Travel Advice

St. Patrick’s Day is known as a day of celebration and festivities, but very few people know the true story of St. Patrick and who he really is. By tradition, he is a patron saint of the Catholic religion because of the captivity that he went through, the time of solitude and his great faith, and eventually the number of people that were converted to know God through him. It is legend that he heard angels and they helped him in his decisions. All in all, he is known as the patron saint of good luck and blessings to the Catholics in that era up until the 21st century.

St. Patrick was a real live person born in the time around 400 AD in Roman Britian, when the British Isles were still under the domain of the Romans. He was born with the name Maewyn. His name wasn’t changed until he was in the monastery. His father was a soldier in the army, and Patrick also reports him to be a deacon, civil official, and a town councilor, who was a son of a Romano-British priest. The family was Christian, but they weren’t extremely religious, some historians even say Patrick was agnostic in his childhood.

According to his most famous work, the Confessio, Patrick was captured along with many others when his village was attacked, and he was taken to Ireland as a slave. Patrick was under the authority of a druid high priest and his family and here he learned the native Celtic language which he later used to communicate, and help those to be converted.

After 8 years in captivity, he escaped at the age of twenty-two, and legend has it that an angel directed him to spend twelve years in a monastery near Paris, France, where he adopted the name Patrick. It was during this time of captivity that Patrick found God and developed the habit of praying throughout the day to strengthen himself and to be closer to God. It is recorded in the Confessio that he would often pray up to 100 times a day. One night, while in the monastery, he said he heard many voices that were calling him back to Ireland to help the remaining slaves. At this time he was somewhere in his mid thirties and so he answered the callings. He became one of the first Christian missionaries in Ireland.

He was confident in the Lord, and he journeyed far and wide, baptizing and confirming with untiring zeal. Indeed, Patrick was successful at converting Ireland to christianity . And he even made important converts even among the royal families. For 20 years he had travelled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries, schools and churches, which would aid him in his conversions. He died on March 17th.

You can see how originally this was a Catholic holy day, but today St. Patrick’s Day has evolved into more of a secular holiday. Or, rather, ‘be Irish Day ‘. Speculation as to why this holiday is so popular could be the coming of spring that occurs within just a few days.

Niall Cinneide loves entertaining and celebrating St Patrick’s Day. He publishes views, information and news about St Patricks Day at St Patricks Information.

This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and the live links are included intact. All rights reserved. Copyright http://www.St-Patricks.info

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More column inches have been written about how to please the search engines and persuade them to bestow favour on your website than almost any other internet-related topic. But as far as I know no-one has previously tried to understand their gender: do they behave more like a man, or more like a woman? Understand their gender can surely help us to gain a better insight into how to appeal to them.

MSN is very clear: MSN is a man. Everything about MSN is straightforward: do the right thing and you will be recognized. Follow the advice of the experts and you will surely rank highly on MSN as long as your competitors are less diligent in this respect than you. Good content, relevant titles, keyword-related metatags, loads of quality inbound links, varied keyword anchor-text, a good smattering of deep links and a #1 ranking will be your reward. I have gained #1 positions on MSN for moderately competitive keywords within a week of trying. What you see is what you get with MSN: he is a man.

Is Yahoo a man or a woman? I find it hard to decide. Perhaps it is a serial transsexual, or maybe just androgynous. Sometimes Yahoo is as straightforward as a man: do the right thing, pay your dues and join the club, no complications. This happens to me on some of my keywords: I have followed the rules and gained my reward. On others, apparently no more competitive, and where I am just as well-optimized, if not better, I am nowhere. For these words, she is a woman, immune to my blandishments.

On the other hand, Google is surely all woman, with womanly wiles and deeply imbued with womanly mystery. If you want to penetrate deep into Google you need to learn the art of seduction. Is there anything on the planet more frustrating than trying to optimize your website to rank highly for a competitive keyword on Google. Sometimes I think not. She is like a woman that is always just out of reach. She will not reveal her secrets for even the largest bunch of flowers. I know that I have the best content in my category, more quality links, deeper links, more varied anchor text, more articles and more of everything that is supposed to drive positioning than any of my competitors. By far. Not a single one of my 5000 odd backlinks is directly reciprocated, and I have at least 10 inbound links for every outbound one. I have never paid for a text link ad, or joined a link farm. A decent proportion of my inbound links are voluntary recognition of the value of my site by 3rd parties. Is this enough? Well, yes and no. I do have the best positions on all the search engines, measured on average on all the keywords that I target. But whereas my positions are undisputedly dominant in MSN, they are only excellent in Google. I am only 2nd or 3rd on my target words. I do very well, but I don’t blow away the competition like I do on the others. Google has recognized my worth, somewhat, but she has not opened herself to me entirely.

Like a woman, she has her favourites: sites which appealed to her long ago, but whose luster has long since dimmed in the eyes of the rational observer, can still be favoured with a top position. She is also fickle. I have been trying to build position for a single keyword (Whistler)for a couple of years now. (It’s a fairly competitive category - around 36 million sites feature this word.) When I started my efforts I was at about 25 (by virtue of this single word being part of all the other keywords-phrases that I compete on). I have steadily built anchor text links with this single word into directories, into articles, into listings on other sites. Lots of these links are on pages with good PR. Better than 80% of these links are nicely inserted into the middle of well-written text.

