text:
Archive for the 'Prophecy Books' Category
Learn About Angels and Prophecies with Christian Non-Fiction Prophecy Books
Christianity has a lot of room for discussion and research. With the prophecies that are stated in the Bible itself, there are lots of books that dissect them piece by piece. One in particular is a study of angels and what roles they will play in future prophecies. It's called Heavenly Hosts, and it's by Finis Dake. It's a fascinating read that really delves into angels and their roles.
The thing is, people think of angels in a very specific way. That's not necessarily the truth, and this book helps outline them in Biblical truth. I always want to learn the truth about things, and sometimes media can really make the truth difficult to find. That's where books like these really come in handy. When it comes to Christian non-fiction prophecy books, this is one of the best ones out there. It is a reliable non-fiction book that focuses on a study of angels.
So before assuming something about angels, be sure to look it up in either the Bible or this great book. Heavenly Hosts outlines points clearly and gives a good overview of angels and prophecies, so if you're looking for information about that be sure to give it a go.
The Attack of Isis
Europe suffers under the mistake of coming together only for money and trade and not as one nation. Every individual country–most of which are the size of one state in America–in that group of some 50 nations wants to do things their own way, and in their own language, without interference from any overall governing authority (except, of course, for economic oversight).
Thus, they have a rather ineffective continental criminal and legal system with France blaming Belgium for weak domestic spy oversight which allows terrorist leaders to skirt in and out of Belgium and then breeze freely throughout the continent. Hmm, wonder whose idea this was. Ahh, that's right, Germany's.
But even with one nation tying its 50 states together, the U.S. may not be much better off, as ISIS has announced that its next target is the White House and all of Washington D.C. and then adds its favorite target in all the world — New York, New York, that wonderful town.
Yet on the way here this newly criminalized nation some call ISIS or ISIL, et al also plans to bring down Rome and the papacy, because it identifies the Vatican as the Center of Christianity. Heeding this warning–according to The Washington Post and Newsmax.com, the U.S., State Department this week "issued travel warnings to all American citizens in Italy or those planning to visit there for the holidays.
Newsmax writes: Italian official "Paolo Gentiloni referred to possible terrorist attacks that could be aimed at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome or the Cathedral or La Scala theater in Milan." Moreover, the U.S. Embassy in Rome told Americans that in addition to those tourists destinations to be careful at "churches, synagogues, restaurants, theaters and hotels in Italy's two main cities."
So where is Italy's strong Mafia presence now? Have they also morphed into ISIS, just as drug dealers and other petty criminals in Paris seem to have done?
But then ISIS warriors will never understand that Rome is not the center of Christianity–the spiritual world-wide Body of Christ is that center on earth, and the prayers of true Christians are actually the greatest threat to ISIS murderers.
As Christian non-fiction prophecy books attest, The LORD Jesus said: "Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me (John 5: 39)."
Remember some Muslims believe at at the end of life, they will meet Christ on earth and be reconciled with Him. But radical Jehodists who think they can hasten His coming by killing, raping and other Satanic skulduggery are sorely mistaken.
Christ alone returning to this earth with His fully armed Body of believers will utterly defeat Satan and all his ISIS armies once and for all.
Sleeping Soldiers During the Increasing Heat of Battle?
While politicians and their military counterparts concentrate on identifying and defeating human enemies, through prayer and intercession Christians at home should also identify and attack the war's corresponding spiritual enemies. But alas, this is not being done in most homes and churches in this country today.
Instead of shouting out that once popular hymn 'Onward Christian Soldiers' today's anthem would have to be 'Sleep on now confessing Christians.' Believers walk as if in a daze watching the slaughter of fellow believers in the Middle East and Africa. Churches in the U.S. and Europe bespeak of the nearly dead churches warned about in Christian non-fiction prophecy books:
"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (Revelation 3: 16-17)."
In '8 Clear Signs of a Compromising Church,' Bishop Joseph G. Mattera compares today's modern church in the United States with the Confessing Church, which was absolutely the only denomination to resist Nazi Germany during World War II. He compares that Church with the pathetically weak record of most churches in America today: 1) "In the confessing church, Christ is over culture; 2) The confessing church holds fast to the Word of God in spite of opposition.
"3) The confessing church puts the kingdom of God above their culture and ethnicity; 4) The confessing church alters their methods of preaching (but not the
message); 5) The confessing church is a remnant in the minority of church and state (while the compromising church wants to be in the mainstream of both church and state); 6) The confessing church is penalized by the state government. The compromising church is applauded by the state government.
"7) The confessing church prophetically speaks truth to power. The compromising church conforms to those in power; and 8) The confessing church desires the praise of God. The compromising church desires the praise of men."
In another article, the Bishop points out that while many pastors preach Jesus as Savior, few preach Him as LORD, with all the rights of LORD and Master!
Sleeping believers are not crying out before The LORD in repentance for ourselves and the nation as Daniel did: "And I set my face unto The Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: And I prayed unto The LORD My God, and made my confession, and said,
"O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him, and to them that keep His commandments; We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto Thy servants the prophets, which spake in Thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land (9: 3 – 6)."
If there was ever a time for America to repent in this manner, the time is now, for it is almost too late: world war, extreme drought, famine, massive earthquakes and more killer diseases are the waiting alternatives without such thorough and heart-felt repentance among those of genuine Christian faith!
Prophecies: ISIS, Collapse of Europe, Africa & Middle East
The rise of ISIS necessitates theories arising as to how Europe, Africa and Middle Eastern/Asian nations will merge or collapse into ten nations, under rule of the Anti-Christ, as the Bible foretells, before the end of man's reign on earth.
Christian non-fiction prophecy books make clear that four nations from the old Roman Empire that will remain after the coming world wars must include the revived nations of Alexander the Great's empire: Syria, Greece, Egypt and Turkey.
ISIS's control of Syria reinforces Bible prophecy that the final anti-Christ is born in Syria and rules from Babylon, Iraq, quite near ISIS's central location today. Commentators already notice equivocation towards ISIS in Egypt and Turkey.
Other nations in Europe, the Middle Eastern Asia, and Africa, once under Roman rule, must merge in order to comprise a Revised Roman Empire. The fall of Communism over Eastern Europe freed several Eastern European countries, formerly part of the Roman Empire, to merge as well.
Such prophecies include Daniel 8: 21-24: "And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king [Alexander the Great]. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms [Syria, Greece, Egypt and Turkey] shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.
"And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up [Anti-Christ]. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power [by the force of Satan's spirit world]: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people [U.S. & Israel].
Also Revelation 13: 1 – 9: "1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. . . And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? . . . it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations."
The first possible theory foretells economic disintegration of the European Union as some EU nations (i.e. Germany) may never have been part of the Roman Empire. Of course EU's forcible structures also facilitate nations towards mergers.
Second, those economic upheavals, as well as Russia's aggression, may cause some Eastern European countries to merge for their own protection.
Third, and perhaps most likely: nuclear war will totally wipe out some countries, leaving other nations no choice but to merge for attempted military protection. ISIS's anti-Christ will eventually even defeat challenging Russia.
Keep in mind that this third theory can never take place as long as the United States remains the world's greatest military and nuclear power. Through NATO, U.S. commitment to Israel, and other military affiliations, America will be drawn into those nuclear wars. In order to allow the fall of Israel to Anti-Christ, the U.S. would have to be incapacitated. Don't want it to happen so soon? Start praying!
Now in the Last of the Last Days: Religious Masks Come Off
The bombshell has dropped. Now masks will come off. And many Catholic and Protestant priests and preachers––after demanding that women bare googles of children to fill their church pews––will identify their own sexual preferences. Prevaricating fronts worn by fake priest and charlatan pastors will fall.
Is it not enough that priest of the Catholic Church have molested children and remained steeped in denial for decades? Is it not enough that some have raped girls, women, and even nuns, and often sacrificed their illegitimate off-spring?
What is at stake is not just the sexual identities of those who fill the pews, but of those who fill the pulpits. Often-suspected masks whispered about will fall off. Is the pastor's marriage real? Is the priest laying with the choir boys?
Yes, Pope Francis now says divorced persons will be welcomed back into the fold, but with the same stroke he simultaneously destroys the Biblical sanctity of marriage as between one man and one woman.
Apparently this pope hopes this new 'open arms' approach will fill his consistently obvious vacant pews. But then with whom will those seats be filled? Is Holy Communion as the Blood of Jesus now offered to unrepentant souls?
Now, these men who claim to represent God and His Son Jesus Christ call God and His Holy Word "liars"! Utter blasphemy! And they wish to legitimize gay marriage and make homosexuality the hallmark center of the papacy.
This new stance may be wrapped in language calling for grace and mercy, but soft tone cannot change ultimate reality. Catholic spokesmen claim these issues will be under consideration for several months, but the die is cast. These changes are coming. Moreover––just like formation of new ISIS nations––they place the ultimate mark of the last of the last days on this present and perhaps final decade.
As Elizabtta Povoledo and Laurie Goodstein report in 'At the Vatican, a Shift in Tone Toward Gays and Divorce': "But it is the first signal that the institutional church may follow the direction Francis has set in the first 18 months of his papacy, away from condemnation of unconventional family situations and toward understanding, openness and mercy.
" . . . a committee picked by Francis, says that without abandoning church teaching on the sacrament of marriage, pastors should recognize that there are "positive aspects of civil unions and cohabitation." That is a striking departure from traditional Catholic preaching that such couples are "living in sin."
So with universal lock step, U.S. political leaders, the U.S. Supreme Court and soon its churches abandon God's laws about sexual orientation and marriage. How long will it take them then to recognize that God likewise abandons them?
At that point God's judgment falls. As Apostle Paul argues in Christian non-fiction prophecy books: "And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; . . .
"Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them (Romans 1: 27 – 32)." Come on World War III. They're ready!
U.S. Ally? Turkey's Goals: Not Peace or NATO, Helps ISIS Win
The difficulty of establishing firm diplomatic or military foundations in the Middle East comes when leaders of nations cling to conflicting goals. Like a tail trying to wag the dog, Turkey insists: 1) Syria must be defeated; 2) Kurdish rebellion groups must also fall, even if it means 3) ISIS wins.
What Turkey's president wants is absolutely antithetical to goals of NATO and the United States. In fact, some now wonder if Turkey wants ISIS to defeat U.S. Allied forces. Such suspicion borders on discoveries of truth.
For months Kurdish leaders inside Turkey insist the country's leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, secretly supports ISIS. As Constanze Letsch and Ian Traynor in 'Kobani: Anger Grows as Turkey Stops Kurds from Aiding Militias in Syria' write:
"Turkey's perceived inaction vis-à-vis the situation in Kobani and the conviction of many Kurds that Ankara directly supports Islamic State militants against Kurdish fighters seems to be the final straw." Thus Kurds riot in the streets.
Erdogan knows that Kurds fighting against ISIS represent ground fighters for U.S. Thus, it would seem Erdogan wants U.S. ground forces to loose the battle against ISIS. And that's a member of NATO and ally of the United States?
Catherine James, et al, write in 'Battle for Kobani: New Air Strikes Target Isis Forces Amid New Appeals for Help': "The Turkish parliament last week authorized the government to take military action against Isis.
"But Turkey has not announced plans for any operations, with Ankara apparently seeking a commitment from the west to move decisively against the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, as well as the jihadis. Erdoğan said he wanted to fight both Isis and the Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK)."
Conflicting goals lead to conflicting results. Demir Çelik, spokesman for the Kurdish People's Democracy says: "The pictures of the Turkish army as . . . doing nothing while Kurds are being killed in front of their eyes, has created a worldwide perception of Turkey as a cynical and calculating player."
In 'Turkish Inaction on ISIS Advance Dismays the U.S.,' Mark Landler, et al, quote an anonymous diplomat: "This isn't how a NATO ally acts while hell is unfolding a stone's throw from their border." These analysts point out that Turkey's resistance as one Muslim nation in a loose coalition could negatively influence other Muslim nations to weaken their resolve against ISIS.
Is that another one of Erdogan's goals: To make it impossible for any Muslim nation to resist the ISIS advance? Such subversive underhandedness means the U.S. and Western allies walk in quick-sand in the Middle East.
Erdogan's schizophrenic plans will backfire, because Satan, the heart of all evil, provides ISIS' spiritual force. Remember Turkey is a vital fourth in revival of Alexander's kingdom, the other three being Syria, Egypt and Greece. Thus, ISIS will eventually swallow Turkey whole, and then go after the other two.
And, unless American Christians and others around the world apply spiritual forces of prayer and repentance to old back this tide of evil, that end will be sooner rather than later. As Christian non-fiction prophecy books foretell: "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time (1 John 2: 18)."
Re-emerging Ancient Pagan Sacrifice Sites & Other 'New' Religions
In addition to the many nations preparing for World War III, man's increasingly outrageous sinfulness, and Global Warming destruction––'re-discovered' ancient pagan sacrifice sites and other 'new religions' provide more signs that this generation lives in man's very last days on this Great Planet Earth.
As Rossella Lorenzi reports in 'Ancient Maya Cities Found in Jungle' for discovery.com: "A monster mouth doorway, ruined pyramid temples and palace remains emerged from the Mexican jungle as archaeologists unearthed two ancient Mayan cities. . . . in Campeche, Mexico on the Yucatan peninsula.
"One of the cities featured an extraordinary facade with an entrance representing the open jaws of an earth monster." According to Ivan Sprajc, expedition leader of the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences:
"It represents a Maya earth deity related with fertility. These doorways symbolize the entrance to a cave and, in general, to the watery underworld, place of mythological origin of maize and abode of ancestors."
On the other side of the world, 'Archaeologists Discover 15 Previously Unknown Monuments Buried Around Stonehenge' writes Ryan Grenoble: "The mystery surrounding Stonehenge has suddenly deepened––literally.
"A first-of-its-kind study suggests that 15 previously undiscovered or poorly understood monuments lie hidden under the ancient stone monument and its surroundings. . . suggests that there was more going on in the area than previously thought. . . . the Cursus monument aligns with the sunrise on the Spring and Fall equinoxes. . . until you dig holes, you just don't know what you've got."
Ed Caesar of Smithsonian Magazine adds: "There was sort of this idea that Stonehenge sat in the middle and around it was effectively an area where people were probably excluded . . . a ring of the dead around a special area—to which few people might ever have been admitted….Perhaps there were priests, big men, whatever they were, inside Stonehenge having processions up the Avenue, doing…something extremely mysterious."
Another way 'scientists' dig into a cursed past which Christianity has worked for two thousand years to destroy a murderous pagan past is the building of 'new' religious temples, supposedly fashioned after Solomon's Temple in Brazil.
beforeitsnews.com "dives into its devious details" in 'Huge Prophecy Alert! A Third Temple has Been Built in Brazil by the One World Religion Universal Church! Now Open to the Public! What Does it All Mean?':
"Edir Macedo owner of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of Brazil (think one world religion), [says] The Universal Life Church Monastery strongly believes in the rights of all people from all faiths to practice their religious beliefs, regardless of what those beliefs are . . ."
In other words, its an 'anything goes' church. Aren't there enough of those already? King Solomon, the wealthiest man who ever lived, lost his nation's wealth, drove it back into slavery and lost his eternal soul with such thinking.
But as The LORD Jesus Christ says in Christian non-fiction prophecy books ". . . behold, a greater than Solomon is here (Matthew 12: 42)." Best to accept Him now and leave ALL of the past alone. When one is in Christ, all sins of the past are washed away, and the future is not buried but filled with life eternally!!!
Christianity Blossoms in China Despite All Communists Do to Stop It!
China's worst fears now come to past: Christianity grows by leaps and bounds in their country regardless of what officials do to stop it. Little do they know that true Christianity thrives in the midst of persecution. So they piled it on.
Today police harass and arrest pastors; secret service workers follow people suspected of attending home churches; some pastors remain confined to their apartments, especially on weekends; officials tear down 'official' church edifices; landlords are forced to evict apartments where churches meet; church members are evicted from their homes and fired from their jobs;
The state often forbids church leaders to purchase property; church meeting places are banned and sealed; police send pastors to labor camps under "suspicion of organizing and using a cult to undermine law enforcement;" evangelism, especially among college students, is strictly forbidden, etc. etc. etc.
When the Community Party in Wenzhou demolished a $ 4.7 million landmark 'government sanctioned' church, officials tell Zoe Li of CNN that it was an illegal structure. Li reports in 'China Denies Church Demolition is Persecution of Christians,' "officials say the church was an illegal structure." But Christians claim it is the start of an anti-religious campaign in China!
Decades ago, Chinese officials thought that, by simply placing their own men to head 'officially' recognized churches, they could control Christianity's growth. But they know better now. First, because even their officially recognized churches keep growing by leaps and bounds.
And second, because some 45 to 60 million home churches dot multiple landscapes across this vast country. In 'How China Plans to Wipe Out House Churches,' Morning Star News reports officials devised a three-step plan "to eradicate unregistered house churches":
First, China Aid says, persecutions of individual Christians increased some 42 percent in 2012: "At least 132 incidents of persecution affecting 4,919 Christians—442 of whom were clergy; 1,441 Christians were detained, 9 were sentenced, and 37 endured abuse and torture.
Second, unregistered house churches are now pressured to join the "official Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) church system," at which time their meetings will be known as "house gatherings," rather than "home churches." The third phase, scheduled for 2015 through 2025, is to include government shut-down of house churches not affiliated with TSPM.
As Murong Xuecun writes in his New York Times Op-Ed piece, 'China's Clampdown on 'Evil Cults',' this is a common fear of The Body of Christ among organized Communists: "As a perceived "foreign" religion, Christianity makes the Chinese leadership particularly nervous.
"Christianity's contribution to the end of Communist rule in Poland. A policy document published in September 2012 on the Religious Affairs Bureau's website stated that unlawful religious groups are 'threatening China's national security'," says Ye Xaowen, former head of the State Bureau of Religious Affairs.
Xaowen is correct. Ask Rome! Persecuted Christianity will ultimately destroy Chinese Communism, no matter how much Americans purchase products made in that country. As Christian non-fiction prophecy books insist: "And The LORD Thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee (Deuteronomy 30: 7)."
U.N. Vote Forebodes Things to Come: Syria, Russia and China!
With eyes wide open the world watches as the most ultimate evil begins its work in three major nations. Last week Russia and China blocked a vote in the United Nations that would have brought Syria before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for violent torture and slaughter in Syria's Civil War.
As Somini Sengupta of The New York Times exposits: "Beheadings, torture, aerial bombardments of schools and hospitals: The war in Syria, raging for more than three years with no sign of relief, represents the very excesses of war that the International Criminal Court was designed to take on.
"Nevertheless, the court will not take on war crimes in Syria, not anytime soon anyway. China and Russia voted Thursday against a Security Council resolution that would have empowered the world tribunal to go after perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Syria."
The world watched further while Syria's president––using nerve gas, cluster bombs, and other deadly violence––murdered his own people without mercy. leaving the city of Homs in a heap of splintered rocks. And the world did nothing!
Once the world decides Syria has won its civil war, its ruler will then move to consolidate relationships with Turkey, Greece and Egypt, even if it will take wars to establish rule over them. (Iran and Iraq will join willingly.) As Isaiah sets forth: "In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians (19: 23)."
Before the end, its present ruler, Bashar. will be replaced by the final despot, the most nefarious man who has ever lived, the anti-Christ. Thus the silent world now watches Act One of the last drama on earth.
Satan's last and most vicious ruler will arise out of Syria after The LORD Jesus calls all the Christians of this generation up to heaven with Him. God's Holy Spirit will continue to offer salvation, but just as he will persecute and kill millions of Jews, the anti-Christ will slaughter those new Christians as well.
Syria's two closest friends––Russia and China––did not want the world to hear testimony about evils already committed in that growing seat of evil, where hundreds of thousands have been slaughtered and millions more displaced
As the world marches towards the end of time, these three nations will always cover for one another as they advance their strategy toward World War III. Russia's Putin has disabled Europe with his seizure of Crimea and continuing threats against Ukraine, as other former Eastern bloc nations feel his threats now.
And Europe––more concerned about its business interest now just as it was during World War II––watches in the same deadly silence as it did when Hitler took over Austria and Ethiopia, without their resistance.
Also preparing for these final wars, China spends billions to build up its military, including ships, submarines, jets, man-power and space stations. Even now China's neighbors in the Far East beg Japan and the U.S. for protection.
But again, Christian non-fiction prophecy books make clear that China will eventually defeat several of those nations in order to build a gigantic army that will march westward to join Syria, Russia and other countries for the final battle of Armageddon: "And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared (Revelation 16: 12)."
Shade of World War III Raises Its Ugly Head: Europe's Anti-Semitism
As the far right-wing prepares for a huge win in European Parliament elections this weekend, and amidst complaints from Jewish people on the continent about rising Anti-Semitism there, a shocking attack on the Jewish Museum in Belgium has resulted in three murders, and severe injuries in a fourth victim.
A passer-by got the license number of the car that supposedly sped off with the shooter. The driver may have been arrested, and the shooter still at large. But stories conflict on this detail. Reuters News quotes: "The Israeli foreign Ministry that "[T]wo of the dead, a man and a woman, were Israeli tourists from Tel Aviv." Another woman, said to be non-Jewish, was also murdered at the scene.
The massacre may have been triggered because, as Andrew Higgins of The New York Times reports, "Belgian authorities banned opponents of Israel from holding a conference in Brussels that Jewish groups condemned as anti-Semitic. The conference, known as the European Congress of Rebellion, had been organized by a far-right member of the Belgian Parliament."
The shooting is the first terrorism against Jews in Belgium since World War II. Higgins adds: "Far-right groups, some of which are tainted by a history of anti-Semitism, are expected to perform well in voting for the European legislature . . . of the 28-nation European Union.
"In Belgium and most other European countries, however, anti-Semitism has in recent years been rooted more on the left and in Muslim immigrant communities than on the right." Raya Kalenova, from the European Jewish Congress says: "anti-Semitism had grown much worse in Belgium over the past decade, because of a rise in hostility toward Israel, and authorities had ignored the danger."
Groups, from the left of the political spectrum, who support Palestine were holding a concert and rally to denounce Israel at the time of the shooting. They are said to organize around growing Muslim populations in Europe.
Bethany Bell of BBC News claims all types of anti-Jewish symbols now pop-up near synagogues and other Jewish sites. A 2012 Fundamental Rights Agency survey of eight nations said to be home of 90% of the EU's Jewish population reported: ". . . 5,847 Jewish people said 66% of those who responded considered anti-Semitism to be a problem. Three out of four respondents, 76%, believed anti-Semitism had increased over the past five years.
"There was particular concern about anti-Semitism online. About three-quarters of respondents considered that to be a problem which is getting worse. The survey found 29% of those surveyed had considered emigrating because of concerns about safety, with particularly high figures recorded in Hungary (48%), France (46%) and Belgium (40%). In France 52% of people surveyed described anti-Semitism as a "very big problem, in Hungary the figure was 49%."
Christian non-fiction prophecy Books commands Christians to pray for the peace of the Jewish capital: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee (Psalms 122: 6)." Presumably this would include all Jews.
While obedient Christians must follow His instructions, it is urgently vital in this pre-World War III era, as persecution of Jews in these last days of heightens and includes coming persecution of genuine Christians.
You are currently browsing the archives for the Prophecy Books category.


