KnowYourPro

"She explained that she didn't want any more children and that she didn't want to see a doctor to take contraceptives," Vaillant told a news conference. "She was perfectly conscious of the fact that she was pregnant each time."

Cottrez and her husband, Pierre-Marie Cottrez, were detained Wednesday after two corpses were discovered by the new owners in plastic bags in the garden of a house that had belonged to the woman's father in the town of Villers-au-Tertre in northern France. Under questioning, the woman admitted that there were six other corpses and told investigators that they were in plastic bags in the garage of her home where they were found.

The woman is still in detention and will undergo further psychiatric testing, Vaillant said. Her husband was freed from custody and not charged, although he remains under judicial control. He claimed that he knew nothing about the pregnancies of his wife, who is very large and apparently easily concealed her condition. Earlier, Vaillant said in a statement that the husband could be charged with failure to report a crime and concealment of corpses.

The couple's two grown daughters, who are in their 20s, have been questioned, Vaillant said. He refused to provide any further details about them or what they said.

The discovery was not major news Thursday in the mainstream French newspapers, which briefly noted them on their front pages but buried the stories inside. The main stories were the ban of bullfighting in Catalonia, Spain and the movie that French first lady Carla Sarkozy-Bruni is making with Woody Allen.

Police sealed the doors, gate and windows of the house where the remains of some of the babies were discovered. DNA tests are being conducted to establish for sure whether the couple are the parents, and autopsies are being conducted on the corpses to try to determine the cause of death.

France has seen a string of cases in recent years of mothers killing their newborns and saving and hiding the corpses.

In one case, Celine Lesage was sentenced in March to 15 years in prison after acknowledging in court that she killed six of her newborns, whose corpses were found in plastic bags in her basement in northwest France.

Another Frenchwoman, Veronique Courjault, was convicted last year of murdering three of her newborn children. Her husband discovered two of the corpses in a freezer while the two were living in South Korea. During the trial psychiatrists testified that she suffered from a psychological condition known as "pregnancy denial."

Germany also has seen similar cases. In one, a woman was convicted of manslaughter in 2006 and sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison for killing eight of her newborn babies and burying them in flower pots and a fish tank in the garden of her parents' home near the German-Polish border.

Bart Yasso is in my kitchen today, talking about the good food and great inspirations that have been so valuable to his running career.

Bart is the race and event promotion director at Runner's World. He is a member of the Running USA Hall of Champions. Bart invented the Yasso 800s, a marathon-training schedule used by thousands around the world. He is one of the few people to have completed races on all seven continents--from the Antarctica Marathon to the Mt. Kilimanjaro Marathon. In 1987, Yasso won the U.S. National Biathlon Long Course Championship, and he won the Smoky Mountain Marathon in 1998. He has completed the Ironman five times, and the Badwater 146 through Death Valley. He has also cycled, unsupported and by himself, across the country twice.

Why is living organic important to you?

For me it's all about helping the environment. Chemicals from nonorganic practices go into the ground and affect our water system. We have to get away from the chemicals to truly make the world a better place.

I get harped on all the time when people find out I'm a vegetarian, but really, I don't eat meat or fish because of health and ethical reasons. Also, the fewer chemicals and artificial flavoring in my food, the better I feel. I buy as much organic food as possible, although sometimes it's hard when I travel. I don't want to eat any food that has chemicals or artificial anything; I make a conscious effort to avoid that as much as I can. I think stuff with no artificial flavoring and chemicals tastes better.

What was your favorite food growing up?

I didn't eat my veggies as kid; my favorite food was pizza. We ate crummy, greasy pizza a lot. If we didn't have dinner plans or decided to go out for something, pizza always came to mind. Maybe because it's so convenient--no matter where you are in the U.S., you're never far from a pizza place.

Now I'll have a pesto or white pizza. Something with pesto and veggies; sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, and some pineapple makes a good pizza to me now. When I make pizza at home, I make my own dough and use a lot of veggies, not like traditional pizza.

What's your go-to comfort food now?

Indian food and veggie curry is right up my alley. On my trips to India it's very easy to find 100 percent vegetarian restaurants. If I had my choice, I'd sit back on the deck and kick back with an organic veggie stir-fry with green spicy curry. That would be my go-to every day of the week.

What's the one thing in your kitchen you just can't live without?

Our juicer--I love mixing up a bunch of veggies or fruit. My wife and I use our juicer a lot; when we end up with a lot of produce, it's fun to mix it all up into a juice you can sip over a long period of time, and it's easy to do.

Sometimes that replaces a meal. It's easy to put stuff in the juicer--it comes out like a smoothie. Sometimes we add ice to it; often, I'll add mango. Add mango to anything, it takes life to a whole new, good level.

