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Shaking the Family Tree
Blue Bloods, Black Sheep, and Other Obsessions of an Accidental Genealogist
Table of Contents
About The Book
As a historian, Buzzy Jackson thought she knew the answers to these simple questions—that is, until she took a look at her scrawny family tree. With a name like Jackson (the twentieth most common American surname), she knew she must have more relatives and more family history out there, somewhere. Her first visit to the Boulder Genealogy Society brought her more questions than answers . . . but it also gave her a tantalizing peek into the fascinating (and enormous) community of family-tree huggers and after-hours Alex Haleys.
In Shaking the Family Tree, Jackson dives headfirst into her family gene pool: flying cross-country to locate an ancient family graveyard, embarking on a weeklong genealogy Caribbean cruise, and even submitting her DNA for testing to try to find her Jacksons. And in the process of researching her own family lore (Who was Bullwhip Jackson?) she meets legions of other genealogy buffs who are as interesting as they are driven—from the boy who saved his allowance so he could order his great-grandfather's death certificate to the woman who spends her free time documenting the cemeteries of Colorado ghost towns.
Through Jackson's research she connects with distant relatives, traces her roots back more than 250 years and in the process comes to discover—genetically, historically, and emotionally—the true meaning of "family" for herself.
Ask Yourself Why You're Doing This; or, Genealogy for Beginners
Ask yourself why you're doing this."
Pat Roberts, a woman with a stylish haircut, some serious jewelry, and the no-nonsense voice of a high school guidance counselor, stared out at the group of strangers who'd shown up for the introduction-to-genealogy seminar that morning at the Boulder Public Library. I suddenly realized what was coming: just like that guidance counselor, this enigmatic gatekeeper was about to tell us whether our expectations were realistic or just plain ridiculous.
"Ask yourself why you're doing this," she repeated, this time with a rhetorical spin. "If I put that question to each of you, I'd get twenty different answers. So ask yourself: What do you hope to find?"
Other people's history
In my case, it was a circus tent and a dentist. And a cattle farm in Mississippi and, of course, Windswept. I'd come to the Boulder Public Library looking for the truth, if it existed, behind both the tall tales told by my family as well as the silences. I didn't suspect scandal, but I wouldn't be surprised to find some. This seemed realistic; at least, it didn't seem totally absurd. I was also looking for one other thing: a strategy.
I was looking for Jacksons—my Jacksons, among an ocean of people who shared my name but not my DNA. Jackson is the twentieth most popular surname in the United States; in the year 2000, 666,125 Americans were named Jackson. We are legion—but whom did I mean by "we"?1
My father, Jon Anthony Jackson, is one of eight children spread out over seven states. They like each other, yet they rarely see each other. As a family, we neither send nor receive regular Christmas letters. Frankly, most of us probably feel virtuous if we can remember all the cousins' names. Now that my grandfather Jabe and grandmother Grace Jackson are dead, there is no central "home" to return to—not that many of their children visited much, anyway. Whether that is normal, I don't know, but it sure didn't make for a strong sense of heritage. I'd spent seven years getting a Ph.D. in history … other people's history. It had never occurred to me to look into my own.
Recently, this lack of family narrative began to bother me. The furthest back I could trace my ancestors was three generations: my great-grandparents. That barely got me into the nineteenth century, and I started to feel a little, well, irresponsible about it. I'd spent a lot of time in graduate school tracing the history of African-Americans, people who lamented their history of enslavement not only for its obvious privations, but also because of the way slavery erased their family connections, as parents, children, siblings were separated and sold, names changed, and records lost. Something similar had happened on my mother's side of the family, Russian Jews who fled persecution to come to the United States in the brief window of time when such a migration was possible.
So what of the Jacksons? I knew they'd arrived in this country before my maternal ancestors, but how much earlier? I had no idea, and no one was discussing it at the Jackson family reunion, because there was no reunion. Ever. Oscar Wilde wrote that "to lose one parent … may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." So what if you've misplaced your entire family tree?2
Life offers some reliable milestones guaranteed to thrust family in our faces. Weddings, for example. My husband, Ben, has two uncles, one aunt, and four cousins. Me, I have six (surviving) aunts and uncles just on the Jackson side alone, with who knows how many cousins (and, sadly, I didn't). For a couple trying to plan a small wedding, you'd think the Bride's Side of the aisle would be the problem here, but no. No, because it barely occurred to me to invite any of my Jackson relatives: I hardly knew most of them. The wedding planner in me was relieved, but the Jackson in me felt, for the first time, a little sad about the etiolated state of the Jackson family horticulture.
Another major milestone was the birth of my son—or rather, the forty weeks leading up to it. It was a magical time filled with excitement … and paranoia, nausea, and more questions about my family health history than I'd ever imagined possible. Causes of death, incidents of stroke, commitments to sanitariums? I needed the information fast. The eventual birth of my healthy son did, of course, provoke all the expected but nevertheless poignant emotions related to the Circle of Life and the perpetuation of the family line, but honestly? It was the endless medical interrogations that really got me thinking about where this baby came from.
Weddings and births are happy reminders of the ways we are all connected to the billions of human beings who walked the planet before we got here (over 100 billion at last count). Funerals, of course, prompt similar thoughts, and also force us to think about our own mortality. None of my grandparents were at my wedding; they had all passed away by then—but I had only attended one of their funerals. I was never very close with any of them, but with the birth of my son, I found myself missing my grandparents and trying to remember how they looked, how they sounded, and the stories they'd told.
