The French Revolution was the result of a culmination of ideas. Philosophers introduced new ideas to the literate elite. The elite put those ideas into motion. It resulted in a period of radical social upheaval and genocide that changed the course of civilization.

The mass murders and guillotining of people in the Vendee district of western France were unparalleled at the time and not to be exceeded until the genocides of the 20th century.

The French Revolution was a direct result of the philosophical period called The Enlightenment. Historians date the Enlightenment to roughly the middle decades of the 1700s. The major philosophical shift that occurred in the Enlightenment was a turning away from revelation (the Bible) as the authoritative source of absolute truth and the embrace of human reason as the source of truth. It is often called the age of reason although there was much illogic and anti-reason about it.

The Enlightenment philosophers embraced Natural Law as the principle way of understanding human relations. The philosophers believed in God but by rejecting propositional (Bible) revelation they limited themselves to revelation in nature.

Natural Law is the concept that God’s laws are embedded in nature and if we just observe man in the primitive state we will see the behaviors that are universal among all people and we can enact laws based on these principles. That idea sounds practical but the way the Enlightenment philosophers pursued it was flawed from the start.

The fatal flaw of Enlightenment philosophy was that by rejecting the Bible they rejected the concept of original sin and this caused them to conclude that man is “basically good” and the reason for social vice is man’s corruption by civilization. This is the myth of “The Noble Savage”

Prominent among the Enlightenment philosophers was Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). Ironically he was born to a Calvinist father. His mother died when he was an infant. Calvinism is very conservative Christian theology. Rousseau apparently rejected Calvinism from an early age.

He gives details on his many extramarital affairs in his autobiography titled, “Confessions.” He had five children by one mistress and he abandoned all five into a Paris orphanage. This was at a time when conditions in orphanages were such that eighty percent of the children did not live to adulthood.

Rousseau’s major works were numerous and included “Discourse on the Source of Inequality,” “The Social Contract” and the novel “Emile” among others.

His novel Emile is his philosophy of education expressed in the fictional story of a boy named Emile. This book got him into serious trouble because one of his characters in the novel is a priest who abandoned Christianity and embraced natural religion. The natural religion was essentially Deism which looks to nature rather than the Bible as the source of moral guidance. Emile was banned by the Parisian authorities and Rousseau was forced to leave France.

Rousseau’ writings were immensely popular and radically influenced a generation of thinkers and political leaders. Rousseau is considered one of the foremost Enlightenment philosophers yet in many ways his writings can be seen as anti-Enlightenment or postenlightenment. The Enlightenment purists confined their thinking about nature to viewing it as governed by laws of mechanics and mathematical principles. Rousseau viewed nature in a bit more of a subjective and fluid way. He did not confine himself to rigid logical reasoning.
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Rousseau in some ways could be seen as a Romantic philosopher. Romanticism came along in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Romanticism rejected reason in favor of emotion. Its return to nature was more subjective, passionate and radical.

Rousseau died eleven years before the revolution but his writings greatly influenced the radicals who brought on the French Revolution and their attempt to remove Christianity from France. The revolutionaries took over Notre Dame Cathedral and displayed a French prostitute there as “the goddess of reason.” They also abolished the seven day week and instituted a ten day week with every tenth day as a day off. Their Reign of Terror in the early 1790s was a loathsome picture of human nature that had rejected Christian morals.

Rousseau had very little influence on the American Revolution which was raging at the time of his death. The founding fathers of the United States rejected the Enlightenment notion that man is basically good. The American founders quoted the Bible far more than any other source in their writings.

The American founders believed in original sin and wrote a constitution that separated the powers of government into three branches to prevent too much power being concentrated in one individual. The French Revolution by contrast ultimately gave all power to Napoleon who went on to try to conquer Europe.

Rousseau greatly influenced Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). Conservative Christian theologian R. C. Sproul has called Kant one of the most influential philosophers in all of world history. Kant really bridged the Enlightenment and the Romantics. Karl Marx, a political philosopher of immense and tragic influence, was also heavily influenced by Rousseau.

Rousseau’s legacy was a major contribution to the philosophical optimism that asserts that man, through the advance of science and art, can perfect himself and build a perfect society on earth. This optimism continued for more than a century until it crashed on the shoals of the World Wars, Hitler’s genocide and the abject failure of communism to succeed as a social experiment.

The Enlightenment rejection of the Bible has had tragic consequences that reverberate down to our own day. The Bible is God’s revelation to us. In the Bible God’s wisdom and truth is clearly stated. Furthermore the Bible is confirmed by more than 2,000 predictive prophecies that have been fulfilled or are being fulfilled down to our own day.

