While I do have some concerns that the big push towards GMO crops has lowered the genetic diversity, making these crops more vulnerable to diseases. As such, when the potato blight struck, there was nothing to be done, everything depending on generating a large amount of calories on a small amount of land, a role which could only be filled by the potato, and there were no potatoes. The land that remained to them after paying their rents was only enough to cultivate the world’s most efficient crop, the potato, which along with some buttermilk, represented the exclusive diet of the majority of the Irish peasants. The rents placed on Irish tenants by the English landlords were so high that everything had to go perfectly for tenants to avoid defaulting and being kicked off the land. At the time of the famine Ireland was as densely populated as it was possible to be. One commonality between John Richey and Charles Conner is that they were both tenant farmers, and in both cases they were suffering under British landlords who had turned the knob of efficiency as high as it would go. In a previous newsletter I talked about the ways in which progress and technology have allowed us to turn the knobs of society. Of course in order to do so you have to have some idea of how it came about in the first place. The book is one horrific scene after another.Īny sane person, upon reading this book, will be moved to consider how we can stop something like it from ever happening again. And yes, it recounts suffering on a scale that I can hardly imagine. Accordingly, as an additional preparation for the trip, I read The Great Hunger: Ireland: 1845-1849 by Cecil Woodham-Smith. What the modern developed world doesn’t have much of is representations of starvation and suffering on the scale experienced during the Potato Famine. While they’re not always accurate, and most are not set in 1772, we have plenty of modern representations of people who are one step ahead of the law. Though in fact I do feel that I can understand John Richey fairly well. One of the goals of my trip to Ireland is to understand these ancestors better. Presumably he traveled in what’s come to be known as a coffin ship, because so many people died aboard them, mostly from typhus. Second, Charles Conner, who came to America during the Irish Potato Famine. John immigrated to America in 1772, in some haste, we assume in order to avoid the hangman’s noose. After setting fire to a house they were successful in that endeavor, but this made them all wanted men. In 1770 the “Steelboys” marched on Belfast to demand the release of a prisoner. As best as we can tell, he was a member of the Hearts of Steel, a militant group of tenant farmers. I have many Irish ancestors, but two in particular are worthy of note:įirst, there’s John Richey. The trip is about half touristy stuff and half genealogical. I’m leaving for Ireland in just over a week. Or if you want to listen to just this post: A love story starts with her, who no memories and 'him.If you prefer to listen rather than read, this blog is available as a podcast here. She meets with 'him' whom she has no memories of. With Orion's help, she starts her quest to remember her memories by living an everyday life, but one day, she gets a phone call from someone she doesn't know. How she lived her life, what kind of relationships she had with people, all of them were as blank as a white sheet of paper.Ĭalling himself a ghost, a boy named Orion appears in front of her.

On August 1, the heroine wakes up to find she can't remember any of her memories from before that day. Due to it's popularity, two fan-disks were published, entitled Amnesia Crowd and Amnesia Later. Amnesia (アムネシア Amuneshia) is a visual novel published by Idea Factory and developed by Design Factory and Otomate.

Amnesia justine