The following is an extract of their outline for the fair.  Please contact us if you need a complete copy of the outline and contact information for the FH leaders in the Raymond Stake.

On Friday evening, April 20^th and during the day, Saturday April 21^st, The Raymond Stake will host a Family History Fair, centered in Family History activities that we can do as families.

Our Goals

• Help our stake families to understand their ancestors and how they contribute to who and what we are today
• Provide family centered activities to help us learn about and enjoy our family backgrounds and history
• Show what is available and build interest within our Stake in family history and genealogy work

The Format

Our fair will be in two parts. It will begin with a family fireside on Friday evening at 7:00 pm at the Stake Center Chapel. Peter & Linda Darby, our Area Family History Advisors, will be the speakers. During the day Saturday we will host a “drop in” smorgasbord of family centered Family History activities at the Stake Centre and Cultural Hall. This will begin at 9 am and continue till around 4:30 pm. Attendees will be able to choose from a range of concurrent activities, classes, displays and programs, each one repeating 6 times, at 9:30, 10:30, 11:30, 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30. Some of the activities may require a previous signup with designated times for attending. Others will be “free form” and “drop in”. All will be designed for entire families to participate in. Each will take about 45 minutes, and allow 5 to 10 minutes for questions after, and 5 minutes to move the group out and a new one in. Lunch will be provided in the Cultural Hall between 12:30 and 1:30 (the Stake Emergency Preparedness group will be handling this so it could be interesting as well as filling).

The planned activities and their coordinating/sponsoring High Priests groups are: 

#1 – Build Your Family Tree and put it on your mantle, save it for a rainy day. (1^st Ward)

#2 – How can I write a journal when I can’t even write a note? (4^th Ward)

#3 – Can I really learn anything useful from my grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles? (7^th Ward)

#4 – What is indexing and do I need a dictionary to do it? (5^th Ward)

#5 – What does our family stand for, how are we unique, and where did we get our family traditions, traits, habits, recipes and all these things that make us who we are? (3^rd Ward)

#6 – How were the lives of our ancestors different from ours, and how were they similar (9^th Ward)

#7 – What is this whole NewFamilySearch thing, why is it “new” and is my family really lost enough that I need to be searching for it? (8^th Ward)

#8 – I’ve got all these old photos and artifacts and stuff – are they good for anything and if so, how can I save and use them? (6^th Ward)

#9 – What’s at the Family History Centre and what can it do for my family? (2^nd Ward)

There will be two additional activities that are not repeating “classes” but will be more of a service booth approach:

#10 – “The Doctors are IN” – what FH problems can we help you solve? (Area FH Advisors)

#11 – Haven’t registered for new FamilySearch yet? – Here is your chance – (Stake Clerk and FHC Staff)

What’s next

We are working with the High Priest Group Leaders to define and refine the activities and help find ways to make them whole family experiences. Someone has been assigned to coordinate a publicity campaign and we will all keep reinforcing in a positive way that this is a “Family” Family History event. We also plan to have family history related displays in the Cultural Hall and North Stake Centre foyers, – posters, materials, some artifacts and such.

Please contact (member of HC or FHC Directors) with suggestions, feedback and ideas.

Putting our FAMILY in Family History – April 21, 2012

Activity #1 – Build Your Family Tree (and put it on your mantle) – First Ward

Message – Families are made of real people who are connected in ways we can understand

Activity Description – As a family, talk about what a family tree is. Families can make a physical family tree that can be taken home and displayed, and can also register and receive a fanchart printout showing 9 generations of their family ancestors.

Target Group – Families with younger children for the physical tree and any family for the fanchart

Coordinator – 1^st Ward High Priests

Possible assisting organization – Stake Primary people and ward people as needed

What we need

• A simple way that people can select pieces, put names on them and construct a tree form showing their family relationships
• Some posters and discussion points or illustrations about relationships, what they are called and how they fit together
• A computer and printer setup to load and print fancharts from the NewFamilySearch website

The Take-home – an individual family tree, a visual reminder of how and who makes up our family

Activity #3 – Can I really learn anything new or useful from my grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles? – Seventh Ward

Message – Our ancestors and their experiences can be a blessing to us, but only if we know who they are and what they did. We can find these things out by talking to them about their lives and keeping notes or a recording in some way

Activity Description – Examples of Q and A family firesides, possibly a church video on interviewing, ask some of the questions and get the answers, talk about recording with ink and ipods

Target Group – Families with living relatives (that’s most of us)

Coordinator – 7^th Ward High Priests

Possible assisting organization – Stake YW, YM

What we need

• Illustrations of things learned from our progenitors and family members
• An opportunity to interview someone about a specific event as a learning process
• Discussion and examples about ways to preserve an interview
• A real interview with a family member about some significant event – marriage, first child, mission

The Take-home – a better knowledge of a family event or member and an understanding of how to find out about other events that have meaning from our past

Activity #4 – What is indexing and do I need a dictionary to do it? – Fifth Ward

Message – Indexing can be fun and it blesses us all – it is a powerful way to help Family History efforts

Activity Description – A presentation/demonstration about indexing along with actual involvement in indexing records

Target Group – All, with some emphasis on the “gadgetized” youth

Coordinator – 5^th Ward High Priests

Possible assisting organization – Stake Indexing director

What we need

• A location with a computer or two, a large monitor or projector and internet access
• Some demonstrations and illustrations about  the Church indexing program and why it helps us
• Discussion about the youth site at LDS.Org/youth/family-history
• Demonstrations on a smartphone/iphone and/or a tablet
• Some fairly easy record sets to work with
• Those taking this class will need their membership number and birth date if they are not registered already

The Take-home – an understanding of indexing and its importance in family history work

Activity #9 – What is at the Family History Centre and what can it do for my family? – Second Ward

Message – Tools, resources and training for our research needs can be found at the FHC

Activity Description – Show what is available at the FHC and what help we can receive there

Target Group – all

Coordinator – 2^nd Ward High Priests

Possible assisting organization – Family History Directors

What we need

• Sample setups from the FHC, one computer workstation, one microfilm reader, one microfiche reader, internet
• A presentation/discussion about what you can do at home and what you can do at the Center
• Illustrations of ways the FHC can complement family research at home

The Take-home – an understanding of where a Family History centre can help a family in their Family History program.

The 2 keynote speakers were Gena Ortega on the Friday evening and Dick Eastman on  Saturday morning.  They were both excellent. I know many of you couldn’t come so here are my notes from their presentations – certainly not comprehensive notes, but some of the things that caught my attention.  Apologies for any errors I am about to make!  Please don’t share my errors!

Gena Philibert-Ortega – Researching Like a History Detective

(Gena is an author and blogger from California.  Her blogs include  http://philibertfamily.blogspot.ca/   Gena serves as Vice-President for the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists. She is also a Regional Director for the California State Genealogical Alliance).  Gena has a handout on the conference website.

Context is everything.  Without context we make assumptions – draw false conclusions – may research someone else’s family.  We tend to stick to government documents and don’t stray too far from it  – need to consider other sources.

What is context?  Set of circumstances that surround a particular event

PBS Show History Detectives

Genealogists are History Detectives

People in family tell us whacky stories – & we try to work it out

What do Detectives do?

Listen to witnesses – what they say and what they don’t say

Observe

Question experts

Gather evidence

Aha moment

What makes genealogy interesting ?

Not the forms

About going to cemeteries

Bringing ancestors to life

There is much more than Ancestry and FamilySearch websites

Analyzed some old picture

Enlarge – look for details – religious collar with SA on it

Look for unseen clues

Gather evidence from lots of people

Research Salvation Army

Use eBay – searched for vintage Salvation Army photos

Think like an historian

Find all the books you can about the locality

Genealogy is history on the micro level

Look for articles

Call reference librarians – maybe through a chat feature

Get past vital record, census, and surname searches

Don’t make assumptions

1911 England – person not in census? – suffragettes refused to be included in the census! What documents existed at this time period? History at that time? Neighbors?

Do you use library websites?  University websites? Worldcat? Repositories ?

Try to recreate the community your ancestor lived in

Libcat – guide to libraries on the internet – not just USA

Repositories of Primary Sources – google search term

Library and Archives Canada – archivianet and online maps

David Rumsey map collection – can also be an add on to Google Earth

Alberta Women’s Institute website – look at the Tweedsmuir Histories

Experts are important in genealogy

How do you find experts?

Social networking – such as genealogywise – ask questions

APG – Association of Professional Genealogists

Message boards

Books

Universities

Ask local historians

Google books – can be very good – to research a topic

Put in ancestors name

5 steps to research:

1. Research the individual – look at Internet genealogy databases – know sources – google person – identify primary documents – newspapers – home sources (inherited by others ) – family members – websites
2. Research the family
3. Research the history
4. Research the locality
5. Research the neighbors and community – how do you find neighbors? – research area – reconstruct community – manuscript collections

Get to know all the sources.

