John McCarthy, Computer Scientist, a Missive from Tasmania and a Secret Santa Story with a Listowel Connection

A Christmas Window

Catch of the Day, Main Street, Listowel in November 2020

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Happy Days

Once upon a time.....

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 The Kerryman who invented the Internet

Photo from Wikipedia

I learned about this man in Frank McNally's Irishman's Diary in The Irish Times. 

A nineteen year old Kerryman, John Peter McCartyhy emigrated from his home in Cromane to the U.S. in the early 20th century. He married a Lithuanian Jewish lady and in 1927 they had a son, also called John McCarthy.  The McCarthy family around a bit, eventually settling in Los Angeles.  John and his wife, Ida, were communists

John Junior was a bit of a prodigy, He graduated early with a Maths degree and he got his Ph.D from Princeton. His special area of interest was computing and iy is believed that he was the first to use the term artificial intelligence. In 1958 he began work on his greatest project, a computer programming language called LISP, to this  day still considered one of the most influential computer  languages, having many dialects, including one called Franz Lisp.

McCarthy passed away in 2011. In February last his daughter, Susan, unveiled a plaque to him in Killorglin.

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A Letter from Tasmania

Hi 

Mary, 

           Great to read the stories of the Convent Cross houses. 

           I have been compiling our family tree for some time now and discovered a photo of Maureen Doyle of Convent Cross. I received these photos on the passing of my parents, Paddy and Mary Doyle of Tanavalla. Because the photo was in their possession I assumed she has a connection to the family but sadly I have been unable to discover what it is. I was wondering if any of your avid readers might be able to shed any light on it. 

           Also a quick hello to Liz Chute in Canada. I have lots of memories of Liz and her family when I was growing up and lived in Listowel. Glad to hear she is doing well in Canada. It gives credence to the old saying that Ireland's biggest export is and always been her people. 

           Living here in the wilds of Tasmania and enjoying retirement it is great to have Listowel Connection to keep us informed of past and present events in our home town. The passage of times leaves us with less friends and relatives to correspond with in Kerry so your service is invaluable. 

                                                                                                                               Regards Dan Doyle.

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My Secret Santa Story 2020

How can you have one foot in Dingle and the other in Galway without leaving home?

Answer:

If you are wearing Sock Co Op socks, of course.

Heres’s my story.

In our family at Christmas time the adults do adult Kris Kringle and the children do theirs with a present they have made themselves.

Since I’m a knitter I often make something as well as the book token which is my usual present and welcomed by everyone in our family, the book token that is, maybe not so much the knitting.

This year I thought they may be tired of the scarfs and gloves so I racked my brain to buy something different. I opted for something jokey.

What is the cheesiest Christmas present ever? It’s the one you buy on Christmas Eve when you are really stumped. Yes, it’s socks.

But I was going to surprise my recipient with very special socks.  

Anna Guerin is an acclaimed fashion designer, not really fashion, more timeless style pieces that you will be handing on to the next generation. 

Anna has another string to her bow. She is the brains, the imagination and the hard work behind Sock Co Op. She is passionate about design and about sustainability. Her Sock Co Op socks are no ordinary socks. They are made from combed cotton and “meet the highest human and ecological requirements.”  Because her tweed coats and jackets are very dear, I have to reassure you here that a pair of socks comes in under €10.

But the real novelty aspect to this present is that the socks feature scenes from Ireland. They are ideal for sending abroad, light, unbreakable, and lovely. I’m wearing the Dingle ones here. They feature our late lamented Fungi.

It only took 3 days for my order to arrive and a further few hours for me to get over the shock. I thought the package looked a bit big for 2 pairs of socks but I had heard tell of the mountain of packaging waste that had built up with all the online shopping during the pandemic restrictions. Maybe I was seeing this for myself.

 I opened the box and there were 8 pairs of socks inside. I’m a bit of a novice at the online purchasing so I immediately assumed I had done something drastically wrong in  my ordering. Not at all. Anna spotted my order and sent me one of each of  the sock designs. So I’m telling you about them. To be fair, I would probably have told you about them anyway but not until after Christmas. 

My family is all agog to know who is getting the socks. Now that would be telling.

The Sock CoOp website is super easy to navigate and the socks are lovely. 

Sock CoOp