Welcome to the second issue in the new series of Litir Scéala an tSIG Gaelach. As you can see in our membership report, we haven't yet enough registered members to return to official status. Once that happens, we will undoubtedly get most, if not all of our old members back. Right now it's a little touch and go, because (as we noted in the last issue), we can't get too many new members until we have enough current members to get reactivated with National. So, if you haven't sent in your registration, please do so as soon as possible — and remember, subscribing to the newsletter does not automatically register you as a member. Subscribing and registering as a member are two different operations.
Beannachtai!
Michael
DISCLAIMERS
Opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of individual authors and may not reflect those of other SIG members or the SIG as a whole. Nothing in this newsletter should be taken as an official position of Mensa. Mensa as a whole has no opinions.
You have received this newsletter because you either signed up for it on the website of the Irish SIG of American Mensa, or it was forwarded to you. If you signed up for the monthly newsletter, quarterly publications flyer and occasional announcements but no longer wish to receive them, you may unsubscribe by clicking the link at the end of this newsletter. If they were forwarded to you, please notify the person who forwarded them that you do not wish to receive the newsletter, quarterly publications flyer or occasional announcements from the Irish SIG.
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Submissions are welcome, but read the guidelines in the "About" section on the website before sending anything. We will not publish "adult" material, and we interpret that very broadly. There is no payment for published material.
CONTENTS
Announcements
Organization, Publication and Membership Information
Letters
News and Reports
Articles
Food
Reviews
The Fourth Page
ANNOUNCEMENTS
As a newsletter, we rely on you to tell us what's going on. If you have an announcement for an upcoming event, please let us know. Just keep in mind that we try to publish on the 17th of every month, so get your announcements in at least a few days before that. Otherwise, consider sending it in as a report or a news item for the subsequent month.
• We still have a number of subscribers who are probably wondering why they're not getting the newsletter. It's because they haven't verified their subscriptions by clicking on the link in the e-mail Google sent to their specified e-mail address. If you subscribed but have not received the newsletter (which means you're visiting the blog and are reading this there), it's an easy matter to correct. Enter your e-mail address again, and Google will send you another verification e-mail.
• Looking down the list of subscribers (we only have e-mails on the list, no names), we noticed one or two who appear to be previous SIG members, but who have not registered as such. Please do so — by not registering as a member, you're preventing us from getting officially reactivated.
• We keep the subscription and the SIG membership registration separate for a couple of reasons. Primarily, there may be people who just want the SIG newsletter but have no interest in joining. That's fine, as are those who want to test the waters and see what kind of group we've got here before committing themselves. That's fine, too. Having things separate like that is good for security as well, as it cuts down on spam or, worse, identity theft. It's probably possible to hack the list, but since there is no information other than e-mails, we're not sure what good it would do anyone. The official SIG membership list that includes both names and e-mails is maintained offline, not on the site.
• As always, feel free to forward this e-mail to your networks. If you haven't registered as a SIG member, please consider doing so.
• If you have any news items, announcements, letters, reports, or anything of Irish interest, please send them in. The alternative is to get a monologue each month consisting of my wit and wisdom. If that's what you want, you can get a daily dose from the blog I maintain as Director of Research for the Center for Economic and Social Justice, "The Just Third Way." This newsletter is supposed to consist of your contributions.
ORGANIZATION, PUBLICATION AND MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
What We Are
Litir Scéala an tSIG Gaelach is the newsletter of the Irish Special Interest Group of American Mensa, Ltd. More information about the SIG and this newsletter may be accessed by clicking on this link.
Resources
We are preparing to put together a list of resources and organizations that might be useful to our members. Due to the global scope of our readership, we are trying to limit the list to organizations that extend beyond a purely local constituency. This is a matter of simple logistics, due to the immense number of organizations out there. If you're looking for a local group to get involved with — and we encourage that — do an internet search. You may be both amazed and pleased at what you will find. We expect to list resources as we rebuild our membership, but right now notifications are coming in at less than a snail's pace.
Who We Are
As we hinted rather broadly above, we have no new members this month. We have a reasonable number of new subscriptions to the newsletter, but no membership registrations. Consequently, we still don't have the requisite number of members to get reactivated with National . . . which means people don't know about us and won't sign up as members . . . .
