Issue number one hundred and twentyeight (August 2011) in a series of Signposts from the WorldU3A Service, sent once a month to U3A members anywhere in the world.

Please send snippets of possible interest to the editor, Tom Holloway.
Feel free to copy any or all of this information in your newsletters.

Beware Premium Rate Numbers: There is increasing use of these numbers, originally for Customer Support, chat lines, or claims for fictitious prizes, but now used by charities, weather and travel information, TV voting or even just talking to your insurance company. The charges for calling can be as high as £1.50 per minute and the person/service called will encourage you to hang on and hang on.

Any unusual number beginning 09 or 08 should be checked before use. You can check with the Premium Rate Regulatory Body at http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/For-The-Public.aspx

The Open Culture website brings together high-quality cultural & educational media for the worldwide lifelong learning community. Web 2.0 has given us great amounts of intelligent audio and video. But it’s scattered across the web, and not easy to find. Our mission is to centralize this content, curate it, and give you access to this high quality content whenever and wherever you want it. Free audio books, free online courses, free movies, free language lessons, free ebooks and other enriching content — it’s all here at http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses
The Winsor and Newton resource web site might be of interest to people just beginning to explore art. It seems to cover a range of useful informmation, from tips on techniques for a range of media, to a variety of useful instructional videos.
Thank you Maggie Roberts, Shoreham and Southwick U3A.

All Groups: Everyday forgetfulness of even the simplest things seems to be a recurrent concern as we get older.

Click here to learn from Tom Rush something of the effect it can have on daily life.

Every day, millions of dollars are spent trying to convince you that climate change isn't real. Or that humans don't cause it. Or that the biggest polluters are trying to solve the problem.

On September 14, in a 24-hour event spanning the globe, here is a brand-new organization with one clear goal: to bring the facts about the climate crisis into the mainstream by engaging everyone in a conversation about how to solve it. http://climaterealityproject.org
UCL's very popular public Lunch Hour Lecture series has been running at UCL since 1942, allowing anyone the opportunity to sample the exceptional research work being undertaken at the university. Speakers are drawn from UCL's wide-ranging academic departments and lectures frequently showcase new research and recent academic publications. Click on http://www.youtube.com/UCLLHL#g/p

Lectures are free, require no booking and take place 13:15 -13:55 on Tuesdays and Thursdays in UCL's Darwin Lecture Theatre. You can watch them at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lhl/streamed
Thank you Maggie Roberts of Shoreham & Southwick U3A

Look at http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/education/free-entry/ Don't be put off by the seeming emphasis on schools and children - groups of any age can visit the hundreds of properties. English Heritage will welcome you.

The properties span human history from prehistoric sites to Roman towns, and from powerful medieval castles and abbeys to industrial mills and impressive Victorian houses. Some are famous names like Stonehenge, Hadrian's Wall, Dover Castle, Kenilworth Castle and Osborne House, whilst others are unspoilt gems set in tranquil locations. Whether large or small, each offers a unique and rich learning environment.

For many people, it's just fun to take and share snapshots, and to send them to friends and family.

This article from PCWorld gives a list of unexpected, unconventional, and perhaps clever ways to use your camera. A useful set of tips for newsletter editors to fill in a corner.

From U3A Online GEMS, courtesy of Rick Swindell
Superb pictorial and other work freely available by teacher/anthropologist John Tyman. Ideal for assignments, teachers, armchair travellers, and of course GEMs readers http://johntyman.com/

Free professionally produced training manuals for Office 2003 and 2007, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, Outlook, FrontPage, Project and Access. (ty Gizmo’s best freeware) http://tinyurl.com/42g5w28
To receive the excellent GEMS monthly newsletter write to ricks1912@gmail.com
Do you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter in future? Ask them to email tom@worldu3a.org with a request and they will be put on the list. This webpage may be printed onto both sides of an A4 page and distributed to those with no Internet.