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Whether stars of the Disney film National Treasure or pawns of modern day political and commercial propaganda, the Knights Templar have taken root as one of the world?s leading mystery groups. But what is the truth? Did they really have a great secret? Did they really hide treasure? Were they really guardians of the Holy Bloodline? Let's take a look.

Originally supposedly a group of nine knights (debatable), taken from the ruling nobility in the region of France known as Champagne who collected themselves together in Jerusalem around 1118 AD and formed the now infamous Knights Templar. All of this cannot be totally proven from the texts ? however it is repeated so often that it becomes true. In all likelihood they had been formed in France years before.

They were pledged, it is said, to commit their lives and work to a strict code of rules and on the face of it were simply ordained to ensure the safe passage of pilgrims to the Holy Land. The knights request this task of the first King Baldwin of Jerusalem, who refuses. He then dies supposedly under mysterious circumstances only to be replaced by Baldwin II who then almost immediately grants them this privilege. For the next nine (there?s that number again) years the knights excavate beneath the Temple of Solomon (which didn?t ever exist) in complete secrecy and the Grand Master returns to Europe, supposedly with secrets that have been hidden for hundreds of years. Very quickly the knights achieve a special dispensation from the Pope to allow them to charge interest on loans - indicating their swift path to wealth. Soon the great Cathedral building period arrives across Europe with the new found architectural ?secrets? discovered by the crusaders. This new found knowledge may very well have come from some of the discoveries made by the Templars, especially when we consider that the man responsible for energizing the building program was none other than St. Bernard - the same Bernard who gave the Order of the Knights Templar their rules and who was related by blood to various members. The same St. Bernard indicated in the propaganda of the Arthurian and Grail literature.

The Templars grew in wealth and power. Their land holding and banking system made them one of the most powerful and feared groups in Europe. Virtually nobody could match their international strength. According to George F. Tull in Traces of the Templars they were also ?well placed to obtain relics? as they held the respect of nobility and had many strategically placed premises across the Holy Land.

Near Loughton-on-Sea in England there are several Templar connected sites. The Temple here was ?well provided with liturgical books, plate and vessels of silver, silver gilt, ivory and crystal, vestments, frontals and altar cloths. Among the relics kept there were two crosses containing fragments of the True Cross and a relic of the Holy Blood? whatever that might have been ? it was not a bloodline. Tull also tells us of how some of these relics entered Britain, ?Sometimes the ships returned with more specialized cargo, as when in 1247 Br. William de Sonnac, Master of the Temple in Jerusalem, sent a distinguished Knight Templar to bring to England and present to King Henry III ?a portion of the Blood of our Lord, which He shed on the Cross for the salvation of the world, enclosed in a handsome crystalline vessel.? The relic was authenticated under seal by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, the bishops, abbots and nobles of the Holy Land.? In Surrey the Templars held land known then as Temple Elfold with 192 acres of arable land. Here again in 1308 there was mention of a grail and a chalice. It is therefore obvious that part of the wealth of the Templars came from the propaganda tools of the medieval reliquary business, proving their astute business acumen and their ability to root out those tools. They were also incidental in spreading the cult of St. George, especially when we consider that they knew of his shrine in Lydda.

But in the early fourteenth century King Philip of France organized their downfall and the supposed secrets and wealth of the Templars disappears.

At their trials the Templars were not only accused of worshipping the sacred head, but also the veneration of the serpent. As Andrew Sinclair points out in The Secret Scroll, another Templar emblem was the foliated staff of Moses, the very same staff, which turned into a serpent and was itself emblematic of the serpent religious cult and healing.

The Rosslyn Missal, written by Irish monks in the twelfth century shows in itself Templar crosses with great dragons and sun discs. Upon the Secret Scroll itself is the symbol of the twelve tribes of Israel, the breastplate of Aaron (who?s serpent staff is said to be in the Ark) with twelve squares signifying the twelve tribes surmounted by a serpent. The serpent, ruling the tribes, ?. . . the Serpent as a symbol obtained a prominent place in all the ancient initiations and religions. Among the Egyptians, it was s symbol of Divine Wisdom.? (The Secret Scroll, Andrew Sinclair, which of course has been dated by scholars to the 16th or even 18th century.) Many people believe that quite a few of the Templars and their secrets escaped to Scotland and the dawning of a new age of Freemasonry emerged in later years - thought to be directly from the Templars.

In the year 1314 King Edward of England invades Scotland, hoping to bring an end to the border battles. Meeting the Scottish army at Bannock Burn he is surprised by a force of well-trained men fighting for the Scots. The tide is turned and Scotland achieves independence, even if only for three years. The standard history has it that these well-trained men that turned the tide against the well-trained English army were nothing more than camp followers and servants. Many though, now believe that these were the famous knights Templar, who had taken root in Scotland and hidden away from Catholic tyranny. Strangely immediately after the battle Robert the Bruce, the new Scottish King, rewards the Sinclair family with lands near Edinburgh and Pentland. The very same lands associated with hundreds of Templar graves, sites, symbols and much more, such as Balantrodoch (Temple.)

An indication of the popular liking for the Templars is shown in the Peasant?s Revolt of Wylam Tyler in 1381 AD when a mob marched in protest of the oppressive taxes placed upon them. Strangely they did not harm the old Templar buildings, but instead turned their attentions on those of the Catholic Church. In one instance they actually carried things out of a Templar church in London to burn the items in the street, rather than damage the building. It may be that this uprising was a natural incident, or it may be that it was inspired by the actions of a hidden and now secret society of the Templars - hidden because of the new Catholic hatred towards them. If it is the case that the Templars did indeed inspire this revolt then, even though they were not successful, they tried again a hundred years later and forced the Reformation. It was around this period (15th Century) that the first records of Scottish and York Masonic meetings appear.

