June 29th, 2008
The notebook computer market has gone from strength to strength in recent times. Taiwan, which is the foremost manufacturing country of laptops is having trouble with the demand at present. Laptops have just been a phenomenal business to follow. There has been no slip in sales. It’s a market which is also difficult to keep up with it respect of of technology because its developing all the time.
More brands are realising that gaming laptops is becoming big enough niche to go after. Because of the increased production and quick changes it means major components are cheaper in price than then once were. Performance is also improving and gaming on laptops is becoming more adaquate for gaming by those who need to move around. These days the vast amount of gaming laptops are not even big, chunky and noisy. Desktops are greater in size and use greater amounts power so no matter how good gaming laptops have become desktops will always run faster. Gaming laptops are the yardstick of performance for the laptop computer market and it will be interesting to see how the approaching technology fairs.
Performance portables are generally custom built to the customers specification. I’m partial to the notion that high quality brands go into a few custom laptops. The advantageous thing is that you do not end up forking out for unecessary additions you do not require. Lets face facts. You most likely aren’t like the masses and so normal laptops won’t suffice. Custom built laptops serve everybody despite their specialist requirements. Companies who sell custom laptops traditionally offer a more personal and local support too. Yet again a futher coudos to custom built notebooks.
The prospect of upcoming notebook computers looks exciting. The current trend along with those discussed looks to be cheap ultra portables. The Eee just made a new niche division. People need thin, super light devices yet they also want them to have enormous screens. If you employ slightly less powerful components then I reckon this is extremely possible even today. Guessing from what is occuring it looks like we will begin seeing ultra portable gaming systems. Though laptop technology follows plans theres forever going to be a gadget that transforms all that.
Rizeon sell some of the best laptop computers at this point in time.
Comments Off
June 29th, 2008
Most small business owners have a “one-time hit” attitude about their relationship with past and existing joint venture partners. This wrong approach means they expect to just carry out one project with their joint venture partner, and move on to another new partner for the next project.
Of course, every business owner should continuously form new joint venture relationships in order to expand their reach. However, you also need to frequently reconnect with your existing joint venture partners, and here are some of the reasons why:
Firstly, it’s a lot easier to convince a past or existing partner to partner up with you again (because they already know, like and trust you), than it is to convince a potential partner to try you out for the first time. By maintaining your relationships with past and existing joint venture partners, you’ll constantly brainstorm and carry out multiple projects, and you’ll need fewer new partners as a result. You’ll also spend much less time on finding and convincing new potential partners.
Secondly, you’ll probably find that a past or existing joint venture partner is more likely to do significantly bigger projects with you. No sane business owner will risk doing a long-term, million-dollar joint venture project with someone they haven’t known for awhile and done some business with before. So, any new joint venture partner will start off doing a small and simple project with you until they get to know you more. The longer you know each other, the more you’ll trust each other, and the better for doing business.
Thirdly, you’ll also find that your existing partners may have increased their client base, or enhanced their credibility in the marketplace, or have met more influential people they can introduce you to by the next time you’re partnering up with them. In this case, you don’t want to be seen as an opportunist who shows up only during harvest.
Here are five easy ways of keeping in touch with your joint venture partners:
1. Celebrate Occasions
Connecting with your joint venture partners has a lot to do with knowing what’s important to them. Send a card or a gift to wish them a “happy birthday” or to congratulate them about their new achievement, or to simply wish them “happy holidays.”
2. Schedule Catch-up Phone Calls
A simple email saying “Hello, I want to hear what’s new with you, when can we talk?” is enough to tell your joint venture partner that profit is not all that you care about. Your conversation will result in finding out more about each other or coming up with more profitable win-win opportunities.
3. Be A Resource
Sending value-added emails to your joint venture partners is another way of showing that you are thinking about them. The email can contain information that alerts them about what their competitors are up to, or a useful article that will help with their client relationships, or even an event you think would be great for networking. The objective is to ensure that the email is one they will not want to delete after reading, and that will make them see you as a valuable resource.
