Reposted by Maureen WestLarry the Cat @number10cat.bsky.social · 20/04/2026Lead us not away from temptation; but deliver us to evil. For thine is the spray tan, the dour and the hoary, Until the midterms. Amen. 19933124
Reposted by Maureen WestLarry the Cat @number10cat.bsky.social · 20/04/2026The Fraud's Prayer: Our Father, who art in the White House, hallowed be thy combover; thy blingdom come; thy will be dumb; In Washington as you are in Florida. Give us this day our daily round of golf. And forgive us our insider trading, as we refuse to forgive those who investigate against us... 261483369
Maureen West @genea-maureen.bsky.social · 06/03/2026With all the discussions around LLMs and AI this article should be requires reading for genealogists. #RootsTech2026 012
Reposted by Maureen WestWho Do You Think You Are? Magazine @wdytyamagazine.bsky.social · 25/02/2026"My 'methodology' was a series of errors": Gemini generates false records and fake screenshots of TNA website: www.whodoyouthinkyouaremaga... 256
Reposted by Maureen WestAssociate Professor Siouxsie Wiles @siouxsiew.bsky.social · 30/10/2025Exciting 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...pledgeme.co.nzSupport Dr Siouxsie After She Supported Us! | PledgeMeSupport Dr Siouxsie to recover some of the money she spent fighting her legal case to protect employees experiencing online abuse 7177119
Reposted by Maureen WestEddie Clark @dreddieclark.bsky.social · 28/09/2025"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...pluralistic.netPluralistic: The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh (27 Sep 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow 37428
Reposted by Maureen WestRobert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 19/09/2025David Letterman is right: you can't appease a tyrant. 645294399809
Maureen West @genea-maureen.bsky.social · 23/08/2025This 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. 020
Reposted by Maureen WestMeryl Schumacker @waybackgen.bsky.social · 02/08/2025A new, HUGE reason nobody who does genealogy should be putting ANYTHING CLOSE to sensitive information into LLMs. Holy liability, Batman. #genealogy 098
Reposted by Maureen WestTe Ara Paerangi Com - Research Advocacy Capability @te-ara-paerangi.community · 21/07/2025#NZPOLnewsroom.co.nzDon’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. 174
Reposted by Maureen WestStephen Clarke @stephenclarkenz.bsky.social · 04/07/2025Dr Hilary Stace Historian and Disability Advocate Extraordinaire 1954 – 2025 💔 3235
Reposted by Maureen WestMJ Kelly @niambh.bsky.social · 18/06/2025Statement 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 2116
Reposted by Maureen WestAlex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them) @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 16/06/2025Relatedly, 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. 291941437
Reposted by Maureen WestBarbara at Projectkin @projectkin.bsky.social · 15/06/2025Henry 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/...nytimes.comWe 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. 0112
Reposted by Maureen WestPaul Reed @sommecourt.bsky.social · 19/05/2025One 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...thetimes.comKenneth Batt obituary: El Alamein trooperTerritorial horseman who saw action in north Africa and became the oldest veteran of the Second World War by date of enlistment, dies aged 103 1273
Reposted by Maureen WestAnnieBannie (She/Her🧶📚🌈) @madhmstr.bsky.social · 19/05/2025Inspired 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...aotearoaworldofchildrensbooks.blogspot.comReading with children: the 'problem' with parentsThis piece is inspired by a couple of news articles shared around recently. I’ve seen a Guardian article : Most Parents Don't Enjoy Reading... 192
Reposted by Maureen WestPERFECTLY NORMAL @nzpom.com · 07/05/2025PSA Action planned this weekend following the gender pay equity debacle #nzpol 02412
Reposted by Maureen WestThe Aunties @theaunties.bsky.social · 07/05/2025If 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-...aunties.co.nzWants and NeedsThis 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... 02541
Reposted by Maureen WestDavid Allen Lambert @dlgenealogist.bsky.social · 20/04/2025My ancestor was on the other side of Lexington Green vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/on-the-other... #Rev250 #Genealogy @americanancestors.bsky.socialvitabrevis.americanancestors.orgOn the Other Side of Lexington Green—April 19, 1775David 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. 152
