It’s Been a While

Early Morning Thoughts, March 31, 2022

It’s Been a While

Yes, it’s been a while since my last Early Morning Thoughts.  The last two years have been busy and frustrating on some levels, including what some call the viral plandemic of 2020.  My last EMT was on July 4, 2021, and in it I tried to update readers on what’s been happening in my view of our world.  And, since then, to be brief, I’ve published a new book (ABCs of Family Research), updated the new website (Https://HighlanderJuan.com), remained healthy by NOT taking the mRNA shots, and have started working on my second book.

And, while the DC communists have been eroding the value of our fiat currency and doing their best to either kill most of us off, or rob us of our meager wealth, we have seen our prices of everything go up, sometimes (e.g. gasoline prices) by a large amount.  Why would they do that?  Well, in their minds, this is the time of ‘the great reset’ and they want to stay in control of a smaller and more subservient population.  They censor our speech, arrest us and confine us without legitimate charges, poison us with non-FDA approved ‘vaccines’ (which are not vaccines by definition), and keep us afraid of everything.  This is typical of how the communists operate when they are in control.  Isn’t communism fun?

Will we be able to survive these criminal attacks on us by a central government that is allegedly in place to defend and protect us?  Beats me.  I just don’t know how all of this dystopian world war will settle out.  Most of us just want to live our lives in peace, raise our families, save a bit for retirement, etc.  No one I have ever met in civilian life wants to have a military war with any other country, including, and maybe especially, with a nuclear armed country like Russia.  But ‘the great destroyers’ have another view – they want to control everybody on earth.  Good luck with that, eh?  Destroy, kill, steal, rape, pillage… all common thoughts these days.  May their days of control be few.

Anyway, getting away from the political problems of modern life, here’s a Highlander update.  The website seems to be operating quite well, in spite of the many changes in software and service provider.  If you find any problems when using the website, please let me know.

My views on DNA testing have changed a bit since I wrote the new book, largely because I learned that a couple of my adult children had their DNA tested, so I figured my own privacy concerns were now moot.  So I’ve now used AncestryDNA to provide me with autosomal test results, and have used FamilyTreeDNA to provide me with paternal (Y-DNA) and maternal (mtDNA) ancestral test results.  I have just sent in my swab to LIvingDNA because the company tends to focus on England, Scotland, and Ireland where most of my tests so far have said that’s where my ancestors are from.

If you’re not yet familiar with the different types of commercial DNA tests, autosomal family tests go back about 10 family generations, Y-DNA looks at your paternal lines back potentially thousands of years, and mtDNA looks at your maternal lines back potentially thousands of years.  Only males can take the Y-DNA tests, so if you’re a female and want to see your father’s ancestral lines, get your father, your brother, a male uncle, etc. to take the test for you.  Yes, DNA changes in every human (except perhaps identical twins), but the ancestral connections of direct male relatives should hold true.

However, “As Mark Thomas, professor of evolutionary genetics at University College London, noted in an interview: “By the time you go 10 generations back, there are ancestors from whom you inherit no DNA.”  Tracing ancestry beyond 300 years is futile as you only directly inherit DNA from a small fraction of your ancestors – the others are called ‘pedigree ancestors.’  So, when taking a DNA test, focus on the information regarding more recent generations of ancestors and take anything beyond that with a pinch of salt.”

https://dnatestingchoice.com/en-us/news/exactly-how-accurate-are-dna-tests-for-ancestry

As a genealogist, my past efforts have all been documentary links.  And, part of that effort is to check, check again, and check once more, just to make certain that what paper or digital records that you have are accurate.  I explain a lot of this in my book noted above.  But DNA testing is now showing me different results for my own ancestry, and that is a bit awkward for me.  Why?  What if my Sutherland ancestry is based on a female ancestor, rather than on a male ancestor?  How do I deal with that?

So, DNA testing is still relatively new to me, and it appears to be a fairly complicated subject area.  Perhaps with time, as history shows me about myself, I’ll understand DNA genealogy much better.  But, as of today, I’m still a neophyte.  I’m hoping for some clear answers in the coming months.  Why?  Because book number two is based on family history.  How’s that for a challenge?

Have a nice day, wherever you are.  And if someone tells you they want to ‘build back better,’ ask them what the heck that means.  How about leaving things alone, and not forcefully change everything backwards?

///