Well, the Christmas decorations are almost all put away. It is time to tackle the piles of paperwork in my office and work on some filing so that I can start on the taxes. It is January, so I have started my list of all the things I"m going to do differently this year than last. I"m sure you all do the same. It is a new year, so we have a clean slate to develop some new habits, right? Following are some new habits, new routines, and new tasks I would like to challenge you with for this new year:Set up a daily (or at least weekly) backup routine on your computer. You can use backup software ...

Well, the Christmas decorations are almost all put away. It is time to tackle the piles of paperwork in my office and work on some filing so that I can start on the taxes. It is January, so I have started my list of all the things I"m going to do differently this year than last. I"m sure you all do the same. It is a new year, so we have a clean slate to develop some new habits, right? Following are some new habits, new routines, and new tasks I would like to challenge you with for this new year:Set up a daily (or at least weekly) backup routine on your computer. You can use backup software ...

Well, the Christmas decorations are almost all put away. It is time to tackle the piles of paperwork in my office and work on some filing so that I can start on the taxes. It is January, so I have started my list of all the things I"m going to do differently this year than last. I"m sure you all do the same. It is a new year, so we have a clean slate to develop some new habits, right? Following are some new habits, new routines, and new tasks I would like to challenge you with for this new year:Set up a daily (or at least weekly) backup routine on your computer. You can use backup software ...

When you use Google you are searching an index of web pages found on the Internet. Keep in mind who publishes those web pages: fellow genealogists, cousins . . .human beings. Are human beings consistent with spelling? Nope. Do human beings make mistakes? You bet. Does every human being use his or her spell-checker? I wish.

Variant Spellings, Misspellings, and Typos:

When searching on names we have learned (or are learning) to look for all variant spellings of given names, surnames, and place names. For example, when looking for ...

At what point did it become acceptable to pass off live people-finding search services as "genealogy" and "family tree" resources? I"m thinking it is mostly an Internet phenomenon. I"m talking about web sites on which you look for living people through searches in databases with things like phone books, reverse phone directories, address directories, directories of names of living people, criminal background checks, court records, utility records, property records, etc. Yes, genealogists and family historians with any level of experience or expertise enjoy meeting cousins and finding ...

I was recently reminded that I forgot to post a message here about my Roots Television interview on the Genealogy Cruise at the end of October. See the interview here: http://www.rootstelevision.com/players/player_howto.php?bctid=1299131268

Recently someone submitted several new links through the form on Cyndi"s List. There are several guidelines for submitting new links. Three of the points read as follows: First verify the address before submitting it. Type the address carefully for complete accuracy. For error-free submissions, use the "copy & paste" function on your computer to highlight and copy the address from your web browser window and paste it into the text box below.That seems straight-forward to me. The links are automatically added to a waiting area page on Cyndi"s List (What"s New) and they are sent to me to ...

This is one of the most common problems I have with AOL e-mail addresses, and the most frustrating to me. I have a lady AOL user who is writing to me. She is getting more and more frustrated and angry with me because I am not responding to her and will not subscribe her to my mailing list. The problem: every time I e-mail her I get a bounced message: ----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors ----- lady"s name@aol.com (reason: 550 lady"s name IS NOT ACCEPTING MAIL FROM THIS SENDER) What this means is that my e-mail address is not in her address book as an acceptable sender, ...

This is a long overdue note from me. I"ve been dealing with several problems for the past few months, each of which compounded upon the other to make one big problem for me. And confusion for many of you.

1. I bought a new laptop in May. I spent most of the summer getting files and software moved from the old computer to the new one, setting up preferences, getting everything to work right. I had the majority of that work done and then the hard drive on the new computer died in the middle of October. The hard drive was replaced under warranty, but the warranty does not cover any file ...

Grrr. Suddenly, everyone thinks I"m a spammer. All e-mails I send to Comcast, MSN, and Hotmail addresses are bouncing back to me: "sender was rejected.Remote host said: 550 Your e-mail was rejected for policy reasons on this gateway. Reasons for rejection may be related to content with spam-like characteristics or IP/domain reputation problems." and "BL004 Blocked for spam" I have not spammed anyone. This is another instance of technology failing us. Something in a software program somewhere is "detecting" behaviors and taking action based on that. So, I can"t e-mail several of my friends ...

Things that are making me crazy today: People who submit links for their web "sights."People who refer to me as Cindy even when they quote my site"s address correctly--CyndisList.com.People who submit their web site link over and over again (almost always vendors) despite my rules that ask for no duplicate submissions.Broken links (that really isn"t news).A weird smell in my kitchen that I can"t locate.My 23-year-old clothes dryer that takes forever, but refuses to die and give me an excuse to buy a new one.

Genealogical Publishing Company is offering shipping for ONE penny between now and September 5th (12 noon EDT). You can"t beat that on book orders! Check out any of these areas or titles: 40% or more off in the Genealogy WarehouseSales and bargainsNew books and CDsQuickSheet: Citing Online Historical Resources Evidence! StyleBrand NEW--a must have for everyone"s genealogy library: Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace

I have a new category online today, with more than 300 links: U.S. - The American Revolution www.CyndisList.com/amrev.htm And I updated my lineage society page: Societies & Groups - Lineage www.CyndisList.com/soc-lineage.htm I sub-divided it into three new, additional sub-categories: MayflowerNational Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)National Society Sons of the American Revolution (SAR)

I"m proud to say that Cyndi"s List was featured on BBC - Radio 4 Tracing Your Roots on 18 August 2007. [Listen here]

I"ve started adding links to Footnote.com (see their 7-day free trial). You can search their databases for free, then view the original document images with a fee-based membership. They have an arrangement with the National Archives and Records Administration to digitize many of their records. The 17 new links I added tonight are all NARA naturalization records and indexes: Naturalization Index - MA Original source: NARA M1545. Index to naturalization petitions and records for the District of Massachusetts, within the US District Court, 1906-1966, and the US Circuit Court, 1906-1911. ...