Roman Catholic Info

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus that is found in Luke 16:19-31 raise numerous questions about the after life.

Lazarus was carried away by the angels at his death to heaven. We are not told that Lazarus was faithful to his faith. Being filled with sores he was probably not even allowed into the synagogue as he would have been considered unclean. All we know was that he was poor. Does the parable imply that poor people who are downtrodden make it to heaven because they have suffered much on Earth? Will non believers also enjoy the same blessing as Lazarus? Definitely Jesus is speaking fondly of the poor as embodied by Lazarus.

The parable indicates that there is interaction between those in heaven and hell, hence the need for partition between them. It is to prevent those in heaven from crossing over to hell and vice versa. Why would those in heaven go over to hell? is it possible that those in heaven being benevolent take pity on those in hell and may try to help those in hell in some way?

The rich man pleads with Abraham to send a warning to his brothers who are still alive. It's strange that that this rich man who was so self centered on Earth becomes self-less in hell. Does hell make a person realize his/her sins and want to repent but it's too late?

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Good Friday and Easter

Jesus died on the cross. Jesus was nailed on the cross. Yes, He was nailed. How many of you have taken injection shots? Do you remember the feeling of pain that comes with a very thin needle? That also is taken away within few seconds. Now imagine getting hit with a nail and the nail crossing your palm, a thick nail and you are left to bleed. Now imagine the pain.

Pain, intense pain, yes, death by intense pain and Jesus died with that. By laws of science, I do not know how much of His weight was taken by His palms, but even if the weight taken was a fraction of his body weight, the pain would been much more. And Jesus died on the cross, bearing his own weight with his palms, bleeding. Left to bleed in the afternoon sun.

Good Friday was the day He died. I read somewhere that earlier it was called God Friday. And He resurrected on easter sunday. If one goes through the work and the teachings of Jesus, one finds nothing but selfless giving and miraculous cures. Jesus could cure miraculously because He was Son of God. But did He enjoy any material comforts? Any pleasures? His life is nothing but a chronicle of a man who suffered, but took away sufferings of others. Even His death was a very painful death.

What does Jesus' life teach us? It teaches us not to give suffering to others but take it ourselves. It teaches us to comfort others. It teaches us selfless giving. It teaches us to forgive even if extreme pain is inflicted upon us. It teaches us to love all and hate none.

Let us celebrate Easter Sunday. Let us remember the teachings of jesus christ. Let us spread peace in the world. Let us start giving selflessly. Let us live selflessly. Let us all spread goodness, happiness and cheer in the world. Let us all work to remove hatred and vice from this world.

About the Author

The author writes text messages and advises and consults for social networking content for myspace comments, myspace graphics and evaluates creative ideas for personality quizzes.

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In my many years of counseling couples in troubled marriages, I have found that betrayal is the biggest enemy of a harmonious marriage. What betrayal does is destroy trust. Trust is fragile. Once broken it is hard to mend. This is all the more so in a marriage. When trust is gone, the marriage is on shaky ground. Thus it is imperative to restore trust to save a marriage that is heading for break-up.

Two Critical Elements to Restore Trust

Although it may be difficult to restore trust, it is not impossible. Trust can be restored through two main elements. These two elements are attitude and action. When trust has been betrayed in a marriage, in its place comes suspicion which leads to distrust and secrecy. Thus to restore trust, there must be openness, accountability and assurance. In essence, these three things are different attitudes. Openness is an attitude to adopt. Similarly, to be accountable is first an attitude before becoming an action or behavior. And likewise assurance to your spouse that you are trustworthy is an attitude also.

Allow me to elaborate on these three attitudes. The attitude of openness is displayed by allowing the aggrieved partner to ask any question he or she wants for as long as necessary. It is better for your partner to ask concerning anything that still troubles him or her than to keep it inside only for it to flare up in future and destroy trust again.

