Saturday, October 04, 2003

Writing Buddies: "We expect you to participate so don't lurk in the background, if you think your work is not good enough PLEASE don't worry, that is what we are here for! Members are expected to post at least once every 3 months or risk having their membership revoked..."


looks good
BBC - writersroom - Homepage: "Welcome to writersroom!
The BBC's online resource for writing drama & comedy for television, radio & film.

writersroom brings you information about writing opportunities and events, along with useful tips & advice from, and interviews with professional writers and other industry experts"

and this (revamped) is where I thought I was below

< oh dear >

BBC - Get Writing - Article Pending Moderation - U249530:

"MY PORTFOLIO
Article Pending Moderation


Your Personal Space Introduction has been temporarily hidden, because a member of our Moderation Team has referred it to the Community Team for a decision as to whether it contravenes the House Rules in some way. We will do everything we can to ensure that a decision is made as quickly as possible.
Please do not try to edit your Introduction in the meantime, as this will only mean it gets checked by the Moderation Team twice."

In 10 hours or less I managed to upset someone LOL

I wonder if they know about YOYOW



Google Search: YOYOW: "You Own Your Own Words (YOYOW)


You Own Your Own Words (YOYOW).
One ... culture. In a nutshell, the most interesting implications of YOYOW are about taking responsibility: ...
www.well.com/conf/help/yoyow.html "
It all started here
You Own Your Own Words (YOYOW): "Since the WELL does not allow anonymous accounts, this YOYOW policy tends to lead to a high level of actual discourse -- a good 'signal-to-noise' ratio, if you will.
More about the WELL's Community: Different Voices "

.
The WELL: " The WELL
The WELL is a registered trademark of Salon Media Group
and a Salon.Com Community "
should I join ?
Register for a WELL Account: "The $15/month Complete Membership Plan includes: . . . . ... ."
< sigh >
BBC - Get Writing - GUIDED TOUR - A1166186: "What is Get Writing?
Get Writing is a new service from BBC Learning which aims to help people get back into or start out in creative writing. It is not aimed at those who want to be professional writers, but certainly should help you improve your chances of getting published.
How?
We have consulted with professional authors and education experts to deliver advice that is practical, straight-talking and useful for mere mortals. We also think that sometimes, the best advice comes from a discussion � so you can put your work forward for other site writers to discuss."
BBC - Get Writing - GUIDED TOUR- On the Site : "Review Circles

In essence, a Review Circle is an area of the site which encourages the community to read and comment on fellow writers' submissions, thus enabling the author(s) to improve their work. There are various Review Circles, organised according to both genre and style (for convenience):
Short Stories- For submissions of prose fiction of about 2,000 words in length, this is the place to get feedback on your competition entry.

Poets- For submissions of poetry of any length, this circle will be interested in all forms and styles.
Science Fiction- For submissions of prose or scripts of a specifically science fiction genre. The popularity of this genre with online audiences merits its own review circle straightaway!
Novelists- For submissions of chapters from novels (it is unwise to submit your entire novel to the site! See Creative Guidelines.) for discussion.

The best way to get to know the Review Circle system is to comment on other writers' entries. Or ask one of the site volunteers (Advisers and Mentors) for advice.

More circles can be started upon request. Use the feedback page, or leave a message for one of the Editors."
BBC - Get Writing - GUIDED TOUR- The Competition - : "BBC Learning is joining forces with BBC ONE's Canterbury Tales and BBC Radio 4 to offer five viewers the opportunity to have their stories, inspired by the Canterbury Tales, read on radio by members of the series' cast.

The Competition opens 11th September 2003 and all entries must be received by 31st October 2003. "
MSN Site Search Result for - writing: "Results 1-15 of about 9360 containing 'writing'"

Why does my intuition call it a new EREWHON ?

Samuel Butler's Erewhon: "Read, especially, the part about machines becoming intelligent. "

It is many years since I read it, 40 or 50.

