Here we are, 11 days into a new president and his administration and you would think the world has been knocked off its axis. Things we thought we knew and things we took for granted like a certain level of civility among the professional political crowd has been disappearing for some time...and now seems to be totally gone.
Did the sun rise in the East this morning? I do not know; I have not seen the sun in several days.
We used to welcome immigrants because we are a country of immigrants. We now have a president that has banned immigrants of one religion from seven countries, none of which, by the way, among those with whom he does business.
None of their residents or citizens have inflicted terrorist acts on the United States, but they are on the list, anyway. On the other hand, the one country that was proven to have 11 of 19 hijackers on that fateful day, September 11, 2001, Saudi Arabia, is not on the infamous List of Seven.
Of course, the reason that country is not on the list is that the president has business relations with them and they still produce a whole lot of our oil. Bad idea to piss them off.
Yet no matter how violent their citizens, no matter how extremist and antiquated their legal system, no matter how much they ignore basic human rights - things we used to support back when - no matter how far their efforts go to fund and push extremist Muslim beliefs worldwide go, irritating the Saudi royal family is not a good thing for Trump. He is all about Trump and would stand to lose a lot of money. He does not care about what happens to the American middle class or the cost of gas we pour into our gas-guzzling vehicles or even his own family. He does not care about Melania or Barron or being president.
He only cares about Donald J. Trump.
He now has more power than any one man in the world, in addition to his money. He has stacked his own National Security Council with his insiders as he has stacked his incoming Cabinet with professional billionaires, Wall Street insiders, military generals, and others with no governmental experience at any level.
He says he want to "drain the swamp."
But instead of depending on the counsel of his appointed department heads to do anything like "drain the swamp," he relies, as he always has, on a very small, very tight group of insiders, including his own son-in-law, to do what he wants. He sees himself as the CEO of a large company called the United States and he expects his underlings to do his bidding, right or wrong, legal or illegal, factual or alternative factual. Without question or delay. Or hesitation.
That got him into a bit of heat - which he loves and attention he craves - when he fired an acting head of the Justice Department, a former Obama Administration appointee who was kept on, after she failed to tow his line on a Draconian immigration prohibition policy that was written by his insiders and, strangely enough, senior staff of congressional representatives, without having the new ban vetted by experts who know what they're doing.
If there was ever an indication of the need for spiritual rebirth, this is going to be yet another one for us. We lived through the 1960's, when people in the United States rebelled against war and the politicians who created them and we survived - barely - a president who committed criminal acts and became the only president in United States history to resign in disgrace.
Much of what Trump is doing is now being compared to three people in history: Andrew Jackson, a president very much like Trump; Richard Nixon, a president who was a paranoid and distrustful as Trump; and Adolph Hitler, a man who seized power through a one-man coup and who, in my view, committed acts and came to power in ways very akin to the actions that Trump is taking.
I think it is a time to be afraid.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Saturday, January 14, 2017
I am now a domain owner
Sure as can be, I bought and am now the owner of a new Internet domain, www.wilkinsongenealogy.info. I am not really sure why I did it; doing so will cost me $12 per year just for the name and if I create any email addresses attached to it, they will cost and additional $5 per month. Somehow, I thought owning a domain related to my new, soon-to-be-created blog about my family tree journey was something I needed to do since others have done it.
But $12 a year is an expense I can bear and who knows? Maybe I will find a need for it. Until I do, I can spend some time designing and building it as a home for my new Blogspot genealogy blog...though I am pretty sure it does not need a 'home.'
But $12 a year is an expense I can bear and who knows? Maybe I will find a need for it. Until I do, I can spend some time designing and building it as a home for my new Blogspot genealogy blog...though I am pretty sure it does not need a 'home.'
Friday, January 13, 2017
Where does the time go? No, really. Where?
