Greypath Seniors Newsletter

October  2008 http://www.greypath.com

Contents:

• Editors note
• Progress -Our new course on backyard food growing
• Think Tank- Immigration and Guest Workers
• Latrobe Finance Limited
• Chocolate Research
• Free software
• Project Gutenberg e-books
• Cartoon of the month
• Seniors interest DVD
• Latest Poll Results

Editors Note. Each new newsletter presents a problem. Just what new and interesting things do I have to pass on to you all? This time I thought we might seek out links to some valuable free software and get started that way. If you have any ideas as to what you might like to see here, or contributions,  do let me know and I will see what we can do.

Progress - Our new course on backyard food growing.

In addition to all of the 'what to plant and where and how' sections, we now have a university assisting with the nutrition part of the course, and we are also adding a special appendix for diabetic gardeners. We have to call it halt there though, as otherwise the course will try to be much more than is sensible for a simple on line offering. Our thanks to those people who have made suggestions and/or supplied backyard images for this course. Click here to visit the Lyceum and review the course, which is due up any day now.

The Seniors Think Tank. The last Think Tank issue covered what we thought of the nations immigration policies and the new concept for Australia, of so called 'guest workers

I think we showed commonsense here and very little prejudice in our views.

VOTE 1. Should we continue with our current immigration policies?

Increase migration 8%

No Change           26%

Reduce                66%

VOTE 2. Which if these matters is the most sensitive for you with respect to immigration matters?

Accepting the OZ way of life 57%

Not sensitive at all                6%

Learning English                  25%

Locale concentration             7%

Preferential housing               5%

VOTE 3. Do you think bringing in guest workers is a good thing in principle?

Dont know       18%

No                 42%

Yes                40%

VOTE 4. Should guest workers be paid full Australian wages?

Maybe           16%

No                  2%

Reduced rate    4%

Yes                78%

VOTE 5. Do you think out current water supply an polluion matters should have any bearing on our  immigration policies?

Maybe            18%

No                 18%

Yes                64%

La Trobe financial have kindly sponsored this mailer. Please have a look at their site via the banner link here. They are a national financial advisory and mortgage investment group, that we are happy to be associated with. We have spent a long time trying to find such a group to work with, and we hope to soon add a seniors financial advisory area to Greypath as well. 

Chocolate Research. This piece of research is good news for many especially those who deny themselves such,  for fear of getting fat. Click here for more.

There's plenty of great free software about.

You may be interested in a few pieces of free software. (Freebies)

The biggest and best we think, is OpenOffice. It pretty well mimics Microsoft Windows Office suite and includes a word processing programme, a spreadsheet, a graphics package and more. Have a look at http://openoffice.org-suite.com/

If you are in to digital photo managing, (resizing, cropping,fixing contrast, improving colour and more), then irfanview is considered to be the worlds best such freebie.  http://www.irfanview.com/

Free phone calls computer to computer. Using Skype you can make free computer to computer calls. Have a look at http://www.skype.com

Antivirus software. There are a few free anti virus programmes and despite the hammering Greypath might expect,  we have using the AVG Free version for some years now without a problem. See  http://www.avg.co.uk/uk.download-trial  

We have also been very happy with Grisoft free version at our home.

A google search using the term 'free software', will provide a bewildering array of such specialist programmes.  [Note that the the term 'freeware' usually applies to software in more complex form for developers anywhere in the world to add on to and improve, and shareware to software that is free but where they hope you will make a donation.].

Project Gutenberg. Free e-books. This is a splendid resource, sent in to us via at thoughtful greypather. Do  have a look at http://www.gutenberg.net.au/index.html

Cartoon of the month

Do you have a cartoon you would like to see here? If so email it in and we will see if we can feature it and give you an Andy Wahol moment.

It's been interesting to search for cartoons featuring seniors in humorous situations. By far the majority I found, were unflattering and using stereotypes. It's ageism. Try a Google image search on 'cartoons seniors humour'  and see how you go.

