Saturday Serendipity (July 29, 2017)

Here are a few recommendations for your weekend reading.

1.  First .  .  .  Greetings from the Adirondacks in upstate New York where we have been off the grid without any internet for the last week!  I must thank reader Linda Shufflebean for pointing out that a portion of last week's Saturday Serendipity was unreadable due to an author/editor's error. It could not be corrected until we returned to the 21st century and internet access late this afternoon.  The error has now been corrected and the full text of Item 1 can now be read by those who are still interested. 😀    

2.  Here is an interesting post on The Vault by Slate staff writer Rebecca Onion. If you have ever heard about clothing being made from feed bags during the Depression (or perhaps have such an item made by an ancestor or relative), you will find this piece -- "How Depression Era Women Made Dresses Out of Chicken Feed" -- and its illustrations of interest.   

3.  This week The Weekly Genealogist of NEHGS called to our attention a very important editorial by the Editorial Board of the New York Times. The editorial is about the importance of saving the next scheduled (and Constitutionally required) national census in 2020. Given the huge importance of the decennial national census to genealogists, you can -- and should -- read the editorial here.      
        
4.  My family knows that among the categorizations I have opined on over the years is the separation of folks into two general groups when it comes to outdoor activities and memories: (1) there are lake and mountain people; and (2) there are ocean and seashore people. Despite the fact that I was born in the Ocean State of Rhode Island, I am and have been since an early childhood in New Hampshire a confirmed and committed lake and mountain person. [This is evidenced by the fact that this week's Saturday Serendipity is written from the Adirondacks where Molly and I have vacationed for more than 41 years now.] Having spent the last week in the Adirondacks with our two sons, our daughter-in-law, our two granddaughters, and Molly's sister creating new lake and mountain memories, I was thrilled to see that Linda Shufflebean of Empty Branches on the Family Tree blog wrote this week of her memories of Little Sebago Lake in Maine during the 1950s (illustrated with some wonderful photos). If you too are a lake and mountain person, do have a look at Linda's post and her photos here; it is sure to stimulate some of your favorite lake memories too.    
     
5.  And finally, since I had time to revisit some reading I have put off until the summer, I want to recommend another post from Wait But Why blog by Tim Urban. I have recommended reading some of Tim's posts from time-to-time and, as Tim himself has written, some of the posts are not entirely G-rated. This post is long, but fascinating, and is worth the time to read it at your leisure. Is it directly or indirectly related to genealogy?? I'll let readers decide, but consider that Tim is discussing what may be a new normal -- if not a new reality -- for our descendants. Read "Neuralink and the Brain's Magical Future" here.   
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Copyright 2017, John D. Tew

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