However lets take a rather sideways look at the history and symbolism of the Templars.

There are some strange links between Sumerian iconography and Templar symbolism, which need to be voiced. The most obvious Templar image is that if the two poor knights seated upon a horse, which is very similar to the idea and concept of two riders seen in ancient Sumeria. This was purely a tactical device in warfare ? although there may be some truth in believing that it has origin in the ?balance? hypothesis of the ?twins.? The Templar cross is equally seen in many Sumerian images normally associated with an upturned crescent moon. The Fleur de Lys is also a common image as well as bees, which were common also to the Merovingians. The pentagram is also seen in the images of both and symbolized the essence of the Merovingians as the ?Shining Ones.?

Another symbol seen in various forms from Sumeria to France is the Abraxus ? a figure with snakes for legs ? a symbol used for gods such as Oannes and not surprisingly this later became the symbol of the Grand Master of the Templar Order. What could this mean? That the head of the Order of the Templars saw himself as the chief of the serpents? In conjunction with the fact that the Templars also used the serpent symbol of eternity and immortality ? the snake eating its own tail ? then we have a serpent secret being held by the very highest of Christian guardians.

The Cross of Lorraine, a symbol used by the Templars before their usual ?Maltese? style cross is seen in Sumeria as a symbol for kingship. These influences must have been picked up whilst the Templars were in the Middle East and then utilized later on. We know that they used the sign, as in the trials in the early 1300?s had the prisoners etching the symbol into the cell walls. What other ancient secrets did they collect?

The Cross of Lorraine was the emblem of heraldry for Rene D?Anjou, said by Charles Peguy to represent the arms of both Christ and Satan and the blood of both (from an article by Boyd Rice entitled The Cross of Lorraine: Emblem of the Royal Secret). It is also said to incorporate the symbol phi or the Golden Ration of Sacred Geometry ? so very important to the Masons. Rene d?Anjou was keenly aware and interested in many things occult. He led a search for new (old) hermetic texts. The Cross of Lorraine was therefore taken on by Rene, and subsequently by Marie de Guise the wife of James Stuart V (parents of Mary Queen of Scots) for of its occult symbolism. This occult symbolism showed the cross to be representative of poison. Proof of this meaning comes also from the fact that it became an icon used by chemists (originally alchemists) on the bottles of poisonous substances. The idea of course is hidden in the duality. Why would monarchs and Templars use a sign for poison, if that poison did not have an opposite side? That of cure! Later on in the early twentieth century Aleister Crowley, the arch Magus and self proclaimed Alchemist would assign this very same symbol as the Sigil of Baphomet. The Cross of Lorraine is thought to be a sign of secrets a sign of the Angelic Race, which came down and posited wisdom and the secrets of immortality upon the Royal Bloodline. According to Boyd Rice it is ?a sigil of that Royal Secret, the doctrine of the Forgotten Ones.? And for this reason it seems peculiar that in the 1940?s Charles de Gaulle should make it the official symbol of the French Resistance.

We were playing with the standard Templar cross (Croix Patte) one day in our minds, wondering why and how it had evolved. We knew that it had eight points and all that this entailed but we wondered about what Fulcanelli had believed ? that Gothic architecture was a three dimensional esoteric message. Due to the fact that the Templar mysteries emerged from many places including Arabic or Muslim influences, Judaic kabalistic beliefs and even Egyptian sacred rites, we were sure that there had to be another message enclosed within this simple shape. Basing the assumption upon the three dimensional aspect and wondering if there were any links to probably one of the greatest mysteries in the world we suddenly thought if you cut out the cross from a piece of paper and lay it flat you have the two dimensional image. If you then take hold of the cross in the very center and lift it, you end up with a perfect pyramid ? a symbol of Egyptian and Masonic wisdom and central to immortality. But, on some Templar crosses the edges are angled inwards to give the eight points. We thought that the pyramid of Giza had straight walls, until we looked deeper. The Great Pyramid at Giza holds a secret architecture ? its walls bow inwards! Could it be, we wondered, that the Templar cross also had this hidden symbolism of the Great Pyramid? That it was fashioned to incorporate the three-dimensional geometry spoken of by the likes of Fulcanelli and said to have been spawned into Europe by the Templars and their brothers in the Cistercians? That these mysterious brothers in Gnosticism actually understood the meaning behind the symbolism of the pyramids ? that it was symbolic in all aspects of the immortality of the serpent.

Baphomet

A mysterious object said to have been venerated by the Templars and to have been written about extensively over the past 30 years. Thought to be a skull by some.

One possible explanation for the origin of the word could strangely be found in the deserts of Yemen. The people who live here are called the Al-Mahara and they have developed many ways of combating snake poison. The special snake priests are called Raaboot men and they are said to have learned the secret by transition from father to son. Their legends state that they have immunity from snakebites.

If somebody is bitten, then a Raaboot man is called upon, who then sits by the patient along with several others who then chant in a monotone voice ?Bahamoot, Bahamoot.? The poison is then vomited up or passed out of the body in the other direction. The Raaboot man then leaves. Again, here as we have pointed out before, the snake is said to have a jewel in its head, indicative of the enlightenment aspect.

Is it not possible that Bahamoot, as a chant for the curing of snakebites, could have made its way through the various cultures and found itself as a word for the ?head serpent?? ? The same ?head serpent? that the Templars worshipped?