The attitude of openness leads to accountability. Being accountable to your partner is a crucial step in restoring your partner's trust in you even though it might be an inconvenience to be accountable. It is important that you bear with the inconvenience and not give in to irritability, impatience or frustration. If need be, allow yourselves to be accountable not only to one another, but to another close friend(s) or marriage counselor. Having an objective third party friend(s) to help out goes a long way in restoring trust.

Once openness and accountability are achieved, the third attitude of assurance becomes much easier to attain. Your partner needs to be assured because he or she might be thinking about whether it was a mistake marrying you. Thoughts such as, "If he has done it before, he may do it again," will be running through her mind. These thoughts make your partner feel extremely vulnerable thus it is important you assure her both in words and actions.

On the part of the aggrieved partner, there are important attitudes also. The attitude of letting go of the past failures of your partner is essential. If you keep remembering and harping on the wrongs of your partner, you will never be able to trust him or her. Your attitude should be to forgive and forget as far as possible. Let bygones be bygones. Do not hold your partner's wrongs against him or her.

Then there's the attitude of believing the best about your partner. There must be intentionality in giving your partner the benefit of the doubt and believing that he or she is trustworthy. Coupled with that is the attitude of giving second chances. Although it is hard to do, you must allow room for failure in your partner. This does not mean condoning infidelity or deceit but it does mean that you are willing to keep on trying provided there is repentance and change by your partner.

The first element, attitude would lead on to the second element which is action. The erring partner should take appropriate actions such as changing behavior, breaking off an affair or becoming a more responsible spouse or parent. The other partner must reciprocate in like manner with actions such as acceptance, support and cooperating with your partner in rebuilding the relationship between the two of you.

Restoring trust is a process. It is built through persistent, sustained and appropriate attitudes and actions of both partners. It is necessary that you cooperate with one another. Help one other trust each other more. As mentioned, get another couple to hold you both accountable for certain actions over a period of time. People usually do what is inspected rather than what is expected. That is why accountability towards someone else is very helpful.

Conclusion

Trust is the foundation of any relationship. The closer the relationship, the more important trust is to that relationship. There is no other relationship closer than marriage for two human beings. Thus restoring trust is imperative to save any marriage.

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jesus the messiah by robert h. stein

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Is the Christian Religion the Same Thing as the Christian Faith?

Human beings are a complicated mix. For example, we are quite social and operate in groups ... yet, we are also unique, individual units. Some activities are correctly pursued in group, but some pursuits must be solo. As Christians, we become part of the body of Christ - yet, we remain an individual. God says it this way: "You are Christ's body, and individually members of it." Furthermore, He distributes spiritual gifts "to each one individually just as He wills" and places "the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desire(s)" (1Cor 12:11,18 and 27). Those in this group actually have their individuality enhanced - by imparted gifts. But, ... let's move back a step.

The most important, the most crucial, indeed the most non-negotiable of all solo actions, centers on the salvation issue. This matter begins and ends with the individual and the Creator. There is no activity more solo. And it puts us in the weakest of positions because "all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Heb 4:13). It's no wonder we hide "in the trees" like Adam - looking for cover (Gen 3:8). It is ironic that the shield of choice is often ... religion.

The only religion I am interested in discussing here is the Christian religion.

The Christian Religion

In my mind, the Christian religion and the Christian faith are two different things. It is not imperative that you adopt my demarcation between the two, but if you think (for this moment) in the framework I am presenting, the following discussion will make more sense. When I think of religion, I think; "ceremony, ritual, dogma - and formulas for these things." When I think of faith, I think; "inquiry, study, knowledge - and persuasion of what is true."

Using this definition, the Christian religion ... is easy. Formulas are presented that lead one to salvation, then directives are clearly defined for "good" Christian living. Altar calls, confirmations, or baptisms are soon followed by church membership, tithing, and the church calendar.