No other sacred writing of any other faith has anything to compare with the Bible’s record of prophecy and fulfillment. The prophecies and their fulfillments give logical proof that the Bible is inspired by God.

The Bible gives clear guidance through commandments that lay the basis for orderly civil society. The Bible’s commands regarding family life are particularly wise and essential for protection and care of children. The social chaos of western civilization today is a direct result of abandoning God’s wisdom expressed in the Bible. I’m happy to say that many are returning to the Bible and receiving spiritual rebirth through Christ.

Bill Nugent has written many articles on Christianity, philosophy and science. He has also written books that give Bible based teaching on sanctification and that caution against the error of legalism. His books are available at his website www.gracelawandsonship.com.

[tags]Enlightenment,romanticism,natural,law,French,Revolution,Rousseau,social.contract,marxism[/tags]

There was a time when actors were taught to pose in a particular way to depict grief, arch an eyebrow to portray doubt, and shift the weight from here to there to express haughtiness. That sort of thing has no place in the technique of today’s enlightened actor.

The emotional scale is not played by moving from one specific pose to another. An actress like Judith Anderson doesn’t portray grief the same way Audrey Hepburn does. Katharine Cornell — or, for that matter, any actress worthy of the name — does not delineate grief exactly the same way in two different characterizations.

Since different people have different ways of expressing emotion, the actor must develop understanding as well as technical acting tools-for flexibility and control-which will enable him to portray emotion in many molds.

These acting skills are the same for everyone. The end result of their use is individual. Through training, your voice, body and mind can become so flexible and so well controlled that they will automatically obey your commands without conscious effort. Bit by bit, the science underlying the actor’s art will become concrete in concept, defined in detail, and clear in purpose to you.

We are all creatures of the habits and characteristics which influence our personality pattern. Our own personalities are made up of habits, fears, gratifications, inhibitions, complexes, personality mannerisms and traits, etc.-most of which are subconscious.

We all know there are two parts to the mind-the conscious and the subconscious. The conscious is your voluntary mind. Your aware mind. The mind that functions when you’re awake. The subconscious is your involuntary mind. It functions without your knowledge and control when you’re asleep, as well as when you’re awake.

You can use your conscious and subconscious mind as skills of acting to develop, heighten and enhance your own personality by making this mental image. Picture yourself in a sailboat at night, floating on a dark, uncharted ocean. On the prow of the boat, put a searchlight.

The person in the boat is you.
The boat is your conscious mind.
The dark ocean is your subconscious mind.
The beam from the searchlight is your aware-beam.

The size of your sailboat can be compared to the size of your measurable, conscious mind-and the unmeasured ocean to your subconscious mind. The subconscious-ocean conceals many things of which you are not aware. But they are there. Anything you can think of is there-and everything you have ever known is there.

A fraction of all this passes through your aware-beam. Good habit-waves and bad habit-waves. Destructive floating mines and beautiful colored-glass fishing floats.

Let’s say you’ve focused your aware-beam on a live, floating mine (which is just our figure of speech to represent a potentially dangerous fear). As soon as the mine is in your aware-beam, you can cope with it. After focusing your aware-beam on the bad habit, you can use what is called:

THE LAW OF SUBSTITUTION

to correct the bad habit You start by constructing a good habit pattern in the conscious mind. By your conscious perseverance the new “good habit” pattern will be absorbed into the subconscious, replacing the old bad habit.

You can also use the law of substitution in dealing with undesirable personality traits. While fears, bad habits, undesirable personality traits, etc., are within your aware-beam, you may know they’re there-and yet refuse to recognize them. Figuratively, you hold your hand up in front of your eyes, like a blinder, to hide from yourself whatever you don’t want to see.

We will refer to this, figuratively, as a hand-inhibition. It’s up to you to overcome and consciously dispense with your hand-inhibitions and look squarely at what is within the focus of your aware-beam. By using the law of substitution, you can transform your liabilities into assets.

To ring true, a character’s “personality” should be made up of habits, fears, gratifications, inhibitions, complexes, personality mannerisms and traits, etc. These should consciously be built into the character’s subconscious by the actor. Use this technique and acting skills to enhance your ability as an actor.

Want to get more acting skills to become a star?
Get more great acting advice from: www.freeactingschool.net

[tags]acting school, acting lesson, free acting school[/tags]

It is hard to imagine Sixth Street as anything other than the bar-lined street which has attracted bar-hopping young people for decades. But Pecan Street, as it was originally named, got its start in the 1800s as the main thoroughfare into town for farmers and others going into the city for reasons of commerce. By the 1860s, it had its first saloon, along with livery stables and wagon yards.

