FOLDING TOWEL VIDEO

THE ART OF FOLDING TOWELS

SMART ASS ANSWERS

(1) It was mealtime during a flight on Hooter’s Airline. 'Would you like dinner?' the flight attendant asked John, seated in front.
'What are my choices?' John asked.
'Yes or no,' she replied.

(2) A flight attendant was stationed at the departure gate to check tickets. As a man approached, she extended her hand for the ticket and he opened his trench coat and flashed her.
Without missing a beat, she said, ' Sir, I need to see your ticket, not your stub.'

(3) A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store but she couldn't find one big enough for her family. She asked a stock boy, 'Do these turkeys get any bigger?'
The stock boy replied, 'No ma'am, they're dead.'

(4) The cop got out of his car and the kid who was stopped for speeding rolled down his window. 'I've been waiting for you all day,' the cop said.
The kid replied, 'Yeah, well I got here as fast as I could.'
When the cop finally stopped laughing, he sent the kid on his way without a ticket.

(5) A truck driver was driving along on the freeway. A sign comes up that reads, 'Low Bridge Ahead.' Before he knows it, the bridge is right ahead of him and he gets stuck under the bridge. Cars are backed up for miles. Finally a police car comes up. The cop gets out of his car and walks to the truck driver, puts his hands on his hips and says, 'Got stuck, huh?'
The truck driver says, 'No, I was delivering this bridge and ran out of gas.'

(6) A college teacher reminds her class of tomorrow's final exam. 'Now class, I won't tolerate any excuses for you not being here tomorrow. I might consider a nuclear attack or a serious personal injury, illness, or a death in your immediate family, but that's it, no other excuses whatsoever!'
A smart-ass guy in the back of the room raised his hand and asked, 'What would you say if tomorrow I said I was suffering from complete and utter sexual exhaustion?'
The entire class is reduced to laughter and snickering. When silence is restored, the teacher smiles knowingly at the student, shakes her head and sweetly says, 'Well, I guess you'd have to write the exam with your other hand.'

Two bonus extras:
(1) A blonde goes to the post office to buy stamps for her Christmas cards.
She says to the clerk, 'May I have 50 Christmas stamps?'
The clerk says, 'What denomination?'
The blonde says, 'God help us! Has it come to this? Well, then, give me 6 Catholic, 12 Presbyterian, 10 Lutheran and 22 Baptists.'

(2) A woman is standing nude looking in the bedroom mirror. She is not happy with what she sees and says to her husband, ' I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly. I really need you to pay me a compliment.

The husband replies, 'Your eyesight's damn near perfect.'
He never heard the shot.

LIFE ON THE NILE

ABU SIMBEL

Abu Simbel (Arabic أبو سنبل or أبو سمبل) is an archaeological site comprising two massive rock temples in southern Egypt on the western bank of Lake Nasser about 290 km southwest of Aswan. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Nubian Monuments", which run from Abu Simbel downriver to Philae (near Aswan).

The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century BC, as a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari, to commemorate his alleged victory at the Battle of Kadesh, and to intimidate his Nubian neighbors. However, the complex was relocated in its entirety in the 1960s, on an artificial hill made from a domed structure, high above the Aswan dam reservoir.

The relocation of the temples was necessary to avoid being submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser, the massive artificial water reservoir formed after the building of the Aswan dam on the Nile River. Abu Simbel remains one of Egypt's top tourist attractions.

Construction of the temple complex started in approximately 1284 BC and lasted for circa 20 years, until 1264 BC. Known as the "Temple of Ramses, beloved by Amun", it was one of six rock temples erected in Nubia during the long reign of Ramses II. Their purpose was to impress Egypt's southern neighbours, and also to reinforce the status of Egyptian religion in the region.

With the passage of time, the temples fell into disuse and eventually became covered by sand. Already in the 6th century BC, the sand covered the statues of the main temple up to their knees. The temple was forgotten until 1813, when Swiss orientalist JL Burckhardt found the top frieze of the main temple. Burckhardt talked about his discovery with Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni, who travelled to the site, but was unable to dig out an entry to the temple. Belzoni returned in 1817, this time succeeding in his attempt to enter the complex. He took everything valuable and portable with him. Tour guides at the site relate the legend that "Abu Simbel" was a young local boy who guided these early re-discoverers to the site of the buried temple which he had seen from time to time in the shifting sands. Eventually, they named the complex after him: Abu Simbel.

In 1959 an international donations campaign to save the monuments of Nubia began: the southernmost relics of this ancient human civilization were under threat from the rising waters of the Nile that were about to result from the construction of the Aswan High Dam.

