Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
Congratulations to Dan Fagin for winning the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction for a great book on the environmental catastrophe at Toms River, NJ. I previously reviewed Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin here . Continue reading “2014 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction – Toms River catastrophe”
Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival by Peter Stark is a page-turning tale full of great adventures and a true story that was once well-known but until now was a forgotten piece of history.
In this remarkable book, Peter Stark tells us Continue reading “Astoria by Peter Stark”
I don’t think anyone ever said that genealogy was fast. Sometimes things happen quickly but, in my experience anyway, that is not very often.
For example, over a year ago I posted something here about the John Greer and Julia Mary Hopkins family of New York City and made note of the fact that their son David John Greer, his wife Anna, and baby daughter Rita Continue reading “David Greer and Giovanna Tesio of NYC”
I wrote about a New Search Engine – DuckDuckGo last year. DuckDuckGo is a search engine that maintains your privacy since it does not record who is doing the searching.
This seems more important than it did last year. Continue reading “Search Engines without Big Brother”
The scientific evidence for climate change is pretty strong – we often hear that 97% of scientists agree that climate change is happening and human activities are at least partly the cause. A page at NASA shows this consensus.
The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows increasing confidence that this change is happening, using words such as “unequivocal” and “unprecedented“. Continue reading “Climate Change: Scientists think it is real but politicians doubt”
Last night I watched the HBO documentary “Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert”.
As mentioned previously, we subscribed to HBO because there was a series we wanted to watch on this premium cable channel but we stayed long after the show ended because of the documentaries. And then new shows start up and we’re glad we still have the subscription.
“Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert” did a good job Continue reading “Working poor, a documentary”
For those who plan on being in Limerick or can travel to Limerick, you may be interested in Limerick Genealogy Day 2014. It is a free event and many groups of historical and genealogical interest will be there for 1 day only. Full details are available on the web at http://limerickcityofculture.ie/content/genealogy-day.
The event will be on March 15, 2014 in Limerick city. This is a chance to view many genealogical records from Limerick and surrounding areas and get advice from the participating groups. Many are listed on the website. In addition, I know that the Letters of 1916 project will participate.
This is the second in a series. I liked the first and reviewed it about a year ago on this blog. I liked it so much I eagerly jumped at the chance to read and review an ARC of Brooklyn Graves: An Erica Donato Mystery by Triss Stein. Continue reading “Brooklyn Graves: An Erica Donato Mystery”
I received an interesting email today from Kevin Kavanagh at Trinity College Dublin. The Letters of 1916 project at Trinity College is creating digital collection of letters written between 1 November 1915 – 31 October 1916.
Letters of 1916 is the first public humanities project in Ireland. it is creating a crowd-sourced digital collection of letters written around the time of the Easter Rising (1 November 1915 – 31 October 1916).
This project could help provide insight into an important period in Irish history. Continue reading “Letters of 1916 project at Trinity College”
I’ve been reading and thinking about the merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Since I live in the Philly area, I suppose I should be happy about it since Comcast is already an important part of the area economy and this merger would seem to enhance the growth of Comcast and our regional economy. But the power of such a large company which would control such a large part of the internet bothers me.
One the one hand, Comcast and Time Warner Cable do not, to my knowledge, compete in any markets. So it would appear their should be little, if any, effects on competition in individual markets. On the other hand, should one company control an estimated 30% of the internet?
There is an inherent conflict between Religious Freedom and ObamaCare. Specifically, the mandate for employers to provide health insurance meeting standards and the employers right to refuse what they feel violates their religious beliefs. Considering an recent event demonstrates this clearly. Continue reading “Inherent conflict between Religious Freedom and ObamaCare”
It happens to be Pennsylvania news but the issue is one that could happen almost anywhere and that is certainly worth thinking about. A loving daughter helps her father to relieve his pain and is unjustly prosecuted for assisted suicide. Continue reading “Ending an unjust prosecution for assisted suicide”
Did they think it through? About half the states, mostly those with Republican governors and legislatures, rejected the medicaid expansion. They not only rejected a benefit for the low-income folks in their state but it seems they have also hurt many of the hospitals.
Now they might have to bail out these hospitals or watch them close. So the state’s choice is to let them close and hurt the people of the state or bail them out and pay twice. Why do I say pay twice? Continue reading “Rejecting medicaid expansion and thinking it through”
I have been a fan of Gabriel Cohen‘s writing for several years now. So when I received an email that his Jack Leightner crime novels have been published as ebooks by Open Road Media, I thought I should help spread the word. Continue reading “Gabriel Cohen mysteries published as ebooks”
By the mid to late 1800s major cities had become extremely congested. There were several ideas to help ease that problem. From our vantage point today, we see the subway as a fairly obvious solution. But it wasn’t so obvious then.
This is a history of how we came to see the subway as a solution and some of the interesting personalities involved. Continue reading “The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America’s First Subway by Doug Most”