Yratorm, LightMage

Kubi, you cold-hearted.. do you have to tell him the truth like that Kiddin, kiddin. Well put, Kubi.

You know the saying ' there's no such thing as a free lunch' - well, many people don't know it (or else these advertisers hope they don't).The something-for-nothing concept is a strong lure, any way you look at it. If we didn't KNOW that people are too ruthless and evil to give stuff away for free on the net, we'd be falling for it too, hehe. Okay, kidding about the ruthless and evil part, but you get what I mean.There's ANOTHER saying - 'There's a sucker born every minute' - It may be true, you know.It may be true, because I think advertisers wouldn't use this 'free-lunch' method if it didn't work SOME of the time. No one uses a method that doesn't work at ALL. So, while we enlightened ones laugh, there's probably a sucker clicking on a 'free' ad this very minute This is just one man's opinion - take it with a pinch of salt (woo, yet ANOTHER saying, hehehehehehehhehe ROFL)

There is going to be a sub-section in 'health and fitness' very soon that will focus on these very points, at least that's what Opaque intends. So go ahead and post there, and the moment the sub-section is created, your topics/posts will be moved to it. I think that Opaque considers mental/spiritual 'health' shall we say, to be an important part of one's overall health and fitness.Please go ahead and post in the health and fitness section - a lot of us there know that topics like these were intended to be there, and are missing them, to be honest So welcome :PAnother point could be the study of human nature, and it's reaction to events (and perhaps destiny) - have you read Plutarch, for example?

Yes, Saint Micheal, I think that selling arms to be used on a battlefield is wrong. I also agree that Americans selling arms to get their own people killed is beyond treachery, really - it's something far worse.However, I also think that ALL arms sales are wrong anyway, as are ALL wars and such 'legalized' killing. Isn't it time the human race moved beyond this childish nonsense they call 'war'?I think it's time people all over the world realized that we are all citizens of EARTH - time even territorial boundaries disappeared. I don't think it's ethical for a soldier to kill legally 'in the name of his country' and for a murderer to be called a criminal for doing exactly the same thing, except NOT in the name of his country. Killing is killing, period.And I don't think killing is justified, whether it's done by a Muslim jehadi or an American soldier. Who sells weapons to whom is not as important as the fact that it's time that people realized that we are all HUMAN. It's time the human race fell into step together, and started building together, instead of each trying to tear down the other's advancements. That's kind of like frogs in a well pulling each other down instead of helping each other climb out.Too idealistic a view? Perhaps you're right. However, I was trained in in the east in Ninjutsu, literally trained as an assassin (and extremely well trained, I might add), and if I can PUT ASIDE that training, and step forward and take the view that killing is wrong, that we are all brothers, then I think the rest of the world can do the same as well. To be honest, Saint Micheal, in war, people will obtain their weapons from SOMEWHERE - if the jehadis didn't get their weapons from the american contractors you speak of, they'd get it from the russians, who are extremely poor now, and would probably deal with them. I can make powerful explosives, along with detonators, from the most innocent of substances (as a matter of fact I have books of notes on this subject from the time of my training) - and I don't think this knowledge is limited to me - I'm sure the jehadis have enough experts so they could make the bombs if they couldn't buy them. Explosives and such are easy as heck to make and use, and automatic rifles and stinger missiles can be bought wholesale in the black markets of Pakistan, believe me (I've been there - as a matter of fact, I'm in India, just a little more than a hundred miles away from the Pakistani border at this very moment).The core issue is not who gets killed by what, but that WHOEVER was killed, American or Iraqi, was a brother.

Glad to help, Hagar, really. And my thanks to Ellen and Opaque for their help, couldn't have done it without them.I'll try to keep updating the post with new suggestions and tips as and when they occur to me, or as they're suggested by people here - there are a LOT of really smart and knowledgeable folk here at Trap 17, so I'm sure suggestions will keep coming in.Once again, glad to help any way I can. Take care.