The city was originally designed on a single square mile grid of 14 blocks, with Congress Avenue running through the middle. All the original north/south running streets were named for Texas rivers, like Brazos and Rio Grande. The east/west running streets were originally named after Texas trees (i.e. pecan), but were changed to numbers in 1884. Much of the original street design is still intact in downtown Austin.

It was the arrival of the railroad to Austin in 1871 that brought the heart of this booming town right to Sixth Street. Soon Victorian limestone buildings proliferated down the tree-lined street, most notably the Driskill Hotel. This luxurious hotel, complete with marble floors and stained-glass dome, was built in 1886.

The seven blocks between I-35 and Congress became known as Austin’s entertainment district. The street was changed to a one-way and revitalized in the mid-1970s. Music was at the heart of this rebirth, largely thanks to artists like Wille Nelson who brought national attention to the Austin music scene.

“Today, Austin is known as much for its cultural life and high-tech innovations as it is for the senators and schoolteachers who shaped its beginnings. The same success that has gained the city a national reputation has brought with it many difficult choices, as the city expands on a scale that might shock the early residents of Waterloo,” said Biruta Celmins Kearl, Curator Emerita of the Austin History Center.

There are bar-lined streets in cities all across America, but there is something unique about Sixth Street, something quintessentially Austin. Maybe it’s the music that spills out into the street from nearly every doorway. Maybe it’s the eclectic collection of businesses, like tattoo parlors, to entertainment like Esther’s Follies. This combination of improv and satire has been enthralling audiences since 1977.

But it’s not just the nightlife that attracts people to Sixth Street. Places like Paradise Bar and Grill have brought in lunch crowds for decades and Dan McKlusky’s is a favorite dinner spot for steak lovers. The Pecan Street Festival, celebrating Austin arts and crafts, brings thousands to Sixth Street every year.

Other well-known events that bring thousands flocking to this famous stretch of street are Halloween and Austin Mardi Gras, for which the street is blocked off from traffic to allow revelers to roam freely. Perhaps the best known Sixth Street event is South by Southwest. SXSW is Austin’s film and music extravaganza that takes place each March.

Even fire can’t slow down this stalwart street full of history, music and fun. On February 6, four businesses were damaged by fire in the early morning hours. The damaged caused by a cigarette tossed under some stairs is estimated at more than $1 million. However, crews were quickly put to work repairing the fire and smoke damage and life on this iconic stretch of street will go on as it has for over 100 years.

Ki lives in Central Austin. His website has information on Austin Texas real estate. His website lets people search the Austin MLS it also has a blog with statistical information on Austin real estate.

[tags]Sixth Street, SXSW, austin texas real estate, Austin History Center, Willie Nelson, Esther’s Follie[/tags]

March 8th is International Women’s Day in Angola, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Eritrea and the Republic of Congo.

What is International Women’s Day? It is a holiday that became recognized in the early 1900’s. It started in 1908, when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. In the US, it became observed in 1909 and spread across the globe; from the US to Russia, and now the United Nations holds an annual International Women’s Day conference to coordinate international efforts for women’s rights and participation in social, political, and economic processes.

How is International Women’s Day Celebrated in Africa? This special day sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc, with flowers and small gifts. In some ways it is almost like Mothers day. The most important part of this holiday is that it can bring attention to the issues that many women in Africa still face, and recognize their contributions to making the world a better place.

Facts About Women in Sub-Saharan Africa:
Women are responsible for 70-80 percent of household food production

Women are responsible for obtaining 90 percent of the water, wood, and fuel

Nearly twice as many women over age 15 are illiterate compared to men.

Women are 1.6 times more likely than men to be infected by HIV/AIDS.

Pregnant women in Africa are 180 times more likely to die than in Western Europe

80% of the world’s 27 million refugees are women

Women living in poorer countries are often denied access to critical resources such as credit, land and inheritance. Their labour often goes unmerited and unrecognized. Their health care and nutritional needs are not given priority, they lack sufficient access to education and support services, and their participation in decision-making at home and in the community is minimal.

Bias against women gets progressively worse with the degree of poverty. Caught in a cycle of poverty, women are more vulnerable because of inequalities in access to important resources and are rarely given control over their own labour and earned income.

In September 2000, at the UN Millenium Summit, the largest-ever gathering of world leaders agreed to a groundbreaking set of time-bound and measurable goals and targets. These goals aim to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, and discrimination against women.

