Links
Material from lectures
U3A Websites
New Zealand U3A Websites
Signposts
General interest
Special interest
Useful computer stuff
Adobe Acrobat Reader
The links on this page were all working on 14 June 2009. Links that were broken or did not respond have been removed.
Material from lectures
From time to time speakers provide material relevant to their lectures that is available on the web or can be posted on our web site. Links to such material will be placed here.
Note: Links marked (pdf) require Adobe Acrobat Reader or Foxit Reader to be installed on your computer.
Mattew Trundle: History & Archaeology of Ancient Egypt (13, 20, 27/5/08)
Lecture notes (pdf)
Slides for lecture 1 (pdf) - Broadband recommended
Slides for lecture 2 (pdf)
Slides for lecture 3 (pdf)
Malcolm Clark: Deepwater Discoveries in the Antarctic - The Tangaroa Voyage to the Ross Sea in 2008 (19/9/08)
Neil Plimmer: Wellington Sculpture Trust (21/8/09)
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U3A Web sites
U3A - The Third Age Trust: UK U3A National Website
http://www.u3a.org.uk
This is the biggest and the best U3A site, with interesting information about the origins of the U3A movement and its philosophy of 'self-help' lifelong learning.
U3A Online
U3A Online is a 'virtual' University of the Third Age delivering online learning via the Internet. Courses are open to people anywhere in the world. They are especially suited to older members of the community who are isolated either geographically, or through physical or social circumstances (including carers).
This site is also the major 'portal' website for Australian U3As. It has been developed by Griffith University and is kept up to date to provide Australian and New Zealand U3As with valuable links, contacts and resources.
http://www3.griffith.edu.au/03/u3a/
Please welcome U3A Nigeria to our WorldU3A family of
organisations. http://worldu3a.org/nigeria/
Are you keen to keep up to date on Climate Change and willing to help others to do so too? Members of Henley U3A have started doing this on http://www.3as.org.uk/climate
The Virtual U3A of the United Kingdom is now available at
http://vu3a.org/
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Other New Zealand U3A websites
Below are links to all NZ U3A websites that I have been able to locate. Several U3As are listed on the 'Grownups' website (www.grownups.co.nz) , requiring you to register before you can access the U3A details. Registration is free and should be perfectly safe, and will grant access to the whole 'Grownups' site.
U3A Warkworth
U3A Bay of Islands
U3A Havelock North
U3A Tauranga
U3A Golden Bay
U3A Browns Bay
U3A Franklin
U3A Hastings
U3A Hawera
U3A Manawatu
U3A Manurewa
U3A Meadowbank
U3A Motueka
U3A Taradale
U3A Wairarapa
U3A Godley
Canterbury U3As
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Signposts
Signpost is edited and issued by Tom Holloway in Oxford, England and Rick Swindell in Brisbane, Australia. Please note that this is an announcement list (contact Rick to subscribe). If you know of others who would like to be on the Australian/NZ list, please ask them to email ricks1912@optusnet.com.au and they will be added.
U3AOnline has interesting online courses for all Third Agers. Special rates for isolated older people and Australian and NZ U3A members http://www.u3aonline.org.au
Interested in helping others via our virtual U3A? Volunteers always needed. Contact Rev Anthony Baker revtony@bigpond.net.au
February 2010
- Do you have a friend who’s a carer of a person with dementia? Here’s an outstanding site from Cornell http://www.thiscaringhome.org/ In particular, have a look at the virtual home (Thanks Nancy Pachana, The University of Queensland)
- The Positive Aging Newsletter contains many gems which we've presented over the years. Subscribe to the free email newsletter and check the other positive aging resources at http://www.taosinstitute.net/
- How do people change over time? GEMs readers are invited to help with the first study of its kind to look in depth at people's wellbeing from around the world. The online study is open every third month (next intake in March). Participation requires completing around 30 minutes of questions every three months for a year (five times in total). Help this great project and learn more about yourself http://www.wellbeingstudy.com/
- Handy resource from UCLA for everyone who spends too long in front of a computer.
