It’s time for the Aug 15th Carnival of Genealogy. I was sure I wouldn’t be contributing to this one. The topic is Genealogy conferences and seminars, and I’ve never been to one. If I’m going to blog about something, it should be something with which I’m familiar. So I was content that I was going to sit this one out, and see what others had to say.

Then Janice at CowHampshire, admitting she had never attended a conference, posted her “Genealogy seminars I’d like to see” The list was humorous, I was listed as a host of one of the seminars, and I realized I could come up with a humorous list, too, but now it would be redundant, or worse, copying, unless I came up with my own unique twist.

Then Jasia, at Creative Gene, posted her suggestions for conferences from the perspective of one who had attended…and I realized there were some vague familiarities, and I had my topic.

What to expect when your favorite genealogical conference merges with a local SF convention.

1) Possible panel/seminar topics:
a. Homer Simpson’s Family Tree
b. Genealogy references in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: from Nature’s Nobility to graveyard visits.
c. Did your great grandparents read science fiction? An introduction to First Fandom for Young Adults.
d. Did your ancestors get eaten by Grendel? Where would they be buried if they were?
e. Making whoopee in the 17th century, were there any differences? (midnight panel)
f. Podcasting for the Genea-blogger.
g. Heraldry – What your local branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism has to offer your local genealogy society – and vice versa.
h. The 1891 and 1901 England Census are online? Is HG Wells listed? (Yes – ancestry.co.uk, image)

2) Genealogy Guest of Honor: Alex Haley. (live via time machine) Huge line for autographs, but a smaller subset of attendees will turn their nose up, claim the writer was a hack, and refuse to get in line, even if they’ve read all his books.

3) There will be a masquerade. A chance to dress up like your ancestors – or your future descendents! Prizes will be awarded.

4) Art Show will have new categories for Coats of Arms and family photographs.

5) Free alcohol in the room parties after hours will lead to genealogists logging on to OneWorldTree and adding entries to prove they are descended from Isaac Newton or Beowulf.

Note: I’ve started to post genealogy stuff here, so that those interested in just genealogy don’t have to wade through my other mishmash, and those interested in the mishmash, don’t have to wade through my growing interest in genealogy. But this post definitely belongs in both places.

It’s time for the Aug 15th Carnival of Genealogy. I was sure I wouldn’t be contributing to this one. The topic is Genealogy conferences and seminars, and I’ve never been to one. If I’m going to blog about something, it should be something with which I’m familiar. So I was content that I was going to sit this one out, and see what others had to say.

Then Janice at CowHampshire, admitting she had never attended a conference, posted her “Genealogy seminars I’d like to see” The list was humorous, I was listed as a host of one of the seminars, and I realized I could come up with a humorous list, too, but now it would be redundant, or worse, copying, unless I came up with my own unique twist.

Then Jasia, at Creative Gene, posted her suggestions for conferences from the perspective of one who had attended…and I realized there were some vague familiarities, and I had my topic.

What to expect when your favorite genealogical conference merges with a local SF convention.

1) Possible panel/seminar topics:
a. Homer Simpson’s Family Tree
b. Genealogy references in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: from Nature’s Nobility to graveyard visits.
c. Did your great grandparents read science fiction? An introduction to First Fandom for Young Adults.
d. Did your ancestors get eaten by Grendel? Where would they be buried if they were?
e. Making whoopee in the 17th century, were there any differences? (midnight panel)
f. Podcasting for the Genea-blogger.
g. Heraldry – What your local branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism has to offer your local genealogy society – and vice versa.
h. The 1891 and 1901 England Census are online? Is HG Wells listed? (Yes – ancestry.co.uk, image)

2) Genealogy Guest of Honor: Alex Haley. (live via time machine) Huge line for autographs, but a smaller subset of attendees will turn their nose up, claim the writer was a hack, and refuse to get in line, even if they’ve read all his books.

3) There will be a masquerade. A chance to dress up like your ancestors – or your future descendents! Prizes will be awarded.

4) Art Show will have new categories for Coats of Arms and family photographs.

5) Free alcohol in the room parties after hours will lead to genealogists logging on to OneWorldTree and adding entries to prove they are descended from Isaac Newton or Beowulf.

Note: I’ve started to post genealogy stuff here, so that those interested in just genealogy don’t have to wade through my other mishmash, and those interested in the mishmash, don’t have to wade through my growing interest in genealogy. But this post definitely belongs in both places.

Back on March 29th I referenced a feature Google had added to their Google Maps. They were telling you how to get from New York to Dublin – by swimming. It appeared they had programmed three swimming ports – one in France, one in England, and one in New York.