Well, for an original answer to this question ..First let me start out by saying that since I was born (almost) I had the kind of temper that rattlesnakes used to frighten their babies with.That said, I traveled the world seeking and answer to this question, and in a Ryu (school) on the slopes of the Himalayas, I found it.The way that I found to rise beyond my anger, was to become MORE POWERFUL than my anger. The Ryu that I joined taught a lethal form of Ninjutsu, as well as several other arts as well, and I spent ten years there, learning the ways of power until I could kill with a single blow if necessary. But suddenly it was never necessary to strike ANYONE, far less to kill them - because suddenly, without even trying, my anger was in control. It was not that people no longer said or did things to make me angry, of course they did, but the things they said or did had become irrelevant to my mind.Let me give you an example. The other day a man came to me and told me that some other men were saying, shall we say, uncomplimentary things about me. And I said to him - just look at them, and look at me. To be angry with them would be to demean myself, to insult my art. They are not my equals in power, and thus unworthy of anger.So, to defeat your anger, grow more powerful than it. This is my way. It doesn't have to be yours

I think that what makes us human is a desire, in some, or many of us, to strive, to better ourselves - perhaps to even look up at the stars and wonder what's 'out there'.It started thousands and thousand of years ago when the first half-human creature stood up on two legs so it could look beyond the horizon. It started with a feeling of wonder, perhaps, at a flash of lightning or a feeling of fear and awe at an eclipse, when the sun became a bird of fire, a phoenix in the sky.And it started with a desire to NOT BE CONTROLLED by these things.Humans want to be gods. They don't say it, they won't admit it, but it lies at the foundations of their souls.They DO NOT want to be at the mercy of ANYTHING - not of nature, not of disease, not of discomfort. They are the kind of species that will (and has) harnessed the lightning and turned it into a drudge-of-all-work. They want to hold the worlds in their hands and weigh their dust. They want to rise ABOVE all the laws of the universe that hold them in check.They are told that they cannot travel faster than light, that they cannot travel to the stars. What do they do? They DREAM of traveling to the very stars. And it is well they should, for with such pigheadedness this race will go far, perhaps far farther than they think.One day I feel that humans will master time and space to such an extent that they will travel back in time to the Origins of Things, and re-write the very universe to better suit the human race.And all this, this arrogance, and perhaps, this strength, this WILL, and perhaps much more, are the complex and strange parameters that make up what it means to be HUMAN.

Hmm, my mom's Irish-American, my dad's Japanese-Tibetan, so you can imagine what my stand is on this issue :PI can only state my personal preferences - from my point of view, intelligence and genuine understanding and love and caring in a relationship are what really matter. I HAVE known people who are stuck on race - hey, I've be rejected by girls in both the east and the west sometimes because of my mixed heritage, and it bothers me as much as water bothers a duck, probably less.I like having racists around, if a girl is racist, I know she's probably got a completely different way of thinking and world-view from mine, and so is probably completely incompatible with me. So the moment I get any racist issues from a girl, I smile, and move on to a girl who DOESN'T care about my race, but cares about me, and the kind of PERSON I am, instead.Men don't have racial issues with me, being a master of seven martial arts, and a person whose been in countless street-fights, both in the east and in the west, usually with racists. Male racists I can handle - there's something straightforward and decent and honest in a man coming for me with a baseball bat cause he doesn't like my race, I think. It's decent and honest cause he's making no bones about it, and is willing to have his legs broken for his beliefs - and I call that honest, surely.There's nothing quite like being an Irish-American-Japanese-Tibetan to have a nice, global view of racism in all it's forms, I think. I could probably turn the study of it into a science (arrggh, it probably already is, hehe).

