The information on the site is rather limited but sometimes it proves useful. For example, I am interested in Thomas Allingham of Sracreeghan, Co. Leitrim, Ireland and know his date of death.

A search found an entry which revealed the value of his estate but more importantly that letters of administration were granted to his spinster daughter Anne Allingham and that they were granted in Ballina. So now I know the name of a child I had been unaware of and think the Ballina connection may be useful in finding more information.

These are the words of Senator Pat Tommey before the Senate decided not to require background checks at gun shows.

It has been almost month now since most Republican Senators and some Democrats opposed this commonsense measure despite overwhelming public support and I’m glad to see that Mayors Against Illegal Guns is running ads to remind voters about this.

This incarnation is digital. I have placed a link to and picture of the Kindle edition to the left but if you look around you can probably find other formats. Maybe even an older edition in physical book form. Or if you follow my Amazon link to the Kindle edition, you can find a DVD of the movie.

The story itself was entertaining and an easy read. I’ve not seen the movie.

It opens in a New York aquarium (near the penguin pool , of course) with a small mystery of a purse snatcher and a teacher taking her class of third graders on an outing. And there is a hunt for the teacher’s missing hat pin. The first few pages did not seem very promising to me.

But a murder is quickly discovered. The teacher, Miss Hildegarde Withers, gets involved in the murder investigation. And the story gets interesting. So don’t give up too quickly.

Enjoy the story. It moves quickly. The case quickly becomes more complicated as the third grade teacher and the detective find many people with motive to kill the victim and many suspicious actions.

I was surprised at least twice near the end. You may be too but in any case you’ll have an enjoyable read along the way.

I’m kind of on the edge of my seat here. Will it pass this time? Did it pass all 36 times before?

How long will it take House Republicans to realize that the Affordable Care Act or ObamaCare has been law for a few years and there is no chance of repeal unless the Republicans take over in the Senate and maybe the White House. Wouldn’t their time be better spend in trying to fix parts of the law they find especially objectionable? Or trying to be constructive?

What if repealing ObamaCare actually will increase the deficit as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted. Will the Republicans agree to raise taxes to make their plan deficit neutral? Or will they cut elsewhere?

But I’ll tell you anyway. It was a WordPress meet up for the Philly ‘burbs and I’ve gone a couple times now. You’ve probably noticed that I use WordPress for this blog. And I use WordPress as part of a team of volunteers that maintains a website for my community ( http://hersheysmill.org/ ). So I thought it might be a good idea to learn something.

So this search engine really had nothing to do with WordPress but it was interesting. DuckDuckGo is a search engine but unlike many, it maintains your privacy since it does not record who is doing the searching. I’m giving it a try now and it seems to work well. You might want to check out the More area or the options in the dropdown next to the search box.

I do a lot of searching for genealogy-related info and just about anything that comes up. DuckDuckGo does a good job and the privacy and options are additional benefits. So check out https://duckduckgo.com/. I think most people would like it.

This is more of an extended essay than a book. Amazon estimates it as 21 pages on the Kindle. My e-reader estimates it as 19 pages. For sure, it is not very long but it covers an import issue and does it well.

My picture of the book is a link for the Kindle edition. The book is also available as an e-book in iBook, Nook format and presumably other formats as well. As far as I can tell it is an e-book only. The ones I have seen are fairly inexpensive. ($1.99 seems to be the usual price.)

Herbert E. Meyer has an impressive resume as a thinker, analyzer of data, writer, and speaker. You may wish to look at the page of his publisher Storm King Press to see a summary of his accomplishments.

I found it an easy to read guide to this intellectual process – concise and well-written with wonderful examples to illustrate each step in the process to going from information to knowledge to using that knowledge.

If you want to know more about this book, just click on the picture of the book and you can read comments on Amazon, and buy if you so decide.

So we started down US 202 from our home in West Chester, PA and headed toward New Castle, Delaware. The quickest way to do this would be continue until you get to I-95 in Wilmington and exit onto DE 141.

Or you could take the more scenic route getting off 202 before reaching I-95 at the Augustine cut-off which is marked for DE 141. It is a longer ride but this was a pleasure trip and we were in no rush. The road winds around a bit and you do get to go by the Hagley Museum (the old Dupont gunpowder works on the Brandywine).

