29 November 2013
FamilyTreeDNA offers "Black Friday" Discounts
Sounds like every retailer in the universe is getting Black Friday Fever! Here's a link to FamilyTreeDNA to read about what they're offering "today only"!
"Family Finder" is their terminology for an autosomal DNA test. See? "Family Finder" is easier to say! But the difference between Y-DNA and mtDNA tests is this: Of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in the nucleus of the human gene, one pair is the sex chromosome the "X-X" or the "X-Y" . Y-DNA is carried only by and passed along by males. the mtDNA is actually outside the nucleus and is passed down only by the female but both males and females have the identical mtDNA. So what about the fact that both Mon and Dad pass down various traits? That's where autosomal DNA plays a part. That is where the half contributed by Mom and combines with the half contributed by Dad. This allows the science of DNA to predict (nothing is an absolute!) who your ancestors might be.
Avoid the throngs! Shop on-line at FamilyTreeDNA!!
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="290"]
Animation of the structure of a section of DNA. The bases lie horizontally between the two spiraling strands. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]
"Family Finder" is their terminology for an autosomal DNA test. See? "Family Finder" is easier to say! But the difference between Y-DNA and mtDNA tests is this: Of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in the nucleus of the human gene, one pair is the sex chromosome the "X-X" or the "X-Y" . Y-DNA is carried only by and passed along by males. the mtDNA is actually outside the nucleus and is passed down only by the female but both males and females have the identical mtDNA. So what about the fact that both Mon and Dad pass down various traits? That's where autosomal DNA plays a part. That is where the half contributed by Mom and combines with the half contributed by Dad. This allows the science of DNA to predict (nothing is an absolute!) who your ancestors might be.
Avoid the throngs! Shop on-line at FamilyTreeDNA!!
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="290"]
Animation of the structure of a section of DNA. The bases lie horizontally between the two spiraling strands. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]Related articles
- Quick Note! FamilyTreeDNA Offers Huge Discount on All Tests (oldbonessearch.com)
- Family Tree DNA Unveils $39 DNA Test (eogn.com)
- Bahamas DNA Project Update: DNA Test Kits on Sale (littlehousebytheferry.com)
- DNA Tests for Genealogy are Now Available on MyHeritage.com, Geni.com and WorldVitalRecords.com (eogn.com)
- Finding a Few Hundred Cousins (themarshallfiles.wordpress.com)
- When is a Wolf Not a Wolf? (psychologytoday.com)
27 November 2013
Food that keeps you away from flu
Here's some helpful information as we enter the flu season. This blog from Adrian Filimon also contains hundreds of other helpful health related posts.... A little off topic, but I thought it would be useful, especially to those who hate those annual flu shots!!
25 November 2013
23andMe Ordered to Shut Down
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="250"]
Image via CrunchBase[/caption]
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="290"] Animation of the structure of a section of DNA. The bases lie horizontally between the two spiraling strands. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]
By now I'm sure that many of you have seen the news that the DNA testing company, 23andMe, has been ordered by the FDA to cease and desist. Not a good sign! The government has been trying to get them to cooperate with a few demands that, in my opinion, are quite reasonable. Apparently this has been going on for a while. I plan on doing a little more reading about it and adding the information to this post. From what I understand so far, the crux of the matter is that the government wants them to explain how they disseminate the results of the DNA studies to people who may or may not use the information properly without the advice of a doctor. What if there's a false positive in a BRAC1 or BRAC2 test for breast cancer. The resulting anguish would be inexcusable until a doctor ran the appropriate tests. Worse, if the test was a false negative, how long would someone who actually had the faulty genes go without getting a more thorough, doctor supervised test/exam?
It's a big deal, for sure. And there'll be much more about this. There a millions of investment dollars at stake, not to mention the pall cast over the entire commercial DNA testing industry.
Stay tuned!