If nothing else, then the etymology of these two related items is so similar that it again shows in the language of the serpent cult, a worldwide spread.

Friday the 13th, October 1307, was a terrible day for the Knights Templars as King Philip IV?s men descended upon all of the order?s French holdings: seizing property, and arresting each of its members. Why? Simply because Philip owed them huge amounts of money and had no way of paying them back, and to add to this he had hoped that the infamous Templar treasure would be his.

With the help of his puppet, Pope Clement V, the French king tortured the knights to discover their secrets. Finally to justify his action, the knights were accused of heresy, homosexual practices, necromancy and conducting bizarre rituals such as desecrating the cross ? as if to show their lack of faith in this Christian icon. This was, however a method of initiation and not a heretical act.

The most unusual and perplexing evidence they came across however, was the worship of this idol called Baphomet. This strange ?thing? ? although sometimes referred to as a ?cat? or ?goat? ? was generally seen as a ?severed head.? Peter Tompkins in The Magic of Obelisks says: ?Public indignation was aroused . . . the Templar symbol of Gnostic rites based on phallic worship and the power of directed will. The androgynous figure with a goat?s beard and cloven hooves is linked to the horned god of antiquity, the goat of Mendes.?

The list of charges used by the Inquisition in 1308 reads:

?Item, that in each province they had idols, namely heads.

Item, that they adored these idols or that idol, and especially in their great chapters and assemblies.

Item, that they venerated (them)

Item, that they venerated them as God.

Item, that they venerated them as their Savior.

Item, that they said that the head could save them.

Item, that it could make riches.

Item, that it could make the trees flower.

Item, that it made the land germinate.

Item, that they surrounded or touched each head of the aforesaid idol with small cords, which they wore around themselves next to the shirt or the flesh.?

(Could this cord be like the Hindu cord, symbolic of the serpent?)

Some said it was a man?s head but others a woman?s head. Some said that it was bearded, others non-bearded. Some presumed that it was made from glass and that it had two faces. This general mixing of ideas shows where the idea of the head could have come from. That it was a man?s head or a woman?s, indicates its ?dual nature? ? and much like the ancient Celtic heads would incline us to the opinion, that it emerged from part of the supposed ancient head cult.

The Celts, it is said, believed that the soul resided in the head. They would decapitate their enemies and keep them as talismans. Probably the best-known head in Celtic lore is that of Bran the Blessed, which was buried outside London ? some say Tower Hill ? facing towards France. It was put there to see off the plague and disease and to ensure that the land was fertile ? the same powers that were attributed to the ?Green Man.? ?Bearded? and ?non-bearded? simply indicates again the dual nature, as does the idea that it was ?two-faced,? like the god Janus. It was apparently called Caput 58, (Caput meaning ?Head?) indicating that there may have been possibly hundreds of them. There are also strong links with Islam at this time links that the Templars should probably not have made in their supposedly Christian world.

It is also said that the name Baphomet was derived from Mahomet ? an Old French corruption of the name of the prophet Muhammad. Others claim that it comes from the Arabic word abufihamet, which means ?Father of Understanding.?

In all likelihood though Baphomet comes from baphe meaning to submerge and mete meaning wisdom, the baphoment therefore being a device for the Gnostic tradition or belief of being submerged in wisdom, itself associated with the concept of the Sophia or wisdom goddess.

Dionysiac Architects

These are said by Masonic historians to be the prime originators of their guilds. A secretive group or secret society with doctrines said by Manly P. Hall (in Masonic, Hermetic, Quabbalistic &amp Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy) to be similar to the Freemasons. They are thought to have been great builders, reminiscent of the idea of the great builders who escaped India.

It was this secret society, under Hiram Abiff, that supposedly built the Temple of Solomon and erected the great brass pillars now seen as Boaz and Joachim in Masonry. They were also known as the Roman Collegia and were said to have wandered around like the Medieval Masons, building such fantastic places as the Temple of Diana at Ephesus (John Weisse, The Obelisk and Freemasonry.)

Weisse also points out that the Collegia influenced the Islamic building efforts, which were later to become a turning point in Western European architecture after the crusades and possibly via the Collegia?s influence over the Templars amongst others.

These Collegia were also thought to have been known before the Romans in Greece and were said to have worshipped Bacchus. Some even believe that Jesus, when he mentions that he will rebuild the Temple, is pointing out that he too is of the Collegia. Also, considering the Masonic fascination with the Druids, there is little wonder that William Stukely believed them to have been the builders of Stonehenge and other ancient monuments. Many Masonic writers love to associate themselves with the Druids and that they ?had a high veneration for the Serpent. Their great god Hu, was typified by that reptile.? George Oliver, Signs and Symbols (Macoy Publishing New York.)

If it is true that the Dionysiac Architects and the Bacchus/Dionysius-worshipping Greek and Roman Collegia ? not to mention the later Templar-Freemasonic link - were among the originators of the Freemasons, then it is highly likely that they were linked also with the serpent-worshipping Druids. They were all in fact a later showing of the worldwide serpent cult ? the same as those in India, Egypt and elsewhere who all had fantastic building skills and held secrets of the true Elixir. Today we can still see a remnant of this great architectural, serpent-worshipping and secretive cult in the Masons. As George Oliver points out ?The Serpent is universally esteemed a legitimate symbol of Freemasonry.?