It is a natural weakness for man to fall into religion. The reason is really quite simple. Religion tells the follower everything he/she must do. The directives are not to be questioned - just obeyed - and everything will be fine. Many people feel like they have actually accomplished something by following religious orders. This has great appeal for the participant - and often provides great comfort. But, this comfort does not end in life.

The Christian religion rests on two primary pillars. First, those in the pew are sheep who must be led. And the second pillar is (you guessed it) - the leaders. They are to be obeyed. Two huge blunders are created by this model. For starters, Christians - as sheep - is a "figure of speech" (Jn 10:6). Sheep are depicted as naive, defenseless and quite dumb (However, they only answer to the trustworthy voice of their master ... and ignore a stranger's voice [Jn 10: 1-5,16,27]. People would do well to imitate this. They often follow "strange voices" ... who lead them into death). But, where does Ezekiel's verse fit in the "dumb sheep" analogy? "'As for you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God,' declares the Lord" (Ezek 34:31). This is consistent with Paul's admonition to the wayward Corinthians: "in your thinking be mature ... Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong" (1Cor 14:20 and 16:13). Where is it that God calls His children - to be stupid sheep?

Secondly, the leaders of the Christian religion are exempted from this "figure of speech". They are over the dumb sheep. But, they themselves ... are not dumb sheep. One of the most oft quoted passages supporting this position comes from Hebrews: "Obey your leaders and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you" (Heb 13:17). At first glance, it does appear the religion model is accurate - sheep are supposed to obey leaders. But, a simple language lesson will demand a closer scrutiny.

This English translation (from Koine Greek) contains at least three problems.

First, in the English translation: "Obey" is a verb in the active voice. But in Koine Greek, this is a verb in the passive voice. The passive voice means the subject is acted upon - not doing the action. The actual word translated, "obey" (peitho) has several potential meanings (just as English words do). The root meaning of "peitho" is "persuasion." Blind obedience is outside the circle.

Second, in the English translation: "leaders" is a noun. But, this is a participle in the Greek - not a noun. A participle is a verbal adjective. There is a huge difference between "the leading ones" and "leaders." In this instance, "the leading ones" refers to the more mature Christians "of you all" (a plural genitive). They seek to persuade the less mature by instruction and example - and call for imitation. "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ" (1Cor 11:1 - and this is the Apostle Paul ... to the Corinthians!).

Third, in the English translation: "to them" is a prepositional phrase. This is not in the Greek at all and should just be forgotten.

Hebrews 13:17 should be translated more like this: "You must allow yourselves to be persuaded by the leading ones of you all ... and yield." The less mature are commanded to allow themselves to be persuaded (passive) by the more mature among them - and then yield to accurate handling of the word of God (doctrine and lifestyle) - not to them. This is totally consistent with all the other foundational Biblical injunctions of the Christian faith. "Examine everything; adhere to that which is good" (1Thes 5:21). The Bereans "were more noble minded than those in Thessolonica ... examining the Scriptures daily" to see if Paul's assertions were correct (Acts 17:11). "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!" (2Cor 13:5).

Those who are leading must account for how they led. But, they are not responsible for wrong choices by their listeners (assuming they had led correctly). Paul was not guilty before God for the errant choices of the wayward Corinthians or the bewitched Galatians. Their choices did bring him grief ... but not guilt.

I cannot explain why translators have so fouled this passage from Hebrews. If you can find a Greek scholar who can explain this - let me know ("Peithesthe" is not a middle deponent verb to be translated active either). By the way, Jesus did talk about leaders one time. "Do not be called leaders; for One is your leader - Christ" (Mt 23:10). Does He need to repeat Himself?

The Christian Faith

This arises when individual circumstances converge on a person - forcing an intense search ... for the Creator. While God may use people, or even some of the structures of religion as cited above, these things are secondary (at best). The Christian faith is the search for God. "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God - for the living God" (Ps 42:1,2). Furthermore, He tells us, "You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart" (Jer 29:13). This is hard. In fact, I don't think we can really know when we have truly sought Him with all of our heart. Duplicities, known and unknown, infest us.