text:
The treatment, called Enhanced External Counterpulsation or EECP, works by increasing blood flow to the heart.
Long inflatable cuffs, like those used to measure blood pressure, are wrapped around the patient's calves, thighs and buttocks.
The cuffs inflate and deflate with each heartbeat, pushing the blood up the leg towards the heart, while an ECG heart monitor checks the heart rate.
Stopping angina
Angina is the feeling of pain, heaviness, tightness, burning or squeezing in the chest.
It occurs when the main arteries of the heart are partially or completely blocked, starving the heart muscle of oxygen and nutrients.
Conventional treatment includes drugs and surgery, such as bypass grafts, stenting and angioplasty, to improve blood flow and reduce the workload on the heart.
In some patients, all of these treatments fail to work.
It is these patients who might benefit from EECP treatment, cardiologists believe.
It comprises a one-off course of treatment, involving hourly sessions five days a week for seven weeks.
During each session, patient lies on a special treatment bed and have the cuffs wrapped around their legs.
'Vibrating trousers'
When the heart is resting the cuffs inflate and then deflate again just before each heart beat.
The sequential inflation and deflation of the cuffs increases blood flow to the heart and encourages tiny new blood vessels to grow around the blocked arteries to feed the heart.
NHS support
Dr Chris Morley, consultant cardiologist at the Yorkshire Clinic in Bradford, which is offering EECP, said: "It's been remarkable. They are very ill patients.
"We have now treated about 30 patients in the last 18 months and the results are not only beyond our expectations, a small number of patients have done so well their lives have been transformed."
Other units around the UK using the treatment include the Nuffield Hospital in Leeds, the Alexandra Hospital in Manchester and the Cromwell Hospital in London.
A full course of treatment costs anywhere between £2,400 and £10,500, depending on individual clinic's prices.
The Bradford unit has full NHS support, and the Manchester and London units have limited NHS support, making it essentially a treatment for private patients.
The Castle Hill Hospital in Hull has been treating NHS patients with EECP since 2000.
Most of the main health insurers in the UK will pay for the treatment if it is indicated, according to Vasogenics, the company supplying EECP in the UK.
Alison Shaw from the British Heart Foundation,
said: "This technique has yielded promising results for some people with heart disease - particularly those already on heavy medication and for whom surgery is not an option."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
I have to confess that Sweden wasn't really on my radar before I attended this year's TBEX (Travel Bloggers' Exchange) Conference in Stockholm. I hadn't been there before (unless you count a quick day trip by train from Copenhagen to Lund), and I didn't know a lot about the country beyond Abba, Ikea and the Vikings… But it wasn't long before I realised how much I had been missing.
Exploring Stockholm
Ofkcourse I only saw a tiny amount of the country. Even in Stockholm I barely scratched the surface, but what surprised me most was the sheer variety that the city had to offer. Some things I had been expecting, like the old town of Gamla Stan and the multi-coloured buildings that line the waterfront. And the natural environment: the city is built on fourteen islands, part of an archipelago of more than 20,000 islands stretching into the Baltic Sea. Stockholm is surrounded by forests, and I took a Night Safari tour to discover the wildlife that lives at the edge of the city.
What I hadn't anticipated was the wealth of culture in Stockholm. Everywhere you go you see the Swedish love of art and design. From cutting edge hotel design to art in the subway. From open air sculpture to world class museums. TBEX attendees were treated to admission to two very different, but equally well presented, museums: the Vasamuseet (home to the 17th century Vasa warship) and Abba:The Museum. And one evening we were hosted by the recently opened Haymarket, an Art Deco themed hotel housed in a former department store (where a young Greta Garbo once worked in the hat department).
A Trip to Swedish Lapland
I was lucky enough to be able to extend my travels to Luleå, on the edge of Swedish Lapland. Along with a group of other bloggers, I headed north on the night train, journeying 900 km through the distinctive landscape of forests, lakes and meadows.
Luleå may be remote, but it is modern, with a thriving IT industry that includes Facebook's only data centre in Europe. From here we visited Gammelstad Church Town (a very Swedish concept that I will explain in a later post). And we ate some excellent meals. That was another surprise: I hadn't expected to find such an innovative cuisine.
What I really learnt on this trip was how much Sweden has to offer as a tourist destination. This is a massive country, about twice the size of the UK, with much more than you could explore in one trip. I want to go back and explore some of the historic towns, and to eat some more Swedish food – I'm already planning the return visit!
(I'll be writing a lot more about what I saw and did in Sweden over the next few weeks. Many thanks to the Stockholm Visitors Board and to all the other sponsors who provided hospitality while we were there.)
Looking for a hotel in Stockholm? Check out the recommendations on Booking.com.


