Monday Meanderings - 6.12.2017

So the other day, while putting gas in the car, I noticed the little messages printed on the pump handle. They were the usual safety notices, such as "In case of fire, do not remove nozzle" and "No smoking/extinguish all flames" and "Do not top off." But one of the messages said, "Licensed drivers only." Huh? So passengers can't pump gas? Or you have to pass a test before you can legally pump gas? I never knew that. Good thing I am a licensed driver, or we would have been stranded by the side of the road.

Those are not the only messages that have caught my attention lately. Every time our health insurance company sends us any correspondence for any reason whatsoever, they include a printed page that begins with the message "English. ATTENTION: If you do not speak English, language assistance services are available to you." Which is sort of a strange message in and of itself.

But there follows a similar phrase written in 16 different languages. For example, the next sentence is: "Español (Spanish) ATENCIÓN: si habla español, tiene a su disposición..." (if you do speak Spanish...) and then there messages in Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog - Filipino, Russian, French Creole, French, Polish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Japanese, Farsi, Navajo and Arabic. No wonder insurance is so expensive.

Monday Meanderings - 6.5.2017

We opted out of providing free tomatoes for the squirrels and birds this year. If they want to grow tomatoes, they are going to have to go to Home Depot and get their own. However, since our jalapeno plants did so well last year we planted a couple more this year - and they have not disappointed us.

They seem to be critter-resistant. Well, I did find one pod partially gnawed, but I'm pretty sure that the squirrel that spent the day drinking water from the bird-bath learned his lesson and hopefully passed the word on to his tribe.

I mentioned in a previous "Tales from the Tree" post that I got the results of an Ancestry.com DNA test and that linked me with a bunch of folks who share some of the same DNA markers. To be precise, it linked me with 1,913 (and counting) other people that I am 4th cousin or closer to.

Here's a chart that illustrates how 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th cousins relate to each other:

While this chart specifies brothers, the solid colors could be any siblings, of course. The point is that it takes a single generation up the chart to produce 1st cousins, 2 generations for 2nd cousins, and so forth. It's really less complicated than I first thought, but I'm ignoring the 'once and twice' removed part.

Ancestor.com, and other genealogical testers generally draw the line at 4th cousins because the shared DNA becomes rather minuscule beyond that. You share only 50% of your DNA with your parents and siblings; 25% with an aunt, uncle, niece or nephew; 12.5% with a 1st cousin, 6.25 with 2nd cousins and it continues to drop accordingly for each generation. A 4th cousin shares only .20%.

Beyond 6th cousins there is no statistical match. I point this out only to show Barb that she did not inherit any royal DNA from her 24-generations removed grandfather King Edward III. She will not be pleased.

Nevertheless, it is sort of amazing to me that I have 1,913 (and counting) other people ALIVE TODAY that I am 4th cousin or closer to (speaking genealogically). And that number is only those kinfolks who are signed up on Ancestor.com and did a DNA test! If we're going to have a reunion, somebody needs to get busy!

Monday Meanderings - 5.29.2017

I'm a couple of weeks into my no sweetener in my coffee regimen. It's best summed up by "drinking slightly less coffee while enjoying it a whole lot less." We'll see.

 

 A significant aspect of producing audio books at Learning Ally is the checking of the audio files against the written word. It's a tedious, important part of the process, demanding your total attention while you listen and compare. It's easy to get caught up in the story, or to read ahead a bit, or just lose your focus. One of our best checkers is a retired judge who comes to the studio daily, dressed in coat and tie, and checks for hours at a stretch, relentlessly picking up on each and every error.

I've mentioned before that all of us readers make mistakes, such as transpose words, or substitute 'a' for 'the' or just flat misread the material. And sometimes, it doesn't have anything to do with how you read. The other day I got a folder from an earlier project that had a couple of errors to be corrected. When I opened the files and brought up the error listings, they said "Background noise."

This puzzled me, because we record in sound-proof, heavily padded isolation booths. How could there be background noise in that environment? But when I listened, I clearly heard... my stomach growling!

The Next Door neighbor bulletin board recently had a listing of a $500 reward for the return of a grey lost cat. That got me thinking about the strays that come around our house and a spray can of grey paint. Nah. Probably couldn't pull that off.

My driver's license is up for renewal and this time it was necessary to show up at the DMV. The entire DMV experience has become synonymous with bureaucracy, poor customer service and long lines, so I set out early on a day with no other commitments to get this task completed.

The letter advising me of the need for renewal was full of requirements of documentary evidence; passports, IDs, SSN card, proof of residency, filled-in-forms and, of course, payment. I gathered all the documents, checked the website for the form to complete, and saw a note about "Get in Line Online." There is a big office relatively near our home and they allow you to log in with your mobile phone number and get a place in the line. A text appeared that said my turn would come up in about 40 minutes. Subsequent messages kept me updated with my status, along with options to request "more time" or "step out of the line."

