Catherine the Great

Cold Reading

This is a difficult post to write. People I care about have been deceived, and are being deceived right now by modern day "prophets."  But I think it is important to understand exactly how psychics and their religious counterparts, the prophets, work. The prophet becomes aware of the person to such an extent that it can appear that God has revealed details that the prophet cannot know. It can become so convincing that even the prophet can be deceived into thinking he has powers.

The technique is called "cold reading," and Orson Welles gives us an excellent explanation on how it works.

So am I saying that modern prophets with "words of knowledge" and "words of wisdom" are fake? 

Yes, yes I am. I prefer to believe that the religious faker is self deceived as Orson Welles mentioned. But there are some who are not self deceived. 

Here is one.



I used to have the full exposé on VHS tape, but this section of the program shows how the fake healer Popoff works.  The disgusting thing about this is that people still go to Popoff's meetings. 

People want to believe, so they do. 

But isn't the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom Biblical? I will talk about that soon. 

Fruits

One interesting aspect of sugar is that fruit sugar is not turned into blood sugar. Instead it is turned directly into fat. For our ancestors this was a good thing. It allowed them to gain weight in the summer and fall to help survive the winter. Most people today do not need to gain weight in the summer to survive the winter. Thus eating sugar, of any type, is a little dangerous if you feel that you weigh too much. The metabolism of this is discussed in a previous blog post where I discuss the video—The Bitter Truth About Sugar.

Still fruit is better for you than grains. Why? The grains, having no fruit sugar, are turned into sugar in the blood much quicker than fruits. This is counter intuitive. Thus bread or rice are converted into blood sugar quicker than sugar is. Whether it is whole grains or not does not matter as much as one would expect. There are some exceptions to this, as there always are. Barley is converted into sugar slowly, and grapes are converted into blood sugar more quickly. I will talk about this more in a future blog post. 

This brings us to the video I am posting today. The idea that humans need 6 to 11 servings of whole grains is nuts. Since most grains are converted into blood sugar quickly this is the same as saying eats lots of sugar. Grains do have a few advantages over sugar, a few artificially added vitamins and fiber, but trust me, if you are eating your vegetables, neither fiber nor vitamins will be a problem.

Personally I eat one or two servings of grain a day. if I had my own personal Food Pyramid, grains and starches would be a smallish sliver above nuts and below herbs. (Note that as I am gluten sensitive this does not include wheat.) My goal of 9 servings of vegetables a day has been hard to achieve. It is doable. The government recommendation of 2 to 3 servings of fruit a day actually seems about right. Remember that a banana is two servings. Also remember that alcohol and the fake sugar alcohol are digested exactly like fruit sugar and are converted directly into fat. Thus I try to limit my intake of fruit, alcohol, and alcohol sugars to 3 servings a day as my triglycerides in my blood are too high. Triglycerides are an end product of fruit, alcohol, and sugar alcohol metabolism.

The main point of this video is that it makes no sense to use the fake gluten-free products as they are still converted rapidly into sugar. We have some of these products, but use them infrequently. 

Big in Japan

While I was never a "Dead Head," I remember the phenomenon. The same people attending the same concerts, listening to the same music, reliving their misspent youth. But with the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995 the band disbanded. All good things must come to an end. 

In the same way the current decades-long bond bull market must come to an end. I think it likely that the current increase in interest rates will be followed by a drop as the Fed ain't done yet. What can't continue, won't continue.

So in one sense my feeling is that Bill Gross, the bond fund king of Pimco,  is right:

“Yell, ‘This ship’s going to make it to port,’ Fed, PIMCO, and PIMCO co-captains willing. Those icy Atlantic money market waters are likely to be with us for a long, long time. Have a cocktail, tell the band to stop playing dirges, because you’re gonna be just fine with PIMCO at the helm.”

In another sense, this cannot go on forever. Interest rates less than zero means that there is no reason to buy anything that gives an interest rate. Cash is king, not bonds. The Fed Head experience must eventually come to an end.

Where will it begin?

While they were more than a one-hit wonder, the band Alphaville tells us where it will begin in their most popular song. Apparently Alphaville was "Big in Japan."

Wimpy Economics

I remember one of my father's favorite jokes. He would tell the story as if it actually happened. Maybe it did.

"My friend," my father said, "told me that his multi-million-dollar purchase had fallen through. I asked him why." My father would pause for effect and then conclude with the words of his friend. "The bastards wanted one thousand dollars down."

So by wimpy economy I do not mean a weak economy. I mean the character from the Popeye cartoon—Wimpy.

His signature line was always,"I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

It is Tuesday.

Update on Tuesday, July 9, 2013 at 9:22AM by [Positive Dennis]

One of my friends pointed out that I was wrong, it is in fact Monday night. This sounds about right.