The Building of the Great Pyramid

GEOPOLYMERIZATION:

'Rock-making' in Peru or Giza has much to offer the engineer who will see how these otherwise undescribable marvels were achieved. Indeed the whole situation is almost hard to believe when you see how much evidence of great things done in the past and how the cosmology of all peoples on earth is so similar. For example, I just watched a show dealing with the Incan Andean cosmology that said they believed in 'As Above, So Below'. This is one of the three Laws of Kings and the saying of Hermes, which is our secret agent of British intelligence on the back cover of his book "Secret Societies". It makes sense if you know Quetzalcoatl / Kukulcan / Verachocha Xolotl, and sometimes a white man who brings astronomers for many centuries, as quoted by many in the words of Monteczuma and others.

Dr. Davidovits is the holder of many modern rock or make geopolymer concrete processes and I spoke at length with his co-authorMarjorie Morris in 1993-4 about a variety of things related to their book 'The Pyramids: An Enigma Solved'. In the interest of brevity I'll leave out how they were back-stabbed in a media hatchet-job by WGBH Boston who produced what the BBC takes to schools all around the world. It is a video called 'This Old Pyramid' and it was shown on U.S. National TV as well as 'The Nature of Things' with David Suzuki. I saw his letter saying he didn't know they had used fork-lift trucks and modern tools to build this small pyramid that shifted in the sand after a few weeks and didn't have the 'fit' anyway. Many people think Hermes Trismegistus was a compiler of the knowledge of Thoth or Ptah whose T-square is on a stele I found at Chichen Itza. This is the same T-square the Masons used for years and now you see on their temples everywhere with the quarter circle addition to give the degrees so important to them (It may have 33 degrees like our vertebrae, but there are other layers of meaning in degrees.).

Part of the ancient attunement arts included a relationship with minerals as attested to in almost all shamanic cultures. The recent April issue of Scientific American deals with this in a somewhat tangential manner as it mentions the Miller-Urey Chicago creation of life experiment that was taught as creation of animate from inanimate for many years although it actually isn't creation, of much more than a few basic proteins. However, that start which became a dead end in some people's minds has continued to produce valuable insights. This particular article helps one see how the attunement may have been initiated by the collective consciousnesses within inanimate matter or mountains that the natives of the world revere. It may be a bit of a stretch but the nanotube article and other science from solid state chemistry as well as the work of Drs. Robins and Tiller would support it as well.

"Carbon-based molecules needed protection and assistance to enact this drama {The beginning of life, which NASA now knows is everywhere.}. It turns out that minerals could have served at least five significant functions, from passive props to active players, in life-inducing chemical reactions. Tiny compartments {What Robins calls 'energy wells'.} in mineral structures can shelter simple molecules, while mineral surfaces can provide the scaffolding on which those molecules assemble and grow. Beyond these sheltering and supportive functions, crystal faces of certain minerals can actually select particular molecules resembling those that were destined to become biologically important. The metallic ions in other minerals can jump-start meaningful reactions like those that must have converted simple molecules into self-replicating entities. Most surprisingly, perhaps, are the recent indications that elements of dissolved minerals can be incorporated into biological molecules. In other words, minerals may not have merely helped biological molecules together, they could become part of life itself! "(11)

Before I thought (briefly) of Davidovits and Morris (who became a strident advocate scientific aplomb without good reason), I have an example of some shamanic and Taoist thought. The forces that exist in nature and orient on the move along the grid lines in the world are alike in every crystal and why nanotubes, the structure of the addforms they do. The four primary forces on this illustration are vital elements of the adepthoods in all nature-focused science. The secondary and other forces are numerous and part of the glue that makes the whole of life meaningful. Needless to say there are many knowledge trees that more completely reflect these anciently understood realities. The Sephirah or spheres in the Judaic tradition are quite akin to the North America Indian Tree of Yggdrasil (aligned with the Norse) and some people spend a whole lifetime getting to know just one sphere or sephirah.

"Geopolymers are revolutionary for the concrete industry {He is a member of the Board of Portland Cement and a Director of a French concrete development consortium or research entity. His Doctorate in chemistry began his journey.}. Any type of rock aggregate can be used, and concrete made with the geopolymeric binder is practically indistinguishable from natural stone. Geologists unfamiliar with the technical possibilities afforded by geopolymerization have scrutinized geopolymeric concrete and have mistaken it for natural stone. This is unprecedented technology; no tremendous heat or pressure is required... sets rapidly at room temperatures to form synthetic stone...

