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).

Black Irish by Stephan Talty

Black Irish by Stephan Talty

Posted on by Jack

A first novel by an established non-fiction writer, Black Irish by Stephan Talty is certainly a worthy entry into the crime-novel genre. This book is a first-rate thriller and promises to be a great introduction into a new series about Detective Absalom Kearney


As those who have seen my website know, I have been very interested in Irish genealogy and Irish history for several years. So the placement of this story into an Irish-American community added an extra interest for me.

The book grabs your interest right-off with a gruesome murder. Then you are introduced to Detective Absalom Kearney who is working a missing persons case of a utility worker from “The County” an Irish enclave in Buffalo.

The detective grew-up in the County but still is viewed as an outsider as her County tie is the result of being adopted by a now retired cop from the County. Absalom or Abbie left Buffalo after graduating from Harvard but returned to care for her father.

To make a long story short and grant you the pleasure of being able to read without any spoilers from me, let me just say the Detective Abbie Kearney becomes involved in the investigation of the murder and realizes before anyone else that she has a serial killer to deal with. But there is much too learn about who the killer is and why he is targeting residents of the County

I’ll not say much more (no spoilers, remember). But the clannishness of the Irish enclave and Irish history play large roles. The book is well written and it is a great story with many twists and turns. Just as Abbie has it figured out and it all makes sense, something else happens and you learn that you and she are both wrong. I liked this book very much and give it my highest recommendation.

Apparently other reviewers feel the same way. A few reviews that I’ve found:

Reviews

Sequester and Heath care reform (aka ObamaCare)

Sequester and Heath care reform (aka ObamaCare)

Posted on by Jack

Just 2 short notes today.

1. The Sequester is nearly upon us. The consequences have been much covered in the press. Long lines at airport security, cut-backs in air traffic control, military cuts, fewer food inspections, and many more. Additionally the cut-backs seem likely to hurt the economy which is only slowly recovering from the recession.

I see little movement toward a solution. In fact, both house of Congress took a week off last week, leaving only a few days to solve this.

2. Heath care reform (aka ObamaCare) is in place. Some find aspects they dislike or that they think will harm the economy. The only call I hear from these groups is “repeal” or “repeal and replace”. Since we have already passed health care reform and it has passed constitutional muster, why not work to fix those part that you disagree with?

When the going gets tough, Congress gets going

When the going gets tough, Congress gets going

Posted on by Jack

We avoided the fiscal cliff at the beginning of the year by just delaying the massive budget cuts known as sequestration.

So now that the delay is almost up and we have less than 2 weeks to solve the problem (or delay again) was does Congress do? They leave town (go into recess) for a week.

The old saying is “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Does this mean our Congress is tough?

Family Search is free and needs volunteers to help with indexing

Family Search is free and needs volunteers to help with indexing

Posted on by Jack

Last year I wrote about volunteer indexing at Family Search on my blog but could not find my post here. So I looked back and it was on my other blog which I have since combined with this one but apparently left a few things behind. Since there is nothing here on indexing I’ll fix that now.

Family Search provides a wonderful free resource to the genealogy community by providing free access to many of the records held by the LDS. For those who have not seen it, the website is familysearch.org.

Now that I’ve done a several sets of of records, I can tell you a bit more about my experience. As I said then you can do it at home on your computer. It involves installing a small program from Family Search and that it easy to do. They start you off with some small batches of fairly simple records. You download an image of the records to be indexed.

Then when you are ready, you get to choose from a variety of projects with various levels of difficulty assigned. So far I’ve stuck to beginner records and there are several ongoing projects at that level. They are not hard but sometimes the handwriting is difficult to decipher. If you consider a batch too difficult or unclear, you can return it.

My understanding is that 2 indexers do each record and if they disagree, a third more experienced indexer looks at the record. So I don’t worry that if I am wrong on something, the index will be wrong. My work is checked one way or another.

So far, I’ve looked at English and American census records, WW1 draft registration records, and marriage records. It is not hard and you can spend as much or as little time as you like. This is a great way to contribute a little bit of time to make it better for all of us in the genealogy community.

Margery Allingham and The White Cottage Mystery

Margery Allingham and The White Cottage Mystery

Posted on by Jack

Why did I decide to read The White Cottage Mystery by Margery Allingham ?