Reposted by Maureen Westalex 🎃 @faintingincoils.bsky.social · 15/04/2025Social norms and rules are often less about moral standards and more about social control. 041
Reposted by Maureen WestPatricia Loofbourrow @pattyloof.bsky.social · 15/04/2025When 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...ourhiddendepths.substack.comFour reasons your tree should be privateThink about it a minute. 011
Reposted by Maureen WestJennifer Mendelsohn @jmendelsohn.bsky.social · 10/04/2025Can 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 34215
Reposted by Maureen WestSean Vanderfluit @deckofancestors.bsky.social · 30/03/2025"The right to remember the past: Opening Chinese immigration records in Canada’s national archives" #FamilyHistory #genealogy activehistory.ca/blog/2025/03...activehistory.caThe 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.… 001
Reposted by Maureen WestIrelandXO @irelandreachingout.bsky.social · 28/03/2025In 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... 001
Reposted by Maureen WestKristen Alexander @kristenauthor.bsky.social · 27/03/2025Tomorrow is release day! My library obtained the ebook a bit earlier so I downloaded my chapter, ‘"Strangers at home" Stalag Luft III’s Kriegies Return'. The book is hideously expensive so I know no one will buy it. If you would like to read my chapter, let me know and I will email it through. 1143
Reposted by Maureen WestMaria @lykos1.bsky.social · 25/03/2025www.theundergroundmap.com/index.htmltheundergroundmap.comThe Underground MapThe Underground Map is creating street histories for the areas of London and surrounding counties lying within the M25. 001
Reposted by Maureen WestP. Y. Mund @pymundgenealogy.com · 24/03/2025A cautionary tale of ‘AI’: I was helping a friend with his #genealogy, finally having found the 1875 marriage record of a pair of ancestors of his. As usual for a marriage record from Congress Poland in the 1870s, it is almost entirely in Russian, in rather difficult cursive Cyrillic. 1/4 1235
Reposted by Maureen Westbeck eleven @beckeleven.bsky.social · 21/03/2025Here a wee thread for Ōtautahi people or people who grew up here before the quakes. It’s from an exhibition of miniature buildings by an artist called Ghostcat and it was held in the quakestruck Christ Church Cathedral and I was literally moved to tears. This is the old police kiosk in the Square. 3224569
Reposted by Maureen WestLucy Delap @lucydelap.bsky.social · 17/03/2025Do you live near a women's suffrage memorial? Help researchers at Aix-Marseille uni to map it alongside hundreds of others. Celebrate and value global histories of democracy and feminist activism - a powerful message given ebbing support in the twenty-first century framacarte.org/fr/map/sites...framacarte.orgSites of Suffrage Memory: a HerStory Maps projectThis map seeks to **geolocate the memorials to the Women's Suffrage Movement ** all over the world. --- It is a small contribution to the decades-long effort by activists and scholars to raise publi... 24264134
Reposted by Maureen WestHistory Rage Podcast @historyrage.bsky.social · 13/03/2025🚨 THIS WEEK🚨 “LMF is not a medical condition." @danellin.bsky.social dives into the RAF’s chilling WWII policies and why "Lack of Moral Fibre" wasn’t about health—it was about control. Unravel the misconceptions. 🚀💥 #WWIIHistory #RAF Listen now 🎧 pod.fo/e/2b6aef #History #Podcast #WWII 012
Reposted by Maureen WestClare Kirk @digupyourancestors.bsky.social · 07/03/2025Apparently today is Pride in Middle Name Day! Sadly mine is the very boring JANE. 😕 If you’d like some ideas about where your English ancestor’s unusual middle name might have come from please check out my blog: *Five reasons why ancestors used surnames as middle names*digupyourancestors.comFive reasons why ancestors used surnames as middle namesWhy did our ancestors sometimes give their children surnames as middle names? Here are five reasons I’ve found in my family tree. 3156
Reposted by Maureen WestJennifer Mendelsohn @jmendelsohn.bsky.social · 24/02/2025I was really moved by @marcelias.bsky.social's Open Letter to Elon Musk. In more ways than one. So I wrote one of my own. jenmen.substack.com/p/my-open-le... 4658
Reposted by Maureen WestPhotogenealogy @photogenealogy.bsky.social · 24/02/2025It’s arrived! Graham Bandy’s new book. Really looking forward to reading this. @penandswordbooks.bsky.social 2104