Seniors Interests DVD

Our What you need to know in retirement DVD, has just had a huge order that has given us the encouragement to move on with the second DVD in the series. It covers wills, powers of attorney, fraud, pension problems,where to retire, investing wisely and more. Click here to visit the greypath shop . With this encouragement, we will now proceed with the planning for our second DVD project on healthy ageing

Poll Result on what causes us the most financial stress.

The votes were interesting. It's health and home maintenance costs that hurt us most.

Finally

We forever grow, and as we do, the site management demands edge up as well! We are in the process of yet another upgrade but it should be invisible to you all. Currently we seem to be in the top 5% or better of world websites, by traffic count.

 I was also pleased to receive a complaint that this newsletter does not come out often enough.That is because we try and only include things we feel many of you will find to be of interest, and sometimes that takes a couple of months or so...

We hope you found something of interest in this issue. If you have any comments or suggestions for future editions, feel welcome to mail us .

Our best wishes to you

The Editor and team

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Greypath Seniors Newsletter

July 2008 http://www.greypath.com

Contents:

• Editors note
• New course on backyard food growing
• Think Tank- World role
• Primelife Corporation
• New Developments
• Grey Meet & Match
• Its not you, it's life these days
• Cartoon of the month
• Seniors interest DVD
• Latest Poll Results

Editors Note. Our membership continues to grow strongly every day. We have around 1800 visits a day now and a modest world reach that is steadily evolving. That said, it would be of value to us all if more people visibly interacted with the site,especially in the various forums. We truly value all input and a new member arriving in the coffee shop with their first post, is always a most welcome occasion there.

New Course on backyard food growing.

We are well underway with a new course on such. 'Food security' is an emerging problem for many seniors and knowing what's best to grow in the back yard, and how to grow it, should be a useful offering. We also have Monash University Nutrition Department working with is on a seniors nutrition needs  plan that, instead of saying, say, that  we need 5 milligrammes of vitamin X  a day and 500 grammes of carbohydrates or whatever,etc, we will actually provide a list that says, say, that  we need three slices of bread, plus a thin spread of maragine, plus a sprig of parsely, two cups of tea, or whatever, each day to get all of the nutrition we need.... That I can understand!

The Seniors Think Tank. The last Think Tank issue covered the matter of the sense of us seeking a world statesmanlike role and membership of the UN Security Council. The results were interesting in terms of seniors views on our global aspirations

Item 1. Should Australia take on a world statesman's role?

Maybe                24%

No                     34%  

Yes                    42%

Item 2. Should Australia seek a seat on the UN Security Council?

Maybe                10%

No                     26%

Yes                    64%

Item 3. What area of problems should Australia concentrate on?

Home                    14%

Home/regional         44%

Home/regional/global    42% 

The Primelife Corporation are a major retirement community operator and builder.They have kindly sponsored this mailer, and supported us for the past 12 months, so we would appreciate it if you would click through their banner above and have a look at what they have to offer to seniors thinking of life in a retirement community.

New Developments at Greypath. Working with Swinburne University final year students in IT (Information Technology) we expect to be able to launch the following soon:

Our own internal survey system with its first use being to test your feelings about the Australian Democrats and their bleak future

A wildlife care wikipedia, (a sort of encyclopedia made up of private peoples entries), that will be very user friendly for animal lovers and carers. The current docuwiki is simply far too obscure for most of us

A new greypath 3D Village. This is our version of the new virtula worlds, simcity, and similar offerings. It will be a 12 month project to build the first village, and then we plan for regular upgrades and featyure additons via the services of graduate studnets in the internet games arena.

Grey Meet & Match going well. No grizzles so far....

Links can be found via the forums and our home page, or click here. We have arranged a one month free trial for greypathers who may be interested.

Its not you, it's life these days.

Apart from short term memory loss that naturally comes to us all, [if we are lucky enough to get old!] on avergae we get well in excess of 3000 demands for our attention every day. (Noises, street signs, newspaper headlines, people talking to us, train arrivals, to do notes, phone calls, email, shop front promo's and much more.

Also much of what we need to do seems to be getting more complex and regulated. Changing an account these days is no longer a simple stroll to the Post Office or Supplier and a nice chat with someone who is 'across' their business and can actually help. It's more likely these days to become a digitised drama.