About the Author

Philip Gardiner is the author of the best selling The Serpent Grail, The Shining Ones, and Gnosis: The Secret of Solomon?s Temple Revealed. He does talks, lectures, has his own radio show and does tours across the world via www.powerplaces.com

Philip has a degree in marketing and 9 diplomas ranging from etymology to holistic medicine. He is hosting the Philip Gardiner?s Forbidden Knowledge Conference UK (FKCUK) in July 2006.

www.philipgardiner.net
www.gardinerosborn.com

When most people think of school, they are usually transported back to their elementary school days, a time of crayons, grumpy cafeteria ladies, and tennis shoes filled with playground gravel. Because they are taken back to a time of youth, people don?t usually think that ?school? and ?wine? belong in the same sentence the school board would have had a fit the instance cartons of chocolate milk were replaced with bottles of Pinot Noir.

However, in adulthood wine and school often go together, merging with each other in the form of a wine class. A wine class, despite what some people may think, isn?t merely a class where students read the Grapes of Wrath or A Raisin in the Sun. Instead, a wine class teaches its students about wine tasting, wine clubs, wine glasses, wine openers, wine corks, and just about every wine related subject on the vine.

Why Take a Wine Class
From the newest novice to the ripest connoisseur, wine classes offer all sorts of things. For beginners, wine classes teach people how to truly taste wine, savoring its aroma and intricacies. This wine tasting helps novices to learn their preferences, get to know the vintages they really like, and allows them to identify the differences in wine, arming them with the ability to provide evaluation.

For the connoisseur, there is always more wine knowledge to obtain, no matter how much is already known. This is because wine contains so much information. From learning about the variety of wine glasses to learning about the differences in wine corks, the most accomplished wine drinker will still benefit from a class. When it comes to wine, the knowledge is nearly bottomless.

Wine classes also provides an outlet for people with commonalities to get together, discussing their hopes, their dreams, their Merlots. The classes are fun, lacking the monotony of reading a book or watching a film, and give the learner more hands on learning, a chance to grab the grape by the vine.

What Happens During a Wine Class?
On the first day of a wine class, people may understandably feel nervous, they might not know anyone or be worried that they have forgotten their corkscrew. But, of all the classes known to ever fill a schoolroom, wine classes are among the neatest to take. Trigonometry has nothing on ?em.

The syllabus of a wine class will differ from class to class and level to level. Overall, however, classes touch on a variety of topics. Some of the lessons include the basics of wine tasting, how to recognize specific flavors, how to compare wines, wine history, reading a wine label, navigating a wine store, at-home wine tasting, compiling a wine tasting kit, the differences of wine regions, using wine vocabulary, pairing food and wine, wine openers, wine corks, and ordering wine in a restaurant. Many of the courses include several in-class wine tastings as well as a few bottles for practicing at home.

Different Types of Wine Classes
Wine classes, like wine itself, come in all shapes and sizes. There are classes aimed at teaching people the specifics of wine glasses and there are classes that focus only on pairing wines with desserts. Some classes only offer instruction on tasting Italian wine, while some are focused on the tasting of wines from Australia. Certain classes may instruct a person how to purchase wine, while others may focus on the variety of wine openers.

While there are a variety of wine classes offered all over the world, some people may not be able to locate one near them. Others, wanting to get a leg up on other students by doing extra ?homework,? may simply be better off not driving. For these folks, online classes are offered. While these don?t allow for the interaction of physical wine classes, they are the next best thing. Some people, wanting to study independently or go at their own pace, may even prefer online classes to others.

The length of the wine class, as well as the cost, can drastically vary. Some classes are only a few hours long and cost around 40 dollars while other classes can last for several weeks and cost a few hundred dollars. Many of the classes have access to study materials online and offer, upon completion, certificates and diplomas (to frame and hang from the wall of your wine cellar).

Wine classes are a great, easy, and quick way to learn about wine. They allow you to go from novice to connoisseur in no time at all, arming you with the knowledge to impress friends, family, and yourself. Along these lines, they are also fun and enjoyable while a pottery class takes a field trip to an art store, you may find your wine class taking a field trip to Napa Valley.

Jennifer Jordan is the senior editor at http://www.savoreachglass.com. With a vast knowledge of wine etiquette, she writes articles on everything from how to hold a glass of wine to how to hold your hair back after too many glasses. Ultimately, she writes her articles with the intention that readers will remember wine is fun and each glass of anything fun should always be savored.

Downloading PS2 games over the internet is the easiest and most convenient way to get new PS2 games. Its saves walking to the shop only to find the game you?re after has sold out! But is it simple? And is it ethical? Downloading torrents and games over P2P networks is the simplest way to go about it. But most of the time it?s illegal and sometimes extremely complicated. So is there an easy way to go about it?

There are websites that have you pay a monthly subscription to either download PS2 (Playstation 2)games directly or download from a P2P network - off of other people on the network. Of course if the other person disconnects your game stops downloading. But there are sites where you can pay a small one time fee and have access to their service for life. Are these sites up to date though? Some of them aren?t. But if you do your research you can find some great sites, full of great games.

So is it ethical? Yes, most of the time the sites will pay royalties for the games your downloading and still have cheap downloads as you are the burning them onto CD or DVD. PS2 (playstation 2) games are the easiest to get hold of and download as the games are a lot easier to download and burn.

So are some of sites better than others? Yes, there are many out there, but as most things online you have to be careful of the scams. Doing your research into the site is obviously the best thing to do but always be careful when parting with your money. Some sites could be out of date and only offer a small selection downloads

There are sites that also have games on other platforms (Xbox, Nintendo) along with movie and song downloads available

Downloading PS2 Game Code can be easy when using the best service. For a review of some of the best sites online check out http://www.squidoo.com/download-ps2-game

When asked about their concept of heaven on earth, many video game maniacs would answer it is the limitless opportunity of spending their whole time playing new and interesting games. What if?angels existed under the disguise of video games developers? And the wildest dreams of the gamers became true? Spending hours playing video games can even be well-paid by some advanced video games companies, if you become an official game-tester of the new products.