As I write this, the day is January 13, 2017. The first Friday The 13th of the new calendar year. That has no relevance to me since I am not superstitious (knock on wood :) ) and think any result from my actions or inactions result from them, not from the day of the week. Nonetheless, I have not written here since August 2016. That is too long; one wonders where the time goes. And why I chose not to spend as much time here as I should or wanted to.
Keeping in mind that one of my stated purposes was to write more for stress-reduction purposes, I might just get my chance to do exactly that.
As a reader might know, I have been working on my own family tree for a few years. The reason is pretty simple. As I age, learning more about my near- and far-ancestors becomes more important to me. I grew up somewhat detached from my grandparents and all relatives living in the United States because I grew up the son of a US diplomat in the Middle East. I spent those formative years mostly in Jordan but also in Beirut, Lebanon and Ankara, Turkey. Those were experiences I would not change but they were not all positive. Looking back, I see how much I missed; not really having a "home town" or lifelong friends or, really, even roots. I recently read that the only person whose name I remember from my time in elementary school in my parents' hometown of Wilton, New Hampshire, before leaving for Jordan, Harley Savage, has died. He was one person I hoped to visit; I cannot do that now and that leaves me a bit sad.
It is the connection to my past through my parents and Wilton, New Hampshire, that has driven me to try to sort out the leaves on my own family tree. Formally, doing so is called genealogy, the study of family history. I have joined and spent money on the largest of the genealogy source sites, Ancestry.com. This organization is closely tied to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah, the largest, most accurate repository of genealogical records in the world. The Mormons have been serious genealogists, professional and otherwise, for their entire history and have collected family histories for that long. They make much of it available to the non-LDS public for free and their Family History Center in Salt Lake City can be very helpful doing family history searches.
Until the advent of the Internet and recognition of a possible revenue source, one had to visit there in person. Now, however, companies have been created to funnel some, if not all, of that information around the globe. So it is with Ancestry.com. And so it was with my becoming a member.
A few days ago, a Facebook contact of mine, a professional genealogist, recommended that I start a blog as a non-professional 'beginner.' She thought my description of my journey to fill out my family tree would be valuable for other beginners. Since I like to write and have been looking for ways to increase the time I spend writing - in hopes of improving my skill - starting another blog sounded like a good idea.
I gave some thought to just adding to this one, but quickly enough cast that idea aside. This blog is really a place for me to vent, to keep these fingers typing, and to be a bit of therapy. Whether anyone reads or not is not the purpose and, honestly, is not that important. It is for me. Writing a 'genealogy for beginners' blog would have an entirely different purpose. Finding readers would be important, so I decided to create another Blogspot blog.
That is the first of many steps and I plan to spend this day, Friday the 13th, working some of the details out. I have a support system; remember that Facebook friend I mentioned? The professional genealogist? She is probably a cousin since her maiden name is also Wilkinson and she writes a very popular New England genealogy blog. She has offered her help, has given me the contact information for some other bloggers, and knows that what I would write would fill a bit of a void...not many bloggers are from the area of southern New Hampshire my own ancestors lived in.
So there it is, dear reader. I have an idea, a laptop, a desktop, time, energy, and the willingness to put all of them together for a purpose. Doing a new blog will be difficult, frustrating at times, and almost always entirely enjoyable. I will explain what I do in my own family history search, what I find, how I validate a finding, why I reject any that do not meet my comfort level, what roadblocks I encounter and how I overcome them, if I do.
Hopefully, you will come along on the journey with me. Road trips alone can be just a trip from Point A to Point B. Road trips with others can be a journey, almost a vacation. Let's make it together. Heck, I might even pique your own interest in learning about your own ancestors.
Keeping in mind that one of my stated purposes was to write more for stress-reduction purposes, I might just get my chance to do exactly that.