Butler wrote in the Erewhon Preface: " Between 1865 and 1870 I wrote hardly anything, being hopeful of attaining that success as a painter which it has not been vouchsafed me to attain, but in the autumn of 1870, just as I was beginning to get occasionally hung at Royal Academy exhibitions, my friend, the late Sir F. N. (then Mr.) Broome, suggested to me that I should add somewhat to the articles I had already written, and string them together into a book. I was rather fired by the idea, but as I only worked at the MS. on Sundays it was some months before I had completed it. "


One of the many revelations experienced by me living on the Faeroe Islands was that to be a multi-kunstner was normal. (multi-kunst-ner, or-ler in German, is Danish = many-art-ist for multikünstler )


William Heinesen - the writer of close to NOBEL prize quality - was a good painter and amateur viola player and composed the music to accompany a film about him.

Google Search: "William Heinesen"

But he is generally badly translated from Danish and often seems quite wooden in English.

Most of his book covers are taken from his own paper-cut collages.
Google Search: "William Heinesen"

At Copenhagen university he was such a beautiful young man that two women literally fought each other pulling hair, and tooth and nail for his attentions, and became legendary.
EducationGuardian.co.uk | Schools special reports | School tests breach UN convention, envoy claims:

ONE OF THE MANY REASONS WHY I HATE MARGARET THATCHER


"The (British) government is breaching the United Nations convention on children's rights by imposing a targets and testing regime in English schools that ignores their needs, a UN representative has warned.
In an interview with the Guardian, Katarina Tomasevski, special rapporteur on the right to education for the UN commission on human rights, said she believed the British government was in technical breach of the convention.
Article 29 says education should be 'directed to the development of the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential'.

She said that the current system of tests at seven, 11, 14 and 16 for children in England was designed to fulfil government objectives rather than meet the needs of children.
Professor Tomasevski also argued that the government's support for tuition fees contravened the convention, which calls for governments to 'make higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every appropriate means'. She said that in Britain, universities were being given 'designer labels' and education was being defined as 'merchandise'.
There was inconsistency in the government's willingness to talk about human rights in relation to education in other countries but not in Britain, she said.

There were 'far too many' compulsory tests in English schools, Prof Tomasevski added.
Children were tested so much that she wondered whether the government wanted England 'to become another Singapore' - where in a poll pupils aged 10-12 said they were more worried about failing their exams than about their parents dying. "

A BIT of an UNFAIR QUESTION, because CHILDREN THINK THEIR PARENTS ARE INVINCIBLE,
which is all too typical of bad statistics.


Maggie Thatcher is one of the few people I would like to see run over by a bus, I remember being delighted when she became the first woman to be prime minister, I felt England was progressing, but my intuition said oh why oh why, does it have to be her.

Friday, October 03, 2003

BBC - Get Writing - Smileys - : "The original smiley was created in 1964 by commercial artist Harvey Ball, who died in August 2001 aged 79. A few decades ago, smileys were virtually unknown on Earth, but once they migrated to the Internet their population exploded in email and chat rooms, and new strains developed which are now to be found throughout the World Wide Web.

Much research has been devoted to understanding the structure of smileys and it was discovered that they are essentially simple lifeforms.
For example, typing :-) at the keyboard denotes a smiling face, and ;-) denotes a smiling face with one eye winking: the derivation of smileys as combinations of colons, dashes and brackets becomes obvious if you tilt your head through 90 degrees to the left...

The claim to be the first person to use this system on the Internet belongs to Scott Fahlman, who attended Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and supposedly used an emoticon on the CMU Bulletin Board between early 1981 and mid 1982. While there are, of course, rival claims, this one is the most widely recognised."
.
archivecdbooks.org: "The Archive CD Books Project exists to make reproductions of old books, documents and maps available on CD to genealogists and historians, and to co-operate with libraries, museums and record offices in providing money to renovate old books in their collection, and to donate books to their collections, where they will be preserved for future generations. "

