Bon jour mes Amis!  Half the year gone already and I still haven't started my new year's resolution to lose weight and get fit. How about you?

Sitting in front of a computer monitor must be one of the gentle occupations, but it's apparently very bad for your health.  Everything is bad for your health you know. Life itself is seems to be a health hazard.

Sitting still for long periods can invite blood clots in the legs and the mouse-wrist is prone to develop arthritis. The brain seems to keep very fit (sort of). What is worse your Off-line relationships are bound to suffer too! 

I have too much work trying to maintain a healthy PC, free of viruses and uninvited hackers, deleting the 99% of email which is spam, plus daily disasters of uncaring hosts blocking my web site, hard drive failures, people failing to answer email on important issues and I find the stress levels start to rise along with the blood pressure.

We hang on to the belief that the keyboard is mightier than the sword, although sometimes, don't you feel compelled to swap? The only problem being is that your on-line foe is on the other side of the planet. You can only gain satisfaction by typing in all-capitals and plenty of exclamation marks which is about as satisfying as cold toast, without butter.

Lately my doctor says I have to give up food altogether and do penance of walking around the block. Heck that's interesting stuff for a zombie!  Banished from my keyboard and mouse for half an hour just when I was ready to upload those new keywords? Drat & Bother! 

Coming back to the computer all sweaty, puffing and hot, to check my email, is not my idea of productivity but I guess getting up at 3 am to check my email is over-doing it a  bit though. 

Anyway I've found that  8 hours sleep does sort of help get you through a whole day without  falling asleep after lunch. Mark my words, the person who invents a way to allow people to get on with living instead of wasting 8 good hours every day will end up richer than Bill Gates! 

Either that or one of those ghoulish methods where the brain is kept in a nutrient liquid attached by wires to the computer. No need to walk around the block hey!  But I would miss munching on a pizza and downing a can of Coke now and then .. 

Talking about food, what an appropriate point to  introduce our theme of the month.

XT's country of the month is France! 

Au revoir et bon appétit!

Dr John K. Flynn B.D.Sc.
The Xerostar Times Editor 
Caring for Creative People
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Researchers conclude sleepiness may be exhibited as symptoms of ADHD.

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- New research suggests children who snore face nearly double the risk of being inattentive and hyperactive, providing fresh evidence of an intriguing link between sleep problems and attention deficit disorders.

Researchers believe snoring and other sleep problems may be the culprit in some cases because children often express sleepiness by being inattentive and "hyper." 

If it turns out to be true, this theory could help explain the paradox over why stimulants such as Ritalin can effectively treat children with conditions like attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder who already seem over-stimulated, said Dr. Ronald Chervin, a University of Michigan neurologist and sleep researcher, and the study's lead author. 

"If there is indeed a cause-and-effect link, sleep problems in children could represent a major public health issue," Chervin said. "It's conceivable that by better identifying and treating children's snoring and other nighttime breathing problems, we could help address some of the most common and challenging childhood behavioral issues."

ADHD is the most common neurobehavioral disorder in childhood, affecting between 4 percent and 12 percent of school-age children or as many as 3.8 million youngsters. Data cited by Chervin suggest that between 7 percent and 12 percent of children snore frequently, with apnea -- brief breathing lapses during sleep that can cause snoring -- present in up to 3 percent of school-age children. 

 "There's absolutely a connection," said Dr. Stephen Sheldon, a sleep specialist at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. "There is a proportion of youngsters that have sleep pathology causing their daytime symptoms that appear virtually identical to ADHD." 

Among frequent snorers, 22 percent had high ADHD scores, compared with only 12 percent among infrequent snorers. 

Chervin also notes that “Snoring is often caused by Sleep Apnea.”

VISIT www.SleepAngel.com to learn about a world class product available and designed to help prevent snoring and reverse the cause and effects of Obstructive Sleep Apnea, providing you with the rest you need to avoid fatigue and the symptoms of ADHD. www.SleepAngel.com Click Here
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I've chosen to make this Forum 'public' so anyone can participate, so feel free to tell your friends!
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Do you enjoy word puzzles or playing with words?
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The French wrote the book on la vie en rose and gave the world crème brûlée and camembert, de Beauvoir and Debussy, the Tour de France and the Tour Eiffel. So if they have a finely tuned sense of national pride, who are we to point fingers? Although the ubiquity of Levis and Le Big Mac flusters the country's cultural purists, anything from a year in Provence to a weekend in Paris will explain why half the world grows dreamy over stalking the streets of Cyrano or picnicking Manet-style sur l'herbe. France has been synonymous with Romance for longer than your grandmother cares to remember, so whether you visit Paris or the Pyrenees, the Côte d'Azur or the auberge de jeunesse, be sure to keep your fantasies in check, your expectations in line and your joie in your vivre.