Anyway, here's this month's membership report:
5 Members of Mensa
2 Other
1 Institutional Member
24 Newsletter Subscribers
32 Total Circulation (Does not include forwarded newsletters or visitors to the website who have not signed up for the newsletter — approximately 400 to date.)
LETTERS
There was no correspondence this month except for the usual admin e-mails that Shirley and I send to each other. These are extremely meaningful, of great significance, and of high literary merit . . . but make for very boring reading. Send in something and tell us what you're doing. If it's too long for the "Letters" section, we can easily put it into "News and Reports."
NEWS AND REPORTS
Members of the Irish SIG don't usually belong only to the SIG, but to other groups with an Irish orientation as well. This is all to the good — the more society becomes more social, the better chance we have of influencing our institutions in a positive way and carrying out "acts of social justice" aimed at improving the common good for everybody. We want to encourage your community participation and then report on local events in which SIG members took part.
Possibly due to the summer slowdown, not too much has been happening with SIG members:
• SIG Coordinator Michael D. Greaney attended a reception at the residence of the Irish Ambassador, the Hon. Michael Collins (and, to forestall the question, no, we don't know if he is any relation to the Big Man, and we weren't going to ask). He was able to pass out a number of business cards with the newsletter's URL on it, and met a number of very nice people. His Excellency the Ambassador was extremely gracious, and chatted for a moment with Michael, who presented the Ambassador with an inscribed copy of CESJ's latest publication, an annotated edition of William Thomas Thornton's 1848 classic proposal to end the Great Famine in Ireland, A Plea for Peasant Proprietors. Mister Collins expressed pleasure at the gift, and complimented Michael on his handwriting.
• The reception was to introduce "Connect Ireland," a new program by the government of Ireland intended to bring new jobs into the country. Some of the people with whom Michael spoke expressed interest in learning more about the advanced financing techniques found in the Just Third Way, which uses "pure credit" techniques to finance expanded capital ownership instead of tying economic growth to existing accumulations of savings or increases in government debt.
• One of the more intriguing people Michael met was Mr. Brian O'Connor from Ulster, Chairman of the European Connected Health Alliance, who expressed interest in CESJ's proposal for a healthcare system that would not rely on government for funding.
• Keith Carney, a Director of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, was also there. Brother Carney was previously editor of the National Hibernian Digest, the official national newsletter of the A.O.H.
• Michael D. Greaney's article on "Shane the Proud," the perennial thorn in the side to Elizabeth I Tudor, has been published in the Spring 2012 issue of the Catholic Men's Quarterly. Subscription and other information can be obtained on their website
ARTICLES
Feature Article: The Morris Chair Adventure
By Michael D. Greaney, CPA, MBA
Soon after I purchased a rather large condo I discovered I did not have enough furniture to fill it.
I had heard about morris chairs for years. They were allegedly the "ugliest" but "most comfortable" chairs in the world. I envisioned something along the lines of an ornate, metal-framed barber chair with tons of Victorian ornamentation. I shopped around for one on the internet and quickly discovered that, 1) commercially produced morris chairs were 'way out of my price range — anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000 (with a 9-month waiting list from the Stickley factory), and 2) they were simple and elegant, not "ugly."
I had already determined to build my own bed and bookshelves, and had purchased a circular saw to supplement my "other" power tool, an electric drill I've had for years. I had a full complement of hand tools, so I set to work finding plans for a morris chair. In the interim I built 14 bookcases out of old dressers and other discards I found in the trash bin behind the building. (I still don't have enough, and am currently in the process of making a matched pair out of some discarded lumber from the dumpster.)
I bought the Dover books on building craftsman/mission furniture, but soon realized that I couldn't fit the recommended wood (quarter-sawn white oak) into my budget (or my subcompact car, for that matter). Dimensional lumber (2x4s, 2x6s, etc.) was another story. I redesigned and adapted the plans to 8/4 white pine instead of 4/4 white oak. Translation: 2-inch softwood instead of 1-inch hardwood — actually 1-1/2 inches and 3/4 inches thick, respectively. Lumber thickness is measured in quarter inches, hence "4/4" is 1 inch, which is 1 inch "rough," but 3/4 inch "finished." (This makes sense to us Lumberjocks.)