DE 141 gets you really close to New Castle but ends just before it gets to the historic section. Under normal circumstances you would just follow the sign and go straight at the intersection with 273 onto Washington St. That would hit Delaware route 9 ( DE 9 ) at 7th street and you could follow that north into the center of town (but turn off 9 before it leaves town). Making a right at Delaware Avenue will take you through the center of town.

Unfortunately the day were going to New Castle, there was considerable roadwork on the few blocks you need to follow Washington St. We were detoured several times (and the detours were not well marked), so I was totally confused.

But we asked directions of one of the roadworkers and and quickly made it to the center of town. (Thank you, anonymous worker.)

Now that I’m home and had a chance to look at a detailed map (Google maps for New Castle, Delaware 19720 ), it seems I could have just made a left on 273 and that would have taken me to Delaware Avenue which runs through the center of town. I’d suggest that is you are going to New Castle and don’t know the area, it is probably a good idea to have a detailed map of the city. Maybe print the Google map.

New Castle is a pretty little town that fronts directly on the Delaware River. There is a great tourism website that gives you details on New Castle. For those who travel with a GPS, I’ve copied a suggestion from the website.

For GPS purposes: Use the address of The Arsenal at Old New Castle which is on The Green near the Old Court House at the center of town. 30 Market St., New Castle, Delaware 19720

There are plenty of very old buildings. And much of the river front is a large city park. The town is well worth a stop. It is amazing that so much of this colonial city survives. Unfortunately, we were there on a Monday and most the historic attractions were closed as were many of the shops in the center of town. I think we’ll be back but not on Monday.

We left New Castle intending to follow DE 9 out of town but again our plans were foiled by the construction and we once again got lost. We eventually managed to get back to DE 9 a bit south of New Castle

The road south of New Castle goes through an industrial area with a refinery, a power plant, and the like but soon becomes rural. Oddly since it runs close to the Delaware River and Bay, you don’t get to see that much water from the road but you do get the occasional view of the Salem nuclear plant near the southern end of New Jersey.

Several miles later we passed through part of Delaware City and then over a long and high bridge carries DE 9 across the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.

For a few miles we travel past farms and the Augustine Wildlife Area and then reach the small village of Port Penn. As you might guess this is named after William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. Most people don’t realize it but what we now call Delaware was part of Penn’s land grant. Port Penn is home of the Port Penn Interpretive Center.

Once again, timing prevented us from seeing this as the Port Penn Interpretive Center was not open on that Monday.

After Port Penn, we continued past farms, fields, and salt marsh. By this time I started to get hungry for lunch but we saw nowhere to eat along DE 9 so we took a quick break by following DE 299 which goes into Odessa and then Middletown.

If you have had enough driving for the day, DE 299 intersects with DE 1 between Odessa and Middletown. If you want to drive a bit more, there is another intersection with DE 1 near Dover that is the way we elected to go.

After lunch we just followed DE 299 back to DE 9 and continued our journey southward. At first, it was a very similar ride to that just before lunch. We passed the Cedar Swamp and Woodland Beach Wildlife Areas.

Since our guidebook suggested the that a side trip to the town of Woodland Beach was worthwhile, we detoured there. It is just a few miles along DE 6 past an extensive network of waterways through the salt marsh. We enjoyed the side-trip and especially the pier going out into the bay. Town is small and very low-key and I imagine it is a great place to be if you like fishing or exploring the marshes by boat.

We returned to DE 9 via DE 6 and continued south. After a few more miles of farmland, we took DE 8 to DE 1. If you wanted to explore Dover, the state capital, you could continue west on DE 8 but we were ready to head home.

I’ve mentioned DE 1 a few times. From just south of Dover north to I-95 it is a wonderful road. Although is is just a state highway, it is as good as any interstate highway I’ve driven on (and better than quite a few). It is a toll road and E-Z pass is accepted.

We have an EZ pass so we were able to use the high speed E-Z pass lanes to avoid stopping to pay the toll. (It still costs but it is taken from my E-Zpass account). A bit south of Dover the Expressway ends so it is more like a normal highway.

We drove all the way to I-95 and then home. The interchange between I-95 and DE 1 is under construction and a bit messy but clearly marked. I think I would probably consider an alternate route to avoid this intersection if I was doing this again.

