World War 1 Blogs

During last week, when I was looking at lots of blogs, it struck me that there is a quite a number of Australian and New Zealand blogs from individuals, organisations and other groups on World War 1 themes. Here is a list of some that I follow.

Behind the lines http://mosman1914-1918.net/project/blog
Fighting the Kaiser  http://fightingthekaiser.blogspot.com.au/
Grandpa's War  http://grandpaswar.blogspot.com.au/
Parramatta and World War 1  http://arc.parracity.nsw.gov.au/projects/parramatta-and-world-war-one-blog/
Queensland's World War 1 Centenary  http://blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/ww1/
Ryde goes to War  http://rydegoestowar.blogspot.com.au/
Shire at War http://shireatwar.com/blog/
Trove Memorials  http://trovememorials.weebly.com/

Bookmarks

One of my fave Edtech people, Richard Byrne this week posted an article "Tools and Strategies for Sharing Bookmarks" in response to a reader "who was looking for an alternative to Delicious for bookmarking and sharing bookmarks. .

I was surprised to see that he omitted Evernote as a tool for this purpose. Several years ago when Delicious changed hands I turned to Evernote for saving my bookmarks. Since then Evernote has taken over as my virtual memory.

I am wondering aboout other genealogists' bookmarking practices and if those who are Evernote users use some other tools to save and share bookmarks.

Incidentally you can see my two shared Evernote notebooks (that include lots of bookmarks) here:

Genealogy: https://www.evernote.com/pub/geniaus/Genealogy
Technology: https://www.evernote.com/pub/geniaus/technology

Caught in the Act

I have debated with myself as to whether I should share this photo or not mainly because I had forgotten to put my iron and ironing board away before it was taken.  But that is the way with candid photos.

GeniAus Haanging out

Last week when I was halfway through my #NFHM2014 hangout my son and Mr GeniAus arrived back from an outing and tiptoed into the room. As the broadcast was in session I couldn't stop to have a chat with them so I just kept going. My son thought it amusing that he "caught me in the act" so he whipped out his phone and took a picture of me which he emailed the next day.

I thought it interesting because the photo shows the things I surround myself with before I start a hangout.  I hangout in the kitchen because the lighting there is good and I am able to connect to my modem by an ethernet cable which I feels gives me a better connection.

Working vaguely from the left of the kitchen table you can see my other gear:

* an handsfree phone that I can dive on and disconnect if someone calls through the hangout
* a vvidoe camera on a mini tripod sitting on a pile of recipe books to get it to a good height
* a botttle of water for when I get parched
* a spiral notebook in case I need to write something down (note the blue pencil in my hands)
* ta big laptop from which I connect to the hangout and monitor my running sheet
* a USB headset
* a portable hard drive on wich is loaded all of my genealogy files
* a pretty pink mouse connected to
* a second laptop on which I watch comments that may be made in the Geniaus Community during the course of the hangout

I am always nervous prior to a hangout commencing. I think this photos shows that once I am connected with my gear around me I am quite relaxed; my demeanour demonstrates that hangouts are not daunting activities.

As you can see from this picture you do not need any sophisticated gear to run or join a hangout, if you haven't tried it yet you should have a go.

Australia's Unknown Soldier

Because I haven't been able to drive for a couple of weeks I dragged my chauffeur Mr GeniAus off to a talk at our local library in Hornsby this morning.

Hornsby Local Studies Librarian, Neil Chippendale and Mr GeniAus at the talk today.

The talk "Australia’s Unknown Soldier Returns Home" was delivered by Linda from local funeral directors T J Andrews. Linda related the story of how Rob Allison former Managing Director of the firm, helped to bring home Australia’s "Unknown Soldier" in 1993.

Prior to the talk we had a jolly time chatting with other folk we found there including my distant cousin Elva, friend Judy and several of Mr Geniaus's former workmates.

Once the talk commenced a stillness descended upon the room, The content was fascinating, the delivery was reverent and the attendees were respectful and attentive as they reflected on the content being presented. Linda included several readings including the eulogy delivered by then Prime Minister Paul Keating in the presentation. I have never encoutered such a silent group at any talk I have attended.

Linda from T J Andrews

Information leaflet from T J Andrews tells the story

Thanks to to Neil Chippendale from Hornsby Library and Linda from T J Andrews for organising such a moving talk during this special week.

Although this wasn't a #NFHM2014 event it caused me to reflect on the sacrifices made by my family members who served their country so selflessly. Mr GeniAus and I both enjoyed the talk and, on the way home, discussed taking a tour of the Western Front battlefields. We have previously visited the area independently but feel that we would benefit from a tour lead by a historian and military expert.

T J Andrews state on their website  "If your organisation would like a complimentary presentation about the Unknown Soldier then please call: 1800 386 372." I would commend this offer to genealogy and local history societies.