The salvage of the Abu Simbel temples began in 1964, and cost some USD $40 million. Between 1964 and 1968, the entire site was cut into large blocks, dismantled and reassembled in a new location – 65 m higher and 200 m back from the river, in what many consider one of the greatest feats of archaeological engineering. Today, thousands of tourists visit the temples daily. Guarded convoys of buses and cars depart twice a day from Aswan, the nearest city. Many visitors also arrive by plane, at an airfield that was specially constructed for the temple complex.

The complex consists of two temples. The larger one is dedicated to Ra-Harakhty, Ptah and Amun, Egypt's three state deities of the time, and features four large statues of Ramesses II in the facade. The smaller temple is dedicated to the goddess Hathor, personified by Nefertari, Ramesses's most beloved wife (in total, the pharaoh had some 200 wives and concubines).

The Great Temple at Abu Simbel, which took about twenty years to build was completed around year 24 of the reign of Ramesses the Great (which corresponds to 1265 BC). It was dedicated to the gods Amun Ra, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah, as well as to the deified Ramesses himself.[1] It is generally considered the grandest and most beautiful of the temples commissioned during the reign of Ramesses II, and one of the most beautiful in Egypt.

The entrance itself is crowned by a bas-relief representing two images of the king worshiping the falcon-headed Ra Harakhti, whose statue stands in a large niche.[1] This god is holding the hieroglyph user in his right hand and a feather while Ma'at, the goddess of truth and justice) in on his left; this is nothing less than a gigantic cryptogram for Ramesses II's throne name, User-Maat-Re. The facade is topped by a row of 22 baboons, their arms raised in the air, supposedly worshipping the rising sun. Another notable feature of the facade is a stele which records the marriage of Ramesses with a daughter of king Hattusili III, which sealed the peace between Egypt and the Hittites.

The temple of Hathor and Nefertari, also known as the Small Temple, was built about one hundred meters northeast of the temple of Ramesses II and was dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Ramesses II's chief consort, Nefertari. This was in fact the second time in ancient Egyptian history that a temple was dedicated to a queen. The first time, Akhenaten dedicated a temple to his great royal wife, Nefertiti. [1] The rock-cut facade is decorated with two groups of colossi that are separated by the large gateway. The statues, slightly more than ten meters high, are of the king and his queen. On the other side of the portal are two statues of the king, wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt (south colossus) and the double crown (north colossus); these are flanked by statues of the queen and the king. What is truly surprising is that for the only time in Egyptian art, the statues of the king and his consort are equal in size.

Traditionally, the statues of the queens stood next to those of the pharaoh, but were never taller than his knees. This exception to such a long standing rule bears witness to the special importance attached to Nefertari by Ramesses, who went to Abu Simbel with his beloved wife in the 24th year of his reign. As the Great temple of the king, there are small statues of princes and princesses next to their parents. In this case they are positioned symmetrically: on the south side (at left as you face the gateway) are, from left to right, princes Meryatum and Meryre, princesses Meritamen and Henuttawy, and princes Rahirwenemef and Amun-her-khepeshef, while on the north side the same figures are in reverse order. The plan of the Small Temple is a simplified version of that of the Great Temple.

As the larger temple dedicated to the king, the hypostyle hall or pronaos is supported by six pillars; in this case, however, they are not Osirid pillars depicting the king, but are decorated with scenes with the queen playing the sinistrum (an instrument sacred to the goddess Hathor), together with the gods Horus, Khnum, Khonsu, and Thoth, and the goddesses Hathor, Isis, Maat, Mut of Asher, Satis and Taweret; in one scene Ramesses is presenting flowers or burning incense. The capitals of the pillars bear the face of the goddess Hathor; this type of column is known as Hathoric. The bas-reliefs in the pillared hall illustrate the deification of the king, the destruction of his enemies in the north and south (in this scenes the king is accompanied by his wife), and the queen making offerings to the goddess Hathor and Mut. The hypostyle hall is followed by a vestibule, access to which is given by three large doors. On the south and the north walls of this chamber there are two graceful and poetic bes-reliefs of the king and his consort presenting papyrus plants to Hathor, who is depicted as a cow on a boat sailing in a thicket of papyri. On the west wall, Ramesses II and Nefertari are depicted making offerings to god Horus and the divinities of the Cataracts - Satis, Anubis and Khnum.

The rock cut sanctuary and the two side chambers are connected to the transverse vestibule and are aligned with the axis of the temple. The bas-reliefs on the side walls of the small sanctuary represent scenes of offerings to various gods made either by the pharaoh or the queen. On the back wall, which lies to the west along the axis of the temple, there is a niche in which Hathor, as a divine cow, seems to be coming out of the mountain: the goddess is depicted as the Mistress of the temple dedicated to her and to queen Nefertari, who is intimately linked to the goddess. More on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Simbel

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Luxor, Egypt - 10 January 2008

THE UNFINISHED OBELISK

The unfinished obelisk is the largest known ancient obelisk, located in the northern region of the ancient quarries in Aswan (Assuan), Egypt. It is nearly one third (Thutmos obelisk in Lateran, Rome 105 ft) larger than any Egyptian obelisk ever erected. If finished it would measure around 41 m (which is 90 cubits), or 137 feet, in length (it was recently measured from base to tip, its exact length is 41.88 m). Its weight is estimated at around 1,150 metric tons. Scientists speculate that it was intended to complement the so-called Lateran Obelisk which was originally at Karnak and is now outside the Lateran Palace in Rome.