To develop a new branch of chemistry is one thing, but to apply that chemistry to ancient history is quite another. How did I learn that the pyramid stone is also geopolymeric? Any theory must be feasible; then, there must be evidence; and ultimately, hard scientific proof is required. All mysteries associated with pyramid construction must be resolved. {The pyramid rock weighs 20-25% less than quarried stone and the same as geopolymeric rock. This does not mean that Christopher Dunn's finishing engineering doesn't apply and that moulds were used when obelisks or special rocks were required either. He doesn't deal with the healing or other energy in some of these surrounding structures either.} A description is found in the ancient science encyclopedia written by Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23-79), the Roman naturalist. Pliny's account is not legendary or written esoterically; it clearly describes the salient features of the technology. But Pliny's description has not been understood by modern science, because to recognize what is written, one must have the appropriate knowledge... {Or at least enough to actually hear what is being said.}

To date, the passages related to alchemical stonemaking confuse scholars, resulting in gross errors of translation on Pliny's work. Worse, the salient principles and characteristics of the ancient science being unknown, the translators dismissed Pliny's account as erroneous. De Roziere commented on the problems of translation:

'M. Grosse, author of a German translation of Pliny, highly esteemed by learned people, points out that in the whole of this description the Roman naturalist seems to have done his best to make himself obscure. 'Despite my familiarity,' he said, 'both with Pliny's style and the meaning he gives to terms, it has been difficult, sometimes even impossible, to translate the passages clearly and exactly.' The reason was certainly that he was unfamiliar with the substance that Pliny was describing...

A passage from Book 31 of Pliny's encyclopedia made no sense to the French scholars. But the passage is compelling in its support of the existence of alchemical stonemaking. The passage appears in Latin as follows:

Nitrariae Aegypti circa Naucratim et Memphim tantum solebant esse, circa Memphim deteriores. Nam et lapidescit ibi in ascervis: multique sunt cumuli ea de causa saxei. Faciunt ex his vasa

Translated into English this passage reads:

In previous times, Egypt had no outcrops of natron except for those near Naucratus {Where the Milesian consortium set up their trading city around the 6th century BCE.} and Memphis, the products of Memphis being reputedly inferior. It is a Fact that an accumulation of materials that it (sodium bicarbonate) Petrified (minerals). In this way a substitute for a multitude of heaps (minerals), which became real rocks. The Egyptians have made it rock.

This particular passage is simple and narrow, so that no error of translation. "(12)

The following quote from him was the light of recent archaeological discoveries show that agriculture and read a script (Flinders Petrie, one of the very oldest known alphabetnon-hieroglyphic nature in Egypt in the early 20th century as did MacDari. Grant notes a pre-existing Canaanite alphabet. Gimbutas has shown a lot that relates to this as well as to the Tartessus written history Strabo said recorded 7,000 years before Christ, etc. etc.) from a thousand years before the Nile had these things. There is evidence of an advanced agriculture in the Nile that existed while the Sphinx was built and then left the area during the wet phases of the last Ice Age around 7,000 BC as well.

"The Great Pyramid in front of Khafra's pyramid has become more controversial than ever in light of recent geological studies. Based on the severe manner in which blocks covering the lower layers {Clearly not naturally occurring as the 'Archaeology Magazine' presentation of this month (April 2001) would have its readers think might be true.} of the body and paws are eroded, the age of the Sphinx has, once again, come into serious question.

Today, the Sphinx is attributed to Khafra (Chephre in another language). Earlier Egyptologists believed it was erected a great deal earlier than his reign, perhaps at the end of the archaic period. The Sphinx looks much older than the Pyramids.

No inscriptions connect the sacred monument to Khafra (except reconstruction gangs graffiti), but in the Valley Temple, a dozen statues of Khafra, one in the form of a Sphinx, were uncovered in the 1950's. Some Egyptologists claim a resemblance between these statues and the face of the Sphinx.

A document which indicates greater antiquity, however, was found on the Giza Plateau by French Egyptologists during the nineteenth century {Napoleon got to collect the Maltese island and great wealth on his way to the desert in an expedition of no military value. The Britannica even acknowledges this mysterious circumstance}. The text, called the 'Inventory Stele', bears inscriptions relating events during the reign of Khafra's father, Khufu. The text says that Khufu instructed that a temple be erected alongside the Sphinx, meaning that the Sphinx already existed before Khafra's time. The accuracy of the stele has been questioned because it dates from the Twenty-first Dynasty (1070-945 BC.), long after the Pyramid Age, but because the Egyptians took great pride in precise record keeping {Well, let's say they were well aware of glory and posterity; they would also have known what happened in a time closer to their period of history, than Egyptologists today.} and the careful copying of documents, no authoritative reason exists to discount the text as inaccurate.

Fragments of early papyruses and tablets, as well as the later writings of the third century B.C. Greco-Egyptian historian {A priest} Manetho, claim that Egypt was ruled for thousands of years before the First Dynasty, some texts claim as much as 36,000 years earlier. {A deep mine in Egypt is reported to have been dated to 35,000 BC. that came to light in the last year or so.} This history is dismissed by Egyptologists as legend {Even though they use Manetho's kings list extensively in their own fabrication.}. However, ancient Egyptian history is viewed by scholars mostly from a New Kingdom perspective {To dovetail with the Bible Narrative.} because numerous documents have survived from Thebes. The capital of Memphis, founded during prehistoric times, was a vitally important religious, commercial, cultural and administrative center with a life span of thousands of years, but unfortunately, it has not been effectively excavated.

