Weekly Genealogy Picks: March 10-16

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.

• Michele Simmons at Ancestoring provides some tips on More Effective Searches

• In honor of St. Patrick's Day, Diane Haddad at Genealogy Insider suggests Six Irish Genealogy Websites

• Michael J. Leclerc at Mocavo Blog has dealt with several genealogical myths this week, including: Coats of Arms, The Indian Princess, and All The Records Burned in a Fire.

• Tess Webre at Digital Preservation shares a possible bedtime story for children: Snow Byte and the Seven Formats: A Digital Preservation Fairy Tale.

• There was White Smoke at the Vatican this week, and the world has a new Pope.  Judy G. Russell at The Legal Genealogist discussed The Laws of the Church and how canon law can impact genealogy.

• Nina Strochlic at The Daily Beast shares the story of An Auschwitz Survivor Searching For His Twin on Facebook

• Google announced this week that their app, Google Reader, only has a little bit more than three months left to live. This news sent ripples across the internet as devoted fans were stunned.

• In Good Bye iGoogle, Good Bye Reader, Good Bye Usefulness James Tanner at Genealogy's Star wonders what app Google will decide to retire next.

• Frederic Lardinois at TechCrunch believes it might be Google's other RSS product, FeedBurner.

• Levi Sumagaysay at Good Morning Silicon Valley discusses the lesson Google's announcement teaches us: "how easily important tools can be taken away from us at any moment, and it might be a good time to think about backups to the services we rely on the most."

• Jonathan Bailey at Plagiarism Today looked at the announcement from the viewpoint of what this means to the professional blogger, and whether we need to rethink our RSS strategy. 

• Several Tech websites have offered suggestions on alternative RSS readers, including: Macgasm, LifeHacker, and c/net. The social news website, Digg, has announced they're going to build a new RSS reader.

Other Weekly Lists

• Ruth's Recommendations - Ruth Blair - The Passionate Genealogist 
• Genealogy News Corral - Diane Haddad - GenealogyInsider 
• Notable Genealogy Blog Posts - Michael Hait - Planting the Seeds 
• Fab Finds - Jana Last - Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog 
• Monday Morning Mentions - Lynn Palermo - Armchair Genealogist 
• Best of the Genea-Blogs - Randy Seaver - Genea-Musings
• Friday Finds - Julie Cahill Tarr - GenBlog 

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

Two Week Calendar

• March 17 - St. Patrick's Day
• March 17 - Cheesefare Sunday (Orthodox Christian)
• March 18 - Lent Begins (Orthodox Christian)
• March 19 - Saint Joseph's Day (Christian)
• March 20 - Ostara (northern hemisphere) Mabon (southern hemisphere) (Pagan)
• March 21 - New Year (Baha'i)
• March 21 - New Year (Persian/Zoroastrian)
• March 24 - Palm Sunday (Christian)
• March 24 - Orthodox Sunday (Orthodox Christian)
• March 25 - Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin (Christian)
• March 25 - Pesach/Passover (Jewish) [Sundown March 25 - Sundown April 2]
• March 26 - Khordad Sal (Zoroastrian)
• March 27 - Magha Puja Day (Buddhist)
• March 27 - Lord's Evening Meal (Jehovah's Witness)
• March 27 - Holi (Hindu)
• March 27 - World Theatre Day
• March 28 - Maundy Thursday (Christian)
• March 28 - Hola Mohalla (Sikh)
• March 28 - Birth of Prophet Zarathushtra (Zoroastrian)
• March 29 - Good Friday (Christian)
• March 31 - Easter (Christian)