text:
Mathias Alten (18711938)
Mathias J. Alten, Artist
Mathias J. Alten was born in 1872 in Gusenburg, Germany. When he was 17 he and his family emigrated to Grand Rapids, Michigan which was a major manufacturing area and art community.
In Germany he was an apprentice of Joseph Klein, a decorative painter, and worked on theaters and churches. When arriving in Grand Rapids, he worked for two years as a decorative painter for rathskellers and, also, ran a furniture decorating business and did fresco painting. He studied with Edwin A. Turner, wanting to become a professional artist and his first exhibit was in 1896 at the Michigan State Fair. He did florals and portrait paintings but his landscapes were his defining work.
In 1898 he went to France and studied at the Academie Julian and won a prize for the best figure drawing. He then took classes in animal drawing at a veterinary school. Then he traveled throughout Europe.
Back in Grand Rapids, his oil paintings showed a variety of objects. With Constant Fliermans, he opened a studio and art school. Then he began a career painting portraits and murals. He ground all of his own paints, which gave his paintings a rich hue that could not be duplicated. He used a palette knife to highlight his paintings.
He spent some time at the Old Lyme, Connecticut art colony and from 1902 he devoted himself to rural landscaping using Impressionist colors. He continued to travel to other areas going to Spain, California, Taos, New Mexico, Massachusetts but did most of his painting in Grand Rapids and Saugatuck.
Mathias Alten had a heart attack on 8 March 1938 and died after having a show with two other artists at the Chicago Galleries Association.
He is buried in Graceland Memorial Park and Mausoleum, Grand Rapids, Michigan.