4. Make Them Part Of Your Team
Making your joint venture partners part of your Mastermind Group or Success Team or Advisory Board is an opportunity that will make your relationship stronger. However, it has the additional advantage of enabling you to support each other’s business in other ways that will present more joint venture opportunities, and other business benefits such as expanding each other’s network of quality friends, associates and business partners.
5. Find “Meet-Up Opportunities”
You can apply all of the greatest technology in the world to keep in touch with your joint venture partners, but face-to-face meetings are still the most effective way to truly connect. So, when you make travel arrangements to attend an event or go on vacation, remember to factor in a “coffee date” lasting 30-60 minutes with each joint venture partner that lives in the city you’re visiting. If you’re in town for an event, consider inviting them to attend that event.
You must strengthen your partnership relationships over time, and the joint venture projects will expand as your relationships grow.
Copyright © 2006 by Habiba Abubakar and Emprez. All rights reserved.
Note: You are welcome to republish this article as long as the resource box at the end is included fully and unaltered.
Habiba Abubakar, a.k.a. The Profit Diva, specializes in helping small business owners who are struggling to increase their client base and are tired of earning mediocre profits. The tips in this article have been excerpted from her home-study program, “Joint Venture Profits For Small Business Owners.” To learn more about this step-by-step program, and to sign up for your FREE copy of her revealing Mini eCourse, “The Easiest Way To Skyrocket Your Profits In 90 Days Or Less,” visit http://www.profitdiva.com
Comments Off
June 26th, 2008
Pet friendly vacations and travel planning make sense — after all, pets are family members too! In the United States alone, over 60 million households have one or more pets. Pet owners in 15 million of those households travel with their pet, and the majority stay in pet friendly lodging. Fortunately, pet friendly hotels, condos and vacation home rentals do exist. If you will be planning pet friendly vacations, here are some tips for safe and trouble-free travel.
1 - When you make your reservation, double-check that pets are allowed. An important advantage of reserving online is that you can see in writing whether or not pets are permitted and any restrictions. Online, you can print out your reservation receipt that includes the “pets allowed” information. Verbal reservations leave more room for misunderstanding and miscommunication. If reserving by telephone, ask the reservation person to mail you a confirmation receipt that includes the “pets allowed” information.
2 - Is your pet an experienced traveler? If not, you should begin getting your pet more accustomed to traveling so that pet friendly vacations won’t be something new. Begin by making your car a fun place for your pet. Get in the car with them, play with them, give them a treat — have them enjoy being there with you. Then take a short drive with them. Gradually increase the length of time and distance that you drive with them. Before making a long trip with your pet, the idea is to have them comfortable with being in the car for extended periods of time.
3 - Remember that securing your pet while traveling in the car is crucial for their safety and yours. Consider purchasing a dog safety harness for your pet to use while traveling in the car. If you have a station wagon or SUV, you can purchase a vehicle barrier that keeps your pet confined to the rear area. They are usually sold at pet stores or are available online.
4 - Pet friendly vacations planning should include taking steps to ensure your pet can be found if it accidentally becomes lost while on vacation. Be sure that your pet has an identification tag and wears it while on the trip. The tag should have your pet’s name, your name and phone number. If possible, use your cell phone number, a home number and the number of where you will be staying.
5 - Carry a photograph of your pet with you on your trip. If your pet should ever become lost, you’ll be able to show others exactly what your pet looks like instead of just relying on a verbal description.
6 - Check with your vet for any recommended vaccinations appropriate for your trip — exposure to ticks while hiking, exposure to other dogs while being boarded or heartworm prevention if your dog will be exposed to mosquitoes are examples of important preventative measures to take before your trip. If your pet is a dog, have an up-to-date rabies tag for your dog’s collar. If you decide to day board your dog while taking pet friendly vacations, you may be required to show paperwork proof of the rabies vaccination.