Look for finding aids, research books, how to books

Cluster genealogy – identifying and reconstructing a persons social network – increase the pool of people – FAN principle (Family, Associates and Neighbours – from Elizabeth Shown Mills) – Where they lived, occupations

Use Google images

Stories behind people create interest

Look at different kinds of collections

Search the catalog – special collections, digital collections – many times surnames as search terms won’t help you

Worldcat  http://www.worldcat.org/ – catalog of libraries – give it your postal code -and it will find library near you that has book – can copy citations and sources.  Search terms may not be what you think.  Cookbooks equal cookery in catalog.  Good to look at subject headings.

University libraries online – often have chat features or ask a librarian

Women’s collections

Be flexible in what you use as key words

PERSI valuable resource – available at ancestry.com – look for articles

Reconstructing lives

Context is everything

Genealogy is a puzzle

(interesting fact: US women until c 1936 who married non US males lost their citizenship)

Dick Eastman – The Family History World in 10 years time

(Owner and writer of  Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and Blog – which I read every morning before breakfast!  You can find out how to subscribe to receive by email if you go to http://blog.eogn.com/ and click on subscribe to free standard edition.  Dick is from Florida – so he really appreciated our spring time snow!)

For handouts go to:  eogn.com/handouts/10years

Genealogy 0.5 – until c 1920 – original records – compiled sources – no microfilm – expensive – few societies – elitist

Genealogy 1.0 – 1920 – 1980 – microfilm – Alex Haley

Genealogy 2.0 – 1980- 2012 – digital records – social networks – TV shows – expanded audience

Genealogy 3.0 – 2012 and beyond – now – many records online – google books – see werelate.org – bloggers

The Future? – more records online – focus on putting images online – with transcripts and indexes – wifim (what’s in it for me) – dealing with inertia – genealogists interrupt bureaucrats real work? – archive email? Archive of Facebook – archives.org has a wayback machine

- online all the time everywhere – ease of access – information moving to the cloud – google glasses are coming

- new and better software – cloud based – comparing and matching records – collaborative – so more faster and easier – software that works on any platform – hardware OS is currently an impediment – data privacy issues?

- changing audience – getting younger! – busy family members can do genealogy in spare moments – driven by technology – TV programs – new audience has different interests such as stories of ancestors, not charts, may not join societies (not joiners) , not classified by age, gender or nationality – Boston University class 40% born a outside US, 90% had one or more grandparents born outside US – traditional data sources like census don’t work well – 50% non white – 50% did not share a surname with their own father – need global resources

Shane Robison VP HP at Rootstech 2011 said – desktop sales declining – tablet and smart phones soaring – within 5 years 60% of Internet access not from traditional computers

How is our society going to serve this audience?

Will traditional libraries cease to exist?  Will all books be digitized?  At what cost to access?

Share online!

Back it up!

As Canadians we must be feeling a least a little envy for our American cousins getting access to new genealogical information, so I was pleased to read in Dick Eastman’s Online Genealogical Newsletter – http://blog.eogn.com/ 29 March entry – about the 1921 Canada Census.  He reminds us that in Canada we have to wait 92 years before the census information becomes available, and that only means the data is transferred to Library and Archives Canada – which will happen on 1 June 2013.  Let’s hope LAC is able to make the information available as soon as possible as they promise. No word on a timeline yet.  For more information read the LAC blog at http://thediscoverblog.com/2012/03/27/1921-census-countdown/ .  8 3/4 million people in the census!  The prairie provinces population grew 47% since the 1911 census!  Should be exciting for the Canadian researcher.

Referenced on Straight from the Horses Heart article: “Horse Slaughter Promoter Destroys Self on Public Radio with Defamatory Rant and Hang-Up“ 

Below is my editorial response to the “Press Release” published in April Issue of Horseback Magazine, dated March 30, 2012.. titled:

Pro Slaughter’s Sue Wallis Claims Ambush on NPR Station – Hangs Up on Interview and Blasts Guests in Press Release

EDITORIAL COMMENT:

Suffered brain explosion upon reading the “press release” – which was NOT meant as an honest announcement of facts but cunningly designed to mislead, deceive and push their own barbaric agenda of horse slaughter. (Truthful overview of the interview / PBS radio show in which Ms Wallis ranted, blamed and outright lied – CLICK HERE. Be sure to read comments under articles.) 

In the recent years since first learning about Sue Wallis and her campaign she calls ”humane treatment of horses” – which is instead the most sadistic and horrifically brutal and violent methods on earth, (and her relentless push in order to profit from it), the entire thing has made me heart-sick and flares my defenses which were sparked at an early age.

My father and his father were ranchers all their lives, with a special care and interest in horses. My grandfather was a renowned “horse vet” and trainer in the late 1800′s and early 1900′s. Although I didn’t know Grand-Dad very well, as he passed away when I was young, many say I have his “special way” with animals, and horses in particular.

The first memory of my own efforts for animal advocacy was at the tender age of 5 years, when my family attended a popular rodeo in our area. My young eyes witnessed the rough treatment of the horses, calves, steers and Brahma bulls and I started screaming, “Stop hurting them!” All the “shushing” and explanation did nothing to calm or convince me. Still screaming, and fighting to escape the arms of my parents so I could personally get down there and make the cruelty STOP, I was carried out and have never seen animals in the same way again. Ever since, I’ve been committed to stand in the gap to stop and prevent the mistreatment, abuse and neglect of the innocent and the powerless.

It is through this perspective that I see Ms Wallis as a predator, and she admits that her “interest” in horses is to send them to slaughter and make a healthy profit for herself. The innocent heart of a 5 year old, uncorrupted by greed and hate, rises up in me, causing me to try to put myself in-between the predator and the innocent, defenseless victims.

I will never stop advocating for the innocent victims of this world, until I draw my last breath. Life is NOT about how much money and possessions you can gather for yourself no matter who you have to harm and torture to get it. NO! Real life is about living so as to cause as little harm as possible and in that time, to help, comfort and encourage those who are downtrodden, broken, and have no voice to protect themselves.

In conclusion: There is no justification for inflicting sadism and torture on the innocent and powerless. And to PROFIT from it is beyond CRIMINAL. It is EVIL personified!! Torture for profit MUST STOP!! Horse slaughter MUST STOP!!

by Sue Charles
Copyright 4-2-2012

What is still there?

1.  Research Wiki – also available under Learn at Familysearch.org – “The FamilySearch Research Wiki provides free family history research advice for the community, from the community. The wiki is a free and growing resource fueled by the largest network of volunteer genealogical researchers and enthusiasts in the world.

Now is the time to join in and contribute to this free and rapidly growing resource that is available to everyone. FamilySearch invites those with expertise in genealogical research all over the world to contribute to these resources. Choose your preferred language, sign in (registration is free), and join many volunteers in making a huge difference helping others with their own family history.

The wiki is available in the following languages: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish”

2.   Forums  – also available under Learn at Familysearch.org – “The Forums project is aimed at providing the most up to date information to anyone who uses FamilySearch products to work on their family history. Through the Forums anyone can ask questions about product features, research techniques, hints and tips, or even about specific families in specific locations. And anyone who knows the answer can reply. Come participate and give us your feedback. The more who use it the better the information.

The forums are available in the following languages: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish.”

3.  England Jurisdictions 1851 – a great tool – do I have lots of English research?  – “The England Jurisdictions 1851 project simplifies research by consolidating data from many finding aids into a single searchable repository that can be accessed by clicking in a parish boundary. Features include contiguous parish and radius search lists and relevant jurisdictions as they existed in England in 1851. Data includes changes to parishes prior to 1851 and lists of non-conformist denominations in a parish. (requires Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 3, Safari 3 or newer)”

4.  Standard Finder – do you get frustrated “occasionally” by standardized place names?  This is a huge undertaking . . .  . – and actually a great project that is very helpful and getting better. Place and Preview were very interesting – didn’t realize there were so many places named Norfolk in the world.  Using this project will give you greater understanding of the project and a link to send Feedback on names that need correction! – “Standard Finder is a FamilySearch Labs application which provides access to standardized information for names, locations, and dates. These databases are used by several FamilySearch applications to assist researchers in searching for exact spellings as well as for indexers who enter information used for RecordSearch.”

5.   Community Trees – a good resource – need to know how to look at the collections – click on See Community Trees so you can browse the collections – “Community Trees are lineage-linked genealogies from specific time periods and geographic localities around the world. The information also includes the supporting sources. Most of the genealogies are joint projects between FamilySearch and others who live locally or have expertise in the area or records used to create the genealogies.”

New (or relatively new!) – as of 30 March 2012 only Submit Your Tree was available – the others are yet to arrive! :

1.  Submit your tree – I was asked to try this last summer, but just haven’t got there yet . . .  “This beta test of Submit Your Tree is an easy way to upload a GEDCOM file and compare it to millions of records that are already in new.familysearch.org. The process distinguishes between ancestors who are already in new.familysearch.org and those that are not. Once you have gone through this process, please use the orange feedback link to provide your input.”

2.   Fresh – can’t wait to see what this is going to be! – “This project represents the new face of FamilySearch for people who have never participated in their family history before.”

3.   FamilySearch Maps – “Get the help you need in person. It may be closer than you think. Search for family history around the world.”