It no longer seems possible to live an urbanised life with all its benefits, and at the same time keep our lives simple. [Something one tends to wish for as we age]. I don't feel at all old, but, born in a small port town town in 1936, I do feel I am slowly becoming an anachronism in this third millenium.

Cartoon of the month

Do you have a cartoon you would like to see here? If so email it in and we will see if we can feature it and give you an Andy Wahol moment.

Have you got a cartoon we might be able to use here?

Seniors Interests DVD

Our first DVD called What you need to know in retirement is now available in the Greypath shop. At $15 including postage, (in Australia), it's a very good buy. Have a look in the shop to see what it covers in its 12 interviews and over two hours viewing with professionals in safer investing, wills, scams, fraud, pension problems,where to retire, and more. Click here to visit the shop . After a slow start the DVD sales have now taken off. With this encouragement, we will now proceed with the planning for our second DVD project on healthy ageing

Poll Result on what device we could least do without

The votes were interesting, not so much regarding the computer and Ipod outcomes, but mobiles being so lowly thought of.

Finally

We have had a few teething problems with things over the past two months. Our photogallery stopped behaving itself, our last mailer to you was so big it stopped the US server and brought us a rebuke, and we also went down for a period, when I pushed a wrong button!

We hope you found something of interest in this issue. If you have any comments or suggestions for future editions, feel welcome to mail us .

Our best wishes to you

The Editor and team

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Greypath Seniors Newsletter

February 2008 http://www.greypath.com

Contents:

• Editors note
• Adventure in South East Asia
• Think Tank- Euthanasia
• Primelife Corporation
• New Developments
• Retirees Discounts and club listings planned
• New advisories
• Seniors interest DVD
• Recent Poll Results

Editors Note

As we know the New Year brings with it all of the old challenges plus a lot of new ones. We have both global and local matters impacting on us.

The question, is what can we seniors do?

Well for one thing, most of us can volunteer somewhere. With the wisdom of hind site, a lifetime of experience, and usually more freedom to allocate our time, we can play a small part in making the world a better place.

A very unusual adventure in South East Asia for grandparents. The SIDS and Kids Foundation has come up with a very unusual fund raiser. If you are an adventurous senior, like to travel, and want to do something for yourself and the community, do have a look at this link.

The Seniors Think Tank. The latest Think Tank issue was about the most sensitive matter of Euthanasia. The voting outcome was:

Euthanasia should be legalised given strict safeguards of law and independent supervision. 85%

Euthansia should never be legalised 12%

Cannot come to a decision either way 3%

Our current topic is on matters of Church and State (See Think Tank tab in the forums drop down men

Our new subject for voting is to do with Church and State. (Click here to submit your vote. You will need to log in to effect the vote)

The Primelife Corporation have kindly sponsored this mailer, so we would appreciate it if you would click through their banner above and have a look at what they have to offer to seniors thinking of life in a retirement community. For your interest the average that men begin to seriously consider such retirement living options is 73 and for women, some years earlier.

New Developments at Greypath. Our new general photo gallery , where you can easily uplift you favourite digital photo's, is now commissioned. See our main page left hand column links under Members Photos/General.

We have also set up a Greypath online shop, and this month have added our first non book items for sale. (An Australian made collapsible walking stick with arthritis handle options). We are seeking useful products that are sensibly mailable for those of you who cant always easily go shopping in cities.

New Advisories. We are still on track to add two new free email style advisories for you. One on dentures (!), and one on aged care issues. Our current free advisories include wildlife care, your computer problems, legal, and retirement living options.

Hugh Kidman's Cartoon

Seniors Interests DVD. We are in the final edit of a unique DVD for seniors. With volunteer production support from Swinburne University we expect to be able to pass it on very cheaply via the Greypath shop. It consists a number of interviews with experts on such subjects as Reverse Mortgages, Retirement Living Options, The Law and Seniors, Wills, Powers of Attorney, Financial Terms and Forms of Investment, Investing Wisely, Where to Retire and how to plan it wisely, Scams, Identity Theft, and Trading on line.

