In 1992 I started tracing my family history. The two main tools for amateur genealogists (at least until they get back to about 1840) are the indexes of registrations of births, deaths and marriages and the returns from the census which has been taken every ten years since 1841 (there are earlier censuses, but they… Continue reading Internet Genealogy
Watching the Watchmen
I saw Watchmen yesterday. I was pretty nervous as Watchmen is one of my favourite graphic novels and the film had a lot to live up to. I’m happy to report that the film was great. I recommend you go and see it. From this point on, I’m going to assume that you know the… Continue reading Watching the Watchmen
Twitter Password Insecurity
Twitter has been under attack over the last day or so. Ben Metcalfe has the details. It seems likely that someone gained access to the database of one of the Twitter services that stores passwords in plain text. Twitter’s OAuth support can’t arrive soon enough. I hate to say this – but I told you… Continue reading Twitter Password Insecurity
Nicholas Crosse son of John Crosse
The earliest confirmed ancestor that I’ve found is Thomas Cross, my 5 x Great Grandfather, who married Hannah Canham in Great Holland (only a few miles from where my parents still live) in February 1776. On Wednesday I was in the Society of Genealogists library and I found a lovely bound copy of the parish… Continue reading Nicholas Crosse son of John Crosse
Mail Watch
Blimey, is it really that long since I posted anything. Sorry about that, I’ve been busy on other projects – in the last week I’ve presented two and a half days of Perl courses and that’s on top of my last few weeks at LoveFilm all being a bit manic. There have also been a… Continue reading Mail Watch
Happy Darwin Day
Too busy to write the long post that I was planning. Might be able to add more later. But I didn’t want to let today pass without wishing you all a very Happy Darwin Day.
The “Controversy” That Won’t Die
The controversy over the MMR vaccine should be dead. I mean, really, no-one who reads around the subject can be in any doubt that Wakefield’s study was flawed and he massively overstated his findings. However the British press got hold of the story and now refuses to let go. A good example is Jeni Barnett’s… Continue reading The “Controversy” That Won’t Die
There’s Probably No Bus
Rather appropriate, I thought, given yesterday’s transport chaos. [Bus slogan generator]
Global “Warming”
Weather like we’ve seen in the UK over the last twenty-four hours seems to effect people’s cognitive facilities. There’s one particular nonsense that I can almost guarantee you’ll come across in the next couple of days. That’s a climate change denier saying something like Well this weather at least proves for once and for all… Continue reading Global “Warming”
Creationist Idiocy in the UK
To “celebrate” the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, Theos (the religious think-tank) commissioned a survey into the public perceptions of Darwin’s theories. The results were published yesterday and do not make comforting reading. It seems that about half of the UK don’t accept Darwin’s findings and only about a quarter of us… Continue reading Creationist Idiocy in the UK