A Blog Change ...

As you might have already noticed, I have removed the image of the writing pen with the book, and I have put a new image on my blog. I created a yahoo avatar for myself, and you can find it below the blog post archives. Of course, I don't really look anything like that image. (Although I wish I was that pretty.)

Shades Of The Departed Guest Columnist Two Post Posted!

Terry Thornton's guest column post has been posted on footnoteMaven's Shades Of The Departed. You can read it here.

Also, I forgot to mention last week that Becky's column had been posted. I'm terribly sorry, and you can read it here.

Earthquake? ... Freaky!

I just happened to read Thomas' post about an earthquake that occurred earlier this morning in West Salem, Illinois. I'm about a three-hour car drive northeast of Chicago, so I'm sure someone felt the earthquake in my area. I didn't feel anything, but then, I was sound asleep. (Of course, I woke up at 6:30 this morning, so it is entirely possible that that was woke me up and I didn't realize it.) One of things that I thought about after reading Thomas' post was about the New Madrid fault line that is supposed to be somewhere around the Mississippi River area (and Saint Louis?). Plus, I find it freaky that this is the anniversary for the great 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.

(The last time that I can remember an earthquake reaching Michigan was back around 1998-1999, and at the time I was living in the Metro-Detroit area. I definitely felt that one as it occurred in the afternoon. That earthquake was also at least a 5.0 earthquake, but the earthquake started in Pennsylvania.)

I happened to take a look at Fox News report on the earthquake, and it indicated that people as far as away as 450 miles from West Salem were able to feel the earthquake. The area I am in is definitely well in range for one to feel the earthquake, so it is entirely plausible that someone felt it in my area.

Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 46th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! (Although the date says the 18th, it was posted early, on today, the 17th). You can read it here. The topic for the next topic is on Ancestral homes. Where did your ancestor live in? Have you ever visited that place? What is the place like, and what is the history of that area? Enjoy!

Another Contest ...

I just took a look at Ancestry Insider's post about genealogy news, and learned that Ancestry and Ford are holding a contest. A person could either win an Ancestry DNA test kit or a 30-day Ancestry subscription.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am interested.

Update at 8:30pm: I just took a look at the terms of the contest, and anyone who works for Ford or has an immediate family member working at Ford is not eligible. I'm definitely not eligible for the contest ...

A Poem In My Pocket ...

Lisa of A Light That Shines Again, 100 Years In America, and Small-leaved Shamrock posted a challenge to other genealogy bloggers to post their favorite poem today, in tribute to April being the National Poetry Month. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of poetry; I'm more of a fan of short stories. (It could be either that the poems I had to read in school were unappealing to me, or it just could be that I like to write short stories.) So, I really don't have a "favorite poem," but I happen to like Psalm 96 (I guess Psalms counts as poems), and used part of it as a beginning to a short story:

Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all people.

For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the nations,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.

Say among the nations, "The Lord reigns."
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;
they will sing before the Lord, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his truth. (Psalm 96:1-13 NIV Version)

I'm not exactly sure as to why I like this psalm, but this song does remind me of contemporary Christian songs of today, so maybe that is why. (Anyhow, I only used the first stanza in the story, but that's for another time.) Of course, I have written poems before in school, but I don't believe they are any good. I did write an allegorical and historical poem about the history of Boston (and Massachusetts in general) last year for a class, but it is extremely long. Plus, I feel embarrassed to post it. Either way, this post is long enough as it is.

Another New and Interesting Carnival!

FootnoteMaven has started a new carnival! This carnival is Smile For The Camera, and is deals with family photographs or lost photographs. The theme for the first edition is in time for Mother's Day, and is on "a Mother's Love or a love of a mother." You can find out more information here.

Thanks ...

I just want to thank everyone for their advice and kind comments in response to my "A Bit Annoyed" post. Thanks!

A Bit Annoyed ...

Well, I'm a little bit more upset than I am annoyed, but that's beside the point. Why? Up until this past night (April 14th), I hadn't had very many problems with the comments left on this blog. Of course, I've had to delete a couple of comments before, but that was due to those comments being more spam than anything else. The comment left last night on my "A Sad Day In History" post was a long bizarre rant that included swear words and offense comments against many groups, and I felt that I had to delete the comment. So, as a result, I've changed the settings on the comments, and comments will now be moderated. Also, people will not be able to post anonymously anymore because of what this person posted.

To be honest, I really didn't want to change my settings since I've mainly had positive and constructive comments left on my blog, but I can not just allow someone to hijack the comments column on my blog and use it as a forum for his or her rants. ( That person can just as easily create a blog and post his thoughts there.) I just wanted to let everyone know in case anyone posts a comment on one of my ones, and wonders why it might not be posted right away. More than likely a delay in posting will mostly be due to not having a chance to approve the comment right away.

I realize that this doesn't sound very nice. I'm sorry. (You can tell that I'm not happy about this situation, can't you?)

I must say, though, that I still welcome comments. Any suggestions and comments are still and will always be welcome. Thanks!

A Library Tribute ...

Lori Thornton mentioned that this week is Library Appreciation Week in the United States, and as a way to commemorate this week with posts in tribute to libraries. I thought I would also write a post as a tribute to a library, and one library that I want to write in tribute is the Library of Michigan. Why? The Library of Michigan has a large number of books and records that are very essential and useful for genealogists and researchers, especially for doing Michigan research. (I should also state the the State Archives of Michigan is also a valuable repository for records. Both the library and archives are in the same building, the Michigan Historical Center.)

I like the Library of Michigan primarily because I can access records of different Michigan counties at the same time. I don't have to make multiple trips in the summer to different places for vital records only, or for the 1884 and 1894 state censuses. Plus, I can look up newspapers from different counties in the same place. It is more convenient for me. Of course, I should state that I can't view all the records I need. If I need to look for land or probate records, I need to go to the counties where those records are held. Also, I can't view marriages that occurred before 1867. I would have to go to the county where I believed the marriage occurred. (That is, if that county recorded marriages before 1867. Not all of the counties in Michigan that exist today, existed back in 1867.)

All in all, though, I like doing research at the Library of Michigan. Of course, I should state that I always go with family members, so I always someone to help me look up records, thereby covering more in the time I'm there.