Weekly Genealogy Picks: October 7 - 11

[I will be away from the internet this weekend, so I am posting this a couple days early. Weekly Genealogy Picks will return to Sunday next week]

Highlights from news stories and blog posts I have read in the past week that deal with my overlapping interests in Genealogy, History, Heritage, and Technology.

Genealogy

• James Tanner at Genealogy's Star wonders what advice to give to the researcher who doesn't know their parents.

• Julie Cahill Tarr at GenBlog shares several Resources for Illinois Genealogy Research

• Michele Simmons Lewis at Ancestoring discusses the SS-5 form, including recent changes in ordering one, and the information you will receive.

• Ancestry.com's celebrity research team reveals that Canadians Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne, and Ryan Gosling are cousins. “Discoveries like this are rare, so the fact that some of the top entertainment industry stars are all related is especially fascinating,” says Lesley Anderson, Canadian genealogy expert with Ancestry.com. Pardon my skepticism, but they're so rare it's been only two months since FindMyPast released their latest celebrity study. With several companies hiring teams of researchers to uncover celebrity tree secrets, these will become rarer and rarer. Anyone want to place bets on how long until the next rare discovery is made? At least this press release contains a chart explaining the descents.

• Ann Gibbons at Slate writes concerning Neanderthals, Denisovans, and 23andMe.

History

• Judy G. Russell at The Legal Genealogist looks at some historical punishments that today seem Cruel and Unusual

Social Networking

• In Pinterest: Time Waster or Useful Utility, Lorine McGinnis Schulze at Olive Tree Genealogy Blog attempts to answer the question.

• Lorine McGinnis Schulze also wonders if due to email, texting, etc - Have We Lost the Art of Compelling Letters?

Other Weekly Lists

• Randy Seaver's Best of the Genea-Blogs at Genea-Musings
• Dan Curtis's Monday's Link Roundup at Professional Personal Historian

Upcoming holidays - religious and secular, national and international - for the next two weeks

Two Week Calendar

Oct 14 - World Standards Day
Oct 15 - Global Handwashing Day
Oct 15 - Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day (US and Canada)
Oct 16 - Boss's Day (US and Canada)
Oct 16-23 - Navaratri (Hindu)
Oct 17 - International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
Oct 18 - St. Luke's Feast Day (Christian)
Oct 18 - Persons Day (Canada)
Oct 20 - Birth of the Báb (Baha'i)
Oct 20 - Installation of Scripture as Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh)
Oct 22 - International Stuttering Awareness Day
Oct 23 - Mole Day/Avogadro's Day (Celebrated at 6:02 a.m. or p.m. - 6.02 * 10²³ )
Oct 24 - Dasera (Hindu)
Oct 24 - United Nations Day
Oct 25 - Waqf al Arafa (Islam)
Oct 26-29 - Eid Al Adha (Islam)
Oct 27 - World Day for Audiovisual Heritage
Oct 28 - Reformation Sunday (Protestant Christian)