Religion, Archeology and Common Sense

Have you ever noticed that whenever an archaeologist unearths a new discovery their instant conclusion is that whatever they found must have been used by the ancients for religious purposes? Now I understand that religion has been a cultural foundation for most civilizations throughout history, but come on, isn’t it possible that just like us, the ancients also had lives and customs that weren’t centered around their spiritual beliefs?

Recently My husband built a pergola around our front patio. We live in a very windy area so in the true “Tim Taylor” manner, he built it to withstand hurricane force winds. Afterwards we stood back to look at it and joked that hundreds of years from now, some archaeologist will dig it up and proclaim it to be an ancient religious site. Then he will uncover the fire-pit in the center and insist that the local villagers had made sacrifices to their gods on this very site.

We looked at each other and chuckled. Then my husband said, “Now I think I’ll start working on my rock wall down by the garden." We chuckled again - Stone Hinge!

URL Registration Sites Reviewed - Go Daddy, Google & More

It used to be that everyone thought that Register.com and Network solutions were the only inexpensive URL registering sites out there. At $35 a year for each domain name you owned. In the beginning it seemed like the only way to get your own URL. Now however there are several very good URL registration sites to choose. Most of them are less expensive than Register and many offer top-notch services and options. Here is a review of some of them.

www.godaddy.com is rising to the top fast with its fabulous customer service and inexpensive anual fee it is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing domain name vendors out there. Their yearly rate is $8.95 and if you transfer your domain from another site they give you a free year.

Here is what a happy customer said:

I signed up for a membership at godaddy.com, then clicked a link that says transfer domains. I entered the domains I wanted to transfer over from register.com, paid the transfer fee (like 7.95), and then told register that I wanted to transfer. Within 2 days I got a telephone call from Go Daddy thanking me and asking if there was anything more they could do to help me - awesome customer service!

Another inexpensive service is I&I.com which offers prices according to the extension you choose. the typical extensions .com .org and .net are starting at $5.99 per year and right now there is an offer of only $2.99per year if you choose a .us extension. They also offer web hosting and starter pages for beginners or those without the correct software to start your own. I don't know anyone who has used I&I yet but if you have tried it I would love to hear from you.

networksolutions.com I believe was the original URL vendor on the web. I started with them in 1996 and used them for years until I discovered register.com. At the time I switched register was offering a better deal but now, Network Solutions is offering tried and true services for only $9.96 per month. That may be enough to make this old customer return to them. If price per year is your only priority you can still find less expensive vendors out there, but I can tell you from experience that few have the offers and options that are connected with Network Solutions, especially if you are a high-volume webmaster.

Google haqs also started URL registration at $10.00 per month which of course comes with automatic Google calendar, instant messaging and other Google widgets. From the information I gathered it looks like they the URL's they offer come through other vendors i.e. if you want to sign up for example.com you may get the URL of buy.example.com instead. Google is new with this so I would advise you to wait until they have exactly what the public wants before signing up.

There are plenty of other site out there who profess to have great services with low prices for registering your domain name. Here are links to just a few.

http://www.active-domain.com/ - $2.85 per year
http://www.mydomain.com/ - $827 per year or $7.99 to transfer from another vendor
http://www.rwgusa.net/ - Worldwide Domains available
http://www.koredomains.com/?gclid=CLLNms2QzI4CFShVYQodEnmLDA Differing rates, Bulk URL transfer options.

As always, check out the vendor carefully and check to see if their low prices are only for the first year, to lure you in. You don't want to be in a position to have to switch again next year because of a crooked add campaign. And of course, read the contract carefully before giving them your credit card information!