Full country name: French Republic
Area: 551,000 sq km (214,890 sq mi)
Population: 59 million
Capital city: Paris (pop 13 million)
People: 92% French, 3% North African, 2% German, 1% Breton, 2% Other (including Provençal, Catalan & Basque)
Language: French (also Flemish, Alsacian, Breton, Basque, Catalan, Provençal & Corsican)
Religion: 90% Roman Catholic, 2% Protestant, 1% Muslim, 1% Jewish, 6% unaffiliated
Government: Democracy
President: Jacques Chirac
Prime Minister: Jean-Pierre Raffarin

GDP: US$1.32 trillion
GDP per head: US$22,700
Annual growth: 4%
Inflation: 2%
Major industries: Oil refining, steel, cement, aluminium, agricultural products & foodstuffs, luxury goods, chemicals, motor manufacturing, energy products
Major trading partners: EU, USA
Member of EU yes
Euro zone participant: yes

-- Leo Buscaglia 
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AlterJig is a set of tile-based jigsaw games and puzzles. You select graphics supplied with the games or create your own puzzles from any bitmaps. When you select "new game", AlterJig scrambles the puzzles and challenges you to restore the pictures by rotating groups of four tiles to get the tiles back to their proper positions. Tile rotation is controlled by left and right mouse buttons. It sounds easier to solve than it is. There is a brief help file, but the demo mode helps you understand the games, which are pretty self-explanatory.

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A web site where you will find a huge choice of ezines covering every interest.

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NaturalPoint™ trackIR™ Hands Free Mouse: Natural Point trackIR mouse alternative products give you hands free control of a computer cursor. The ergonomic trackIR™ provides precise cursor control through simple head movement allowing your hands to remain on your keyboard, or at your side. You can designate keys to replace the left and right mouse buttons for selecting, double clicking, and dragging and dropping, also handle scrolling and reset, which puts the pointer in the center of your screen. The heart of TrackIR is a Web camera size transceiver that attaches to your monitor or laptop screen. The transceiver beams infrared light that the dot then reflects back to the unit. As you move your head, the on screen pointer moves accordingly.

If you're looking for a productivity boosting hands free cursor control option that helps you avoid problems like carpal tunnel and repetitive strain injury, then the trackIR™ is your ideal solution. The trackIR™ is the world's only true ergonomic computer mouse because unlike other ergonomic mice, the trackIR™ is totally hands free. Great mouse alternative for people with repetitive strain injuries. Price $99. More info click here!

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This magic program produces realistic 3D images of Books, Boxes, CDs  and DVDs. There is no other 3D cover program that comes close to this one
You can get a sneak preview of the results at our new web site. www.ebook3dwizard.com

Have a look at the examples, we think you'll be impressed with what this program can do.

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This is cutting edge software for the eBook author!
This program was designed to convert an MS Word document into a series of HTML pages. This allows an eBook author to create a large .exe eBook within a very short time frame. Until now, this has not been possible.  The program automatically links all pages ready for the compiler and there are many other features that are time and labor saving. Your eBooks become works of art. Our new web site can be seen at: www.ebook-composer.com

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Jacques Cousteau died in June 1997 aged 87. Cousteau's 60-year odyssey with the sea - much of it on his famous boat the Calypso - was more than a great adventure. He co-invented the aqualung, developed a one-person, jet-propelled submarine and helped start the first manned undersea colonies. 
The bespectacled, wiry Cousteau, often wearing his trademark red wool cap, became a household name primarily through his hugely popular television series, "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau," and his many documentaries. 

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Entirely private and the focus of much admiration, the Renault collection provides a striking illustration of more than a century of automobiles. It highlights the main innovations, challenges and success stories of a brand that looks resolutely to the future.
Enlarging, preserving and restoring the heritage is a tradition at Renault. It is their constant concern to bring former feats of engineering alive and keep them in the public eye.

Over 700 vehicles, prototypes, engines & gearboxes made from 1898 up to the present day do the rounds of exhibition centres, classic car meetings and other automobile events.
This astonishing collection will continue to go on parade over the coming weeks and months.

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The French are renowned for their art of fine food appreciation and exquisite cooking. This site is beautifully arranged with every aspect of French cooking and superb recipes to try. You can even practice your French by referring to the translations.
There is also a shopping section where you can purchase the right utensils and ingredients. Lots of helpful advice too. You'll be hungry after reading a few pages!
To visit this web site, please Click Here
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Charles Plumb, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missle. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. 
He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived his ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience. 

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!" "How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb. "I packed your parachute," the man replied. 
Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" 
Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today." 

Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat, a bib in the back, and bell-bottom trousers. I wondered how many times I might have seen him and not even said "Good morning, How are you?" or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor." Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know. 

Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory - he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety. 

Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, 
give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go through this week, this month, this year - recognize people who pack your parachute. 

Author Unknown 
Story courtesy of Inspirational Angels
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The TGV is much more than just a train: it’s a modern, fast and friendly way to travel, a technological milestone in France and internationally and offers many new services to make your journey easier and let you enjoy more of life... 
The European high-speed rail network is right on track: after London and Brussels, the TGV will link up Spain, Portugal, Italy and Germany within the next fifteen years. A far-reaching project for SNCF indicative of the radical changes at work in rail transportation, says chairman Louis Gallois.
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To find the best airfares online, flight information or
for a special Paris getaway fare this web site gives you all the information you need. Air France has a fleet of 243 aircraft including 5 Concorde and 145 Airbuses. They fly to 296 cities in 85 countries including 12 different US states and they employ over 80,000 people. 

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