The outcome: every few weeks I find I have moved up to a respectable position: say 10th, sometimes even 6th or 7th. Then, the next day, or even an hour later, I fall back to 14th or even 18th. She likes me, she flirts with me occasionally, she tolerates my company and sometimes I even manage to amuse her. But just when I think I could expect a kiss in return as my lips approach, she turns her cheek away and I am banished to the outer circle of courtiers. But her appeal is such that I am drawn again into attempting to understand her mysteries. But I feel that if I ever make it, and my lips touch hers, and she longs for me as I long for her, I will never be sure what it was that I did to merit such bliss.

Henry Schlee operates several websites offering Whistler accommodation. He also offers non-reciprocal links if you visit the following page: travel link exchange.

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Which kind is your pet? The pooch who is the first one in the car when the door opens, or the kitty who runs to hide at the first hint of travel?
Both kinds face dangers on the road, but there are steps you can take to protect them. Even the happiest traveler can get into trouble, and it can happen even on a short jaunt to the grocery store.

What can you do?

1. Always use ID tags. When traveling, add an extra tag with your cell phone number. If you don’t use a cell phone, add the number of a trusted friend who will be at home while you’re on the road.

2. If your pets are microchipped, be sure to call and update your address and phone number. If they aren’t microchipped, consider having it done.

3. Keep your pet contained. The back of a pickup is NOT a safe place, but if your pet must travel there, either put him in a secure carrier, or cross tie him so there’s no chance that he can fall or be thrown over the side. Falling from trucks is a major cause of lost and/or injured pets. Sometimes the fall is fatal. Also, remember that the temperature of your metal pickup bed corresponds to the weather. Use a liner so that you don’t burn his feet, or freeze them!

4. While a few cats travel well in cars and stay put, they should ride in a carrier so they can’t jump out when the door opens and can’t suddenly decide to ride under the driver’s feet or around his or her neck.

5. If at all possible, contain your dogs in a carrier inside the car. This is a safety precaution for both you and the dog.

6. Remember the heat factor. Don’t take your pet if you’ll have to stop for more than 5 minutes on a hot day. Temperatures inside your vehicle can reach killer heights in a matter of minutes. You love himdon’t cook him! Cold weather holds a similar danger for your short haired friends.

7. Take water and a water dish! When you reach for a drink remember your pet probably needs one too.

8. When you stop for a potty break, keep your pet on a leash. Even the most well trained dog can become frightened and bolt. You don’t want your best friend running in traffic, and you don’t want him lost up a mountain side or wandering in a strange city.

9. Don’t discount anxiety. For pets who don’t like to ride, anxiety comes from the trip itself. Moving to a new home can cause emotional upset for ALL pets. Your vet can prescribe a sedative for extreme anxiety, and there are also homeopathic products to help calm their nerves. Check at your nearest pet store.

10. Plan ahead and be sure to take medical records on long trips or moves. If you’re missing any vaccination certificates, ask your vet for copies. You may have to give proof of vaccinations if crossing state lines. If you’re relocating, your new veterinarian will want to know your pet’s medical history, when he had his last vaccinations, etc. Proof of rabies protection is vital at this time, because an emotionally distraught pet could bite. (Yes, even your dog who has never hurt a fly.) Without proof of a rabies vaccination the dog would have to be quarantined, if not put down.

Moving day is a dangerous time for your pets. Take these additional precautions:

Containment: Do NOT try to keep an eye on the dog and cat and the moving all at the same time. Doors will be opening constantly and no one can watch every minute.

If your new home has a secure fenced yard in an area where the movers (or the family) will not need to go back and forth, it could be a safe place, but check often. Stop occasionally to give a treat or throw a ball let him know that this is an OK place and that you are nearby.

If you own a kennel cage, put it up first and put your dog inside until things settle down. Be sure to stop and talk to him now and then.

If you own kennels that your pets use for sleeping or riding, place them in the quietest room of the house and put your pets in them until the movers have left or everything is unloaded. Leave the cats in their travel carriers until you’re sure the doors won’t be opened by movers.

If you have no fenced yard and your dog is accustomed to staying home without one, be sure to go outside with him the first several days. If you must leave him outside alone, tie him on a long chain or cable tie. (Not a rope - they are too easily chewed.) You and the dog may hate the idea, but his safety is worth a few days of discomfort.

Anxiety:

If your dog sees his role in life as protector, he or she will hate the movers being there and handling your belongings. Put him in the back bedroom or the yard where he can’t see what’s going on. Don’t let him follow them back and forth, because this is a sure formula for disaster. You don’t need your dog being lost or hurt, and you don’t need to deal with your insurance over a dog bite. Remember, even the calmest dog WILL BITE if severely provoked.

Remember that moving to a new home is traumatic for your pets. After things settle down on moving day let them take a tour of the house, with you along acting relaxed and happy. Don’t transmit your fatigue to your pets!

Understand that your housebroken friend may relapse at this time. If your new home was formerly occupied by other pets yours may feel a need to “mark” their territory. Not a pleasant thing, and not to be condoned, but don’t go ballistic on them. If it appears that marking will be an ongoing problem you may have to shampoo the carpets with a special shampoo designed to kill the odors left by previous pets.

Marte Cliff is a Freelance Copywriter
and co-founder of the Animal Rescue
group in her hometown. She offers discounted
rates for rescue groups needing fundraising
letters and/or newsletters.
You can visit her at www.marte-cliff.com

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