a major resource for genealogists
Archive CD Books Census Projects on CD: "In other words: narrow down your searches in the census to an address or area wherever possible.
This is real primary data
Note that the CDs contain images of the actual pages of the census enumerators' books. Real original primary research data. (Not transcriptions in text format). What you see is the original hand written documents. That does involve you reading the pages rather than typing in a name and expecting the computer to find it. However, you will very quickly become used to the handwriting styles of the different enumerators, and it is easy to click through the pages at even low magnification to spot the people you are looking for.
Hint: If it is difficult to read an enumerator's handwriting, or the way that he forms letters, look around the same (or adjacent) page for identifiable words containing those same letters. It works. "
Ty-Cooke Farm, Pontypool, Gwent: "Ty-Cooke is a family run working beef and sheep farm nestling in a fold of the hills on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The house is approached along a stone flanked driveway and through a rugged stone archway once used to admit the carriages of the local gentry."

good B and B


(bed and breakfast reccommended by a friend )
BBC - Get Writing - Get Writing: "Most of the content on BBC Get Writing is created by BBC Get Writing Members, who are members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of the BBC."

the BBC is constantly searching for new writers
some of my daily writing
reGiving credit where credit is due

Boards > Topics > Methods > Ethics in Genealogy
Ethics in Genealogy You are a Board Administrator on this board.
List Messages | Post New Message | Add Board To Favorites | Add Board To Notifications | Edit Links & Announcements | E-mail Staff | Recycle Bin

<>

Giving credit where credit is due
Author: Chris Printz Date: 28 Sep 2003 4:36 PM GMT
Classification: Query
Post Reply | Edit Message | Move Message | Delete Message | Mark Unread | Report Abuse Print Message
Has anyone ever sent someone their family tree and found out later that it was posted to a public site without giving credit for the work that you've done? This is probably my biggest "pet peeve" about giving anyone information.


Sincerely,

Chris
Warren, MI



Ancestry Message Boards - Message [ Ethics in Genealogy ]: "I am certain that the best way for you to pass on your own data after your death is to disseminate it now so a copy of a copy is OK by me even on a pay site or on World Family tree CDs - which after all help pay for this very board we use NOW.

So in conclusion take it as water off a duck's back, the more copies of your data out there, suitably privatized of course, the better the chances of some cousins finding you."
Ancestry Message Boards - Message [ Building a Family Tree ]: "There are several ways of learning more about our hobby:-"

Thursday, October 02, 2003

If you are a genealogist with your own home pages
study this in order to begin to learn how to enable people to find your site


How bloggers game Google: "Wise words from blog spammer Elwyn Jenkins, PhD
'There is an additional idea that you need to implement to get good results from Google and that is as you write each day, make sure you are using new words connected with your area of interest. I have a list of 158 words that must arrive in my text over a two month period -- these, if you like, are keywords that have to do with my area of interest. Make a list and make sure you get through all of them over a certain time. This will increase the number of people arriving at your site from Google who put in all manner of query strings.' -- found on a pro-Google forum, 2003-05-02 "
How bloggers game Google: "How bloggers game Google

Or is Google dumbing down blogdom
by feeding their drivel back to them?
And what happens when that drivel is fed to you?"
IF IN DOUBT DON'T