As a reader might know, I have been working on my own family tree for a few years. The reason is pretty simple. As I age, learning more about my near- and far-ancestors becomes more important to me. I grew up somewhat detached from my grandparents and all relatives living in the United States because I grew up the son of a US diplomat in the Middle East. I spent those formative years mostly in Jordan but also in Beirut, Lebanon and Ankara, Turkey. Those were experiences I would not change but they were not all positive. Looking back, I see how much I missed; not really having a "home town" or lifelong friends or, really, even roots. I recently read that the only person whose name I remember from my time in elementary school in my parents' hometown of Wilton, New Hampshire, before leaving for Jordan, Harley Savage, has died. He was one person I hoped to visit; I cannot do that now and that leaves me a bit sad.
It is the connection to my past through my parents and Wilton, New Hampshire, that has driven me to try to sort out the leaves on my own family tree. Formally, doing so is called genealogy, the study of family history. I have joined and spent money on the largest of the genealogy source sites, Ancestry.com. This organization is closely tied to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah, the largest, most accurate repository of genealogical records in the world. The Mormons have been serious genealogists, professional and otherwise, for their entire history and have collected family histories for that long. They make much of it available to the non-LDS public for free and their Family History Center in Salt Lake City can be very helpful doing family history searches.
Until the advent of the Internet and recognition of a possible revenue source, one had to visit there in person. Now, however, companies have been created to funnel some, if not all, of that information around the globe. So it is with Ancestry.com. And so it was with my becoming a member.
A few days ago, a Facebook contact of mine, a professional genealogist, recommended that I start a blog as a non-professional 'beginner.' She thought my description of my journey to fill out my family tree would be valuable for other beginners. Since I like to write and have been looking for ways to increase the time I spend writing - in hopes of improving my skill - starting another blog sounded like a good idea.
I gave some thought to just adding to this one, but quickly enough cast that idea aside. This blog is really a place for me to vent, to keep these fingers typing, and to be a bit of therapy. Whether anyone reads or not is not the purpose and, honestly, is not that important. It is for me. Writing a 'genealogy for beginners' blog would have an entirely different purpose. Finding readers would be important, so I decided to create another Blogspot blog.
That is the first of many steps and I plan to spend this day, Friday the 13th, working some of the details out. I have a support system; remember that Facebook friend I mentioned? The professional genealogist? She is probably a cousin since her maiden name is also Wilkinson and she writes a very popular New England genealogy blog. She has offered her help, has given me the contact information for some other bloggers, and knows that what I would write would fill a bit of a void...not many bloggers are from the area of southern New Hampshire my own ancestors lived in.
So there it is, dear reader. I have an idea, a laptop, a desktop, time, energy, and the willingness to put all of them together for a purpose. Doing a new blog will be difficult, frustrating at times, and almost always entirely enjoyable. I will explain what I do in my own family history search, what I find, how I validate a finding, why I reject any that do not meet my comfort level, what roadblocks I encounter and how I overcome them, if I do.
Hopefully, you will come along on the journey with me. Road trips alone can be just a trip from Point A to Point B. Road trips with others can be a journey, almost a vacation. Let's make it together. Heck, I might even pique your own interest in learning about your own ancestors.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Movies and the music that make them powerfulI
I was fortunate to receive my DVD copy of the the latest - and last - Jesse Stone made-for-TV movies starring Tom Selleck and Kohl Sudduth. I now have all nine of them and wish there were more. Unfortunately for those of us who love that series, Mr. Selleck is very busy doing his enormously successful Blue Bloods series so I doubt there will be any others.
I also received my copy of the 2-disc Jeff Beal soundtrack for those movies. You may not recognize his name, but if you have ever watched House of Cards or Monk, you have heard his music; he is one of the busiest and most sought-after soundtrack creators in Hollywood. Mr. Beal finally agreed to release the music from Jesse Stone when he learned (through social media comments and emails) that many of us watch the movies to hear the music; "a new one for me," he said.