From the enquiries we get, we believe it will be of real interest and value to seniors, and we plan to have it completed by March. We will add it to the greypath shop.
If it is a success, we have a second video on Healthy Ageing under consideration, where we have early positive support from the Medical profession. We also have had a proposal that we consider a third video on mental health and ageing, (particularly around bereavement and retirment). All will depend on your interest in the first one.

Recent Poll Result

Our last completed poll was on the matter of 'Privatisation of public assets such as water, power, transport etc. The votes were:

Interesting isn't it that 80% of us are against privatisation? Time perhaps to begin reviewing such at a political level. [We find that at around 75 -100 votes our voting trends stabilise, so usually close off a poll at under 150 votes].

Finally

We hope you found something of interest in this issue. If you have any comments or suggestions for future editions, feel welcome to mail us . We would value an email to Brian Boyd (above) if you know of any retirees discounts so that we can perhaps run a regular section here for you on such good deals.

Our best wishes to you

The Editor and team

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Greypath Seniors Newsletter

May 2008 http://www.greypath.com

Contents:

• Editors note
• Oral histories and volunteering.
• Think Tank- Church & State
• Primelife Corporation
• New Developments
• Grey Meet & Match
• New Advisory
• Cartoon of the month
• Seniors interest DVD
• Latest Poll Results

Editors Note. Our membership continues to grow strongly every day. And we have modest world reach steadily evolving. That said, it would be of value to us all if more people visibly interacted with the site especially in the various forums. We truly value all input and a new member arriving in the coffee shop with their first post, is always a most welcome occasion there.

Oral Histories and Volunteering. [The following from a greypather]. Currently I volunteer my services to my local council to interview and record, as an oral history, older folk, who have lived in my area for most of their lives. This tape of their lives is then kept in our local Library for people in the community, as well as the family members of the person interviewed, to access. The things discussed are then cross referenced so that the information can be accessed by the person or by the things that they have discussed on the tape.

I find this meeting and recording of people's lives to be absolutely fascinating and a true privilege to be able to make these tapes and to meet some truly inspirational and marvelous older folk. I would recommend this to anyone with some hours to spare at a time that suits you without a long term commitment but with the opportunity of contributing to your local community.

The Seniors Think Tank. The last Think Tank issue covered the relationship between Church and State and how we felt about it. We are tolerant it seems, but very clear on our views about separation of such.

Should Church & State be separated?
Yes 92%
No 3%
Maybe 5%

Would you prefer it if you local MP was?

Agnostic 14%
Atheist 7%
Christian 39%
Don’t mind what belief system 40%

How would you vote for a political party that was politically associated with a religious organisation?

Against 56%
Depends 39%
For 5%

If you are logged on to greypath now, then click here for our latest Think Tank topic

The Primelife Corporation have kindly sponsored this mailer, so we would appreciate it if you would click through their banner above and have a look at what they have to offer to seniors thinking of life in a retirement community. For your interest the average that men begin to seriously consider such retirement living options is 73 and for women, some years earlier.

New Developments at Greypath. Working with Swinburne University final year students in IT (Information Technology) we expect to be able to launch the following in mid year:

An upgraded seniors game engine where we can create, mostly internet oriented, educative games, quickly. If you have nay ideas for an interesting 'hot spot'' based game do let us know .

Our own internal survey system with its first use being to test your feelings about the Australian Democrats and their bleak future

A wildlife care wikipedia, (a sort of encyclopedia made up of private peoples entries), that will be very user friendly for animal lovers and carers. The current docuwiki is simply far too obscure for most of us.

Grey Meet & Match- NEW

After some years of wariness, we have finally come across a local dating service that we are happy with. (Foreveryoungclub). We are building a back to back service here, as our editorial on such resulted in an unprecedented positive response. Links can be found via the forums and our home page, or click here. We have arranged a one month free trial for greypathers who may be interested.

New Free Advisories. The new aged care issues (placement and more) and dentures advisories, are now up and running. Our other free advisories include wildlife care, your computer problems, legal, and retirement living options.