{Britannica tells us: "the excavations of Thomas W. Jacobsen at the Franchithi Cave on the Bay of Argos... by 13,000 - 11,000 B.C. and that the cultivation of hybrid grains, the domestication of animals, and organized community tuna hunts had already begun." (13) This is in Crete where another major Keltic administrative colony existed, to go along with Malta and probably Byblos if not what is known as Harappa, and also Finias.}

The recent geological studies of the Sphinx have kindled more than debate over the attribution and age. The established history of the evolution of civilization is being challenged.

A study of the severe body erosion of the Sphinx and the hollow in which it is situated indicates that the damaging agent was water. A slow erosion occurs in limestone when water is absorbed and reacts with salts in the stone. The controversy arises over the vast amounts of water responsible.

Two theories are popular. One is that groundwater slowly rose into the body of the Sphinx. This theory produces irreconcilable problems: A recent survey carried out by the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) determined that three distinctly separate repair operations were completed on the Sphinx between the New Kingdom and the Ptolemaic rule, that is, during a period of roughly 700 to 1,000 years. The study also indicates that the Sphinx was already in its current state of erosion when the early repairs were made. No appreciable erosion has occurred since the original damage, nor is there further damage on the bedrock of the surrounding hollow, an area that never underwent repair.

Knowing this, one must consider that the inundating Nile slowly built up levels of silt over millenia, and this was accompanied by a gradual rise in the water. During Khafra's time the water table was about thirty feet lower than it is today. For the rising groundwater theory to hold, an unbelievable geological scenario would have to have taken place. It would mean that from thirty feet lower than today's water table, water rose to about two feet into the body of the Sphinx and the surrounding hollow, where it caused erosion for roughly 600 years, and then stopped its damaging effects.

Historians find the second theory that is offered more unthinkable. It suggests that the source of water stemmed from the wet phases of the last ice age--c.15,000 to 10,000 B.C.- {Schoch has it at this time according to West and Graham Hancock or other alien theorists; but his actual first choice is 7,000 BC era.} when Egypt underwent periods of severe flooding. This hypothesis advocates that the Sphinx necessarily existed before the floods. If it could be proven, well-established theories about prehistory would be radically shaken. The world's most mysterious sculpture would date to a time when historians place humanity in a neolithic setting, living in open camps and depending largely on hunting and foraging." (14)

Thus the Egyptians would have to give up their claim to having built it. This is their pride and joy and it is difficult to admit such a lie. The truth when one looks at all the facts; is that there is no way the Egyptians built the Great Pyramid. If it was not the Phoenicians then it was African cultures such as Timbuktu, who we know even less about. It is likely they and other people around the world merely imitated it and its Keystone, which is earlier than its base (ARCE Carbon, AMS dating). The key to it may have been used as a model to demonstrate the effects of two tetrahedra perfect a perfect pyramid, has created "Phi" and the type of design that the deep nautilus shell. These are not co-incidence and reflect lessons learned through initiations with spiritual things, or "direct perception". The only other possible explanation is the theory or an advanced alien hominid, which has increased ourcurrent level of technical understanding that went into space or somehow disappeared. Would they have gone to space like we can, and return for appropriate or unique resources needed from their evolutionary home? We must keep an open mind and not try to make facts force-fit easy theories. That approach is common in science and goes by names like 'reductivism', 'gradualism', and 'direct inference'.

Summer Vacation - Have You Ever Wanted To Try Nude Beaches?

Hand on heart, how many of us have been on vacation close to nude beaches and have not taken a look or at least wondered what the experience of going nude would be? Having stayed in resorts where nudity is allowed and visited nude beaches for our offline travel and vacation business, I know it's a summer vacation idea that many have considered...

To go nude or not to go nude?

That is the question that many vacationers end up asking themselves. If you are interested in spending your summer vacation at an overseas beach, it is likely that you will have to decide. You may also find that overseas beaches may not be classified as being nude beaches but nude sunbathing is actually permitted.

For may of us with young families this need not be a concern as it is more than typical that "like attracts like" and I have normally found that on mixed beaches, nude bathers will typically congregate in same area.

Nude beaches are ideal for adults who are spending their summer vacation with a mature crowd. Whether you are vacationing overseas with your friends or you are vacationing with your partner or spouse, many adults find nude beaches appealing. In a way, many couples find nude beaches to be exotic; thus, creating a romantic atmosphere.

In the United States, nudity is a controversial topic. If seeing nude men and women having fun on the beach does not bother you, you may want to consider selecting a nude beach as your next summer Holiday destination. When it comes to choosing a nude beach is to find, you have a number of options. What follows is an overview of three major nudist beaches that you can choose as next holiday destination in summer.

