Partial Solar Eclipse, 10/23/14

Now it's the sun's turn!  These are my photos of the North American partial solar eclipse on October 23, 2014.
 

Fagerland, Meyer, and Beck updates

GGGT 2014 Part 2:  SD and UT

This is the second and final update of my GGGT 2014, summarizing what I learned in South Dakota and Utah.  My parents, Grandpa Fagerland, and gravesite of Grandma Fagerland are in South Dakota.  In Salt Lake City, I spent two days at the Mormon Church's Family History Library (FHL). 

Kaitlin at her great-grandmother's grave.  She picked out the flowers.

To see results in the Meyer, Fagerland, and Beck branches:

GGGT 2014: Washington

Fagerland History

Here's my first report from the road on the Great Grand Genealogy Tour of 2014.  I was in Washington June 27 - 29.  There is a sizeable Norwegian community in Washington.  The Fagerland branch of the family started settling there in the 1950s. 

The Seattle skyline, 6/28/14

My purposes for this trip were:

(1)  To tap the memories of Orville Fagerland, my oldest living relative.
(2)  To look for a picture of my 2nd-great grandparents Fagerland.
(3)  To see a collection of family artifacts at Pacific Lutheran University.  

The GGGT of the Western US, 2014

This summer, I will finally take the first of my major Great Grand Genealogy Tours (GGGT), as described a year ago.  I simply couldn't afford it in 2013.  This year, I am in a much better situation.  I also have very generous financial support from Dad and Grandpa Fagerland.




My 3rd Great Grandparents Svare (seated)

Lunar Eclipse, April 14 - 15, 2014

Photos - Observations - And don't miss the video at the end!

I took pictures of the moon about every 15 minutes during this last eclipse (except when it got too cloudy!)  :(    Here is a time-lapse montage of how the moon changed shape and brightness during that time. 

ScotFagerland.com, my all-in-one portal

Please note my new portal, www.ScotFagerland.com, which lists and links to all of my various websites, personal and professional.

My book-in-progress, "The Evolution of Human" (TEOH) now has its own website: 

www.TheEvolutionOfHuman.com

All updates will be posted there, not here.  I will be using Scot's Spot for personal purposes.  For example, this is a good site for my genealogical updates.  I will also post a 25th-anniversary commemoration of my Tonight Show appearance here this year. 

I'm Writing a Book!

I have been keeping a secret for four years. 

I've been kind-of, sort-of working on an idea for something that could turn into ... you know, a book.  Maybe.  I wanted to have it at least 20% finished before I even made mention of it.  After all, how many people have you met who are "writing a book" ??!!  People talk big and have nothing to show for it.  I didn't want to be one of those talkers -- especially since my book is a "history of everything."  Uggh; it sounds so grandiose.  I was embarrassed to even bring this up before I was confident that I could follow through.  The seed was planted in my mind in 2009.  I can hardly believe that I have now spent four years of my spare time on it.  I made a deal with myself: finish the first and last chapters and the introductory material, and then I'll promote myself from "thinking about" the book to genuinely "writing" it.  The date for this goal kept shifting.  First 2011, then 2012 ...... and most recently by my birthday in 2013.  I only missed that goal by three days! 

But now I have met my first goal.  The book is 20% done.  It's official.  I'm no longer kind-of, sort-of thinking about a book.  I'm writing it!  Woo-hoo!  And how appropriate that I'm writing a book about Life, the Universe, and Everything at age 42. 

So here's the nutshell:

The working title of the book is "The Evolution of Human Beings, Institutions, and Belief Systems:  A Logarithmic History of Everything," or "The Evolution of Human" for short.  It's not really a history of "everything," as it is focused on human history and beliefs.  But it does cover all periods of time.  I realized one day that I could manage a history of all periods of time if each chapter represented a power of ten years.  I call this format a "logarithmic history."  It allows me to cover all scales in equal breadth, in just ten chapters.  It has involved as much reading as writing.  The research is only half the challenge.  The other half is deciding what to write and how to prioritize and pace the material. 