First I made a model, sans footstool. I found some miniature hinges and used 1x2s instead of 2x6s. It was not exactly to scale, but I was after a working model, not a precise reproduction. Making tiny mortise and tenon joints is excellent training for the real thing — it's much easier to cut a mortise 4-1/2 inches long and 3/4 inches wide than 1 inch long and 1/8 inch wide. I made little cushions out of some scrap cloth and stuffed them with paper table napkins. It now holds a child's "teddy elephant."
Then I decided I needed to practice with a child-size chair before starting a full-size one for myself. Christmas was coming, so I could give the finished chair to my business associate's grandson — the elephant's owner. The construction features "pegged tenons" along with standard mortise and tenon joinery. The little square knobs on the arms are not decoration, but hold the legs in place. The frame holds a "drop seat," and the reclining back is held with metal hinges and lag screws instead of the more traditional hardwood dowels. The hardwood rod can be moved to adjust the seat back to the desired angle.
Actual construction took about two months — I could only work on it one day a week, and then only a couple of hours at a stretch. I also had to rebuild and redesign the seat several times — the plans I found (four different sets) were a little unrealistic both with respect to a workable design and available materials. Then came the hard part — finding someone that could and would make cushions at a reasonable price. I discovered that finding someone to make cushions at any price was a feat in itself.
It took almost a year, but I finally found a place in Richmond that would cut foam to order. In the interim I completed the frame for my full-size chair and a compact armchair, as well as a miniature matching bookrack to place beside the chair. I paid less for 7 custom cut pieces of foam than I would have for one cushion made by a "discount" fabric store I finally located.
Then I had to find somebody to make covers. The po' lil' ol' lady I take shopping on Saturday (one of the reasons I could not put in a full day on any project) gave me her sewing machine. All I had to do was fix it. Fortunately it was a matter of adjusting the "tension" between the bobbin and the other thingy and a few cuss words. I taught myself how to use it and began searching for appropriate fabric.
The discount fabric store where I had priced cushions was now out of business. I located another "discount" house and found a selection of really . . . awful . . . upholstery fabric. I reread the Dover books and discovered that leather was only one suggestion. Denim and burlap were also acceptable — so I got unbleached cotton duck at yet another store that had prices at least half what the "discount" places were charging. (The cotton duck was a little less than half price, $6.99 per yard to the "discount" price of $14.95.)
Then I decided that zippers and buttons were for the birds . . . or at least for people with better sewing skills than mine. Velcro became my fastener of choice. Then came the search for affordable Velcro. The "discount" place (don't ask me why I kept going there) was $1.98 per foot . . . for either side, making it about $4 per foot for both sides. K-Mart . . . did you know that K-Mart (at least in this area) puts tiny packages of Velcro that you can't use on cloth in sewing supplies? Back to the non-discount store . . . which had both sides for 99¢ a yard.
I ended up sewing each of the cushions an average of three times. I made each one just a little too large, so I didn't have to rip out any stitches, just sew another seam alongside the first . . . and second . . . would you believe third? As you can see (I hope) from the photographs, the cushions are nice and smooth.
From the leftover material I made a couple of throw pillows. I drew a happy face on one side and a sad face on the other of each pillow with an indelible marker, thereby inventing the "mood pillow." I went back to the "other" fabric store and got 1-1/4 lbs of shredded foam stuffing (I didn't bother going to the "discount" places this time) for $2. End of story . . . except that I have two more chairs with all the pieces cut out that I will assemble if anyone wants to buy one. Or maybe I'll just make a matching love seat or something.
FOOD
Colcannon. Tired of the same old boring mashed potatoes? Neither am I, but sometimes it's fun to try something different. Here's a twist on an old Irish favorite that answers the eternal question as to what to do with that quarter of green cabbage you've got lying around. Instead of boiling the cabbage in the usual way, my "interpretation" is to shred the cabbage and sautée it with some thinly sliced onion in margarine or butter, then add it to your usual mashed potatoes.
One of the cookbooks I consulted (Monica Sheridan's The Art of Irish Cooking, 1965) stated that this is traditionally served on Halloween. As she explained the custom, "A miniature thimble and horseshoe [miniature, I hope], a button, a silver sixpence (dime), and a wedding ring are each wrapped in white paper and dropped into the mixture. These forecast the fortunes of the finders. If your portion contains the ring, you will marry and live happily ever after. The silver sixpence denotes wealth, the horseshoe good fortune, the thimble a spinster, and the button a bachelor." (pp. 103-104.)