God calls people to the Christian faith. He calls them ... one by one. No one can get into heaven on the coattails of another. Adhering to the greatest of preachers ... will not work. Supporting, or participating in, the most fruitful Christian church ... will not move God to accept that one. Even following hard on the heels of the most devout of mothers ... will not usher one into glory. There is but One Advocate before God the Father who can make a successful case for one's inclusion into His favor (1Jn 2:1). And one must deal with Him solo. Nothing we will ever undertake is more solo - and absolutely necessary.

The extreme emergencies of life ... are faced alone. The only One who can help us - is God. When Stephen was being stoned to death, he needed Christian faith - not some version of Christian religion (Acts 6 and 7). Our situation will be different, but the reality of need will be the same. The Christian faith is spiritual independence from man ... and total spiritual dependence upon jesus christ.

About the Author

Robin: Christian in 1977. Education: BA, Bus Admin (Milligan Collg '90) and M-Div (Emmanuel School of Relign '92). One of his ebooks includes every Bible verse about love in a Bible study on love . Other ebooks biblically address death, no tithe, abortion, and capital punishment. You can find each Free Christian Ebook online at freelygive-n.com!

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How to Add Value and Uniqueness to your Scrapbook Pages

How to add value and Uniqueness to your Scrapbook Pages

It is very easy and affordable to add value and uniqueness to your scrap book pages with loose Gemstones. Gemstones come in so many shapes, sizes and colors, so it is very easy to incorporate them into any theme. I have been using gemstones in my scrapbook pages for quite awhile, and I always recommend them to my friends and family. There are many advantages to using gemstones as well. Gemstones are very easy to apply with glue dots, they will never fade or tarnish and it doesn't take any special techniques to create a very dramatic page.
What I like best about using Gemstones in my craft projects is how easy they can be added to finished pages as well. If you are like most Scrapbookers you already have expensive 3d stickers in your creations that have plastic stones in the design. All you have to do is carefully take the plastic stones off and replace with Genuine Gemstones. Here are a few ideas of ways I have used Gemstones in my pages:

 Square sapphires for butterfly and bee antenna tips
 Super star page with diamonds in the background
 Polk-a-dots on easter eggs
 Eyes on the 3d animals
 Ornaments on a Christmas tree
 Birthstone Pages
 And much more.

There are many other crafts you can use Gemstones in as well so the possibilities are endless on what you can create. This Christmas I will be giving away shadow box frames with a Scrapbook page with Gemstones accents. They will be a very special and truly unique gift!

I hope you have enjoyed my article and Happy Scrapbooking!
And remember be Creative Gemstones are only the beginning to using Jewelry in your Scrapbooking!

About the Author

Dawn has enjoyed using Gemstones in her scrapbooking for quite some time. She has created a website to help people know that "Gemstone are not just for Collecting"

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How to (and How Not To) Start your Own Website - Website Promoting for Absolute Beginners

Before you read this article: I'm not an expert - this is just a short (and hopefully amusing) account of my own experiences with starting up a website! I WILL however give you some very useful links to the real experts at the end of this article BUT DON'T SKIP TO THE END JUST YET! I still have a lot of funny, insightful and useful information to give you : D

About 8 months ago I got a great idea! I'M GONNA MAKE A WEBSITE WITH FLASH GREETING CARDS THAT PEOPLE CAN SEND TO ALL THEIR FRIENDS!!! No, I did not think that I was the first person to get this idea. I'm not THAT naïve. However I was naïve in a lot of other ways about what it takes to build a website but I will get to that later.