Jabe Cook Jackson was the most riveting storyteller among them. Born in Alabama, he was one of those southerners who turned every utterance into a memorable bon mot. Some family stories are told more often than others; among Jabe's eight children, each one might have a different version of a canonical yarn, and each version would be equally funny and vivid. Sheer numbers contributed to a Jackson family narrative pieced together according to the rules of the old game of Telephone; stories are repeated and commented upon, then subtly changed and passed not only from father to son, but also from sister to brother.
Growing up—and even now that I am, ahem, grown up—every once in a while a relative would drop a Family Bomb. A Family Bomb was one of those Jackson family stories so bizarre and unexpected that it threw everything into a new light. They usually appear in a conversation apropos of nothing in particular. One involved a mysterious black "brother" of my grandfather—a Family Bomb first dropped when I was about twenty-two. My dad just happened to mention it during an otherwise unremarkable conversation: Oh, and another thing: your white, southern grandfather grew up in Jim Crow Alabama with a black orphan boy around his own age whom he considered a brother. Never knew what happened to him. Right. Or: Actually, when we first moved to Kingsley, the whole family lived in a circus tent. Sure. And: You've never met those cousins? They're the ones who own a cattle ranch, and when they got tired of asking the bank for money, they started their own. Their own what? Their own bank. Oh.
So there was the black brother question, the circus tent issue, and the First Bank of Jackson mystery. There were others, too. Why, at Grandpa Jackson's funeral, did my righteous, devout Christian aunt Mary insist to the undertaker that my Baptist-minister grandfather—her father—was Jewish? Why did my grandparents name their home in Kingsley, Michigan, Windswept? It sounded like a southern plantation—was it an homage to a lost antebellum homestead? I didn't know. With all these questions in mind, I began to seek answers.
I hoped my background in American history would help. I had a lot of experience with old records and dusty documents, but I had never applied it to my own family. I'd gone to the introduction-to-genealogy course that morning in an attempt to bring all my Jackson relatives, dead and alive, together—if only on paper. I wanted to gather them up and make sense of them if I could.
The name gatherers
Within one second of walking into the meeting room, I'd made my first major discovery: I am not alone. It's not that I found my long-lost Jackson cousin sitting there. It was that I found so many other people, strangers to me, each on their own identical quest.
I am not alone is a sentiment that resonates on many levels when beginning a journey of family history. In this case the numbers signified something surprising: forty-seven people had taken time off work or arranged a babysitter in order to come to the Boulder Public Library on a Tuesday morning, all to get help with their family trees. I was definitely not alone.
It didn't surprise Pat Roberts, of course. As the secretary of the Boulder Genealogical Society and its director of education, Pat had witnessed what the rise of the Internet had wrought: a whole new generation of genealogy enthusiasts eager to Google their family trees. Once the province of orphans and aspiring Daughters of the American Revolution, the world of genealogical hobbyists is now exploding in popularity, thanks in part to the immense new repositories of data on the World Wide Web. That's why Pat was here: to guide all of us in this journey—a journey that more and more people were making every day.
How many people are actually doing genealogy? According to the official Directory of Genealogical and Historical Societies, Libraries, and Publications in the United States and Canada, there are twenty-two thousand genealogical and historical societies; twelve thousand genealogical and historical periodicals; and ten thousand public and private genealogical and historical libraries, archives, and collections. Looking through the directory, I found an average of thirty to fifty genealogical societies per state, divided by county, city, and sometimes by special interests such as ethnic affiliation. That's a lot of genealogical societies—heck, that's a lot of societies, period. So much for bowling alone.
Not everyone interested in genealogy joins a society, though. Most genealogy hobbyists do their stuff on the Web, and I found even more numbers there. As with most genealogical quests, you can't go wrong by starting with the Church of Latter-Day Saints (aka the Mormons). The LDS Church began compiling family history data for religious reasons a century ago and these days their archives contain information on over one billion people. The church's Family History Library has always been open to the public, but until recently that required traveling to Salt Lake City. In 1999—hallelujah!—the church launched www.FamilySearch.org, the Web version of the Family History Library archive. Since then, over 150 million people have visited the FamilySearch Web site, with one million registered users and more than fifty thousand people accessing the site every day. And that's just one archive. In the past few years dozens of new free and fee-based Web sites have popped up to offer different types of searches, whether for census information, birth and death certificates, or—my personal favorite—tours of "virtual cemeteries," where one can peer at all those faded headstones without scuffing a slipper. It's pretty clear: one reason more people are interested in genealogy is that it's gotten so much easier to do.
The people gathered in the Boulder library that morning probably started their searches online. If their explorations were anything like mine, they'd experienced an initial thrill (Hey! Someone named Desmond Jackson is also looking for his ancestors!) followed by a slow dissipation of excitement (Okay, there are, um, a lot of people named Jackson looking for their ancestors … and somehow we're all looking for different people). I now knew what a helium birthday balloon felt like as it shriveled and drifted to the floor a few days after the party. It felt like it was time to get help.
Sometimes I think nothing in this world would ever get done without the no-nonsense grit and guidance of women over forty. Pat Roberts knew what we needed and she was willing to help. She smelled our desperation as we filed into the conference room, lunging for her information packets. We needed guidelines. We needed parameters. We needed to focus, people. Pat would provide a Plan of Action.