Montalivet The Beach is located in France. He is known as one of the most famous nude beaches in the world. France is often credited for the development and increased popularity of nudist beaches. The beach is located on the Atlantic coast and offers a range ofovernight accommodations, including bungalow rentals and campsites. The atmosphere at Montalivet Beach is often reported as being safe for individuals of ages.

Samurai Beach, located in Australia is another, one of many, top rated nude beaches. Multiple resorts along the beach, including Bardot's Clothing Optional Resort, allow nudity. In fact, nudity at the Samurai Beach is so common that it has become the home of the Nude Olympics, which are held on a yearly basis.

Spain and Greece are homes to a number of nude beaches, including the popular Red Beach. In addition to vacationing on the beach nude, Greece is well-know for its history. There are a number of historical landmarks along the Red Beach. Red Beach is famous for its lack of limits on nudity. The only restriction, at this popular nude beach, is that clothing must be worn in the dining hall. A large number of nude beaches limit when and where you can be in the nude, but Red Beach offers freedom to all.

As previously mentioned, nude beaches are ideal for mature crowds. If you are vacationing with your family or other young children, you may want to reexamine your decision to vacation at a nude beach. While a number of nude beaches are classified as being "family friendly," nudity may create some confusion, especially with younger children. If you are still interested in visiting beaches overseas, below is an overview of popular beaches, where clothing is required.

The coast of Spain from the north east to the southern most tip of Europe in the south west offers a tremendous range of beaches and beach amenities to suit all tastes and age groups. The Costa del Sol in the south (where we actually live) is no exception to this including all the kinds of coastal sports activities imaginable.

Located in Thailand is the island of Phi Phi Leh. The most well-known beach is the area is the Maya Beach. The area was damaged in the tsunami A few years ago, but for most of the area has seen a rebirth. In addition to traditional beach activities, new facilities, services and activities were recorded for tourists.

Cannes in the French Riviera. Cannes is well known for its frequent celebrity visits. While Cannes is often viewed as an expensive destination, you may be able to enjoy the beaches and breathtaking scenery on a budget.

Bondi Beach in Australia, is a popular holiday destinationdestination. Beaches line the coast of this large island. Due to its popularity, Bondi Beach is often overcrowded. Despite large crowds, tourists often enjoy the numerous on and off shore activities found at Bondi Beach.

In addition to the above mentioned beaches, there are a large number of additional overseas vacations. Whether you choose to vacation at a nude beach or a beach where clothing is required, you are sure to find the perfect summer vacation destination.

Are you bored with the same summer vacation routine? Struggling to find that vacation of a lifetime? Then open your mind to the unique possibilities by visiting qdmarbella.com below. You will be delighted by the choice and the comments made by clients from North America and other countries.

Hoi An, Vietnam - Top Ten

Hoi An

If you fancy upgrading your wardrobe with shiny new threads, Hoi An is the place. Every other shop in this small, perfectly formed central Vietnamese town belongs to a tailor who will happily whip up a pair of slinky pyjamas or a silk kimono ('made-to-measure, Visa or Mastercard'). It will be made from the fruit of locally bred silkworms and, with luck, will fit perfectly and carry no size tag.

This fashion hub and Unesco World Heritage Site has long been a class act. In the 16th and 17th centuries, it was an international port called Faifo swarming with Chinese and Japanese merchants. Today, the exotic trader influence shines through in the shrines, silk shops, bridges and quaint tile-roofed wooden houses.

Because many of the downtown streets are closed to cars and even motorcycles on some days, they are great for a wander. Although most shops target tourists, unusually for Vietnam, much of the town has been conserved. A heritage time capsule, this living museum of Vietnamese culture offers visitors the tranquility many need as an antidote to the mania of the country's cities, and from their lives back home.

The limited development that has been allowed has unfolded sympathetically, resulting in a minimum of tower blocks and karaoke parlours and a general lack of tat and tack. It feels "boutiquey" rather than "souveniry", to echo one observer.

When you tire of the lanterns, kites and looms, there is no need to pack up and leave. Just beyond the fringes of this most picturesque of towns, you will find plenty of momentous attractions, if little in the way of golf, although the area has five world-class courses in the pipeline.

Tempted? Hoi An is just down the road and is far quieter than Hanoi. Instead of honking horns and revving motorbikes, the prevalent sounds are whirring sewing machines, clinking chisels and softly shuffling flip-flops topped by sibilantly humming voices.

Give in to the temptation to fall into a trance, but try to snap out of it when you take a taxi, as you are still in the most commercial of countries. Confirm the cost and destination. Otherwise, expect to arrive at the wrong hotel, to be charged way too much and then to be stung for extras, such as for having too many shopping bags or for any other reason your driver can concoct, such as being a large person, or your belt causing wear-and-tear on the upholstery.

Finally, ensure you have plenty of traveller's cheques or stacks of cash. The reason: as in much of Vietnam, the ATMs have the distressingly capricious habit of, like casino one arm bandits, dispensing cash at random intervals or not at all.