Cartoon of the month

Do you have a cartoon you would like to see here? If so email it in and we will see if we can feature it and give you an Andy Wahol moment.

Our thanks to John Bell for a humorous glimpse of how seniors feel on the road sometimes?

Seniors Interests DVD

Our first DVD called What you need to know in retirement is now available in the Greypath shop. At $15 including postage, (in Australia), it's a very good buy. Have a look in the shop to see what it covers in its 12 interviews and over two hours viewing with professionals in safer investing, wills, scams, fraud, pension problems,where to retire, and more. There is a video teaser in the shop to give you some idea of what its all about. Click here to visit the shop

Poll Result on Favourite Colours

Our last completed poll, (As distinct from out Think tank Issues voting) was on the matter of our favourite colours.' The votes were:

Finally

We hope you found something of interest in this issue. If you have any comments or suggestions for future editions, feel welcome to mail us .

Our best wishes to you

The Editor and team

003366 (For those of you who worry about minor things, the 003366 number that remains here at the bottom of our mailers is the colour code for the navy blue we use here and is hard to reproduce if we forget it).

Greypath Seniors Newsletter

December 2007 http://www.greypath.com

Contents:

• Editors note
• Think Tank- Euthanasia
• Insurance
• New Developments
• British Pensions
• Free on Line
• Primelife Corporation
• Seniors Financial DVD
• Earlier Polls & ThinkTank Results

Greypath and the thirty five volunteers who so generously contribute their time to maintaining our website, wish you all a truly happy and safe time over the Christmas break.

Editors Note: We now have 4000 people subscribing to this mailer, and the number who do so increases daily. Around 50% of those who join up as a greypather, register for the mailer. Our world reach to other seniors is beginning again, as it did in our previous incarnation where we had people from some 60 countries visit each month. Mail the editor

The Seniors Think Tank. The latest Think Tank issue is about the most sensitive matter of Euthanasia. General discussion has closed now.

To have your vote click here.

The results will be included in the next mailer.

New Developments. Our new general photo gallery, where you can easily uplift you favourite digital photo's, is now commissioned. See our main page left hand column links under Members Photos/General.

Our second annual Christmas game is under build and should be uplifted by late December. You can find it in under the Social/Games tab at Greypath.

We have also trialled a new interactive murder story, Murder at the Grange, that could be of interest to those with some time to spare. Its under Social/games as well.

And finally we are hopeful of building our own seniors 3D community on line, throughout next year in conjunction with a local university's IT and Media Department..

British Pensions. Did you know that there are 250 000 people in Australia who receive a British Pension? There is a Not For Profit organisation here that fights for their rights, and is currently seeking to have these pensions indexed. Many foreign workers are also entitled to British Pensions if they have worked in the UK for only three years or more. To find out more on these matters go to http://youle.info/bpia/

A Cartoon from the pen of Greypather, Hugh Kidman

Free on Line. Surprisingly there is a great deal of free merchandise to be found online. If you haven't done it already, download the world's best free search engine, Google, [www.google.com], and do a search using the words free, online, and some variations of that. You will soon the hang of searching as you learn to refine your search terms (search words) to get the results you want..

The Primelife Corporation have kindly sponsored this mailer, so we would appreciate it if you would click through their banner above and have a look at what they have to offer to seniors thinking of life in a retirement community. For your interest the average that men begin to seriously consider such retirement living options is 73.

Seniors Financial DVD. We are 50% the way through a unique DVD for seniors. Due to volunteer production support we expect to be able to pass it on very cheaply. It consists a number of interviews with experts on such subjects as Reverse Mortgages, Retirement Living Options, The Law and Seniors, Wills and Powers of Attorney, Financial Terms and Forms of Investment, Investing Wisely, Where to Retire and How to Plan it Wisely, Insurance, Scams and Identity Theft, and the two e's, E-trading and E- banking.

From the enquiries we get we believe it will be of real interest and value to seniors and we plan to have it completed by March, and will add it to the Greypath shop where we only have a few books at the moment.

If it is a success, we have a new video on (practical) Healthy Ageing under consideration, and have early positive support from the Medical profession.

