Minor 2009-02-24 Links File Update Posted

A minor update to the Links file, dated 2009-02-24, has been posted to the Chinese Links File page. Access information in Links emails of the last several months is still valid. If you would like to receive a Links email with information on how to access this page, email me, providing information such as what group or congregation you're with, who referred you to this site, etc.

Since many are seeking access to tiandi.info, direct links to the sections describing the Links News, tiandi.info, and tiandi.info Blog en Español blogs (including login information) were added after the Blogs entry in the Featured / Commonly Requested Tags (Index Headings) section.

Also, the files explaining how to use the iPhone-formatted files and how to print out the Extra Large Print (XLP) files are now included in the zip file along with the Links file and the Directions file.

For a Limited Time, Password Not Required for God’s Love Bk. 3-Line Files

Due to the need of many to have the material starting this week, and due to the backlog of password requests that still need to be processed, for a limited time the God’s Love book 3-line PDF files will be available for direct download without requiring the password.

The download page for the pinyin God’s Love book 3-line files can be accessed from the 3lines.org site. After entering the login information, you will be redirected to the main index page. There, click on bs (Book Study). The resulting pinyin files download page contains a link to the download page for the Cantonese romanisation God’s Love book 3-line files.

Please feel free to share this access information with anyone else in or seriously considering entering the Chinese field, unless they reside in a land where our work is restricted. If you know of someone in such a land who wishes to receive this information, please get them to contact me directly. Please remind anyone to whom you give this access information to follow these distribution instructions too.

God’s Love Bk. Material Up To Ch. 9, Par. 8 Posted

3-line material up to Ch. 9, par. 8 of the God’s Love book is now available from the God’s Love Book (Chinese + Pinyin + English) page. Both regular letter size material and “XLP-iPhone-A5” size material are available.

2009-02-19 Links File Update Released

Following not long after release of the new version of the 3-lines site and coming just before the God’s Love book starts to be studied at the Book Study, the 2009-02-19 Links file update has been released. Those of you who are on the list to receive email updates have been sent an email with directions on how to obtain this updated file. If you have not received this email update and would like to, email me about receiving the update and getting added to the mailing list.

I recommend that the included directions.html file be read first. Besides including instructions and examples on how to use the Links file, this file also discusses its redistribution.

The Links file is used by downloading its zip file from the web page linked to in the email, extracting it with the supplied password, saving it to a drive, and opening it in a modern web browser like Internet Explorer 7, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, or Opera. After you open it, you may want to bookmark it or add it to your Favorites for easy retrieval later on.

New and updated resources are listed under the *** NEW *** and *** UPDATED *** index headings.

New resources this time around include:

• Cantonese 3-line material (Jyutping, Sidney Lau, and Yale romanisations) for the God’s Love book
  


• The New Fields New Challenge web site, with instructional material used by language-learners in Aberdeen, Scotland
  


• The Spanish version of tiandi.info

Among the sites that were updated:

• The 3-lines site has been moved to 3lines.org, and it has received a design refresh. Also, as noted in previous posts, God’s Love book audio files and Spanish 3-line files are now available from there.
  


• The “door to activity” site has been moved.
  


• The pinyin God’s Love book 3-line material download page has seen regular updates, which are expected to continue.
  


• WM-Dict version 2.0 recently became available.

Spanish God’s Love Bk. Material Now Available

Spanish God’s Love book 3-line material with Simplified characters and pinyin is now available from the 3lines.org site. After entering the login information, you will be redirected to the main index page. From there, click on español, then on Mantengase en el Amo..>.

For now, material for Ch. 1 is available.

God’s Love Bk. Audio Files

Computer-generated Mandarin audio files for the entire God’s Love book are now available for download from the 3lines.org site. After entering the login information, you will be redirected to the main index page. From there, click on misc, then Media/, then God's Love MP3 Files/.

Password Reminders Reminder

For now, in view of the worldwide situation regarding the Links file resources, it still seems prudent to require passwords to access the resources so that they will only be accessed by those in or seriously considering joining the Chinese field.

If you are experiencing problems with the passwords, please see the reminders in this post:

Password Reminders

http://linksnews.blogspot.com/2009/02/password-reminders.html

God’s Love Bk. Questions Material Up To Ch. 13 Posted

3-line material for the questions up to the end of Chapter 13 of the God’s Love book is now available from the God’s Love Book (Chinese + Pinyin + English) page. Both regular letter size material and “XLP-iPhone-A5” size material are available.