The obelisk's creators began to carve it directly out of bedrock, but cracks appeared in the granite and the project was abandoned. The bottom side of the obelisk is still attached to the bedrock. The unfinished obelisk offers unusual insights into ancient Egyptian stone-working techniques, with marks from workmen's tools still clearly visible.

Besides the unfinished obelisk, an unfinished partly worked obelisk base was discovered in 2005 at the quarries of Aswan.[1] Also discovered were some rock carvings and remains that may correspond to the site where most of the famous obelisks were worked. All these quarries in Aswan and the unfinished objects are an open-air museum and are officially protected by the Egyptian government as an archeological site.

The quarries of Aswan. The quarries are located along the Nile in the city of Aswan. There are a number of well-known sites: Shellal, the northern and southern quarries within an area of about 20 km² in the west bank and the islands of Elephantine and Seheil. One of the known directors of these Aswan sites was Hori during the times of Ramses III. In the present days, the quarry area is to become an open-air museum.

Typical minerals known from this site:
•Red, grey and black Granite

Some of the monuments known to come from this site are:
•Cleopatra's Needles
•The unfinished obelisk still on site, at the northern quarry.
•The unfinished partly-worked obelisk base, discovered in 2005
•The sarcophagus made from granite at the burial chambers of Djoser and Sneferu at Saqqara
•Many burial chambers, sarcophagus, columns etc. in the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure at Giza

More on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unfinished_obelisk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_quarries_of_ancient_Egypt
Also check out: http://www.cheops-pyramide.ch/khufu-pyramid/stone-quarries.html

TEMPLE OF PHILAE

Philae (Greek: Φιλαί) or Pilak or P'aaleq (Egyptian: remote place or the end or the angle island) or Arabic: Anas el Wagud, is an island in the Nile River and the previous site of an Ancient Egyptian temple complex in southern Egypt. The complex is now located on the nearby island of Agilika.

Philae proper, although the smaller island, is, from the numerous and picturesque ruins formerly there, the more interesting of the two. Prior to the inundation, it was not more than 1250 English feet, or rather less than a quarter of a mile, long, and about 400 feet broad. It is composed of Syenite stone: its sides are steep and perhaps escarped by the hand of man, and on their summits was built a lofty wall encompassing the island.

For Philae, being accounted one of the burying-places of Osiris, was held in high reverence both by the Egyptians to the north and the Ethiopians (Aethopians in Greek) to the south, and it was deemed profane for any but priests to dwell therein, and was accordingly sequestered and denominated the unapproachable (̓́αβατος, Plut. Is. et Osir. p, 359; Diod. i. 22). It was reported too that neither birds flew over it nor fish approached its shores. (Senec. Quaest. Nat. iv. 2.) These indeed were the traditions of a remote period; since in the time of the Macedonian kings of Egypt, Philae was so much resorted to, partly by pilgrims to the tomb of Osiris, partly by persons on secular errands, that the priests petitioned Ptolemy Physcon (170-117 BC) to prohibit public functionaries at least from coming thither and living at their expense. The obelisk on which this petition was engraved was brought into England by Mr. Bankes, and its hieroglyphics, compared with those of the Rosetta stone, threw great light upon the Egyptian phonetic alphabet.

The islands of Philae were not, however, merely sacerdotal abodes; they were the centres of commerce also between Meroë and Memphis. For the rapids of the cataracts were at most seasons impracticable, and the commodities exchanged between Egypt and Ethiopia were reciprocally landed and re-embarked at Syene and Philae.

The neighbouring granite-quarries attracted hither also a numerous population of miners and stonemasons; and, for the convenience of this traffic, a gallery or road was formed in the rocks along the east bank of the Nile, portions of which are still extant.

The most conspicuous feature of both islands was their architectural wealth. Monuments of very various eras, extending from the Pharaohs to the Caesars, occupy nearly their whole area. The principal structures, however, lay at the south end of the smaller island.

The most ancient were the remains of a temple for Hathor built in the reign of Nectanebo I during 380-362 BCE, was approached from the river through a double colonnade. Nekhtnebef is his Homen and he became the founding pharaoh of the thirtieth and last dynasty of native rulers when he deposed and killed Nefaarud II. Hathor is named alternatively, Athor, and was associated with their goddess, Aphrodite, by the Greeks.