4.  Ohio Research Assistance – OK I admit I was at first underwhelmed as I have no ancestry in Ohio, but they are developing this tool to provide research help for other areas of the world too – “We are experimenting with how to best provide research help to our users throughout the world. Our first phase is to provide research assistance to those needing help finding their ancestors in records involving the State of Ohio.”

Genealogy Conference update!

Registrations already over 200!  Don’t miss your chance to hear Gena Philibert Ortega (author, blogger Vice-President for the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists & a Regional Director for the California State Genealogical Alliance) the keynote speaker on Friday night, Dick Eastman (Owner and writer of Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and Blog) on Saturday, and attend a live webinar with Thomas MacEntee (Founder of High-Definition Genealogy and a professional genealogist specializing in the use of technology and social media to improve genealogical research)

Go to http://rdgensoc.ab.ca/conferenceindex.html for details.

1.  Genealogy Conference in Alberta.

We have been asked to share the following information with you:

“Dick Eastman is coming to Red Deer as one of three keynote guest speakers at a Genealogical Conference April 13 and 14. There are 14 speakers in all speaking on a wide variety of genealogical subjects from begining to advanced topics. Great opportunity to hear “big” names in the genealogy world.”

Registration and Information are online at:  http://rdgensoc.ab.ca/conference/

2.  Subscribing to weekly articles by email

We are always pleased to hear feedback about our weekly articles.  We are always saddened when someone tells us that the weekly article did not arrive.

We have also heard of people who subscribed to receive the article by email and then the articles mysteriously stopped coming.  We leave the management of the email list entirely to the website.   The website has we notice updated some of their management tools.  Sometimes the security settings on your computer or email program get changed or updated.  Check your spam/junk email box. If you have an option to unblock specific email addresses, try allowing   *@wordpress.com (all emails from the domain) and/or no-reply@wordpress.com addresses.

If you want to receive the articles weekly and they for any reason stop then please go to the website and click on the link Email Subscription (lower right on webpage) and put in your email address again.  Please invite anyone you think would be interested to subscribe.  We worry that some FH Consultants do not know about the weekly articles.

Of course you can always go to the website to read the article and look at the archive of past articles.  Thank you for your encouragement and support.  Comments, articles and suggested topics for articles are welcome.

Image Courtesy of Readitt.in

I was having a casual conversation with a guy earlier today and he suddenly threw the phrase ‘angry black woman’ at me.  I think he was trying chat me up (that’s neither here nor there) and I wasn’t angry at the time which was why I was somewhat taken aback.

‘Angry black woman?!’ I said, rather incredulous at his use of the phrase in what I considered out of context…. and he’s a black man.

‘Yes’, he said, ‘Haven’t you heard that phrase before? It’s commonly used for black women, because a lot of them are angry.’

‘Well, I know a lot of black women and none of them are angry.’ I said.

‘Oh don’t you know they used it for Michelle Obama and she went on TV to defend it, and she was angry….’ he replied smugly, but then he left  the sentence dangling and there was a sort of unspoken, ‘she proved their point didn’t she?’…….

This conversation made me think about labels and how we all have to deal with people’s perceptions of us.  It could be argued that women’s under-representation in various spheres of life that have been much talked about,  is mainly due to these labels.  Amnesty International asserts that, ‘…. women are frequently subjected to gender norms that limit their opportunities, defining them as mothers, caregivers, or homemakers.’

Of course being a mother, caregiver or homemaker is a worthy occupation, but it’s not all women can be and the only people who can debunk this stereotype are women themselves. We as women tend to forget that we are all individuals with various talents, strengths and experiences that can never define us completely as a anything other than a unique individual who, teaming up with other unique individuals can achieve great things in any sphere of life.

So as mothers and mentors we must always be careful to celebrate girls and young women for who they are not for who people expect them to be.  We must inspire them to be the people they want to be even if it defies other people’s idea of what a woman should be.  They should never be self-conscious about wanting to be in a male-dominated profession or environment and shouldn’t be put off by comments like, ‘There’s just something odd about a woman who wants to be in charge!’

Growing up in Nigeria, in West Africa, I was always made aware of what was expected of me, to get married and have children (been there done that), even though I yearned for adventure and something more, I never felt free to pursue it,  because of  sayings (Africans love their sayings) like ‘A woman’s education ends in the kitchen and the bedroom’ and ‘What is Bsc or Msc without M-R-S?’  Thankfully, I grew up with strong independent women who modelled being your own woman.

I found out though that it might have been an inadvertent modelling, as my mother had a frank chat with me after my then boyfriend reported to her that I had turned down his proposal because I wanted to travel the world. He took this to mean I was a feminist and reported as much to my mother, who was horrified! I pointed out to her that I was just as adventurous and unconventional as she was and she gave me an incredulous look and a knowing smile.

I have since been inspired by the biographies of people like Beatrix Potter, Virginia Woolf and Emmeline Pankhurst.  In their day, women were even more disenfranchised than today, yet these women stood out and stood up for who they were and what they knew they had to do.

More recently, I was inspired by the film about the life of Margaret Thatcher, The Iron Lady, because yet again, people reduce her to a stereotype of a woman who wanted to get ahead and so became more like a man.  The reality is that great achievement lies not in gender but in being the best person you can be.

So here’s to all the incredible persons who make up half the world’s population and make the world a better place!

“To print a chart stating with yourself:

1. Go to https://createfan.com

2. Click Login

3. Type in nFS Username and Password

4. Click Sign In

5. Click Create

6.  Open or Save the resultant Fan Chart (PDF format) Starting with You (9 generations)

To view other Fan Charts starting with other PID Numbers

1. Click on TreeSeek.com hyperlink – you MUST complete steps 1-6 above before going to TreeSeek.com

2. Click on Start Now!

3. Click on Login underneath the tree

4. Type in nFS Username and Password

5. Click on Create Tree if you wish to enter another Person ID (PID) as shown below. Your results are stored to the website server.

6. Enter Person PID number in the box you desire to be the start of Ancestor Fan Chart

7. Click Create data set button and wait patiently for process to complete

8. Click the Starting Person For the fan chart you desire as directed from

the following menu given below: Just click the pull-down above, make your

selection, and then do the next step below.

9. Click Create Chart button

10. Open or Save the resultant Fan Chart (PDF format) Starting with input PID (9

generations)

NOTE: When you complete the above process once, you only need to return to the TreeSeek.com website for additional charts.”

Wouldn’t it be nice to print a large colour fan chart?  Bill reminds us that if you have Adobe Reader v 10 you can print as tiles – and then put the tiles together.

Our American colleagues always tell us about being able to get large charts printed at places like Kinkos (didn’t they get bought out by FedEx?) or services like genealogycharts.org and generationmaps.com/familychartist .  Shipping of the charts to Canada might be prohibitive (? has any tried it?).  Where in Canada can we get large charts printed? Staples will print a 24″ by 36″ colour chart for $29.99 from a pdf file.  You can upload the file to their website and pick the print up at the store.  I tried Costco but they only print jpg and tiff files and not pdf. Does anyone know where you can get a large colour chart printed in Canada?

How to become a FamilySearch Missionary 

Have you noticed that there are some delays in getting your telephone calls to FamilySearch Support answered?  There is a shortage of missionaries!  Please consider helping or look for people you know and gently persuade them to help.  You can serve from home!  15 or more hours a week.  This knowledge document gives the details:

Document ID: 100134

Part-Time Church-Service Missionaries Needed

FamilySearch Patron Services Division

Interested in FamilySearch?

Church-service missionaries help provide e-mail and phone support for users of FamilySearch websites and FamilySearch computer programs by answering questions about family history products, programs, and services. Missionaries will receive training and can then offer e-mail and phone support from their own homes.

Availability: Missionaries are expected to serve a minimum of 15 hours per week for at least a year. Days and times for actual service are scheduled with a Mission Leader once the first eight weeks of training have been completed.

Requirements:

• Contact Elder Whiting before talking to your local priesthood leaders–there are some technical requirements that must be met before you can serve.
• Minimum requirements for a home computer: 1.0 GB RAM, Pentium 4 processor, Windows XP, and a high-speed (broadband, DSL, or cable) Internet connection. When you contact us we can help you determine if your computer will be suitable for the services you will be providing. Click here to see a more detailed list of computer system requirements.
• Church-service missionaries are called by their stake president and set apart by their bishop.

Skills: Missionaries should have a good understanding of computers, along with good troubleshooting and communication skills. It is helpful if they have experience in one or more FamilySearch areas including Historical Records, Indexing, FamilySearch Centers, Research and new FamilySearch. Previous experience as a ward family history consultant, as a family history center director or staff member, or as an indexing program director or worker is also very helpful.

