vbritton

Sorry for the late reply, Takumi-san. I'm usually hovering over at Trap 17 because that's where I'm hosted. Anyway, I won the book from a local radio station. I like it when I don't have to pay for stuff! There's a sequel now too called, "French Women for All Seasons." I checked Amazon.com and they carry both titles. Your local book store most likely carries them. If they don't, they can order them for you. Happy reading!

Is Xisto still thinking of changing to IPB version? I hope not, it's been nothing but a nightmare for me since Trap changed over.

The Life Talk forum has the following disclaimer:"No post count: Subforums may have post count"How do I find out which of these subforums will earn hosting credits?Thanks in advance for your help!

I can't think of a topic more worthy of discussion than health. The correlation between what you put in your body and the subsequent effect cannot be ignored. After all - if you don't have your health, well, you know the rest. But I'm digressing already.I just finished reading a very entertaining book entitled, "French Women Don't Get Fat." Don't worry guys, the basic premise of this book applies to you too. It seems publishers assume most men aren't as interested in health as women, but I think the pendulum is swinging in the other direction on this one. Women are getting wrapped up in the work-a-day world and ignoring their health just as much men are these days, and they have the heart attack statistics to prove it.The thing that impressed me most with this book was the focus on eating MORE rather than depriving oneself of life's little pleasures. That infernal word, “diet,” is never mentioned in it’s usual, awful context. Chocolate, for example, is to be relished as long it's quality cocoa and not the cheap Hershey's crap you buy at Walmart. Cheap doesn’t refer to price alone, as I buy quality chocolate that actually costs less than Hershey’s. Things are changing – you can even find the good stuff at WallyWorld now. There was a time when Hershey's and the like were not loaded with the garbage they are now. But through the years manufactures have found ways to silently poison the populace with ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, aspartame and rancid canola oil. Now, going grocery shopping is almost a defensive act. One must be constantly on guard against chemical onslaught. Maybe I'll offer a defensive grocery shopping course. Apparently, things haven’t gotten quite this bad in France. The focus is on quality rather than quantity (kind of like this forum!). French farmers are actually given government kick-backs based on the quality of their produce – not how many bushels of they produce per day. People take time to walk (focus on walk) to the market every day and buy fresh produce and freshly baked bread. Lunch is the big meal of the day, and is usually accompanied by a bottle of wine as folks linger over their food. Speaking of wine, it must be produced according to strict guidelines that protect the consumer against an inferior and potentially unhealthy product.The French also focus on eating foods in season. I have to admit, strawberries just don’t taste that great in February. The premise is, if you can only enjoy a food during certain times, your sense of pleasure in that food is heightened. Hence, you will slow down and take more delight in the subtleties of that perfect little strawberry you can only savor a few months of the year.The moral of the story is, when you eat quality food, you will be satisfied with less of it. You will also be avoiding the toxins the body doesn't know what to do with. These toxins to disease, weitht gain, or both. If you want chocolate, go ahead and eat it, but try to find dark chocolate with a high cocoa content, the higher the better. And when you do eat it, slow down and enjoy it’s fine qualities, preferably with a nice cabernet!

Greetings: I've noticed select forums contain the following disclaimer:"No post counts: subforums may have post counts."How do I know which subforums within these forums will grant hosting credits?Thank You

Once a Catholic, alway a Catholic - or so they say. I was raised in the Catholic faith, and although I'm no longer practicing in terms of attending mass, the doctines will stay with me for the rest of my life. And I know it's not politically correct to say this, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing! Not a bad thing at all. In fact, it was the well rounded education I received from Jesuit priests that I believe gave me an edge in the game of life. Had I become a ward of the state and forced to attend public school, my chances at sucess in life would have diminished greatly.War is currently being waged against all things Catholic. And I'm tired of hearing about pediophiles. Truth be told, they exist in every institution, lay or otherwise. The vast majority of individuals who consider themselves products of Catholicsm consider themselves the better for it, myself included.

When I read this post I was immediately reminded of the following quote by Dostoyevsky:"Man, do not pride yourself on your superiority to animals. For they are without sin and you in your greatness defile the earth by your appearance on it and leave traces of you foulness after you."It is man's very power to choose between good and evil, right and wrong, black and white, that gives him the propensity to act out in wicked ways. So there seems to me a link between man's "greatness," his very power to choose that endears him to evil. Perhaps that's why many pet owners prefer their dogs and cats over their friends. At any rate, unless you're a mental invalid, you are born with this evil, this orignial sin, if you will. Yes, we have free will, but as the original poster states, man is generally predictable. I believe this is due in part to astrological forces at play when the soul descends to matter, but that's a topic for another discussion.