Karen O
I'm a senior (quite senior) who has always loved history. Didn't go to college until I was in my late 60s, majored in History, and always interested in learning more.
Location Oregon, U.S.
Activity
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@RebeccaGowland Got another one yesterday. Strange. Well, I'm only doing these courses for myself, so no problem, but wondering why...
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@FionaJohnston Thanks, Fiona. These courses have kept me sane, for sure. I have been to Wales, by the way. Such a beautiful place.
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Karen O made a comment
By the way, I finished this course but keep getting reminders to finishing it. Not sure who to notify about this...
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Karen O made a comment
Not too difficult to understand people believing in witches in this time period. Most of the population was uneducated, and anyone who was different - looked different, sounded different, acted different, would have been under suspicion. I spent a lot of time in San Francisco and New York in the 1960s. Just about every looked, sounded, acted different... ...
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Possibly a strict mother trying to get a lazy daughter to do some chores, possibly a sister jealous of a brother, possibly someone offering trinkets or whatever to entice her to give this testimony. These were rough times, so anything could have been attractive to a very young, hungry, possibly vengeful child.
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Karen O made a comment
I talk to my dogs all day... hopefully no one is misinterpreting this behind my back.
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Karen O made a comment
Well, I can see there's a forest between Barley and Whalley Abbey... so difficult traveling through there in those days... but I lived in Colorado for much of my life, and our roads go through mountains, so I know that can be done in later days so not sure why there's not direct routes throughBarley and Whalley nowadays.
From Pendle Hill to Lancaster...
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Karen O made a comment
That map was difficult and misleading. Especially for my 78 year old eyes. Gisburn looked further away than the Samlesbury places.... but I finally got it right. Need to go take a nap and rest my eyes.
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Karen O made a comment
Interesting week. Lots of additional documents to review, so doing a lot of that.
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Karen O made a comment
I find I learn as much (sometimes more) from the comments of the other students and staff than I learn in the actual lesson itself. I have little to contribute since my knowledge level of these times is close to 'nil', but it does help in the benefit from these classes.
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Karen O made a comment
These exercises do not 'work' on my laptop, but I printed the PDF and did it that way. 2 out of 3, not bad.
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Karen O made a comment
Did all the religious houses pay a ransom to keep their properties safe? Well, just like now (with the Vatican), they had enormous wealth and could do that. Henry VIII would take care of most of their wealth later on...
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Karen O made a comment
As I mentioned in my last post, I have had a great interest in John of Gaunt... and found him a fascinating person, well-rounded, very capable of 'leading' and mostly admired by those around him. I also have read a considerable amount about Richard III and long ago decided for myself that he did not have the nephews in the Tower killed. (I suspect that was...
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Karen O made a comment
I spent a lot of time after listening to this section... thinking about it, and in my mind I imagined Scotland to be much closer to Lancaster than my review of several maps suggest. Difficult to believe Scottish troops made that trip.. Certainly Lancaster looks like a strategic coastline, but those sands look to be a major problem. Even now....
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Karen O made a comment
Well, since I am from Eugene, Oregon, USA... none of those names were familiar to me in anyway, but it's interesting to see some of still used.
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Karen O made a comment
The vastly different sizes of the hoards indicates vastly different purposes (in my mind at least). The Cuerdale Hoard seems like it might be the spoils of a large group of Vikings, put somewhere for safe-keeping with the intent to come back and collect at a later date. We'll never know why they didn't return for it, obviously. The Huxley hoard sounds like...
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Reading all the comments helped tremendously in greater understanding of this section... It seems obvious to me that one could study this particular timespan of 500 years and not cover all the changes in power, allegiances, battles, and land control. Just the 10 notes/time periods specified left multitudes of time periods that were likely very important,...
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Karen O made a comment
Well, I had them in the wrong order, but it was interesting to review the correct order.
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Karen O made a comment
Fascinating. Professor Shotter appears to have been a person I would have enjoyed many hours of discussion with about coins, or history in general. I'm sure his loss is felt by many.
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Karen O made a comment
No idea the empire covered all this area. Interesting.