Hmm, I would say faster than light travel (or even travel between realities) is possible, though at the moment the only thing standing in our way is that we just don't know how. Probably our descendants a billion years or so from now would look at it as a self-evident possibility. They would probably laugh at our theories that 'nothing can travel faster than light'. If they still retain the ability to laugh after a billion years of evolution, that is, hehehehe.You know, much of what we 'see' as 'solid matter' is just fields of force that deflect both waves and the fields of force that are 'us'.To a vast extent, our understanding of the universe is based on our senses, yet our senses were NEVER EVOLVED to facilitate an understanding of the universe at all; but merely for survival on a small, harsh, extremely violent world. Thus humans, at the moment, are ill-equipped (whatever their pretensions to the contrary) to understand the true essence of all that IS.Indeed, only an understanding of this point can lead to branches of science that seek viewpoints that we cannot even possibly imagine at present, as they are too 'alien' (at present) to our evolution, to the very way our brains work.

Ellen, there IS a meditation I know that removes inhibitions when threatened by a hostile situation. You know, many people have a tendency to freeze when confronted by a bad situation. This meditation helps channel that fear into action in times of danger, so that you don't FREEZE, you ACT. I can put it up if anyone's interested.

Heh, great stuff, St.Micheal. Mind if I put your suggestions in a quote in the original post? I'm kind of trying to create a compendium of good fitness exercises.

Hahahahahhahhaha, me_boxer_dude and I can really think on the same lines sometimes. To my shame, I got to admit that the 'lure' of having superman-like vision was too strong when I was a kid, and I've actually tried the Bates method myself, hehe (I was a kid, you hear me, a kid ) - nope, didn't work, I still have the same ol 'human' vision, arrghhh. Even better than the telescopic would have been heat-vision, hehehehe!!. Yup, the bates method has been around that long, and my dad used to have the book lying around the house. But then when I was a kid I was pretty gullible - I thought I could fly by jumping off a building and flapping my hands real fast ROFL - good thing I didn't try that one qu33n.Bee//x if your vision's getting worse my first advice (if you can't afford laser surgery) is to go to a doc and get yourself a pair of glasses, it arrests further vision loss. -- Also, a good diet helps: Carrots, tomatoes, spinach, egg and liver are all good for your eyes. -- If you can afford laser surgery, go for it, before your eyesight gets too bad for it to be of help. -- Also, every half an hour/every hour, get up, go to the window, look out of it (switch your eyes to 'ranged vision' periodically) instead of sitting with them in 'close-range' mode for hours on end. Hope some of this is of help. Take care.

To me_boxer_dude: Hehe, that's me, me_boxer_dude. The setup/background is exotic cause it's a Ryu (martial arts school) on the slopes of the Himalayas; I'm an instructor there now after being a student for years. I'd actually taken these pics in an 'everyday' outfit at first, but people where I am can't handle cameras too well, so all the original pictures came out blurry - so when someone very kindly offered to take the pics again just after I'd given a class, I agreed. Hence the costume. Well, I was in a hurry to get this up cause some guys here had specifically requested it. I figured the costume didn't matter. Oh, and from reading some of your other posts I'd agree that none of these exercises is new to you indeed I remember you packing tons of good advice into a single paragraph in one of your posts on exercise I've put this up basically for thin people who wanted to put on weight - these guys were just eating all day long, and sure they'll put on weight that way, but probably the wrong kind - this way at least they can eat and build/put on the 'right' kind of weight instead. By the way, as ellen said in her post, something on self-defence/training tips would be nice - you want to put up a thread on those lines? I'm sure you have stuff to share there. Just a suggestion, nothing more. Will probably put something up myself as well. Take care. Oh, off-topic, but this is a pic of me in the 'dojo' without the mask Yup, I know, it's blurry too, hehehehehhe. Would have been a nice pic if it wasn't.