7 - Once you arrive at the pet friendly lodging, inform the check-in person that you have your pet. You can inquire if there are any restricted areas where your pet should not be taken. Pet friendly lodging staff should be very accustomed to answering these kinds of questions and will appreciate your awareness.
8 - In your hotel room, condo, cabin rental or vacation home rental — never let your pet use the furniture or beds to sit, lay or sleep on unless you’ve covered the furniture or bed with your own cover. Place your pet’s food and water containers on a mat or newspaper in the bathroom, where cleanup will be easier. When staying in pet friendly accommodations, you may even choose to feed your pet outdoors.
9 - If you’ll be leaving your pet alone in the room or vacation rental, make sure the front desk or rental agent knows. Be sure that you leave your pet secured in their travel container or crate if housekeeping staff will be entering the room at any time to clean. You certainly don’t want a housekeeper to enter and be surprised or even attacked by your pet! A pet may also run out of the room when housekeeping enters if left unsecured.
10 - Be very careful while taking pet friendly vacations in warm or hot weather. Leaving your pet in the car can be deadly. Even when the outside temperature is only in the 70’s or 80’s, the interior of a vehicle can reach 100 degrees and higher, especially when parked in the sun. It doesn’t take long at these temperatures to cause serious or even fatal harm to your pet.
Traveling with pets and staying in pet friendly lodging can be lots of fun — after all, your pet is part of your family too. Just using common sense and planning ahead makes for enjoyable and surprise-free pet friendly vacations.
Copyright 2005 InfoSearch Publishing
David Buster is VP of InfoSearch Publishing and webmaster of http://www.bestvacationrentalsonline.com - visit the website to find pet friendly vacations lodging worldwide, log cabin rentals, vacation home rentals, places to get married, discount hotel rooms, adventure travel and more.
Comments Off
June 23rd, 2008
Baseball betting is different from football betting because of the use of a money line. In baseball betting, the money line speaks of the amount of total amount of money wagered in an event and the amount of winnings based on either the team pick or the underdog.
The highest negative money line would refer to the team pick or the favorite one while money lines that are positive would point out the under dog. A $100 bet is where the money line is based on. It is but normal for a first time baseball betting person to be confused with the money line. Here’s an example, if the Red Sox are playing the Yankees with the Red Sox as the team pick or the favorite. We at playsportal.net would list the money line as: Red Sox - 140 Yankees +120. If you would be betting on the Red Sox that would mean that you would have to come up with $140 and in the event that you win you would get a $100 profit, making you bring home the total amount of $240. In other words, $140 is the amount you would be risking in order to make $100. In online baseball betting, the pitchers are very important. In fact, the money line depends upon the game’s starting pitchers. If before the game there has been any change in pitching or the pitcher who started was the unscheduled one, the money line more often than not gets revised or adjusted. You may choose to bet the baseball game in a few ways of course based on the pitching.
Comments Off
June 20th, 2008
If you think that Adobe, Ulead or Corel make be best multimedia products, think again. There are dozens of innovative indies who develop excellent software for images and video and don’t charge you for the brand name.
A4 DVD Shrinker (DanDans Digital Media)
A4 DVD Shrinker is a tiny but fast DVD backup and shrinking tool. Why do you need one? How about taking your DVD collection and backing up several movies onto a single DVD, without compromising the quality in a short time? A4 DVD Shrinker shrinks all types of DVDs and fully backs them up to your hard drive or burns them to DVDR discs and you get to keep all DVD extra features, like interviews.
A4 DVD Shrinker is based on a proprietary DVD Engine and can shrink all DVD contents like Menus, Movie, Audio, Subtitles and Languages. It can also peel off CSS protection from commercial DVDs automatically so that you can make your own DVD copies no matter what copy protection is used on the original. The built-in high speed DVD burner supports all type of DVDR discs ( R, RW, -R, -RW). You do not need third party drivers or burning software installed either.
