AsktheBuilder.com PLAYground Antics

April 2, 2023

Dear ,

If you're a new subscriber in the past 26 hours, this is not at all going to make sense. If you want to see the newsletter issue I sent out yesterday, reach out to me and ask for it so you have some context.

That said, if you're a seasoned subscriber, you know I routinely warn you about how you've been played like a cheap fiddle.

I played you yesterday to prove how easy it is to manipulate you.

You may have failed to look at the date at the top of the issue or your sense of humor has poured out of you like water through a colander as each new moon has passed overhead through the years.

How sad is that?

Stick with me TO THE END here because I'm going to explain to you HOW EASY IT WAS TO TRICK YOU. This is very important information for you to have as you are transported down the moving sidewalk of life.

But first let's deal with your ego. You might be a subscriber that's dealing with a bruised one this morning. If so, I'm sorry about that.

Have you been paying attention to my P.S. message at the end of recent issues? Here it is:

P.S. 

I can fix lots of things but not broken hearts or shattered egos.

There's a really good chance that my April Fools prank left you with a bruised, battered, and shattered ego because I pranked you. Your first instinct may be to get angry with me. That would be an excellent example of misdirected emotion.

Yesterday I might have made a fool out of you. Kids don't mind this happening but many adults have egos more fragile than a fine lace veil. 

When embarrassed, many adults tend to recoil and get upset. I know this happened to many because YOU may have been one who reached out to me with BLISTERING comments.

Powerful Psychology

If you fell for the 99-year asphalt shingles and the self-sealing blacktop prank, you were a victim of the psychological trigger of Authority. 

This extremely powerful tool is used on you daily if you watch television. I'll bet that's news to you.

I'm an authority figure that you trust. 

I know that sounds haughty but it's true. Where does my authority well up from?

I'm a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist and award-winning builder and remodeler.

I'm the founder of the first home improvement site on the Internet. 

I'm the talent on the first ever home improvement channel on YouTube.

I author this newsletter that has tens of thousands of subscribers. 

I've written several books.

I've done expert witness work for decades with my last case having me crawl on the roof of the Brazilian Ambassador's home on the Caribbean island of Antigua.

So tell me, how much do you TRUST the people you see on TV news shows?

Do they have similar credentials or are they just bubble-headed bleach blondes that can read a teleprompter with a gleam in their eyes? Thank you Don Henley! Go listen to this great song.

WHY do you trust these people? 

Have you ever asked yourself that question?

You've never even met them for goodness sake! But because they're on TV and you're NOT, you automatically place TRUST/AUTHORITY in them.

They could be lying slime bags who don't pay their taxes, commit felonies each week, and partake in child and sex trafficking off camera for all you know.

Yet you place vast amount of TRUST in them and what they say.

It's all because your brain stem is hard-wired to succumb to the Authority trigger and about six other different psychological triggers.

The most powerful trigger of all is scarcity. 

I used that one indirectly on you TWICE yesterday. I created the image of your roof eroding right before your eyes. Your money becomes SCARCE when things go bad on your home.

I lured you into my lair when I dangled a roof that lasted 99 years in front of you.

Are you feeling weak in the knees? You should because you're being manipulated each and every day so others can profit from you.

If you've ever sealed blacktop - it's a messy horrible job - then you were ALL TOO HAPPY for me to MAKE THAT JOB SCARCE.

So you BELIEVED that a new self-sealing blacktop might take away some of your pain.

Imagine what you might do if the ultimate scarcity card was flipped down in front of you on the green-felt that covers the poker table of life.

I'm talking about Death. 

It's the ultimate scarcity play. If you're afraid of dying, you might say or do anything to stay ALIVE. This is why prisoners are tortured and waterboarded. You take away life and POWs have a tendency to sing like a canary.

Heck, you might even allow yourself to be injected with an experimental biologic agent that had NO long-term testing performed to measure it's unacceptable side effects. But I digress.

Are you interested in all the other psychology that's used to manipulate you and persuade you to do things that you'd might not otherwise do? If so, read this book that will CHANGE YOUR LIFE forever for the BETTER.

Word Definitions

What was the image you created in your mind when I used the adjective supple yesterday? Here's the actual definition:

You WANT shingles to be supple for goodness sake. You want them to readily BEND or be pliant.

Young people of both sexes have supple skin. It comes in handy if you're a gymnast or athlete.

My guess is you might have applied a SEXUAL connotation to it.

Yet there's nothing sexual in the word's definition. 

How do you feel about being tricked with that word?

What other words do people in AUTHORITY use on you to MANIPULATE you as to how you FEEL about someone or something?

Is it starting to make sense to you now as to why I asked if you had OLD dictionaries made with paper you no longer wanted? People in power are actively CHANGING the definitions of words to MANIPULATE YOU. You can't change the definitions of words in old dictionaries. Ink on paper is a wonderful thing.

Word definitions are being changed to play you.

I'll add this.

If you were offended by the analogy of supple skin, it's very possible your spriteful fogged-up car window formative Friday night memories quite possibly have escaped from you as did Andy Dufresne from the Shawshank prison.

Perhaps you don't key on powerful imagery and lines in songs and movie scripts as do I. 

In the 1994 movie The Shawshank Redemption, Andy mentions to Red that his HOPE is to get out of prison and go to Zihuatanejo, Mexico to open up a small hotel and fix up an old boat. His intention was  to take his guests on charter fishing expeditions.

I used the same imagery on you in the opening paragraph of yesterday's April Fools edition when I talked about going there to speak at a fake conference.

Imagine what I might do next April Fools Day if you're still a subscriber!

If anything in this newsletter helps save you time, money, or makes you feel warm and fuzzy, maybe you want to reciprocate and buy me a popover & a cup of coffee? That would be appreciated!

So there you have it.

My guess is I'll get no less than twenty-five BLISTERING responses to this missive.

I'll probably share them next Sunday to show you how easy it is to have misdirected anger and to demonstrate that some adults DO NOT respond well to being told that each day for them is April Fools Day.

Like Andy hoped, I hope you're not one and that you were lucky enough to pop the red pill...

That's enough for the first Sunday in April.

If you need to talk with me you have two choices:

Try 603-867-5309. If you get a funky message then go here to set up the call.

Tim Carter

Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

APRS Man - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S. 

I can fix lots of things but not broken hearts or shattered egos.

"It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes, to blind you from the truth."

           "What truth?"

"That you are a slave, INSERT YOUR NAME."