“In our work to reach those objectives, as the Millennium Declaration made clear, gender equality is not only a goal in its own right; it is critical to our ability to reach all the others”, said Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations. “Study after study has shown that there is no effective development strategy in which women do not play a central role.”

Millennium Development Goals to be achieved by 2015:
Goal 1 - Halve extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2 - Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3 - Empower women and promote equality between women and men
Goal 4 - Reduce under-five mortality by two thirds
Goal 5 - Reduce maternal mortality by three quarters
Goal 6 - Reverse the spread of diseases, especially HIV/AIDS and malaria
Goal 7 - Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8 - Create a global partnership for development, with targets for aid, trade and debt relief

Today is a good day to think about the women in your life who have built you up, raised you, or even just been a friend. It’s a day to think about women in less fortunate countries and what you can do for them; it can be a prayer, a donation to a charity for women, or some kind of volunteer work. It can be educating your kids about an influential woman in history or even someone they know who had a positive effect on the world.

Wayne Kiltz is the founder and owner of Africa Imports. You can find over 100 other articles on African art, culture, and fashion, along with African proverbs, recipes, and African business opportunities by Clicking Here

[tags]International Women’s Day, International Woman’s Day in Africa, African Imports, Africa Imports[/tags]

Valentine’s Day is not the only day we should take the time to think about hearts or our sweethearts. Love is not something that should be confined to one day in a year.
What is love? How can we define it? There are no secrets or ready-made recipes for love. As Aldous Huxley put it:”There is not any formula or method. You learn to love by loving.” Real love cannot be defined.

Defining is not the same as understanding.
Love is a beautiful feeling inside your heart and a deep understanding between you and the higher self, and then expressing it in a thousand thoughtful ways at the sensory level.

It takes courage, vision and sensitivity to be in love and to give and receive the most precious gift of life. No definition can ever define love or heart or its transformative power.

Love is like music
That springs in the heart
Gets arranged in the mind
Savored through the senses
And enjoyed by the soul
It must be composed by the ears
Guided by intelligence
Nurtured with patience
Cultivated by the gentle feelings
Cared with extreme tenderness
And played like a grand symphony
By a master conductor with utmost awareness*

(From: The Divine Perfume of Love*)

Love is probably the most ecstatic and a uniquely precious human emotion, the most potent elixir and perhaps the most intoxicating nectar gifted to mankind by nature, and paradoxically the most misunderstood.

Love is Transforming

Love is the bondless glue that holds the universe together. In every loving relationship, there is an opportunity knocking at our door, to uncover our real self, to change or transform ourselves.

The cornerstone of each and every relationship is love, or unconditional love. That is, a relationship based on the purity of the heart that will carry you through the ups and downs of life.

Conversely a relationship based on false expectations, untruth, hypocrisy and blaming others for the way you feel can only lead to bitterness and anger. Love that comes from the inner source of the heart, where there is only compassion, kindness, forgiveness and understanding, is lasting and perennially healing and unifying.

Love & Its Ethos

I am not talking of the love that stems from want or any physical need or lust.I am not talking of love that is give and take, the one that belongs to the realm of business.

I am also not talking of love that is convenient or needy. The world is full of so-called lovers who lie to their loved ones and make other empty promises.

There are others who profess love, who can’t stop kissing and swearing in the name of love who are just love-puppets dancing on the strings of sensory love and cheap intoxication, and suffer from the pangs of delusive emotional love.

Love that binds or triggers jealousy, anger, greed or lust is not love. Don’t follow the world - the world is doing a hollow dance, follow the beckoning of your heart, where the eternal springs of joy emanates.

Love is a verb-the feeling of love is a feeling of joy or bliss in the core of your heart. It is the fruit of love or the essence of unconditional loving that takes one to a higher realm.

What a boon it is to give and receive love unconditionally, without any kind of premeditated or expected responses.

True love is healing; it is a transformation from the heart. It is when the mind imbued with the pure spark from the heart, touches the Infinite and goes into a dialogue with eternity.

Once you are imbued with true love, it completely liberates you, it transforms you; you cannot go back to being an ordinary person; like the grape that turns into wine.

Experiencing the Elusiveness of Love

In the realm of human love, it is probably the most difficult and most challenging, and perhaps the greatest sacrifice you can ever make to love another human being unconditionally.

Most people are not ready to savor its eternal springs, its deep valleys and ebbs, or its invigorating touch, because they cannot know love by reading about it in books.

Knowledge of love, knowing, hearing and experiencing are not the same. Experiencing love, as loving and being in love, has its own mystical realms.