Anywho, I thought this was a great idea for ME; I love making little animations in Flash, I love thinking up little stories, I love working for myself (as opposed to working for a boss - but you can read about that on my website!), and I thought it would be really cool to have a website that people from all over the world would visit and use. WOW! Sort of my 15 minutes of fame, I guess. AND if somewhere down the line I could make just a liiiiiiiittle money on it; GREAT! And I'm not talking millionaire money, just enough to cover my expenses. Okay okay, and maybe a liiiiiiittle bit more than that : ) Being able to afford red wine in bottles instead of cartons would be nice.

I started working on ideas (had lots of those) for ecards and then I started making the very first card (that I intended to send to my parents on their 50th wedding anniversary as a "test" to see if other people would think my cards were as funny as I did). Then a funny thing happened (no, not on the way to the Forum); my mother (who has absolutely no knowledge of the Internet or ecard websites or anything of an electronic nature and who knew NOTHING of my idea of starting my own ecard website) had cut out an article from their newspaper for me. It was the (success) story of a British artist, Jacquie Lawson, who at the tender age of 57 created an interactive flash Christmas ecard and emailed it to her friends and yada yada yada now has a VERY profitable subscription-based ecard website. And we're talking MILLIONS OF DOLLARS here, folks!

I thought: "MY GOD! THIS IS A SIGN! This must be what I'm put on this planet to do! It's my CALLING!" You see, my mom has NEVER EVER given me any newspaper clippings about ANYTHING before, so why now, why about this? MUST be a sign. I'm not a religious or superstitious person, but this was just a little too much to be coincidental, I decided! So I kept working my lower-part-of-my-body (no, not my legs!) off. I finished the first card JUST in time for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary and emailed it to them on the morning of their big day. It was a big success : ) It was a card with two bored, cats picking their noses (I know! It doesn't really sound like the kind of card you would send to your parents on their 50th wedding anniversary, but - what can I say? It worked great!) - check it out here: http://www.carlsencards.com/ecard-01-happy-birthday-bored-cats.htm. I have later changed the message to Happy Birthday.

So wanting to be serious about the whole thing, I needed a domain and I decided on the name carlsencards(.com) and purchased the domain. All the great keyword stuffed URLs were of course taken (always good to have your most important keywords in your URL!). So I thought I might as well promote my name a little. If that was a wise decision I still don't know - jury's still out on that one. Then again, who would have ever thought that "yahoo" or "google" were great names for websites?! I rest my case. But here is the first lesson to be learned; CHOOSE A LESS COMPETITIVE MARKET IF YOU CAN! Not something like... say; ECARDS! Search for "ecards" and you'll get 34,500,000 results in google! Good luck getting to the top of THAT list! I don't want to state the obvious, but... I do anyway; it's also a good idea to choose a product, a service or a theme you are interested in yourself and LIKE working with.

For the next 6 months I worked on my site. Every weekend, holiday and vacation I got up around 6am so that I could get to work on my BIG IMPORTANT PROJECT! I had decided that 20 cards would be enough to launch the site. This ecards site is all about QUALITY not quantity, you see. I put a lot of work into each card; first the story, then drawing and animating, then composing and recording the music and sound effects, and finally putting the card on my site. A card takes 2-4 days to make, so it took me about 6 months to complete the 20 cards I thought would be enough for starters.

I intended to keep making cards after the big, GRAND opening, so the site would continue to grow and my users ("my users" - Oh, I like saying that: MY USERS! I have USERS!) would have new cards to send every time they visited my site. And - for your information - I still make cards. Every free minute I have is spent working on my ecard website. But I like it.

And here's another lesson to be learned (but I already knew that); people expect websites to change, be updated and grow ALL THE TIME. It's like children! You can't just have a baby and then expect it to grow up all by itself. Or so I've heard. I don't have children myself. Not the human kind, anyway! Only the furry, four legged kind with whiskers. But they need caring and looking after, too!