text:
Win tickets to see the opening night screening of THE HUSBAND in Toronto!
If you live in Toronto you passes to attend the opening night screening of THE HUSBAND in Toronto. Bruce McDonald and cast will do participate in a Q&A after the movie with Lightbox Programming director Jesse Wente.
THE HUSBAND Screening
Friday, March 14th
Show Time: 7:00 PM
TIFF Bell Lightbox.
To enter is simple. Fill out the form below and submit your info!
Only one entry person. Winners will be chosen at random and will be notified via e-mail. Contest deadline is March 13th at 6:00pm. This contest is open to Canadian residents only. Good luck!
BONUS ENTRIES if you RETWEET the tweet below or LIKE our contest post on our Facebook page!
CONTEST: Win tickets to see the opening night screening of THE HUSBAND in Toronto at @TIFF_NET! http://t.co/eMOVefiJ57
— Scene Creek (@SceneCreek) March 10, 2014
A raw and openhearted drama about a man named Henry left to care for his infant son when his wife is imprisoned for cheating on him with a minor, THE HUSBAND takes an uncompromisingly honest look at a character rendered utterly humiliated by the person he loves. As Henry struggles to continue on with the day-to-day responsibilities of changing diapers and making it into the office, he attempts to remedy his grief with erratic and self-destructive distractions until he hits the inevitable bottom and must face what his life has become.


text:
Microsoft Office Macros have been the bane of security analysts' lives since the late 1990s. Their flexibility and functionality make them ideal for malware authors to use as a primary stage payload delivery mechanism, and to datethe challenge they pose remains unsolved. Many organisations refrain from blocking them completely due to the impact it … Continue reading Inhibiting Malicious Macros by Blocking Risky API Calls
- Community
- Training
- Certification
- Instructors
- About


text:
You've been burning the candle at both ends for longer than you care to remember. But in spite of the world ending hangovers, the all-night library marathons, and the landslides of nightmarish assignments, graduation season is upon us, and you have made it to the end of university unscathed.
Okay, your overdraft has seen better days, but you? You're golden, triumphant, and ready for the rest of your life. Though as you might've heard, becoming a graduate will be tough at first; and for many, the transition from student to working adult will be anything but a painless, straightforward one.
Career plan or not, not all graduates are fortunate enough to have an exciting internship or fulfilling job secured; and once that warm, cosy student bubble bursts, there is no longer anything to protect you from the dog-eat-dog realities of adult life. So for heaven's sake, apply to do a Master's degree somewhere! Here are some of the struggles you might face as a new graduate…
- Thursday: undergraduate
- Friday: graduate
- Monday: unemployed
A lot can change in a few days, eh? Make no mistake, your graduation ceremony - and the day as a whole - will be a memorable occasion, and a fitting end to justify three years of undergraduate study. Proud parents can also take comfort when their 'what the hell have you been doing for these last three years?' questions are finally answered.
But once the celebrations, the parties, and, indeed, the hangovers, subside, the period in which you can milk your shiny, new 'graduate' status is ludicrously short.
And before long (usually by the middle of the following Monday), you'll be firmly aboard the unemployed vessel with thousands of other ex-students - a fact that family members will feel obliged to remind you of every other hour of the day. The struggle is real…
The crushing realisation that landing your ideal job is going to be a slog
'Go to uni', they said. 'It'll be fun', they said. 'You'll walk right into a job', they said. Having decided which career route you'd like to take, it won't take too long to discover that simply having a degree doesn't necessarily make you the outstanding candidate for any given job. Nope. This realisation is merely the next chronological step of the graduate journey. And while you're switched on enough to realise that there will be more graduates vying for jobs than there are vacancies, what you don't expect is preposterous, infuriating job applications. You know the ones we're talking about: 'Candidates without relevant employment experience need not apply'. Buckle up, it's gonna be a bumpy ride…
That question 'So, what are you going to do with your degree?' Ugh.
Innocent, friendly icebreaker to some, but to graduates it's a wicked, bewildering reminder that you have absolutely no idea what it is you intend to do now that you've left university. Beware of distant relatives and casual acquaintances, they're the most likely to take an interest in your future, and leave you questioning your very place in humanity. How dare they?!
The financial implications
Well, you knew going in how much university was going to cost. Just like you were also aware that, thankfully, you don't have to pay anything back until you're earning a certain amount of money. But still, debt isn't exactly nice, and even when you do begin to chip away at those short-lived maintenance loans, you'll spend years purely paying off the interest; meaning your student debt could quite possibly stay with you until you're middle aged. Just try not to have a heart attack when the Student Loans Company send you a letter detailing your outstanding balance shortly after you complete your degree. Things can only go up from there, right?
Finding it difficult to leave the days of debauchery behind
Once you remove the robes and mortar board, things will never be the same. You might be used to partying like it's 1999 on any given Monday, while consistently keeping the body clock of a vampire, so attempting to settle back into what you'd call a 'normal' routine, or a 9-5 job, will come as a hideous wake-up call. Gone are the days of Wednesday morning lie-ins and Sunday night drinkathons - maturity and responsibility are somewhat expected to follow once you achieve graduate status. Yay… Advertising the best student properties in Leeds and Sheffield, UniHomes is the premier comparison website for all-inclusive student accommodation. We exclusively advertise student homes with utilities included, meaning you will never encounter an unexpected bill throughout your stay.


text:
greg at bara dot net
Greg Cook was born in Cullman, Alabama and graduated from Hanceville High School in 1978. Before going to college, he served a six year term with the Army (two years active duty and four years inactive duty) during the Lebanon and Grenada conflicts. Following his discharge from the service, he pursued his education in accounting. After graduating from Wallace State Community College, Greg came to BARA in 1986. While working at BARA as a Co-op student, Greg received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
After passing the Enrolled Agents Exam in September of 1990, Greg received his Certificate of Enrollment and U.S. Treasury Card. In early 1991, the Accreditation Council for Accountancy and Taxation conferred the title of Accredited Tax Advisor to him. Greg became the first Enrolled Agent in the State of Alabama to hold both the EA and CPA designations after successfully writing the Certified Public Accountants Examination in November of 1993. In 2014 Cook was awarded the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation from the American Institute of CPAs and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
In December 1994, Greg purchased the practice from retiring founder, Al LaGrone. Due to state regulations governing Greg's CPA license, the firm name was changed from Bara Business Service to Cook & LaGrone. LaGrone continued work with the firm until his death in March 1996. State regulations required that the LaGrone name be dropped from the firm two years after his death, so in 1998 the firm was registered as Cook and Company.
Greg Cook is a member of the National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA) and Past President of the Alabama Society of Enrolled Agents (ALSEA) 2000-2002. He served on the ALSEA Board of Directors for 20 years, (1995-1999 and 2003-2017). Greg is also a Past President of the Alabama Association of Accountants 2003-2004. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Alabama Society of Certified Public Accountants (ASCPA), and a member of the Alabama and Tennessee State Boards of Accountancy. He has written numerous articles on the subject of taxation and has been published in such national magazines as the EA Journal.
Greg Cook is a 32nd Degree member of the Scottish Rite, a Life member of Masonic Lodge 636 and a Shriner, member of the Cahaba Shrine in Huntsville, Alabama. He served as Impresario of the Royal Order of Jesters, Huntsville Court 175 from 1997 to 2017.
Greg and Pam built their home on five acres on Shoal Creek Trail between Main Street and the Arab City Park back in 2008. Greg and his wife Pamela Williams Cook (Pam) have four adult children, Summer, Chris, Holleigh and Kimberly.
Beagle just showed up at our home one day and we thought he would go home or someone would come and claim him. We called him Beagle and he has been a part of our family since 2006. Roscoe had a name when we adopted him in 2009 to keep Beagle company. Our whole family loves Beagle and Roscoe!
It's December 2019 and as I prepare and make the office ready for 2020 and the upcoming 2019 tax season, I want to extend my thanks to family, friends and clients. The last 34 years at 124 South Main Street have been wonderful. And I'm looking forward to many more. Ben Franklin once said "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."