We'd already asked ourselves why we were doing this. But Pat was not going to make us state our motivations aloud. "Some people want to find a celebrity ancestor," she said. "In my case, my husband challenged me to find out if his family tradition was true—were they descended from a signer of the Declaration of Independence?" Pat had a friend named Jane who was already experienced in genealogical searches, and she also encouraged Pat to dig in. "I was intrigued," Pat said. "I came down here to the Boulder library and ordered microfilm from the National Archives. I turned my children loose in the children's section, and they played while I looked at the microfilm."
I groaned. Seven years of graduate school had left me a battle-scarred veteran of the University of California's army of ancient microfilm readers, massed in a herd in the half-height stacks of a dusty, windowless no-man's-land somewhere beyond the periodical room. I thought my labor in the archival mine shafts had ended when I submitted my dissertation: Did my interest in genealogy mean I'd have to descend again?
"This was 1973," Pat continued. "The copies came out on thermo paper—you can't even read it anymore. Microfilm . . ." She shook her head. I did, too. "You cranked it … it's ugly . . ." Yes it is. I could almost see my as-yet-unpopulated family tree begin to wither, leafless.
"But what we did back then was a totally different type of genealogy," Pat said.
I perked up and I'm pretty sure several others in the room, perhaps with their own hellish microfilm memories, did, too. Pat explained that while it was still necessary to use microfilm from time to time, the Internet had revolutionized the practice of genealogical research. Not only were many archival resources online, but "now, with the Internet, we're communicating with people we never would have found before … ever, ever, ever." It was now possible to find distant relatives online—relatives who might already have done a lot of your family research for you. Now we were getting somewhere.
"We're getting our hands on stuff we never would get before," Pat said. "Back then, genealogists were just name gatherers. We collected as many names, births, marriages, and deaths as we could. If it looked reasonable, we jumped on it. But we were not doing good genealogy." What she meant—and this was something I would hear a lot as I learned more about the changes in genealogy—was that very few people made much of an effort to actually verify the information they found in family Bibles and in the stories of Aunt Ida. If it was a name or date: it was good to go. Over the past few decades, even before the Internet arrived on the scene, genealogists have gotten more professional in their research. Proper citation is a big deal these days, as is good record keeping. There is more information to be had, which means there is a lot more information to organize. "I can do in two weeks what it would take me two years to do back then," Pat said, referring to her early days of research in the 1970s. My friend Matthew calls these TGFI moments: Thank God For the Internet. I hoped to have a lot of them.
Six degrees of Juan Baca
I'd begun my genealogical research on the Internet, first by looking for information about my family, but since I didn't know much about them or where to look, I started looking at other people's family trees and then at the genealogists themselves.
And I started to think about death.
You might say death is what genealogy is all about. One of the less publicized benefits of genealogical research is its role in providing a gentle acquaintance with the idea of death … specifically, one's own. As I read through the family stories of online genealogists, I was struck by their casual, even cheerful way of noting the deaths of family members in the course of relating some larger story about their research. They're not morbid, nor are they flippant; they're simply more at ease with discussions of death because it's something they consider every day. It's even more profound than that, though, because I think their deep understanding of their roots is a tangible source of comfort in the face of death; to them, death is both unavoidable and familiar. And, of course, their own work offers the promise that someday one of their own ancestors will, in turn, remember them. When it comes to postlife expectations—divine resurrection aside—what more can one hope for?
Genealogy hobbyists are not just a bunch of well-adjusted funeral attendees, though; they're also nerds. I love nerds. My definition of a nerd is someone who is extremely interested in … something. Anything. Whether experts on sports scores, Star Wars, or Michael Kors, they're all nerds to me. These are people of passion, and the object of their fascination is less important than their zeal to know everything about it. With genealogy, there is a lot of "it" to know, from understanding the limits of mitochondrial DNA to locating the long-lost manifest of an ancient schooner, these people demonstrate that learn is the most active verb. My name is Buzzy Jackson and I, too, am a nerd.
Skeptics often distrust the motivations of genealogists. Isn't this obsession with ancestry just … self-obsession? Isn't it just another narcissistic pastime, sort of a "six degrees of separation" game in which one's own name takes the hallowed central spot usually reserved for Kevin Bacon? (Genealogy Nerd Fact #37: In New Mexico, people use the name "Juan Baca" instead of Kevin Bacon. No one really knows why.) Common sense and the math of genealogy say no. Once one reaches back past, say, one's grandparents' generation, there are just too many ancestors for anyone to feel a seriously intimate connection. Consider the generation before your grandfather—there are sixteen people involved there. And the rules of exponents reveal that this number just keeps getting bigger and bigger—yes, exponentially—with each generation, eventually resulting in thousands, then millions of ancestors. When you go way back, say, five thousand to fifteen thousand years ago, you hit what genetic researchers call the "identical ancestors point," which basically means this: if you look back far enough, we're all cousins. If nothing else, this provides some long-sought scientific backup for the conceptual framework of The Patty Duke Show.