Vivekanand compares love to water being held in the palm of your hand. He symbolically compares love to the care and tenderness it needs to keep it holding there and any attempt to close your fingers around it and try to possess it, it will spill though the first crack it finds.

The greatest mistake people make when they meet love they try to possess it, they demand, they expect and just like water spilling out of your hands, love will escape from you.

For love is meant to be free, you cannot change its nature. If there are people you love, allow them to be free beings.

Give and don’t expect. Advise but don’t order. Ask but never demand.

True love between two individuals is a spiritually evolving relationship. In a spiritually based relationship we don’t change or leave partners-rather we use relationship to know ourselves and others and the relationship gives us the opportunity to change ourselves and to evolve.

We are revealed to our true selves or true nature in dealing with our lover or another human being.

True love is the essence of caring; it is caring as in tenderness, it is caring as in the caressing, it is caring as in reassuring, it is in caring without expecting, it is caring from the heart and making the other feel wanted and whole.

Love frees us from the bondage of ego and brings peace, serenity, and integrity into our hearts. True love is an ocean where intellect drowns and ego floats…ego and intellect have no place; they both vanish.

As a great mystic once said: for those who are content to lose will find love.

Love has its own eternity sometimes it is in union and sometimes it is in the separation that we can savor all the different rasas of love.

It is in separation that you appreciate the bliss of union, when two pure hearts are longing to meet.

Life without the eternal springs of love from the heart is just an emptiness of soul; like a synthetic rose devoid of the perfume of eternity.
To know love you have to become love -like seeing the Moon in the light of the Moon.
They only know love who loves others and that too unconditionally the rest remain in the domain of ego just self lovers-they are not touched by the transforming perfume of love.

As Khalil Gibran said: You have to work. It is the only way you can make ‘Love Visible’.

“But work with love and make your bread from the strings of your heart”.

Joy Kapur’s new book shows you how you can achieve abundance-health, wealth & spirituality.It is a perfect complement to “The Secret”
http://www.ThisIsNoSecret.com
http://www.DodgingTheDepression.com

[tags]Love, Valentine’s Day, THIS IS No Secret,Author DodgingTheDepression[/tags]

All of the talk these days surrounds the economy, things seem bleak but I assure you we who live in 1st world nations have it pretty darn easy. It is said that 95% of the world’s wealth is controlled by 40% of the global population. That means 60% fight over the remaining 5%, doesn’y seem very fair does it? If you are like me living in North American you need to remind yourself every now and again that you have basically won the lottery just by being born.

Yes there are many people even in 1st world nations that struggle to make ends meet. Health care is something almost 15% of all Americans can’t afford and with more and more people losing their jobs every day things are getting worse for this 40%. The big difference between the poor living in say the USA and those living in Asia is that there is always an opportunity to turn things around. We regularly hear about rags to riches stories in the USA but this just isn’t possible for many living in Asia.

There are however some organizations trying to change this. There is a world renowned Economics professor whom started a small bank in his native Bangladesh. While teaching during the 80’s in Bangladesh he noticed just how bad famine was ripping through his country and wanted to try and do something about it. With his background he realized a band aid solution wasn’t going to work; these people needed real tangible life changing ideas to impact their lives for today and tomorrow.

The bank is setup as a business first and foremost but runs itself as a cooperative of sorts. No dividends are ever issued and all of the money made goes back into the organization. So what do they do? The gentleman realized that his fellow Bangladesh’s needed money to pay off debt and small loans to start small business’. In much of the third world families can be stricken with debt that in most cases doesn’t exceed $20-$30. This can take years to pay off as many make less than a dollar a day. Giving these people money to pay off a loan and additional funds that usually don’t exceed $50 to start a new business is life changing!

Many of these new businesses revolve around agriculture; $35 to buy some chickens to start a small chicken business, or to buy seeds and tools to tend a small garden. These tiny investments are enough money for these families to live a comfortable life and become completely self reliant. The interesting part about this program is the money is a loan, with zero interest but it is expected to be paid back.

The founder insists on only lending to women because through his research he has noted women are better with money. Funny he hasn’t been around the women I know! While many women in the western world can be known for their shopping sprees under tight financial conditions women are better at getting by with very little compared to men; now that makes sense me. The loans as mentioned are only given to women and over the past 10 years that this program has been running they have a 99.6% repayment rate. Amazing isn’t it!

The bank does use outside funds to grow this business, but as funds are repaid they are immediately put back into the business. What a brilliant business/charity!