text:
NUSL Project
The National Library od Technology (henceforth the NTK) is the central professional library governed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. According to its statutes the NTK ran – among others - project of building the Czech National Repository of Grey Literature from 2008 to 2011.
The project was supported by the Ministry of Culture and its full title was The Digital Library for Grey Literature – Functional Model and Pilot Implementation (henceforth the project). There were two participants: the NTK and the University of Economics, Prague.
In the past, the NTK was responsible for distribution of grey literature data from the Czech Republic to SIGLE (System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe), produced by European Association for Grey Literature Exploitation – EAGLE. This system ceased developing after 2003 and it was incapable of supplying modern services in the electronic environment. In 2005, this resulted in its dissolution. As a result, the coordinated evidence of grey literature based on SIGLE principles was terminated in the Czech Republic. In 2005, the NTK organized several meetings with representatives of universities, central libraries and other institutions, concerning potential collaboration in collecting grey literature at the national level. On the basis of these meetings, the NTK gradually started to prepare this project. The project was initiated in 2008. First, at the turn of 2007 and 2008, a detailed analysis of the state of grey literature and its producers in the Czech Republic was performed. In the scope of a questionnaire survey, universities and AS CR institutes were addressed as main representatives of grey literature producers. 39 out of 48 questioned institutions expressed willingness to collaborate in the future, with respect to agreed license conditions.
The main aim of the project was to create the Czech National Repository of Grey Literature (NUSL), which presents the NUSL Central Search Interface and the NUSL Digital Repository for long-term archiving and access to grey literature. The software solution as such and the related area, metadata format and identifiers are described further. Before the acquisition of grey literature it was necessary to specify the typology that clearly defines the subject of collection. In order to ensure a stable development, a regular audit of the NUSL as a trustworthy digital repository was performed using the DRAMBORA tool and methodology.
The project was aimed at acquiring metadata and full texts. A great importance is still attached to the creation of a partner network of collaborating institutions from the field of education, research and development, civil service, commercial sphere and verified open access sources. Partner institutions have continuously been addressed since 2009 on the basis of a questionnaire survey and of a typology of documents accepted into the NUSL. The information on why to collaborate and which forms of collaboration are available may be found in other section.
In relation to the project solution, an academic discussion on the topic of grey literature is encouraged on the occasion of a regularly organized Conference on Grey Literature and Repositories (formerly Seminar on providing access to grey literature).


text:
The farm yard before the visitors, lovely and still and sunny.
Another day full of talking to people and trying to demonstrate on the wheel and putting on handles for visitors to see. Lots more lovely people have visited today, and more lovely sunshine to boot. The picture above is a slightly exaggerated loving cup, thought one of my little horse chestnut trees looked quite sweet in it.
This is Keith and Lisa's wedding present. By all accounts the wedding went smoothly, Paul's speech is done so he is much happier now. I read it before he went and it was a very touching speech. He now has no excuse for not being romantic as I've had proof that he can be! He's hoping to finish the job in Middlesburgh tomorrow and get back tomorrow evening.


text:
Life after Death
Maria: My grandmother died a month ago. Last night she visited me in a dream, telling me she was all right.
Jose: That is impossible. After people die they do not exist anymore. Their brains become energy that is found in the rest of the universe, but as persons they cease to exist.
Maria: But she spoke to me; I don't think I was just talking to myself.
Jose: That is impossible. If her brain was no longer functioning, she does not exist anymore.
Maria: How do you know?
Jose: I know because that's what science tells me.
Maria: Science tells you that a person's consciousness is precisely identical with his or her brain?
Jose: Well, not exactly. It tells me that there is a correlation between brain states and conscious states.
Maria: Yes, that seems right to me. But my point is that consciousness can be more than the brain, too, and that a person's journey can continue after death.
Jose: Are you talking about out of body experiences and the remembering of past lives, and apparitions and mind-to-mind connections that are not mediated by molecules and atoms?
Maria: Yes, I am talking about things like that.
Jose: But I think people who talk about things like that are kind of looney.
Maria: There's actually more evidence for these kinds of things than people like to admit.
Jose: Can you point in the direction of a book that presents this evidence.
Maria: Yes, I recommend a book by the philosopher of religion, David Ray Griffin called Parapsychology, Philosophy and Spirituality (State University of New York Press). It is very dense, but you can work through it. It brings together a lot of the evidence in a rational way that can appeal to skeptics.
Jose: Well, are you sure he isn't some kind of kook who just wants to believe in those kinds of things because they are comforting?
Maria: He's really not like that at all. He tells us that he began his own studies as a skeptic, and in his book he bends over backwards to consider counter-arguments. He's as a rational as they come.
Jose: Why does he call it a "postmodern" exploration?
Maria: Because he thinks that perspectives like yours, which see the brain and mind as absolutely identical, and which dismiss the possibility of a continuing journey after death without even considering evidence, are overly shaped by modern, western points of view which now, in a more global context, seem short-sighted and unscientific.
Jose: You mean that he thinks it is unscientific not to believe in life after death?
Maria: Yes, he thinks that science appeals to evidence, not preference, and that the evidence points toward a differentiation of consciousness and the brain.
Jose: So Griffin thinks that consciousness and the brain not the same?
Maria: Griffin thinks that there is a two-way relationship between consciousness and brain activity. Our consciousness influences our brain activity and our brain activity influences consciousness.
Jose: What do you mean by consciousness?
Maria: I mean what others mean by the mind or the soul. It is not a supernatural entity; it is the ongoing process of experiencing, from a first-person point of view.
Jose: Is this mind or soul always conscious?
Maria: Great question. If by consciousness you mean clear and distinct awareness, much of it is not. The wordconsciousness has different meanings in different contexts. Sometimes it means the mind and sometimes it means clear and distinct awareness. When I have said "consciousness" above, I have meant the mind or soul.
Jose: Does this "mind" or "soul" endure unchanged over time?
Maria: No, it is different at every moment, and at each moment in its ongoing history, it receives influences from the brain and the surrounding world and also responds to those influences, precipitating responses.
Jose: Is it self-contained, like a billiard ball?
Maria: No, it is not self-contained at all. It is partly composed of its relations with other things.
Jose: But still it has agency of its own?
Maria: Yes, it has agency of its own. For example, as you wave your hand your mind is causing the waving. Your stream of experiences is making decisions all the time, and you are this stream. Your stream is a stream of decisions.
Jose: And you think that this stream of experiences can survive the death of the brain?
Maria: Yes, Griffin's work shows that there's lots of evidence for this.
Jose: So you think that your grandmother was really talking to you?
Maria: I think she was trying to make things all right between us before she travelled to the next phase of her journey.
Jose: What do you think the end of her journey is?
Maria: I don't know. Buddhists tell us that we live in a multi-planed universe and that we journey through various planes of existence until our consciousness becomes so wide that we are enlightened. I find this a hopeful idea.
Jose: Are you sure?
Maria: I am not sure about anything. How about you?
Jose: I am not sure, either.
Maria: Then we are in the same situation. But it seems to me that, at the very least, you should consider the evidence marshaled in Griffin's book and think for yourself.
Jose: I'm ordering it now.
...as a Context for Soul-Gentling
Recently I ran into a friend in the grocery store whose husband had died. Her marriage had been a good one; the death was not easy for her. But she also felt she was being guided by him even after his departure and that, in some ways, their relationship had grown even closer. "We have grown even more intimate," she said. "I feel his guidance and friendship all the time. We are no longer separated by the flesh."
She reminded me of something I should have already known. Relationships do not end with death. They continue, at least on our side and perhaps on both sides.
For my part, I find that, when people whom I love die, I become more gentle, less judgmental. I remember what I loved about them and set aside what troubled me. Their death is an opportunity for soul-gentling.
By soul-gentling I mean a widening of the heart and mind. As our soul gentles,
1. We find greater freedom from greed, hatred, and confusion.
2. We grow wider in our capacities for empathy with others, sharing in their subjective states and perspectives in a spirit of understanding.
3. We awaken to how deeply interconnected all things truly are.
Wide, Awake and Free. I think that's another name for heaven. We can hope that heaven is the destiny of all souls: human souls, animal souls, plant souls, spirit souls, angel souls.
Fallen angel souls, too. Even the devils among us. Orthodox Christians say that, when our hearts are truly wide, we pray even for the devil, whom God also loves with a tender care. God doesn't give on on anybody, ever. That's how wide God's love is. And how awake and free, too.
In any case the soul that becomes gentle is not a substance that endures unchanged over time, but a living stream of experiences, different at every moment, each of which is here-and-now as it occurs.
In process theology, God is the gentlest of souls. This means that God is wider than anything we can imagine, like a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.
Of course the Gentleness is not all powerful. There are many things that happen in the world that the Gentleness does not and cannot prevent. Witness the violence; witness the sadness; witness the tragedy; witness the meanness.
But the Gentleness is continuously at work as an inwardly felt lure toward creative transformation.
I think of a friend of mine who suffered terribly from an addiction to anger, and who caused many people to suffer along the way. I hope that, as his journey continues, he gains freedom from the anger and perhaps also a freedom to understand the harm he caused.
At first, I am sure that this understanding will be painful for him: a kind of hell that he will undergo. For him, at least at first, hell will be empathy, because he will feel the feelings and share in the sufferings of those he harmed. But it will be purgative not permanent.
This is my prayer for him. Not that he go to hell, but that he grow in love, learning to become part of the feelings of all people, including those he harmed.
It hurts to grow wide, especially when we have to realize how narrow we've been and how our narrowness as been so harmful. I suspect that I'll have a bit of hell to pay myself. Growth into love is never easy, not for any of us. Prayer is needed.
Perhaps prayer, then, is one way relationships can continue after death. Relationships can continue when we pray for people who have died and when they pray for us, too. We hear their prayers every time we feel beckoned to love our neighbors as ourselves.
The Oddness of Modernity
I know it sounds odd to say that the dead pray for us. It would not seem odd to Tibetan Buddhists or Native Americans, to classical Chinese or indigenous Africans, to biblical Christians or traditional Muslims. They may have had different images of the place from which the memory occurs, but they all believed that in a continuing journey of one sort or another.
What is truly odd, from a historical perspective, is the rejection of the idea of such a journey by modern, western academics.
Modern western academics somehow got it in their mind that it is intellectually irresponsible and unscientific to so believe. This is where the work of David Ray Griffin is so helpful.
Until Wholeness is Realized
In any case, it seems to me that one life isn't enough for most people to find the wholeness for which their hearts yearn.
For my part, I hope that people continue after death until they can taste the wholeness for which they learn, after which they can be absorbed into the divine ocean. My hope for them is not for everlasting life but for a continuation of life until wholeness is known.
Until then, let us remember the dead, not with monuments of stone but with monuments of love.
A monument of love is an activity, not a building. It is an act of adding goodness to the world in small ways, and thus memorializing those who have departed.
The stones fade away in time, as do all things, but an act of love becomes infinite as soon as it occurs. It becomes the presence of God on earth.
Being Savored
Nevertheless, on our side of thing, the memory fades and we move on with our lives.
Sometimes we feel guilty about this, but it's hard to keep remembering. Indeed, in all likelihood, those who have left us may not be able to keep remembering either. For every time there is a season. Still there is a Savoring, not human but divine.
Patricia Adams Farmer speaks to this in her beautiful article: The Art of Savoring. She invites us to trust in One whose memory doesn't fade at all, and that what was most beautiful in them is remembered as if it was yesterday.
In process theology God is a deep Memory who always and forever memorializes those who have passed away. Even as we might forget, God remembers.
We are made in God's image. This means we are made to savor the beauty of every life, as best we can, living or dead, and also to accept the fact that, for new life to emerge on earth, old life must pass away.
Death is a way of making space for new life and, so Maria trusts, making way for a continuing journey, until we melt into the Gentleness, from which we emerge in the first place, one savorable moment at a time.