For more information, contact:

Elder Whiting, Coordinator
FamilySearch Field Missionaries
Toll Free: 1-800-453-3860 ext. 20850
E-mail: WhitingJ@familysearch.org

To obtain additional information about becoming FamilySearch Missionary:

1. Go to http://www.lds.org/.
2. Click Menu.
3. Click Missionary Service.
4. Under Church-Service Mission Opportunities click Current Opportunities in the middle column.
5. Click View “At Home” Service Opportunities.
6. Click FamilySearch Missionary (#1321)
7. Click Request Information
8. Enter your name and email address and then click Submit Information

Even those who didn’t attend were able to participate.  There were an unprecendented 14 sesssions broadcast live.  For many of the live sessions the handouts were available online.

If you missed the main events you can:

1. Go to Rootstech.org.  Individual videos are going to be added.  There is already a link download of the entire syllabus (go to Downloads) which is 82 MB!  Or you can select the syllabus for individual sessions.
2. Go to Dick Eastman’s Online Newsletter. http://blog.eogn.com/  He had summaries of each day of Rootstech. By the way do you realize that Dick will be speaking at the joint AGS/AFHS Conference in Red Deer on April 13 and 14? (Go to http://rdgensoc.ab.ca/registration.html  for more information)
3. The Ancestry Insider also reported on Rootstech http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com/

There is another way to catch up on Rootstech!  There is a free app for iphones/ipods/ipads and a version for Android devices! The app has a very original name – Rootstech.  Although the app was designed to use during Rootstech it gives you more access to news, and summaries of the keynote addresses – I haven’t explored all the links yet!

Rootstech was used as the opportunity to release the beta version of an app to do indexing!  This is available for both ipod/ipad/iphone (IOS) and Android mobile devices!  It is a beta so I don’t know if I would rush out and share with everyone right now, but I was very impressed with the features and stability of the app.

Some of you might wonder just how good it is to do indexing on a mobile device.  I installed it and tried it on my ipad.  I was very impressed.  After you sign in check the settings – just so you know what they are . . . All I got on the screen was the image of someone’s first name and last name.  I typed this in and clicked submit.  I missed seeing the name in context of the rest of the page and being able to see other words on the page to help with handwriting recognition.  Then I looked at the top of the screen and saw 2 icons – one of which looked like a page.  I clicked on it and got the whole page with the ease of zooming in and out any time I wanted to.  Then I just toggled between name and seeing whole document.  Maybe this was in the instructions?  Maybe I am just a slow learner?  i never did get to the end of a batch.  The names kept coming and coming and coming.  I had to stop so I could write this article so I just Signed out!   When I felt guilty and signed back in the names just seemed to continue from where I left off.  I have a lot more to learn about mobile indexing!  The App has a lot more features than you first realize – and seemed excellent.

The following information on the app was provided in the app by FamilySearch:

“This mobile app is expected to complement the FamilySearch indexing program, which has been operating since 2006. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers from around the world have contributed their time to index genealogical records using the FamilySearch indexing desktop software. Today there are more than 2.5 billion freely searchable names in the familysearch.org database, thanks largely to their efforts. Your mobile contribution to this effort, however large or small, is greatly appreciated. To ensure quality and accuracy, the system compares your work with answers from other volunteers until a “consensus” is reached.

While you use the same account information as you would when using the desktop indexing program, it is not necessary to have the desktop program in order to use this app. This beta app is in its early stages of development and is not yet fully integrated into the indexing system. So, if you also index using standard FamilySearch indexing, your contributions and points from using this app will not be displayed in your history in the desktop program. We plan to include this integration in future versions.

In this version of the app, you may see image snippets from collections that have already been indexed or from new collections. Reusing previously indexed snippets will help us determine the quality of results from this app and make future improvements to the system.

If you have questions or suggestions, or if you experience problems with the app, please e-mail us at indexing@familysearch.org.”

Try it – share your experiences!

While recounting various experiences of racism, I began to ask myself (in aid of the essay-writing exercise)  is this still relevant in Britain today?

Like a lightening-bolt answer the very next day, there was the story on the news of the ‘My Tram Experience’ video on youtube that went viral. It was a video taken by a bystander as a woman racially abused people on the tram. I watched it along with everyone else and found it amusing, as the woman was clearly intoxicated and was treated with the contempt she deserved by the people on the bus and was subsequently arrested by the police.

What was much less amusing though were the myriad of postings on youtube, by people who didn’t have the excuse of being intoxicated, but used the opportunity to voice their own racist vitriol and worst still got thousands of ‘likes’ for it.

From then on, it seemed that I saw some disturbing evidence of subtle and not so subtle forms of racism everywhere. From the fashion industry airbrushing people’s skin to lighten it, to the recent fiasco with John Terry and Luis Suarez on the football pitch.

I think my trepidation is therefore understandable, as I followed the Stephen Lawrence murder trial on the news, and wondered whether or not justice will be served. There is no doubt that the conviction of Dobson and Norrisfor the murder of Stephen Lawrence is a welcome relief, not least for the Metropolitan Police, because I shudder to think what would have happened had they gone free…again!

The question on my mind though and I’m sure on everyone else’s after watching last night’s BBC’s Panorama, has to be, how far have we really come since that dreadful day 18 years ago when a young person was stabbed to death solely because of the colour of his skin?

If recent events are anything to go by, maybe not very far at all, because the police in Manchester have recently began to investigate another heinous racial crime after a man from India was stabbed to death on a night out, and the police are treating it as a hate crime.

As I listen to comedians decry the ‘political correctness gone mad’ and I read Luis Suarez’s statement that it’s perfectly acceptable to refer to the colour of a person’s skin in an argument on the football pitch, I wonder if we are  slipping into a very dangerous sense of complacency about racism in Britain.

At the end of his report on BBC news yesterday Mark Easton Said, ‘Problems still exist but Britain is much more at ease with its racial diversity…….’ I beg to differ and I doubt he would say so if he had my vantage point. What people don’t seem to understand is that being black and British should not be mutually exclusive, yet as a black person who was born and has lived in Britain for most of her life, it often feels like it.

Every time someone makes a reference to your differences because of the colour of your skin, they are automatically saying you are less than in some way, and a lifetime of that, takes a toll on even the most well adjusted person. And every time someone says to someone else, you can’t say that to someone because of their skin colour, you are saying we are all equal and skin colour doesn’t matter and that’s what we should be striving for.

It’s my opinion that equality is something we must continually strive for, otherwise in another 20 years we would have forgotten the significance of the courage, tenacity and bravery of Doreen Lawrence and her family who stood up to the establishment and effectively said ‘You cannot treat my son as less than because he’s black!’ She refused to stop fighting for justice until she got it and neither should we.

We must always, always stamp out racist behaviour however it shows itself – in speech, action or violence, because to do anything less, is to deny equality and justice, just as  was very nearly done to Stephen Lawrence and that is a Britain nobody wants to claim.

]]> http://colingalbraith.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/the-cg-awards-my-best-of-2011/ Fri, 30 Dec 2011 07:00:49 +0000 Colin Galbraith http://colingalbraith.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/the-cg-awards-my-best-of-2011/ Well here we are already, the end of another year. In only a coupe of days we shall slip noisily and cheerily from one year into another (I will, at least!), and then a new year shall dawn.

2012 holds a lot of promise for me; I have a lot of writing projects coming to fruition in both fiction and poetry (as Chas Stramash). But before I sign off for another year, I’d first like to wish everyone a brilliant Hogmanay, whatever you’re doing. I’ll be leaving for a short holiday to the highlands as usual, during which time I’ll be consuming lots of whisky, Bloody Mary’s, and perhaps the odd beer or two.

To see me out of my 2011 blogging duties, then, here is my “Best Of list for 2011”. I’ve decided to call these the CG Awards, given to my top likes from literature to music, and other numerous oddities.

So, until 2012, slàinte mhath!

MUSIC
Best Album bought: Kid Canaveral, Shouting at Wildlife
Best Gig: Roger Waters, The Wall at the O2
Best Scottish Musical Discovery: Rachel Sermanni
Best Musical Discovery: Dungen

LITERATURE
Best Fiction Book Read: One Day by David Nicholl
Best Crime Fiction Book Read: Smokeheads by Doug Johnston
Best Non-Fiction Book Read: The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry
Best Poetry Book Read: Under the Pier by Salena Godden
Best Poet Discovery: Catherine Brogan
Best Author Discovery: David Gaffney

FILM
Best Film (cinema): Neds
Best Film (DVD): Inception

OTHER
Best Meal: A Room in Leith (5th March).

Best Sesh: London with Gail in May: 4 day and nights on the razz with a Roger Waters gig right in the middle of it all.

Best Celebrity Encounter: Not celebrity and never met, but seeing all senior Royals at once for the Royal wedding in July was awesome.

Single Most Embarrassing Moment: taking a diving header while trying to climb over a stool, in Edinburgh Books at the West Port Book Festival.

Single Most Memorable Moment: Dave Gilmour appearing unannounced for to play the guitar solo for Comfortably Numb, at the Roger Waters gig.

See you all in 2012!

The 3 Ebook Deal and Free Poetry :: OFFER ENDS MIDNIGHT 31st!!
Visit my website at www.colingalbraith.co.uk and either sign up to the mailing list or ‘LIKE’ my Facebook page, as it will mean you’ll be entitled to a free copy of each of my next three novels. Get in quick though, as the window to register closes at 23:59pm 31st December!