I’ve been searching for information on the Allinghams and the name Margery Allingham frequently pops up. I had read she was a good mystery writer and I was a bit curious. Lately, I’ve been gravitating toward mysteries.

Why search for Allinghams? I do some genealogy and my great great grandmother was an Allingham.


So I thought that one of these days when I was at the library, I’d look up one of her books. I usually have a bunch of books waiting for me so that day was probably pretty far off. I often review current books and many of these are Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs). I get them as e-books from Netgalley.

Then about a month ago, I was browsing Netgalley to see if anything of interest was available. And to my surprise I ran across The White Cottage Mystery by Margery Allingham. It had been republished as an e-book by Bloomsbury about a year ago. The publicist at Bloomsbury was kind enough to approve me anyway. So my thanks to both Netgalley and that publicist.

So since this is supposed to be a book review and you’ve put up with my ramblings for so long, I should tell you right off that I liked the book. From what I’ve read, it seems this was her first mystery and at the time (1920s) it was published as a newspaper serial and much later edited into a short book.

But my thought was that if I was going to read Margery Allingham, I might as well begin at the beginning. It is a good mystery. It very quickly gets down to a murder and a suspect. But then there are too many suspects, each with a good reason to kill the victim, but none apparently did. I completely enjoyed this one and plan read more of her work.

Bluefire Reader ereader on my iPhone

Bluefire Reader ereader on my iPhone

Posted on by Jack

You may have noticed that in some of the posts on this site I review books I have read recently. Quite a few of these are e-books from Netgalley, service that allows book publishers to make their Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) available electronically for book reviewers, book sellers, librarians, and so forth.

I usually request copies compatible with my Kindle. However a few weeks ago I had requested book and was approved but sadly there was not a Kindle option. The available option was the Adobe Digital Editions which does a fine job but my only experience with it was reading a book on a laptop computer. It works but it is a bit inconvenient to fire up the old laptop and actually keep it in your lap as you read. A bit big and clunky for me.

I had read Kindle books on my iPhone with the Kindle App on the iPhone and liked it so I looked for something that could read Adobe Digital Editions files on the iPhone. I found Bluefire Reader, which was highly rated e-reader in the Apple store. So I installed it and gave it a try.

Since I already had Adobe Digital Editions on my main computer and laptop, I already had an account and just had to authorize another device (Bluefire Reader), download the book, and I was set.

Bluefire Reader was easy to use and did a great job in allowing me to read on my phone. Bluefire Reader is a wonderful e-reader for the iPhone.

Sine I have found myself posting about computer, software, and technology in general as I go about writing about genealogy, books, or other issues, I am adding a tech category to cross reference those posts. I’ll go back and add that category as appropriate. I guess, it is appropriate too that I have written this first post in the tech category with my Chromebook.

Too big to fail banks endanger our economy

Too big to fail banks endanger our economy

Posted on by Jack

I’ve written before about breaking up the “too big to fail banks” because of the dangers they present to our economy.

Now both Senator Sherrod Brown and George Will have endorsed the idea, my hope is more people will see the wisdom of this.

George Will’s column on this is certain worth a read.

The Book Thing by Laura Lippman

The Book Thing by Laura Lippman

Posted on by Jack

This is from a series of low cost ebooks put out by mysteriouspress.com. This series called Bibliomystery are short mysteries that have to do with books or bookstores.


This is the second of this series that I’ve tried and I liked this. They are low cost and short so they are a good way to sample a writer and see if you like him or her without committing much of your time or money to the trial read. For example, Amazon estimates this story is the equivalent of about 25 pages and the cost is about two dollars.

I reviewed my first exposure to this series about 2 months back . I liked the book and decided to try another sometime soon.

So when a chance came up to try “The Book Thing” by Laura Lippman, I signed up via NetGalley. Pretty soon the book was on my Kindle and I was reading. The story involves Tess Monaghan, a PI from Baltimore who features in a series of mystery novels by Laura Lippman.

Tess volunteers to solve some mysterious thefts in a neighborhood bookstore. The mystery is certainly not one of the life-and-death variety but it is interesting. I enjoyed the story and the author’s way of telling it.