For the most part, the other ruins date from the Ptolemaic times, more especially with the reigns of Ptolemy Philadelphus, Ptolemy Epiphanes, and Ptolemy Philometor (282-145 BC), with many traces of Roman work in Philae dedicated to Ammon-Osiris.

In front of the propyla were two colossal lions in granite, behind which stood a pair of obelisks, each 44 feet high. The propyla were pyramidal in form and colossal in dimensions. One stood between the dromos and pronaos, another between the pronaos and the portico, while a smaller one led into the sekos or adytum. At each corner of the adyturn stood a monolithal shrine, the cage of a sacred hawk. Of these shrines one is now in the Louvre, the other in the Museum at Florence.

Beyond the entrance into the principal court are small temples or rather chapels, one of which, dedicated to Hathor (Athor), is covered with sculptures representing the birth of Ptolemy Philometor, under the figure of the god Horus. The story of Osiris is everywhere represented on the walls of this temple, and two of its inner chambers are particularly rich in symbolic imagery. Upon the two great propyla are Greek inscriptions intersected and partially destroyed by Egyptian figures cut across them.
The inscriptions belong to the Macedonian era, and are of earlier date than the sculptures, which were probably inserted during that interval of renaissance for the native religion which followed the extinction of the Greek dynasty in Egypt in 30 BC by the Romans.

The monuments in both islands indeed attested, beyond any others in the Nile-valley, the survival of pure Egyptian art centuries after the last of the Pharaohs had ceased to reign. Great pains have been taken to mutilate the sculptures of this temple. The work of demolition is attributable, in the first instance, to the zeal of the early Christians, and afterward, to the policy of the Iconoclasts, who curried favour for themselves with the Byzantine court by the destruction of heathen images as well as Christian ones.

The soil of Philae had been prepared carefully for the reception of its buildings–being levelled where it was uneven, and supported by masonry where it was crumbling or insecure. For example, the western wall of the Great Temple, and the corresponding wall of the dromos, were supported by very strong foundations, built below the pre-inundation level of the water, and rested on the granite which in this region forms the bed of the Nile. Here and there steps were hewn out from the wall to facilitate the communication between the temple and the river.

At the southern extremity of the dromos of the Great Temple was a smaller temple, apparently dedicated to Isis; at least the few columns that remained of it are surmounted with the head of that goddess. Its portico consisted of twelve columns, four in front and three deep. Their capitals represented various forms and combinations of the palm branch, the dhoum-leaf, and the lotus-flower. These, as well as the sculptures on the columns, the ceilings, and the walls were painted with the most vivid colors, which, owing to the dryness of the climate, have lost little of their original brilliance. (More on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philae)

NUBIAN ADVENTURE

Nubia (Nu•BiaH) was the name for the region to the south of Egypt, along the Nile and in what is now northern Sudan. Most of Nubia was situated in Sudan with about a quarter of its territory in Egypt. In ancient times it was an independent kingdom.

Many Egyptian Nubians were forcibly resettled to make room for Lake Nasser after the construction of the dams at Aswan. Nubian villages can now be found north of Aswan on the west bank of the Nile and on Elephantine Island, and many Nubians live in large cities such as Cairo. Egyptian Nubians tend to be far more socio-economically disadvantaged within Egypt, as to Sudanese Nubians in Sudan.

More on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubia

KOM OMBO SLIDESHOW

Kom Ombo (??? ????) (Coptic: ???? Embo; Greek: ?µß?? Omboi, Ptol. iv. 5. § 73; Steph. B. s. v.; It. Anton. p. 165) or Ombos (Juv. xv. 35) or Latin: Ambo (Not. Imp. sect. 20) and Ombi – is an agricultural town in Egypt famous for the Temple of Kom Ombo. It was originally an Egyptian city called Nubt, meaning City of Gold (not to be confused with the city north of Naqada that was also called Nubt/Ombos). It became a Greek settlement during the Greco-Roman Period. The town's location on the Nile 50 km north of Aswan (Syene) gave it some control over trade routes from Nubia to the Nile Valley, but its main rise to prominence came with the erection of the temple in the 2nd century BC.

In antiquity the city was in the Thebaid, the capital of the Nomos Ombites, upon the east bank of the Nile; latitude 24° 6'north. Ombos was a garrison town under every dynasty of Egypt, Pharaonic, Macedonian, and Roman, and was celebrated for the magnificence of its temples and its hereditary feud with the people of.