I chose to write the oldest and newest chapters first, to convince myself and others that I can research at both extremes.  "Chapter 10" (the oldest chapter) covers the highlights of the past few ten-billion years, from the Big Bang to bacteria.  "Chapter 1" (the most recent chapter) spans the last few decades, the recent history and current events / trends from 1980 to the present day.  I will put my writing on hold for the rest of this year.  I want to momentarily shift my focus to self-publication and a little promotion.  I will start exploring the world of "real" publication and literary agents and all that, and see if there is any possibility of doing anything commercial with this project.  If not, that's okay, because I've come to love this book like a child, and I am committed to writing the whole thing just because it's a life-long personal goal of mine that is actually becoming a reality.  I would also like to find a few expert readers and some lay-readers.  If you are interested in reading some of this and helping me with feedback, or know someone who might be interested, I would really appreciate your contacting me.

Stay tuned!

Your favorite author
Scot 

The Great Grand Genealogy Tour of the Western U.S.

A Meyer-Wiltse family photo including five ancestors on Dad's side of the family. 
c. 1920, probably North Dakota.

ANNOUNCING my first planned "Great Grand Genealogy Tour," through the Western U.S. this summer.  Both sides of the family will be well-represented on this tour. 

The "Friend In Every Country" Project

The "Friend In Every Country" Project

An American's goal of e-meeting someone from every country and region

             Educating myself about current events in these past few months, I have been reading about lots of different countries that I never think about, some of which I’d never even heard of before.  (Brunei?!)  It’s humbling to read about entire nations, with histories, struggles, institutions, and important global roles, that shape millions of lives yet are completely unknown to me.  Other countries are prominent in the news these days for all their drama.  Some of them, like Mali and Algeria, just came into the spotlight literally this weekend.  Like any interesting knowledge, it’s made me want to learn more about these countries.  I thought that it would be fascinating to talk to people who live in some of these remote places for a first-hand account. 

            Then it occurred to me that, hey, I’m on Facebook, a global social network with a population of one billion!  I probably actually could contact someone from dozens of different countries.  I wonder how many countries / regions I could reach.  100?  200?  Could I ever get in touch with someone from North Korea, or Libya, or Antarctica, or in long-term orbit?! 

           

 

            A little embarrassed by the naïve grandiosity of my idea, I nevertheless took the first step last night and cast out a line to my immediate circle of friends on Facebook.  I was a little nervous about checking my messages in the evening.  I was half expecting someone to ask, “What the hell, were you drunk last night?!”  No, there was no joshing like that.  Some of my friends had responded with recommendations (only one actual link to a profile) and questions – “Does Canada count?”  “How about immigrants?”  “Would you be interested in meeting someone from Africa?”  “I know someone in the Philippines, but be warned, she’ll probably ask you for money!”  They mentioned about ten nationalities already, and they seemed ready and able to help out.  I decided to actually commit to the project.  A high school classmate said that her daughter is a “Social Media major” and would be interested to hear a follow-up.  So okay, here we go ... ! 

            So far, I have only initiated one Facebook friend request, to someone in the Netherlands.  (I live in the US).  I welcome contacts from all other countries and regions of the globe!  My stated purposes for this project are (1) to learn more about the world through the experiences of everyday people, and (2) to simply experiment with the power of networking and see how many countries I can reach.  Anyone who's English-literate and interested in discussing your lifestyle and the current events of your homeland, contact me.  I am educated and politically moderate, and appreciate people who can discuss deep issues with dignity.  You can respond here, or at my Facebook profile, www.facebook.com/Scot.Fagerland .  I will probably be creating a Google+ account soon too.  

 

            I have decided not to "count" immigrants in the US, or Americans overseas.  My end goal is native-born residents living in their own countries.  Of course, migrants here and abroad can be valuable networking nodes!  If this project actually turns out, I'll post updates and thoughts here.   

Quotation Notation

Quotation Notation

I think that we should invent a quotation notation for paraphrases.   "When you use quotation marks like these," it signals a verbatim retelling.   So if you just want to paraphrase someone, you could use a different punctuation mark. Something that has open / close asymmetry would have an advantage. Here are my top candidates. What's the consensus?

\Going to bed and waking up early is good for you./ -- Benjamin Franklin

 <I wonder if I should kill myself?> -- Hamlet

 /This country was founded on some high-minded principles 87 years ago\ -- Abraham Lincoln

 ~Lights! Camera! Action!~  -- God (This punctuation mark is symmetric but just looks cool).