Hmm - problems with acne can usually be divided into 'normal' or 'mild' cases and chronic acne that can persist for years.Unfortunately the chronic kind is sometimes actually an inherited condition.For the more usual type of acne, first of all, try avoiding:1) Clothing, hats or helmets that retain sweat and moisture.2) Long hair that keeps brushing against the skin of the neck or face. Also avoid sleeping with your face on damp hair. If you use hair gels or sprays, be careful that they do not touch the skin of your face.3) Food. We don't know for CERTAIN, but some foods may aggravate the condition. See if you have an 'outbreak' after eating a certain food, and avoid it in future.4) Certain kinds of cosmetics may trigger acne as well. Be observant - if you notice a cosmetic triggers your acne, avoid it.For mild acne there are cleansers, topical gels and creams available - as acne can be caused by several conditions, you might have to experiment with a few of these before you find what works best for you. A suggestion would be to try out a 'new' acne cream on a limited area and see how well it works.DO NOT go for a product just because some athlete endorses it. They're being paid to dupe you, and you should try to foil their evil plans as much as possible, hehe.If you have serious problems with acne, the very best thing you can do is consult doctor. This is because serious acne can have any one of several causes, and it's important to locate the specific cause of your acne before treatment. Medical treatment for acne includes antibiotics and hormonal pills. Severe cases are treated with Accutanea.Whatever the treatment your doctor prescribes, KEEP TO IT for a cure.

Hmm, self defense moves posted here would have to be moves that anyone could do - that required little strength, etc. I'll look through my techniques and post a few good ones. Also tips on awareness, and at least one meditation to improve a person's basic positive/effective response to a hostile situation (rather than hoping the situation will 'go away').Hmm, quite a tall order, all in all - will see what I can do, but not easy to put it all in a single post. A series of posts might be better - suggestions, anyone?

Perhaps a mild problem with the way humans think is that we substitute faith, assumptions and belief for cold logic. For example, how do you KNOW for sure that the essence would be lost? Have you cloned any cats recently? So, logically, you don't know for sure, one way or another - you're writing what you assume to be the truth, or you're writing hearsay. The real truth is that cats are easily cloned, and have already be cloned hundreds of times. The procedure is extremely successful and gives you a creature with the same basic brain patterns and instincts - in essence you get the cat back at the time it was a kitten. You must remember that in animals, a good deal of their 'personality' is genetic/instinctive, unlike in humans. Dogs, unlike cats, are not easily cloned, incidentally. ------------------------------------------------------ vbritton, about people in the Himalyan regions living longer, well, I've noticed this myself. But I think it's more to do with a calmer, FAR more 'laid-back' lifestyle, and clean air/fresh food, etc. and also with living at great heights (causes a person to have far better oxygen-absorption processes - for example I have a FAR greater number of red blood corpuscles in my blood than a plains-dweller - this so my blood can carry more oxygen). I don't think it's entirely vegetarianism, a lot of mountain folk eat meat, so long as SOMEONE ELSE does the killing - you might wonder why? Well, most of the mountain folk are Buddhist and forbidden to kill, so what they do (to get around that law) is to get someone from another religion to do the killing for them, and then eat the meat. Well, hypocrisy is what I call it, but they've evolved quite a system around it, hehe. So it's more to do with the region, a peaceful life and a 'primitive' culture. Also a wonderful (from my point of view) climate - so nice and cold, hehehehhehehehehe - When I visited the UK a year ago I went everywhere in the snow in a t-shirt and didn't feel a thing - which gives you some idea of just how cold the high mountains are. A rather funny story - walking bare headed (in london) in a cold rain on Jan 1st last year, I met a man coming the other way, and I was so enjoying the rain that I just said 'it's a fine morning, isn't it' hehehehhehe - he was so irritated amazing how different cultures are different and can have a totally different viewpoint, isn't it? - and I wouldn't have it any other way. I like it that humans are so wonderfully diverse. My teachers in the Ryu are conducting experiments on expanding both the life-span and (more importantly) the duration of youth and strength in a person (I told you about this in a PM). However, where diet is concerned, they tend to look rather at what NOURISHMENT/RAW MATERIALS the food contains, rather than the source of the food. They couldn't care less what the source of the food was, so long as it can be efficiently absorbed by the student's body. Instead they concentrate on a extensive program of exercises that keeps the body EXTREMELY efficient, young and strong, and on providing it with the right kind of food at exactly the right time. For example, on days when there is massive energy burn, the subject must take in foods that can provide that energy, on days when the muscle fibres are used/stressed, the subject takes in protein. As some of these men are 70 and look like they're in their 30s, I tend to believe in their 'way'. I personally, DO tend to care about the source of my food, but that is more emotion than logic. Nevertheless, I hope to find alternative sources of food, not just because it's more 'ethical' but also because it would help millions of starving people. This is a personal project, not to be confused with my teacher's experiments with youth and longevity - first rule, don't mix two experiments