My point in talking about this program is not only to enlighten you about this amazing man and his organization. It is also to remind you how good most of us have it and while things are tight we all need to be reminded that our fortune should be shared. Whether you decide to invest in the bank or a local charity, the point is that you need to give or continue giving!

This article was written by Shawn Wilson, a member of the customer support team at Datepad, where internet dating is always free. Datepad has a massive directory of informative dating articles along with a great list of dating site reviews on their dating blog.

[tags]charity, social business, lending, poor[/tags]

This article should guide you very deeply into the topic, simply follow the points described.

Dream analysis dates to the ancient world. In Egypt dreams were messages from the gods, interpreted by priests. The Greeks had a similar practice. There were temples where priests would try to heal people based on health dreams sent by the gods. That was really not so different from modern psychoanalysts who try to help people determine their mental state as revealed in their dreams. But not everyone has time to visit a psychoanalyst. The Internet is a source of dream information.

You can find in Google many of sites related. It includes almost every item you’ll see in a dream. Then it provides explanations. Some of these categories have been covered in earlier articles. This article covers more of everything else category.

In dreams clouds mean about what they should mean. Dream analysis of clouds is pretty straightforward. People like to watch clouds. Clouds are a measure of the winds. In a dream they represent transition. People’s lives constantly shift and change. Dark clouds mean confusion. Some people feel helpless in the face of change. Is too stranger how the people interpreted each things, but they find what they are looking for. In my personal opinion I find my answers in Jesus.

Dream analysis as expected treats coffins as negatives. Coffins mean death. In the dream a person may see a coffin, build a coffin, or even find themselves inside a coffin. If a person is in a coffin it means something unpleasant is happening. Often if a person is looking at a coffin in a dream it relates to the end of something, burying an event or idea. Seeing a person in a coffin could mean you want to stop your relationship with them. Endings aren’t always negative. Dream coffins aren’t always terrible.

Lots of people watch court television. Courts also feature in dream analysis. A court is a place where a judge resolves a situation or settles a dispute. A court in a dream means resolution, problems end. A court can be bad in a dream too. Judgment and conflict are negatives for a lot of folks. That is a possible meaning of a court in a dream.

Take advantage of the dream analysis found on the Internet. Well thanks for your time and effort reviewing this article until next time happy reading.

Action is the last resource of those who know not how to dream. ~Oscar Wilde

http://www.prettygoodtips.com provides detailed information about dream analysis. The site is a great aimed at totally dream topic related you can find great resources and tips for big ideas also valuable information warrantee. buxom dream, dream definitions, dream horse, dream house, dream interpretation, dream kelly, free dream analysis, innocent dream, sleep dreams, study dreams and more products and tips.

[tags]dream analysis, dream interpretation, dream dictionary, dream meaning, dream symbols, dream analyzer[/tags]

The conception of birthstones can be traced back to the first century. It was believed that gemstones possessed virtues or cures. By assigning a specific gemstone to each month of the year, the power of that stone was released to those born in that month. In the early 1900s, the American National Association of Jewelers instituted a list of 12 gems that represented each month of the year:

January
Available in a variety of colors, garnet’s most popular color is vivid red. Ancient Egyptians believed garnet possessed powers to protect travelers and sustain good health. Known as the “carbuncle stone” during the Middle Ages, garnet is the official birthstone for January, as well as the recommended gem for a 2nd wedding anniversary.

February
A long-held favorite of kings and queens, the royal purple hues of amethyst are featured in the British Crown Jewels. From Egyptian rulers of old to Catherine the Great, the amethyst, which symbolizes piety, has long been believed to hold religious connections. The birthstone for February, the amethyst also represents the 6th wedding anniversary.

March
Inspired by the colors of the water (aqua) and the sea (mare), aquamarine ranges in colors from light pale blue to blue-green to deep blue. Its association with water has made it a good luck charm for sailors. Aquamarine is said to attract love and affection, as well as grant foresight. Serving as the birthstone for March, aquamarine is also a symbol for those celebrating their 19th wedding anniversary.

April
The most valued of gemstones, the history of the diamond can be traced back 2,500 years ago to India. Many believed diamonds to be magical, as they could not be burned by fire or cut by any known tool. It was first used as an engagement ring in 1477 by Archduke Maximilian of Austria, which continues today. The accepted birthstone for April, the diamond is also recommended for couples celebrating their 10th and 60th anniversaries.

May
Symbolizing rebirth and the arrival of spring, the emerald is the ideal birthstone for May. Emeralds have also been used as charms to ward off evil spirits, cure infertility, and bring about wealth. In addition to the May birthstone, emeralds are the recommended gem for couples celebrating their 20th and 35th wedding anniversaries.