To become a game tester is even easier that you may consider it. The only thing that is taken into consideration is your true devotion to games. What you need is one video game system to get started. You don?t need to be a professional to be hired as a game tester. ANYONE can test video games, with the single pre-condition that they are older than 15. If you are a video addict who cannot live a day without playing, that job would be the perfect opportunity for your future career. The payment for testing varies between $9- $80 an hour. What is more, you may keep the games that you tested as a present from the company.

As if that weren?t enough, if you work as a game tester, you get the loosest possible working schedule. No-one can oblige you to fill up a certain number of hours testing. The weekly payment depends on the hours you spent playing games and on the completion of a given assignment. But the games are so interesting and innovative that you probably won?t feel your time being consumed by the cruel economic system.

As a game-tester myself, I have been earning my salary in that way for 4 years. I must admit that the pleasure is enormous. I have about 300 XBOX game library from the games that I have tested.

Finally, I suppose that the logical question has already propped up in your minds: Why ME become a tester? Why not anyone else? BECAUSE THE COMPANY NEEDS YOU. Video games developers need an ordinary customer to play their new games and assess them. The emphasis they put on the testing is that everyone?s opinion matters, and yours can help them elaborate the games and make them more competitive with the other companies? products.

If you are already hooked on the opportunity of becoming a tester, visit my Website and consider it a Game Tester Guide. It will help you find a job as game tester sooner than you have imagined.

Article by Robbie Darmona. For more information click here get paid to play

The present generation has become addicted to the playing of mobile phone games in general and Java games for mobile phones in particular. As with all habits, the playing of Java games on mobile phones have started following certain patterns, which are more or less consistent, among a large cross-section of the general populace. In this article, we try and review some of the more important points.

Three different categories of people can be identified in the context of downloading of mobile content in the form of mobile phone games. They include people who never play mobile phone games, people who play some interesting mobile Java games on a casual basis and the third kind who are addicted to mobile phone games. Among these three categories, the third category is that of the serious mobile gaming enthusiasts. These people spend considerable amounts of their time, energy and money in downloading mobile phone games on a regular basis. They take care to update their handsets from time to time so that they do not miss out on any kind of gaming action their mobile phones are empowered by capabilities to play a host of the latest mobile phone games. It has also been observed that these people are often not interested in downloading other types of mobile content such as mobile phone ring tones, screen savers, etc. However, they are very much interested in subscription offers for the downloading of mobile phone games.

It has been found that mobile phone gamers, both the serious one as well as the casual types, keep a look out for good quality handsets to satisfy their urge for the playing of a host of mobile phone games. They are also involved in downloading a minimum number of games every month the number of games that are downloaded may vary from person to person, but the frequency of downloading of mobile phone games remains the same.

The playing of mobile phone games are also becoming a craze among women. A large percentage of the people playing mobile phone games belong to the fairer sex. Among the different age groups, the young people are more interested in downloading of mobile phone games than the older lot.

Now, let us know something about the types of games that are being downloaded. For one, women are attracted to puzzles, and non-violent mobiles phone games that have soft colors, upbeat themes as well as funny characters. As a separate group, women have taken up mobile phone gaming with full enthusiasm and in some areas of the world are playing more than their male counterparts. Young men, on the other hand, are addicted to Java mobile games that involve thrill, daring and which move at a fast pace, such as motor racing. It has also been observed that people in general download mobile phone games that are more often than not referred by family and friends. Word of mouth is one of the major medium of advertisement for a host of mobile phone games in different categories.

We can conclude by noting that the number of people who do not play mobile phone games, even on a casual basis, is on the decline. More and more people are now having the financial capabilities to invest in a good handset and if it can also provide a few hours of entertainment in the form of mobile phone games, then there is nothing like it. It is necessary to engage them for the first time and introduce them to some of the best types of mobile phone games. Once, they get hooked to mobile phone games, there is no looking back!

With mobile phones becoming more and more powerful and getting more colorful and brighter screens ? the prospect of gaming using mobile phones become more and more viable.

Mobile gaming had its start when Nokia introduced the game ?Snake? on its 6100 series of phones in 1997. It was a simple game that anyone can play immediately without reading the instructions. The concept met with tremendous response. Here is an actual application (aside from the calculator) that has been embraced by the mobile buying public. What followed where two more games from the company ? logic and memory ? also met with tremendous success and proved that there is indeed a market for mobile games and that the sky is the limit when it comes to its future and potential.

There are so many factors that make mobile gaming such a runaway success that it has established brand new markets virtually overnight.

One important factor is that, with their portability, mobile games have turned into what experts and researchers call a ?digital snack?. There is a study that revealed PC and console gamers are more likely to play mobile games on their phones when they are away from their game consoles, PCs and handhelds. These gamers though shift to the kind of games that are better presented within the limited screen size and navigation options of a mobile phone. These are usually puzzles and card games. But of late, there has been a slow shift to more conventional gaming genres because of new workarounds to these limitations.

Another factor cited for mobile gaming?s popularity is that mobile games are a great way of killing time. Whenever you have a few minutes to spare or you are in the middle of a commute and you are bored because of the traffic, you can just whip out your mobile phone, choose a game and your boredom is alleviated. The very nature of mobile games are perfect for short bursts of gameplay ? which is the perfect description for the situations in which mobile users play games. For example, short lulls in between meetings or appointments, commutes in between office and home, or the interminable waiting that happens when you visit a doctor.