Ombos was the first city below Syene at which any remarkable remains of antiquity occur. The Nile, indeed, at this portion of its course, was ill-suited to a dense population in antiquity. It runs between steep and narrow banks of sandstone, and deposits but little of its fertilizing slime upon the dreary and barren shores. There are two temples at Ombos, constructed of the stone obtained from the neighboring quarries of Hadjar-selseleh. The more magnificent of two stands upon the top of a sandy hill, and appears to have been a species of Pantheon, since, according to extant inscriptions, it was dedicated to Aroeres (Apollo) and the other deities of the Ombite nome by the soldiers quartered there. The smaller temple to the northwest was sacred to Isis. Both, indeed, are of an imposing architecture, and still retain the brilliant colors with which their builders adorned them. They are, however, of the Ptolemaic age, with the exception of a doorway of sandstone, built into a wall of brick. This was part of a temple built by Tuthmosis III in honor of the crocodile-headed god Sobek. The monarch is represented on tress, the door-jambs, holding the measuring reed and chisel, the emblems of construction, and in the act of dedicating the temple. The portions of the larger temple present an exception to an almost universal rule in Egyptian architecture. It has no propylon or dromos in front of it, and the portico has an uneven number of columns, in all fifteen, arranged in a triple row. Of these columns thirteen are still erect. As there are two principal entrances, the temple would seem to be two united in one, strengthening the supposition that it was the Pantheon of the Ombite nome. On a cornice above the doorway of one of the adyta is a Greek inscription, recording the erection, or perhaps the restoration of the sekos by Ptolemy VI Philometor and his sister-wife Cleopatra II, 180-145 BC. The hill on which the Ombite temples stand has been considerably excavated at its base by the river, which here strongly inclines to the Arabian bank.

The crocodile was held in especial honor by the people of Ombos; and in the adjacent catacombs are occasionally found mummies of the sacred animal. Juvenal, in his 15th satire, has given a lively description of a fight, of which he was an eye-witness, between the Ombitae and the inhabitants of Tentyra, who were hunters of the crocodile. On this occasion the men of Ombos had the worst of it; and one of their number, having stumbled in his flight, was caught and eaten by the Tentyrites. The satirist, however, has represented Ombos as nearer to Tentyra than it actually is, these towns, in fact, being nearly 100 miles from each other. The Roman coins of the Ombite nome exhibit the crocodile and the effigy of the crocodile-headed god Sobek.

In Kom Ombo there is a rare engraved image of Cleopatra VII in the walls of the main temple and also the engraving of what is though to be the first representation of medical instruments for performing surgery, including scalpels, curettes, forceps, dilator, scissors and medicine bottles dating from the days of the Roman Egypt.

At this site there is another Nilometer used to measure the level of the river waters.

(More on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kom_Ombo)

REFLEXIONES...

10 de Septiembre de 1920

Para vivir es necesario coraje. Tanto la semilla intacta como la que rompe su cáscara tienen las mismas propiedades. Sin embargo, sólo la que rompe su cáscara es capaz de lanzarse a la aventura de la vida.

Esta aventura requiere una única osadía: descubrir que no se puede vivir a través de la experiencia de los otros, y estar dispuesto a entregarse. No se puede tener los ojos de uno, los oídos de otro, para saber de antemano lo que va a ocurrir; cada existencia es diferente de la otra.

No importa lo que me espera, yo deseo estar con el corazón abierto para recibir. Que yo no tenga miedo de poner mi brazo en el hombro de alguien, hasta que me lo corten. Que yo no tema hacer algo que nadie hizo antes. Déjenme ser tonto hoy, porque la tontería es todo lo que tengo para dar esta mañana; me pueden reprender por eso, pero no tiene importancia. Mañana, quién sabe, yo seré menos tonto.

Cuando dos personas se encuentran, deben ser como dos lirios acuáticos que se abren de lado a lado, cada una mostrando su corazón dorado, y reflejando el lago, las nubes y los cielos. No logro entender porqué un encuentro genera siempre lo contrario de esto: Corazones cerrados y temor a los sufrimientos.

Cada vez que estamos juntos, conversamos durante cuatro, seis horas seguidas. Si pretendemos pasar juntos todo este tiempo, es importante no tratar de esconder nada, y mantener los pétalos bien abiertos.

Kahlil Gibrán

Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), nacido en el Líbano, será recordado por su clásico "El Profeta" que, sesenta años después de su publicación continúa en la lista de los libros más vendidos de diversos países. En 1995, una amiga libanesa me dió un libro que contiene la correspondencia amorosa de Gibran con Mary Haskell, una americana diez años mayor que él. Al leerlo, descubrí a un hombre complejo y fascinante, lo que me impulsó a seleccionar algunos textos. Todo indica que Mary, a pesar de ser una gran amiga, jamás aceptó otra relación más allá de un amor platónico. ¡Leyendo las cartas de Gibran, se hace difícil entender como se pudo resistir!
Es el segundo de cuatro hermanos. En 1894 emigra a EEUU donde viviría más de veinte años. Reside en Boston y allí concibe la que sería su obra cumbre El profeta (1923). Algunos sostienen fue escrita en 1898 y traducida en 1903 por él mismo al inglés. Dotado de una sensibilidad especial escribe tanto en árabe como en inglés.
En 1902 inicia su vocación pictórica. Más tarde expondría en París ganando el favor de la crítica. Saca rédito del merecido elogio publicando Las Alas Rotas (1912) iniciada en 1906. También en París publica Espíritus Rebeldes (1903) despertando un encendido rechazo en círculos religiosos libaneses.
Por entonces, inspirado en malos presentimientos decide regresar a su patria donde su salud comienza a decaer.
Con Mary Haskell, el amor de su vida, mantuvo una profusa correspondencia recopilada parcialmente en Cartas de Amor del Profeta de Paulo Cohelo. Fue ella quien lo sostuvo ante la pérdida de su madre y dos hermanos, y quien lo apoya para que complete en París sus estudios artísticos en L’Ecole des Beaux Arts. Allí conoció a Rodin.

