“They inquired about the development of production in the light metal industry, like children asking the exact size of the grapes of Canaan.” – Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon I now have a Russian aunt. Together with her son, from a previous marriage, she has added a wonderful new multi-cultural dimension to my trips back [...]
I have already had occasion to mention my mother’s online historical project warsailors.com but I wanted to write a short post to congratulate her on the completion of a remarkable achievement. My mother’s ship lists contains detailed information on hundreds of Norwegian merchant marine vessels from World War II that played a key role in [...]
My mother, Siri, made a trip to Norway recently to meet various WWII veterans from the Norwegian merchant marine and to attend some of their events as an honorary member. She has many friends and dedicated fans among their surviving members, thanks to her years of hard work creating the the best and most extensive [...]
Communicating with my 16 month nephew Loki (I have recently all but abandoned his name at birth, Liam) is a challenge. He doesn’t seem to understand my attempts to discuss abstract metaphysical issues with him, or even the more concrete banalities of contemporary politics. He is probably experiencing a certain degree of confusion as well [...]
While visiting Taiwan last week, Sayaka was asked to answer questions in a 心理テスト (A psychological test, a kind of mental game that is supposed to reveal something fundamental about one’s character) by one of her friends there. She was asked to name two 四字熟語 (A four character compound, usually a proverb etc.) that came [...]
Carleen has made the newspaper for her efforts to organize “Game Day” at Bartlesville public library. They have been exploring ways of reaching teens at her library and she is putting her studies in library science in her masters program to work in the field!
My sister works at the reference desk of the Bartlesville library. She is apparently supposed to know everything about everything…or at least know where to find it. I simply can’t understand how they balance this. They also answer calls from anyone wanting information about…anything. Since directory services cost money, apparently she receives calls from people [...]
My mother’s web site continues to grow in leaps and bounds. For those who don’t know, she has created a massive reference site for information about war sailors during World War II, merchant marine ships, convoys which handled supplies during the war, and especially the role of Norwegian ships. Her interest was sparked when she [...]