http://www.ergonomics.ucla.edu/Tips_Users.html - At about this time each year we publish the annual membership statistics for U3As in Australia and NZ - see http://sites.google.com/site/u3asitedemo/Home
Please update your websites and other relevant information. In brief, Australia: 214 groups, 66880 members. (2009: 211 groups; 64535 members) NZ: 65 groups, 10588 members, (2009: 60 groups, 10154 members) - Never use commercial glass cleaners on your LCD screens. That includes laptops, desktop monitors, and TV screens as well. Here's how it should be done
http://askbobrankin.com/cleaning_a_monitor.html?tbart - How good are you at “eyeballing” positions? You’ll enjoy competing against yourself with this http://woodgears.ca/eyeball/
- We normally avoid mentioning sites that charge for their gems. However these online art courses Understanding Colour, Botanical Art and Pen and Wash have been written for complete novices and appear to be great value at $65 each for 12 months. The price includes notes, worksheets, exercises and online support by the artists.
http://sites.google.com/site/apaintingpassion/onlinecourses - Enhancing informal learning in care settings outlines the major role to be played by later life learning activities with frail people in aged care settings in the UK
http://shop.niace.org.uk/learning-care-settings-interim-report.html - A final reminder about the 2010 NSW U3A State NetworkConference, Nepean Blue Mountains March http://www.u3anepean.org/conf01.html
RESEARCH GEMS
- Many GEMs readers are volunteers. Here's a great motivator for volunteer teachers in social service programs like U3As - your volunteering may delay or reverse declining brain function http://tinyurl.com/yzobzer
- Keeping the mind active by frequently engaging in mental exercises such as word games, puzzles, reading, and lectures can reduce your chances of developing memory problems or even Alzheimer's http://tinyurl.com/yhrhb44
FUN GEMS
- The Hallelujah Chorus as you’ve never seen it before. The teacher who came up with this idea is brilliant http://tinyurl.com/c7oy5t
- This 8 minute YouTube video is amazing. It shows the winner of "Ukraine’s Got Talent" competition drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table.
http://tinyurl.com/ykg3n8d (Thanks Kathy Rossini U3A Online) - Attention retarded grandparents or those with retarded grandparents? Here’s a winner for your newsletters or to share with friends.
http://sites.google.com/site/u3asitedemo/Home
TECHNICAL GEMS
- If you don't know every one of these 26 classic tricks, utilities, and shortcuts for XP, Vista, or Windows 7, you're not getting your money's worth out of Windows - from PC World http://tinyurl.com/yebl8vk
- The Data Doctors have advice about Wifi networks that stop working or become intermittent http://tinyurl.com/ykeq4rl
- Wireless networks make it easy to move computers, printers, scanners, and other devices to convenient places as needed. (Don't forget to scroll to the bottom of Bob Rankin's advice for reader comment.) http://tinyurl.com/ykpg865
March 2010
- 15 Internet annoyances, and how to fix them http://tinyurl.com/yf9z5lx
- It takes very little time for a computer's hard drive to fill up with your entire life: financial records; tax forms; names; addresses; phone numbers; appointments; etc. Here's a reminder of why you must back up regularly. http://askbobrankin.com/backup_software.html
- Budding writers - lubricate those quills for the U3A Sunshine Coast writers competition. Open to members of any U3A and all people who are retired or semi-retired. http://sites.google.com/site/u3asitedemo/
- Who was Kilroy? Here’s a plausible explanation for that piece of graffiti familiar to older readers. http://sites.google.com/site/u3asitedemo/ (Ty Hilary Butler, Whangerai U3A, NZ.)
- Learning a musical instrument is good for the brain. Here's a site with lots of free resources for those keen to learn the piano/keyboard. They've been written for mature age students and include notes, examples and exercises and also advice on what to look for in a teacher. (The site is also a further example of a simple free Google web site of the kind you could easily set up for your club or personal use - Ed.)
http://sites.google.com/site/carolsmusicsite/theory - Learn new computer skills. We don't normally mention commercial resources, however U3A Online has first hand experience of the success of the Dynamic Learning Online approach for new computer users. Go to http://www.learnoffice.net.au/ and scroll slightly down the page to the view demo paragraph. Click on the Inserting a picture within a word document link.
- Dynamic Learning Online also developed the entire U3A Online introductory computing lessons as part of the U3A Online contribution to the Broadband for Seniors project. These lessons are freely available to GEMs readers at http://www.necseniors.net.au/. Scroll down and click the button called Online lessons. Spread the word.