Alternatively, just scan the QR code to the right or text 3BOOKS to 88802 or failing that, you can go direct to the 3 Ebook Deal web page!

The window to sign up for the 3 Ebook Deal will close on 31st December, 2011 at 23:59 so make sure you get in there today! It only takes a couple of minutes to sign up to qualify for 3 hot thriller novels to be released in 2012!

You’ll also find some great deals over at my poetry place www.chasstramash.com: all poetry ebooks are available for free download, 86p on the Kindle, and £3 (25% off!) for print copies.
Peace and out!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

I hope everyone has a great day tomorrow and that Santa is good to you all!

My Christmas Eve has been quite relaxed. I spent my morning up town getting a few last gifts, then stopped off in the coffee shop for a read of the paper and a wee chocolate pastry to myself.

Other than that, my ears are still hurting from the awesome Mogwai gig the other night, so although I’m still listening to them as I go about my business, the volume is somewhat lower!

I decided the best way to celebrate my Christmas Eve post, which will also end up being my Christmas Day post too, was to stick up a cherry festive video. I’ll be back blogging on the 27th.

This is none of that Slade or traditional nonsense you get swamping the Internet at this time of the year, this is an old classic from Suggs’ solo days. BAck in 1995, Suggs released a Christmas EP, and this track called The Tune, was from it. Click here if you cannot see the video.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il0oZo2TcO8

The 3 Ebook Deal and Free Poetry :: 7 DAYS LEFT!!
Visit my website at www.colingalbraith.co.uk and either sign up to the mailing list or ‘LIKE’ my Facebook page, as it will mean you’ll be entitled to a free copy of each of my next three novels. Get in quick though, as the window to register closes at 23:59pm 31st December!

Alternatively, just scan the QR code to the right or text 3BOOKS to 88802 or failing that, you can go direct to the 3 Ebook Deal web page!

The window to sign up for the 3 Ebook Deal will close on 31st December, 2011 at 23:59 so make sure you get in there today! It only takes a couple of minutes to sign up to qualify for 3 hot thriller novels to be released in 2012!

You’ll also find some great deals over at my poetry place www.chasstramash.com: all poetry ebooks are available for free download, 86p on the Kindle, and £3 (25% off!) for print copies.
Peace and out!

Silly Poems for Wee People (Illustrated)
Yesterday saw the launch of the illustrated edition of my popular kids’ poetry book, SILLY POEMS FOR WEE PEOPLE.

Published under my pseudonym, Chas Stramash, the book is 38 pages long and illustrated throughout in dazzling colour, with all poems revised and updated. It’s the most complete edition of SILLY POEMS yet, and the most entertaining ever!

I’m delighted with how everything has gone on this project. From the original idea conception to getting the ball rolling, to the whole process of involving an illustrator, it has been a fantastic experience.

Most of thanks for this new edition goes to the illustrator, Kamila Ratajczak. Her talent and creative vision has brought to life the poems that had only ever existed in colour inside my head. Now, for the benefit of all the kids (and in some cases parents), everyone will get to see what Lazy Dad and The Man with the Head of Cheese looks like!

At the moment the book is only available in paperback, but once I get to grips with the technology, a PDF ebook version will be available for download. Kindle can’t accommodate the book as it stands because of the size of the file generated by the images, so a brand new text-only Kindle edition with all the revised poems will be available soon instead.

To coincide with the new edition, I’ve also recorded some sample poems. I’ll be making these available on the website in the next few days, and also through my Soundcloud page.

Checkout the new look SILLY POEMS FOR WEE PEOPLE here.

Scotfail
Many of you will know, particularly those who follow me on Twitter, that the service provided by the Scottish national rail body, Scotrail, has its problems.

Trains are regularly late, postponed or cancelled with short notice, carriages are often overcrowded, and in some cases, failure to have the correct ticket can result in instant dismissal, if not by the conductor, then by fellow passengers.

You will perhaps then be as amazed as me, that despite a crumbling network and shortage of trains, Scotrail has seen fit to increase its fares by 6% from January.

It’s a UK wide increase, but Scotrail is among the group of rail companies that already has overly inflated prices while delivering a shabby service a lot of the time, so it’s hardly justifiable that they are using the cap the Minister for Transport placed in fare rises to their maximum advantage.

It already costs over £11 to travel a single 50 minute journey between Glasgow and Edinburgh. I can get to Newcastle for two pounds less.

The best laugh was the Scotrail spokesman, who said:

“We are committed to meeting customer demand for high quality punctual services. This approach enables us to continue to invest in service improvements while ensuring that rail travel remains value for money.”

What he really means is:

“The people that travel on Scotrail services are gullible arseholes. This approach enables us to give ourselves pay rises, which we will then strike against in a couple of years as being too low, while allowing us to provide exactly the same piss poor service we gave you beforehand. Get it up ye, Scottish rail travellers!”

Needless to say, rail issues are a devolved power of the Scottish government. Thank you Scotrail, and thank you Alex Salmond.

Powering Up
I’ve worked out a detailed work plan in order to be able to take into account the Christmas festivities and still ensure I can get through the mountain of work I have to complete by 31st December. It’s down to the minute!

As a result, last night was a very busy night as I powered myself up for a big charge towards 2012.

I completed putting together my quarterly newsletter, which was sent out to all the subscribers with its new theme in line with the website launch and rebranding of last month. I think it looks rather cool and I’m very pleased with it.

If you want to read the newsletter online or are not subscribed (why not?), point your browsers here.

I also put the finishing touches to my e-card that I sent out to a lot of writers, friends, and organisations, that I either don’t have their address or who I have had the pleasure of conversing with or doing business with throughout the year. This is a new thing I’m doing, as the ones I get myself from people I’ve come into contact with over the Internet are nice to receive.

As I already mentioned, SILLY POEMS FOR WEE PEOPLE was released in paperback form. It’s too late for Christmas but the book will be stocked in Edinburgh, which I’m very excited about. I do, however, need to find a much cheaper printer, as the costs with this full colour edition are not sustainable for purchasing unit copies.

The 3 Ebook Deal and Free Poetry :: 11 DAYS LEFT!!
Visit my website at www.colingalbraith.co.uk and either sign up to the mailing list or ‘LIKE’ my Facebook page, as it will mean you’ll be entitled to a free copy of each of my next three novels. Get in quick though, as the window to register closes at 23:59pm 31st December!

Alternatively, just scan the QR code to the right or text 3BOOKS to 88802 or failing that, you can go direct to the 3 Ebook Deal web page!

The window to sign up for the 3 Ebook Deal will close on 31st December, 2011 at 23:59 so make sure you get in there today! It only takes a couple of minutes to sign up to qualify for 3 hot thriller novels to be released in 2012!

You’ll also find some great deals over at my poetry place www.chasstramash.com: all poetry ebooks are available for free download, 86p on the Kindle, and £3 (25% off!) for print copies.
Peace and out!

Ever since the furore that followed the rioting Rangers fans in Manchester and the subsequent penalisations of UEFA for the bigoted chanting of their fans, the other half of the Old Firm have decided enough is enough.

No longer could the Celtic fans sit and watch Rangers take all the glory as the top bigots in Scotland, and no longer could they sit silent on top of their angelic hill, casting furrowed glances and looks of disapproval towards the Gers brigade, because, as we all know, Celtic fans are as good as gold.

Celtic fans support ONLY their team. They love the green and white so much that nothing else matters and they cast out bigotry in all its forms. Yes, Celtic fans are the idols of all decent football fans in Scotland; they are the role models, the perfect footie fan!

This is of course, utter bullshit.

Celtic Charged
This week, UEFA has charged Celtic FC with “the displaying of an offensive banner and setting off of fireworks by fans” during last Thursday’s match with Udinese. Celtic say they have already imposed a lifetime ban on the fan they say was responsible for the banner and assaulting a steward at the Stadio Friuli, and have stood down from appealing against the £12,700 fine for “illicit chanting” by some of their fans.

Historical Ties
Celtic FC and its fans have long had an established relationship with the Republic of Ireland, and in particular, republican paramilitary groups such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, otherwise known as the IRA. Or to you and me, terrorists.

It’s not just schoolboys singing out songs they don’t understand, for in the right pubs before the games you can meet hard core republicans who have come over from Ireland for the game; they attend the matches like everyone else. And at functions attended by the players and staff, pro-IRA songs are often sung.

I remember attending a joint function between a Renfrewshire Celtic Supporters Club and one from Belfast. During the night, which was attended by a couple of high profile players of the day, several Lisbon Lions, and the then Chairman, Jack McGinn, the song The Boys of the Old Brigade was openly sung with a band, and McGinn himself sat proudly at the top table joining in with the verse:

Oh, son, I see in memories few
Of far off distant days
When being just a lad like you
I joined the IRA.

Minority
This is the point that Celtic fans will scream innocence: “It’s just a minority at the away games that do it!” Even their manager was quoted as saying:

“It is extremely disappointing that the otherwise excellent behaviour of the vast majority of Celtic supporters, and the reputation of the club, has been undermined in this way, by the actions of a handful of people. There is a rogue element who keep tarnishing the name of the club.”