I am shocked it didn’t cross my mind that that would be a temporary feature. I actually thought they might expand upon it and add the Pacific Ocean later on. Alas, they obviously thought it was just a humorous joke, because it no longer exists. I’m not sure how long it lasted past April 1, because I think this is the first time I’ve tried it since then.

It was a cool feature. I want it back. It’s not as if there aren’t permanent bits of humor already in Google’s offerings. For example, you can conduct searches in a whole bunch of languages, including, Klingon, Pig Latin, Elmer Fudd, and Bork! Bork! Bork!. Apparently they decided that swimming across the Atlantic wasn’t a funny enough joke to keep alive.

You can still find your way from Warsaw to Dublin, of course, since you really can drive that route in a car.

We may have a new homerun hitter for the Cardinals. Rick Ankiel.

For those who weren’t in St. Louis, or baseball fans, in 2000 when his promising pitching career took a Bermuda Triangle nosedive, you can read a summary on Wikipedia.

I’ve added a few filker-blogs to my links on the left (under artists, authors and musicians). To remind those who need reminding, filk is sf/fantasy themed music, often song parodies, often folk melodies, but not necessarily either.

FilkerTom is the livejournal of the filker Tom Smith. Some in my writer’s group will need to be told that this is a different Tom Smith, with equal amounts of funny, but with less horror. The member of my writer’s group with this name tells a story of being called up and being offered a plane ride to Santa Fe, NM to talk with someone who liked his work. He was gracious enough to inform the caller that they had contacted the wrong Tom Smith. Lots of fiction by the St. Louis Tom Smith can be read here. He’s also written song lyrics, but the songs haven’t appeared on the Dr. Demento Show, like FilkerTom’s has. Nor has he recorded cds (to my knowledge.) This paragraph really should have been more about FilkerTom, but you can follow the link and read more about him. He’s also had several posts in the past couple days about a dispute between LiveJournal owners and Livejournal users over their definition of Harmful Content.

MoFilker is the livejournal of Missouri Filker, Gary Hanak. He’s attended over twenty Archons and is a fixture at St. Louis conventions. He ran the Filking track at NASFiC. He can play the accordion, and has 2 cds.

Porcupine Burrito is the Livejournal of Blind Lemming Chiffon. His name, and his blog’s name, pretty much tells you everything you need to know, doesn’t it? Met him for the first time at NASFiC. Enjoyed his music. After returning from NASFiC he’s begun a song-a-day project on his livejournal.

the great Luke Ski’s livejournal isn’t new to the list, but he also is a filker, and he likes to tell audiences that he is the most requested artist on the Dr. Demento show for the 21st century. He is actually quite well-known for his promotional skills, starting with the name he chose for himself. He does have a talent for good lyrics, which in filk/dementia music is important. A lot of his selection is Rap parodies, but he parodies non-Rap music as well.

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream.
Throw your teacher overboard and listen to her scream!

There were eight contributions to the initial StlBlogger Blog Carnival, and I consider this a great turnout, considering the theme I chose probably disappointed some people.  I found all the entries interesting reading.  Thanks to everyone who participated!

Homemade Sin welcomed us to the Freak Show as she talked about her experiences as a non-native St.Louisan, and dealing with The Question she kept getting asked.

Kathy at Five Dollar Camera talked about her high school years in fashion.  She had me hooked with the Catholic Schoolgirl uniform.  Especially since it was illustrated.

High School brings back Autumnal memories for many.  Fluidpudding wrote about four separate fall memories..

Kat of Plays With Yarn, another non-native, writes of making up an answer to The Question.

HK Muse of Cat and Muse in Farming 101 talks about a shock she received, which led to a bout of paranoia, and ultimately a realization about her friends.

Rev Matt  in I’m Losing Status at the High School  recalls the music he used to listen to, and how he finally came to his senses.

Sarah Lynn  at Yeah, But Houdini Didn’t have these Hips, also writes about The Question from a non-native point of view as well as addressing her concerns as a parent and picking a school district for her children.
 
And I, at TransylvanianDutch  recall a handful of my high school experiences, from a four month stay in a hospital, to 4-years in the National Forensic League.

Thanks to all who participated.

The winner of a free packet of hot sauce is Kat of Plays With Yarn.  If she is interested in receiving the packet she should email me an address for me to send it to.

STLBlogger Carnival #2 will be hosted by HK Muse, and the topic will be “What was the most important day of your life.”  She’ll be responsible for posting the details.

She will post them at StlBloggers.com.

Playbill.com article on the MUNY production of Les Miserables

No, they didn’t interview me. (Unlike the Christian Science Monitor on the 200th anniversary of Hugo’s birth)

Yes, I have tickets for one of the performances, and plan to attend in the free seats a couple times over the next week and a half.

Update: Post Dispatch review