June
Neither a rock nor a mineral, the pearl is a truly unique gemstone. Created by living mollusks, pearls are produced in a variety of lustrous colors, including white, cream, pink, purple, green, gray, and black. Representing chastity and purity, pearls are presented in many cultures as wedding gifts to ensure a blissful union. As the birthstone for June, the pearl is also recognized as the gift for couples celebrating 3rd and 30th wedding anniversaries.

July
Considered one of the most precious stones throughout history, the ruby is referenced in ancient biblical and Sanskrit writings. A symbol of courage, rubies were believed to make warriors invincible to their enemies. Imparting bravery and passion as a birthstone, the ruby is also recommended as the gem for the 15th and 40th wedding anniversaries.

August
Mined more than 3,500 years ago, peridot is a bright-green gemstone believed to possess powers of success, peace and good luck. Called the “gem of the sun” by ancient Egyptians, peridot was believed to give off its own light. The stone has also been used to attract love and soothe nerves. As the accepted birthstone of August, perdiot is also gifted by couples celebrating their 16th wedding anniversary.

September
Sapphire, the ultimate blue stone, symbolizes truth, faithfulness and remembrance. Some believe God printed the Ten Commandments on tablets of sapphire, making it the most sacred of all stones. It has been the choice of many kings, high priests, and other royalty throughout the ages. The sapphire is also the choice gemstone for those born in September, as well as couples celebrating their 5th and 45th wedding anniversaries.

October
The opal holds many myths and legends, including the belief that the opal was first formed from the tears of joy shed by Zeus after defeating the Titans. In the Middle East, opals were thought to fall from flashes of lightning, creating the stone’s fiery iridescence. Symbolizing hope and purity, the opal is October’s birthstone, as well as the gem used to commemorate a 14th wedding anniversary.

November
Associated with optimism and joy, the warm, the amber-colored citrine stone rarely occurs in nature. Its hues are created by a heating process, creating colors ranging from bright yellow to gold, brown, or red. As the November birthstone, citrine is believed to create calm and mental balance. It also represents the gem for 13 years of marriage.

December
To the Greeks and Romans, topaz possessed the powers to increase strength and make the wearer invisible. Today’s wearers believe topaz can protect against negative emotions and increase patience and fidelity. Topaz was displayed in ancient homes to radiate good health to families. As the December birthstone, topaz is also used to mark a 4th wedding anniversary.

Lewis Jewelers is proud to carry the full line of Pandora Jewelry. Pandora charms, Pandora bracelets and Pandora beads are only a part of the collection. For more information, Lewis Jewelers, 2000 West Stadium Blvd., Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48103, 877-88-LEWIS or visit the website.

[tags]pandora bead, pandora beads, pandora bracelet, pandora bracelets, pandora charm, pandora charms, pan[/tags]

Through large scale engineering projects it could now be argued that the world is a smaller place. It’s just as convenient to get to the other side of the world as it is to get to the next town or city. Improvements in the way we travel and move about have led to boundaries coming down and places that would previously been hard to reach now being very accessible. The result is that the world really is your oyster!

Highway design and engineering has come a long way in the past century and today it is a sophisticated process that involves some of the most creative engineering minds in the world and some serious technology. The design and construction of roads and highways today involves lengthy processes where factors such as efficiency, safety and impact are given due care and attention before any construction even begins.

Road building has a rich history stretching back thousands of years. Some people believe that the first roads appeared around about 10,000 BC although it can also be argued that these were merely animal tracks that people followed out of convenience or necessity and were not actually constructed so cannot be considered as a proper road or highway.

There is good physical evidence, however, of man made roads dating back to about 4,000 BC. These constructions were rudimentary in nature but are the earliest example of man connecting two places using engineering with a view to travelling between two sites. The city of Ur in the Middle East and Glastonbury in England both have sites where the remains of constructed roads and walkways have been found.

These early examples of highway design used basic techniques and materials; often stone or timber and were basic in design and construction. Very often they covered very short areas or distances and didn’t deviate from a straight line. There was never a concerted effort to build a series of roads at this time, there wasn’t the need and in the ancient world transport by river was much faster and easier.

It wasn’t until the rise of the Roman Empire that highway design moved into a whole new area. A concerted effort was made by the Romans to build a network across the whole of their empire in an attempt to connect each different region with all of the others. The wars and military campaigns that the Roman army waged across North Africa and Europe facilitated this massive engineering project, the first of its kind in the modern world.

