Author: Jack
I retired in 2008 and so I have more time now to devote to several of my interests The blog here is mainly for my interests in some current events but may have the occasional rant on other subjects. I have also decided to keep my genealogy posts and book reviews here instead of 2 additional blogs (and so simplify my life a little).

Social Security – Get What’s Yours

Social Security – Get What’s Yours

Posted on by Jack

I just read Get What’s Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security by Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Philip Moeller, and Paul Solman. It was an enjoyable experience.

Yes, I used the words “social security” and “enjoyable” in the same paragraph.

Imagine my surprise when I read this book that I thought would be important but dull and found it enjoyable. The authors not only convey the basic facts about social security and discuss how to maximize your benefits but do so in an entertaining fashion.

If you are unconvinced, Continue reading “Social Security – Get What’s Yours”

Archie in the Crosshairs

Archie in the Crosshairs

Posted on by Jack

I think it appropriate to begin the review of a mystery with another mystery. Robert Goldsborough has done it again. Well, what has he done?

Robert Goldsborough is writing new Nero Wolfe mysteries in the style of the originals by Rex Stout. The two I have read before are very good . (See 2 Nero Wolfe Mysteries by Robert Goldsborough). I just finished another titled Archie in the Crosshairs and it was also quite good. Continue reading “Archie in the Crosshairs”

Who do you think you are?

Who do you think you are?

Posted on by Jack

I just got an email from ancestry.com in my inbox today. Actually it had been sitting there overnight. I just saw it today.

“Who do you think you are?” is coming back for season 5 on Sunday, March 8. I enjoy this show. My only real complaint is that sometimes it makes genealogy look too easy.

Usually involves a celebrity guest trying to learn about his or her ancestors. Of course they learn quite a bit in a a short time. But then, they have a lot of help.

It is usually interesting (although a bit different from the way us normal folks do things). Here is the ancestry announcement.

If you haven’t seen the show, give it a try. If you’re already a fan, enjoy.

Irish crime novels on sale

Irish crime novels on sale

Posted on by Jack

Open Road Integrated Media is a different type of book publisher. They specialize in ebooks and partner with many publishers to produce and market ebooks.

Perhaps in honor of St Patrick Day which is coming up in a few week (or perhaps this is just coincidence), they are having a sale on Irish crime novels.

I have read, enjoyed, and reviewed several mysteries published as ebooks by Open Road Media so I think this is worth a look. While there you might want to look around the website.

The Irish crime novels on sale are on the page http://www.openroadmedia.com/irishcrime?

#EndRobocalls

#EndRobocalls

Posted on by Jack

Don’t you just hate it when you are busy doing something and the phone rings. You drop what you are doing and run to the phone but it is just a recording to tell you about your big chance to buy something or claim a prize in a contest you never entered.

These moments are brought to you by Robocalls. They are more than a bother. Sometimes people actually respond to them and end up losing money. It must be enough people to make it worthwhile for these scammers.

Consumers Union (a division of Consumer Reports) is running a campaign to end these calls before they reach your home (#EndRobocalls). They have an online petition and information at https://consumersunion.org/end-robocalls/.

If you agree, please sign the petition. No guarantee this will end them but at least it could. This is your chance to make your voice heard. #EndRobocalls.

Great map of Ireland

Great map of Ireland

Posted on by Jack

I’ve never been to Northern Ireland but I understand that it is beautiful. I’ve been to the Republic of Ireland but it has been many years and I’m ready to go back. So I think that when I do go, I will see both. And notice that I said “when” rather than “if”.

I can be a bit cynical at times. You may have noticed that in some of my more political posts. But when it comes to things like genealogy and travel I tend to be more optimistic. So I’m already planning my trip to Ireland. Continue reading “Great map of Ireland”

An Irish Valentine

An Irish Valentine

Posted on by Jack

I was looking around the internet for an Irish Valentine. That is something appropriate for Valentine’s Day, Irish-style. And I found a new (for me) blog.

What could be better than giving an Irish Valentine for someone of Irish descent or someone fortunate enough to have a Valentine of Irish descent?

Also there is more interesting stuff on that blog. Look around

Protect your kids – vaccines, medicine, fear

Protect your kids – vaccines, medicine, fear

Posted on by Jack

The recent outbreak of a measles in the unvaccinated made me think of a book I read several years back (The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear by Seth Mnookin) and briefly mentioned it on this blog. See Protect the kids or why people do dumb things.

It was a good book as I recall but the issue of parents doing a dumb thing in not getting their children vaccinated is still very much with us. My article has link to an article by Seth Mnookin that covers some of the same ground he covered well in his book. I don’t think either of us is calling people dumb. Even smart people can do dumb things.

Another good article that specifically covers the current measles out break is The Vaccine Lunacy: Disneyland, Measles and Madness by Frank Bruni.

There is quite a bit of information out there. Some of it is very good and some of it is misleading. If you are a parent, read it, consider the sources, and act to protect your kids.

Climate Peril by John J. Berger

Climate Peril by John J. Berger

Posted on by Jack

The full title, Climate Peril: The Intelligent Reader’s Guide to Understanding the Climate Crisis, gives you a better idea of what this book is about and who it is aimed at.

The author is John J. Berger, a Ph.D. with expertise in ecology and and climate science. He has written this book not for other experts but for intelligent readers who wish to understand the current debate about climate change and the likely consequences.

I am in the process of reading this book but there is much to it and I suspect this is going to take awhile. So this is both a progress report and a review of the book as far as I have read and what I see coming based on on chapter titles.