For wireless internet access on what some Vietnamese call your 'toplap', try the Hai Scout cafe at 111 Tran Phu Street. Alternatively, try another old quarter stalwart, the chic and bare-bones Art Cafe at 30 Thai Hoc Street, which is a good place to relax and soak up Hoi An's ample atmosphere. "It nice," as the sign says.

Simon Ramsden lists the top ten attractions in or near a town with four UNESCO World Heritage sites within easy reach:

1. Japanese Covered Bridge
Surprisingly short and stocky, Hoi An's most famous landmark has a tall story behind it. The story begins with a monster called Cu, which was so big it had its head in India and its tail in Japan. The products of its nether regions, which are situated over Vietnam, have been credited with most of what is good, and bad, in the country's history.

In the 1590s a covered bridge was built in Hoi An to link the Japanese side of town with the Chinese quarter. According to the story, because the bridge spanned the weakest part of the monster, the pressure killed it. Hence the shrine of atonement halfway across.

As if that legend were not odd enough, one entrance is guarded by a pair of monkeys and the other by a pair of dogs.

2. Hoi An Harbour
To see the harbour at its most magical, rise at daybreak and go to the bridge. A guide will take you out on a wood-boards-and-peeling-paint ferry for a fresh, laid-back take on the town. Bobbing and lolling around, you may feel that you have stepped back in time to the age of Marco Polo.

3. Tran Family Worship House
Ringed by a garden and high fences, the Old Town house could more accurately be described by a bourgeois word you are still not meant to use. Infused by Chinese and Japanese influences, the temple, sorry house, was constructed by a mandarin named Tran Tu Nhac.

Intriguingly designed, it splits into the main worship part and an annex for family and guests. The worship hall has three doors, each for a different type of visitor.

The left door is for men, the right for women. The middle door, for the grandparents, is opened during the Tet new year festival and on other celebratory days. If the place feels too rigid for your taste, try Phuc Kien Pagoda - the assembly hall-cum-temple for Chinese from the Fujian province who worship the Fujian god Tien Hau.

4. Cargo Club Restaurant and Patisserie
One of the joys of Hoi An is the eccentric English displayed on menus. Think "grilled tofu with grass" and "banana pancake with bile honey".

Set in an ancient, two-storey shophouse on one of Hoi An's liveliest streets, the Cargo Club at 107-109 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street serves up a few linguistic oddities of its own, including 'alsatian baguette'.

Nonetheless, the food is reliably delicious and diverse. The repertoire includes everything from spicy seafood noodle soup to roasted fennel and goat cheese salad. Adding to the attraction, the club has chic dark wood decor and a balcony that commands sweeping views of the harbour.

To get so close to the water that you could drink it, try Citronella Cafe at 5 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai. But stick to the bottled water. For the purest water you can find, visit any of the stalls and cafes that sell green coconuts, where the vendor will hack one open for you with a machete. The coconut is free, but expect to pay for the straw to suck the juice out with.

5. Zen Spa
Founded to promote traditional Vietnamese therapy, Zen Spa (zenspa.com.vn) has two local branches. One, at the Hoi An Hotel, is right in the heart of town. The other, at the Hoi An Beach Resort is further out, by the seaside. Pampering services that come under the Zen Spa brand include facials, foot treatments, body scrubs, Pearl of Asia (incorporating exotic Thanh Long or 'dragon fruit'), Heaven and Earth (gentle body scrub with a great coconut aroma), The Five Elements ('fresh herbals and silver coins with ginger wine') and Forever Together ('fresh leaves and herbs'). Different.

6. Cua Dai Beach
So much appears in print about Hoi An's old quarter that the visitor may forget that the town lies beside the South China Sea. Fringed with palm trees, Hoi An's beach, Cua Dai, boasts clean white sand that stretches all the way to Danang and is short on hawkers: a blessing in a country where you are far too often assailed with the demand "You, buy my things."

7. Marble Mountains
These mountains are named after the crystalline metamorphic limestone from which they formed. Blessed with soaring, incense-filled caves and pagodas, the Marble Mountains have seen it all, fulfilling roles at various times in its history as a temple complex, battleground and hospital. In the latter of these roles injured Vietcong would convalesce whilst watching the ant-link figures of GI's playing on the beach below, oblivious of the enemy's presence.

The king of the Nguyen Dynasty, Vietnam's last ruling family, named the mountains after the five elements that make up the universe: (metal, wood, water, fire and earth). If you want to become at one with the universe, in characteristically business-like Vietnamese fashion you will be charged a small entry fee for each of the five elements with which you wish to harmonise.

8. My Son Sanctuary
The Unesco-listed My Son Sanctuary, often described as a Hindu holy land, rests in a remote jungle valley ringed by two mountain ranges. My Son once hosted the religious ceremonies of kings of the Champa dynasty, which ruled southern and central Vietnam from around the 7th century to the 19th. Unfortunately most of it was obliterated by the US Air Force in the war, but what remains is interesting, if only because the Hindu relics seem so out of place this deep inside Indochina.

