What the Dickens?

[altivo]

Oh, wait, it's Charles Dickens' 200th birthday of course. Remembered just in time this morning to throw something onto the library web site and put a display of books in one of the showcases.

Other than that, another cold, gray day. It was getting so nice last week, but now it feels like February again. If we believe the local prognosticating marmot this will last two weeks and then things will brighten. I hope he's right for a change.

For the #furryhorses and their Twitter friends: due to some discussion today about the need for a safe/clean chat site, I have revived the old #horseherd channel on irc.furnet.org. You'll need an IRC client to connect. Since I can't be there 24/7, I'm looking for a couple of additional ops with some IRC experience. Let me know if you're interested and what op experience you have. You'll have to register with nickserv at furnet.org, of course, if you haven't already done so. When the channel reg is approved (and I see no reason it will not be) I'll let you all know. In the meantime the channel is usable, just not quite as secure as I'd like.

Comments

[hrrunka]

Cold and grey here, with a possibility of snow to add to the remains of the couple of inches we had on Sunday. We got a bit of a Dickens overdose yesterday, too.

[altivo]

Yeah, I imagine it was a lot stronger over there than here. Most Americans have forgotten who he was, except for the endless versions of A Christmas Carol on television every year.

[hrrunka]

I guess Dickens' visit to America (and the travelogue "American Notes") doesn't figure these days. (Curiously, it seems he met President Tyler, who recently got some media attention because he's the earliest U.S. President who still has living grandchildren.)

[altivo]

Yes, John Tyler is generally treated by historians as a lackluster leader. Since one of his big accomplishments was the annexation of Texas, perhaps they're right after all.

He also had more children from his two marriages than any other President, but I was surprised indeed to learn that he has living grandchildren. That's an amazing stretch of time for just two generations. I think the reason this fact recently resurfaced is that the more visible of the two, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Jr., publicly (and correctly) called Newt Gingrich "a big jerk."

One of my own grandfathers was born in 1870, and I always thought that was a wide stretch, but it's hard to imagine being alive and having a grandfather who was born in 1790. 222 years!

[hrrunka]

Tyler in Texas seems to be in the news at the moment because of a patent lawsuit happening there...

I think Tyler Jr. was being too polite...

Yes, it is a rather boggling generation span. I think I have to add at least three greats to get back that far. My grandparents were born in 1895, 1897, 1902 and 1903. The oldest could remember soldiers returning from the Boer War, and lived just long enough that he could have told his oldest great-grandchild about it.

[altivo]

Interesting. My mother's parents were both born in 1897. My father's in 1870 and 1872. With just two more generations I can get back to the 18th century, with gx2 grandparents born 1784, 1794, and 1798 (the rest are in the 1803-1825 range.) It's my father's line that does it. Several, including him, were youngest sons of youngest sons. Still, it takes five generations rather than just three.

[hrrunka]

I'm not so good at remembering lineage details. My paternal line's easy enough, but it's eldest surviving sons back to the 18th century, with my gx3 grandfather born in 1791 and my gx4 grandfather in 1750. My gx4 grandfather apparently spent some time in America, serving in the British Army there through a certain conflict in the 1770s...

[altivo]

Funny you should mention that last bit. The 2xg grandfather mentioned above, born 1784, was the son of a Loyalist who left New York and fled to Canada, apparently fighting in Butler's Rangers, one of the Loyalist British groups. My father's grandfather came back over to Michigan during the US Civil War, bringing his wife with him, and eventually became a US citizen. At the same time in my father's line we have at least two officers from the rebel side, Jonathan Knight and William Lee. At least in theory, I'm entitled to both UEL (United Empire Loyalist) and SAR (Sons of the American Revolution.) No wonder I'm so mixed up. XD

[hrrunka]

My gx4 grandfather got about a bit duing his military career; America in the 1770s (one source mentions the Siege of Charlestown), Ireland in the 1790s (including this rather duboious engagement), and India in the 1800s, before going back to Ireland in the 1810s.

[soanos]

Ah, thanks. One more channel to add to my autojoin. :)