It was a pleasant drive and we were home by late afternoon.

You will see quite a few Amish once you get to Lancaster County. Be careful and on the lookout for the black buggies, smaller carts, farm wagons, scooters, etc. Remember you are sharing the road with the Amish and others who live here.

But first you must get to Lancaster County. From my house in West Chester, PA, there are several ways of getting to Intercourse, PA which was the new part of the trip for me. I suppose for anyone in the SE Pennsylvania Philadelphia suburbs, it would be similar.

But I get on US Route 30 West in the village of Frazer and quickly get on the by-pass that takes me around Exton and past Downingtown, Coatesville and quite a few other places where I would be constantly slowed down by traffic and stoplights.

After 30 minutes or so, the expressway ends, and Route 30 once again is highway with 2-4 lanes in various places. Sometimes the traffic gets pretty heavy but most times that I’ve traveled that way it is not bad until you get much closer to the city of Lancaster.

Also on Route 30 after the expressway has ended, you’ll leave Chester County behind and enter Lancaster County. You may notice the sign that tells you that and you may also notice gas prices drop. Route 30 goes over the mountain into Gap and everyone in the car (even the driver) gets a good look at some very impressive scenery.

But if traffic is bad you may want to cut over to PA 340 (Old Philadelphia Pike) before you get to Gap. PA 10, which comes up shortly after the expressway ends, will take you there (just go right or north off 30 West and left when you get to 340). 340 will take you into Intercourse where you will cross PA 772 and pick up this drive.

But if you choose to go via Gap, just follow Route 30 until you get to PA 772 (Newport Road). As soon as you leave 30, it gets much quieter and there are farms all around you.

This first leg of PA 772 will take you into Intercourse and the road joins 340 briefly. There is a stop sign at the intersection and you will need to make a left. (340 doesn’t stop but those on 772 do.) You will be on 340 very briefly and will pass Kettle Village (a shopping stop for some).

Immediately after Kettle Village, 772 will go off to the right. The turn is marked but I almost missed it. 772 continues for about another 30 miles with quite a few turns. They are well marked so the route is easy to follow.

The road goes through the town of Lititz. Lititz has a town square on 772 with a historic Moravian church and a historical foundation and museum. There is much to see in Lititz but it was Sunday and nearly everything was closed.

PA 772 continues though Mannheim and Mt. Joy and ends just before Marietta at PA 441. If you continue straight you’ll enter Marietta. If you go north you’ll end up near Middletown and Harrisburg where you can enter the PA turnpike. If you go south you’ll hit US 30 on the east side of the Susquehanna and return to Lancaster.

Since I’ve retired and moved to PA, we find ourselves taking several drives per year in the Amish countryside of Lancaster County. This ride along 772 was new to me and we plan on repeating it and spending a bit more time with some of the attractions which were closed during our Sunday drive.

For a more information on Amish country of Lancaster County, please see http://www.padutchcountry.com

Which is certainly true. But in my opinion we need to work on both improving the background check system and eliminating the large exemptions from background checks for internet sales and gun shows.

According to several articles I’ve seen and NPR is quote below you can pass the background if your name is on the national terrorism watch list.

Under current laws, if a background check reveals that your name is on the national terrorism watch list, you’re still free to walk out of a gun dealership with a firearm in your hands — as long as you don’t have a criminal or mental health record.

Data from the Government Accountability Office show that between 2004 and 2010, people on terrorism watch lists tried to buy guns and explosives more than 1,400 times. They succeeded in more than 90 percent of those cases, or 1,321 times.

Why do we make it easy for the bad guys?

But the NPR story does go on to give several reasons why this is so. And many of them make sense and might be good reasons. Some seem somewhat less than convincing to me. But shouldn’t this at least raise a red flag somewhere in the system. Maybe it does. I don’t know.

For those who would like more information on the background check system here is the FBI Fact sheet on National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and a recent Washington Post Fact Check on a recent statement suggesting that background checks are not very useful.

Yesterday I received an email from FamilySearch Indexing. They have reached one billion records indexed and are busy working on the second billion.

If you haven’t joined the effort, please consider being an indexing volunteer for familysearch.org. It is not hard and you can spend as much or as little time as you like. This is a great way to contribute a little bit of time to make it better for all of us in the genealogy community.