The sanctuary consists of a string of semi-ruined but imposing tower-temples built by means that modern architecture does not understand. Often likened to the Cambodian temple complex Angkor, which the Champa sacked, My Son is a spooky place as awash with butterflies as with the spirits of the dead.

One of the strangest sight you will see in its grounds is the two American bomb casings dating back to a 1963 raid. The casings' shape echoes the deliberately phallic stone columns scattered around the sanctuary.

9. Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park
The karst (limestone crag) configurations at Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park stem from 400 million years of geological upheaval and growth. To get a sense of how slowly Phong Nha-Ke Bang evolved, consider that it takes a century for any of the stalactites or stalagmites to grow a single millimetre.

This Unesco site ranks as the oldest major karst area in Asia. It is big, too. Radiating from the border with Lao, Phong Nha-Ke Bang comprises 65 kilometres of caves and underground rivers. An adventure sports playground with a promising future.

10. Cham Museum, Danang.
This museum houses the world's finest collection of Cham sculpture and is a glorious testament to the artistic achievements of the Kingdom of Champa. The sandstone carvings of gods, beasts and celestial dancing girls possess exquisite beauty and grace and are so liberally displayed as to make it a challenge to fully appreciate this enchanting museum in a single visit.

Greek Paddles For Fraternities and Sororities

If you have been a member of a Greek organization or you have known someone who has, or even watched movies with fraternities in them you have seen Greek paddles. This is simply part of the organization, and most of them have a new paddle made for every year or every class of pledges that comes through the "house". The paddles are usually displayed in some prominent room of the main fraternity or sorority house to be seen by all who enter. While there is usually a paddle for every class of pledges or every year in operation most fraternity pledges are asked to make their own.

For instance, if you were going to join Tau Kappa Epsilon you may be asked before you are a full member of the organization to make your own paddle. This is something that most groups require that you put a lot of time and thought into, and often the result is part of what allows for one to be admitted into the selective group. Greek paddles look a lot like boat oars, in fact if you need to make one you might want to start with a boat ore that you can decorate as you see fit. Most paddles are about 2-3 feet in length, though some are bigger.

Wondering what is done with the paddles? Most of the time, they are just used as decoration or memento of joining the fraternity or sorority. Most pledges place them on their wall to remind them of their commitment to the group. A lot of alumni keep their paddles in a prominent place in their home or their office throughout their life, so it really does serve a purpose.

Other fraternities and sororities actually have their pledges make paddles for the "brother" or "sister" that is helping them pledge. The idea is to win the favor of the brother or sister by making them the most unique paddle. As is the same if you made the paddle for yourself, these paddles are usually hung on the wall. The idea is to show the pride you have in the Greek organization and share that pride with the other members of the group. This can be done in many creative ways from paint, to fabric, to rhinestones, and more. Greek paddles like the one that you would see in any sorority or fraternity such as Alpha Phi or others will have the sorority name and crest or symbol on the paddle that is totally customized. Many pledges make several paddles before it is all said and done.

The Greek paddle is a tradition that dates back for generations in the Greek fraternities and sororities and it probably isn't a tradition that will be done away with any time soon. While the paddles are just decorative, they also serve as a right of passage and get the new pledges to enjoy being members of an exclusive group. Most pledges agree that making their paddle was a lot of fun and an experience that won't soon be forgotten!

Out of The Labyrinth - The Lack of Sexual Tolerance in the Twenty-First Century

Some months ago, I ran across an article, just one of many, about homosexuality existing solely as choice, careening headlong into the labyrinth of immoral sexuality. This classic reflection is from 'The Family Research Institute' 2002, Volume 17, no.4. "Homosexuality is about rebelling against and trying to corrupt society, even as heterosexuality is about, for the most part, having and raising children. (Homosexuality) is also about coloring the world with SEX, regardless of the consequences. Its most prominent attitude is selfishness -- getting what's mine, what I deserve; getting back at all those who have hurt me, etc." and further on, "With rare exception, gays don't do these things because they are "confused as to whether they are a man or a woman." They know that they are men, they have just learned to enjoy sex with other men. They are not "sick," nor typically in great psychological distress. Rather they have acquired an evil habit, a bad habit, a socially injurious habit."

So, accordingly, gays are bad and straights, for the most part, are good. This kind of thinking and where it takes us is utterly absurd? It is a curious thing when I hear someone discussing homosexuality as an event of choice. It's highly implausible that anyone, especially children, could or would make a choice about something he or she cannot fully fathom and a choice which would bring obvious socially negative repercussions and often emotional and physical danger. One flock of thinkers remains convinced that homosexuality is a learned behavior. Well, for that matter, so is heterosexuality. We all must learn where and when and when not to have sex and how best to have it. Conversely, in cultures expressing abhorrence of homosexuality, the minority must learn the techniques of covert behavior, i.e. how not to get discovered, verbally offended, beaten or murdered.