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="158"]
Fda (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]
Related articles
Image via CrunchBase[/caption][caption id="" align="alignright" width="290"]
Animation of the structure of a section of DNA. The bases lie horizontally between the two spiraling strands. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]By now I'm sure that many of you have seen the news that the DNA testing company, 23andMe, has been ordered by the FDA to cease and desist. Not a good sign! The government has been trying to get them to cooperate with a few demands that, in my opinion, are quite reasonable. Apparently this has been going on for a while. I plan on doing a little more reading about it and adding the information to this post. From what I understand so far, the crux of the matter is that the government wants them to explain how they disseminate the results of the DNA studies to people who may or may not use the information properly without the advice of a doctor. What if there's a false positive in a BRAC1 or BRAC2 test for breast cancer. The resulting anguish would be inexcusable until a doctor ran the appropriate tests. Worse, if the test was a false negative, how long would someone who actually had the faulty genes go without getting a more thorough, doctor supervised test/exam?
It's a big deal, for sure. And there'll be much more about this. There a millions of investment dollars at stake, not to mention the pall cast over the entire commercial DNA testing industry.
Stay tuned!
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="158"]
Fda (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]Related articles
- FDA halts sale of 23andMe DNA tests (utsandiego.com)
- Stop selling those DNA tests, FDA tells 23andMe (nbcnews.com)
- FDA orders 23andMe to halt sales of DNA test kit (theverge.com)
- FDA: 23andMe must stop selling DNA test kits (mercurynews.com)
- Genetic Test Service 23andMe Hits Roadblock - Wall Street Journal (online.wsj.com)
- FDA Demands a Halt to a DNA Test Kit's Marketing - New York Times (nytimes.com)
How Strong is YOUR Password?
I just picked up my new laptop today...computers never crash at a convenient time and I beat this one by about a week or two at best. At least I won this time! Nonetheless, I spent money I should have spent on Christmas, but the work must go on! At any rate, the reason I'm talking about passwords is that I spent about 3 hours with the techs that set up this machine. They told me about a site that can calculate how secure your password is and how long it would take a cyber thief to get into your files, your private data, your bank accounts!!
Click on How Secure is My Password? enter your password or passwords and find out!
The password I use most frequently has symbols, upper and lower case letters and numbers. It's 16 characters long. How Secure is My Password? tells me that it would take today's technology with automated password calculators a ridiculous number of years to get it right!!
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240"]
Password 'fido' ...item 3b.. Five Characters in Search of an Exit -- The Twilight Zone (December 22, 1961) ... (Photo credit: marsmet549)[/caption]
Click on How Secure is My Password? enter your password or passwords and find out!
The password I use most frequently has symbols, upper and lower case letters and numbers. It's 16 characters long. How Secure is My Password? tells me that it would take today's technology with automated password calculators a ridiculous number of years to get it right!!
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240"]
Password 'fido' ...item 3b.. Five Characters in Search of an Exit -- The Twilight Zone (December 22, 1961) ... (Photo credit: marsmet549)[/caption]Related articles
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- Hackers Leaked 42 Million Plaintext Dating Site Passwords (motherboard.vice.com)
- How to password protect a folder (digitaltrends.com)
- Attention Adobe Hack Victims, "123456″ is a Terrible Password (technobuffalo.com)
22 November 2013
Quick Note! FamilyTreeDNA Offers Huge Discount on All Tests
Just a quick note: I found this in my backlogged e-mail tonight. Click "Continue reading" to activate this link: http://bit.ly/1bd0Elo. For a short period of time, FamilyTreeDNA is offering significant discounts on a variety of tests but the orders need to be placed and paid by December 31, 2013.
Let me know what you think!
[polldaddy poll=7587544]
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="203"]
My Neanderthal DNA (Photo credit: jurvetson)[/caption]
Let me know what you think!
[polldaddy poll=7587544]
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="203"]
My Neanderthal DNA (Photo credit: jurvetson)[/caption]Related articles
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16 November 2013
Kicking Up the Past - Giving Voice to the Untold Histories of American Families
Here's a program that has caught my interest. Ken J. Marks was kind enough to provide what follows as a description of his project. Please take a moment to read and please consider participating!
Giving a voice to the untold histories of American families.
An elementary school teacher / genealogist launches ambitious Kickstarter.com project to "crowd-source & crowd-fund" production of quality television.