Along the way you get to hear a bit about Baltimore and its neighborhoods, bookstores and their importance, the important role books play in our lives, how parents can give their children a love of books and reading, and more. Not the least of these is The Book Thing of Baltimore.

If you do like this story, you may also be interested in many of the other novels by this author which reasonably priced in the Kindle store. By the way, if you are not a Kindle reader, other formats are available through the mysteriouspress.com link in the first sentence of this review.

Wiliam Riedy (Ready or Reidy) from Rathkeale, Limerick to New York about 1880

Wiliam Riedy (Ready or Reidy) from Rathkeale, Limerick to New York about 1880

Posted on by Jack

William RIEDY of Rathkeale was born around 1861/1862 and emigrated to New York City about 1880. He married Mary O’BRIEN (ca 1863-1918). His parents were Edward or Edmund RIEDY and Mary SCANLAN (we think). Her parents were Patrick and Bridget O’BRIEN.

His last name is spelled Ready in some documents and Riedy in others. The spelling Reidy is also used quite frequently.

William became a US citizen on 8 Oct 1890 in the Superior Court of the City of New York. On December 24, 1895, he was injured in a blasting accident and died about a month later.

The 1852 Griffith’s valuation found Edward RIEDY on a 25.5 acre farm in Riddlestown (townland), civil parish of Doondonnell, Rathkeale, Co Limerick. The farm was leased from Gerald Blennerhassett. This farm may have been around TallyHo Lodge.

More details are on my website.

Time to move toward a solution to Gun violence

Time to move toward a solution to Gun violence

Posted on by Jack

Let me start with a quote:

Dear fellow American,

Two years ago, a mentally ill young man shot me in the head, killed six of my constituents, and wounded 12 others. Since that terrible day, America has seen 11 more mass shootings – but no response from Congress to prevent gun violence. After the massacre of 20 children and six of their teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary though, it’s clear: This time must be different.

Americans for Responsible Solutions will encourage elected officials to stand up for solutions to prevent gun violence and protect responsible gun ownership by communicating directly with the constituents that elect them.

Join us today, and tell your elected leaders that Americans are demanding responsible solutions to reduce gun violence.

That open letter starts the web page for Americans for Responsible Solutions. As you may have guessed by now, that was written by former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly.

They founded Americans for Responsible Solutions to encourage a national conversation to address gun violence. The conversation should no longer be dominated by the National Rifle Association. No matter your opinion, let your elected officials know what you think.

It is certainly a complicated problem and I don’t think we are going to find a simple solution. But we should not allow the complexity to stop us from taking common sense steps in the right direction.

Reasonable and responsible voices need to be heard. Please visit Americans for Responsible Solutions.

Women are people, too.

Women are people, too.

Posted on by Jack

Women are people. You would think that was obvious. But to some people it is not. And some of those people are important.

A couple years ago I was shocked to learn that a Supreme Court Justice does not include women in the category of “all persons” with rights expressed in the 14th Amendment to the US Consitution (see Are you smarter than a Supreme Court justice). Justice Scalia is a smart guy so this can’t be dismissed a crazy position but I’ll just say I don’t understand his reasoning.

So in order to make sure that it is absolutely clear that “all persons” includes women, we should pass the Equal Rights Amendment

The ERA: A Brief Introduction

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

These simple words comprise the entire text of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), affirming the equal application of the U.S. Constitution to both females and males.

Quote from http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/overview.htm

If you think our laws should consider women to be people, please sign the petion on the White house website. Maybe this will motivate President Obama to push for the ratification of this simple and important amendment.

Is spam increasing on blogs?

Is spam increasing on blogs?

Posted on by Jack

I just had a look at my statistics. I use Askimet to detect spam on my blog and to hold it in waiting until I evaluate it. Every once in a while a message is misclassified. That is, a real comment is categorized as spam or spam is classed as a real comment. In any case they are not deleted or published until I have looked and decided. I would say Askimet is correct well over 99% of the time.

But in looking at the stats over the past year, I noticed that the volume of spam has gone way up. A year ago, it was hundreds of spam comments per month and the past few months have been several thousand and the number seems to be increasing.