If this is narcissism, then it's a form of self-love that extends to the whole human race. Genealogy math is full of strange facts. A recent New York Times article provoked hundreds of angry reader responses when the author asserted that less than 50 percent of any one person's ancestors are men. Reader, he proved it. (His calculations looked pretty convincing to me; but I should confess that I was an English major.) Then there's evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins's explanation of how our "250-greats grandparent" is not only a grandparent shared by you and me, but also the grandparent of all living chimpanzees. Even for hard-core Darwinians, this can be a little hard to digest.3 Personally, I was thrilled. Nerd alert.
Being nerds, genealogists love freaky details. Want to excite a genealogist? Just mention the 1890 Census … then hang on. The 1890 Census is the Rosebud of American genealogy. As the first machine-tabulated census, it reported the United States' total population (exactly 62,622,250) in six short weeks, unlike the 1880 Census, which wasn't completed until two years before the next census took place. Administered at a crucial time in America's immigration history, the 1890 Census provided a quantifiable measure of a new, multiethnic population. The data gathered included information on country of origin, race, ability to read and write English, and much more (including whether anyone in the house was officially "idiotic." Now that's information you can use).
Stored in the basement of the U.S. Department of Commerce Building in Washington, D.C., this trove of (future) genealogical information caught fire one night in 1921 and a quarter of the 1890 Census data was incinerated, with another 50 percent damaged by smoke and water. The accident became a key factor in the formation of the National Archives, a presumably safer home for America's in-box. But even that couldn't save the apparently doomed 1890 Census. Sometime in 1934 or 1935, all those punch cards disappeared—forever—when the librarian of Congress (who shall remain unnamed here) tacitly authorized their destruction along with a lot of other "scrap" paper.
Many, probably most nations have their own sad story of archival loss. Ireland lost nearly its entire collection of public archives, including all its census information, when the public records building in the Four Courts blew up during the Battle of Dublin in 1922. Only the few materials that had been left in the reading room were saved. Stories like these make genealogists (and historians, I must add) physically ill. So much information, lost forever; it's the Library of Alexandria all over again.
Genealogists are a dogged and frankly obsessive bunch. Human beings are record keepers. The first human records were stories, oral histories of tribal origins told to one another around the African cooking fire. Then came art and writing. Many of the oldest cave paintings depict what may be family groupings, perhaps the earliest expressions of the family tree. And virtually every ancient religion begins and ends with a story of lineage: So-and-So begat So-and-So, and so on. Historians argue that one of the hallmarks of the modern age was the emergence of bureaucracy.
Wherever you find bureaucracy, you will also find genealogists, because genealogists live for records. They may (and constantly do) scorn the carelessness and poor handwriting of the scribes and clerks who noted names and addresses in decades and centuries past, but they also deeply appreciate the fact that such documents exist. Genealogists will go to nearly any length to find a key record. And genealogists are all around us.
I had no idea.
They walk among us unnoticed; they look just like everyone else. But secretly, internally, they are plotting and planning their next research step: a trip to that remote county courthouse in Iowa; a friendly visit with the widow of the man who used to take roll at the Odd Fellows Lodge; a mental list of microfilm to be requested from the Family History Library. They're always up to something. One unproven statistic you hear a lot in the genealogy world is the "fact" that genealogy is the second most popular use for the Internet. Guess what the first one is.
Genealogists are everywhere. With their history of immigration, I assumed that Americans' interest in genealogy was probably unique, but no. It seems that anywhere people have parents you'll find an interest in genealogy. Take the United Kingdom, for example, where six million viewers tune in every week to watch the celebrity genealogy show, Who Do You Think You Are?
In the United States, the record-shattering TV premiere of Alex Haley's Roots in 1977 is credited by most genealogists for the huge upsurge in genealogical interest among all Americans, especially among those with African heritage. The African-American theme has been a strong one in American genealogy ever since, with the DNA-aided discovery in the late 1990s of the African-American descendants of Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings. Roots got an update in the 2006 PBS series African-American Lives, in which historian Henry Louis Gates guided Oprah Winfrey, Chris Rock, and several other prominent African-Americans back to their African ancestors with the help of genealogists and geneticists.
Now I was hooked. African-Americans like Henry Louis Gates found white ancestry where they didn't expect it. With a name like Jackson, it seemed possible that I might have African-American relatives I'd never met; the offspring of a relationship between one of my southern, slave-owning (or so I assumed) Jackson ancestors and, perhaps, a slave, just as the white descendants of Thomas Jefferson discovered African-American cousins they'd never known existed. I wasn't harboring conspiracy theories; everything I'd learned about American history supported this possibility. It was certainly worth looking into.
Pat's plan
It was all this that brought me to the library that morning. As I looked around at my fellow Beginning Genealogists I did feel a certain kinship, despite the reservations I shared with my fellow skeptics. The biggest turnoff for me was the notion of racial or lineal purity: a tacky sort of bloodline-based quest for status that kept registries like Burke's Peerage, the ultimate Who's Who of the royal set, in business. As I'd explored it, though, I recognized a different, simpler impulse: the desire to understand oneself, through a better understanding of one's own family.
"Decide where you're going," Pat instructed us, "and then you can figure out how you'll get there."
I was looking for Jacksons. Check.