Chicago-area teacher & genealogist, Madonna Davis, announced her launch of a television documentary project called Kicking Up the Past. A novel effort that relies strictly on the strength of the public to both crowd-source the stories and crowd-fund the expense of producing a made-for-television documentary featuring true family histories.
“It’s going to be an interesting experiment”, she said in an interview this morning. “Genealogy is reportedly the most popular hobby in the world… so we're going to test this idea by doing something that has not been attempted before to my knowledge – using crowd-funding to kick start production of a quality genealogy series for television”. She added, “This is an opportunity for people to stop complaining about the reality-type shows that pass for history and contribute in a small way toward making a positive change. We hope everyone will join us on this exciting American genealogy adventure. “ The project may be view at http://goo.gl/n8f2f5
In 2009, Madonna and partners, Ken J. Marks & Frank Haney first brought a grassroots family history to television with their production of the Emmy-nominated documentary, Legend Seekers: The Lively Family Massacre, which aired on PBS stations across the country.
The strong positive response to that film made them certain that there was an audience eager to see their real family stories retold in a high quality TV series. (See Dick Eastman’s Blog from Feb 2009 for more background detail >>> http://goo.gl/Cuk8YB. You may also visit http://goo.gl/r3JcT8 to view the full length feature of that production on YouTube.)
Co-producer, Ken J. Marks reflects, “That desire to bring something truly great and lasting to television has never left us, and we are attempting once more to bring a television series to the public that they would otherwise never, ever, get to see, except through the pioneering, internet-based, creative funding tool that KICKSTARTER.COM is.”
For those who do pledge to the project, there is a unique variety of rewards that may be earned including the opportunity to perform on-camera & in-costume as an extra in one of the historical reenactment scenes. Another reward made available in a limited quantity to early project backers is the opportunity to submit their own personal family story to be read by the producers for this documentary project. Producer, Ken Marks said, “We would like to give the Hollywood treatment to one very lucky family”.
The producers appear to have put everything on the line and truly can’t do it alone – Kickstarter funding is an “all or nothing” proposition. If project creators fail to receive enough pledges to reach their goal by the deadline, the project fails and all project pledges are returned. So they encourage you to go directly to www.kickstarter.com and search for the Kicking Up the Past documentary project for more information and to make a pledge. And, Madonna Davis adds, “… the (project) success or failure really rides on the strong connections within the community and the speed with which passionate individuals can mobilize for a cause.” Predicting the outcome Madonna says, “I have great optimism.”
Kickstarter
Kickstarter first appeared a year or two ago and quickly has become a method for funding many new projects. It is described as a "crowd funding process." In the past, most newly-invented products, new films, new television programs, books, and much more were typically funded by obtaining a loan from a financial institution or by loans or grants from corporations or non-profit organizations. In many cases, certain "strings" were attached. For instance, if a television program is funded by a corporation, that company usually expects to receive advertising or other forms of publicity in return, and typically exerts strong control over the creative content.
Kickstarter is a funding home for everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is full of projects, big and small, that are brought to life through the direct support of the public. Since its launch in 2009, 5 million people have pledged $822 million, funding 49,000 creative projects.
For additional information contact: Ken J. Marks 312 505-6193 EM: marks.kj@gmail.com
Giving a voice to the untold histories of American families.
An elementary school teacher / genealogist launches ambitious Kickstarter.com project to "crowd-source & crowd-fund" production of quality television.
Chicago-area teacher & genealogist, Madonna Davis, announced her launch of a television documentary project called Kicking Up the Past. A novel effort that relies strictly on the strength of the public to both crowd-source the stories and crowd-fund the expense of producing a made-for-television documentary featuring true family histories.
“It’s going to be an interesting experiment”, she said in an interview this morning. “Genealogy is reportedly the most popular hobby in the world… so we're going to test this idea by doing something that has not been attempted before to my knowledge – using crowd-funding to kick start production of a quality genealogy series for television”. She added, “This is an opportunity for people to stop complaining about the reality-type shows that pass for history and contribute in a small way toward making a positive change. We hope everyone will join us on this exciting American genealogy adventure. “ The project may be view at http://goo.gl/n8f2f5
In 2009, Madonna and partners, Ken J. Marks & Frank Haney first brought a grassroots family history to television with their production of the Emmy-nominated documentary, Legend Seekers: The Lively Family Massacre, which aired on PBS stations across the country.