The part music plays into a movie has long intrigued me; when done right and well, it almost becomes a character n the production. I know musicians can be trained to do that sort of thing and I have a very general idea of the creative/recording process, but the specifics astound me. How Mr. Beal and others like him make the music to be powerful and omnipresent, yet not in-your-face offensive I do not know. And the music here does not doing anything like the music in House of Cards or Monk or any other production. It is, indeed, done right and well.
The music for Jesse Stone mirrors and enhances the dark, troubled, foreboding history of author Robert B. Parker's cop character. Stone got fired from his job as an LAPD detective for being drunk on the job because of his failed marriage to a woman whose voice we hear often and never see, "Jen." For him, Paradise, Massachusetts, is "the last stop."
Over the course of nine movies, we learned how corrupt one of the City Council members and the chief of police that Jesse is replacing are; the former chief is murdered by a local hit man; the Councilman goes to prison for corruption and murder of the hit man. We learn how much crime happens in the small town when the rich folks from Boston come and buy land...and that Jesse Stone might just be, as a couple of his girlfriends - 'pals' is the term he uses - one of the simplest men alive, and not in a negative sense; he knows what he wants and likes and has a clear sense of right and wrong.
The characters are well done and well acted. Luther "Suitcase" Simpson. Dr. Dix. Julie. Billie. Amanda. And Gino Fish, a Boston "boxing promoter, who, like Jesse Stone, has scruples, but on the other side of the law, and who becomes as much of a friend to a cop as a crook can be.
Throughout the series, the music strengthens the darkness that makes up Jesse Stone, his sensitivity of that of the other characters, and the foreboding nature of the extremely well-written plots; listening to the CD, as I am now, I cannot place where the music fits in the movie - a testament to its noninvasive nature - but I can 'feel' the darkness of the plots. Along with the Hollywood Studio Symphony orchestra, Mr. Beal uses his own trumpet and piano and an oboe to create the darkness.
He is very good at what he does.
I also received my copy of the 2-disc Jeff Beal soundtrack for those movies. You may not recognize his name, but if you have ever watched House of Cards or Monk, you have heard his music; he is one of the busiest and most sought-after soundtrack creators in Hollywood. Mr. Beal finally agreed to release the music from Jesse Stone when he learned (through social media comments and emails) that many of us watch the movies to hear the music; "a new one for me," he said.
The part music plays into a movie has long intrigued me; when done right and well, it almost becomes a character n the production. I know musicians can be trained to do that sort of thing and I have a very general idea of the creative/recording process, but the specifics astound me. How Mr. Beal and others like him make the music to be powerful and omnipresent, yet not in-your-face offensive I do not know. And the music here does not doing anything like the music in House of Cards or Monk or any other production. It is, indeed, done right and well.
The music for Jesse Stone mirrors and enhances the dark, troubled, foreboding history of author Robert B. Parker's cop character. Stone got fired from his job as an LAPD detective for being drunk on the job because of his failed marriage to a woman whose voice we hear often and never see, "Jen." For him, Paradise, Massachusetts, is "the last stop."
Over the course of nine movies, we learned how corrupt one of the City Council members and the chief of police that Jesse is replacing are; the former chief is murdered by a local hit man; the Councilman goes to prison for corruption and murder of the hit man. We learn how much crime happens in the small town when the rich folks from Boston come and buy land...and that Jesse Stone might just be, as a couple of his girlfriends - 'pals' is the term he uses - one of the simplest men alive, and not in a negative sense; he knows what he wants and likes and has a clear sense of right and wrong.
The characters are well done and well acted. Luther "Suitcase" Simpson. Dr. Dix. Julie. Billie. Amanda. And Gino Fish, a Boston "boxing promoter, who, like Jesse Stone, has scruples, but on the other side of the law, and who becomes as much of a friend to a cop as a crook can be.
Throughout the series, the music strengthens the darkness that makes up Jesse Stone, his sensitivity of that of the other characters, and the foreboding nature of the extremely well-written plots; listening to the CD, as I am now, I cannot place where the music fits in the movie - a testament to its noninvasive nature - but I can 'feel' the darkness of the plots. Along with the Hollywood Studio Symphony orchestra, Mr. Beal uses his own trumpet and piano and an oboe to create the darkness.