Paint Buster (SoftBusters)
Paint Buster is a compact and innovative image processing program. It is quite simple for beginners yet powerful for professionals. With Paint Buster you can resize, crop, rotate, cut and paste and enhance your family photographs as well as create images for the home web-page. The best thing, you don’t have to be a designer to do that.
Paint Buster gives you complete control of your images, on pixel, color, palette and print level. With a click of a button, you have a huge number of paint tools at your disposal. All with anti-aliasing, transparency and texture capabilities. It supports JPEG, GIF, TIF, PNG, BMP, ICO, PCX, and TGA formats.
This standard-issue image-editing application offers a solid set of tools for tweaking your digital photos. Paint Buster’s interface echoes that of other applications in this class, with various icons for brushes, pens, and drawing tools surrounding the large image-preview window.
VirtualDJStudio 3.0 (Next Generation Software)
VirtualDJStudion 3.0 (VDJ3) is a virtual mixing console for DJs, professional and aspiring. You can play multiple MP3 and Wav files, with tempo/pitch control for beat-matching. Plus, easily set a configurable number of ‘lines’, each of which has its own MP3/WAV file player, volume control, pitch/tempo control, and other options. The program includes a 10-band EQ, plugin support, integrated File Navigator, and Playlist Editor.
VirtualDJStudio is not like all of the other DJ programs out there. While other programs limit you to two players with a Cross-Fader, Virtual DJ Studio provides you with an entire studio. Also, it’s more demanding and takes time to learn.
Super Bot (SparkleWare)
Super Bot can download files, folders, or entire websites with as little as one click. The program uses HTML rewriting technology, so copied sites look and feel like the online versions.
Super Bot let’s users browse at faster speeds, by loading files directly from your hard drive not the server (offline browsing). You can view websites without an Internet connection and archive pictures, videos, sounds and other Net content on your computer. Super Bot makes it easy to create functional and editable mirrors of online sites as well as browse a website’s internal structure and organization. One good application for Sparkleware’s Super Bot is to sanitize children’s browsing by creating a “sandbox” of age-appropriate material. You can create autorun CDs and DVDs of your favorite sites too.
Download Links:
A4DVDShrinker: http://www.deprice.com/a4dvdshrinker.htm
Paint Buster: http://www.deprice.com/paintbuster.htm
VirtualDJStudio: http://www.deprice.com/virtualdjstudio.htm
Super Bot: http://www.deprice.com/superbot.htm
John Deprice owns and operates http://www.deprice.com
Comments Off
June 19th, 2008
Directories help locate websites within specific or definite categories. The difference between search engines and directories is that, directories feature only vetted websites, sites that have a certain standard and contain information of substance.
One of the aims of using directories is to boost traffic. To achieve this, one must choose to be featured in large, organized directories like Yahoo, DMOZ, and LookSmart. These will drive highly targeted traffic to you site (subject specific), increase significantly the link popularity, and Google PageRank.
To maximize exposure:
• Find a category that is most relevant to your website. The category and subcategories must totally fit the subject of your site and its purpose. For example, if your site is health related business the site must feature under health and not business. Only then, will surfers seeking health related websites access yours. Do a keyword search that is relevant to your site on the directory. The directory will throw up categories relevant to the key words. Choose one which is suited in all aspects.
• Coin a title and description that will boost traffic not reduce it. The title must be “dead on.” It should include the most important key word and if possible begin with a letter towards the beginning of the alphabet. And, the 15-25 word description should succinctly summarize the purpose or functions of your site. While being descriptive and informative, try and weave in as many keywords pertaining to your site as possible.
• Purchase keywords from one of the pay-per-click search engines or directories.
• Make the website search engine friendly.
• Pay attention to text and image content. Heavy images reduce search engine visibility.
• Use back links on appropriate directories and trade or business listings. Check out the back links used by competitors.