The strong positive response to that film made them certain that there was an audience eager to see their real family stories retold in a high quality TV series. (See Dick Eastman’s Blog from Feb 2009 for more background detail >>> http://goo.gl/Cuk8YB. You may also visit http://goo.gl/r3JcT8 to view the full length feature of that production on YouTube.)
Co-producer, Ken J. Marks reflects, “That desire to bring something truly great and lasting to television has never left us, and we are attempting once more to bring a television series to the public that they would otherwise never, ever, get to see, except through the pioneering, internet-based, creative funding tool that KICKSTARTER.COM is.”
For those who do pledge to the project, there is a unique variety of rewards that may be earned including the opportunity to perform on-camera & in-costume as an extra in one of the historical reenactment scenes. Another reward made available in a limited quantity to early project backers is the opportunity to submit their own personal family story to be read by the producers for this documentary project. Producer, Ken Marks said, “We would like to give the Hollywood treatment to one very lucky family”.
The producers appear to have put everything on the line and truly can’t do it alone – Kickstarter funding is an “all or nothing” proposition. If project creators fail to receive enough pledges to reach their goal by the deadline, the project fails and all project pledges are returned. So they encourage you to go directly to www.kickstarter.com and search for the Kicking Up the Past documentary project for more information and to make a pledge. And, Madonna Davis adds, “… the (project) success or failure really rides on the strong connections within the community and the speed with which passionate individuals can mobilize for a cause.” Predicting the outcome Madonna says, “I have great optimism.”
Kickstarter
Kickstarter first appeared a year or two ago and quickly has become a method for funding many new projects. It is described as a "crowd funding process." In the past, most newly-invented products, new films, new television programs, books, and much more were typically funded by obtaining a loan from a financial institution or by loans or grants from corporations or non-profit organizations. In many cases, certain "strings" were attached. For instance, if a television program is funded by a corporation, that company usually expects to receive advertising or other forms of publicity in return, and typically exerts strong control over the creative content.
Kickstarter is a funding home for everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is full of projects, big and small, that are brought to life through the direct support of the public. Since its launch in 2009, 5 million people have pledged $822 million, funding 49,000 creative projects.
For additional information contact: Ken J. Marks 312 505-6193 EM: marks.kj@gmail.com
###
Madonna Davis, Chicago-area teacher & genealogist
Related articles
- Newly Proposed Genealogy Television Documentary with a Unique Funding Arrangement (eogn.com)
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12 November 2013
The 11 Nations of the United "States"
Posted at Facebook by a fellow genealogist, Deborah Lee Stewart, I found this article intriguing to say the least. Click "Continue reading" to activate the links to this article and others.
See, my paternal ancestors were Scotch-Irish and settled in "Greater Appalachia" and many of those descendants still live there! My English maternal lines have, in large part, been in the "colonies" from Mayflower days (John Howland...he's the one that fell overboard and had to be rescued) and my most direct ancestor William Bassett who arrived in the Fortune in 1621. And there are many others, legions of others, all of whom occupied "Yankeedom" at some point in the history of the US.
Here's the link to the NPR article.
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300"]
English: Mayflower_1920_Issue-1c.jpg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]
See, my paternal ancestors were Scotch-Irish and settled in "Greater Appalachia" and many of those descendants still live there! My English maternal lines have, in large part, been in the "colonies" from Mayflower days (John Howland...he's the one that fell overboard and had to be rescued) and my most direct ancestor William Bassett who arrived in the Fortune in 1621. And there are many others, legions of others, all of whom occupied "Yankeedom" at some point in the history of the US.
Here's the link to the NPR article.