He is very good at what he does.
Saturday, June 25, 2016
"Newspapers," modern media, advertising, and expectations
While sitting at a truck stop on a 10-hour break a couple of weeks ago, I read an email received that included a link to an essay written by the CEO of The New York Times Company, the parent company of the famed newspaper. The piece was a well-written explanation of the challenges he faces as the head of a world-famous media outlet that, like every other one, has struggled with rapidly falling revenues due to decreased revenues brought about by declining readership.
Of course, nothing is either simple or singular in any change process; no one factor can "blamed" or shown as the start of it all. That is true in this case, too. Physical newspaper subscriptions have declined as the population ages and younger readers get their "news" more from mobile electronic devices than not. That is where this story goes.
Since the advent of mobile cell phones and tablets, their ability to process data and connect with data sources has expanded wildly over the years. Early on, there was the expectation by the end user that they could connect to everything for free, as long as they paid their provider monthly to do so. This created an enormous supply of eyes on the receiving end and companies were fast to identify the potential market. As Google, for example, ceased being a small startup company of math and programming geniuses and became a large international powerhouse with expensive needs to fill as they grew, their executives and Board of Directors began to focus on "monetizing" - there is a word that did not exist before the Electronic Age we are in - really meaning charging for this new product they created.
Google (and all the others) started selling ads to companies looking to sell their products or services based on their internal proprietary algorithms that somehow were tied directly to the de-identified but accurate mobile device user. Of course, as the ad buyers soon realized, they could get more eyes on their product for less money than by advertising in a paper news media or radio or television, so guess what they did?
The advertising revenue stream shifted from print (and other media) to electronic media.
Over time, this stream has shrunk and CEO's of organizations have had to adapt. Many did not have the resources to do so and failed. Large, established companies like The New York Times did not fail but have been working on survival solutions. End users noticed an increase in ads on the web pages they viewed, other apps they downloaded, and pretty much everywhere else. This caused some angst for them because they never had to deal with them before and now these ads are all over the place. These ads were on the sides, at the bottom, at the top, and they even popped up almost completely covering the page being viewed. Many users downloaded the ad-blocking apps that were developed at the same time.
This led to a conflict in the industry: If ads were blocked, nobody saw them and the ad company would not pay as much (or at all) to display their products. The revenue stream was reduced again and the site owner would have to figure out a solution to stay in business.
All because we expect what we've always had as end users...access to freedom for a monthly fee.
After having given this a lot of thought, I have come to the decision to pay for things I used to get for free. I bought a subscription to the digital New York Times...on sale, of course; I am not a dummy! I will not use apps that block ads, as irritated as I know I will get at times. Since there is often a link between a click and how much is charged and/or earned, I will even click on products that interest me from time to time, though I know I will hardly ever buy anything based on that; it's just not how I operate.
The times have changed. How we get information has also changed and the producers and deliverers of that information have changed, as has the expense of doing so. I want to help companies survive this difficult transition, or at least not help kill them, even if I'm just one of millions and I know very few others will choose my course of action. What used to be free when it was starting out now has cost associations. The way to get it must change, too.
Of course, nothing is either simple or singular in any change process; no one factor can "blamed" or shown as the start of it all. That is true in this case, too. Physical newspaper subscriptions have declined as the population ages and younger readers get their "news" more from mobile electronic devices than not. That is where this story goes.
Since the advent of mobile cell phones and tablets, their ability to process data and connect with data sources has expanded wildly over the years. Early on, there was the expectation by the end user that they could connect to everything for free, as long as they paid their provider monthly to do so. This created an enormous supply of eyes on the receiving end and companies were fast to identify the potential market. As Google, for example, ceased being a small startup company of math and programming geniuses and became a large international powerhouse with expensive needs to fill as they grew, their executives and Board of Directors began to focus on "monetizing" - there is a word that did not exist before the Electronic Age we are in - really meaning charging for this new product they created.