By the way, if you look at the Amazon site you will see many favorable reviews. In fact when I looked all who reviewed the book gave it 5 starts (the highest rating). You may also notice the Kindle version is considerably less than either the hardback or paperback editions.

Dr. Berger starts us a brief picture of what will likely happen as a result of climate change in the next 90 years or so. That is, the life time of those being born now and in the very near future. It is an alarming picture and it could be worse if greenhouse emissions continue to increase.

The next chapter reviews the evidence that climate changes are already occurring. But climate does change naturally. The next 2 chapters explain the normal climate alteration process and then the unnatural process which is occurring now.

This is where I am now. So far, I am very impressed. Dr. Berger does a great job in explaining the complex issues in normal climate fluctuations (why we have ice ages and warming periods) and why most scientists believe we are now abnormally warming the climate.

Of course, weather varies. We have hot days and cold days. But based on yearly averages, 2014 was the hottest year on record. And the past few years have been pretty warm too. See Bloomberg for a great animated graph.

But back to the book. So far I think it does exactly what it set out to do. That is, it is an explanation of climate change and climate peril for the intelligent reader. And so far, the book looks very good at it. I look forward to reading the rest which looks like it lays out various climate perils in greater detail.

Taxpayer-subsidized politics

Taxpayer-subsidized politics

Posted on by Jack

Taxpayer-subsidized politics may be coming to a church near you. Why do I say that?

Paragraph (3) of section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 contains this:

(3) Corporations, and any community chest, fund, or foundation, organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes, or to foster national or international amateur sports competition (but only if no part of its activities involve the provision of athletic facilities or equipment), or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual, no substantial part of the activities of which is carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting, to influence legislation (except as otherwise provided in subsection (h)), and which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.

Simply put means that tax-exempt organizations (including churches) cannot carry out propaganda or political campaigning. This seems entirely reasonable to me.

But a bill has been introduced in the House (HR 153) which deletes the part above in bold. This seems to say that churches (and other cited tax-exempt organizations still cannot engage propaganda to influence legislation but are allowed to intervene in political campaigns. Seems rather confusing to me.

Also does it mean that if someone wants to support a candidate for office (or trash an opponent) that someone can now get a tax deduction by funneling the contribution through a like minded church or minister instead of a Super-PAC?

Doesn’t seem like such a good idea to me. What do you think?

Comme

Ireland flights on sale

Ireland flights on sale

Posted on by Jack

Most of us with an interest in Irish genealogy (or those who just want a nice vacation) frequently look at plane flights to Ireland. Usually the rates are high if you would like to go during the usual tourist season.

If you see a good rate on a flight to Ireland often there is some sort of exclusion like “good on flights during February”. We were very surprised a few nights ago when we saw Ireland flights on sale. The best prices were New York to Shannon but decent enough prices for flights with other origins and destinations.

So check out the Aer Lingus sale on Ireland flights as well as their offers to elsewhere in Europe. There may be a reasonably-priced vacation in your future.

Irish Genealogy: John J Reidy 1906

Irish Genealogy: John J Reidy 1906

Posted on by Jack

I’ve enjoyed my membership in the Genealogy Bank. I am now in my second year.

It allows searches in a wide variety of older newspapers and they are adding more newspaper every month. When I got my monthly newsletter today, I was pleased to see they added more issues of the Gaelic American. This is a New York news papers publishing thing of interest to Irish-Americans, including news from Ireland.

Since I am interested in Irish Genealogy including the name REIDY, I was pleased to see an obituary of John J. Reidy who died July 17, 1906. This was in the August 11, 1906 issue. Among many other things the article says he was from Ballyelan, Ballingarry, Limerick and was active in the Fenian movement, and an uncle of James Reidy of New York.

There were also quite a few articles in the Gaelic American of this time on James Reidy of the Brooklyn Gaelic society and other Irish-American organizations. I suspect this is may be the nephew mentioned above but I do not know this.

Since Ballingarry is just down the road from Rathkeale where my REIDYs were from, I found this especially interesting.

How to Do Everything Genealogy

How to Do Everything Genealogy

Posted on by Jack

I’ve been doing a bit of family history myself so when I saw the title How to Do Everything Genealogy, my first thought was that covering everything in genealogy in a a book was certainly an impossible task and perhaps the author was some sort of charlatan. However, I soon discovered this was not the case and it actually was a very good book.
Continue reading “How to Do Everything Genealogy”

Medicare explained brilliantly

Medicare explained brilliantly

Posted on by Jack

This is a review of Medicare For Dummies which was much better than expected. In fact, it was very good but I did have low expectations when I first saw the book.

Many years back my job involved computers and programming. I don’t remember the exact story so this will be a bit vague. For some reason I need to learn quickly about some commonly used program. I figured since I knew nothing about program X, most books or webpages about X would be way over my head.

So I figured I would start with the “Dummies” book and progress after I got the basics. It turn out badly. I didn’t really learn anything useful and felt insulted and frustrated in the process.

This book is much different. Continue reading “Medicare explained brilliantly”

Family Search photoduplication services and rewards

Family Search photoduplication services and rewards

Posted on by Jack

I’ve mentioned that I use Family Search quite a bit and it is free so I try to help out by volunteering to index records.

Family Search has discontinued their photoduplication services. I had used this service for several records each year because the actual record usually has much more information than the abstract online or an index. But these records may eventually be fully digitized and available online. Meanwhile, it is a service I miss.

But this gives me an idea. Actually three, but I don’t know if they will be useful. Continue reading “Family Search photoduplication services and rewards”