Earlier Polls & Think Tank Results

Our last completed poll was on the matter of 'Should Australia Become a Republic'. The votes were:

Yes 52%

No 45%

Unsure 3%

We find that at around 100 votes our voting trends stabilise, so usually close off a poll at under 150 votes.

Our last Think Tank outcome was to do with Federal Intervention in States Matters. The results were interesting:

Should the Federal Government intervene in State matters?

Yes 27% No 41% Maybe 32%

Should it intervene in serious unresolved matters that cross State borders?

Yes 64%, No 13%, Maybe 23%

Should such be a matter of last resort after failed negotiation?

Yes 91%, No 9%

Should there be a mini Referendum before such action is taken?

Yes 50%, No 50%

Do we need State Governments?

Yes 50%, No 32%, Maybe 18%

Finally

We hope you found something of interest in this issue. If you have any comments or suggestions for future editions, feel welcome to mail us .

Our best wishes to you

The Editor and team

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Greypath Seniors Newsletter

October 2007

Contents:

• Peter Nicholson's Animations

• A house swap in Canada

• New Greypath Projects

• Think Tank
• Monthly cartoon
• Telstra Seniors Grants
• Netalert
• AARP. Free Newsletter
• Walk to live
• Polls
• Editors note

Peter Nicholson's Animated Cartoons. We are very pleased to be able to feature Peter's outstanding animations through Greypath. You can see them via our home page under the top right hand block (or here) . Regardless of your political affiliations you will find them very amusing.

House Swaps. We run a free seniors house swap (holiday) service. Many people over the past few years have had a wonderful holiday, in a home like their own, but somewhere else. For example a family of teachers from Montreal are seeking some months of a home swap in an Anglophile environment e.g. Australia. You can contact them via an email to Anne or Normand

Have a look in our Social section for other swaps.

New Greypath Project . In about 4 weeks time we will have completed our seniors photo gallery where you will be able to, very simply, post your digital camera images for all to see. We have yet to decide what galleries we will set up for you, but nature, home related and say, a seniors life, may all be included as separate galleries.

This months cartoon from Greypather Hugh Kidman

Telstra Grants for Seniors Computer Clubs.

Telstra has launched the Telstra Connected Seniors grant program. To give a range of community organisations the opportunity to participate the Telstra Connected Seniors program will be provided in three tiers:

Tier 1: Local Community Grants $1,000 - $5000 There are two other tiers, state and national. Go to www.telstraseniors.com.au to find more details, including the application form and a sample completed application form which is very useful. This grants offer is not limited to computers it can include mobile phones and more.

Round one closed on 14 September 2007 and results will be announced by 1 October 2007. Preference will be given to applications in the order received and with programs scheduled to commence October 2007. There will be a second round a couple of months later.

You will need to demonstrate two main outcomes:
1. How an understanding of technology will provide an ongoing benefit to your club or local group. 2. How it will be implemented.

The purpose of the program is to help older Australians (over 60) to learn about new technologies and enable them to confidently use the internet and mobile phones.

When writing your applications remember that the basis of the program is to introduce technology to your members in a fun, interactive manner that solves an everyday problem of communication in this modern age of communications.

AARP. The American Association of Retired Persons has a free email newsletter series. They are excellent and well worth your subscription. Go to AARP for an easy registration.

If this looks familiar its time to email Charme and get a free Greypath Walking Programme developed for you.

Polls. Our recent seniors polls results have been interesting. We are trending 54% for a Republic vs 44 % against . On the next election issues we have the top four issues being voted as 30% Health, 21% Water, 17% Pensions and 14% Environment.

Editors note

We hope you found something of interest in this issue. If you have any comments or suggestions for future editions, feel welcome to mail us .

Our best wishes to you

The Editor and team

Contents

• Nuisance calls.

• Banner Prizes
• Research on Seniors on Line
• Bumper Month for
  Competitions
• New Federal Aged Care Commissioner
• Seniors Videocasting
  (YouTube)_
• Short Film About on Line Seniors

From the Editor

Previously Dinkum was our on line magazine, (where we helped many seniors to see their writings published), but, after 22 issues, we have taken the title over as the banner for our members mailers. We thank you for opting in to this Greypath mailer and hope you find something of interest here.

