Author: Brendan Barry
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Gooood Morning, Bomb Iran?
As I ate breakfast this morning, I read through the Morning Briefing I receive from Bloomberg. These days, it provides a good update of what happened in Iran and the Middle East. Every once in a while I will flag one of their graphics to share here, but never decide to ultimately do it because…
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Reticulating Splines
Happy Friday, all. In looking at my calendar the other day, I saw that in three weeks I will be in Appalachia for Orthodox Easter. That means driving through Pennsylvania’s Ridge and Valley region and then sleeping in the mountains. But wherefore the mountains? Thankfully, xkcd posted a map explaining why all the natural features.…
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The Axis in Poland
Earlier this week I read an Associated Press (AP) article about Poland’s economic growth since the end of Communism in the former Soviet-bloc state. Generally speaking, things are good in Eastern Europe, though a revanchist Russia to Poland’s east rekindles memories of an earlier era and the disaster after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. The article included…
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Still Irish
Last October Ancestry.com updated their ethnic origins breakdowns. Longtime readers will know these are not the most useful tools for helping one in their genealogical research. But, if they garner interest in one’s family history and motivate people to explore their own pasts, more power to them. I only encourage those people to dig a…
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Don’t Buy It
Literally. Whatever “it” is they’re selling. Happy (?) Friday, everyone. Today’s light-hearted post comes from This Is Indexed. I watch very little television, nor would I consider myself an avid streamer of content. Recently, however, I did have occasion to watch some without the benefit of ad blockers and I forgot how much I despise…
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The Women in My Ancestry
International Women’s Day was Sunday and last weekend I attempted to research the occupations and careers of my direct line female ancestors. Including the scope to aunts and cousins broadened things too much in my mind. Unfortunately, there were too few who had recorded careers outside of “keeping house” or similar descriptions in census records.…
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On a Pale Blue Dot, Talking ’bout Little Red Dots
Well that certainly was a week. I would say we made it and, technically, I would be correct because I the writer and you the reader are here to type and read these words. But many hundreds of others are not, because decision makers in Jerusalem and Washington chose to go to war. To try…
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US Sub Sinks Ship off Sri Lanka
I woke up this morning thinking I was going to write about the graphics I mentioned on Monday. Instead, reading the news over breakfast brought me up to speed on the US Navy’s sinking of an Iranian frigate off the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka in the wee hours of the morning local time. Longtime…
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Mission Accomplished
Last weekend the United States and Israel preemptively struck Iran and kicked off a regional war. As I type this Monday morning, the US–Israeli strike forced assassinated the ayatollah and numerous other senior Iranian officials—but this seems to have been anticipated to a degree and the regime quickly retaliated and has delegated roles and responsibilities.…
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Jumpin’ Juniper
Happy Friday, all. Baseball is back with Spring Training now in full swing. That means checking in on my Twitter feeds for Red Sox baseball coverage. Sometimes that means seeing content not at all related to baseball. And given yesterday was the day before the weekend, this post stuck with me and now you can…