I’m not sure if this is a general trend or just happening here. Have other bloggers noticed some similar?

Megabank dangers

Megabank dangers

Posted on by Jack

We don’t need banks that are too big to fail. These Megabanks endanger are financial system. We should cut megabanks down to size.

The Dodd-Frank financial reforms try to prevent these megabanks from endangering the system but can’t guarantee that. The only way to do that is to prevent banks for getting so large that their failure would bring down the entire system. And since several banks have reached that size, they need to be broken into less dangerous pieces.

Jon Huntsman presented such a plan last year but of course did not get the Republican nomination.

Gretchen Morgenstern reported in last Sunday’s New York Times that Richard W. Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, also proposed that too-big-to-fail banks be broken-up. The article also discussed other points on community banks as compared to megabanks. It is an article well worth reading.

Think Like Sherlock Holmes

Think Like Sherlock Holmes

Posted on by Jack

I mentioned before that I like to take walks and listen to podcasts. I haven’t done that in a while, mostly because the weather hasn’t been good when I was in the mood for a walk. But today I walked and listened to a fascinating interview with Maria Konnikova, author of a new book called Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes.


Since today is the first day that I even heard of this book, I haven’t read it. But it does sound interesting.

There is a tremendous interest in Sherlock Holmes. Of course the stories. But several adaptions to TV and movies as well. Holmes is well known for his reasoning and observation powers. Other than that, he is quite ordinary. Unlike many fictional heros he has no superpowers. So maybe we all can aspire to be more like him in being able to observe and reason.

It is a interesting interview. It is on Point of Inquiry so check it out if interested. Or you may want to see Maria Konnikova’s blog. Or just click the book picture to take you to Amazon where you can read about the book and maybe buy the book if it sounds good to you.

Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America’s Most Perilous Year by David Von Drehle

Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America’s Most Perilous Year by David Von Drehle

Posted on by Jack

Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America’s Most Perilous Year by David Von Drehle was on my Christmas list for 2012. I did get it and I’m reading it now and thought this might be a good time to talk about the book. But let me tell you first why it was on my list.

I have long been an admirer of David Von Drehle’s writing. I had read Triangle: The Fire That Changed America many years ago. In 1911 a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City killed over 100 workers. This stood as the worst workplace disaster in New York City until September 11 2001. Most of the workers at the Triangle factory were poor women from the lower eastside on Manhattan. Some were burned; others jumped to their deaths. It was a horrible incident and changed the American workplace. I really was impressed with the way that David Von Drehle told the story.

Skip ahead to last year and I subscribed to Time magazine. I started noticing articles by David Von Drehle. The name was familiar. So I checked and it was the Triangle author. Then late last year, an issue came out with a few big stories on the new Lincoln movie. And there was a mention of his book. So I added that to my list.

So enough background. What do I think of the book? The short version is “I like it!” But since this a book review, I really should go into a bit more detail.

As suggested by the title Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America’s Most Perilous Year this does focus on one year. And that year is 1862. Since it is a calender year story, it makes sense to tell it chronologically and that is what Von Drehle with 12 monthly chapters. But before the monthly chapters comes a prologue to set the stage. And a chapter on New Years Day to flesh out the prologue, introduce some key characters, and get us into the chronological part.

It is clear that the United States is in big trouble. Many states have seceded. The federal government is broke. The was costs are several times the previous federal budgets. Even among the states who stay in the Union, there is widespread disagreement on several issues but most especially slavery. The rebels are doing well militarily. And the future of the United States is in doubt. Then there are international issues. It is really unclear if the country lawyer can handle all of this.

But during 1862 Lincoln becomes the leader we need. I’m over half way though the book now. I just finished June. I can’t comment on the end because I’m not there yet. But so far the author is doing a great job at describing the progress of the war and the political pressure on the new president.

My one quibble is maps. There are some and they really help in following military campaigns. But I am a big map fan and wish there were more maps.

So here are a few reviews I found:

Overall, I’d say this was a very good book. All the reviews I’ve seen seem to agree on that. And there are another 50 or so reviews on Amazon if you just click on the image of the book above.

It does focus on one critical year in Lincoln’s presidency so it is not a full biography or a full telling of the civil war. But it is a wonderful book about a very critical year. I highly recommend it.