"You may find a family line that speaks to you," Pat said, "and other ancestors who don't want to be found. That's all right; all genealogists hit a brick wall at some point." We all nodded, confident it would never happen to a single one of us. "For instance, you might end up looking for Johnsons." She rolled her eyes. "Johnsons are almost as bad as Smiths!" Nineteen people in the room laughed. I did not laugh. If Johnsons were almost as bad as Smiths, Jacksons must be worse. Even a beginner genealogist knows that Smiths are the laughingstocks of Anglo-European genealogy, the dynastic equivalent of a common housefly. Smiths are everywhere and there are too many of them. Apparently Jacksons were nearly as bad—the moths of genealogy, perhaps. Maybe we could be the cute ubiquitous surname family, like ladybugs. It was a stretch, I knew.
"Don't get discouraged," Pat said, oblivious to the black cloud of demoralization hovering over my head. "There are ways of getting through those brick walls … though it might take years to do it." She then began to list the research strategies available to us, we lucky genealogists of the Internet age. She handed out a sheet listing over one hundred Web sites related to genealogy, from state-sponsored archives to Ellis Island passenger lists. TGFI, baby.
While the Internet is a genealogist's best friend, it cannot do the research for you. As Pat explained, although the Internet had revolutionized access to genealogical information, the basic steps of genealogical research had not changed very much since the era of the rotary phone. She outlined them for us over the next couple of hours, but I provide them here, in their distilled form:
Start with yourself. Write down everything you already know and can verify about your family history. Interview yourself and your siblings (who may know different family stories—or different versions of them—than you do) then work back.
Interview as many living relatives as possible. Whether by phone or in person, talk to your relatives, especially the oldest ones, about the family history. Ask to see family mementos such as family Bibles, old photographs, and journals, even quilts that might contain data on your ancestors.
Collect as many relevant records as possible. Vital records are key; these are records of birth, death, and marriage. Other useful records include those concerning military service, employment, census information, city directory information, etc. Depending on the record, you'll find these online, in local courthouses or libraries, and in archives such as the Family History Library and the National Archives.
Ask for help. You don't have to hire a professional genealogist, though it's an option. You can also get great advice from librarians and members of the historical organizations where your family lived. But if you ask any genealogist, they will tell you the single best resource you have is other genealogists. By simply joining a local genealogical society (believe me, there's one near you), you'll end up meeting a lot of other people with similar interests and helpful strategies. One of the hallmarks of genealogy is the sense of mutual support. Genealogists live to share information, and that's true whether you're dealing with someone in your own genealogical society or simply the name and e-mail address of a genealogist across the world that you met in a virtual genealogy chat room.
Go deeper. Once you really get rolling, you can consider other research methods, including DNA testing and visiting the actual locations where your ancestors lived. Many hard-core genealogists plan all their vacations around family history research. Depending on how far back you get, this might mean a trip overseas.
And, the most important step of all: stay organized. Be methodical in your research; write everything down to avoid doing the same searches twice. Keep notes about what you've looked at and what's left to do. Find an organizational system that works for you and stick to it. These days, most genealogists use computer programs to help them keep track of their family tree and their research trail. Invest in one.
We've all read the enigmatic phrase on the shampoo bottle: Lather, rinse, repeat. It's the same with genealogy. The basic steps—interviews, archival research, expert consultation, travel—will repeat themselves, over and over, for as long as you stay involved. That's both the beauty and the curse of genealogy: it never ends. On the plus side, your research skills improve every time you go at it, making future work a little more smooth. And for addicted genealogists, there really is no downside.
The daylong course at the library continued, and my disappointment at having a common surname dissipated. We looked at Web sites. We discussed common mistakes. We learned.
In the year that followed, I learned much, much more. That day at the library was the beginning of a journey that would lead me to an abandoned Alabama cemetery and a beach in the Caribbean. I would be politely spurned by one relative and rib-crushingly embraced by another. It was a path that would lead me through four time zones and at least three regional dialects and ultimately reward me with the genealogical equivalent of a million-dollar lottery ticket. It would also force me to think more deeply about the cycles of birth, life, and death than I ever had before. My research would make me mourn the loss of my grandparents and appreciate the health of the family still with me.
What I learned on this journey changed my perspective on some of the biggest life issues any of us contemplate: my relationship to my family and my sense of my own life path. It also changed my life in smaller, concrete ways. I learned things about American history I'd never heard about in graduate school; I tried new foods; I forced myself to study the basic tenets of genetics in order to understand my DNA results; I changed the medications I take on a daily basis as a result of learning new information about my family's medical history, and much, much more (let us not dwell on the number of extra pounds I gained while "researching" the gastronomic heritage of my southern forebears).
Just as I began this journey I happened to hear an interview with the actress Tilda Swinton, who belongs to one of only three families able to trace its lineage back to the ninth century (they are known as Clan Swinton, in Burke's Peerage terminology). When asked about what it must be like to belong to such an old family, the beautifully spoken Tilda Swinton sighed, betraying just the tiniest speck of irritation. "Everyone's from an old family," she said. "Mine just wrote everything down."4
There you have it. Every single one of us alive today is by definition a member of an "old family." We don't hear about "young families" because … they died out. In genealogy, you're either old or you're dead. Whether last year or eight hundred years ago, when you're gone, you're gone. It's the chronicling of a family that links it to history. I wanted to know mine.
So, nerd that I am, I started at the beginning, just as Pat Roberts advised: start with yourself, then work backward. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Product Details
- Publisher: Touchstone (July 6, 2010)
- Length: 256 pages
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Raves and Reviews
"Very interesting and entertaining—I read it with pleasure."
