Photos and comments from Arizona and around the world
I am always amazed to find an ancient ruin still standing. This one dates back hundreds, perhaps almost a thousand, years and yet it is still standing. I can't imagine any of our modern homes lasting that long in our disposable society. Maybe we shouldn't...
We posted a new webcast that I did yesterday on the Mesa FamilySearch Library website. It is called FamilySearch Family Tree/Photos. I took some time to explain how the Photos program works with FamilySearch Family Tree. If you have any questions from...
If you live where there are seasons, you likely watch for the first crocuses of Spring. These are usually the first flowers you see on a cold, stormy Spring day when you aren't sure that Winter is really on the way out. These flowers also poke out of...
news.cnet.com Fans of 'Firefly' should flock to this in-depth look at a mega Serenity Lego spaceship built from 70,000 Legos. Read this article by Christopher MacManus on CNET.
news.cnet.com Two Lego builders dedicate themselves to the details in recreating 'The Lord of the Rings' battle of Helm's Deep with thousands upon thousands of Lego pieces and minifigs. Read this article by Amanda Kooser on CNET.
Birds don't normally sit around and wait for you to take their picture. You have to be both patient and quick to get anything at all. I think this little fellow was just standing there posing for me and waiting to have his picture taken.
Walking Arizona This is a particularly rugged ridge line. When you are climbing a mountain you usually want to stay to the ridge lines to avoid the rock fall in the narrow canyons between the ridges. There are several reasons why trying to climb along...
Genealogy's Star I had some time to do two comparison digitized images; one through the new Shoebox app from Ancestry.com and the second from the same photographed scanned on my flatbed scanner. There is archive quality and then there is "good enough."...
I am wondering if RootsTech 2013 will be used by genealogy software developers, including FamilySearch.org to make some major or perhaps incremental announcements? FamilySearch.org for one, is overdue for changes to the Family Tree program. The "Release...
Yes, that line down there on the edge of that cliff is a road and yes, I have driven that road in a Suburban loaded with my wife and small children. Yes, I am crazy and fortunate to be alive and yes it really is as bad (or worse) than it looks. It is...
Walking Arizona Every thing in life has a story and Hopi paintings are no exception. The problem is that the painting does not come with the story attached, so sometimes you have to guess. This bird is eating corn (or talking on a microphone, unlikely)...
Walking Arizona Every once in a while I come across a beautiful specimen of lichen. I love to see these hardy plants because they add so much texture and color to the rocks around Arizona.
Genealogy's Star On May 4, the University of Alberta Libraries created the 2,000,000,000th holding record in WorldCat, marking a major milestone for this unique library resource. WorldCat.org is part of the OCLC or Online Computer Library Center, a nonprofit,...
Genealogy's Star The most commonly asked question at the recent Northern California Family History Expo in Sacramento was whether or not genealogists really needed a local decktop genealogy database program. The question arises in the context of all of...
Genealogy's Star Google's decision to retire their Reader program caused an initial stir in the online community and boiled over into the genealogical community. I was a long time user of Reader and enjoyed the convenience, but all in all, it was a pretty...
Walking Arizona When I was studying art at the University of Utah, we were taught to distinguish between areas of light and dark and see things as patterns rather than as objects. I think some of this carried over into my photography. I tend to see...
Genealogy's Star I don't want to appear to be a conspiracy theorist, but I do attribute a significant portion of the problems I face in the genealogy world to that acronymic program; GEDCOM. I have been dealing with the vagaries and limitations of the...
Genealogy's Star For quite some time, I was writing regularly for a website called FamilySearch TechTips. As you can see from the link, the site is still online, but nothing has been added to the site since last year, 2012. The content of the site, to...
Genealogy's Star In this session of Quick Views of Genealogy, I focus on online digital books for genealogists with several useful suggestions for finding and viewing online digitized books. This segment is part of a series on digitized books that...
Genealogy's Star In a recent blog post, I described a way to find the exact address of someone living in a city using U.S. Census records and City Directories. This exact location is helpful to distinguish between people with the same or very similar...
Walking Arizona My Great-grandmother had a similar organ in her home that I remember from when I was very young. I always wondered what happened to the old organ. It may still be sitting in someone's living room today.
Genealogy's Star Tomorrow the Mesa FamilySearch Library will be presenting another in its series of live, online webinars. I will be presenting this weeks webinar on an "Introduction of Online Genealogical Resources." This free series of webinars will...
I find that taking pictures depends heavily on chance and opportunity. So many of the landscape photos you see in publications such as Arizona Highways and others, depended on the photographer being the right place at the right time. The challenge is...
Springtime in the deserts of Arizona means that the palo verde trees bloom with their profusion of yellow. One of my most vivid memories from my youth, was driving out along the Bush Highway to Saguaro Lake and seeing a sea of yellow palo verde blossoms...
15 April 2013, Tax Day in the United States, has been targeted by FamilySearch for a major overhaul of the FamilySearch.org website. However, the messages I got yesterday from my meeting with the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group were mixed....