• Add new content regularly. This encourages visitors and search engine spiders to return. Make sure the content is keyword rich.
• Start and maintain a web log or blog. This can become an active way to boost traffic while simultaneously disseminating information.
• Market your website by printing its address on business cards, paper bags, packaging and so on. Distribute an e-zine or updates as newsletters regularly to customers and business associates.
• Consider paying search engines for improved listings and fast appraisal of your site.
• Direct content towards search engines by adopting cloaking technology.
• Run advertisements on related web sites and mailing lists.
• Adopt a reciprocal link program.
Maximize traffic by monitoring your traffic regularly. Analyze visitor movements and frequencies. Find out what is effective and what is redundant. Use cookies efficiently. Understand technology and use it to the maximum. Keep updated on new innovations and developments. Write down a workable website marketing strategy.
There are simple steps to victory: be different, make sure your website is refreshing and delivers what it promises; create a network of supporters; be honest in your business ventures; deliver on time at affordable costs; be a learner all your life, constantly innovate your website to keep stride with changing times; carve out an exclusive niche and diversify in directions that are relevant to your business module.
Create a daunting presence.
Paul Wilson is a freelance writer for www.Submit-Article-Services.com , the premier Article Submission website including services to submit article, write articles, ghost write articles, plus a guaranteed inclusion on 125 sites per article and more. He also freelances for the premier Cheap Shopping Deals site www.1866Shopping.com
Comments Off
June 18th, 2008
Link together two of everybody’s favorite interests and you’re sure to show a vogue we call a sportsbook wagering web location. Really, what could believably be more ingenious? If you fancy a clique of buddies cheering on any given favorite lineup, and almost always lays are proclaimed tied to the tumult. Set to catch more of the anticipation, bystanders repeatedly seek to guess who will win the upcoming contest. At the end of the day, this turns into a cute little contest called sportsbook wagering web location.
Agreed it may easily sound quite overpowering, though sportsbook wagers is actually merely entertaining and of forging bonds with your friends. Here, you’ll be able to bet a any trifling quantity of gold and all the same enjoy an excellent time. Read on for various remarks to get started sportsbook wagers. To wager, I would advise you go to a sportsbook wagering web location, which is a place that takes in sportsbook wagering web location. In the U.S., you will find no less than four states where everybody can go for sportsbook wagers officially, but beyond legal you may attempt it anyplace provided that you can determine a bookie and you’re of age. On the list of sports events you’ll be able to wager on are professional and also college basketball plus college football, pro hockey and baseball, and also bets on both dog and horse racing. You’ll be able to bet on the comprehensive combined score of a competition or game, at which point a given party will be knocked out, and even whether a given tossed coin in a competition or game will land heads or tails.
Michael Jordan.s son to play at Illinois
The bookies bank on pure statistics to help you choose which lineup you judge will win. First thing you’ll find the spread, or leverage given to a the disadvantaged competitor that is assumed to lose by a set number points. Plainly, this comprises the bookie’s method of organizing fair lays for a Sportsbook. To take an example, a gambler might bet money on a side that is assumed to lose and and all the same profit from that bet provided that the competitor is defeated by a set number of points. You’ll find plenty of a lot of varied varieties of bets, the straight being the most common in sportsbook wagers.
Well, why not conduct some test runs, and enjoy the amusement for good measure? But safeguard you won’t get overpowered and exhaust your total retirement pension on a bee! Because there’s a strong probability you’ll catch yourself repining for the rest of your life!
Comments Off
June 16th, 2008
When gorgeous shoppers of the city of London are in need of some much needed serious retail therapy Matches Fashion supplies them with the fix they are looking for and the fix the glamorous shoppers need. Based in the city of London Matches make available the greatest of international designer collections along with a focus in both classic elegance and cutting edge fashion. They furthermore offer British and European delivery options which is a treat for all worldwide Matches Fashion chic shoppers.