Chairman Peter Lawwell added:

“These people are not Celtic supporters and we will weed them out. We are embarrassed. The vast majority of Celtic supporters are positively supporting Celtic. We’ve gained a magnificent reputation around Europe and this, unfortunately, is an embarrassment that we can’t tolerate and will eliminate.”

But the fact is it’s not. To support Celtic is to be part of it. To attend home games you have to endure pro-IRA and anti-Protestant supporters. To attend away games, particularly Eurpoean ones, you have to jump through hoops, so if tickets for these matches are getting to anyone else not affiliated with supoprters clubs, then something is far wrong. What is actually happening is that Lawwell doesn’t want to publicly admit that supportes groups are rife with it.

The minority is NOT those that sing these songs or hold these beliefs. The true minority, just as it is with Rangers fans, are the few who have to endure it; those who hate the tarnished brush of bigotry painted on them because of the majority.

Turning Away
These are the reasons I handed back my season ticket to Celtic FC in 2000—I couldn’t sit and listen to the bigoted and vile comments that spewed from the stands each Saturday afternoon any longer. I have witnessed to my own eyes and ears, 60,000 Celtic fans belting out songs that include the lines “dirty Orange bastard” and “Up the RA” and have done so while inside Celtic Park.

It is NOT just the fans at away games, that’s only where it is worse.

I’m not alone in this either. Peter Broughan, the Scottish film producer and one-time drinking partner of mine, wrote an article in 1998 for the Glasgow Herald about the shame he felt at being a Celtic fan, when fans on board the flight to a European match (which the players were also on), sang a song glorifying the terrorist atrocity in Omagh, which saw 29 people slaughtered and 200 injured at the hands of the so called “Real IRA”. This occurred only two weeks after the bombing. I still have the cutout if you want to read it.

So well done Celtic for proving that you’re actually the same as your counterparts, Rangers. You both deserve each other, and Scotland deserves neither. We’d be better off without you both.

The 3 Ebook Deal and Free Poetry :: 12 DAYS LEFT!!
Visit my website at www.colingalbraith.co.uk and either sign up to the mailing list or ‘LIKE’ my Facebook page, as it will mean you’ll be entitled to a free copy of each of my next three novels. Get in quick though, as the window to register closes at 23:59pm 31st December!

Alternatively, just scan the QR code to the right or text 3BOOKS to 88802 or failing that, you can go direct to the 3 Ebook Deal web page!

The window to sign up for the 3 Ebook Deal will close on 31st December, 2011 at 23:59 so make sure you get in there today! It only takes a couple of minutes to sign up to qualify for 3 hot thriller novels to be released in 2012!

You’ll also find some great deals over at my poetry place www.chasstramash.com: all poetry ebooks are available for free download, 86p on the Kindle, and £3 (25% off!) for print copies.
Peace and out!

Mega busy in the day job yesterday after my boss landed a heap of trouble on my desk at the last moment. Christmas cheer abounds in the office these days, so much so in fact, that yesterday the company held its annual Christmas lunch in the canteen.

For a subsidised price, we got a three course turkey meal with all the trimmings, and a cracker to pull. One suspects this will be the last of this before the noose gets tighter around the internal catering side of the business in the name of cutting costs. Such a shame; it used to be great here.

Banksy
I love Banksy’s new art installation. He’s installed a vandalised sculpture of a priest in a gallery in Liverpool depicting Cardinal Sin, a bust with its face sawn off and replaced by blank tiles, as a response to the child abuse scandal in the Catholic church.

Banksy said in a statement given to the BBC: “I’m never sure who deserves to be put on a pedestal or crushed under one. I guess you could call [the statue] a Christmas present. At this time of year it’s easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity – the lies, the corruption, the abuse.”

I think it’s important when Christianity is celebrating one of the most important dates in its calendar, that it doesn’t forget the hypocrisy that exists in the Catholic Church and Vatican, by covering up decades of child abuse scandals.

Linwood
Linwood has been named as Scotland’s most dismal town in the annual Carbuncle awards. And it’s no surprise.

I grew up not far from the town, in the relatively palatial surroundings of Bridge of Weir, so I know it very well. Back in the 80s and 90s it was a well known trouble spot; you stayed well clear if you were an unknown face. Nowadays it looks more like a ghost town.

When the Hillman Imp factory closed the slide into decrepitude began, so much so that is said “to have shocked the judges with the state of its decaying town centre”.

A sad indictment indeed, but what is sadder is that nothing has ever been done about it. It’s only claim to fame is being mentioned in The Proclaimers song, A Letter From America, which rumour has it, was written by a Linwood man who stowed away on a ship for America just to get to away from the place!

More Front Covers
One of the books I have coming out next year, which isn’t part of the 3 Ebook Deal, is a crime novella I have completed called GREENER IS THE GRASS. It’ll be out in time for the summer, and last night I received some drafted proofs of front covers to choose from.

I received five different covers and they are all superb. So much so, in fact, I’m finding it very difficult to narrow them down. One of them does rise higher then the rest, but the others are so good I’m finding it hard to choose. I’ll have to gather some opinions…

Friday Vid
This week’s Friday Vid is living proof that the mega band Madness, still have the reputation as being the madmen of pop music. On a recent tour, here is exclusive footage of them trashing a hotel room (Video courtesy of Chris Foreman of Madness). If you can’t see the video, click here.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTUD6RKhCo0

The 3 Ebook Deal and Free Poetry
Visit my website at www.colingalbraith.co.uk and either sign up to the mailing list or ‘LIKE’ my Facebook page, as it will mean you’ll be entitled to a free copy of each of my next three novels. Get in quick though, as the window to register closes at 23:59pm 31st December!

Alternatively, just scan the QR code to the right or text 3BOOKS to 88802 or failing that, you can go direct to the 3 Ebook Deal web page!

The window to sign up for the 3 Ebook Deal will close on 31st December, 2011 at 23:59 so make sure you get in there today! It only takes a couple of minutes to sign up to qualify for 3 hot thriller novels to be released in 2012!

You’ll also find some great deals over at my poetry place www.chasstramash.com: all poetry ebooks are available for free download, 86p on the Kindle, and £3 (25% off!) for print copies.
Peace and out!

Yesterday was probably one of the most exciting days Scotland has had with regards to the weather, in decades. And while the aftermath of the storm will mean a lot of cleaning and tidying up, in true Scottish fashion, we didn’t let it get us down.

We had a hurricane!

As trees were toppled, buses and lorries blown off roads, roofs relocated, and trampolines despatched to new gardens, the great Scottish public laughed in the face of adversity, naming the worst storm to hit our small country with gales of up to 165mph, as Hurricane Bawbag.

It went viral, and the twitter hash-tag #HurricaneBawbag quickly became the no.1 trending topic worldwide. Only in Scotland! If you don’t know what a Bawbag is and why we named our favourite hurricane after it, read this brilliant article by STV that pretty much sums everything up.

The two-finger salute to Hurricane Bawbag didn’t stop there either, as t-shirts quickly became on sale in Glasgow, wind turbines exploded under the strain, Edinburgh’s new Giant Pandas were spotted making a mad dash for China, and the BBC joined in with some classy weather reporting.

It’ll take more than a bad storm to squelch our approach to life!

Poetry
Elsewhere, I shifted the manuscript for LIVING LEITH into the 90th percentile—it should be complete by the end of the weekend—and I fully completed the third and final edition, the illustrated version, of SILLY POEMS FOR WEE PEOPLE. Job done!

It looks pretty damn good I have to say, and barring any problems when the proof copy arrives some time next week, it will be good to go.

Friday Vid
This week’s Friday Vid, simply has to be the video that captured the Scottish people by storm yesterday (if you’ll excuse the pun). Check out this bloke, who when filming Hurricane Bawbag from his window was met with an interesting and hilarious surprise. Click here if you can’t see the video.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFpwgXCwMNQ

That’s all then for today, except to remind you of the fabulous deal I have running just now, the 3 Ebook Deal—it’s an absolute steal!

The 3 Ebook Deal and Free Poetry
Visit my website at www.colingalbraith.co.uk and either sign up to the mailing list or ‘LIKE’ my Facebook page, as it will mean you’ll be entitled to a free copy of each of my next three novels. Get in quick though, as the window to register closes at 23:59pm 31st December!

Alternatively, just scan the QR code to the right or text 3BOOKS to 88802 or failing that, you can go direct to the 3 Ebook Deal web page!

The window to sign up for the 3 Ebook Deal will close on 31st December, 2011 at 23:59 so make sure you get in there today! It only takes a couple of minutes to sign up to qualify for 3 hot thriller novels to be released in 2012!

You’ll also find some great deals over at my poetry place www.chasstramash.com: all poetry ebooks are available for free download, 86p on the Kindle, and £3 (25% off!) for print copies.
Peace and out!

I think it’s safe to say that yesterday was one of the most rewarding days I’ve had as a writer. When I first picked up the pen in any serious kind of fashion, the last thing I ever considered (beyond getting a mega-bucks advance from Random House or Penguin), was that I might be able to use my position to help out kids less fortunate than I was.