—Tracy Kidder, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and New York Times bestselling author of Strength in What Remains
"Part Gen-X guide to genealogy, part rollicking road trip for roots – complete with somebody named Cousin Mooner – Buzzy Jackson's book is funny, illuminating and profound. If your idea of genealogy is grandpa hunched over that tattered ancestral chart he keeps in the back of his suspenders drawer, think again."
—Ariel Sabar, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and author of My Father's Paradise
"It's as if Tony Horwitz or Sarah Vowell invaded the hallowed halls of genealogy and exposed our past-adoring, source-citing, ancestor-worshiping underworld."
—Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, author of Who Do You Think You Are?: The Essential Guide to Tracing Your Family History
"This is a delightful book -- fun to read, but educational. Much recommended for anyone who has considered searching for their ancestors (or loves someone who does so). Jackson is so friendly, her outlook so generous -- from a cruise ship in the Caribbean to a forgotten graveyard in Alabama to a crowded library in Salt Lake City -- she is the perfect companion for this adventurous trip into the world of genealogy."
—Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club
"Jackson packs an amazing amount of information and advice into small, pithy paragraphs. . . her descriptions of the process and the people she met will prove fascinating to everyone with an interest in tracing their family backward." —Booklist
"Jackson's account is an easily digested travelogue into her family's history and a vivid journey into the world of genealogy." —The Boston Globe
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- Author Photo (jpg): Buzzy Jackson Photograph by Andrea Scher(7.0 MB)
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Paul Holt continues to enjoy his birding at Laotieshan. Yesterday (Tuesday) he saw two Golden Eagles (in addition to seven Greater Spotted Eagles) plus both Siberian and Alpine Accentors. A Marsh Grassbird (Japanese Swamp Warbler) was also something of a surprise.
As an aside, check out this beast photographed at Wild Duck Lake on Sunday… any ideas as to identification?

subset: commoncrawl


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Grant Hill, who fell short of expectations in six injury-marred seasons with Orlando, has decided to sign a free-agent contract with the Phoenix Suns.
The move continues an overhaul of the Magic lineup and shores up the small forward position for Phoenix.
Hill's agent, Lon Babby, said Thursday that Hill has agreed in principle to a two-year deal -- known as a bi-annual exception -- for $1.8 million this season and almost $2 million in 2008-09 at the player's option. Teams can offer $1.2 million as the mid-level exception for veterans, but can offer the bigger $1.8 million bi-annually.
The deal will not be considered official until July 11, the first day free agents are allowed to officially sign new contracts.
Hill, 34, also considered the Pistons, Heat, Mavs and Spurs but ultimately chose the Suns because of their ability to give him a meaningful role on the team and a chance at a championship.
"Obviously money wasn't the biggest factor here," Babby said. "He had offers for a lot more money. Grant wants a chance to win a championship and he wanted to go to a place that would give him a chance to contribute. Phoenix was the perfect fit."
The seven-time All-Star gives Phoenix some help at small forward after the team traded away James Jones on draft night. Hill should challenge Boris Diaw for the starting small forward role.
Despite Hill joining the team, the Suns' future remains rather murky at this point. While they have been a contender every year since Steve Nash joined the team, uncertainty remains around the roster for the 2007-08 season.
The team has been heavily involved in Kevin Garnett trade rumors this summer. In almost every scenario that has leaked, players like Shawn Marion or Amare Stoudemire could potentially head to other teams. It is still unclear how Hill's signing will affect the Suns' thinking about trading Marion or Stoudemire or trading for Garnett.
Suns owner Robert Sarver would like new Suns general manager Steve Kerr to trim around $10 million in payroll this summer in order to avoid paying the league's luxury tax -- another factor that might influence the team's decision-making.
Hill's decision to leave the Magic ends a long, tortured relationship with the franchise. When Hill joined the team in 2000 (along with free agent Tracy McGrady) in a sign-and-trade with Detroit, people were talking about winning championships. However, complications from ankle surgery in the summer of 2000 derailed Hill's career.
In his six seasons with the Magic, Hill played more than 30 games in a season only twice. In total, Hill played in only 200 of the 492 total regular-season games the Magic played while he was under contract for $93 million.
Chad Ford covers the NBA for ESPN Insider.


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We are pleased to share the most current information available to help our stakeholders measure student achievement in all 24 districts from year to year.
In 2015 Maryland implemented the new Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) state assessments in English Language Arts and mathematics. The new assessment replace the Maryland School Assessments in English and Mathematics in grades 3-8, and replace the High School Assessments in Algebra and English 10.
School Improvement in Maryland, at MDK12.msde.maryland.gov, is an MSDE website that provides resources to help schools analyze and use their data to improve instruction and student achievement.
Release 17.00 | Last Updated 1/22/2016 | Copyright 1998–2023


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This is a feature/meme created by Danya @ A Tapestry of Words where you choose a book each week leading up to Christmas and say why it's made it onto your wishlist – and I'd love to see what books everyone else is hoping to get! So if you want to make your own blog post about it, please link up here. :)
My pick for this week is...