An additional reason why people also prefer mobile gaming is because it is a free, no-expense way of enjoying yourself. When you are bored you can always use your mobile phone to call someone and chat or even send text messages to family and friends and initiate a text-chatting session. But both of these methods would entail shelling out money. You pay charges for the phone calls you make while there are mobile phone companies that also put charges on text messaging. With mobile games you don?t have to pay anything. Just open the game in your phone and you can spend as much time as you want to without fear of incurring any kind of charges or costs.

It will be exciting to speculate how mobile gaming will evolve in the next few years. The industry is still in its formative stage. When it hits its stride it will be an exciting time for avid mobile gamers.

Ringtones.lt is a site specialising in the different genres of mobile ringtones, mobile games and celebrity wallpapers.

Here's the open secret to manifestation: your success depends on where you place your attention. In everyday life, our attention is scattered. It's on our bills, on whether we can get the kids to school on time, on whether we're going to get a promotion, and dozens of other things, all at the same time. This is the Beta mind state: the everyday mind state, perfect for multi-tasking.

But - Beta is lousy for manifestation, because your attention is too scattered. If you've been trying to use a technique like affirmations to manifest, it's hard to get your affirmations to create your dreams in a Beta mind state. Your affirmations have zero power.

You can create whatever you decide to manifest. In effect, you can create something out of nothing. You're already manifesting the life and circumstances which currently surround you. You can change these circumstances and manifest something different. All it takes is a secret ingredient.

The secret ingredient to manifestation is meditation. When you meditate, you will find that it's easy to manifest exactly what you want, because your attention is single-pointed: it's focused like a laser beam. When your attention is focused, what your attention is focused on manifests, and often more quickly than you think possible.

In just ten minutes a day, or twice a day if you're keen, you can change your life. You can manifest anything that you truly desire. This sounds like an outrageous claim, but it's quite easy to test it for yourself. After all, everyone can spare ten minutes a day.

Manifest what you truly desire

Perhaps you've already tried affirmations to manifest a new car, or a job, or a better relationship. Then, when nothing changed, you stopped, convinced that affirmations were pointless. Affirmations do work. However they work when you're in an accepting, meditative state when you repeat your affirmations, because in this state you're much more powerful - your attention is focused.

When you start the manifestation process with meditation, you're working with yourself, rather than against yourself. Experienced meditators say that they know when what they desire is on its way to them: there's a “click”, a feeling of connection. When this connection happens they know that nothing can prevent their desire from manifesting. This connection always happens in a meditative state.

Ten minutes a day for seven days

This Manifestation Meditation takes just ten minutes a day for seven days.

To enhance the process, you can make meditation easy, by using a Brain Sync program to help. Just listen to your chosen program, and you will naturally access a meditative state. You'll find some recommendations at the end of this article.

In just ten minutes a day, not only will you discover what you truly what, but also make the connection that lets you know that what you want is on its way to you.

Here we go: seven days to manifesting your dreams.

Step One: Emptiness and compassionate silence

In this manifestation process, you start with relaxation, silence, and with complete acceptance. In this silence over the next days, you will find that your true desires will come to you. So for today's meditation, just relax, focus on your breathing, and let go.

Optimally, you'll be listening to a Brain Sync program as you meditate, because you can achieve Alpha and Theta mind states more easily. Put on your headphones, and sit or lie down in a comfortable position with your spine straight, and relax.

Once you've completely relaxed, and your mind is calm, bring to mind a being, or a force, that you associate with compassion. This may be a spiritual figure, or a place in nature, or the earth, or the stars. Bring this being, or this place to mind, and allow yourself to feel the compassion, and the kindness, that's extended to you.

Enjoy the compassionate presence for a few minutes.

Step Two: Intuition and ideas

Today, relax and become completely comfortable again, and let your mind clear. If you're using a Brain Sync program, put your headphones on, and allow the program to carry you into Alpha and Theta.

Gradually, silence will enfold you. Then, ask for your compassionate being to extend kindness to you again - or allow yourself to feel this kindness from nature.

Now bring to mind what you want to manifest. You may know what this is, but don't be surprised if you envision something completely different that you wish to manifest.

Breathe deeply. Relax. If you feel that you're becoming uncomfortable, just focus on your breathing or a time, and listen to the music in your program. Sometimes you've got so much attachment to your desires that it feels uncomfortable.

Watch for synchronicity in your daily life

We're all intuitive, but sometimes w suppress our intuition. Your daily meditations will lead to you encountering synchronicities in your daily life. Just take note of these events when they occur. They're a sign that you've made a connection, that your meditation is working.

Step Three: Expression

In today's meditation, access the silence, and the compassionate state again. Allow yourself to completely relax, and feel happy and serene. You may find yourself smiling during your meditation.

If you've decided on what you want to manifest, state it aloud, if you're alone, or silently if you're not: “I want to manifest a new car” “I want to manifest a new job, with a salary 25 per cent more than I'm earning” or “I want a new relationship - I want to find my soul mate.”

Step Four: Emotion

In today's meditation, access the silence and the compassionate states again. State your manifestation-desire as though you already have what you want. Yesterday, you made the connection, and what you desire is already yours - it's completely yours, so state it that way: “I now have my wonderful new car” “I love my new job, with my enhanced salary” “I and my soul mate have found each other, and life is wonderful.”

Allow yourself to feel happy and grateful that you have what you want. Give thanks that what you've asked for has already been given to you.

When your meditation is over, you may feel an impulse to do something - make a phone call, or speak to someone. This impulse arrives without emotion. This is your intuition at work. It has been triggered by your meditations, and will help you to manifest.