Arriving in Kilmarnock early yesterday evening (thank you Scotrail – for once you were a friend, not a foe), I wasn’t sure why to expect. All I knew of The SKY Project before hand, was that SKY stood for Stuff for Kids and Youth, and that they fed into the local community of Shortlees, to give opportunities and developmental help to the significantly disadvantaged kids growing up there.

“Significantly disadvantaged” is the key phrase here, because Shortlees is an area of Kilmarnock with heavy levels of poverty. It’s one of the worst in Scotland, in fact, sitting in the top 5% on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.

None of this is of course the kids fault, or indeed their problem. I believe kids should be allowed to be kids (and adults come to mention it), because in a child there are no prejudices or clouds of what cannot be done—it’s all what can be done, what can be explored and what can we do next?

Kids should therefore be given opportunities, not have doors closed on them because of their background. They should be free to explore these doors as much as they want and be included in the decisions that will shape their futures. Not all kids go that way, of course, and as we know some kids choose to mess their lives up anyway, but too many kids don’t even get that chance—it’s already messed up for them.

Last night, in one group of 8 kids from Shortlees, all packed with life and hope and the vitality that being a kid brings, I saw two potential writers, a footballer, a comedian, and a computer whizz kid. Some haven’t yet discovered their talent or direction, but that’s fine, because they’re kids. If they get the chances in life, though, they’ll find themselves.

That’s where SKY comes in, to try and fill some of what is missing from their lives, that a lot of kids just take for granted. The kids of Shortlees and areas like it, are prevented from great things because of adult problems and failures. The parents can’t (or won’t) help because of the poverty trap, and the politicians, however much they say they want to make a difference, can’t help either through egotism or the bureaucracy of a system that puts the kids’ needs at the bottom of the priority list.

The aim of The SKY Project is to “include the excluded” and I think that’s one of the most important things the project can do. Nobody likes being left out, and kids should be at the centre of it all, enabled and confident about the future, not scared of it because of the mess the grown ups have left for them in their wake.

So last night was my chance to do my little bit. I arrived shortly after 5pm, and after introductions and coffee with the staff for the evening: Liz, Rebecca, and Sarah—the kids, who had been gathering outside, were let in right on half past five.

They all trooped in, eight in total, and gathered in the main room around me. Apparently they were nervous about meeting me, which was a coincidence because I’d already tweeted earlier that day about being nervous about doing the event. It was my first time, after all, but I needn’t have worried at all.

The kids all took a moment to work around the room introducing themselves before handing over to me. I told them where I was from and about my writing, and then opened the floor to questions. All arms shot up immediately, and I got hit with my questions. Some were about my actually writing—how long had I been doing it, what kind of books did I write, etc.—and others were really cool, my favourite question being: “are you a pal of Robert Burns?”

Following on from that, my book SILLY POEMS FOR WEE PEOPLE, worked its way around the room while the pizza, crisps, and juice were dished out. Everyone got tucked in and was ready to get started on the first game of the night.

I spoke to the kids a little about what writing poetry was about and tried to take away any apprehensions they might have had; it was all about their imaginations and nothing else. I asked them to write riddles about an item that meant something to them or was their favourite, and to write down a description of it without actually saying what it was. A kind of “What am I?” game.

The result was fantastic. They all turned out brilliant descriptions of footballs, flowers and paintbrushes, to lights, their school and a one girl’s Grandmother. They were now all official poets!

We had time for another game, this time a new one for me, Surrealist Conditionals, or as I renamed it, the “If and When Game”. Basically, they all partnered off and one person wrote and “If…” statement and the other a “When…” statement. It didn’t make much sense to begin with, but when put together the results were either hilarious or got them thinking as they tried to picture the juxtapositions.

Both games got the kids engaged and using their creativity, and they seemed (I hope) to really enjoy themselves. They were both games they can play back home too or with friends, so hopefully they’ll carry them on. I’ll be putting a page together of all their poetic work and posting it onto the blog as soon as I can.

I had my photo taken with all the kids and then all too soon, the evening was over. The kids all trooped home, and after thanking the staff, I was dropped off at the trai station by Sarah Hall, the project manager, and made my way back to Leith.

Thank You
I’d like to say a massive thank you to all the kids for inviting me and for making me feel so welcome. Also, thanks to Sarah for pitching the idea in the first place, and to Liz and Rebecca for making sure it all went so smoothly.

And I have to say a massive thank you to Elspeth Murray, who gave me the ideas and the confidence to be able to go through with the event relatively worry-free. Her valuable advice was, well, utterly priceless, and I’m happily in her debt for that!

The 3 Ebook Deal and Free Poetry

Visit my website at www.colingalbraith.co.uk and either sign up to the mailing list or ‘LIKE’ my Facebook page, as it will mean you’ll be entitled to a free copy of each of my next three novels. Get in quick though, as the window to register closes at 23:59pm 31st December!

Alternatively, just scan the QR code to the right or text 3BOOKS to 88802 or failing that, you can go direct to the 3 Ebook Deal web page!

The window to sign up for the 3 Ebook Deal will close on 31st December, 2011 at 23:59 so make sure you get in there today! It only takes a couple of minutes to sign up to qualify for 3 hot thriller novels to be released in 2012!

You’ll also find some great deals over at my poetry place www.chasstramash.com: all poetry ebooks are available for free download, 86p on the Kindle, and £3 (25% off!) for print copies.
Peace and out!

Slick
The launch date for SLICK is January 2nd, and with the marketing ball already rolling (and working for once), everything seems to be going rather excitingly and spiffingly well.

I got through a huge chunk of SLICK and came across a patch of very sloppy spelling. How that managed to get through my own umpteen drafts AND my beta-readers, I’ll never know. But I caught it and moved on.

I have to say, having not read the book for a while, I’m actually enjoying the story. It’s paced well, clearly written, and more importantly, I’m hooked on it; I want to read more.

Of course, that’s easy for me to say, but it’s better than my memory convinced me otherwise. Then I realised that always happens to me. When I stop working on something once it’s done, it joins the ranks of doubtfuls in my head. And there it stays, eeking out my faith and confidence in it, that it’s actually worth something.

I’ve not had to change anything major so far, and with several “pre-orders” coming in for it through my website, I think SLICK has a chance of doing quite well.

Earlies
A couple of early starts over the weekend. I had two early breakfasts with my daughter before we got fired into more ‘past paper’ exercises on various subjects, concentrating on the exams she has coming up first. She’s doing very well, and I think she’s in a great place to be able to roast the prelims.

In between coaching her, I was working on my own stuff and tidying the house. It means I’m getting through rather a lot myself, which can’t be a bad thing.

Advertising
I upped the advertising on Facebook and slimmed down the range of targets for the weekend period. This is where Facebook comes into its own, because I was able to see the demographics of who has been ‘Liking’ my Facebook page and registering for the 3 Ebook Deal. Using that information, I slimmed down who the ad was directed at and started to get even better results. Bingo!

Meetings
I arranged a couple of meetings over the course of the next week. On Tuesday I’m hooking up with my illustrator to talk about progress on the new SILLY POEMS FOR WEE PEOPLE book. The originals are being scanned later today, but we now have a brand new front cover. Once published, this will be the definitive version of the book.

I’ve also been asked for interview at the weekend, so on Saturday, prior to heading home after Friday night’s Shed Seven gig, I’ll be going to a meeting in Glasgow to be interviewed. Should be fun, though I have warned the person in question that I may be hungover from the gig. It’s Shed Seven, for heaven’s sake!

Chrimbo
I did a fair chunk of Christmas shopping over the weekend—all online. Over the past few years, I’ve moved further and further towards doing all my shopping over the Internet (and not just for Christmas). It’s a far more enjoyable way to do it, if you ask me. No crowds, no noise, no over-the-top advertising, no pushing and shoving, no mental people grabbing at items. I can’t be bothered with all that. I’d rather let Royal Mail take the weight.

That’s all for today except to remind you of all the offers that I currently have running just now…tell all your friends about the 3 Ebook Deal—it’s an absolute steal!

The 3 Ebook Deal and Free Poetry
Don’t forget to visit my revamped website at www.colingalbraith.co.uk and either sign up to the mailing list or ‘Like’ my Facebook page, as it will mean you’ll be entitled to a free copy of each of my next three novels.

Alternatively, just scan the QR code to the right or text 3BOOKS to 88802 or failing that, you can go direct to the 3 Ebook Deal web page!

You’ll also find some great deals over at my poetry place www.chasstramash.com: all poetry ebooks are available for free download, 86p on the Kindle, and £3 (25% off!) for print copies.
Peace and out!

Yesterday, the Conservative Association at the university, was forced to promise to write to the US President to apologise, after an effigy of Barack Obama was burned on the east sands in the town.

The incident happened late on Friday evening, after which a statement from the university was released that referred to it as “naive and crassly insensitive”.