Well, I can't keep my tongue still on that. In my never-ending quest to stop all superstition (knock on wood), I don't hold with any kind of fortune telling, anyway. Besides, my horoscope this morning said to avoid it. Plus, I've got a few questions. First, that horseshoe bothers me. Do you really want a hunk of iron in your taters, even wrapped in soggy white paper, that was on some horse's hoof stomping around in a barnyard? Have you ever seen a barnyard? Have you ever mucked out a stable?
About that silver sixpence. First, a sixpence is a sixpence, and a dime is a dime. And silver? No way. Ireland's sixpences were copper-nickel starting in 1928, and the British stuff they used before that stopped being actual silver in 1921, having been reduced to a 50/50 alloy of silver and copper called "billon" that turns a really ugly color as it wears. The Irish copper-nickel piece was much more attractive, both as coin fabric and in the design.
Finally, what if a guy gets the thimble and a gal the button? Does that mean the guy gets himself a man-hungry old broad and the gal a dirty old man on the make? These are deep questions that remain unanswered.
REVIEWS
William Thomas Thornton's A Plea for Peasant Proprietors. Economic Justice Media. ISBN 978-0944997109. 364 pp., $25.00.
Although never adopted, later thinkers such as Louis Kelso and Mortimer Adler, offering a principled, growth-oriented approach for the 21st Century, refined Thornton's vision. As the global economy experiences ever-more-frequent downturns (with accelerating replacement of human labor by advanced technology, reinforced by flawed methods of finance that concentrate capital ownership in fewer and fewer hands) Thornton's book shines light on a possible path out of today's global dilemma.
Originally published in 1848, this newly annotated and indexed edition of A Plea for Peasant Proprietors was prepared from Thornton's 1874 revision. It includes a foreword that examines a new framework for solving the global financial crisis, financing economic growth and enabling every citizen to become an owner of productive capital, as well as appendices explaining topical references and the political and economic environment within which Thornton worked.
Individual copies of William Thomas Thornton's A Plea for Peasant Proprietors are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and by special order from many bookstores.
Bulk/wholesale orders of ten or more copies are available at a 20% discount off the cover price, plus shipping. Please send an e-mail to publications@cesj.org with the number of copies requested and a street address for shipping — the distributor does not ship to Post Office Box addresses.
THE FOURTH PAGE
The Geraldines of Ireland, I: Origins and Early History
The story of the great FitzGerald family of Ireland is largely the history of the rise and fall of Norman Ireland in miniature — if that word can be used to describe the sweeping and widespread influence of this single family, considered second only to that of the de Burgos (the Burkes), for the first few centuries after the invasion. The history of the family in Ireland predates even that of the other Norman-Irish. It begins with Diarmuit Mac Murrough, the ousted king of Leinster, requesting assistance from Henry II in 1166 to regain his throne, exactly one hundred years after the Normans came into England.
Henry II, although not giving the unseated Irish king any direct assistance, gave Mac Murrough permission to solicit aid from any of his vassals who felt inclined to chance the adventure. Apparently drawn to Wales, the first definite offer of help came from the sons and grandsons of a former mistress of Henry II, Nesta, a princess of Wales, daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr (Tudor), king of Deheubarth. After her liaison with Henry, Nesta, as was usual with a discarded royal mistress, was married off to an eligible lordling, in this case one Gerald of Windsor, and, after his death, to another Norman named Stephen, the constable of Abberteivi (Cardigan). In Norman fashion, then, the various lots of half-brothers were called FitzHenry, FitzGerald and FitzStephen. The prefix "Fitz" is the Norman French version of fils, meaning, "son of." All of the descendants of Nesta, however, regardless of their actual patronymic, were referred to as "Geraldines" in Ireland.
Because of the relatively few names that seemed to be in circulation among the Geraldines, it is sometimes hard to distinguish between father and son, cousin and cousin, or uncle and nephew, as well as to which branch of the family a particular FitzGerald belongs. The practice of the Normans in attaching the prefix "Fitz" to the father's name and giving it as a middle name to the son helps some, but it can still get confusing when one encounters, for instance, a lineage in which the same names keep occurring, such as "Gerald FitzGerald FitzGerald," particularly when there are two branches of the same family with the same tradition in names. A similar problem is found in attempting to keep the Plantagenet women straight-they all seem to have been named, "Eleanor." To solve this dilemma, we will use the somewhat irregular practice of referring, on occasion, to, e.g., the seventh Earl of Kildare as "Kildare VII," or the fourth Baron Offaly as "Offaly IV." Note that these are not official designations, and are used only to help the reader keep everyone straight in a family that appeared to have very little imagination when selecting names.