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Karen O made a comment
Definitely a connection between the two timelines provided in PDF formats. Work on the fort seemed to escalate when the Romans were fighting amongst themselves and busy elsewhere.
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Karen O made a comment
I am joining late also... but since it's just for my information and enjoyment, I don't expect that to be a problem. All of ancient and medieval England is of interest, and this sounds like it goes into the near past. Should be interesting.
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Karen O made a comment
Simply... very interesting.
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Karen O made a comment
Darn interesting course.
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Karen O made a comment
Not proven.
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Karen O made a comment
Forensic science is certainly useful - and in many cases, critical, to settle a case... and it appears to be constantly involving into something even more definitive over time.
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Karen O made a comment
Definitely found this week interesting, and disturbing, since my grandson takes drugs for ADHD and now I'm wondering if they're helping or hurting him. Need to do some research on that. Also have a different idea in my mind about the murder of Mrs. Ward... wrote down my thoughts and will see if I'm right when this class is over.
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Karen O made a comment
Doesn't seem sufficient... but truthfully, how the heck would I know. This week on drugs is interesting, but I am still in way over my head as far as specifics.
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Karen O made a comment
Cannabis seems to be as common as drinking beer in the US right now. Scary.
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Karen O made a comment
Is Cannabis still illegal in the UK? It is certainly legal with common usage here in most of the US. I live in OR... I can buy it in a place right next to my grocery store (although I don't... really, don't). Methinks I protest too much?
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Karen O made a comment
Interesting way to summarize the topics covered, and their importance and significance. Liked that.
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Karen O made a comment
I pretty much explained why I was taking this course in 1.1... so won't go into it again. (Don't want to bore anyone.)
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Karen O made a comment
The first sentence cleared up my confusion between archeology and forensic science (past vs. present).
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Karen O made a comment
Greetings from Eugene, OR, USA. I am a senior trying to keep my mind occupied during this Covid pandemic and isolation, so I have taken quite a few courses in the past year and a half. History has always been my passion, and those courses have been enjoyable, but I'm finding Archeology, Anthropology, and Forensic Science courses to be a bit related and very...
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Karen O made a comment
The plot thickens... by this time we probably all have an idea in our head as to what happened... and I wonder how many of us are correct. We'll find out, before too long.
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Karen O made a comment
One of the best courses I've taken (and I've taken quite a few). Thank you.
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Karen O made a comment
Maybe (probably) others have different opinions on this, but I have no problem with my DNA being on record, permanently. Such incidents like the condo collapse in Florida seem to make it obvious that having available DNA samples makes identification quicker in such cases... and other incidents also.
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Karen O made a comment
I have all these ingredients in the house, but think I will wait until my grandson visits and we'll do it together. I think he'll be interested in this experiment also.
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Karen O made a comment
My head is spinning. Need to look at this video a couple of times to understand a bit more.
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Karen O made a comment
Yikes. Certainly made it clear how little I knew (or understood) about all of this. I still don't know much, but I know a tiny bit more at least.
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Karen O made a comment
Definitely looking forward to seeing what the BPA determines in the case we're looking at.
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Karen O made a comment
I am disappointed that I can't take the tests without upgrading - which has not been the case with most of the other FutureLearn classes I've taken. I am interested in finding out what I'm retaining, but as a senior on a very limited income, I can't justify the expense to pay that extra fee. Darn.
This class is more interesting than watching CSI on TV......
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Karen O made a comment
Well, I spent far too much time on this exercise because it was great fun. I did all the fingers on my right hand, twice (only my right hand because I spent the morning gardening, and my left hand looks like I was in a major battle). The first time I concentrated too much on the tips and not the pads. Looking at the pads enabled me to see the pattern more...
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Karen O made a comment
I kept going back between the outside of the passenger's door and the outside of the driver's door... We know the bullet came from the driver's door side... and I suspect the passenger's door would not have pertinent information on it... but if I was the investigator, I would certainly be checking both.
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Karen O made a comment
Love learning about this with a little depth. Certainly not infallible but a good chance of an appropriate and proper match based on the detailed methods of checking.
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Great response. Thank you.