Su obra fresca y pura trasunta una paz espiritual que contrasta con la vorágine del mundo moderno. Tal vez sea la causa de su aprobación popular. La sencillez del estilo lo hace vital y su contenido es fácilmente comprendido.
Fue un poeta, novelista, pintor, y filósofo, uno de los mayores representantes del arte del mundo árabe, aunque muchas de sus obras fueron escritas en inglés, pues vivió más de veinte años en Estados Unidos de América. Escribió poesía y novelas críticas costumbristas, como "Espíritus Rebeldes", de 1908. En 1911 publicó "Alas rotas", en lengua árabe.
Murió en Nueva York el 10 de abril de 1931 a causa de un ataque cardíaco. Sus restos fueron transportados a Beirut y sepultados en la iglesia carmelita de Mar Sarkis, Becharré, hoy lugar de peregrinación.

Fragmento 10-5-1916
Querida Mary: te envío una parábola que terminé. He escrito poco, y solamente en árabe. Pero me gustaría oir tus correcciones y sugerencias sobre este trecho:
En la sombra de un templo, mi amigo señaló a un ciego. Mi amigo dijo: "Este hombre es un sabio".
Nos aproximamos y pregunté: "¿Desde cuando es usted ciego?"
"Desde que nací"
"Yo soy astrónomo", comenté.
"Yo también respondió el ciego. Y, colocando la mano sobre su pecho, dijo: "Paso la vida observando los muchos soles y estrellas que se mueven dentro de mí".

No hay compartir que no lleve un proyecto
No hay proyecto que no lleve un sueño
No hay sueño que se pueda realizar sin esperanzas

LUXOR TEMPLE BY NIGHT

KARNAK SLIDESHOW - PART 2

The Karnak temple complex, universally known only as Karnak, describes a vast conglomeration of ruined temples, chapels, pylons and other buildings. It is located near Luxor in Egypt. This was ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places"), the main place of worship of the Theban Triad with Amun as its head, in the monumental city of Thebes. The complex retrieves its current name from the nearby and partly surrounding modern village of el-Karnak, some 2.5km north of Luxor.

The complex is a vast open-air museum and the largest ancient religious site in the world. It is probably the second most visited historical site in Egypt, second only to the Giza Pyramids near Cairo. It consists of four main parts (precincts) of which only one is accessible for tourists and the general public. This is the Precinct of Amun-Re, and this it is also the main part of the complex and by far the largest part. The term Karnak is often understood as being the Precinct of Amun-Re only, as this is the only part most visitors normally see. The three other parts, the Precinct of Montu, the Precinct of Mut and the Temple of Amenhotep IV (dismantled), are closed to the public. There also are a few smaller temples and sanctuaries located outside the enclosing walls of the four main parts, as well as several avenues of human and ram-headed sphinxes connecting the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Amon-Re, and Luxor Temple.

The key difference between Karnak and most of the other temples and sites in Egypt is the length of time over which it was developed and used. Construction work began in the 16th century BC. Approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen elsewhere. Few of the individual features of Karnak are unique, but the size and number of features are overwhelming. Construction of temples started in the Middle Kingdom and continued through to Ptolemaic times.

The Karnak temple complex is first described by an unknown Venetian in 1589, though his account relates no name for the complex. This account, housed in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, is unique, in that it is the first known European mention, since the ancient Greek and Roman writers, of a whole range of monuments in Upper Egypt and Nubian, including Karnak, Luxor temple, Colossi of Memnon, Esna, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Philae and others. Karnak ("Carnac") as a village name, and name of the complex, is first attested in 1668, when two capuchin missionary brothers Protais and Charles François d'Orléans travelled though the area. Protais’ writing about their travel was published by Melchisédech Thévenot (Relations de divers voyages curieux, 1670s-1696 editions) and Johann Michael Vansleb (The Present State of Egypt, 1678). The first drawing of Karnak, rather inaccurate and can be quite confusing when viewed with modern eyes, is found in Paul Lucas' travel account of 1704. Paul Lucas travelled in Egypt during 1699-1703. The drawing shows a mixture of the Precinct of Amun-Re and the Precinct of Montu, based on a complex confined by the tree huge Ptolemaic gateways of Ptolemy III Euergetes / Ptolemy IV Philopator, and the massive 113m long, 43m high and 15m thick, first Pylon of the Precinct of Amun-Re.