What magazine, website, book, album, or product are you most obsessed with right now?

I'm mostly obsessed with Nelson Mandela, and South Africa and East Africa. Spending time in South Africa, you could sense his presence. Mandela just had his 92nd birthday. Obviously he's near the end of his life, but I think he is the most famous person who had the largest effect globally in my lifetime. "If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness." This quote from him, about goodness and forgiveness, plays a role in our lives every day. If we'd keep it in mind, the world would be a better place.

I'm obsessed with East Africa because of the runners. I've done multiple trips to East Africa, and both the runners and picture safaris fascinate me. It's the best way for me to relax and take a vacation.

Our house is full of artwork from East Africa. My favorite piece is the life-size Masai warrior wood carving in our living room. My wife got this idea to put our marathon finish medals around the warrior's neck. It didn't start out with many, but now there are about 400 medals around it. Masai warriors are great runners, so this carving became a focal point; it's the one thing everyone comments on when they come in.

What's the most important news story today that you think we all need to pay more attention to?

The BP disaster, and its long-term negative effect on the environment and wildlife. I just don't think people realize how long it's going to take to clean up the environment, and how lasting an effect it'll have on the wildlife; it will go on for years. We tend to think, "Well, it's capped, everything's good," but for 10 to 20 years it could still be affecting the animals.

Thank God for modern-day media. This thing is 6,000 feet deep, but they were able to photograph it and really put it in front of us. What a disaster, how much oil was spilled. We can't ever allow this to happen again.

Where do you get your news?

CNN.com. If I'm at my desk and want to find out what's going on with sports, mainstream media, or international, to me, CNN has the plethora of things to choose from. The way they break it down is real simple. They always list the most popular stories right now so if there's something on people's mind, you tend to know.

I'm also a weather fanatic, so I live on Weather.com. I'm obsessed with weather, not so much what's going on where I'm located, but what's going on all over the world. I should have been a meteorologist, I think.

Working at Runner's World, I'm on that site a lot, but I like to go investigate what people are saying when we post things on Twitter and Facebook. I love to listen to the feedback and comments. All the stuff we post to the website--I should know all that info, but what I love about today's instantaneous media is that you can listen to comments and opinions on anything and respond right away. You get a pulse on what people's interest levels are.

Related Links:
A Visit to My Kitchen: Amanda Kimble-Evans - Maria's Farm Country Kitchen
How to Exercise in the Heat - Rodale.com
Bart's Last Great Race - Runner's World

For more from Maria Rodale, go to www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com.

Presidential children's weddings are, in modern history, terrifically ho-hum affairs. Sometimes the presidents in question seem to seek attention for their daughters (never particularly for their sons), but it is seldom given. The Nixon daughters' weddings were particular examples of their father trying to muster some reverence and awe and getting a lot of rude jokes instead. Harry Truman couldn't get much respect for his daughter Margaret. The Johnsons fell flat with Lucy and Linda. Amy Carter, if memory serves, got married uneventfully. The Bush twin wedding hardly caused a ripple. Caroline Kennedy summoned a bit more interest--but then Jackie was her mother.

So what's with the tizzy over Chelsea? This isn't even an in-office wedding and it's a news blowout.

Surely, it's not her personality. Chelsea Clinton seems as beside the point as any presidential child has been--a specific Clinton White House accomplishment, in one sense. She's curiously generic--her hick Arkansas father and hick Methodist mother produced a cookie-cutter urban sophisticate. Admirably, perhaps, she's kept her mouth shut (she really seems strikingly to have nothing to say). A management consult-investment banker type, she's achieved perfect yuppie blandness. (This may be the first celebrity wedding of a management consultant-investment banker type.)

Nor is it likely that the fuss is because her mother might be expected to throw a wedding that will be a model of fantasy and splendor. Despite the reports of millions being spent, the choice of Rhinebeck, a low-rent Hudson River town--now festooned with homemade wedding banners and bumper stinkers--probably indicates a clunky, more granola than royal, affair (as well as a wedding on the cheap--no way you can spend serious dough in Rhinebeck).

Continue reading on newser.com

More on Chelsea Clinton

After hearing the dire warnings of deflation that have become the standard talking points of most economists, American investors may be reaching for a bottle of Prozac. I believe that their anxiety is misplaced. Unfortunately, modern economists don't understand what deflation is or why, in reality, we have much more to fear from inflation.

Moderate deflation is actually the natural trend of a productive economy. If a producer can increase his output per unit of input, then he can afford to expand his market by lowering prices while still increasing profits. In that way, deflation allows consumers to buy items that they may not have previously afforded. It also promotes savings, which is essential for investment and capital development.