Evidence of Roman highway design and construction can still be seen throughout what was once the Roman Empire. In Italy, Rumania and the United Kingdom there are still Roman roads that, although constructed thousands of years ago, can be used today. The fact that they are still usable and employ engineering techniques that are still employed today is testament to how good they were.

Although we would recognize the Roman roads for what they are it wasn’t until the Arab Empire started road building that roads appeared which we would easily recognize as what we refer to as highways today. They used an elementary chemical process to produce tar which they then used to surface the roads they built. The petroleum that they could get from local oil fields was used to strengthen the roads around Baghdad and other towns and cities in Iraq.

Today highway construction is big business. There’s more traffic to consider and more than ever the environmental consequences of road building are a factor in highway design. With pollution, noise, impact on wildlife and cost all factors that could determine the success of a project the latest computing technology is now employed during consultation and planning processes to determine whether a project is viable or not. Road building has come a long way since it’s humble beginnings as a dusty track!

Dominic Donaldson is an expert in the engineering industry.
Find out more about highway design and engineering.

[tags]Highway design, engineering, road building[/tags]

It’s that time of year again; people are making their lists, checking them twice, and maybe you’re wondering if there’s a way you can incorporate some African culture into your Christmas celebration. Let’s start by finding out how people celebrate Christmas in Africa.

In Congo in Africa, a group is assigned to prepare an annual Christmas pageant. On Christmas morning, African people and groups of carolers walk around the village and sing Christmas carols. They then go home to dress in festive clothes and take or make love offerings for Jesus to the special service that is held at the local house of worship.

Since Christmas falls in summer in South Africa, it is not the snowy dark winter night but sunshine and blooming flowers that adorn the Christmas Eve. There are summer holidays in schools and camping is common. People celebrate with carols by candlelight, and homes are decorated with pine branches. Christmas fir is put in a corner with presents for children of the household around its base.

In Ghana, the 26th of December is known as Boxing Day and is a proclaimed public holiday. It is a day of rest and relaxation. Christmas time is time for the cocoa harvest and hence people are prosperous and have money to spare.

On Christmas eve children sing Christmas carols and march down the streets shouting, “Christ is coming!”. In the evening, a special service is held in the churches, which are decorated with evergreen and palm trees and lighted candles. Nativity plays are performed and people sing hymns.

In Africa the traditional Christmas feast consists of rice, meats, porridge, okra soup or stew and yam paste called fufu. Families and close friends gather at the feast and share gifts and presents.

In Liberia, an oil palm adorned with bells is used as the Christmas tree. In the morning of Christmas, people awake with carols and share utility items such as soaps and pencils as Christmas gifts.

Christmas dinner in Liberia is arranged outdoors and the traditional dishes consist of rice, beef and biscuits. Traditional Christmas games serve as afternoon pastime while the advent of Christ is celebrated in the night with fireworks.

In Zimbabwe goats are quickly snapped up at the local markets and roasted on Christmas day. Zimbabweans make sure there’s plenty of bread, jam and tea to eat along with their goat meat.

In Malawi on Christmas morning, groups of children go door-to-door to perform dances and Christmas songs dressed in skirts made of leaves and playing home-made instruments. They receive small gifts or money in return.

How can you bring African traditions into your holiday season?

Try serving African food for your Christmas feast. You can find many African recipes on various web sites for free.

Try wearing festive African clothing to your Christmas parties. George garments and brocade garments are a favorite in Christmas celebrations in Africa.

Add some African ambiance to your caroling with African musical instruments. Give the kids some tic-toc drums to play and add a kalimba to your caroling for a fun, easy, affordable sound.

How to say “Merry Christmas” in Africa:
In Akan (Ghana): Afishapa
In Zimbabwe: Merry Kisimusi
In Afrikaans (South Africa): Gesende Kersfees
In Zulu: Sinifisela Ukhisimusi Omuhle
In Swazi (Swaziland): Sinifisela Khisimusi Lomuhle
In Sotho (Lesotho): Matswalo a Morena a Mabotse
In Swahili (Tanzania, Kenya): Kuwa na Krismasi njema
In Amharic (Ethiopia): Melkam Yelidet Beaal
In Egyptian: Colo sana wintom tiebeen

Wayne Kiltz is the founder and owner of Africa Imports. You can find over 100 other articles on African art, culture, and fashion, along with African proverbs, recipies, and African business opportunities at http://www.africaimports.com

[tags]African Christmas, Christmas in Africa, Africa Imports, African Imports, African American Christmas[/tags]