text:
Looking for a way to clear off your yard or garage without the hassle of borrowing or renting a truck and finding a place to dump it all off? Happy Hauler LLC is the answer to all junk hauling problems.
There's nothing worse than a cluttered garage or basement. Everyone who's been in the same house for several years probably has a "junk" area or section of the house that's reserved for unused items. You can free up extra space in your home and do it in a responsible way at the same time. Happy Hauler's crew takes all of your junk away - out of sight and out of mind - at the best rate in town. There aren't any surprises when you call Happy Hauler. What we quote you on-site will be your final bill and we'll take all of your old stuff to charitable organizations before we hit the landfill.
Happy Hauler donates items to homeless shelters, children and women's resource centers, Goodwill, and other organizations before taking rubbish and garbage to landfill stations in the area. We make it eco-friendly and easy to get rid of your old stuff and clean house.
With Spring Cleaning season coming up soon, you can expect to see our trucks making trips throughout the Seattle area.
To schedule your own junk hauling appointment, give us a call or contact us here. We can't wait to help you see the floor of your garage or basement again.


text:
Ref: 20080827
Last Edited: September 28th 2011
An Off-Page Connector (OPCs) contains multiple hyperlinks to a single location instead of just one.
Possible Causes
This is caused because multiple OPC refresh operations were performed in sequence when file change notification messages were not being sent from the machine hosting the multi-map root (see Multiple OPCs in a Single OPC).
In Process Navigator (version 9.1 or later), run Delete All Off-page Connectors (from the Multi-Map menu option). When this has been completed, run Refresh Off-page Connectors. Once this has been completed successfully, the duplicates will have been eliminated.
Applies to:


text:
Geospatial Fusion Testbed
Testbed. The 2000 Geospatial Fusion Testbed addressed standard ways of "fusing" disparate kinds of data into one spatial framework. Such data include text with embedded place names as well as video, sound, and photos whose metadata refer to "place." Through Geospatial Fusion, they can be geo-indexed, integrated with other spatial data, and shared across the Internet. The Testbed mainly addressed text, but OGC's specifications will accommodate the other kinds of data.
GFST produced the OpenGIS Gazetteer Service Interface Specification (GAZ) (Discussion Paper), the OpenGIS Geocoder Service Specification (Discussion Paper), the OpenGIS GeoParser Service Specification (Discussion Paper), and the OpenGIS Location Organizer Folder Specification - LOF (Discussion Paper).
In-Q-Tel sponsored the GFS Testbed project.


text:
Great Article! I want to travel to Fiji now…
- About Us
- Career
- Education
- Entertainment
- Lifestyle
- News
- Opinion
- Contact Us
By MacKenzie Woeste
We all know Bali and Thailand are the hot spots for Aussie holidays. Why wouldn't they be? They're fun, affordable and won't put a dent in your bank account. But where else can you explore culture, party under the moon and enjoy the sun and sand for such a budget-friendly price? Besides these time-honored destinations you can check out; Cambodia, Malaysia, New Caledonia, Fiji and Hawaii.
This neighboring country of Thailand often gets overlooked but it offers heaps of culture with the mesmerizing Angor Wat in Siem Reap, bustling beaches of Sihanoukville and the nightlife of Pub Street. You can travel across the country for a mere $12 per person. Cambodia is a hidden gem that where you'll get the best bang for your buck.
Source :Ta Prohm Temple and Tonle Bati
Malaysia lies in the shadows of Singapore but is a wonderful spot to get a mix of multiple cultures. Malaysia is a destination for both the nature and city lovers. Although it's known for its beautiful beaches and well-preserved rainforests, Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, offers a European influence within the stunning architecture of the buildings.
Source: Kuala Lumpur City
A cheeky French territory in the South Pacific is a destination to take a break from university and relax on the palm-tree lined beaches. Not known as a party destination but a serene break from reality where you can take in the turquoise blue waters and explore the unique marine-life.
Source: Hyega Island
Escape into the breath-taking bliss that is Fiji. Here you can immerse yourself in the friendly Fijian culture and dance the night away with the locals. You can partake in a seven- day island hopping cruise and see all that Fiji has to offer or you can stay mainland and go on a day-long sea cruise with unlimited booze and food. Fiji has something for everyone whether you're looking for night-life or serene beaches.
This may not seem like a budget-friendly travel spot but with flights as low as $550 you really can't go wrong. Although the prices once on the island aren't as budget friendly as some Southeast Asian countries the beauty is one that can't be missed. Explore the rain forest, lagoons and some of the most pristine beaches this world has to offer.
Source: Travel Stories
Take a step away from the traditional holidays of Bali and Thailand and explore what else this beautiful world has to offer on your next holiday while never taking a hit to your bank account.


text:
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Travel Tuesday: Baltimore Bar Review
Last Friday night I went out with a couple of guy friends to an area of Baltimore called Federal Hill. One of them just moved there. Between a nice dinner and bar hopping, we went to a bar with a magic show called Illusions. A father and son, Ken and Spencer, run it. The son's been doing magic since he was like 4. In fact, the family owns a magic shop a few doors down. Spencer does impressive card tricks on stage with some audience participation and tells silly jokes the whole time. It was hilarious. After that, the crowd moves down to the bar so that he can escape from a straitjacket hanging upside down in a number of minutes. It was amazing, a really good time, I highly recommend it.
Here's the info:
Illusions Magic Bar & Lounge
1025 S. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21230
I see this as a place you only go once since the show is the same every night, a must-see at that, but the bar is really nice... It has giant chandeliers and lots of leather couches. It has character. One of the bartenders was voted Baltimore's Funniest Man. I hope to go back.
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text: Tessa is an Art Therapist based in Cape Town. She works for several NGOs focusing on art and clay therapy with children. She studied fine art and psychology at UCT, and then went to live in England where she completed an MA in Art Therapy in 2005. Tessa returned home in 2008 and registered with the HPCSA. She is passionate about working with young people, with a firm belief in the healing power of art.