Jeremy Zawodny's blog: Cleaning LCD Screens?: "The official word on LCD cleaning in Apple manuals is to use a solution of diluted isopropyl alcohol, no more than a 50% solution. Usually the rubbing alcohol you buy at a drugstore that is either 90% or 98% pure but 98% is pretty hard to get (you don't need it anyway). I mix 1 part water and 1 part 90% isopropyl alcohol, which works out to... um.. something just under a 50% solution.
Be absolutely sure to use a very VERY soft cloth. I use a piece of soft flannel. Do NOT use paper towels or anything more abrasive than an old worn out cotton Tshirt. Absolutely do NOT use windex or anything with ammonia in it, it can etch the screen surface and can cause the plastic to go cloudy. You don't want that to happen!
BTW, there is a commercial cleaning solution called something like Klear-Screen, it's pretty expensive. It is merely a 50% solution of isopropyl alcohol and water. Just like I make, for a fraction of the cost.
Posted by: Charles on April 20, 2003 05:08 PM
Just read the ingredients list on my bottle of Kensington 'Screen Guardian', and it's the exact recipe that you have...It was $3, so I guess I was just being lazy :)
The 3M cloths are really nice for the wiping part, though, as they are softer than an old t-shirt, and because of their design, if they do happen to pick up some grit, it doesn't get trapped on the surface, so you're less likely to scratch that nice screen. You can also throw them in the laundry every once and awhile, and they come out like new.
Posted by: Mark Matthews on April 20, 2003 05:23 PM
Eyeglass cleaner.. works pretty well. "
Jeremy Zawodny's blog: PageRank is Dead: "Google has a really hard problem to solve. It's not unlike the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. PageRank stopped working really well when people began to understand how PageRank worked. The act of Google trying to 'understand' the web caused the web itself to change. Blogs are only a recent example of that. Oddly, unlike many of the previous problems with Google (see also: search engine optimization companies; link spammers; google bombing), blogs were not designed to outsmart Google. They just happen to use the web and hyperlinks the way we should have been using them all along. Now they're being penalized for that, it seems.
It'll be interesting to see how Inktomi and Microsoft handle this 'problem' too.
Oh, I should note that this could all be a bug and I'm just using it as an excuse to ramble. But you all knew that, right? My readers are smart. All three of them. :-)"
The Register: "Google has made no secret of its goal to 'understand' the web, an acknowledgement that its current brute-force text index produces search results with little or no context. The popularity of Teoma demonstrates that even a small index can produce superior results for certain kind of searches. Teoma leans on existing classification systems.

While Google relied on PageRank� to provide context, all was well. But PageRank is now widely acknowledged to be broken, so new, smarter tricks are required.

Regarded as heresy when we raised the issue last spring, now some of Google's warmest admirers, MetaFilter's Matt Haughey and web designer Jason Kottke have acknowledged the problem.

As Gary Stock noted here last May, Google 'didn't foresee a tightly-bound body of wirers. They presumed that technicians at USC would link to the best papers from MIT, to the best local sites from a land trust or a river study - rather than a clique, a small group of people writing about each other constantly. They obviously bump the rankings system in a way for which it wasn't prepared.'

Although it's tempting to suggest that bloggers broke PageRank� it might equally be the case that the Blog Noise issue is emblematic rather than causal. Blog Noise - in the form of 'trackbacks', content-free pages and other chaff - is the most visible manifestation, but mindless list-generators are also to blame for Google's poor performance. And the truth is every successful search engine will find itself engaged in an arms race with gamers. (Deliciously, in the case of email spammer Elwyn Jenkins, a former e-currency salesman who proselytizes weblogs by day, and by night offers advice on how to improve your PageRank, the bloggers and the Google gamers are one and the same [includes screenshots]). "
Jeremy Zawodny's blog: PageRank is Dead: "I'd like to talk a moment to mourn the passing of PageRank, the secret sauce that made Google the spicy search engine we once knew and loved.
Some might argue that blogs killed PageRank. But the fact is, the online world goes through pretty impressive changes every few years. And, believe it or not, PageRank is old. In Internet time, PageRank may have been well into middle age."
:


NASTY LIITLE POP UP
"THE SUNDAY TIMES


Sunday Times Magazine - the insider's guide to the Public Sector with the latest news, reports, features and appointments Culture - the latest law reports plus the latest insight by our eminent law



Style - the insider's guide to the Public Sector with the latest news, reports, features and appointments Driving - the latest law reports plus the latest insight by our eminent law



Home - the insider's guide to the Public Sector with the latest news, reports, features and appointments Funday Times - the latest law reports plus the latest insight by our eminent law

Plus all the other sections that make up the whole Sunday Times package.
News, Sport, Business, News Review, Appointments"

not see easy to BLOG
Times Online - E-paper subscription: "Terms and Conditions
1) The e-paper is only available to users located outside the UK or RoI.
2) TNL reserves the right to cancel subscriptions to anyone it believes to be accessing the e-paper from the UK or RoI.
3) The e-paper package currently excludes the following magazines, The Knowledge, The Eye and The Saturday Times Magazine."

