Serpent Eye

I own Fall of a Kingdom, Rise of a Hero, and Forging the Sword, but have only read Rise... so far. It was a really good book, and I'm sure the other two are just as great... I just haven't read them yet because I need to read the first one again, so I remember what the heck happened or who everyone is, hehe. Honestly, the only thing I remember about that book is, I seem to remember a scene where a girl is running in a desert of some kind, and she climbs up a cliff face to avoid being eaten by wolves... or... something. :blink: I think. You should look in to "The Prydain Chronicles" by Lloyd Alexander. The first book in the series is titled The Book of Three, and it's a pretty awesome read. The book I would most highly suggest is The Thief Lord, by Cornelia Funke. It is the story of two orphaned boys -- Prosper and Bo -- living in Venice, Italy, who have just recently run away from their aunt and uncle. In the streets of Venice they meet a young boy called the "Thief Lord," the leader of a group of misfit children who have no home of their own. Together, they get into all sorts of mischief, all under the guidance and protection of the Thief Lord. However, none of them know about the Thief Lord's darkest secret, or what sort of misadventures it will soon take them on. I would also suggest Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce. It is the first book in her "Song of the Lioness" quartet. I'm such a fanboy of this book I could go on and on and on and on about it, so I'll just write out the copy from the back cover for you. :) "From now on I'm Alan of Trebond, the younger twin. I'll be a knight." And so young Alanna of Trebond begins the journey to knighthood. Though a girl, Alanna has always craved the adventure and daring allowed only for boys; her twin brother, Thom, yearns to learn the art of magic. So one day they decide to switch places: Disguised as a girl, Thom heads for the convent to learn magic; Alanna, pretending to be a boy, is on her way to the castle of King Roald to being her training as a page. But the road to knighthood is not an easy one. As Alanna masters the skills necessary for battle, she must also learn to control her heard and to discern her enemies from her allies. Filled with swords and sorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and evil, Alanna's first adventure begins -- one that will lead to the fulfillment of her dreams and the magical destiny that will make her a legend in her land. Tamora Pierce is one of my favorite authors of all time, so I would highly suggest looking in to her. What's so great about her books (she has published roughly 26 novels) is that the majority of her heroes are actually heroines! I think it's quite a downfall of modern fantasy fiction that all of the main characters are boys, as it often fuels a myth that girls aren't capable of saving the day or being strong knights and warriors. Tamora Pierce shines a light on the best qualities of her heroines, and her characters are some of my favorites that I have ever read about. Once a year Barnes and Nobles (a bookstore chain) hosts a book drive where you are able to purchase books in the store and donate them, to be given away to young boys and girls who aren't always able to get their hands on a good book. Every year I've participated, I've bought one copy each of The Thief Lord and Alanna: The First Adventure. :thumbup:

It's not so much the money that's an issue. I.E., I don't see why someone would want to stay working as a fry-cook for the rest of their life, instead of having a bit of career ambition, working up the ladder and eventually owning and managing a restaurant of their own.

OT's first post lists this as a benefit. My correction involved changing it to a disadvantage. :thumbup:

I've never smoked weed before, don't plan on ever smoking it. Also, I would like to make one correction to your list. I wasn't aware that being content with mediocrity was ever advantageous to anyone.

Vegetarian does not automatically = soy. :thumbdown:

I eat every food in existance other than meat, fish, or products containing animal by-products (fat, stock, broth, gelatin, etc.) I have a reoccurring subscription to Vegetarian Times magazine; the above are just a few of what I have. They're full of amazing recipes, most of them vegetarian, but a few of them are vegan-friendly as well. It's like $5.00 USD for 12 issues.

I do think of them. In my stomach. :twisted: Hurrrr.

I noticed you linked to webMD earlier. You should look up some information on the health benefits of a vegetarian diet while you're there. http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-lifestyle-guide/vegetarians-vitamins Mainly the second video about supplements. :thumbup: As D Jay99 said above, a lot of us have been vegetarians for a long time, and we don't have any deficiencies or health problems.

Don't get me wrong, there are tons of vegetarian dishes that aren't strictly healthy for you, but on the whole, meat-eaters tend to consume more unhealthy fats in their diet. There is also the issue of all the unhealthy chemicals, pesticides, and hormones that you (maybe unknowingly) are ingesting into your body when you eat meat. What the cows/chickens/pigs eat, you are essentially eating as well. They pump animals full of hormones to get them to grow as fat and large as possible, in the shortest amount of time possible -- and then you turn around and ingest this all at the dinner table. However, and even though it may be odd to say this, there are times when someone has to eat meat, or risk their health. For example, a mentor of mine used to be a vegetarian and she eventually was later diagnosed with cancer (diagnosis not caused from her being a vegetarian.) In order to keep her body in as healthy a state as possible as she went through chemotherapy, etc., she had to start eating meat again.