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Karen O made a comment
Because I'm a senior gal, the tips of my fingers are more wrinkled than when I was younger... and I'm wondering if my 'younger' fingerprint would still come up as a match for my 'older' fingerprint (which now has extra ridges to it)... Maybe that will be discussed in a later section.
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Karen O made a comment
I have never watched CSI shows on TV... but maybe need to check out a few of those. I know they skip a lot of steps in those, but I find all of this quite interesting. Looking forward to future weeks.
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Karen O made a comment
Only knew the basic steps of any of this process and find the details very fascinating.
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Karen O made a comment
1. Why did no one mention Mr. Dougan taking Mr. Ward back to the crime scene (he was out on the road waiting, obviously a distance from where it happened, and if it was a busy road (as stated) he should have stayed by the car. Busy road? Even before the area was taped off, the road looked very quiet.
2. Any description of gunman or his car?
3. Mrs....
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Karen O made a comment
OK, I totally missed that the gunman opened the passenger door and shot the wife in the wrong side of her head... but that's because I'm in the US and the passenger door (and the passengers) are on the other side of the car. There also was no discussion about Mr. Ward actually getting into Mr. Dougan's car to take them both to the crime scene. (Not sure that...
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Karen O made a comment
I know very little about forensic science - just the obvious things... fingerprinting, fluid analysis, etc. Looking forward to learning more.
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Karen O made a comment
Very interesting, but difficult for me to follow. I have a hearing problem, so use the close-caption option, but the captions are not in sync with the video, so it's difficult to watch and listen to I end up printing all the transcripts and following along with those, but that's not ideal either. Any suggestions?
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Karen O made a comment
This course sounds very interesting.
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Karen O made a comment
I'm not a teacher, but am interested in our Solar System... so I'll start this and see if it's something for me.
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Karen O made a comment
My maiden name is Rothe - and my family has always pronounced it as "Row-Thee). NO ONE who doesn't know us has ever pronounced it as such. Most say Roth (Rawth) or Rowth), and I've also hear "Rot-Hee"
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Karen O made a comment
I have found a couple of very interesting things. Actually a lot, but a couple I will mention. My maiden name is Rothe - and was always told our roots were from Rothenberg (or Rothenburg). I assume it was the Rothenburg in Germany, but as it turns out, there are 3 towns named Rothenburg in Germany, one in Lucerne, Switzerland, one in Lorraine, France, and...
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Karen O made a comment
My maternal grandmother's name has been spelled many different ways in many different documents I've found. Katherine, Catherine, Kathrine... even Katerina. Still not sure which is right.
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Karen O made a comment
Hello, I am a senior living in Eugene, OR. I have always been interested in genealogy, and have made several attempts to develop a family tree with minimal success. I learned more from ancestry.com and 123andMe but always interesting in delving deeper and learning more.
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Karen O made a comment
I have downloaded a copy of The Mysteries of Udolpho. I found this course interesting, and understand the need to take a deep dive into literature from a scholastic and perhaps better understanding viewpoint, but truthfully I feel if I haven't discovered my own way to satisfactorily 'close read' by this age (I am 78) it's unlikely I'll change now. I have...
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Karen O made a comment
No painting or drawing skills (as everyone who know me will attest to)... but I enjoyed looking at what others did. For my own edification and enjoyment, I downloaded a copy of THE CASTLE OF UDOLPHO to my Kindle. The reviews on it were mixed, but that doesn't usually affect my interest in reading a book.
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Karen O made a comment
The differences between reading a novel in the 18th century and now... Well, I always loved going to the library, perusing the shelves, bringing home 5 or 6 books of interest and then relaxing and diving into the stories of the books... but now with sight and mobility issues (getting older is not for sissies), and the Covid pandemic limitations, the Kindle has...
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Karen O made a comment
I have been to Jane Austin's cottage which it appears is being called a country house in this course. There seems to be a significant difference between a country house and a country estate... Which is what we have seen in previous weeks.