Step Five: Will

Today, you're going to activate your will in your meditation. Your will isn't what's commonly thought of as will-power, that white-knuckle do-or-die feeling. Your will is decision and acceptance. It's not as much an emotion as a feeling - a sense - of inevitability.

Access the silence and the compassionate states again as you've done before. And again, state your manifestation-desire as though you already have it. Say: “I now have my wonderful new car” “I love my new job, with my enhanced salary” “I and my soul mate have found each other, and life is wonderful.”

Now access your will, which is centered in your hara.

In martial arts the source of your will and power is your hara, a point inside your body, about two inches below your navel. It's also known as the dan tien. It's a major focus of chi, of life force energy in your body. Imagine this point in your body as a small area of red glowing light, like a candle flame, or a glowing golden ball.

Notice the bodily sensations that you have in your hara. Don't try to change them in any way, just notice any tightness, or other sensation. Then allow the restrictions you have there to release, and allow the energy of your hara center to flow up your spine and out of the top of your head.

Step Six: Imagination

Begin today's meditation, as you usually do. Access the silence and the compassionate states again. Then, state your manifestation-desire as though you already have what you want. Feel hapy and grateful for your new life - for the manifestation which is already yours.

Let your attention move to your hara. Imagine the light in your hara, and feel the sensations. Let the energy of your hara flow up your spine, and out the top of your head.

As you release this energy, imagine your manifestation - picture it in any way you can, whether it's by visual images, by sounds, by feelings. Imagine your new life, with your manifestation as part of it. Imagine events, complete with sight and sound. What does your family think about your manifestation?

Step Seven: Manifestation

Today, your manifestation process is complete. Whether you realize it consciously or not, your manifestation is on its way.

In today's meditation, follow the same process you've followed over the past days. Here it is in brief, so that you can memorize it:

1. Silence and compassionate acceptance

2. Express: speak your manifestation aloud, or silently, and feel the emotion of its fulfillment

3. Sense the energy of your will in your hara, and allow it to move up and out of your body

4. Imagine your life with the manifestation complete.

Using your Manifestation Meditation

You can continue to use this process. Your life has already begun to change. Keep growing, and manifesting, by using this simple meditation. Over time, you can access this “manifestation mind state” within 60 seconds or less in your daily life. For example, if you're about to give a presentation, use the meditation to both relax yourself, and manifest a wonderful outcome.

Brain Sync programs to accompany your Manifestation Meditation:

=>Deep Meditation

=>Positive Thinking

=>Create Success

After years of living in your home, you might want to change the way it looks. Over time, people get bored with their environment and because of this you may want to make a few changes in your surroundings. To do this, you can consider starting by getting rid of your old wallpaper.

However, if you removed wallpaper before, you know how difficult it is to remove it. So, how can you change the look of your room without going through the laborious process of stripping down your old wallpaper first and painting new color for your room?

To do this, you can simply paint over your old wallpaper. Although painting over your wallpaper can still require you to work a little harder, it is not as hard as peeling off your old wallpaper first before painting.

Old wallpapers tend to peel and will have some damaged areas, such as peeled off parts, ripped parts and parts where it came loose and have air bubbles. So, the first thing you need to do is repair the damaged areas. You can glue any of the loose section.

However, if a particular section of your wallpaper has a lot of damage and one that is considered to be irreparable, you have to strip down this wallpaper section. But if the wallpaper section only contains minimal damages, you may want to repair it rather than stripping it down or peel it off.

The next step is by mixing some joint compound and applying it on the seams. This will provide a great fix for peeled off wallpapers and will prevent the wallpapers from getting peeled off again.

There are also some textured wallpapers. If you have textured wallpaper installed, you should apply the joint compound mixture on the whole wall. Let the joint compound dry and the next step is to get rid of the rough surface by sanding it.

It is also very important to consider what color your old wallpaper has. If it is light in color, you can paint on your wallpaper immediately. However, if you have dark colored wallpaper, you first need to apply a sealer. This will keep the wallpaper color from getting visible through the paint.

The next step is painting. Choose high quality house paints, prepare the room for painting by taping windows, putting some old newspapers on the floor to prevent getting any paint on the floor and on your windows.

These are the tips you should remember if you want to paint over your old wallpaper. Home improvement is easier by following these few easy tips.

To learn more interior painting ideas, visit my home painting tips site

XML Server can be a Web Server that stores the XML files in it and serves them on demand. The XML Server would have processing capabilities with an XML engine and to transform the XML document to other forms. Basically a server which hosts and serves the XML documents is called a XML Server.

There are many commercially available XML Servers in the market. The popular among them are the Tamino Server, the Sonic Server and the FDX XML Server. Though the basic functions of these servers are same the way they are implemented and the features that they support varies.

The Tamino XML Server is from Software AG and is used to publish and exchange all kinds of data especially the XML documents in the native format. It handles open standards. Leveraging on the XML technologies will improve an organizations data access.

In traditional relational databases, data is stored in rows and columns which can be too complex. But in the case of an XML Server such complexity is avoided and any data can be stored which includes even multimedia files and even relational data. These data can be easily retrieved at lightning speed using a Tamino XML Server.

To retrieve data that is requested by any application, XQuery is used in Tamino XML Server. This server implements the XQuery specification draft. Hence queries on the server can be issued using the internet and data can be returned in any format by using XSL style sheets. Thus the customers can manipulate the format of presentation of the data that is presented using style sheets. High speed retrieval of data is possible in XML Server.