"Kiss of the Rose" by Kate Pearce
Genre: Historical & Paranormal Romance
Pages: 296
Author's website: http://www.katepearce.com/
Published: August 2010 by Signet
Goodreads Blurb:
Desperate to defeat King Richard III and gain the crown, Henry Tudor made a pact with the Druids binding him and his heirs to the Druids' struggle against vampires. Ever since, the Llewellyns, a vampire- slaying family, have been in the king's employ. Now Henry VIII reigns, and his father's bargain has been almost forgotten-until bloodless corpses turn up in the king's bedchamber. To save the king, Vampire hunter Rosalind Llewellyn must form an uneasy alliance with Druid slayer Sir Christopher Ellis. But soon, Rosalind must face an unthinkable truth: that her sworn enemy may be her soulmate...
I chose this book because I love the whole idea about historical and paranormal mixed. I've read tons of books about the Tudors and this one sounds awesome and I have taken a look at the second book in the series and I can't wait to read that one either. Just take a look at the cover it's fantastic!


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MapleStory : Over 200,000 Players Take Part in Charity Drive
Nexon has announced that over 200,000 MapleStory players participated in special quests to help donate $10,000 to help support water efforts in Rwanda. buy Maple Story mesos.Players carried tanks of water for thirty in-game minutes to support the cause.
During the last week of September and the first week of October, MapleStory hosted two in-game quests that were designed to engage users to learn about the importance of clean water and to allow them to show their support of the charity: water efforts in Rwanda. In the first quest, MapleStory players collected water droplets from monsters, while in the second quest, players were tasked with carrying a container of water for 30 minutes while in-game. Each completion of either quest helped contribute to fill a water gauge monitoring the total donation to be made to charity: water.
Contact Us
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Buyer Complaints :[email protected] (For any dispute email, we'll reply within 24 hrs)
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Possible account termination when using illegal leveling or illegally obtained gold.


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WASHINGTON—Calling it a "major-ass haul" that would provide "some much-needed scratch," Vice President Joe Biden reportedly scored over 800 feet of copper wire from a foreclosed home in the D.C. suburbs, White House sources confirmed Thursday.
Biden, who is admittedly "flat fucking broke" from throwing numerous "ragin' keggers" over the last nine months, recently devised the plan to strip copper wiring around the Washington, D.C. area after hearing that there was a thriving black market for the ductile metal.
"There's tons of dough in copper wire if you've got the know-how," the vice president was overheard telling a White House official, explaining that he learned the hard way that swiping manhole covers wasn't worth the hassle. "As Lady Luck always says, moving copper ain't easy. But if you play the metal game right, you're looking at something like a two- to three-grand payday for a night's worth of work."
"At this point, I'm just looking for a dealer who won't dick me over," Biden added. "It's tough finding a trustworthy metal theft ring. Some of the guys in this biz can be real pieces of shit."
While tearing down the walls of a vacated residence in Reston, VA earlier this week, the former six-term Delaware senator was reportedly stoked to discover a "goddamn goldmine" of "pure coil" after smashing a hole in the masonry barrier with a sledgehammer.
"When we were breaking into the basement window, I told my buddy Blaze that I had a damn good feeling about the joint," Biden reportedly informed several colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "One second, me and Blaze are covered in plaster dust from busting holes in drywall, and the next thing I know we're celebrating our killer score of primo copper with a couple 40s of King Cobra."
According to aides familiar with the vice president's illicit activity, Biden and his partner Blaze have had marginal success stripping copper from buildings around the Capitol, often breaking into strip malls and construction sites at night to "gank" wire from the walls.
During one robbery the veteran politician had dubbed "Operation Diablo," the vice president and Blaze waited until Congress went on a five-week hiatus before "hitting up" the Library of Congress, which Biden had observed "has a shit-ton of copper."
Biden reportedly struggled to sell the copper wire stolen from the Library of Congress, blaming a series of critical setbacks that included a doomed alliance with Blaze's "hothead" cousin Derek who ruined several "juicy" deals by making enemies at numerous scrap yards.
"Had a real tough time unloading it last time," said Biden, referring to a "sketchy" deal in which negotiations broke down with a buyer at a Washington recycling plant. "Sure, sometimes Diamond Joe goes barking up the wrong tree. This one ballbuster tried to jerk me out of 300 smackers. Truth be told, a lot of these cheap bastards wouldn't know a deal on quality wire if it was stomping on their nuts."
"Almost sold some scrap metal to [House Minority Leader John] Boehner, though," Biden added. "He didn't bite, but I got a pretty good feeling I got him in the bag for next time around."
Sources confirmed that until Biden can determine a more viable course of action, the vice president plans to stow his latest copper score in a rented storage unit outside Bethesda, which also houses his collection of vintage stag films and tanto knives.
Biden also announced plans to scale back operations with Blaze, who the 70-year-old public servant increasingly believes will double-cross him.
"Blaze can no longer be trusted," said the vice president while covering copper tubing with a tarp, noting that Blaze's plan to strip coil from the vice presidential residence during his first term left him without power for six weeks. "He wants to keep it in his shed, but I said no can do."
"One minute we're stripping grade-A orange from the National Museum of History, and the next, Blaze is hopping the border to Tennessee with [Secretary of Transportation] Ray [LaHood] and a truck full of my wire," Biden added. "From now on, Joe flips coil solo."
At press time, Biden was reportedly encouraging President Barack Obama to get in on the action.
For more on Joe Biden, please purchase the vice president's new autobiography here


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PRAGUE, April 28, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Thirty-seven-year old Huseyin Celil, an ethnic Uyghur originally from northwestern China, was detained in Tashkent on March 27.