Deflation is also the normal consequence of a contracting economy. In a recession, there is a reduction in the amount of goods and services available for consumption. In order to keep prices from rising (due to shrinking supply), the central bank should allow the money supply to fall in line with the reduction in output. Also, during an economic contraction, consumers put downward pressure on prices by responsibly selling assets to pay down debt.

Many economists mistakenly claim that the Great Depression of the 1930s was caused by a 30% contraction in the money supply. The truth is that all depressions are caused by the reversal of a massive credit expansion. The reduction in money supply is part of a healing process that brings the overall level of prices back to a sustainable condition.

Looking at today's situation, just because we have a few months of sequential declines in CPI and PPI doesn't mean that deflation has become a secular trend. Year-over-year (YOY) growth in the M2 money supply is 2%; therefore, since the money supply is still growing, we are experiencing inflation rather than deflation.

Considering that evidence of inflation abounds, the Federal Reserve has pulled off a good trick by convincing Americans that we are about to "suffer" through a protracted period of deflation. Why have we been so easily duped? In the past ten years, the monetary base has grown from $600 billion to $2 trillion. This expansion has accompanied a rise in the price of gold from below $300/oz at the beginning of the decade to around $1,200/oz today. The price of gold is the best arbiter for a currency's purchasing power. Therefore, gold is still telling us that inflation is eroding the value of our dollar.

Other commodities, like crude oil, are telling the same story. Ten years ago, a barrel of oil was trading for $25. Today, it is $78.

Since 2001, the US dollar has lost over 30% of its value against our largest trading partners and more than 7% of its value since June alone. These facts are causing the mainstream economists to wring their hands about deflation?

More recently, YOY increases in the CPI, PPI, and import prices were 1.1%, 2.7%, and 4.5% respectively. Even though these YOY increases aren't evidence of runaway inflation, they still can't be construed as deflation.

The truth is consumers should be allowed the advantages of falling prices. Aggregate hours worked are down 8% since their peak in March of 2008. Since the money supply should fall along with the decline of the number of people in the work force, price levels should be falling too. But that is not what we see today.

If the monetary base continues to stagnate and banks stop lending to the government through Treasury purchases, we could see a deflationary environment sometime in the future. But given the current policy drift, that scenario appears unlikely.

Even if deflation were to take hold, it would not be something to fear. Lower prices are beneficial for those who have been thrown out of work, and falling prices allow asset values to reach a level that can be sustained by the free market. The fact is that prices should currently be falling in order to reconcile the imbalances brought about by decades of profligate spending and borrowing. Deflation... I say bring it on!

But that is not what is occurring today. Because of the towering level of US sovereign debt, it is inflation that remains the clear and present danger.

The national debt now stands at $13.24 trillion -- nearly 92% of the entire output of goods and services in the US economy this year. In its mid-session review, the OMB revised its 2011 federal budget deficit projection to $1.42 trillion, down only slightly from the $1.47 trillion estimate for this year's deficit. Given this intractable and unsustainable level of obligations, the last thing the Fed and Administration can tolerate is to increase the burden of that debt by allowing the money supply to shrink.

A reduction in the supply of money (deflation) would cause the cost of debt to rise. An increase in the purchasing power of money also means it is more difficult to acquire the new money needed to reduce debt levels. Conversely, increasing the supply of money (inflation) reduces the cost of debt. With these incentives firmly entrenched, the last thing Americans will have to "worry" about is deflation.

Given the obvious mathematics, one wonders why Treasury yields remain at historic lows. The bond vigilantes are indeed in a coma. However, despite the mountain of complacency that their slumber has inspired, this golden age of E-Z financing can't last forever.

Michael Pento is the Senior Economist for Euro Pacific Capital

Sometimes it seems that everyone has abandoned the notion that rational self-interest drives people's decisions. It's high time for some answers to the next obvious question: If Reason doesn't rule the mental roost, then what does govern people's approach to buying, selling, voting, marrying, hiring and other choices? Last month, this study suggested that part of the answer is, simply, food. People who are hungry, it found, make different financial decisions than people who've recently eaten.

Mkael Symmonds, Julian J. Emmanuel and their colleagues had 19 men play a virtual lottery 200 times, each time picking between two choices on a computer screen. As in real life, their chances of winning, say, £20 were much better than their chances of winning £100. Each man played the game once a week for three weeks. Once, he had a nice meal first, and then played right away; another time, he ate and then waited an hour before hitting the computer; and, in the third time, he had to fast for 14 hours before playing.

More on Evolution