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300"]
English: Mayflower_1920_Issue-1c.jpg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]Related articles
- If America is made up of 11 'nations,' where does Wisconsin fit in? (host.madison.com)
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- Scots-Irish? Irish? Scotch? (jillallyson.wordpress.com)
- Local history: Scotch-Irish heritage significant (timesreporter.com)
10 November 2013
Russell, Massachusetts - Establishment of a New England Town
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"]
Almandine :: Locality: Russell Garnet mine, Russell, Hampden County, Massachusetts, USA (Locality at mindat.org) :: Size: 4.4 x 4.0 x 4.0 cm. :: A very sharp, well-developed crystal of classic Russell garnet. It displays very nicely, and is complete all around except the bottom. Ex. Russell Jones collection. In the late 1800s, Daniel Clark and F.S. Johnson collected these from a local pegmatite. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]The following is a post from a friend and fellow member of the Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society:
New Book on Early History of Russell, Massachusetts
Russell, Massachusetts – Establishment of a New England town and early historical notes. By Ralph E. Cortis and Bruce W. Cortis
The book is now available to those local to Westfield/Russell directly from the authors at "Living Our Past", or via ‘Off the Common’ books, Amherst, Ma.
Also, two Book Signings and Presentations as noted below:
This new title is a compilation of research which Ralph E. Cortis has been doing over the last 25+ years on the town of Russell, Massachusetts. This book focuses on the information he has researched and gathered from a wide variety of local and regional resources over that time.
The book begins with the establishment of Russell in 1792, continuing to the early 1900’s. Areas of focus include how the town was established from a section of land originally granted to Westfield in 1737, town boundaries and topology, early roads and turnpikes, early industry and later the paper mills which were so important to Russell’s growth.
The text also has sections on town history relating to early schools, churches, railroads, bridges, cemeteries and early military service.
This is the first known publication to draw together this information in a single document.
Ralph E. Cortis was born in 1928 on Route 23 in the Woronoco part of Russell. He is a descendant of Isaac Palmer, one of the original settlers of Woronoco. In addition to the many generations of the Palmer and Cortis families, he has multiple other branches who resided in Russell over the last 200+ years. In conjunction with his research on Russell families and early town history, he previously completed a compilation of Russell’s Civil War veterans in 2007 (included in this book).
Bruce W. Cortis joined his father in 2008 with researching Russell’s history and supplemented his father’s efforts with additional on-line research, compilation of the information and composition of this book.
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Town Offices, Russell Massachusetts, September 2009 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]04 November 2013
Holyoke Public Library - the Return
The redesigned Holyoke Public Library is a long awaited project for Holyoke and surrounding communities! Money well spent in my opinion.
Related articles
- Holyoke library has gotten a facelift (wwlp.com)
03 November 2013
Create Your Health Pedigree Here!
Here's a link to a post by Polly FitzGerald Kimmit of the Massachusetts Genealogical Council, among many other professional genealogical organizations. You'll have to click "Continue Reading" to get to the active link, but I believe it will be worthwhile. The title/link is Create Your Health Pedigree Here!
Rather than me repeating everything you'll read in the document, please take a look. You'll be able to download your own document to fill in for your own use. I noticed, though, that the instructions say to click on the document to download the chart. But I found that it was necessary to click the link that's in the document for that to happen.
Here's a little more about Polly:
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Entrance to Old Ship Church, Hingham, Massachusetts (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Hingham, MA is the colonial home of the first Lincoln Family in the US, progenitors of President Abraham Lincoln.[/caption]
Rather than me repeating everything you'll read in the document, please take a look. You'll be able to download your own document to fill in for your own use. I noticed, though, that the instructions say to click on the document to download the chart. But I found that it was necessary to click the link that's in the document for that to happen.
Here's a little more about Polly:
Polly FitzGerald Kimmitt is a Board-certified genealogist specializing in Massachusetts research. She has been taking clients for sixteen years and researchers a variety of topics from Mayflower lineages to locating townlands of Irish immigrants. She is a case worker under contract to the US Army on repatriation cases, helping to locate family members of servicemen missing or killed in previous conflicts. She currently serves as a director at Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS), and editor of the FGS Voice Newsletter, and is past president of MGC. You can visit her blog at "Polly Blog" or her website at Kimmit Genealogical Research.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Entrance to Old Ship Church, Hingham, Massachusetts (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Hingham, MA is the colonial home of the first Lincoln Family in the US, progenitors of President Abraham Lincoln.[/caption]Related articles
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