UsefulCharts: Popel Leo XIV family tree

 What the YouTube channel Useful Charts does is interesting. They not only look at his family tree, but they look at his "episcopal" lineage also. They look at his connection to other prominent Catholic cardinals, bishops or even other popes.

In the news it has come out that Pope Leo's lineage may include ancestors of African descent. As they discuss here his lineage includes Louisiana Creole who are often mixed race. He is of Italian descent on both sides of his family, and Popes have typically been of Italian descent.

Bear in mind when I say this, Pope John Paul II & Pope Benedict XVI were not of Italian descent. They were Polish and German respectively. Pope Francis was of Italian descent, however, he was born in the Latin American country of Argentina.

Also, another important this about the former Cardinal Louis Prevost is that he is the first U.S.A (or American if you prefer) born Pope in history. His immediate predecessor of course Pope Francis was born in Argentina so he was the first non-European born pontiff.

Pope Leo is also known as a Chicago-boy and a White Sox fan and there are photos of him at a World Series game in 2005 - which the White Sox swept the Houston Astros to win it all. He was said to have lived in the Roseland neighborhood though his childhood was spent in suburban Dolton, Illinois.

His childhood parish is located on the City Limits between Dolton and Chicago known as St. Mary of the Assumption. Both his childhood home and this church could become historic landmarks and that would be cool.

Anyway, here's the Useful Charts video if you want to look at his family and episcopal connections [VIDEO]

Mr Beat explores The Oregon Trail

 You might see this meme on Mr. Beat's hat it seems there is merchandise out there based on this computer game The Oregon Trail.

Meme

Unfortunately I don't remember this game at all from my years in school. It seemed we played other games on computers from The Prince of Persia to games based on TV programs such as Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune.

What I will share with you today is Mr. Beat's adventure retracing the real world Oregon Trail. If I had played that game back in the day the history would've went over my head to be honest. Who knows if the game would've sparked my interest in that aspect of American history.

So here's Mr. Beat's video about that [VIDEO]

What I will marvel at are the many historic sites that Mr. Beat and his family visits along the way. He's driving around in a Tesla which means one concern about his journey is his ability to keep a charge in his batteries. However, driving around in an electric vehicle for him proves to cost much less than driving around in a gas powered vehicle.

I found the history and the sights he visits on the Oregon Trail very interesting. Now I want to visit Chimney Rock. Add that to the list of places I want to visit in the future.

WGN Around Town: Farnsworth House

 

[VIDEO] Perhaps the Farnswhorth House in Plano, Illinois is another place to visit for this blog and The Sixth Ward YouTube channel. Mies Van Der Rohe designed this landmark for a Dr. Edith Farnsworth. I'm looking up information on this house via Wikipedia and see that Farnsworth and Rohe had a conflict that went to court and that this site was left incomplete and unfurnished though it was later completed to Van Der Rohe's designs later.

Quick note if you look at the About page for Farnsworth house the last statement is Black Lives Matter.