Issue number one hundred and forty-three (November 2012) 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 snippets of possible interest to the editor, Tom Holloway.
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This is an excellent search engine for finding used books, textbooks, antiquarian, rare and out of print books. Search, browse and buy online from thousands of bookstores worldwide, our used books search engine is linked to thousands of online booksellers via a small number of booklisting services. They provide a unique ONE HIT search facility to enable you to go straight to those sites that have your used books for sale.

Music Groups: YOUTUBE has always been a useful source of ten-minute music video clips, and they are easily downloaded to a desktop or laptop with 'Replay Media Catcher'; but increasingly, whole programmes of music are becoming available. Here's one especially attractive session -- Evgeny Kissin playing a one-and-a-half hour programme of Schubert, Bach and Liszt

It's possible that the wonderful growth of 'Flashmob Music' has not reached every U3A Music Group. Perhaps tell them about the following examples...

L'Arlesienne de Bizet - at Paris North Metro Station
Morning from Peer Gynt Suite - Copenhagen Metro Train
Hallelujah Chorus - in a UK Food Court/Restaurant
Ravel's Bolero at Copenhagen Central Railway Station

Elsie Mutton, President of the U3A Network of Victoria, Australia, paid a visit to Hyderabad after attending the U3A International conference at Pune, India. With Victoria Network Secretary Susan Webster, she took time to visit the MS Foundation School run by Tom Holloway to talk to the children and distribute presents. As you can see, her visit was a notable success.

She now returns to continue organising the next U3A International conference scheduled to take place in Melbourne in October 2013.

UK members: uSwitch is a free, impartial online and telephone comparison and switching service that helps you to compare prices on a range of products and services. We can help you save money on gas and electricity, heating cover, home phone, communications, insurance and personal finance products.

We can provide this service free because uSwitch has commercial deals in place with some suppliers across all our services which means we receive a small commission payment if you choose to switch or apply for a product with us.

Can we trust this information to be accurate and comprehensive?

The data we use to calculate your results for these services is provided directly by suppliers. We monitor all suppliers continually and update to ensure our results are comprehensive and accurate.

Collective Switching: In Belgium similar services have led to dramatic savings by groups of consumers. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20074216
Philosophy Groups: The Institute of Ideas' mission is to expand the boundaries of public debate by organising conferences and discussions, and publishing written exchanges on its website - http://www.instituteofideas.com. It is committed to:
Enlightenment values: scientific and social experimentation, intellectual ambition and curiosity
Embracing change and making history.
Art for art's sake, knowledge for its own sake and education as an end in itself
Freedom. To think, to act, to say what needs saying - even if it offends others
Challenging irrational social panics
Open and robust debate in which ideas can be interrogated, argued for and fought over
Civil liberties with no ifs or buts

Full member meetings: In 2006, newspapers around the United States began to publicize an unnerving phenomenon. Honeybees were mysteriously disappearing from beehives all around the nation. Dave Hackenburg, a beekeeper, reported that bees were simply vanishing from his hives. Beekeepers and commercial beekeeping enterprises around the country reported losses of 30% with some beekeepers reporting losses up to 90% of all of their colonies.

Queen of the Sun follows colorful, alternative and inspiring beekeepers from all around the globe as they keep bees in natural and holistic ways. A 50-minute video is available for download on YOUTUBE.


Language Groups: Learning Latin is once again seen as a sound basis for understanding of most European languages. The Cambridge School Classics Project, is the home of the world-renowned Cambridge Latin Course, hundreds of free teaching and learning resources, teacher support for Latin in UK schools, Latin online activities, myths and performance storytelling, the Electronic Pocket Oxford Latin Dictionary, and much more!

As an additional resource you might also watch some of the YOUTUBE videos available at the series 'Learning Latin with Virgil'.

Sci/Tech Groups: Technology Review has relaunched itself as MIT Technology Review, taking one more step toward a digital-first transformation worthy of its cutting-edge namesake.

The publication, owned by the prestigious university, recently unveiled a new website and logo. The first rebooted print issue will be released November 6, but membership options and a new HTML5 mobile platform are still to come.

Their claim... "Every day, we provide an intelligent, lucid, and authoritative filter for the overwhelming flood of information about technology. We do this with serious journalism, written in clear, simple language, by a knowledgeable editorial staff, governed by a policy of accuracy and independence.

We do this in features, news analysis, business reports, photo essays, reviews, and interactive digital experiences that invite our readers to probe deeper, examine data, get to know experts and their opinions—to see, explore, and understand new technologies and their impact."


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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