text:
Portland Downtown District Conference Room
Board members in attendance: Carole Ansheles, Chris Busby, Bill Duggan, Stuart Gersen, Nancy Lawrence, Joan Leitzer, Stacy Mitchell, Susan Tran
Advisory Board members in attendance: Jan Beitzer, Elise Loschiavo
Bill opens the meeting. The Board reviews and approves the May 2nd meeting minutes.
The Board discusses the upcoming membership drive. Bill suggests that in light of the new money coming in, we should put the election of a new Treasurer at the top of our priorities.
The Board also discusses the need for improved communication with participants. For the Membership drive, the Committee will draft a letter and e-mail to be sent to all existing participants. There will be a two-week deadline for response after which time, the Committee will follow-up in person. Stuart will send the letter to Susan. She will add the PIBA logo, save the document as a PDF, and send it to Bill and back to Stuart. Susan will also send a list of bad e-mail addresses to Stacy. Stacy will create mailing labels for Bill who will send the letter to participants with bad addresses and no e-mail at all.
Stacy asks about inventory level for packets. Stuart explains that more are needed. Stacy suggests we consider having the decals printed as window clings the next time around. Bill expresses concern about the clings being removed for cleaning and not being replaced afterwards. Someone suggests looking into mild adhesives.
Susan asks for an update on our contact with the Eastland Park Hotel regarding their ineligibility. Bill will follow-up with our contact at the hotel as soon as possible.
Nancy updates the Board on activity at the May 9th event. She has $11 in donations. Also, one of the memberships was charged to Portmanteau. Nancy will reimburse PIBCA for that membership payment.
Stacy will research AMIBA's on-line membership database. She will also work with the Membership Committee to devise a plan for communicating within the Board regarding new/renewing members.
Chris offers a brief re-cap of the May 9th event. Attendance was lower than anticipated, though there was a solid showing of new faces.
We discuss the idea of doing an event around July 4th in recognition of Independents Week and the campaign's one-year anniversary.
Chris updates the group on the new poster campaign. There is some concern that Portland Spice will be closing, so we will need to choose another business to highlight just in case. The Board identifies Micucci's and Portland Salvage. Chris will contact them as soon as possible to gauge their interest. In terms of the design, Chris will add more information on the business.
Nancy has ordered the fabric for new tote bags and urges board to raise the price on bags and t- shirts.
The Board discusses the pro's and con's of reducing meetings to once a month. Stacy suggests that the Board meetings would need to be more focused and less action-oriented. Stuart is concerned that we may not be ready for this sort of schedule. Bill disagrees and would like to give it a try with the stipulation that the Executive Committee will hold open, monthly meetings to discuss larger issues. Carole urges the Board to get more people involved on the volunteer, committee, and board levels.
Stacy mentions that the League of Young Voters has asked Buy Local to staff a table at their upcoming event on May 31st. The Board revisits the discussion of whether or not PIBCA should attend political events. The Executive Committee will discuss the issue further. Jan will provide language regarding logo usage for Committee to review. The Board agrees that there is not enough time to make a decision in time for the May 31st event.
The Executive Committee will look at external communications at its next meeting.
Jan asks if anyone is available to staff the Buy Local table at the Old Port Festival. Joan volunteers to attend from 11am – 1pm.
Meeting is adjourned quickly as another group arrives to use the conference room.
Minutes recorded by Susan Tran.
BAYSIDE BARK / Bayside Bowl / Benchmark Real Estate / Bull Feeney's / Caravan Beads / Casco Bay EyeCare / Clark Insurance / ClickToast – Digital Advertising / Coffee By Design / CornerStone Building & Restoration / CrossFit Beacon / The Fish & Bone / Float Harder Relaxation Center / Gorham Savings Bank / Green Clean Maine / Joan Leitzer / Knack Factory / Liquid Riot / Longfellow Books / Maine Business Immigration Coalition / Maine Outdoor Film Festival / Malone Commercial Brokers / Marsh Agency / Nine Stones / Nomads / OTTO / Philip Spalding / Port Property Management / Portland Discovery Land & Sea Tours / Portland Food Co-op / Portland Downtown / Renys Department Store / Taproot Magazine / The SunriseGuide / University Credit Union / Wellness Connection of Maine / XPress Copy / YMCA of Southern Maine / Young's Furniture


text:
Considering that more than 725,000 Americans experienced some form of foreclosure action in the first quarter, you probably won't be surprised to hear that the U.S. home ownership rate continued to decline. It fell to 66.4% last quarter, according to the Census Bureau. That's only a slight decline from 66.5% in the fourth quarter of 2010, but it represents the sixth straight quarter the percentage has either declined or remained flat. The housing market reset continues.
Here's the chart providing some history:
Please note that this chart does not start at zero. It's magnified so you can better see the movement over the past 40+ years. At 66.4%, the home ownership rate now matches the level in the fourth quarter of 1998. Remember all that progress that appeared to be made in broadening home ownership in the past decade? It's gone.
If you believe in such a thing as a "natural level" of home ownership, then this chart appears to indicate that the rate still has farther to fall. Historically, home ownership was between 63% and 66%, hovering around 64% during most of the 1980s and early 1990s. Going on real-world observation, some further decline seems likely. After all, foreclosures continue to occur at relatively high rates.
Some Americans who lost their home after the bubble popped may one day be home owners again. But blemished credit histories will make this difficult for some years. It's unlikely, however, that we'll again see home ownership rates surge past 67% like they did in 2000. Housing finance policy reform seeks to provide less taxpayer support for the housing market and tighter regulations for lenders. Those changes translate into more expensive housing and stricter credit standards. We're going back to a world where not just anybody can obtain a mortgage.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
So it's a summer night, you've just finished watching the nightly news or a rerun of Seinfeld or Friends, and you ask yourself, 'Is there anything worth watching that is fun, and maybe even educational at the same time?' Well, try turning to the Food Network for a surprising change of pace.
Throughout the week Unwrapped airs in half-hour segments. Hosted by Marc Summers, Unwrapped takes you for a behind-the-scenes look at the wonderful world of food. From snack foods to gourmet restaurants, each episode takes a look at one niche of the food world, in three or four video segments.
In recent shows Unwrapped explored the world of soda pop, cookies, amusement parks, and fast food. Watch to see how Mountain Dew got its start, and how it's manufactured and distributed around the world. View another episode and learn about national conventions that are held annually for amusement park owners to test and buy new food products, such as deep-fried Oreos or the latest line of Dip-n-Dots.
Quite often the show will be theme-based, depending on the season of the year. At Halloween time you can see how those childhood-favorite wax fangs are made on Halloween Unwrapped. During Easter season you can watch Easter Unwrapped to see how those always-popular marshmallow Peeps are made. And most recently the show examined the history of the hotdog.
Unwrapped is guided by Summers from segment to segment, usually from an old-fashioned 50's soda parlor. He is quite personable and always quick-witted; not afraid to toss out predictably corny puns at the drop of a hat.
So if you're tired of watching Grey's Anatomy reruns, and not interested in the latest faux jewelry on the Shopping Network, channel-surf your way to the Food Network or foodnetwork.com and take in the latest Unwrapped episode. You may end up making it a weekly or even nightly part of your viewing or DVR-ing schedule. Currently, Unwrapped airs on Monday nights at 8pm, with reruns airing all over the schedule.


text:
Pearline Williamson, whose grandson is 100m runner Simeon Williamson, was out shopping when a young woman ran past her, pulling the purse from her hand.
Without a thought for her own safety Mrs Williamson sprinted after the woman, believed to be in her early 20s, and managed to catch her.
The furious pensioner then shook her attacker in front of fellow shoppers in Edmonton, north London. The thief dropped the purse and escaped.
Mrs Williamson said: "She must have thought I was an easy touch because I'm elderly.
"When she took my purse I had to do something so I ran after her and grabbed her as hard as I could. She said she hadn't taken it at first, so I shook the life out of her until she finally gave it back."
Olympic hopeful Mr Williamson, 22, said: "It's typical of her as she stands up for everyone else, so it's no surprise she stood up for herself.
"She can be very friendly but also pretty scary when she wants to be – you wouldn't have wanted to be the thief.
"And there's no controlling her – you just have to stand back and hope she's alright as she doesn't think about the consequences."
Mrs Williamson said she had her purse stolen four-years ago on a bus and since then she has vowed to fight back against criminals.
She added: "I have never been scared of anyone. If I see someone being taken advantage of I do something.
"It makes me so mad when people try and take your things. Back in my day you had to work so hard for every penny. "My kids tell me not to get involved, but you have to try – if you don't do anything then bad people get away with bad things."
Her grandson will race at the Beijing Olympics as Britain's number one sprinter. He clocked a personal best of 10.03sec at the recent Olympic trials.
Mr Williamson said: "Her attitude would make her an Olympic gold medallist if she were just a few years younger.
"She's from a different generation and had to work for everything she has, so if someone takes what's hers then she will defend it. "It's that sort of stubborn belief that makes you a champion and that's exactly what she is."


text: Two years on from the gently experimental Silent June, the "chamber folk" duo Belinda O'Hooley and Heidi Tidow return with a set that shows even greater bravery and far more confident vocal work. The album is again dominated by O'Hooley's inventive piano playing, first heard when she was with the Unthanks, but here she also adds accordion, while the occasional backing is provided mostly by strings. To this the duo add their finest harmony singing to date, particularly on the unaccompanied tracks: the Irish ballad She Lived Beside the Anner and an exquisite reworking of Massive Attack's Teardrop. The Fragile is an appropriate title, not because of the music, but because of the lyrics. Many are concerned with ecology, old age and death, and at times they verge towards the sentimental. Then there's a self-written, charming lament for a much-loved cat, a bleak view of humanity as seen by a bird, and – best of all – the upbeat, true story of a 17th-century female landowner who seduced local women, to the fury of their husbands. An intriguing, ambitious set.