Then the big day arrived; I WAS READY TO LAUNCH MY SITE. And here's where I was REALLY naïve. I thought that all I had to do was send ecards to all my friends, and they would love the cards and find them utterly cute and funny and they would send cards to all THEIR friends who again would love my cards and send cards to... I think you get the picture.

Lesson to be learned: That happens like once in a blue moon. Or once in 10 blue moons. Okay it happened for Jacquie Lawson. It happens SOMETIMES in real life. But it certainly didn't happen in my real life. Only in my dreams!

Hmmmm, what to do, what to do... I definitely wasn't ready to give up just yet (another useful lesson: DON'T GIVE UP!). So I searched the Internet and found a site that listed free stuff of all kinds. Hey, I have free stuff on my site, maybe I can get them to link to my site. Wow, they were way ahead of me on that one; they actually had a button that said "Submit site". Great! I submitted my site, but - oh - what's that? "Reciprocal link" - what is that? Oh, so I have to link to you, and you'll link to me. Hmmmm, sort of I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours. Oh, but that'll ruin my great design. There must be other ways.

Lesson number... I have lost count! Anyway, lesson to be learned; reciprocal linking is hard to avoid. I have later learned that one-way links are better, but to get things started and to get people to visit your wonderful site, it's a good idea to find sites that will link to you and generate some traffic. And so what if you have to put a couple of little buttons and text links on your site. So I exchanged links with a free stuff site, and - WOW - people OTHER than my 20 or so friends visited my site!

We're not talking several thousands a day. Actually not even hundreds. But around 60-80 a day, which is way better than 3-4. Now we're cooking. Yes, but the cooking started to slow down after a week or so. Okay, now what? I guess I just have to find a couple more sites to exchange links with.

So again I searched the Internet. Lo and behold, there are lots of sites that list free stuff out there! And to make a long, boring story a little shorter; I exchanged links with about a dozen free stuff sites and I did get a little traffic. But there must be other ways....

DIRECTORIES! There are (probably) hundreds of thousands of directories where you can get listed and most do not require a reciprocal link. Or a yearly fee to list your site. Again I spent hours researching and googling (I know google don't like us to use that word - to "google", but it's such a GOOD word) the words "free directory submit site". And if there was one thing I learned, it was that I STILL HAD A LOT TO LEARN ABOUT PROMOTING A WEBSITE!

SEO! What the hell is see-oh? Oh, it's S-E-O! Search Engine Optimization - still have no idea what that is. So I researched - isn't the Internet a wonderful invention? Oh my; keywords, href title tags, alt tags, text content, file names, keyword density... I thought I had done everything I needed to do in that department by just placing some nice keywords in the meta tags (you know; title, description and keywords)! But, noooooooooo, search engines don't care about that anymore. Now you have to put your keywords into all those other tags AND the content. And you have to choose your keywords VERY carefully (google has some nice tools that can help you research and find the right keywords - link at the end of the article). Aha! Wish I had known that BEFORE I started building my website. Another very useful lesson! I won't explain exactly how to do all this, but I'll give you some links to great sites, that explain this much better that I ever could. I just want you to know that this is something you have to do.

Okay, so that's it! NOW I'm all set to attract millions of visitors. Well, what's your pagerank, Martine? My what? My "pagerank"? Where can I get that? Can I buy it on ebay? Oh no, pagerank is something you EARN so to speak. But how? Get lots and lots of QUALITY inbound links - preferably one-way links (meaning that THEY show you theirs, but YOU don't have to show them yours! Well, actually THEY show everybody YOURS, but you don't have to... You know what I mean). Google likes that! And you do what google likes. Because most people find sites by searching google. And they seldom get past page 1 or 2 in the google results. So how DO you get to the top of google's search results?

Good question. Very good question. Very few people know a lot about that and a lot of people (like me) know very little about it. But people like me (who know just a little) have a good excuse, because IT'S A SECRET! Only the people who work for google - actually only SOME of those people REALLY know what google likes the most and thereby goes to the top of the list. And you know what? Doesn't pay to try to find out, because they CHANGE IT all the time!