Among the first recruits to Mac Murrough's attempt at restoration were Maurice FitzGerald the castellan of Pembroke, son of Gerald of Windsor, and his half-brother, Robert FitzStephen. They were promised the city of Wexford and surrounding land in return for their aid. Although they had promised Mac Murrough to come no later than 1168, it was not until 1169 that they arrived, being among the "small force" that preceded Strongbow. When Mac Murrough began to entertain thoughts of seizing the High Kingship for himself, FitzGerald and FitzStephen were among those who sent messages to Strongbow, urging him to make haste to Ireland. Strongbow sent another FitzGerald, one Raymond le Gros ("the fat"), ahead of him with ten knights and seventy archers, who dug in around Waterford and awaited the earl. The FitzGeralds took a prominent part in the conquest, and were awarded sizable tracts of land as a result.
FitzAldelm (or FitzAudelm, depending on your source), whom Henry II appointed Viceroy (Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a post later often filled nominally by an underage prince or court favorite, with the actual duties carried out by a "Lord Deputy") in 1176 upon the death of Strongbow, began to harass the Geraldines when Maurice FitzGerald, the senior ("The Invader"), died a year later. With his death, the Geraldines slipped into relative obscurity for a few decades, as his heirs in Desmond and Kildare were too young to take an active part in affairs. They were largely replaced by the new men whom Prince John, appointed Lord of Ireland by his father, Henry II, brought in: the de Burgos, de Verdons, Pipards and, destined to become first the great rivals, and, later, on occasion, the allies, of the Geraldines, the Butlers.
Of the heirs of Maurice "The Invader," Desmond would rule in the south in Munster and Leinster, while Kildare, naturally enough, would rule in the Midlands in Kildare and the surrounding areas. The Geraldines of Kildare held the entire county of Kildare, with parts of Meath, Dublin, and Carlow. Their castles stretched beyond Strangford Lough on the coast of Down, to Adare, a few miles from the town of Limerick. Nor was their power confined to the land. They had their own fleet to maintain a power base at sea.
By the early 13th century, however, the Geraldines of the younger generation having come of age, the family began to regain lost ground. In Desmond, Thomas FitzMaurice FitzGerald (Thomas of Shanid, whom, to cut down on the confusion, we will call "Shanid I"), the second son of the Invader, was one of the leaders of an expedition into Connaught around 1210, about the time Prince John, Lord of Ireland, was attempted to assert his nominal authority. This expedition may have been carried out as part of John's program. Existing records make no reference as to who was victorious in the resulting conflict, the native Irish or the Normans, but it doesn't appear to have had much of an effect either way.
Shanid I died in 1213, and was succeeded by his son, John FitzThomas FitzGerald. Although there was apparently no title as yet, as a land-holder, Shanid was vaguely a "lord," and his son inherited his holdings. These holdings were increased when John FitzThomas FitzGerald, Shanid II, received additional grants of land in Kerry. John's son, "Shanid III," great-grandson of the Invader, was named Maurice FitzJohn FitzGerald. Both were to meet their fate at the same time.
In 1261, as the result of interference on the part of the Normans in Mac Carthy affairs, Fineen Mac Carthy destroyed a number of castles. Naturally, while Norman expeditions against the Irish must be excused as the natural order of things occurring as part of the normal sequence of events, attacks by the Irish enemy must be revenged. The "half-service" of Desmond was proclaimed (i.e., a partial mobilization), and William de Dene, Lord Justice since 1260, led the king's army into Desmond, financed with merchant loans guaranteed by the FitzGeralds of Desmond. On 24th July 1261, the king's forces met the Irish at Callann, in Kerry, and suffered heavy losses. Both of the FitzGeralds, father and son (Shanid II and III), were killed in the battle. Shanid III, however, left an underage heir, Thomas FitzMaurice FitzGerald (Shanid IV), "Thomas Na Nappagh," who would become the father of the first Earl of Desmond.
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