I've been a vegetarian for a little over six years. :thumbup: As a person who IS picky about what they eat or buy (if I'm buying a new product from the grocery store, I always read the entire list of ingredients -- if it contains any animal fat, powder, broth, etc., I don't buy it) I can comment a little on this point. I am FULLY aware that by not eating meat, huge corporations like McDonald's and Burger King AREN'T going to suffer. The $2.99 I refuse to spend there will just be provided by another customer, and they'll still make billions of dollars a year in sales. It's the principle BEHIND the action that counts: by not buying products that contain meat or animal by-products, by refusing to give money to an industry that I think is harmful, I am taking a stand, and that makes me feel good about myself. I think a lot of us like to keep quiet about our vegetarianism. I know that if I mention it or bring it up, people are going to want to debate and argue with me, something I'd much rather avoid, so I keep it to myself. It's not that I'm ashamed or anything of my lifestyle, I just like to avoid a debate that I've had a million times before. - - - It also boggles my mind how people find it appropriate or amusing to say things like "MMMM STEAK, STILL BLOODY AND JUICY" to a vegetarian. If you have a problem with vegetarians seemingly having a "holier-than-thou" attitude, try approaching them with a little respect first. :thumbup:

Out of the three new characters introduced so far, she's actually my favorite. :grin:

:thumbup: to everything.

One of my favorite books of all time. :thumbup:

Oops. I don't get out much. :P

While it's true that there will always be animal waste as long as animals exist, the point is, there would be far less animals to begin with, as we wouldn't have a need to kill 10 billion+ animals every year in a single continent alone. 1. Growing, harvesting, and transporting cattle- and livestockfeed produces the same amount of pollution as growing, harvesting, and transporting grains used to directly feed people; arguably, the grains and food used to feed people produces less, since the extra steps of transporting animals to the slaughterhouse, transporting that to the meat-packing facilities, and transporting that to the grocery stores is removed. 2. Have you ever heard of organic food? No pesticides or harmful chemicals are used in growing organic food. :thumbup: You've taken college classes on it? You could have fooled me, what with backing your argument up with "I like meat, I want to eat it, end of story!" Your facts are so mind-blowingly concrete, you've convinced me to start eating meat again. :rolleyes: The argument here isn't about other random things that "wastes a ton more resources;" the argument here is strictly about the meat industry.

Just some information from an extensive research paper I did several years ago. Unfortunately I only have an unfinished copy of the rough-draft (school was required to keep my final paper) so the statistics abruptly stop before I get to the health facts. In 1992, almost 7% (roughly 12.4M) of Americans considered themselves vegetarians. Of these: 46% for health reasons 15% for animal welfare issues 12% due to family influence 5% for ethical reasons 4% for environmental reasons 9% for other reasons I humbly admit that I don't know where the other 9% went to... like I said, these are from my rough-draft. [*]There are more than 1 billion pigs, 1.3 billion cows, 1.8 billion sheep and goats, and 13.5 billion chickens alive. Each year, North Americans alone slaughter roughly 10 billion of these. [*]In the United States alone, 70% of land is used so livestock can graze. Due to this excessive grazing, the land undergoes a process known as "desertification," which literally means the land becomes like a desert. Once it has undergone this process, plant matter no longer thrives. [*]In 1960, nearly 130,000 sq. miles of rainforest existed in Central America. By 1985 (twenty-five years later) this amount was reduced to 80,000 sq. miles. This change occured shortly after the United States started importing beef from Central America. One author notes that nearly two-thirds of Central American rainforests have been destroyed "mostly for space to raise cheep beef for American fast-food restaurants." [*]In the United States, less than 50% of harvested agriculture is used to feed people. Less than 20% of harvested corn is used to feed people. Less than 5% of harvested oats are used to feed people. [*]In Guatemala, 75% of children aged five or under are malnourished. Every year, Guatemala exports 40M pounds of meat to the United States. [*]According to the Department of Agriculture, 25,000 pounds of potatoes can grow on a single acre of land. If that same acre of land were used to grow cattlefeed, it could be used to produce roughly only 165 pounds of beef. [*]If all of the grain and soybeans grown in the United States were not fed to livestock, it could feed 1.3B people. If 10% less grain were used to feed livestock, 130M people could be fed. [*]50% of the water used in the United States is used to irrigate cattlefeed. On average, 390 gallons of water go into producing a single pound of beef. Due to desertification, when it rains, harmful chemicals and animal waste run directly back into water sources, rather than being reabsorbed into the ground. [*]Nearly 3T pounds of solid animal waste is produced every year. Cattle waste is the largest source of methane emissions. [*]Roughly 75 kilograms of carbon dioxide is produced in clearing enough rainforest to produce a single hamburger. This equates to the amount of carbon dioxide produced by 25 cars. [*]Steven Boyan, PhD, says in his article "How Our Food Choices can Help Save the Environment," "Before a cow is slaughtered, she will eat 25 pounds of corn a day; by the time she is slaughtered she will [eat] more than 1,200 pounds. In her lifetime she will have consumed, in effect, 284 gallons of oil. Today's factory-raised cow is not a solar-powered ruminant but another fossil fuel machine." [*]2 calories of fossil fuel are used to get 1 calorie of protein from soybeans. 78 calories of fossil fuel are used to get 1 calorie of protein from beef. [*]The most efficient animal production returns only about 35% of fossil fuel invested. The least efficient plant crop can return upwards of 328%. Fun facts to consider. :thumbup:

Question: To get the same amount of vitamins you get from meat, would you need to eat a (much) higher quantity of those foods? Not at all. As an example, if you consider that the average adult male needs somewhere between 8-10mg of Iron per day, that equates to something like eating 1.5 cups of lentils per day, which is a reasonable amount to have with one meal (and even more reasonable if you have a small serving of beans at lunch, and another small serving of beans with your dinner, etc.)

That's exactly what make sense about it: in order to eat beef, a cow has to die; in order to drink its milk, it doesn't. (I personally don't drink a lot of milk, but that's a whole other issue. :P) Vegetarian food is far from bland. I think that's one of the biggest misconceptions, hence where the term "rabbit food" comes from. I think people have this idea in their heads that vegetarians sit around eating nothing but carrots or cabbage all day. Vegetarian food can be very rich, aromatic, flavorful, colorful, etc. For me personally, I didn't stop eating meat because of the taste. In my real life, I'm a huge lover of food and going into the kitchen and whipping up some tasty dish. That being said, I certainly can appreciate a meat-dish for it's culinary value. I'll be honest, when I'm outside and I catch the smell of a neighbor BBQing something like chicken or hamburgers, it smells really good to me. But I just have to rely on my willpower to not run over and take a bite of it. :P Sometimes at work (I'm a manager of a movie theater) I'll help a customer who's buying one of the hotdogs we sell, and the smell will kind of stay with me, I guess, and when I get home from work I'll sometimes have to run to the store and buy a pack of fake (tofu) hotdogs to eat, just to satisfy a craving I otherwise couldn't.

These aren't necessarily true... The only thing I was really concerned about is protein. Obviously if you stop eating meat, there's going to be a huge gap in your diet that you need to fill with something else, but that isn't to say that vegetarian foods aren't "as good as the real thing." Getting protein, B12, iron, etc., from sources like dark leafy-greens, legumes/beans, diary products, nuts, etc., is just as viable source as is getting it from eating meat. Vegetarian foods aren't in any way "fake," unless you bring into account things like faux-meat products, but even then, they are still very healthy for you. My biggest mistake when I first became a vegetarian was thinking that I could literally juts remove meat from my diet, and I would be good to go. It's a little bit of work to make sure I get all the necessary nutrients, but I'm far from being stuck at home, hovering over a bottle of iron tablets in my deathbed. Edit: I had to Google "quorn," as I've never even heard of it before... it seems to be popular only in the UK. But what I'm reading about it, it's far from healthy for you.

The only thing I have a problem with is people who are vegetarians for the sake of being "cool" or "trendy." Otherwise, I think it's important to be respectful to people, and understand that their reasoning for abstaining from eating meat is perfectly valid for them. It may not make sense to anyone else, but that doesn't give us the right (in my opinion) to devalue that person's opinions. As a side note, I'm always a little taken aback, because in my experience it's always the meat-eaters I encounter who seem terribly self-righteous. From my perspective, it almost seems as if by my being a vegetarian, other people assume that I have a problem with their life choice -- or that I think less of them as a person -- and this is what causes people to get on the defensive and immediately start debating with me about vegetarianism.

Send me $100.00 USD and I'll tell you. <3: It was really interesting to read everyone's answers. The pictures that Kim provided made it feel like I was reading a picture book, so it was really helpful. :shades:

Well, about two days ago I finished reading The Hobbit. J. R. R. Tolkien is still far from being one of my favorite authors, but it certainly changed my views on his writing for the better. I (shouldn't-be-spending-money-but-I-did-anyway) went to Barnes and Nobles the other day and bought a copy of The Fellowship of the Ring, and started reading it last night. Maybe I'll like it more than I did the first time I read it...? You've never read The Catcher in the Rye? :blink: Or am I misunderstanding you? Perhaps it's not the same in Australia, but it's pretty much required reading in the States.

From the way that they made it sound leading up to the season premier, one of the new characters was going to be a rival to both Sue and Will... so I'm not really buying the whole "kiss and make up" bit that Will and Beiste went through; I'm pretty sure in an episode or two she's going to turn around and stab him in the back, hopefully only figuratively. I'm also curious to see if Will will go back to pulling pranks with Sue or not... but I hope not; I don't like him being mean to people!

I'm a vegetarian, but I'm definitely not one of the kind that shoves my views down other people's throats. I don't get up in other people's business, so don't get up in mine, I say. :)

There already is a Spoiler warning in the Topic Description! :thumbup: Thanks though. :) I'm really interested to see where some of the story lines go, yeah. Which do you think don't look "interesting?" None really stick out in my mind.