TYPICAL and no TV page I noticed
Times Online - E-paper subscription: "E-paper



Access Times Online and the new e-paper package for just £89.99 a year


The Times of London has launched an important new service the e-paper. At home or at work, the e-paper is exactly the same as the printed newspaper in the UK. The News, Sport, Business, Broadsheet, supplements, even the crossword are all laid out just as in the actual paper"

AND A 60 PAGE COLOUR SUPPLEMENT

BROADSHEET NEEDS BROAD BAND AND A BROAD SCREEN
Times Online - Crossword: "Welcome to The Times Crossword Club.We have two levels of club membership - Premium and Basic. The packages are outlined on the right. New features of the Premium club include a �100 prize for the exclusive Monthly Special, the sport crossword from The Times, and a collection of vintage Times crosswords "
GOLDFISH HAVE MEMORIES

Times Online - Newspaper Edition: "In his experiment, goldfish were placed in a bowl in which they were fed only when they pressed a lever. The fish rapidly learnt that pressing the lever produced a food reward.
Once they had been trained in this way, the researchers set up the lever to work for just one hour a day. The fish soon became wise to this, and learnt to press the lever at the same time every day to feed. “The fish worked out that if they hit the lever around that time, they would get some food,” Dr Gee said. “Their activity around the lever increased enormously just before the set hour when their food was dispensed. "

Wednesday, October 01, 2003

Taming the Elements with MIDI: "Trimpin's interest in the work of Nancarrow led him to build a device that optically reads Nancarrow's rolls and records the data on a computer for transcription into MIDI song files.

Then he built a device that mechanically depresses the piano keys, in order to play Nancarrow's pieces and other demanding compositions. (According to Trimpin, this device is still the only way to play Nancarrow's pieces on a real piano under MIDI control.

Commercially available MIDI pianos, such as the Yamaha Disklavier, cannot play pieces as dense and complex as Nancarrow's.)"
Conlon Nancarrow: A Chronology: "1947: Money left by his father becomes available to Nancarrow; he uses it to return to New York City and buy a player piano; in New York, has a punching machine made to punch player-piano rolls; hears John Cage perform Sonatas and Interludes

1948: Returns to Mexico and marries Annette Margolis, painter and assistant to Diego Rivera; they move to land she owns on the outskirts of Mexico City and build a house (land that Nancarrow lives on to this day); Nancarrow begins writing his Studies for Player Piano, beginning with what will become No. 3 "

I love this music
Another of my favbourite recordings - this from the fifties London music scene Music for the Royal Fireworks: "For reasons of balance in the recording, the conductor decided to use a couple more oboes and bassoons than specified by Handel, because those instruments would be required to play almost continuously throughout the entire recording session.

The orchestra finally consisted of 12 first oboes, 8 seconds, 6 thirds; 14 bassoons, 4 contra-bassoons; 2 serpents, 9 horns, 9 trumpets, 3 pairs of tympani and 6 side drums

and, since it was impossible to get all those players together in the ordinary way, the recording was made late at night when musicians were free after concerts and opera engagements. In the event, most of London's leading wind and brass players, some still in evening dress from performing at the Albert Hall and the Festival Hall, and others in ordinary clothes from broadcasts or recording sessions, came to take part in that historic performance.

The orchestra was 'led' by oboists Terence MacDonagh and Sidney Sutcliffe, with Leonard Brain and Evelyn Rothwell (Lady Barbirolli) - the only woman in the orchestra - among the other oboe players.
The bassoons were led by Cecil James and the horns by the combined talents of Alan Civil and Barry Tuckwell; indeed, this was probably the only time these two leading horn players ever performed side by side in the same orchestra.
The trumpet players included Harold Jackson and Philip Jones, and the two serpents were played by Nigel Amherst, taking a break from his usual duties on the double-bass, and Eric Halfpenny."