Matches Fashion is one of the most flourishing designer fashion style stores in London. They have over 12 designer fashion stores dotted around; three of the larger fashion boutiques can be found located in leafy Richmond, elegant Wimbledon and Notting Hill. Along with their high end designer fashion boutiques Matches Fashion additionally have a gorgeous website. You may buy your favourite Eugenia Kim jeans and accessories on the internet no matter whereabouts you are in the England or Europe. Making the Matches Fashion stock always available to you. Buy the latest Stella McCartney Clothes from Matches Fashion online or in store.
The cool website itself currently holds over 500 different fashion designers slip ons in stock; there are plans to grow this to around nearly 1000 items. Like countless other designer clothing boutiques around these days Matches is constantly introducing new lines to their stock bringing in t-shirts that are the top must haves of the season. Every season Matches Fashion are centred on selecting the key shorts and editing the British and International fashion collections down to decide what Matches Fashion actually want to look at stocking that season. This takes much preparation but there has not been a season where Matches has not been fashionably correct with the jumpers Matches Fashion are providing for their fashionistas. Stocking only the latest trousers from designers such as Charles Anastase Freda, Alexander McQueen, Marc Jacobs and Stella McCartney to name but a few, anything you buy from Matches regardless of what designer fashion make is, is bound to turn heads.
Comments Off
June 16th, 2008
My previous article Work from Home: Real Money Advantages explained some ways you actually save money and make more money from home. Included were just a few non-money advantages. But with this blessing comes responsibility. Yes, I said it, responsibility. This comes with a burden of production and action. Most capitalistic countries require some kind of production in return for something of value. When you are on your own, working from home these actions and production are left solely on you.
You must do these actions in your own way. They are required in order to work from home. They entail possibly hundreds of smaller tasks and steps to complete. They almost never go away and they are always there whether you like or not.
1. Self Starting Accountability. These means you must set a schedule, do your next task and keep track of your progress. This is so important. I keep an action journal and review it regularly. No one, I mean No one is going to do it for you. That’s right, you’ll go down with the ship and no one will say a word.
2. Productive, organized work area. Mine, has two desks, two phones, TV and great filing system. It’s quiet when needed and out of the way. I have two desks. One desk is closer to the home action but used mainly for my researching, other computer creative aspects and writing. The other is used for communications, clearing my inbox paperwork, paying the bills, analyzing financial statements etc.
3. Your product. This can be a service or real tangible goods exchanged for money or service or other goods. This requires research. This requires a self evaluation on your worth. This requires some kind of system to sell it and deliver it.
4. Continuing education. When you work for yourself, you actually can’t afford to be without it. The newest technologies. The newest systems. The best strategies. As you seek information and current knowledge you will seek industry expert professional opinions on the marketplace, future and challenges. This keeps you ahead and profitable.
5. Planning, execution and strategy. Hopefully, number one on this list can help the execution because you’ll have a method of accountability in place. Planning entails realistic short term and long term goals. As well as, “to-do lists”. Strategies can be researched (see number four above) and purchased. They can be self-formulated with enough knowledge but plenty of information is available to self-starters wanting to do the required actions.
6. Motivation. You must be motivated. This requires actions to keep you motivated. Reminders to yourself about WHY you are doing this. This isn’t always money. In fact, some of the non-money reasons for working from home can be used as motivators. Actually, anything can be used for motivation. Big, small, bigger, smaller, too fat, too thin, more money, more love, more romance, more extravagance, less complicated, more complex, her or him, good, or bad. All can be applied to “prod” yourself into action. Even prisoners are motivated to dig their way out of jail even it’s against the law. But that motivation to “get out” keeps them planning, scheduling, strategizing, and executing the dig.
Believe it or not the above six required actions anyone with a will can apply to success. It is true there are obstacles hidden within all the steps. There are hundreds of smaller actions within each. Some can be a big pain in the neck. But they must be completed as part of the whole in order to keep moving on, producing, delivering and making money all in the comfort of your home.
