a problem. Kelp powder provides this and many other minerals.

BJ handles our food, so I can't suggest much to read, but:

http://authoritynutrition.com/top-10-nutrition-facts/

or better, a general search on nutrition.


BTW, intensive gardening and aquaponics are both innovative and provide production/land area increases. Better yet, given the needed land, etc. both can be established with the primary cost being labor, including the labor of learning how to DIY.

We don't have either physical or mental capacity to see everything at once, so we think with idea patterns.

These are called: fiction, paradigm, hypothesis, theory. I've not read any solid definitions. IMHO A fiction is any idea pattern which may resonate with reality, but does not intend to connect to it. They are usually used for entertainment. A paradigm is the general use of an idea to model reality. A hypothesis is a paradigm where there is enough evidence to suggest that it may do so. A theory is a hypothesis with enough modeling to be useful. The Greek theories which have been supplanted were useful, although looking at details showed some were not correct. No theory can be tested by other theories, which can only suggest places to look for evidence. They must be tested by solid evidence.

Example: the peak oil theory. Everyone agrees oil is a depleting resource. Peak oil does not say we will run out, it says it will become more expensive. Which is why unconventional oil is being produced. Remember when crude was under $20/barrel?

Those who pay attention to this research useful choices. Some look to electrified transportation powered by solar, on line work, or other means of handing distance between labor or home. Others look at ways of reducing that distance. Urban farming is growing, there is talk of a grid using many mini grids and storage as its basis. We use a (poor) version of intensive gardening to supply much of our vegetables from the back yard. Books and magazines are produced telling how this can be done, and its advantages. One book is being advertised is by a man who spent several years living with the Amish to learn from them. The "Mother Earth News" magazine has helped us a lot (When laid off in 2003, the first thing done was to expand the garden , and other useful things were done at home.)

The exact wording is not remembered, but there is a verse in the Bible that says that those who see trouble coming take shelter from it, while those who don't are hurt by it. Elsewhere in the Bible is a prophecy describing a future where everyone has their own vine and fig tree: i.e. local food production.

The lack of cheap oil is already making a difference. What happens if IS takes over countries that produce more oil? What if our cheapest source is from deep sea or arctic?

Under "Free Range Topics" is a "Driving in Snow" thread. Even people who are used to winter weather should review this one. Long range forecasts for -14/15 winter predict very variable. Someone said this last cold snap was supposed to product freezing temperatures in US southern states - don't be sure of being immune to bad weather this year.

BTW, worth reading:

http://townhall.com/columnists/pauldrie ... i-n1918861

Most big shot brass hat types love an excuse to extend their control over others. Murray Leinster once had a short story that ended with all brass hat mental patterns being forbidden to have any part in government. Wistful, wistful

Humans are designed to use tools, both physical and mental.

The human thumb has controlled bending at the central joint. Even animals with hands don't have that. We also have high level tool using capabilities with generalist patterns, although we may specialize to some extent. We are abstract thinkers, when we take the trouble to think

A tool is anything that enables us to do more, faster, or better. Seed can be planted using fingers in most soils, but a dibble stick, hoe, or automated seed drill improves the work. Likewise, the mental tool of understanding what plants need and the local conditions improves results. This same principle holds in any place we use tools.

The tool should fit the work to be done. When a kid, there was a rectangular depression in the side of a hill in our pasture. Asking returned the answer that it had been a sod house, which had since collapsed. For a pioneer with a need for shelter, and no mechanized tools, a shovel supplies the need. A more modern shelter is found 30 miles south of here: an underground house built of concrete domes, then buried, with windows on the south and east. The owner showed how strong it was by parking a tractor on top for a few weeks! Office work needs another set of tools.

Since no one can do everything, we specialize and then trade the results of our work. Whatever tools you use, invest the time to use them well. Knowing how to use basic tools can help when problems happen.

When explaining to kids the importance of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, I mention that our knowledge and understanding of mass production lets people like you and I to live better than kings did just a century or two ago

Wisdom is being able to put your knowledge, understanding, and available tools to good use. We still need to work on that one - quite a bit

Worth reading:

http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid ... tis?ap=104

Prevention is still much better than cure.

It is also useful to research possible non standard cures in any case of a disease where only palliatives are available through the establishment. After getting home from my heart attack, the first thing done was to WEB search (prevention AND "heart attack"). General browsing suggests there are also cures for some "incurable" diseases. The problem, as always, is to filter the hype from the facts. Just don't make the mistake of thinking the establishment is free from hype.

On a different subject:

http://www.fool.com/retirement/general/ ... ver-r.aspx

And a Thanksgiving leftover worth reading:

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/ ... ampaign=nl

An easier way to learn something is always nice.

Since China has a number of spoken languages, they have kept the ideographic character writing. It is only one thing to learn, instead of many, which would be needed with an alphabetic system.

While researching on whether, as read, some early Chinese combination characters refer to events from before the tower of Babel (they do) there was a serendipity moment. Recently, a Taiwanese lady whose family does calligraphy (wonder how that works with ideographs ) devised a very easy way to remember the characters . It is called chineasy. The site is:

http://chineasy.org/

My system won't display the side items, but still: in a short time looking over the site, I find that half a dozen symbols are remembered.

Knowledge is as valuable as silver, according to the Bible. It only costs the labor to do the learning. It is always nice to find an easier way to do the mining. This site will be revisited

DDHv wrote:An easier way to learn something is always nice.

Since China has a number of spoken languages, they have kept the ideographic character writing. It is only one thing to learn, instead of many, which would be needed with an alphabetic system.

While researching on whether, as read, some early Chinese combination characters refer to events from before the tower of Babel (they do) there was a serendipity moment. Recently, a Taiwanese lady whose family does calligraphy (wonder how that works with ideographs ) devised a very easy way to remember the characters . It is called chineasy. The site is:

http://chineasy.org/

My system won't display the side items, but still: in a short time looking over the site, I find that half a dozen symbols are remembered.

Knowledge is as valuable as silver, according to the Bible. It only costs the labor to do the learning. It is always nice to find an easier way to do the mining. This site will be revisited

Look at international traffic signs and hand sign languages.