Reposted by Maureen West𓆉 A Study of Resistance 𓆉 @colourmefiji.bsky.social · 22/02/2025Update! So so special! Look at this guy 🥹 Amazing work by local #SouthAuckland artists, Janine & Charles Williams. Looking 274 / 685 proud 😍 #Ōtara274 #685totheworld #EfesoCollins #ManukauCity 117535
Reposted by Maureen WestPhilip N Cohen @philipncohen.com · 08/02/2025Also tonight: Trump fired National Archivist Colleen Shogan. This is a position that can do real, irreversible damage in authoritarian hands. 01516
Maureen West @genea-maureen.bsky.social · 04/02/2025A thoughtful and nuanced reflection on #family and #history. Thank you @maxrashbrooke.bsky.social. thespinoff.co.nz/atea/04-02-2... #FamilyHistory #Genealogy #NewZealandthespinoff.co.nzMy ancestors were colonisersA stunning essay from Max Rashbrooke examining his ancestors' role in the shaping of Aotearoa, and what that means for his own role in its future. 030
Reposted by Maureen WestMike Dickison @adzebill.bsky.social · 02/02/2025To answer the number one comment here, the Internet Archive is OF COURSE mirrored and backed up in numerous places, including outside the USA, so even if jack-booted troopers were to kick in its San Francisco door it could be relaunched somewhere else. 5459163
Reposted by Maureen WestSociety for One-Place Studies @oneplacestudies.bsky.social · 29/01/2025The National Archives website also has a useful Research Guide for the Valuation Office Survey: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-yo... #OnePlaceWednesdaynationalarchives.gov.ukLand use, value and ownership: Valuation Office Survey 1910-1915 - The National Archives1. Why use this guide? If you want to know something about the value, use, extent or ownership of a property or piece of land in England or Wales around the beginning of the 20th century, this guide s... 051
Maureen West @genea-maureen.bsky.social · 29/01/2025Wow, thank you @lincstomypast.bsky.social for sending me to this set of records. Found 2 of my GGFs on their farms in NTH, and now going down a big rabbit hole. 010
Reposted by Maureen WestGreat Fen @greatfen.org.uk · 29/01/2025🧐What was life like in the Great Fen area 1900-1950? That’s what the Great Fen Heritage Group would like to discover! And they'd particularly like to hear from the ladies of the Fens who lived/worked around here. Can you help? Happy to be interviewed? www.greatfen.org.uk/great-fen-he... 0206
Reposted by Maureen WestJennifer Mendelsohn @jmendelsohn.bsky.social · 08/01/2025"We can’t promise a spectacular result for everyone,” Mendelsohn said, “but there is always something to be learned.” Read more about our work in the latest Hadassah magazine. 0161
Reposted by Maureen WestRuss Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 11/11/2024Just for fun, let me tell you about somebody you've probably never heard of, but who was once one of the most famous people in England, a national hero, a disgraced fraudster, and an astonishingly accomplished piratical maniac. He led quite a life. (1/53) 541089353
Reposted by Maureen WestViolet Fox 🦊 @violetbfox.bsky.social · 18/11/2024📣 New zine!! "A Librarian Against AI; or, I Think AI Should Leave" is a 40-page zine about why we should think twice about using & supporting generative AI. violetbfox.info/against-ai/ #noAI #zines 751706619
Reposted by Maureen WestReclaim The Records @reclaimtherecords.org · 25/12/2024~*~ FREE FILES FOR FESTIVUS! ~*~ We can finally announce that we sued the VA and WE WON! And it's probably the largest public and free data set of deceased American veterans! And now it's online and free and downloadable and searchable AND FOIA-ABLE!!! mailchi.mp/reclaimthere...mailchi.mpReclaim The RecordsWe’re Reclaim The Records, a new not-for-profit activist group of genealogists, historians, researchers, and open government advocates. We identify important genealogical records sets that ought to be... 39033
Reposted by Maureen WestJan Murphy @packrat74.bsky.social · 12/12/2024I don't remember now which UK-based presenter confidently told the audience the USA didn't have War Diaries. Today's #genealogy tip: know what the Agency called their own records because it may not be listed under the name you expect. 1132
Reposted by Maureen WestMeryl Schumacker @waybackgen.bsky.social · 08/12/2024My top #genealogy gift-giving tip this holiday season: PLEASE DO NOT GIVE DNA TESTS AS PRESENTS. Here's why. 🧵 810740