Since some may be able to get by with just the questions, I will post these ahead of corresponding material for the main body of the book, which will continue to be produced.

God’s Love Bk. Material With Cantonese Romanisation Now Available

God’s Love book 3-line material with Cantonese romanisation (Jyutping, Sidney Lau, and Yale) is now available from the new God’s Love Book (Chinese + Cantonese Rom. + English) page. There is a link to this Cantonese page from the original God’s Love Book (Chinese + Pinyin + English) page, and the password for the files is the same.

You may obtain the access information for the new God’s Love Book (Chinese + Cantonese Rom. + English) page from others who already have it. If necessary, you may email me for it.

For now, material is available for the main text up to Ch. 7, par. 22, for the Appendix up to Topic 4, and for the Questions up to Ch. 10. Future updates will be reported on this blog.

God’s Love Bk. Material Up To the End of Ch. 8 Posted

3-line material up to the end of Chapter 8 of the God’s Love book is now available from the God’s Love Book (Chinese + Pinyin + English) page. Both regular letter size material and “XLP-iPhone-A5” size material are available.

Password Reminders

The passwords can be tricky. It is all too easy to leave out a space, use a lowercase letter instead of an uppercase letter, etc. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• When entering passwords, please use the method described in the note at the beginning of the Links info:
  
  • Note: The passwords are case-sensitive, and some of them use unusual symbols. To enter a password, it is highly recommended that you copy it (select the complete password, NOT including the quotation marks, if any, then type Ctrl+C, or Cmd+C on Macs) and paste it in the password entry field (click in the password entry field, then type Ctrl+V, or Cmd+V on Macs).
• One of the issues the above method of entering the password will overcome is the impression some may get that there is not enough room in the entry field to enter the complete password. This is just how it may look, depending on how wide the zip program draws the password entry field. Actually, that could have no real bearing on how long a password can really be entered. If the zip program really does not accept the entire password, then upgrade to the appropriate zip program recommended on the Chinese Links File page.
• If your software automatically selects the quotation marks along with the password when you try to select the password, try the workarounds mentioned here.
  
• Make sure you are using the right password. Generally, each resource has its own separate password. The password in the Links email is only for the Links file zip file. The Links file in turn contains the various passwords for the various resources listed.
• If you are still having problems, try downloading again whatever files you are having problems with. Sometimes downloads don't get completed properly and end up being corrupted.
  
• If you use the built-in zip file handling software of recent versions of Windows, including XP and Vista, note that it treats zip files like folders and by default leaves a zip file’s contents inside it. With regular zip files this can be a convenience, but with password-protected zip files like the ones we use, it will require you to enter the password every time you want to access the file(s) inside. To get around this annoyance, double-click on the zip file in question and use the Extract all files button in the resulting Windows Explorer window to do a one-time extraction of the file(s) from the zip file into a regular folder on your hard drive. Or, you may just install and use a regular zip file program like the one recommended on the zip file’s download page (http://www.7-zip.org/).
• On Macs, a program like StuffIt Expander that supports password-protected zip files must be used for such files. However, on recent Macs, by default, even if you have StuffIt Expander installed, if you just double-click on a zip file in the Finder, the Archive Utility app gets used instead, and it does not support password-protected zip files—you will just see an error message that says “Operation not permitted”. You need to make sure you use StuffIt Expander to extract the zip file contents, perhaps by dragging the zip file onto StuffIt Expander, or by right-clicking on the zip file and selecting Open With | StuffIt Expander. To set StuffIt Expander to be the default program for opening zip files:
  • In Finder, select a file with the extension .zip.
  • Type Cmd+I to open the Info window for the zip file.
  • In the Info window’s Open with: section, select StuffIt Expander, press the Change All... button, then press the Continue button in the dialogue box that results.

If the above suggestions don't solve your problem, I suggest you find someone in your area who is familiar with computers to help you.

Official Chinese Audio Files Now Available for Download

Starting on Feb. 1, 2009, Mandarin MP3 and AAC audio files, playable on iPods and similar devices, began to be available for download from the Society’s http://www.jw.org/ web site. The Chinese file download pages, one in Simplified characters (汉语) and one in Traditional characters (漢語), can be selected using the Language dropdown box in the upper right corner of the page. Both these download pages contain links to download Mandarin audio files—no Cantonese files are in evidence at this time.

Currently, Mandarin audio files are available for recent issues of the Watchtower and Awake! magazines, and for the J’s Day and Bible Teach books.