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FEATURE
This is IT!
PP looks at soft
and hardware
Parsons Pointers
with John Parsons
@GMAIL.COM NOW FOR ONE AND ALL
Google has changed the address for British mailers to
Gmail. Unless invited to sign up to early beta tests in 2004,
British users have used @googlemail.mail addresses but
can now switch: www.google.com/mail
IF IT’S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
… it probably is! Be wary of a hoax ASH compensation
scam claiming to come from the Civil Aviation Authority
offering £2k in return for an admin fee. For further details
of this and other scams: www.scam-detectives.co.uk
MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS …
AND OTHER SAVINGS
You can safe loads of money on medicines by ordering on
line from www.chemist.direct.co.uk … and on crosschannel
ferry bookings from www.channelferries.co.uk
CONNECTED HISTORIES
This historical search engine project, spearheaded by
Sheffield University, looks to make available on line over
the next 12 months 14 major databases of primary source
historical documents incl. Old Bailey proceedings, parliamentary
papers etc. For further details:
www.history.ac.uk/connectedhistories
DOUBLE PAGER
There’s now a program, Sumatra PDF, which quickly opens
PDF documents and offers a fresh range of facilities
including being able to read two pages side by side on
widescreen monitors: http:/bit.ly/sum229
BRIDES REVISITED
You & Your Wedding magazine offers a fully integrated,
easy to use, on-line wedding planning tool to help sort out
all manner of issues (incl. seating plans, invitations,
sourcing suppliers, managing your budget …) in
preparation for the big day:
www.yourandyourwedding.co.uk/wedsimple
PASSWORDS
Always choose a strong mixture of letters, numbers and
characters - test the strength at www.passwordmeter.com
- but for extensive, sound advice on protection visit
www.getsafeonline.org and/or, if you bank online, see:
www.banksafeonline.org.uk
ZUGU
What might sound like the name of an African wind
instrument is in fact a flight-comparison service - much
like but better than Cheapflights.co.uk - which lists best
fares for certain dates and then lets you filter the results.
Visit: www.zugu.co.uk
RELATED TO THE POPE
Well, you’ll never know who’s a distant, long-lost cousin
until you delve into your family’s history. For info-packed
tutorials on researching your past visit
www.findmypast.co.uk and then, once your family tree
starts to grow, www.my-history.co.uk will help you print
out all the details. But if your family history goes back to
Birmingham at the turn of the last century and
you’re already a member of Ancestry.co.uk,
http://bit.ly/drunk240 will help you determine if any
ancestor at the time fell foul of the law for being under
the influence.
Contributions to this column warmly invited.
Iremember well how the feast
of the Assumption on 15
August was a Holiday of
Obligation. I am not entirely sure
but I seem to remember that the
Vigil was also a day of Fasting
and Abstinence. Whether that bit
is right or not it was always
considered a major Feast. So
when in 1950 the Assumption
was proclaimed as being of the
faith it seemed to be no more
than an affirmation of what
Catholics had always believed.
But for my family and me the
date had another, special,
significance. It was Mother’s
Birthday. Perhaps there was
something special about
celebrating one’s earthly mother
and one’s heavenly mother on
the same day!
The date also had special
significance for people of my
generation. It was VJ Day when
the war finally came to an end.
Six years of hardship and
suffering for so many. Fitting
therefore that it should have
finally been over on a day when
we celebrate the one who was
and is the extreme symbol of
love and service. It is also
interesting that at a recent
family wedding I met for the
first time my nephew’s Japanese
wife, beautiful in her Kimono.
Somehow it was an affirmation
of peace and normality. And
their two little ones were quite
delightful!
The date is also special to the
Indian sub continent for on that
day India and Pakistan came into
being as independent nations.
The fact has always stuck in my
mind because I was at the
international conference of the
Christian Life Communities in
Santo Domingo and the Indian
Jesuit made a great a fuss about
the anniversary. I suppose I felt a
little bit out of place being from
the former imperial power!
The Feasts of Our Lady are
special to so many people for so
many reasons. They bring home
to us how human beings can rise
to great heights of goodness and
steadiness of purpose. They
remind us of the relevance of
our beliefs to everyday life and
the need to see things around us
in a wider perspective than the
purely physical. There is a
tendency in some quarters to
eschew the spiritual aspect of
life and to see everything in a
purely material way. Thinking
about the one who above all
symbolises that spiritual
dimension can bring us down to
earth and reality - and up to
heaven as well!
John worships at the Church of Our Lady in Fleet and is in the choir
there. He is a keen ecumenist and is a former Chairman of the Diocesan
Commission for Christian Unity. He has been a regular contributor to
Portsmouth People for some years with his column Parsons Pointers.
PORTSMOUTH PEOPLE
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