The Tamino XML Server is robust, reliable, and scalable. It is used in mission critical environments and there is almost no failure and loss of data. It is reliable in the sense it supports backup of data that can be stored in external devices or remote devices and used in clustered environments. The number of users can be increased and the load on the server can also be increased.

The document structure can take additional elements without changing the entire structure of the data store. These characteristics of the XML Server help it to be used in mission critical environments. Developers can develop XML applications very faster by using Tamino XML Server. It can be easily integrated with application servers.

FDX XML Server is another XML Server available in the market. This product is created by Snapbridge. This server is also used to create and deploy sophisticated XML applications. XSL, XSLT and scripts are supported in this server so that data can be transformed to any format requested by the user or any other application.

Sonic XML Server is another product from Sonic software which is built upon the native XML processing engine. This helps in pipelined processing of XML documents which eliminates the need for generating intermediate xml text file for processing. This improves the speed of the transaction dramatically.

We have seen that an XML Server is any server that gives an XML document as an output so that the other applications can use it for processing. The document can be delivered in any format using XSL and XSLT engines. It is possible for us to write some code in ASP which will serve an XML document to the user when they view that ASP page. We can store this code in a web server and this code can be said to be a very simple XML Server since it serves the user with an XML document. Go through the code given below:

<%response.ContentType="text/xml"response.Write("“)response.Write(”“)response.Write(”“)response.Write(”Its You“)response.Write(”The book outlines the steps involved in developing an XML Web Server“)response.Write(”“)%>

Save the above code in your web server as book.asp and store it in the same directory where you stored your other web pages. Then view that page in the browser to see an XML document in display. In the above code you may note that the content type for the page is set to ?text/xml?. This is why the output is displayed as XML file. You may develop a little more complex program to retrieve data from a database and generate an XML document from the data retrieved from the database. Thus you can start developing your own XML web server.

Stay current with the latest technology developments realted to XML. Visit XML Developer Guide to get your FREE subscription now!

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Google has implemented a cutting edge method of crawling web site for its search engine index. This unprecedented method of indexing web pages is known as Google Sitemaps, and it is quickly growing in popularity among webmasters and SEO agents and managers due to its ability to get entire web site indexed quickly and to pick up errors in the links coming into and out of these web site.

Google Sitemaps consists of placing the URLs of your pages along with important information regarding how Google should index them into an XML document. This information is then read by the Google Spider and the pages are normally indexed quite quickly assuming that they are coherent to Google's standards for indexing pages (and also assuming that the sitemaps conform to Googles Sitemap Criteria which will be explained a little later).

There are two primary types of Google Sitemaps. The first is a list of pages in a website and the second is a list of sitemaps in the website. Google has limited the number of URLs in its sitemaps to fifty thousand URLs. This may sound like a lot, but for some of the more intricate web site, fifty thousand URLs may not even make a dent in what they want indexed.

This led to the advent of the Google Sitemap index file which can index up to one thousand sitemaps. If you do the math, this means that you could have one thousand sitemaps with up to fifty thousand URLs in each sitemap which allows for fifty million URLs to be placed in your Google Sitemap scheme. But wait, there's more. Who ever said that you can't have an index of indexes? You could actually make an index of a thousand index files which are all indexes of a thousand index files. Basically, there is no limit to the number of URLs that you can hold in your Google sitemaps.

Now that you understand the power of the Google Sitemap you're probably asking yourself how to create and implement a Google Sitemap. The first step is to simply create your sitemaps. Here are the templates which are also available at http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/

For a sitemap file use the following format:

Everything here is pretty self-explanatory with the exception of the changefreq and the priority aspects. The changefreq asks how often you think the page will change on average. The possible values for the changefreq option are: always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and never. The priority aspect basically just asks how important the particular page is in your website. The value can be anywhere between 0.0 and 1.0. If you decide not to specify a priority it will default to 0.5.

To create a sitemap index file follow the following format:

This is all pretty straight forward but it leads me to my next point. You notice that the file names all end in .gz. Google allows you to compress your sitemaps so that they take up less of your disk space when you place them on your site and less of your band width when Google downloads them (which it seems to do approximately once every 9 hours or so). You may only use .gz compression. If you try .zip, it won't work.

Now all that you really have to do is submit your sitemap to google. In order to do this you must go to https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login and log into your Google account. If you don't have a Google account, you can create one. Once you log in you will be allowed to submit your sitemap into the google index. At some point within about 24 hours of your submission, Google will give you the option to place a small HTML file onto your website so that it can confirm that you do, indeed, have access to editing the site. Once you have done this it will begin to provide you with statistics regarding your google sitemap. (Note that even without this feature you can see when google downloaded the sitemap last and what the status of the sitemap was at that time.)

How Google Sitemaps Fits Into Search Engine Optimization.

According to Google, the Sitemaps utility is free and will continue to be ? yet it?s almost as good as the paid inclusion service offered by rival search engines. So how can you take advantage of this great service?

First of all, you should create a Google Account. Although you can still use Google Sitemaps without an account, you need one before you can use Google?s tools to check your site submissions. Once you do that and go to sitemaps.google.com, you?ll be guided through the process.

Google Sitemaps has a very helpful question and answer page that will give you the help you need ? the answers to most questions people have can be found right there. Good luck!

About The Author:

Lawrence Andrews is an ePublisher, software developer, consultant, and author of numerous books. Visit his Private Label Content and Software site at http://www.lmamedia.com for more information about SEO and PRL.

You may use this article freely on your website as long as this resource box is included, a link point back to my site, and this article remains unchanged! Copyright 2005 Lawrence Andrews