Google (and all the others) started selling ads to companies looking to sell their products or services based on their internal proprietary algorithms that somehow were tied directly to the de-identified but accurate mobile device user. Of course, as the ad buyers soon realized, they could get more eyes on their product for less money than by advertising in a paper news media or radio or television, so guess what they did?
The advertising revenue stream shifted from print (and other media) to electronic media.
Over time, this stream has shrunk and CEO's of organizations have had to adapt. Many did not have the resources to do so and failed. Large, established companies like The New York Times did not fail but have been working on survival solutions. End users noticed an increase in ads on the web pages they viewed, other apps they downloaded, and pretty much everywhere else. This caused some angst for them because they never had to deal with them before and now these ads are all over the place. These ads were on the sides, at the bottom, at the top, and they even popped up almost completely covering the page being viewed. Many users downloaded the ad-blocking apps that were developed at the same time.
This led to a conflict in the industry: If ads were blocked, nobody saw them and the ad company would not pay as much (or at all) to display their products. The revenue stream was reduced again and the site owner would have to figure out a solution to stay in business.
All because we expect what we've always had as end users...access to freedom for a monthly fee.
After having given this a lot of thought, I have come to the decision to pay for things I used to get for free. I bought a subscription to the digital New York Times...on sale, of course; I am not a dummy! I will not use apps that block ads, as irritated as I know I will get at times. Since there is often a link between a click and how much is charged and/or earned, I will even click on products that interest me from time to time, though I know I will hardly ever buy anything based on that; it's just not how I operate.
The times have changed. How we get information has also changed and the producers and deliverers of that information have changed, as has the expense of doing so. I want to help companies survive this difficult transition, or at least not help kill them, even if I'm just one of millions and I know very few others will choose my course of action. What used to be free when it was starting out now has cost associations. The way to get it must change, too.
Sunday, May 22, 2016
William Least Heat-Moon, author, wise man
One of the problem-benefits of having many hours off (so far, 51 and counting) and loving to read the printed word is doing so...especially his.
"After all," he wrote, "I lived in the most unfixed nation the earth has ever seen, a country conceived and populated by wanderers, wayfarers, migrants, immigrants, voyagers, vagabonds, most of them believing in the far side of the rainbow, in the possibilities of elsewhere, optimists for whom the road is an enticement beyond resistance and almost any there is preferable to a here..."
"Is there an American who has never muttered, "What if I just quit? Just said fuggum and took off?"
I could write many of his thoughts and words down but the post would, in fact, be his books.
Is it ever too late to become what you might become?
"After all," he wrote, "I lived in the most unfixed nation the earth has ever seen, a country conceived and populated by wanderers, wayfarers, migrants, immigrants, voyagers, vagabonds, most of them believing in the far side of the rainbow, in the possibilities of elsewhere, optimists for whom the road is an enticement beyond resistance and almost any there is preferable to a here..."
"Is there an American who has never muttered, "What if I just quit? Just said fuggum and took off?"
I could write many of his thoughts and words down but the post would, in fact, be his books.
Is it ever too late to become what you might become?
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Civil? What's that?
Personal, civil contact with other humans is being challenged; you hear it in the way people talk to and about others, whether in person, in public, or on a CB radio. We no longer feel the need to treat a differing opinion with respect; instead, that opinion is wrong, stupid, asinine, or just plain whacko.
That does not bode well for out ability to deal with serious challenges in life, does it? Life ai t all roses and if one cannot deal with conflict in ways other than verbal or mental - even physical - violence, well, we are in trouble.
That does not bode well for out ability to deal with serious challenges in life, does it? Life ai t all roses and if one cannot deal with conflict in ways other than verbal or mental - even physical - violence, well, we are in trouble.
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