Karnak was visited and described in succession by Claude Sicard and his travel companion Pierre Laurent Pincia (1718 and 1720-21), Ganger (1731), Frederick Louis Norden (1737-38), Richard Pococke (1738), James Bruce (1769), Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt (1777), William George Browne (1792-93), and finally by a number of scientists of the Napoleon expedition, including Vivant Denon, during 1798-1799. Claude-Étienne Savary describes the complex rather detailed in his work of 1785; especially in light that it is a fictional account of a pretended journey to Upper Egypt, composed out of information from other travellers. Savary did visit Lower Egypt in 1777-78, and published a work about that too. (More on Wikipedia)

KARNAK SLIDESHOW - PART 1

The Karnak temple complex, universally known only as Karnak, describes a vast conglomeration of ruined temples, chapels, pylons and other buildings. It is located near Luxor in Egypt. This was ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places"), the main place of worship of the Theban Triad with Amun as its head, in the monumental city of Thebes. The complex retrieves its current name from the nearby and partly surrounding modern village of el-Karnak, some 2.5km north of Luxor.

The complex is a vast open-air museum and the largest ancient religious site in the world. It is probably the second most visited historical site in Egypt, second only to the Giza Pyramids near Cairo. It consists of four main parts (precincts) of which only one is accessible for tourists and the general public. This is the Precinct of Amun-Re, and this it is also the main part of the complex and by far the largest part. The term Karnak is often understood as being the Precinct of Amun-Re only, as this is the only part most visitors normally see. The three other parts, the Precinct of Montu, the Precinct of Mut and the Temple of Amenhotep IV (dismantled), are closed to the public. There also are a few smaller temples and sanctuaries located outside the enclosing walls of the four main parts, as well as several avenues of human and ram-headed sphinxes connecting the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Amon-Re, and Luxor Temple.

The key difference between Karnak and most of the other temples and sites in Egypt is the length of time over which it was developed and used. Construction work began in the 16th century BC. Approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen elsewhere. Few of the individual features of Karnak are unique, but the size and number of features are overwhelming. Construction of temples started in the Middle Kingdom and continued through to Ptolemaic times.

The Karnak temple complex is first described by an unknown Venetian in 1589, though his account relates no name for the complex. This account, housed in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, is unique, in that it is the first known European mention, since the ancient Greek and Roman writers, of a whole range of monuments in Upper Egypt and Nubian, including Karnak, Luxor temple, Colossi of Memnon, Esna, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Philae and others. Karnak ("Carnac") as a village name, and name of the complex, is first attested in 1668, when two capuchin missionary brothers Protais and Charles François d'Orléans travelled though the area. Protais’ writing about their travel was published by Melchisédech Thévenot (Relations de divers voyages curieux, 1670s-1696 editions) and Johann Michael Vansleb (The Present State of Egypt, 1678). The first drawing of Karnak, rather inaccurate and can be quite confusing when viewed with modern eyes, is found in Paul Lucas' travel account of 1704. Paul Lucas travelled in Egypt during 1699-1703. The drawing shows a mixture of the Precinct of Amun-Re and the Precinct of Montu, based on a complex confined by the tree huge Ptolemaic gateways of Ptolemy III Euergetes / Ptolemy IV Philopator, and the massive 113m long, 43m high and 15m thick, first Pylon of the Precinct of Amun-Re.

Karnak was visited and described in succession by Claude Sicard and his travel companion Pierre Laurent Pincia (1718 and 1720-21), Ganger (1731), Frederick Louis Norden (1737-38), Richard Pococke (1738), James Bruce (1769), Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt (1777), William George Browne (1792-93), and finally by a number of scientists of the Napoleon expedition, including Vivant Denon, during 1798-1799. Claude-Étienne Savary describes the complex rather detailed in his work of 1785; especially in light that it is a fictional account of a pretended journey to Upper Egypt, composed out of information from other travellers. Savary did visit Lower Egypt in 1777-78, and published a work about that too. (More on Wikipedia)

I ACCEPT...

I accept myself completely.
I accept my strengths and my weaknesses,
my gifts and my shortcomings,
my good points and my faults.

I accept myself completely as a human being.
I accept that I am here to learn and grow, and
I accept that I am learning and growing.
I accept the personality I've developed, and
I accept my power to heal and change.

I accept myself without condition or reservation.
I accept that the core of my being is goodness and
that my essence is love, and
I accept that I sometimes forget that.