This first mailer is a test of our new auto mailing system, and your comments as to how it appears for you, content ideas, and more, are most welcome. Just mail the editor

Nuisance Calls From Telemarketers

You may have missed the publicity or lost the URL, so here again is the Federal Government central registry, where you can list your number as a no call zone for telemarketers. http://www.donotcall.gov.au

Banner Click Through Prizes

We run a mixture of free and commercial banner ads. The commercial ones are our primary source of income to run this site. Clicking through on such banners is one of two key measures our advertisers use to decide if they will re- advertise with us. So as to encourage such click through’s and so you will see what they have to offer you, we will, throughout the next few months, offer an excellent Logitech Quickcam to two winners each month … All you have to do is to click through when you visit , and our server will capture the entry. Our computer is set up to be the judge of click through’s on these two banners below, wherever you see them on the site. No entry limits. [Newsletter members can also get into the draw simply via a click on these two banners ].

Research into the Internet and Seniors.

Oliver Beaumont is doing PhD research based around Greypath seniors interaction on line. He has been a long time Greypath supporter, so we wish his research well. Have look here for some background . It can only be to our advantage as seniors, to make an effort and support such research, for one of the many issues we are pushing for you, is the mental health aspects of free, (or at least $10 unlimited), broadband for pensioners, and this research will assist us. Here is Olivers request to us.

Hi Everyone, my name is Oliver and I am seeking interview volunteers for my study on ‘What seniors value about online social interaction.’ The study is focused on GreyPath. I can easily accommodate interviews in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, as well as country areas that are roughly enroute between Wagga Wagga (which is where I live) and one of those cities. I also prefer to interview people in the location from which they most frequently access GreyPath, be it at their home or some other place. Interviews will take at most 1 hour. I expect people who volunteer will enjoy the hour, as the topics discussed should be of interest to them. Because of the travel involved, I will try to arrange multiple interviews within a few days – ie, if I get 3 people volunteering to be interviewed in Sydney, I will try to organise it so that I can interview all 3 in one trip. If you would like to participate, please either email me at oburmeister@csu.edu.au or ring me at work on (02) 6933 2591 or on my mobile 0402 673 679. Regards, Oliver Burmeister

Bumper Month for Competitions coming

Next month will be a bumper month for our competitions. A coach tour from AAT Kings Travel, DVD’s from Homeshow Entertainment, CD’s and a DVD (Ms Potter) from Icon Films. These prizes, combined with the Logitech cameras, mean you have a real chance this month, so do give it a go.

With some 20 DVD's, 10 CD's and free coach tours plus Logitech quickcams, you should be in it.

For some years now these companies have been very generous to Greypathers .

New Federal Aged Care Complaints Commissioner

We have a newly appointed Federal Commissioner for such, and in our next issue will add some background and contact details for this office.

Videocasting for Seniors (via YouTube)

We have set up a Greypath Group under YouTube. That means that if you would like your videos to be seen by other seniors, then we now have a special section where seniors video’s wont get lost among the millions of other such listings. Click here to have a look at our first couple of Videos and for some background information on how to do it etc. You will need broadband to get any video and speech that flows easily.

When we are on top of it all ourselves, we plan to write up a short course on such vids and how to use cheap approx $50 webcams to make them, if you haven’t got access to a digital movie camera.

Movie on Seniors and Internet Technology

We have been asked if we would assist the development of a short film on seniors and the Internet. The film makers are now in the process of scoping the film, with our input. With a bit of luck we may well be able to facilitate camera time for some of you. (It’s never too late for a new career!)

Seeking Free Software For Seniors.

We are hoping to compile a list of good freebie software of value to seniors. If you have any could you email us with the URL and maybe a short explanation? We will publish the list via a newsletter in future and also add it to site.

Well that’s it for this time. If you don’t want to be on future mailers you can go to the site and click My Account, and un-tick the mailer box. If you do think it is a worthwhile initiative do let us know.

editor@greypath.com
9/302 Claremont St
South Yarra Victoria Australia 3141