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Karen O made a comment
The characterizations of previous comments mirror my own, so I don't need to repeat those... but instead I have been thinking about what sort of life Julia has, with this vainglorious, insensitive, spendthrift, and deceitful jerk. And I got to wondering if Julia's 'Sylph' was a telling of Georgiana Spencer's own life (seems quite likely) or at the very least...
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Karen O made a comment
Lady Mary (Spectator 573) was a hoot. Thoroughly enjoyed that and admired her talent with the pen.
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Karen O made a comment
Definitely a prescription (of questionable effectiveness...).
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Karen O made a comment
This sounds more like an excerpt from a book or a pamphlet A cautionary tale handed out in church... Or a scene for a current movie.
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Karen O made a comment
I've never really thought about whether or not letters are literature... but I definitely think some of them are. Maybe most of them are. I still write quite a lot (well, mostly type them) of letters, and for a time I wrote an immense amount of articles for publication and education. They are all literature of a kind, now that I think of it.
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Just plain sweet. No wonder they saved it.
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Karen O made a comment
Interesting. I've seen some things in brackets (different kinds of brackets) and didn't know what that meant.
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Karen O made a comment
Well, they were all 3 different, with embellishing on the 2nd and 3rd. Seal/self slaughter was not even mentioned in the 1st. The main lesson I learned from this was that I simply always imagined the Hamlet I knew and actually studied at some point came in so many versions. Naive me. I thought the one I'd read was directly from Shakespeare's writing... It...
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Karen O made a comment
I actually shared my interpretation in the last chapter. It's still my interpretation.
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Well, I'm still interpreting it differently. Welbeck is impressive, certainly good enough for a king (so the Duke lives lavishly). "All the world confesses that he ne'er was entertained more royally than there" could mean there's been a lot of visitors to Welbeck and everyone was suitably impressed. "Of every foreign land the magazine' - a larder full of...
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Karen O made a comment
I have changed my mind several times, reading and re-reading this poem, but am ending up thinking it is Flecknoe currying favor from the Duke (monetary support, recommendations to others). Yes, Welbeck is beautiful, fit for royalty, has every necessary and luxury item available (obtained from shores far and wide), and of course the Duke is magnanamous in...
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After re-reading the poem, I did not come to the same conclusions that Dr. Smith did. I still don't believe the King 'visited'... but I think the place was fit for a king. "And all the world confesses' to me meant lots of visitors shared his thought it was fit for royalty. And the 'magazine' sounded to me like he imported all manner of wonderful things from...
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At a very quick first read I couldn't figure out if Flecknoe was praising or criticizing the Duke. Does the duke put more value on possessions than service to the crown? Or is it no wonder that someone who is so loyal a countryman would also be so generous with his possessions?
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Karen O made a comment
Well without an actual definition of what a country house is, I'm not sure if I have or have not visited one. I'm confused about the difference between a manor house and a country house. In one of my visits to England, I visited a Manor House supposedly owned or at least lived in by John of Gaunt. It was close to Avebury I think. And I visited Harlaxton...
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Karen O made a comment
First one that came to mind was Noah's Ark... and as I look at previous comments, that's true for a lot of people. I think as a child that appealed to me the most... and still does.
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Karen O made a comment
Francis Fox's Intro to Spelling and Readings was interesting. When I looked at the book page with the pictures and the alphabet of letters I noticed he had the pictures in proper alphabetical order, but under the letters he had the V and U reversed... it read Q, R, S, T, V, U,W, X, Y, Z. Wonder if that was intentional?
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Karen O made a comment
Yes, sheet music is still available today, but not used much in the general public. I had a lot of it when I played the accordion, the piano, and the guitar... but my grandson has never seen a piece of sheet music - playing all songs on his guitar from memories of hearing it performed (so 'by ear').
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Karen O made a comment
Well, I assume they probably had a similar interest to what I have... what will grow and be hardy in my own very garden space, how long certain plants can be expected to live, what plants do well next to each other, variety of colors in certain plants, how successfully they will transplant and propagate, cost of plants vs. usefulness long-term, etc. And I...
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Karen O made a comment
Money? And as the generations changed, more and better maps were available and perhaps the current generation didn't appreciate the older things as previous generations did? What an incredible acquisition by Trinity College though.