I’m going on my eighth year working from home. As I get good information, good education and apply solid principles I see great results.
I’m running an experiment on the newest information marketing website turnkey system. The system advertised the typical promises: “help you make money from home with very little money, time and offers plenty of solutions that can cover most of your knowledge deficiencies.” A current example to show anyone who is interested about home based turnkey systems: view an experiment system. See the bank statements to view how profitable or not so profitable.
Take advice from someone who has successfully worked from home for the last eight years. Investigate the required actions for successfully working at home. Follow the money at http://howtocreateonlinemillionaires.com
Comments Off
June 16th, 2008
How to Get Around:
The best way to see the Old City of Jerusalem is by walking the narrow, ancient alleyways that twist and turns like a maze. Parts of the Old City like the Shouk (market) where the hustle and bustle crushes around you amid the presence of the past is pedestrianised.
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher
The Via Dolorosa ends here, at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Like most of the Old City, it is located within a small courtyard in front and the neighboring buildings built of Jerusalem stone. The dome of the church next to the spire of a minaret, the call to prayer echoing through the ancient alley ways. Inside the church, the place has been divided up among several Christian sects who jealously guard their piece of space.
This spot, the highest in the Old City, has been a sacred site since the Romans built their temple to Venus, and there have been several churches here, beginning with the one Constantine put up, followed by another constructed by the Crusaders. It’s been added onto since then, but it remains a square Gothic creation with vast ceilings and huge columns supporting it.
The volume of tourists is almost the same as in the shouk. Here, Christ was nailed to the cross. Herded down another set of stairs, past the slab of rock where his body was washed and, finally, a few feet away, the Holy Sepulcher itself. Everything is covered in gold and tapestries.
Towards the back of the church are cool, calm, softly lit corridors, open onto small chapels. You can sense the aroma from centuries gone by and the dampness in the air.
Dome of the Rock
The Dome of the Rock is located above the Wailing Wall on the old Temple Mount (Haram esh-Sharif, in Arabic).
There is no commercialism here. In fact, you leave all your belongings outside: shoes, purses, cameras, money, and passports.
Under the huge gold dome, is the quiet and peace of a place that exudes spiritualism. Men (and women, separately) quietly go about their devotions. People speak softly, nobody sells postcards or candles, and no one takes photographs. What light there is shines down from stained glass windows into the dome, onto a chunk of bare rock bordered by an elaborately carved wooden screen. It was here that Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son, and here Mohammed is said to have ascended to heaven on his horse. The horse’s hoof prints are supposed to be visible in the stone.
No matter what your beliefs, this is a unique place and nobody should miss out on an opportunity to visit it.
Shrine of the Book
This is a must see. The Dead Sea Scrolls are housed here. You walk down a sloping tunnel into the underground building that could double as a movie set for a Sci-Fi flick. The long halls are lined with glass-fronted recesses. Inside are various ancient scrolls found in the caves around Ein Gedi and range from dispatches from Bar Kochba to his troops during his uprising against Rome in 132 C.E. to even earlier documents, including legal papers relating to lawsuits, property deeds and loans.
Not until you are underground do you see the Scrolls themselves. The room is round and bi-level with walls of stone slabs like so many of the ancient buildings in the city. Some are just fragments; some seem to be quite complete. Each is perfectly formed letter sits on faint lines drawn for the scribe to follow.
In the deepest part of the Shrine is the spherical window holding the Isaiah scroll, wrapped around an oversized version of the wooden pole a Torah is wrapped around. You can slowly walk around it. What a miracle it is that these fragile pieces of papyrus and parchment have survived for so many thousands of years.
For information on hotels in Israel visit www.hotels-israel-jerusalem.com
Paul Keene has been living in Israel since 1999. His occupation is managing several hotel and travel websites for Israel hotels.
Comments Off
« Previous Entries
|
|