In Thailand, where I now live, within the pulse of Buddhist tolerance, homosexuality, while certainly not embraced, is completely tolerated. Gay or transsexual students are not bullied nor intimidated by their peers.

Some Muslim countries, however, readily behead homosexuals, even though their culture was, and still is, naturally made up of the same percentage of homosexuals within the population as anywhere else on the planet and has been so for millennia.

Christian countries are hardly more tolerant. We need only conjure up the tragic image of Mathew Shepard, beaten senseless in 1998, his life slowly ebbing then ending in the cold Wyoming snow. Gay bashing is one of the most hideous symptoms of an intolerant culture and we are currently witnessing more and more of this dark hatred within our communities in the United States, especially in younger people.

A small group adheres to the notion of a 'gay gene', but most genetic scientists have generally disregarded this idea as having any provable merit. Every bit of evidence about genetic evolution indicates all creatures move relentlessly toward propagation of life in all its variations and a gene that would lean toward the contrary would eventually be eliminated from the gene pool. Sensible. Unless of course you are a Creationist from which nothing makes any sense at all. As a matter of fact, if the writer of the Family Heritage article were willing to take the investigative time, he or she might find that the percentage relationship of pornographic inter net sites between heterosexuals and homosexuals is about the same as the percentage of straights to gays. I would suspect that the straight to gay percentages remain fairly constant. For every 10,000 gay sites there are 100,000 straight porno sites. And we mustn't exclude all those in between. Very few of those sites are about procreation.

There is the possibility that the origins of homosexuality came along about the same time as the origins of heterosexuality. The truth is we just don't know. But historic records do show that same-sex fascination has been around for a long time. Aristotle opined that homosexuality was a naturally occurring way to prevent over-population. A real, altruistic possibility-a small part of us ordained to sacrifice the chance of pushing our own individual genes forward to help our species perpetuate. This doesn't always bear the right fruit, however, because religious/cultural pressures force a continuous cadre of gay men and women into marriage and having children. The ones I've known are damn good fathers and mothers and generally tend to instill a much needed and healthy breadth of tolerance in their sons and daughters.

Male homosexuality in ancient times was very much part of cultural militarism, Sparta and Athens as prime examples. In the 4th Century BC, The Greek military commander, Gorgidas, formed an elite army of homosexual lovers, consisting of the "heniochoi", the older man and charioteer along with his "parabaitai" or companion. (These terms are the same as the ancient Greek "erastes" and "eromenos.") This small army of 300 male lovers, called 'The Sacred Band', was formidable and unbeaten until it marched against Alexander the Great and his father Phillip II. It was Phillip's feared, long-speared Macedonian phalanx that fatally routed the Band; every couple died in battle rather than surrender. Phillip exclaimed "Perish the man who suspects that these men either did or suffered anything unseemly."

As a side note, it's interesting to compare the Greek word phallos, (thought to be proto-Hellenic in origin, expressing an endearing, diminuitive slang for the penis, much like our weanie or pee-pee-Greek phi, pe, penis) with phalanx, Greek phalangos, meaning 'finger'. I suppose even the ancient Greeks had early on developed a gesture to redress an obvious rudeness.

Even earlier, a thousand years before the apex of classical Greece, on the Island of Crete, there were already homosexual rituals deeply ensconced in cultures in which it was inseparable from the norms of heterosexuality. As it evolved it took on the shape of male initiatory rites, i.e. the cultural process of bringing boys into manhood. Similar rites continued overtly well into the twentieth century in Africa, South America and Asia. And, certainly covertly, it existed and still does in all Christian cultures, particularly those of the Catholic persuasion, if we can use the preponderance of current sex-abuse lawsuits as a yardstick.

Same-sex behavior in non-human species has been observed in approximately four hundred and fifty different species. Canadian biologist and linguist, Bruce Bagemihl, whose massive tome 'Biological Exuberance' chronicles these events, proposes an interesting theory of sexual behavior in which reproduction is not necessarily the only function of sexuality. As important are the release of tensions and group cohesion.

In fact 'Biological Exuberance' was sited in the Supreme Court case, Lawrence v. Texas, as evidence that homosexuality is a natural occurrence.

If same-sex desire isn't genetic and if it isn't through choice or learned behavior, how is that it exists and has existed longer than human memory. Is it coded and articulated through a kind of genetic predisposition? Surely anything that's been with us long before the myths of Christianity were made must have some reason for existing. I'm more in agreement with Bagemihl's ideas. And I would go further and say that the concept of heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality, as we perceive them in modern terms, is an impoverished diminishment of human variation and possibility by Christian dogma. In the panorama of speciation, mammals have become quite inventive. Not every male gets to mount the female-only the dominant few. Yet, with few exceptions, the same fire, the chemical furnace of sexuality, drives us all. Nature gives us delightfully beautiful options.

