Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Technological Unemployment
Dan Gardner on Kurt Vonnegut and the long history of a jobless future

Cooking for all Seasons
Community cookbooks are a thing.” Favourite” recipes are collected and published with the person suggesting them given. One compiled from suggestions by employees and friends of Environment Canada (Downsview) was published in October 1994, Cooking for All Seasons, and has recently come online. It jogged my memory of several former colleagues. If an ancestor’s organization, church, or similar community group compiled such a book, it should not be overlooked as a source for adding a personal touch to a family history.
Has a genealogy or family history society produced such a publication?

Teeth record the hidden history of your childhood climate and diet

Global Genealogy Website News
Rick and Sandra Roberts continue to work on completing the transfer to a new website at GlobalGenealogy.ca/. The original website, launched in 1995-96, has been permanently replaced by a new, modern website that offers advanced functionality, precise search, intuitive browsing, easy checkout, immediate automated downloads of PDF books, discounted shipping, and immediate tracking of physical items. Many of the most popular titles have been added to the new site, with approximately 1,000 more titles to be uploaded. The immediate focus is on adding dozens more Eastern Ontario titles.

International Bomber Command Center: Losses Database
TheGenealogist has incorporated this record set documenting individuals who lost their lives while serving with Bomber Command.  The records are linked to the IBCC database, which is compiled from over 6.2 million pieces of data, providing information for each individual, often including a photo.
● 67,140 Records
● Covers 1936 to 1968
● Gives over 100,000 names of Parents, Spouses, Siblings and Children

Ancestry Updates
UK, British Army World War II Medal Cards, 1939-1945 was updated on 9 July with 834,078 records.
Ireland, Railway Employment Records, 1870-1940 was also updated on the same day with 306,881 records.

The Contronym Conundrum
By Claude

I dusted off my dusty shelf today,
Which left me quite perplexed—
Did I add dust or sweep it all away?
English leaves me vexed!

I clipped a coupon, then I clipped my hedge,
One saved, one cut apart—
The same word walks a contradiction’s edge,
Language is quite an art!

“I’m finished!” cried the student with his test,
But was he done or through?
Or did his teacher finish him instead?
Words can mean one thing—or two!

So when I weather storms or weather fades,
And fast means quick or stuck,
I marvel at these verbal masquerades—
Contronyms! What luck!