Tuesday, September 30, 2003

Giving credit where credit is due:

"Has anyone ever sent someone their family tree and found out later that it was posted to a public site without giving credit for the work that you've done? This is probably my biggest 'pet peeve' about giving anyone information."


and CLICK the LINK above to see MY REPLY
.
Genealogy.com - Research Spotlight:
FAMILY TREE MAKER NEWS

"So What Is New in Version 11?
1. Export Family Books to PDF
2. Add Notes to Books
3. Book Print Preview
4. View Two Files Simultaneously
5. Copy & Paste 'people' Between Two Files
6. Back Your File to CD
7. Streamlined Merge Process
8. Export Reports to a Spreadsheet
9. Tabbed Preference Boxes
10. Customize Your Background Color
11. Enhanced Help Instructions"

Monday, September 29, 2003

Stratfield Church Records-Part 1:

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"STRATFIELD CHURCH RECORDS--PART 1
Donated and transcribed by Coralynn Brown. First copied March 27, 1924.
Says Coralynn,'I'm typing it very much as it IS,
which will puzzle the readers a bit but they'll catch on if they just examine it thoroughly.'
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::



STRATFIELD CHURCH


1st copied Mch 27, 1924

Members 1696-97 First called Poquannock

1708/09 Mch 7 - Nathaniel Knap confesses a charge of cursing and swearing.

Pg 6:

Jane Hall - admitted April 7, 1700

James & Sarah Seeley- admitted April 2, 1704

John & Deborah Burr - April 30, 1704"

great work LOTS MORE TOO
.
.
Special Interests - Genealogy (Keyword) : "AOL Special Interests "

I forgot to say what kind off Special Interests we hang out in !

It is unhosted ie unmoderated so it goes OT sometimes
.
Fairfield County, CT USGenWeb Home Page


designed by one of the chatters on AOL Special Interests

you can see she is a pro >>> Questions or comments? Please e-mail Maureen Mead <<<
no reason why genealogy sites should not look great like this one
"Directory Enquiries (118 500 & 118 707) Find the phone numbers for people and businesses in the UK."
and this is a free service online
BT Homepage: "for residential users to view a bill,
select new services or buy a product online."
Bill for 0121 770 0288

Total now due £90.79
Please make sure we receive the total now due by 09 October 2003.
Cost of Calls £62.15 - about 50/50 Denmark and England
Discount/benefit -£11.68
Service Charges £26.80
VAT £13.52
includes 01 Sep-30 Nov (ADSL) BT IPStream Home 500 1 £0.00

No I don't get free internet access but this is rebadged and charged to AOL as a reseller

(documentation - as an art form - of life itself, and this derived from a BT email just in )

"Your latest BT Online eBill is now available to view, simply click on the link below and log in using your usual BT.com log in name and password."
Guardian Unlimited Books | Extracts | Rage against the machine: "The night view is very beautiful, a spill of endless jewels glittering in limpid air; chains and towers of light that stretch as far as one can see. This is the mad, rich woman America; with the courage of her convictions, her rich madness. " - wrote John Fowles who is publishing selections from his journals, there goes £30 - due out just after the second of October 2003.

He is one of the two living writers I most admire, for his english, and for his imagination. My late cousin Heidi gave me The Collector when it was fresh out and I read The Magus when it was new in paper back, and then later the revised version which was even part of the Canon when I read Eng. Lit. at Copenhagen University in preparation for my retirement, and my dream of resuming my career as a writer.

The Magus was unpublishable as a first novel and only came out piggy backing on the success of the film of The Collector. JF withdrew that version and brought out a new edition about 10 years afterwards. As a self elected part of my Eng. Lit course I started to compare line by line the two editions, but that is another of my many uncompleted projects. I felt that sitting at the feet of a master and studying his revealed self criticism would be helpfully instructive in developing my own writing skills.

I don't think there is anyone alive who knows me well enough to give me a copy of his new book when it comes out.
Do ring me first - so I don't end up with two copies, if you don't already know my phone number, I'm in the book, and on the web. And now above :)
.