Fascinating. Here's another - it's a Chinese meditation, and used to focus the 'Chi' energy - in Japanese this is called the Ki (Japanese is used in my Ryu, so I'll use Japanese terms, if any). Most eastern martial arts believe in the Ki, an energy that flows through and binds all living and non-living things in the universe. An example of Ki in everyday life is when someone stares at the back of your head, and you 'feel' the glance and turn around, almost as if the touch was physical. This is an example of Ki energy. The purpose of the meditation below is to calm the mind, enhance focus, and help develop your control over the Ki. To do this meditation, sit comfortably cross-legged on the floor, or simply sit in a chair, with your hands resting on your knees, and your body relaxed. Concentrate and focus your whole mind on your breathing. Breathe deeply. There is a technique to this breathing, and you must do it correctly. Breathe in through your nose, in TWO inward breaths, drawing the air down into your stomach, down into the Tai-ten (a point two inches below your navel.) The Chinese believe that the universe passes through and interfaces with your body at this point. Hold the breath here for two heartbeats. Now breath out through your mouth, in TWO outward breaths. Your stomach should move when you breathe in this way, not your chest. Focus your mind on your breathing, and on the Tai-ten - imagine a point of brilliant light focusing in your Tai-ten.. then imagine that light traveling up into your skull and back to the Tai-ten. Similarly imagine it traveling down each arm to your very fingertips, and back, imagine it traveling down your legs to your toes, and back. Lastly just focus on the light in the Tai-Ten, and concentrate on breathing correctly. Do this exercise for as long as you wish, or for at least 30 breath-cycles. You should do this exercise at least once a day, at a time convenient to you.

Equally dear friend, Success stories can be real or fake. This method was instrumental in causing damage to my father's eyes. In addition, they also made some rather tall claims in their book about gaining super telescopic vision that could see the rings of Saturn with the naked eye, which I found ridiculous. If you read the book and DIDN'T find these claims ridiculous - well then, I guess you have the faith that moveth the mountains and giveth sight to the blind, indeed.If it works for you, I'm glad, however, my father did try the entire bates method twice, six months apart, and each time, his eyesight actually deteriorated. As such that gives me the creeps, sorry.Also, this method has been around for over ten years (at least) - if it's so superb, how come there are so many people with sight problems around? Surely if it was so utterly successful doctors WOULD be using it to cure 80% of eye problems - doctors may not be the most gullible of folk, but if a method works, they'll definitely be using it - most do want to cure their patients. It is my stated opinion that the Bates method does not work - of course, that's just one man's opinion.

The bates method is ancient history, really. My dad tried it more than ten years ago, and it worsened his sight. Besides, have you read their book? - I have - it claims that sight problems are more imagination than reality, and that you can achieve telescopic sight and see the rings of saturn with the naked eye if you practice their method. I leave people to judge such claims for themselves. A physical distortion of the eyeball is hardly 'imagination'.I thought this was an advertising post, so that's why I didn't reply at first. However, now that flakes has replied to it I should probably put my five cents in.