I accept myself completely, and in this acceptance
I find an ever-deepening inner strength.
From this place of strength, I accept my life fully and
I open to the lessons it offers me today.

I accept that within my mind are both fear and love, and
I accept my power to choose which I will experience as real.
I recognize that I experience only the results of my own choices.

I accept the times that I choose fear
as part of my learning and healing process, and
I accept that I have the potential and power
in any moment to choose love instead.

I accept mistakes as a part of growth,
so I am always willing to forgive myself and
give myself another chance.

I accept that my life is the expression of my thought, and
I commit myself to aligning my thoughts
more and more each day with the Thought of Love.
I accept that I am an expression of this Love.
Love's hands and voice and heart on earth.

I accept my own life as a blessing and a gift.
My heart is open to receive, and I am deeply grateful.
May I always share the gifts that I receive
fully, freely, and with joy.

Author Unknown

WHAT ARE FRIENDS FOR?

FAKE FRIENDS: Never ask for food.
REAL FRIENDS: is the reason you have no food.

FAKE FRIENDS: Call your parents Mr / Mrs
REAL FRIENDS: Call your parents DAD/MOM

FAKE FRIENDS: never seen you cry
REAL FRIENDS: cry with you

FAKE FRIENDS: Borrow your stuff for a few days then give it back
REAL FRIENDS: keep your stuff so long they forget it's yours

FAKE FRIENDS: know a few things about you
REAL FRIENDS: Could write a book about you with direct quotes from you

FAKE FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that is what the crowd is doing
REAL FRIENDS: Will kick the whole crowds butt that left you

FAKE FRIENDS: Would knock on your front door
REAL FRIENDS: Walk right in and say 'I'M HOME!'

FAKE FRIENDS: Are for awhile
REAL FRIENDS: Are for life

FAKE FRIENDS: will talk bad to the person who talks bad about you.
REAL FRIENDS: Will knock the person out that talked bad about you

FAKE FRIENDS: Would ignore this
REAL FRIENDS: Will send this to all their real friends and hope to get it back!

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN...

NOTICE TO ALL FOREIGNERS IN THE PHILIPPINES...

All registered foreigners (permanent or temporary residents in the Philippines) are hereby reminded TO REPORT IN PERSON (pursuant to Section 10 of the Alien Registration Act of 1950) WITHIN THE FIRST SIXTY (60) DAYS - from January 2, 2008 to March 1, 2008 - AT THE ALIEN REGISTRATION DIVISION OF THE BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION AT INTRAMUROS MANILA, or at the Immigration Subport/District/Field Office nearest their place of residence:

The ff documents shall be presented by the foreigner during the Annual Report (AR):

1. Alien Certificate of Registration (ACR)/ACR I-Card,
2. Certificate of Residence (CR), and
3. Official Receipts (O.R.) covering payment of previous AR fees.

An Annual Report fee of P300.00 and P10.00 Legal Research fee shall be paid by the foreigner.

The parent/legal guardian of a foreigner who is less than fourteen (14) years of age, shall have the duty of reporting for such foreigner. Provided that whenever such foreigner attains his 14th birthday in the Philippines, he shall within fifteen (15) days from his 14th birthday apply in person for re-registration and fingerprinting, paying the registration fee and thereafter make his own annual report once a year within the period and at the above designated.

A foreigner holder of paper-based ACR, whose visa is not exempt from payment of immigration fees, shall not be permitted to make his Annual Report without applying for an ACR I-Card. The deadline to apply for ACR I-Card shall expire on 31 December 2007 pursuant to Memorandum Order No. AFF-07-006 dated 21 February 2007.

Foreigners who fail to comply with the provisions of the Alien Registration Act of 1950 are subject to administrative fine and/or imprisonment, at the option of the Commissioner of Immigration.

Sgd. MARCELINO C. LIBANAN (Commissioner)

TAKE THESE THOUGHTS WITH YOU...

Take These Thoughts With You
On Your Journey To Your Dreams

Don't ever forget that you are unique. Be your best self and not an imitation of someone else.

Find your strength and use them in a positive way. Don't listen to those who ridicule the choices you make.

Travel the road that you have chosen and don't look back with regret. You have to take chances to make your dreams happen.

Remember that there is plenty of time to travel another road - and still another - in your journey through life.

Take the time to find the route that is right for you. You will learn something valuable from every trip you take, so don't be afraid to make mistakes.

Tell yourself that you're okay just the way you are. Make friends who respect your true self.

Take the time to be alone, too, so you can know just how terrific your own company can be.

Remember that being alone doesn't always mean being lonely; it can be a beautiful experience of finding your creativity, your heartfelt feelings, and the calm and quiet peace deep inside you.

Don't ever forget that you are special and you have within you the ability to make your dreams come true.

~ Jacqueline Schiff ~

MAY THE GOOD LORD BLESS AND KEEP YOU