Google uses something called algorithms to determine which sites to put on the top of the list (if you're interested you can find tons of information on that on the Internet). And they keep changing these algorithms. Yes, I think that's really sneaky, too. But it does serve a purpose. Otherwise clever - even more sneaky - webmasters would find out and take advantage of this knowledge and get THEIR websites to the top of the lists even though their sites are not the most relevant. See the point? So I guess that's okay. But it certainly doesn't make my life easier. I have to guess and try out different keywords and keyword placements and keyword density until I just give up and say "That'll do little piggy. That'll do!" That was a quote from "Babe", and if you're not familiar with that movie; RENT IT, BUY IT, SEE IT!

Another thing google likes, is a nice, simple sitemap. It makes google's job a lot easier. But that's no biggie, this site will do it for you: http://www.xml-sitemaps.com - and let's all give a big hand to xml-sitemaps.com for helping us out with that one.

So, to sum it all up:
- optimize you site (this is the SEO part) - doing this from the very beginning is a lot easier than after you have created 167 pages! I know from experience. And this includes making a sitemap.
- get lots of inbound (one-way) QUALITY links (that'll give you pagerank and a higher position on google's search results). Directories are good. But don't get them all at once; getting too many links too fast will seem like spam to google, and you don't want that to happen!
- get some links to your site that can generate some traffic (it's okay to reciprocate some links - I think!). And it'll be good for you self esteem to see that your site gets visitors that are NOT closely related to you : )
- and do what I'm doing right now; write funny/informative/useful articles and submit them to sites all over the Internet. And remember to include your name and URL : ) That's sort of the whole purpose of doing this. Not that I didn't write this article to amuse you. I did. Of course I did!

And finally - and this just might be the best and most important advice of all; STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM THE "Guaranteed 100,000 Visitors $15! Very Cheap Traffic" SITES! 100.000 unique visitors - YEAH, RIGHT! Don't do it! It's a scam, it's a waste of money and google doesn't like it! You may even get your site banned from google by doing that. I know it's tempting, but so is robbing a bank and getting $2 million in 4 minutes. But it doesn't pay in the long run.

So, I guess that's it. I hope you had fun reading about my experiences promoting my website. And I hope you learned a little as well. Good luck with your website!

And here' s the list of REALLY useful sites with REALLY useful information that I used (and still use) promoting MY website:

Great tools:
http://www.iwebtool.com
http://www.selfseo.com
http://www.seobook.com
http://www.webuildpages.com
http://www.seocompany.ca
http://www.xml-sitemaps.com
http://developers.evrsoft.com

Keyword tools:
http://www.google.com (search for "google trends")
http://www.google.com (search for "KeywordToolExternal")

Lists of directories:
http://www.submithelper.com
http://info.vilesilencer.com
http://searchenginewatch.com
http://strongestlinks.com

... so has my website become a great success with thousands of visitors every day? Well, my site is still very new, so it's too early to say. But I hope and I believe and most of all I still work hard on promoting my site and adding new cards every week! So who knows? Beware, Jacquie Lawson, there's a new kid in town!

About the Author

Martine Carlsen, that's me, is the creator and owner of http://www.carlsencards.com - a free animated eCards website.
She - me again - works full-time as a web designer and began working on carlsencards.com due to an overwhelming need to work in a boss-free zone with total control of design, ideas and lunch hours.

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Hotel Rwanda Movie Summary

Hotel Rwanda Movie Summary

DID YOU KNOW…

Like Kenya, Dominica and Madagascar, Botswana is known for its fantastic nature scenery. It is a friendly country famous for its touristic attractions such as the Chobe National Park and the Kalahari Desert.Chobe National Park is one of the largest national parks in the world and is much bigger than the Netherlands.This tropical paradise is the home of many kinds of wild animals—which includes elephants, zebras, lions, giraffes, and rhinoceroses.Thousands of tourists visit the country each year to see and photograph wild animals. Furthermore, Kalahari Desert is one of the world´s most ecologically important areas.