This comes only a week after their main library was forced into erecting a public sign requesting that students stop wanking off in the library toilets, as the exorbitant cleaning costs to remove the “excessive amount of semen stains from the floor” was costing “thousands of pounds to be removed professionally.”

Are they bored? When I went to the University of Paisley (or Paisley Tech as it was known back then), us males on the campus had to make do with the female students with which to while away our time. It’s no secret that part of student life involves drink and drug experimentation, but it was also very important back in those halcyon days, to “get yer hole” as well.

Maybe we were out of touch in Paisley, a charge we were often faced with. And call me old fashioned if you wish, but if I was a student again I wouldn’t waste my time chugging away in a dim library toilet when the campus was overflowing with beautiful and willing female students!

Out Again
No work last night at all due to an impromptu evening with my folks, still in town on their short break. I was originally going to meet them for a coffee, but they were tired after their day walking around the city, so after taking care of some business I met them in the bar of their hotel.

We had a drink and then nipped along to Giuliano’s on The Shore for some dinner. After the hefty meal the night before at The Peacock, nobody was up for a big one, so we cracked open a bottle of Red and tucked into a light bite. I had a lovely plate of Tortellini Ducale: fresh pasta filled with ham and cheese, with a chicken, mushroom, tomato and cheese sauce. Most delicious and went down a treat with a nice house wine.

That’s all for today except to remind you of all the offers that I currently have running just now…tell all your friends about the 3 Ebook Deal—it’s an absolute steal!

The 3 Ebook Deal and Free Poetry
Don’t forget to visit my revamped website at www.colingalbraith.co.uk and either sign up to the mailing list or ‘Like’ my Facebook page [www.tinyurl.com/colinonfacebook], as it will mean you’ll be entitled to a free copy of each of my next three novels. Alternatively, just scan the QR code to the right or text 3BOOKS to 88802 or go to the 3 Ebook Deal web page!

You’ll also find some great deals over at my poetry place www.chasstramash.com: all poetry ebooks are available for free download, 86p on the Kindle, and £3 (25% off!) for print copies.
Peace and out!

Something struck me last night as I was walking through Edinburgh after the day job. Well actually, two things struck me, and I’ll tell you about them both here.

I should explain that the route of my walk took me from Lothian Road along West Port and down into the Grassmarket area. This is also the route that is core to part of the story in BACCARA BURNING, and so having been writing about it so intensely over the past few days, it felt kinda weird.

However, I realised I’d got the geography wrong. I had the characters entering the Grassmarket from the Lothian Road end, but writing about it as if they were coming in from the Cowgate end. A close shave but it was easily fixed.

The other thing to strike me came as I was thinking through my strategic career plan for the next twelve months.

I started work on the first chapter of HUNTING JACK the night before last, a novel that is going to take me longer then the rest to get it to where it needs to be for publication. This is purely because it was written in 2004 and I’ve improved drastically as a writer since then. It’s also because I want to make it more edgy.

Yet I have a novel already sitting on my desk, fully complete, and written to a high standard that only needs a polish up in order to put my mind at rest. It’s been out on submission to a couple of publishers last year, so why am I not doing this one first?

Thus we have the giant U-turn! HUNTING JACK will be worked on but it will come later. In the meantime, SLICK is now to get the full polish up and will be the first book to be released.

I’ve got a lot of work to get through over the next few months but I also need to keep the marketing cycle turning over, and this way I’ll make it easier on myself to space out the releases and keep the interest up. There’s also those who have so far signed up for the 3 Free Ebooks Deal on my website to think about—I’ve got to keep the deal alive by getting it out there.

Leith Poetry
I decided to mess things up even further with LIVING LEITH by writing a further three poems. They’re all good though, and add to the manuscript rather than take away.

The manuscript is now fully laid out, minus all the bells and whistles. There’s still some editing to do on a few of the poems, and I’ll need to look closely at the order of them. It’s getting closer to the point I’ll have to decide whether to submit to the local publisher or stay with Smashing Press.

Compass Freelance
I took down Compass Freelance, removed the emails and cancelled the auto renewal. All that remains under my ownership is the name: http://www.compassfreelance.co.uk along with a bunch of others I seem to have collected over the years, such as fringefantastic.co.uk and magicstargifts.co.uk. More slimming down—can’t do any harm.

Day Job
The day job is dire at the moment. The whole company has plummeted into a sea of wallowing despair yet again, all brought on my waves of redundancy, outsourcing, and cost cutting beyond belief.

Yesterday was the final straw: we’re losing half of our canteen services. Such a shame because the people that work in there do a sterling job and the food has always been top notch. Now they’ve seen their shifts cut back and the food they’ve been charged with offering move from wonderful meals to grab and go sandwiches To add insult to injury, the prices have rocketed.

Therefore, I’ve left the clutches of the staff canteen. It was a good couple of years but I’m not paying the prices they are asking for inferior goods when I can get better outside for the same or less. It was good while it lasted, but now I’ve ventured back outside for my lunch to utilise the services of the local indie sandwich shops. I fear I’m not the only one driven to it.

That’s all for today except to remind you of all the offers that I currently have running just now…

The 3 Ebook Deal and Free Poetry
Don’t forget to visit my revamped website at www.colingalbraith.co.uk and either sign up to the mailing list or ‘Like’ my Facebook page [www.tinyurl.com/colinonfacebook], as it will mean you’ll be entitled to a free copy of each of my next three novels. Alternatively, just scan the QR code to the right or text 3BOOKS to 88802 or go to the 3 Ebook Deal web page!

You’ll also find some great deals over at my poetry place www.chasstramash.com: all poetry ebooks are available for free download, 86p on the Kindle, and £3 (25% off!) for print copies.
Peace and out!

And then I started coughing.

Still coughing. Not flopping so much as still recovering from recovering from flopping.

The militantly introverted amongst you will understand what I mean.

Anyway, the next post will be last week’s installment which probably means I had better get working on next week’s installment soon.

I’ve talked at length about the benefits I’ve felt since taking up twittering: increased visibility, a widening of networking opportunities, marketability, etc., and I’ll continue to use the medium for all of those reasons, as well as the fact it’s fun.

But Twitter has downside and I’m not talking about neds pissing off the government by organising looting trips and car burning. I’m talking about the Twitter Rumour.

News spreads fast these days as people are enabled to communicate on a global scale from their handsets. News stories spread like wildfire, which in many cases can be beneficial and fruitful if you happen to get in on the act quickly enough.

Take Monday’s announcement that Arab Strap were to reform for one gig. Only those quickest off the mark got a ticket; if you missed it, you were out. The same things happens when big news stories breaks, like for example, when it was discovered the News of the World was being shut down—that spread like wildfire through the Australian Outback on a hot summer’s day!

But the negative can also happen, which doesn’t always work to the benefit of the Twitter community. Last night I noticed several tweets that legendary Scottish DJ, Tiger Tim Stevens MBE, had died. Twitter was alive with #RIP messages to the point that #TigerTim actually started trending in the UK. But with no actual news reports and Forth One hastily removing the story from their news website due to being unable to confirm it, a nasty rumour was suspected at being at the heart of all the speculation.

Tiger Tim, who had to retire through chronic MS and who hadn’t tweeted in over a year, was forced into making this announcement:

News spread I was dead. It was a cruel hoax & very upsetting for my mother (91) & family. I’m alive & well.

The speed at which rumours can swell up and then die down is astonishing, and when something like this happens you realise two things: 1) how easy it is to be sucked into a mass discussion, and 2) how small the world is through social media.

The power of Twitter is truly amazing, which brings me onto this…

The 3 Ebook Deal and Free Poetry
Don’t forget to visit my revamped website at www.colingalbraith.co.uk and either sign up to the mailing list or ‘Like’ my Facebook page [www.tinyurl.com/colinonfacebook], as it will mean you’ll be entitled to a free copy of each of my next three novels. Alternatively, just scan the QR code to the right or text 3BOOKS to 88802 or go to the 3 Ebook Deal web page!

You’ll also find some great deals over at my poetry place http://www.chasstramash.com: all poetry ebooks are available for free download, 86p on the Kindle, and £3 (25% off!) for print copies.

3 Days Left at Trees for Life
Please check out the Trees for Life charity exhibition at Out of the Blue (The Blue Drill Hall) 32 – 36 Dalmeny Street, Leith. It’s free entry (10am-5pm) and finishes on 13th November. You’ll be able to see my framed haiku poetry, which is available for purchase with the money going to the Trees for Life foundation. Or you can just buy it direct from the website at http://treesforlifeexhibition.blogspot.com.

Peace and out!

SPECIAL OFFER FOR EARLY SHOPPERS
Enter coupon code EARLYSHOPPER305 at checkout ( EARLYSHOPPERUK305 if outside the UK) and receive a further 20% off your order of my poetry books and ebooks: FRINGE FANTASTIC, POOLSIDE POETRY and SILLY POEMS FOR WEE PEOPLE VOL.2. That’s over and above the 25% I’ve already knocked off!!!

Offer cannot be applied to previous orders and only applies to books or eBooks ordered through the Lulu option. Offer expires at 11:59 PM on 11th November, 2011.