- It’s easy to reduce your digital pictures in size. But is it possible to make pictures bigger, so you can see more detail? Resize cannot do that in normal photo editing software but here’s a free program that can: http://tinyurl.com/yd2u9z9
- A short, non-technical article called Common computer cleanup mistakes describes the simple steps that everyday users like most of us can and cannot do to routinely springclean their computers http://tinyurl.com/yzckoke
RESEARCH GEMS
- Exercise appears to lower the risk of cognitive impairment, increase bone density and decrease the risk of falling in older women: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100125172946.htm
- Video Games May Help Combat Depression in Older Adults. Physical activity can improve depression; however, fewer than five percent of older adults meet physical activity recommendations: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100225140910.htm
- "Progressive walking" combined with glucosamine sulphate supplementation has been shown to improve the symptoms of osteoarthritis: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100215100757.htm
- A Mediterranean diet may help people avoid the small areas of brain damage that can lead to problems with thinking and memory : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100208185158.htm
FUN GEMS
If:
2 + 3 = 10
7 + 2 = 63
6 + 5 = 66
8 + 4 = 96
Then: 9 + 7 = ?
Answer next time – send me an email with the numerical value for ? if you can work it out: ricks1912@optusnet.com.au
(Thanks Leon Zabrowski, Branson, Missouri, USA)
TECHNICAL GEMS
- The Windows taskbar - that narrow strip of icons at the bottom of your screen - is a nuisance to some and a fertile world of productivity for others. Learn the non-obvious secrets of the taskbar. http://tinyurl.com/ylbg5rs
- Device drivers are software packages that keep many parts of your computer system running and working smoothly. How to update your device drivers - XP, Vista or Windows 7: http://askbobrankin.com/update_your_device_drivers.html?tbart
- Replacing a hard drive in your desktop or laptop computer is pretty simple. You can do it yourself, even if you've never popped the hood on a personal computer: http://askbobrankin.com/how_to_replace_a_hard_drive.html?tbart
- Five things perhaps you didn't know Windows 7 could do: http://tinyurl.com/yju8tyl
- Before you rush out to buy a 64-bit computer with 64-bit Windows, is it the right move for you? http://askbobrankin.com/should_you_get_64bit_windows.html?tbart
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General Interest
Here is short document (pdf file) sent by Dr Rick Swindell on the topic of heart attacks in women. It does happen, and it is important to recognise the signs.
For an alternative view on current affairs.
http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/
Elderhostel: Adventures in lifelong learning.
The U3A movement has not yet flourished in the USA; this is its nearest equivalent. It has a strong focus on educational travel, but offers a range of other activities including online study groups.
http://www.elderhostel.org
Victoria Continuing Education
Victoria University's Continuing Education provides a wide range of seminars, courses and study tours of interest to U3A members. U3A members are entitled to a 10% discount on fee-bearing seminars and courses. Some activities are developed in partnership with U3A Wellington City.
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/ceed/personal
On Line Opinion is Australia’s free internet journal of social and political opinion
www.onlineopinion.com.au
Bookworms amongst us can catalogue their libraries on line and, if they wish, interact with other readers with the same taste. Definitely worth a look – click on http://www.librarything.com/ and then on the ‘take the tour’ link.
Grownups.co: Here is an interesting website aimed at the 50+ generation in New Zealand.
www.grownups.co.nz
A recent research finding contradicts the belief that the happiest days of our life are over. Old age sounds great: http://www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2006/happiness.htm
Web links provides students, staff, and users of the Sheffield College website with links to 5,898 relevant websites. It is searchable and organised under a number of broad curriculum headings, each subdivided further. Click on or go to http://www.sheffcol.ac.uk/links/
Spiked – describes itself as “an independent online phenomenon dedicated to raising the horizons of humanity by waging a culture war of words against misanthropy, priggishness, prejudice, luddism, illiberalism and irrationalism in all their ancient and modern forms.
http://www.spiked-online.com/
Arts and Letters Daily was created by Dennis Dutton (Otago University) and gives access to current reviews, articles and essays on the arts, science, literature, philosophy and politics, as well as to major world newspapers and periodicals. Always fascinating reading, addictive and highly recommended.
http://www.aldaily.com/
Mentally stimulating activities like completing puzzles, traveling, learning a new language, playing a musical instrument, doing crossword puzzles may help to preserve thinking and memory. Maintaining strong social ties and exercising into old age may also help to protect the brain, studies show. http://www.alzinfo.org/newsarticle/templates/newstemplate.asp?articleid=283&zoneid=10 [Sounds like U3A to me :-) ]
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Special Interest
Science and Technology There are excellent talks by many eminent scientists on the Royal Society website. The section on climate change is especially recommended and is suitable for general meetings.