For whatever merit we might possibly squeeze out of it, the church is and has always been anxious to perpetuate ignorance. For example, in 2008, overturning a Supreme Court's decision guaranteeing fundamental rights for all, the people and politicians of California, (and elsewhere) voted for Proposition Eight, which defines marriage as only valid between a man and a woman. Supporting such an outright ban on human decency is an act of unconscionable cowardice. Fortunately Proposition Eight was overturned this year. Perhaps one day we'll fully embrace the term pan sexuality as it more generously refers to an appropriate, honest discourse on the aggregation of human potential, and the words "heterosexuality", "bisexuality" and "homosexuality" will be buried along with other artifacts of ignorance-fear, hatred, racism, bigotry and greed.

Philippines Vacations for Cheap Luxury Vacations

The ingredients of a MacDonald burger are identical whether you buy it in New York, London or Beijing. Similarly, the method of cooking and cleanliness regimes are identical. You could reasonably expect then that the cost of such a burger would be much the same no matter where you bought it. That is not the case because rent, utilities and labour costs vary and it is this variation that will show you just how cheap or expensive a country will be for you by just comparing the cost of a burger where you live to one in the country you are visiting.

A MacDonald burger delivered to your home in Manila costs almost exactly 50 Cents in US money. Try getting that where you live! A good quality cotton T shirt in the Philippines will cost you less than $2. It is the wages paid here that helps to make Philippines vacations such incredible value. The average wage here for an unskilled worker is still under $1 an hour in 2010

On Philippines vacations you really can enjoy 5 star luxury for 3 star prices.

Other things that keep the Philippines at the top of the quality vacations winners has to start with the beaches and scuba diving here. A recent Government survey showed that once a visitor has been to the Philippines and gone diving once he or she will return an average of ten times.

From a diving point of view phi lip pines vacations give you access to some of the very best waters and marine life on the planet. There is an ocean current called the Verde Island Passage which starts off in the mid Pacific and wanders like a lazy river to Puerto Galera in the Philippines. This current brings with it highly oxygenated water full of nutrients and as a direct result, 60% of all known species of shallow water marine fish in the world can be found off Puerto Galera.

Philippines vacations are also an all year round event because unlike the rest of the world, there are only two seasons, the Wet Season and the Dry Season. Each is six months long but even in the Wet Season the vast majority of the rainfall happens at night leaving most days warm and pleasant.

Philippines vacations then in summary are cheap and if you enjoy life on a warm beach this is the place for you. It is likely you will need to spend a little longer on an airplane but I think you will find it worth the extra traveling.

3 Destinations in Thai Paradise

Beautiful scenery, rich history and plenty of places to go wild make Thailand an exciting adventure for all who go there. It's a country that satisfies a range of travellers, from tourist types looking to hit the beach and soak up some rays, to young backpackers on hedonistic journeys of discovery. It's a particular darling of the latter set, with thousands of Brits heading to the country every year for a good few months of travelling around the country's islands and lush interior. There's a rich variety of great places to visit and things to do, and months can fly by without running out of activities. If you're travelling to Thailand soon, take a read of this article to find out more about three of the popular destinations.

Phuket
Located to the west of the country, Phuket is the largest and most popular island in Thailand. The island was hit hard by the 2004 Tsunami, but recovery has surged through tourism in the time since. With miles and miles of idyllic beaches and a collection of hotel resorts that wouldn't look out of place in a list of the world's best, tourists pour here by the bucket load. Some of the top resorts lie in the northern town of Ao Bang, where serious pampering comes at a serious price. This is home to a 7km long white beach and the Laguna Phuket golf club. Further south is Patong, a popular resort that lights up with neon during the night while providing home to the island's most popular beach - Hat Patong.

Bangkok
Once thought of as a dinghy third world city, the fortunes of Bangkok have soared in recent times to make it a sprawling cosmopolitan metropolis. It's a city which combines ancient culture with air conditioned mega malls, 200 year old homes with strips of sleaze, and Thai street food sellers cooking before restaurants of international flavours. Some people choose on a full blown and exotic city break, while others plan just to pass through on their way from the airport or to somewhere further afield. If you're going to Bangkok, then get ready for superb food and wild nights, but also check about the current political situation. Recent turmoil has brought unrest to the streets and caused some major airport delays.

Coastal Krabi
Krabi province is fast becoming a tourist hotspot, and many feel some of its unspoilt pleasures will soon mirror the faster paced destinations of somewhere like Ko Samui or Phuket. However, having been a region knocked off its feet by the 2004 tsunami, it hasn't seen a complete revival to what it once was. Particularly picturesque destinations include Railay and Ko Phi Phi Don. The former has become synonymous to paradise, with incredible cliffs guarding an amazing beach littered with strange limestone formations that make it fantastic for rock climbing. Meanwhile the latter was thought of so highly by the producers of the 2000 film The Beach, starring Leonardo Di Caprio, that they chose it as the setting for their perfectly unspoilt imaginary island. Get there while you still can!