text:
PC Advisor reviews the best external Blu-ray/DVD drives you can buy in the UK right now.
- Rating:
- Reviewed on: 17 January 2012
Using four-speed TDK media we recorded 21GB of data in a very fast 15 mins 48 sec.
Read our LG BE12LU38.AUAE10B review.
2. Asus SBW-06C1S-U Slim
- Rating:
- Reviewed on: 16 January 2012
The Asus is a good external Blu-ray writer, provided you have enough USB ports on your laptop to power it. Its performance in our tests with both four- and six-speed media was slow, but reliable. This drive is also quiet, portable and affordable.
Read our Asus SBW-06C1S-U Slim review.
3. Buffalo MediaStation BR3D-12U3
- Rating:
- Reviewed on: 17 January 2012
The Buffalo MediaStation BR3D-12U3 performed well as a writer and a player, with a good turn of speed and low noise levels. For general video editing there's better software out there than the bundled Cyberlink suite.
Read our Buffalo MediaStation BR3D-12U3 review.
4. Buffalo MediaStation BR-X816U2
- Reviewed on: 16 January 2012
This well-priced external drive makes its presence known with a bulky power adaptor. The Buffalo is by no means portable, but offers very good performance with today's recordable Blu-ray media.
Read our Buffalo MediaStation BR-X816U2 review.
- Rating:
- Reviewed on: 19 January 2012
This is Its more than up to the job and, indeed, faster than its rivals, but you can do better for your money.
Read our TDK TB150U review.


text:
Tile and Hard Surface Cleaning
Floor cleaning is more than just carpet! We can clean tile, grout, and hard surfaces in your home or business. The same truck-mounted machine that cleans your carpet can be used to make your tile, grout, and hard surface floors sparkle! We use the same 230-degree water, and turn the pressure up to 1000psi to blast out dirt and grime. The tile is prepped with a solvent that is specifically designed for cleaning tile and grout, then special attachments are used to clean the surface.
Ann Arbor Rug and Carpet Cleaning has over 15 years expertise to make any flooring look new again. Our IICRC certified technicians can clean Marble, Tile, Terrazzo, Slate, Tile and Grout, and Natural Stone.
We can clean bathrooms, kitchens, entryways, shower floors, counter tops – almost every surface in your home or business!
See the pictures below, from a pool at a local university. We cleaned more than 5000 sq ft of tile!
- First: We apply soap to the dirty tile and scrub at a low speed with an industrial buffer
- Next: Difficult problem areas are identified and scrubbed by hand using a concentrated cleaning agent
- Then: We remove soap and dirt using a high pressure steam jet and truck mounted vacuum system
- Results: The tile "After" cleaning looks sparkling clean!
Wood Floor Cleaning
Ann Arbor Carpet Cleaning now offers wood floor cleaning services.? With our new machine, we make your wood floors clean as a whistle!? Our 3-step cleaning process removes all dirt and grime from your wood floor. How do we do it?? Click here to See the Dirt Dragon in action!


text:
I had such an amazing time in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It is a dream trip and I am so blessed to have had a chance to experience it. After all of my research, there were still so many things that I did not know until I got there, so I thought I would share photos with you from my trip as well as some tips and things you should know that I wish I'd known before traveling to the country.
Yas Beach is the shit!
Yas Beach is located on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi and is free for guests staying at the surrounding hotels. The beach is lined with cabanas that you can reserve, but we just chose one that was available when we arrived. There's a DJ that was playing awesome music, there was food, plenty of drinks that are reasonably priced, shisha and warm beach water! It's also a great location to catch the beautiful Abu Dhabi sunset.
So we didn't make it to any clubs smh
The weekends in Abu Dhabi/Dubai are Friday and Saturday, so the clubbing nights are Thursday and Friday. Our flight landed on Friday around noon and we checked into the hotel and headed straight to Yas Beach. We met some cool people who kept telling us "Friday is clubbing night!", but we were so jet lagged, that after dinner we went back to the room to sleep. Saturday night we were ready to turn up in Dubai but there wasn't much going on. We weren't totally disappointed, but next time we visit we will definitely fly in on a Wednesday so that we can experience the nightlife.
Jet lag is real!
We missed out on the clubs because we were so tired from the 13-hour flight. I'd heard of jet lag, but to actually experience it was something different. I suggest that if you plan to make this trip, add an extra day so that you can rest and get on the local time.
I wanted to respect the dress code as much as possible
I had read so much about the dress code in the U.A.E. and I was so paranoid about wearing the wrong thing. I came to find that the dress code wasn't as strict as I'd expected it to be. However, I did try to ensure that I wasn't wearing shorts or had my chest out. I wanted to really respect the culture, so I made sure to dress as appropriate as one could, considering how hot it is there. I mostly packed pants, long loose dresses and a wrap to throw over my shoulders when I was indoors, because most places have the a.c. blasting. I did see women wearing booty shorts and spaghetti strap tops, I just wouldn't do it.
It's only an hour driving time between Abu Dhabi and Dubai
We enjoyed the fact that Abu Dhabi was so close to Dubai. Our driver Aqba drove us to Dubai which only took somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half. If you visit either city, definitely make your way to the other if you have time.
Dubai Mall was cool but not that much different from the U.S.
We did visit the popular Dubai Mall. I found that they had all the same stores that you would typically find in the States in addition to the high-end luxury brands. Other amazing features are the indoor ice skating rink and aquarium.
There are deals to be had in Dubai
Anytime I travel, I always make it a point to do things like the locals. Nagey's friend who lives in Dubai, picked us up from our hotel and took us around the city a bit. He ended up taking us to Dragon Mart , which is a souk (market), but it reminds me of a flea market where you can negotiate pricing. It's pretty large and is broken out into sections like clothing and fabric, electronics, hardware etc.
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is a must visit
Prior to coming on the trip, I'd done my research on activities I wanted to do and what sites I wanted to see. The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi was at the top of my list. I purposely wanted to go at night, because of how pretty it is all lit up. You must be completely covered and they do provide you with Abaya's to wear. You will not believe how much I was sweating underneath it. Even at night, it is extremely hot. Although the Abaya is beautiful to wear, I don't know how the women wear it in the heat.
Do some research but don't go overboard
I think it's always a good idea to do research on the activities you want to do when you are visiting any city. We were fortunate enough to have a driver the entire time we were there, so we didn't have to figure out how to get anywhere. I suggest that if you will be taking taxi's etc. that you research where you want to go and how long it would take you to get there from your hotel. It's always good to be prepared. Taxi's are relatively inexpensive, so it wouldn't cost you a lot to get around.
Go on a desert safari
Another item on my to-do list for Abu Dhabi, was a desert safari. My friend Karina, who lived in Abu Dhabi for 2 years, told me that there was Groupon over there, so I knew we would be purchasing our tour through the site. With the Groupon, the half day safari ended up only costing $45 per person, which was an awesome deal and it lasts about 5 hours. It included the ride to and from the desert (which was about an hour), ATV riding, dune bashing, camel riding, henna, a BBQ dinner and a host of other activities. There were several companies to book with on Groupon, but I ultimately booked with Al Badeyah Eyes Tourism. After finding them on Groupon, I went to Tripadvisor to see the reviews and the tour was highly rated. Before purchasing the Groupon, call them to ensure there will be space available for the day that you want to go.
Wifi, video chat and staying connected
The ladies and I spent the first day trying to face time and video chat via WhatsApp with family and friends with no luck. We later found out that those features are blocked in the U.A.E. unless you have a VPN/hot spot connection. You can however Skype, so that was great. I kept my phone on airplane mode and connected to wifi whenever it was available. I found that most public places had free wifi, so that was awesome. Those with iPhones, I was able to text via iMessage and everyone else I text via WhatsApp when I was connected to wifi.
4 days was not enough time
If there was one regret that I have, its that we did not have enough time. We did a lot, but I would have liked a few extra days to see more of Dubai. The next time I go, I will likely stay 6-7 days including 1 day for jet lag recovery.
Purchase an electrical outlet converter and adapter
The day before I left, a co-worker suggested that I purchase an electrical outlet converter since the outlets are different from the States. I purchased one from Bed, Bath and Beyond using a coupon and it only came to $15. Although the hotel had a converter/adapter, I liked having my own as an additional since I had my phone, portable charger, laptop and camera battery that needed charging.
Exchanging currency
I took money from the ATM in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai which dispersed it in dirham (AED) and my bank (Wells Fargo) only charges $5 per withdrawal. I did have to do the calculation of how many dirhams I needed to withdraw as the ATM only disperses in dirham. There are apps that you can download to your phone to help you with currency conversions. I noticed that no where we went accepted U.S. currency, so you should either exchange cash, pull money out of the ATM or use a credit card. Don't exchange money at the hotel as they can charge a fee or the exchange rate is off.
I hope my tips are helpful if you are planning to visit the U.A.E.
Have you been to Abu Dubai or Dubai? What did you do?
What are some of your tips?
Traveling since she was barely able to walk, Milla Williams has always had a love for food and travel. With over 10 years experience in the hospitality industry, Milla started her blog Happily Eating in 2013, as a way to share her recipes and travel experiences with others. She believes the best way to truly experience a city or culture is through its food. Milla currently resides in Atlanta, GA where she explores restaurants sharing with her readers her favorite local eats.