I indeed agree with your main premise vbritton. And about humans striving for a distant perfection. However, I place my trust in science to come up with answers to these questions in time, and to be honest, I feel that the answers WILL come, that this question is a question of today, not of tomorrow, if you know what I mean.As for hormones and such injected into animals, I live on the slopes of the Himalayas, where such things are more than minimal, they are non-existent. I grant that it is not good if this is the way things are in the west, but here we are a 'primitive' culture untouched by such things.As far as striving for a distant perfection is concerned - I would love to travel to the future and see humans on the planets of distant stars, or travel back in time, and re-write history, but alas, the time-machine is really on the back burners (JUST kidding about the time machine). At the moment my latest project is cloning my cat (not kidding here), which died recently and is now in cryogenic stasis. Well, it's hardly a serious project, but we all need a respite from our labors. Another project of mine is to collect dna samples from various endangered species and maintain them in stabilized conditions - I've built up a small bank of these, and hope to add a great deal more to it if and when I have more money. The reason I'm creating this 'dna-bank' is obvious, of course - if these species die out they can then (hopefully) be 're-incarnated' (for want of a better word).I also have an idea for a 'different' kind of space-ship, but that will REALLY have to wait until I have more money, arrgghhh.Yup, completely of topic, vbritton but you started it when you talked of turning humans into gods In principle, I wholly agree - I only regret that I have just one life to give to providing them the tools to this end

Perfectly right, vbritton. I believe that in the future, as our mastery of science progresses, we shall eventually (as I mentioned a little earlier in this thread), SYNTHESIZE all the raw materials our bodies need FROM MINERAL SOURCES. I also believe that instead of 'eating' these synthesized materials, we shall have them injected directly into our blood streams, to maximize absorption and use. A device worn on the body will monitor the levels of such materials in the blood stream to ensure that we don't take in 'too much' or 'too little'. Simple synthetic 'bulk' materials with various 'tastes' added will be what is actually eaten, these materials will contain nothing that the body can absorb, but will serve merely to keep the bowels healthy. This is the future. ------------------------------------ As for today:All intelligent beings understand the price of taking another life. But if one considers the point intelligently, one understands that this 'food chain' is a system built up by evolution over millenia. AND it is a system that has survived so many millenia because it is a system that WORKS. Ideally, I would choose to be like the trees, and gain my energy from sunlight, or from a mineral source. And one day that will be possible. But today, the training that gives me health and strength beyond that of others, that gives me a healthy mind and a body that can run miles without breathing hard - that training demands a portion of meat. It is not just selfishness, no - it is also an ACCEPTANCE of the LAWS by which this world works. For Earth is a cruel world, a world where nature has created harsh laws. Wasn't it the poet who said 'Nature red in tooth and claw, where cruelty, not kindness, rules high as nature's law.' That is the law of our world. I accept it - BUT while I accept it, I use my intelligence to find the science that will enable humans to rise ABOVE it. And that, after all, for better or worse, is what humans have ALWAYS done. Indeed, this, I think, more than anything else, is what MAKES us human. ------------------------------------ Compassion is an emotion - it can be mistaken; Intelligence can be cold and harsh, and thus can also make mistakes - but logic - logic, applied wisely, helps us find a way between the two.

Hmm, perhaps this study may be true in the west. It does not hold true in the east.You know, it also brings up the question - how do you define intelligence, or how do I define intelligence, or how did the researchers who did that study define intelligence? - or even what IS intelligence? Is intelligence REALLY the result of an IQ tests (I max those out in every area, by the way, and still consider them primitive, task-oriented devices).I think that the fact that the citizens of a vegetarian nation are no smarter and no more stupid than the citizens of any other nation is repudiation of this study.Indeed, as I've mentioned, I do eat meat. Stated in coldly logical terms, unaffected by emotions like 'mercy' or 'compassion' or 'kindness' for example, I consider meat to be an efficient source of several raw materials my body requires. I train my body to the limit and beyond - to then deny it one of it's efficient raw material sources would be to maltreat it.Kindness and compassion HAVE their place. But we have to recognize that these are the emotions that actually motivate some western vegetarians. And to confuse emotion with intelligence would be a serious error of logic.