DID YOU KNOW…

In the 1970s, “Black and White in Color” was a film from Ivory Coast, currently Cote d´Ivoire. In 1976, Black and White in Color” won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

Winner: Black and White in Color (Ivory Coast).

Finalists: -Cousin, Cousin (France)

-Jacob, the Liar (East Germany)

-Nights and Days (Poland)

-Seven Beauties (Italy)

DID YOU KNOW…

The 1980 Olympic Games were not boycotted by 25 African nations, including Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Angola, Lybia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe, formerly known as Rhodesia,won the gold medal in field hockey in the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.

DID YOU KNOW…

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is president of Liberia since 16 January, 2006. She became Africa´s first elected female head of state. Liberian Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is one of the most important leader in Africa.Liberia is one of the world´s poorest countries.

DID YOU KNOW…

Like Brazil, Peru,and Australia, the Democratic´s Republic of Congo has one of the richest ecosystems in the world.

DID YOU KNOW…

Miriam Makeba (South Africa) is probably the most popular African singer of all time.Like Mpule Kwelagobe and Nelson Mandela, she is also an anti-AIDS activist in the Third World.

DID YOU KNOW…

In 1978, 18 year-old Margaret Gardinier of South Africa became the first African Miss Universe in the history of the contest.Miss Universe 1978 went to Guatemala, France, Australia and other countries.

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DID YOU KNOW…

Botswana is rich in mineral resources such as copper, silver, nickel and diamonds. Since 1970, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Botswana are the world´s largest producers of diamonds.

DID YOU KNOW…

“Hotel Rwanda”, a film by Irish director Terry George, was inspired in the Rwandan genocide (1993-1995). “Hotel Rwanda” was nominated for 3 Oscars ( Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Screenplay).

DID YOU KNOW…

The sporting system is one of the worst in the world, but Togo, an ex French colony in Africa, qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.Togo, a small country, is one of the nine poorest countries in the Third World.

DID YOU KNOW…

UNESCO has declared Royal Palaces of Abomey (Benin), Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park ( Central African Republic), Lower Valley of Awash (Ethiopia), and Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve( Madagascar) World Heritage Sites.

DID YOU KNOW…

Somalia is the birthplace of Iman, one of the most beautiful supermodels in the 1980s. Iman Abdulmajid was born in Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia, in 1955.She speaks five languages. From 1980 to 1994, she worked as actress in American and European films. Her filmography:”The Human Factor” (1980), “Out of Africa” (1985), “L.A.Story” (1991), “House Party II” (1991), and “Exit to Eden”. Certainly, she loves her country. Iman was an aid worked and journalist in Somalia during the famine and civil war there in the 1990s. Once she said, “I approached the BBC and told them I wanted to do a documentary about my return and let the Somali people speak for themselves”. The country African is one of the five poorest countries in the world.

My name is Alejandro Guevara Onofre, best known as "Alex". I have studied political science, journalism and international relations. I am a writer and professor. I spend a lot of time writing and researching about Third World countries, olympics sports, biographies and Peruvian gastronomy.

One of the most memorable moments in my life was in fact when I published my first book: an encyclopedia called Mundototal. After, I published a book about History of Women in the United States (Spanish). At the moment, I am working a book about Third World. In the future, I would like to publish books about Olympic Games, democracy, ecology and nations of the world.

I am very interested in projects about democracy, olympics sports and women´s rights.My hobbies are drawing, doing sports and learning about Third World cultures. I am passionate about 1970s Music.I like reading, especially political books.My favourite book is "Murder in A Gentle Land" by Anthony Paul and John Barron. My idol is Jimmy Carter. I really admire him is because he´s so positive and enthusiastic about Third World democracy.

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