Maureen West

With all the discussions around LLMs and AI this article should be requires reading for genealogists. #RootsTech2026

Amy McGrath on X: "A year ago, Kentucky bourbon was pulled from Canadian shelves as a direct result of a reckless trade war. Since then, spirits exports to one of our biggest markets have plummeted by 63%. For Kentucky, this isn't just about a bottle on a shelf. It’s about the workers at" / X A year ago, Kentucky bourbon was pulled from Canadian shelves as a direct result of a reckless trade war. Since then, spirits exports to one of our biggest markets have plummeted by 63%. For Kentucky, this isn't just about a bottle on a shelf. It’s about the workers at

Hi Guard the Leaf thought you would enjoy this from twitter/X - another tone deaf US politican. I actually thought she was better than this. The comments are priceless. x.com/AmyMcGrathKY...

I think that this is Invercargill. The tall building is J G Ward, see this image from the Hocken Library:

"My 'methodology' was a series of errors": Gemini generates false records and fake screenshots of TNA website:

www.whodoyouthinkyouaremaga...

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Exciting day today. Not only is it Halloween, but my crowdfunding campaign is also live! Please support me by making a pledge and/or sharing on all your socials and with your friends, family, and colleagues. Thanks to everyone offering rewards. You rock! www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/852...

"AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations."

pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...

David Letterman is right: you can't appease a tyrant.

Newspapers used articles from other places throughout the 19thC and this increased significantly with the arrival of the telegraph. Family notices in NZ/AU often end with the statement 'home papers please copy'.

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This needs reposting a thousand times - read, digest, buy the book and apply the lessons. Well said disobedient thinker Welby Ings. So many memories of teaching reading in junior classes in NZ and London.

Have you tried looking at the Boston Pilot Newspaper Information Wanted Ads which were published for 90 years and are available in Find My Past and Ancestry.

A new, HUGE reason nobody who does genealogy should be putting ANYTHING CLOSE to sensitive information into LLMs.

Holy liability, Batman. #genealogy

Don’t you know who Neil Quigley is? Analysis: There are calls for the resignation of the Reserve Bank chair who championed transparency – but objects to some rather uncomfortable questions. Jonathan Milne investigates.

#NZPOL

Dr Hilary Stace
Historian and Disability Advocate Extraordinaire
1954 – 2025 💔

Statement from many cultural organisations protesting the cutting of history and production staff at Manatū Taonga, Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou! @publicaddress.bsky.social @davidfarrier.bsky.social @tzemingdynasty.bsky.social @mattnippert.bsky.social

Relatedly, if you haven't been in an archives you have no idea just how much historical material is not online, not even a digital record of it. An LLM cannot research data it doesn't have. It can't even extrapolate where to find that material.

We Traced Pope Leo XIV’s Ancestry Back 500 Years. Here’s What We Found. (Gift Article) Noblemen, enslaved people, freedom fighters, slaveowners: what the complex family tree of the first American pontiff reveals.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s New York Times cover featured Pope Leo VIX’s family lineage.

It’s a fascinating romp into both #Genealogy #FamilyHistory and culture. I think I just may have an association. You just might too!

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Kenneth Batt obituary: El Alamein trooper Territorial horseman who saw action in north Africa and became the oldest veteran of the Second World War by date of enlistment, dies aged 103

One of the last Desert War #WW2 veterans has passed away: his unit later supported 5/Northants at Montegabione in June 1944, where my old pal John Dray fought.

www.thetimes.com/article/31b2...

Reading with children: the 'problem' with parents This piece is inspired by a couple of news articles shared around recently.  I’ve seen a Guardian article : Most Parents Don't Enjoy Reading...

Inspired by that conversation about parents not reading to children, I put my original posts from here, into a blog. With some editing.

aotearoaworldofchildrensbooks.blogspot.com/2025/05/read...

• Auckland – Friday May 9th 1pm Rally outside Minister for Workplace Relations, Brooke van Valdeen’s electorate office at 35 St Johns Road, St John. • Nelson – Saturday 10th May 11am March meeting at Millers Acre carpark on Halifax St, heading down Trafalgar St to the Church Steps. • Rolleston, Canterbury - Friday May 9th 1pm Rally outside Minister for Women, Nicola Grigg’s electorate office at Shop 34, Rolleston Square - 9 Masefield Drive. • Dunedin – Friday 9th May 1:30pm Protest at The Exchange – cnr of Princes & Rattray Street. • Elsewhere – Keep an eye on PSA social channels for more events being added.

PSA
Action planned this weekend following the gender pay equity debacle
#nzpol

Wants and Needs This is our current list of wants and needs (May 2025).  Please message Jackie at whaeapower@aunties.co.nz and she'll put you directly in contact with the woman who needs whatever you have.  We are ab...

If everyone could please repost this and share it on ur social media please….

Until we figure out how to link it from our website main page…

This is absolutely everything the women need right now - furniture etc…
aunties.co.nz/pages/wants-...

On the Other Side of Lexington Green—April 19, 1775 David Lambert reflects on his ties to the Revolution—Patriots who marched on the Alarm, and a Loyalist ancestor who stood with the British at Lexington.

My ancestor was on the other side of Lexington Green vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/on-the-other... #Rev250 #Genealogy @americanancestors.bsky.social

Social norms and rules are often less about moral standards and more about social control.

Four reasons your tree should be private Think about it a minute.

When I first started #genealogy I found so many resources! Public trees, free websites. It was a dream come true.
I wanted to help others - so I kept my tree public.
Now, after many years, I advise keeping your tree private!
Why?
Here are four reasons: ourhiddendepths.substack.com/p/four-reaso...

Can someone politely ask Avelo CEO Andrew Levy if he would have approved the flight to deport his own great-grandparents, who lived in Philadelphia for 25 years without ever becoming citizens? K thanks. #resistancegenealogy

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The right to remember the past: Opening Chinese immigration records in Canada’s national archives “C.I.30 certificate of Dere Mee Gim.” The Paper Trail collection, UBC Library Rare Books and Special Collections, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Courtesy of the Dar Woon Family.…

"The right to remember the past: Opening Chinese immigration records in Canada’s national archives" #FamilyHistory #genealogy

activehistory.ca/blog/2025/03...

In this article Eugene Dunphy tells how an American who settled in Sligo penned a romantic ballad about Breifne.

Link in bio to read more!

dashboard.irelandxo.com/ireland/cava...