This meditation is very relaxing, and is good for calming the mind and reducing stress. This is a fairly well known meditation. Sit or lie with your body in a comfortable position. The room should be either dark or the lighting dim. If this is not possible, make sure your face faces away from the light. The room should also be quiet. Now tighten all the muscles of your body, and fix your gaze on a spot straight ahead. Slowly begin to count down from hundred to zero - at the same time, begin to completely relax the muscles of your body, starting with your toes and moving upwards - first relax your toes, then the feet, then the calves, the thighs, stomach and back, arms, etc. - all the time, while you're doing this, continue to count down from 100 to 0. When the muscles of your face are relaxed (and of course, by this time, your whole body is relaxed as well), gently close your eyes. Now your body is completely relaxed Now, with your eyes closed, imagine yourself in a crowded place, full of people, full of bright, glaring lights and loud noises. Imagine yourself going down an escalator, leaving the 'plane' of the noise behind. The next 'level' the escalator comes to is quieter - there are less people, less lights, less noise. You leave this plane behind too, and continue to move down on the escalator. The next level you come to is even quieter - there is hardly anyone about, not much noise at all, and the lights are positively dim. You continue to move down, level by level, until you come to a point where it is perfectly dark, perfectly quiet, and you are completely alone. There is nothing in the universe now but you - in a sense, at this point, you ARE the universe - YOUR universe. You lie down on a bed (you don't see it, you just know it's there) - it is so comfortable, you are so calm and relaxed, so detached from everything, just a calm, calm being resting in the center of darkness, at the center of the universe. There is nothing but you. Remain this way for some time. Feel peace. Then, when you are ready to 'leave', 'get on the escalator' and rise again to the level of light and noise and indeed, the level of life The meditation is complete. I trust this will be useful to someone. It is very good for reducing stress and calming the mind.

Hmm, these are the topics Opaque has posted in the description of this section: 1) Fitness and good health (on exercises, aerobics, diet, on building fitness and maintaining fitness, etc.) 2) Strength and Endurance (using weights; also, special exercises to maximize what basic strength you have, etc.) 3) Trapped and under Threat (practical self-defence, what to do if.. ) 4) Martial arts philosophies and meditations(maintaining your mental calm, dealing with stress, knowing yourself and finding the strength to be yourself - a calm and confident mind in a healthy body) Of these I'd say topics 1 and 2 have a lot of threads, but we could definitely use some more threads on the last two - I for one would love to hear of various philosophies of life, and meditations. Ellen, to answer your implied question about a martial artist in the east , yes, I'm an instructor in several martial arts, and am presently an instructor in a ninjutsu ryu in the east. I'd be glad to collaborate with you on the 'awareness and safety tips' thread. For self-defense moves, I'll have to sort through the techniques of various arts and then put up only those techniques that are effective but require neither great strength nor intensive training - techniques that anyone can use, basically. I'll put up something in a few days, if I can. Once again, would love to hear of various philosophies/meditations, etc. it would be fascinating.

salamangkero, this is one of the most sensible, informative and to the point posts that I have ever seen. That's just my personal opinion, of course. You have a fine intellect. Great stuff, keep it up. I know I usually write a lot more than this, but this time salamangkero has beat me to it Just one point, about cooking meat - I keep cats and live in a 'primitive' place where cat-food isn't easily available. So I have to feed them meat. And I cook even the meat I give my cats (carnivores, mind you), after one of my cats killed an animal and ate it raw and then died of food poisoning (yes, I know, poetic justice, but at the time I couldn't appreciate it). My point - cooked meat is safer even for carnivores, it's just that they haven't quite mastered fire.