SPARE A THOUGHT FOR KATHMANDU COLLEAGUES. U3A Nepal was formed in 2013, and your Editor gave a presentation on U3A in the UK and other countries. We have learned the following from A.K. Malhotra, Secretary of U3A Lucknow. "I've been in recent contact with Mr Chhatra Pradhan, Sec General of Nepal 's National Association of Senior Citizens Confederation since the earthquake and he confirms that the group of 15 colleagues that visited U3A conf at Pune are all safe."

Issue number one hundred and seventy-two (May 2015) from the WorldU3A Service, sent on the first of every month to U3A members anywhere in the world.

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

History Groups: BBC podcasts are easy to download and can be played back on a wide range of devices, even a 'smart phone'. The series "In Our Time", moderated by Melvyn Bragg, now has a full searchable archive.

The History Archive explores a rich tapestry of historical themes, events and key individuals from Akhenaten to Xenophon. Many of these are also on YOUTUBE and therefore, with your free version of 'Replay Media Catcher' they can be downloaded and played back with a digital projector.


Philosophy Groups: The BBC website's "History of Ideas" - complete with animations (above) continues to fascinate and provide plenty of knotty problems and brilliant explanations. Easy to download too. BUT isn't it cheating to simplify complexity by reducing it to 'bite-size' chunks? Can we really understand Chomsky on language or Marx on money in a few dozen sentences? Isn't this what they call "dumbing down"?

History/Archaeology Groups: The California State University at Fresno offers this innovative website about the excavations at Rome's port of Ostia. There is a large collection of videos describing all aspects of daily life in this important city.

"When we look at archaeological sites throughout the Mediterranean, Ostia Antica best represents what imperial Rome looked like. Walking through Ostia is like walking through a miniature, industrialized Rome. At the same time, the city had unique features in its role as the "warehouse" and "clearing house" of Rome. For further inquiries, contact info@romanculture.org."

Needlework/Crochet/Tapestry Groups: The catalogue of the Antique Pattern Library contains large numbers of freely downloadable patterns as pdf (portable document format).

You are recommended while on that page to click the 'Resources' button, since there are links to a wide number of free arts and crafts resources.

This includes a link to the truly amazing online scan from Project Gutenberg "MRS BEETON'S BOOK OF NEEDLEWORK, CONSISTING OF DESCRIPTIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS ILLUSTRATED BY SIX HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS OF TATTING PATTERNS CROCHET PATTERNS AND KNITTING PATTERNS".

 


Music Groups: This is a free course on the Carnatic music of South India. Carnatic music is a vibrant musical tradition. It is a highly nuanced and tonally rich melodic music, its rhythmic aspect too is considerably complex. As much as it is rooted in tradition there is immense demand on the improvisational skills of the musicians.

What makes this music so unique and rich? What happens in a typical concert? What do we look for? Who were the great musicians and composers who have made the music what it is today? These are some of the questions this course will try to answer.

The set of free introductory courses about almost everything which is on offer at CURIOUS.com certainly looks attractive, and the review at coursemania is enthusiastic about the facility to take a lesson to learn one specific skill, rather than a whole course.

We would like to know more about this website and request that anyone using it send us a review. We'll either print or not, just as you wish.

Archaeology Groups: The Chauvet cave, in the Ardeche region of southern France, contains some of the oldest and most remarkable cave drawings ever found - yet it has been sealed shut since its discovery in order to preserve this precious art.

This BBC video clip is worth downloading with your free copy of 'Replay Media Capture' and showing with your digital projector.


Report by Shri J. R. Gupta of visit of U3A Delhi Seniors to Mauritius.
By virtue of MOU between Senior Citizens Council of Delhi and Senior Citizens Council of Mauritius, a 18 members delegation from Delhi visited Mauritius between 16th April & 22nd April, 2015, led by its President, Shri J.R. Gupta.

The members called on Hon'ble Mrs. Fazila Daureeawoo, Minister for Social Security, Govt. of Mauritius who welcomed them and appreciated the initiatives being taken by both the Senior Citizens Councils of Mauritius and Delhi for implementing the MOU to promote exchange of views of groups of elderly of both the Countries on reciprocal basis since 2006. She informed that her Govt. is fully committed to promote the welfare and quality of life of its senior citizens.

U3A Antarctica? The April 2015 edition of U3A Online newsletter is available here. Included is a report on a cruise to Antarctica by Dianne Delchau (previous President of U3A Online and WorldU3A's chairman/coordinator).

"It was truly amazing and so very very beautiful. Television and pictures don't come close to expressing how wonderful it really is. It was an amazing experience and if you have even half an idea that you might want to go there, just DO it. I promiise you won't regret it,"


U3A Online: A complete GEMs Archive - Rick Swindell's newsletter - pdf printouts of all prior editions can be found at www.u3aonline.org.au

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