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Karen O made a comment
My desk is covered with 'sticky' notes, coordinated by color. Does that count? Hot pink means 'need to do quickly', Green means a task 'to do when there's time', Yellow means 'don't forget this', and then there's blue, violet, and some with flowers and hearts... which I use to add notes to things I give or send to people. 'TO BUY' is on my iPhone, for when...
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Karen O made a comment
As mentioned in a previous comment, people frequently gift me with books about dogs because they know I love them and have spent many years training therapy, service, agility, and obedience dogs. This was in "The Lost History of the Canine Race", a Christmas gift from my brother and sister-in-law, 1998. "Karen, This book chronicles 15,000 years of human...
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Karen O made a comment
Well, I started looking at the books on my shelves for the Prefaces, and then got lost in reading the Forwards, Introductions, Acknowledgments, Author's Notes, and Dedications, but could not find any Prefaces. Finally found one in "Abraham Lincoln, The Prairie Years and the War Years" by Carl Sandberg.
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Karen O made a comment
Since I am a dog lover, and a dog trainer, people seem to feel the need to give me books about dogs (a subject I already know quite a bit about)... and I have an entire book shelf of those, many with similar notes inside. To wit: "Thought you would like this because you are such a dog person."
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Karen O made a comment
Up until a few years ago, I held onto every book I'd ever had - from my childhood until my senior years when I was scaling down my belongings and moved into a smaller home. Most interesting, when I reviewed them all before donating them to a local library, was the notes inside some of the books that I'd made myself at various ages. And as a child, my sister...
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Karen O made a comment
Dr. Seuss books come to mind...
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Karen O made a comment
Love these.
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Karen O made a comment
Pretty much out and out deceit just to sell the books. I suspect the general public knew it was all fiction... or maybe not... Another topic... I am really bothered by how they chop up words. Doesn't seem to be any sense to it sometimes. Not by syllables...
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Karen O made a comment
A lot more wordy than the BOOKBUB recommendations (for books to purchase and read) that I get every morning, but not much different in content. Brag about the potential benefits by referencing previous readers, or detail the potential benefits for discriminating readers..
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Karen O made a comment
Easier to personalize when unbound. I would assume some wealthy people wanted specially decorated covers, and perhaps have their names embossed on them.
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Karen O made a comment
A Little Pretty Pocket Book Frontalpiece also says 'instruction' underneath and it appears to be stories that provide instruction on appropriate behaviors for children. It also indicated to me that this was in-family or in-house instructions because of the relaxed settings (which included the dog).
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Karen O made a comment
I know many people are anti-electronic reading devices, but for me personally (with vision in only one eye, and the ability to change the size of the font on my Kindle) it has enabled me to read hundreds of books in the last 10+ years that I wouldn't have been able to read if they were not available in large print (and most are not).
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Karen O made a comment
My name is Karen. I am a senior (78) and live in Eugene, OR. I have taken many online course during this Covid isolation and credit those with maintaining my sanity. I actually didn't go to college or graduate until my late 60s and early 70s. When I finally had the time, I took myself to school to study all the things I'd wanted to learn more about during...
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Karen O made a comment
Television, Internet, Movies... fashion trends come up from everywhere, all the time. We have minute to minute updates it seems.
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Karen O made a comment
I found a web-site with over 24,000 pictures of Victoria... and I was exhausted after looking at about 25 pages of them. I gave up trying to find a favorite, but my personal favorites were of her with children and dogs. She looks the most serene and satisfied on those.
I was amazed that she was only 4'11" (and a couple inches shorter in later life). ...
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Karen O made a comment
Right now, with Covid isolation, I would put my name on sweat shirts and sweat pants since that's almost always what I'm wearing these days. Sigh...
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Karen O made a comment
My mother used Rit Dye to color so many things - and I take after her. If I don't like the color, I dye it. Easily done with cotton, not easily done with polyester.
Technology today allows clothes-making to be so much easier. Very few things are handmade anymore - and those items are treasured.
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@AliceKing And also, much of the land has been utilized in other ways over the years. Potentially a village on top of what might be very interesting digging.