http://www.royalsoc.co.uk/page.asp?id=4607
Science/technology groups: have a look at these teaching resources on nanotechnology. They are aimed at school students but their content is generalisable to discussions about the future. Other topics also. http://www.accessnano.org/teaching-modules
The Way We Speak is a BBC website with a wealth of sound recordings of local words and accents. It also offers a Language Lab you can download and a Word Map of local language at http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/
Libraries Australia lets you discover: http://librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au/apps/kss
Bonzer for writers and readers:
http://www.bonzer.org.au/
For genealogy groups or individuals:
http://askbobrankin.com/genealogy_research.html
This 12 lesson course in Latin suitable for people who learned at school and since forgotten it:
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/latin/beginners
Over 90 science programmes and free educational resources for teachers, students and the general public:
http://www.vega.org.uk
The excellent BBC website has an 8-module free course, How to be a Gardener.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/htbg/
...and another
which helps you to brush up your basic English and maths skills
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/
We have been advised by the Customer Specialist at the Wellington City Libraries of the following website address which may be of interest to you: www.wcl.govt.nz/popular/senior.html
Geology groups can test their knowledge of earthquakes with a quiz and lots of written materials and links to other sites at http://www.crustal.ucsb.edu/ics/understanding/.
The Modern Antiquarian is a massive resource for news, information, images, folklore & weblinks on many ancient sites across the UK & Ireland.
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com
Information, fun and games from Oz for those of us old enough to know better.
http://www.aboutseniors.com.au
Music groups: The complete recordings of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas, all 32 of them, free and without any copyrights. Plus many others. Free sheet music also available http://www.musopen.com/
History Groups: The Old Bailey Online project is complete.
200,000 trials from 1674 to 1913 fully searchable can be found
at http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/
Collectors of porcelain and those interested in the subject will find http://www.porcelainmarksandmore.com/0pages/list-a.php to be a useful resource.
SCI/TECH: NASA is well known, but equally, if not more important, is its sister organisation NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Their website at http://www.education.noaa.gov/ has some excellent free education resources.
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Useful computer stuff
Want to learn more about Seniornet? Visit their web site at http://seniornetwgtn.blogspot.com
Here is a wonderful site that gives free computer tutorials for computer beginners
http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk.
Bootlog claims to be a major new resource for users looking for technical support. It is certainly worth a browse.
http://www.bootlog.co.uk
Windows Genuine Advantage may not be what it sounds. See http://windowssecrets.com/comp/060629/
When buying goods online you can tell if a site is secure by looking at the browser’s status bar and checking whether it contains an image of a closed padlock. Here's a tutorial on how to recognize when you're communicating over a secure connection http://security.getnetwise.org/tips/secure-web.php
Visiting grandchildren? Pages from http://www.papertoys.com/ might keep them off your computer.
Tutorials based on pictures, not words. They're the easiest way to learn computer subjects. There's no complicated multimedia, just pictures that show exactly what to do. Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007, Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Word http://inpics.net/
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html The Belarc Advisor builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, missing Microsoft hotfixes, anti-virus status, and displays the results in your Web browser. All of your PC profile information is kept private on your PC.
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Adobe Acrobat Reader & Foxit Reader
To download and read pdf files (Portable Document Format) you need to have suitable software installed on your computer. Two common examples are Adobe Acrobat Reader and Foxit Reader.
Many computers will have Adobe Acrobat Reader already installed, but if it is an old version you may still have difficulty reading the pdf files available from the U3A website.
You can download and install an up-to-date copy by clicking on the button below. Note: The Adobe Acrobat Reader is a large file (over 20 megabytes), and is not really suitable for dial-up modem connections.
The download is free, and you need do it only once.
Note: Adobe Acrobat Reader is the only software that you need to download. You do not need to download the extra software that is offered to you on the Adobe download page.
Foxit Reader
If you have a dial-up modem connection, an alternative to Adobe Acrobat Reader is the Foxit Reader which is only 2 megabytes and will happily read the pdf files. Download Foxit Reader by clicking on this link.
You need to install the reader by double-clicking on the downloaded file.
