Welcome to all those who have joined or rejoined us since my last post, and thank you to Barbara for keeping an eye on things over the last nine weeks or so. If you haven't already contributed, we hope to hear from you soon. ****** ****** ****** The topic "Cemeteries on Isle of Arran" was raised via the Query Board while I was away - if your interests are on Arran, and you have the chance to visit the island, then you will find a copy of the 1985 transcriptions at the Heritage centre. These transcriptions were completed under the 1985 UK government's 'Manpower project' scheme (another name for "Work for the Dole"). ****** ****** ****** There was also a request for assistance re software choice - I hope this was (quite rightly) answered off list - if the enquirer is still looking for information, then please contact me off list. The same enquirer asked about sources such as ancestry.com and legacyfamilytree.com - these sources are on a par with the IGI - they all depend on the accuracy of the original research. All such information should be checked, either by contacting the submitter where known or by checking with the original sources. With the availability of the whole of Scotland Old Parish Registers (OPR) on microfiche at LDS Family History centres and at many FHS's, as well as on the pay for use Scotlands People site; there is no reason why most of the errors in the earlier mentioned sources cannot be eliminated from one's own Family Tree. One thing to be extra careful of is the year when working pre 1752. This is when England, Wales & Ireland changed to the Gregorian Calendar (and lost 11 days in September) Scotland had already changed over in 1600 while Europe had changed in 1582. The main impact in Scotland was the change in the start of the calendar year to 1 January from 1752 - prior to that date the years ran from 25th March to 24th March - thus 1751 was a "short" year running from 25 March to 31 December. Many date transcriptions for the pre 1752 period need to be checked, as many researchers, unaware of the change simply recorded January February and early March dates as the given year which put the event a year earlier when calculating by post 1752 standards. Remember that where a pre 1752 date for these three months gives two years, the year you need to work with for age calculations will generally be the SECOND one. One other thing with dates - if they are all numerals, then check both day/month and month/day combinations especially where they are ambiguous. E.G. 1-12-1855 : for UK this was 1st December 1855, but in the US it was 12 January 1855. Easiest solution is to use the three character abbreviation for the month. ****** ****** ****** There is yet another virus doing the rounds that is aimed at Windows users ... it's an e-mail worm known as either W32/Palyh or W32.HLLW.Mankx@mm If you get an e-mail message from the address support@Microsoft.com -- no matter what the subject or title -- delete it immediately. Do not open it. The subject lines vary, but include: Re: My application Your password Approved (Ref: 38446-263) The attached files have different names, too, but all have a .PIF extension. Examples include password.pif, doc_details.pif, and ref-394755.pif. The virus will only be unleashed if you download the file and click on it Unlike many viruses, this one does not need Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express to run; it only needs the Windows operating system. A special code in the virus allows it to send its own e-mail messages without Outlook. ****** ****** ****** Feel free to join in and present your own items. Peter Cook cookfmly@bigpond.com List maintainer and Co-host with Barbara < babrown12@optonline.net > of the ButeshireGenWeb mailing list.