I got to the facility with about 10 minutes to wait; they called my phone number in about 9, I only needed my old driver's license for ID, smiled at the camera, read line 4 on the chart, paid my money  and I was done in another 10 minutes! The clerk did mention that I was smart to come in before school was out!

 

There was a fender bender accident out at ABIA the other day, involving 2 passenger planes. Okay, it was more of a wing-tip bender when the 2 jets got a little too close while they were positioning at the gates. Some one texted, "Did the pilots get out and exchange insurance information?'

DNA, the Tree, and me

I finally did the Ancestry.com DNA test. I demurred for quite a while because when all is said and done, the test is simply going to tell you that most of your ancestors came from Europe, with a smattering from other areas. Since my tree is well researched, I was pretty sure there would be no great surprises, like being a direct decedent of the Ethiopian Eunuch.

But I got a 25% off offer and my research has been stalled for a while, so I figured I might as well join the DNA age. Ancestry needs to step up its game, though - genealogical researchers tend to be old, and a 2 month wait might not be timely enough for some of us. But I finally got the results. And...

As expected, no great surprises. The big 4 are Great Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, and whatever else makes up Europe West (Germany, in the main). I'm a bit surprised that Scandinavia beat out Germany, but only by a couple of percentage points.

Next is an analysis of where people matching my DNA located in America. That's sort of a no- brainer, too

And then there was a puzzling statement that "We haven't found a New Ancestor Discovery for you yet." I'm still reading all the information and I'm not really sure what this statement means because I'm pretty sure none of my as-yet-unknown grandparents submitted a DNA test back in the 1700s.

What the test did accomplish was to find several hundred 2nd, 3rd and 4th cousins. Like Jacob Gann and Chadric Head, who both had their DNA tested, but as of yet don't have any ancestor trees on Ancestry.com. Not sure what's up with that. The other 1,829 4th or closer cousins I have yet to meet. Of those cousins, Ancestry has matched common ancestors between my tree and theirs in about 60 instances and matched common, but not directly related, people in both trees in all the rest.

That's interesting, because I have fewer than 500 ancestors from the tree uploaded to Ancestry; my local genealogy program database has more that 8,000 people! I will add more names to Ancestry, but I'm waiting on an upgrade to my genealogy software that will manage that for me.

Meanwhile, I'm checking out the cuz's with common ancestors, looking for lost relatives.

Monday Meanderings - 5.22.2017

The church Barb and I attend partners with Anderson High School, located just across the street. That means we actively seek ways to be a good neighbor - such as providing proctors for examinations, drivers and buses for off-campus activities, and the ever-popular "Lunch for the Teachers" at the beginning of every school year.

We also host events in our auditorium throughout the year - especially around graduation time. This week we hosted the Student Awards ceremony and the Baccalaureate service. I ran the sound for both these events this past week, as I often do, and once again I was impressed by the future generation.

The Awards ceremony was particularly impressive; several hundred students were honored for their academic achievements, and the list of accolades for each was lengthy. The members of the senior class each spoke of their college destination and field of study and there was a long list of prestigious colleges and universities and some serious career choices presented. Well done, class of 2017.

I do have one question, however, concerning the ritual of graduation. Have you ever considered just how weird the caps are?

I mean, just what is the significance of that flat "mortar board" fastened on top of a skull cap? I sorta get the gowns (though the Student Body President did comment, "Our parents want us to 'be real' but they dress us up in Hogwarts outfits"), but the caps are just strange, dear hearts

Coinciding with the Anderson Baccalaureate service, yesterday was "Senior Sunday" at our church, honoring our own graduating seniors. We have a family with 4 daughters graduating; 3 triplets and a younger sister who graduated a year early. Can you imagine 4 children heading off to college all at once? We gave today's collection to the poor dad. It was the right thing to do.

Speaking of scholarship, there was a viral Facebook post recently of a letter that some parent wrote to their child's teacher that basically said "Stop assigning so much homework. Our kids are loaded to the point that they don't have time to be kids anymore." A similar post was from a teacher, who stated that, for the same reason, she was no longer assigning homework. Both got a lot of likes, as I recall.

Which caused me to think of my own homework boycott back in the 3rd or 4th grade. Basically, I told my teacher that my mother didn't want me to bring books and stuff home anymore because I couldn't keep up with it and often left it at home, requiring a parental trip to school. I'm sure my mother did say something to me about forgetting my books and assignments, but I seriously doubt that she said "Don't bring any more of that home." That, however, was the message I conveyed to the teacher. And it worked!

I quit taking books and assignments home and I did get promoted out of the 4th grade, so it must have been a successful scam. I don't recall that I tried that again in higher grades, and since I distinctly remember homework I can only conclude that if I did try another boycott, no other teacher bought into it. Pity.