Celil was with his wife and three children visiting his in-laws in Tashkent. He was detained while applying for a renewal of his Uzbek visa.
Held Without Charges
Celil's wife, Komila Telindibaeva, returned to her home in Hamilton, eastern Canada, after several futile attempts to see her husband, who was held by the Uzbek Interior Ministry. She tells RFE/RL that no charges have been brought against Celil so far.
"They (Uzbek authorities) don't say anything, we heard nothing from them," Telindibaeva said. "They don't say what they will do. They haven't said anything to the [Canadian] consul when he phoned them."
Before obtaining a refugee status in Canada in 2001, Celil was a political activist and fought for the rights of Muslim Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), where he was arrested and allegedly tortured. In 1996, he fled to Kyrgyzstan where he also spent nine months in jail at China's request, Telindibaeva says. After being acquitted, Celil fled to Turkey before reaching Canada.
Celil's wife says he has not been involved in any political activity since fleeing China.
Canadian Government Involved
Rights watchdog groups and 12 other nongovernmental organizations expressed concern over Celil's fate saying he is likely to face torture and execution if returned to China. They wrote to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper asking him to intervene personally.
Beth Berton-Hunter, Amnesty International's information officer, spoke to RFE/RL from Toronto.
"That's very much our concern and that's why we've asked the Canadian government to intervene on his behalf as a Canadian citizen and to ensure that he is released and returned to Canada," she said.
Beth Richardson of the Canadian Embassy in Moscow told RFE/RL on April 27 that embassy officials have been in contact with Uzbek authorities about the case. The embassy official is in Tashkent where she met with Celil, Richardson said, but she refused to speak of Celil's current state. Neither did she elaborate on Ottawa's negotiations with Tashkent.
Canadian authorities say they are using all possible diplomatic avenues, including appeals to other countries, to press for the release of Celil from jail.
Prime Minister Harper assigned his parliamentary secretary, Jason Kenney, to personally deal with the case.
Speaking after Celil's wife, Telindibaeva, gave a press conference on April 26, Kenney said it was "outrageous" that the Uzbek authorities detained Celil without any clear explanation as to why or what their interest is in him.
He added that Ottawa is "preoccupied" with Celil's fate and is pressing the case "with full vigor."
Others Also Detained
Meanwhile, two more Uyghur men remain in detention in Kazakhstan.
Thirty-five-year old Yusuf Kadir Tohti and Abdukadir Sidik, aged 30, both originally from the XUAR, were detained in Kazakhstan last month.
Tohti has lived in Kazakhstan since 1996 and worked as a religious teacher. In China, he was accused of promoting separatism.
Sidik fled the XUAR in 1999 after publicly protesting against Beijing's policy on minorities, particularly the family planning policy, which limits the number of children families can have.
Amnesty International's Berton-Hunter says all three men were detained on an extradition request by China.
"There is certainly an arrangement between the different Central Asian countries and China," she says. "What has been confirmed is that they are sending people back to China. What the whole issue is, really, that it's Chinese-driven as far as we can see."
Chinese authorities have accused Uyghurs -- Turkic-speaking Muslims -- of violent Islamic separatism aimed at creating an independent state of East Turkestan in northwestern China.
Official Beijing has labeled separatism, terrorism, and extremism as "three evil forces" and, as many argue, used them as a pretext to crack down on dissent. Experts also say China has used the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to target dissidents.
Notably, the three arrests took place before the SCO defense minister gathering in Beijing on April 26, when the group -- which is comprised of Russia, China, and four Central Asian states, marked its 10th anniversary.
Dilshod Rashid, a Sweden-based spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, tells RFE/RL that Uyghurs have become victims of cooperation between Central Asian states and China.
"When the whole world put diplomatic, political pressure on Uzbekistan after the Andijon events, [Uzbek President] Islam Karimov was [embraced] in Beijing," Rashid said. "This was a demonstration of cooperation between two dictatorial states.
One of the aspects of this cooperation is that in Uzbekistan, Uyghurs and even pro-democratic Uzbeks have been oppressed and thrown in jail. Arrests of people fighting for East Turkestan's freedom and [possible] extradition of them to Beijing is also a result of this cooperation."
History Of Repression In China
Human rights groups say that if returned to China, the three men would be at serious risk, including torture or other ill-treatment, possibly even the death penalty.
Komila Telindibaeva also expressed fear for her husband's future if he would be extradited to China. "I am fearful of China," she said. "He didn't do anything wrong in Central Asia. He was detained only at the request of China."
Amnesty International says it has documented several cases of Uyghurs being sentenced to death and executed in the XUAR for alleged acts of separatism and terrorism in recent years.
The most recent case is Ismail Semed, an Uyghur human-rights activist, who was sentenced to death following deportation from Pakistan to China and was likely executed, the Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project said earlier this month.
RFE/RL Central Asia Report
SUBSCRIBE For regular news and analysis on all five Central Asian countries by e-mail, subscribe to "RFE/RL Central Asia Report."


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Day 20
Love is Jesus Christ
While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. –Romans 5:6
The previous day and dare lead to no other conclusion that this. Thankfully, it's a conclusion you can live with—today, tomorrow, and forever.
Jesus has come "to seek and to save" you (Luke 19:10). Everything you've failed at and haven't been able to do, every minute you've wasted trying to fix things your own way—all of it can be forgiven and made right by putting your life into the hands of the One who first gave it to you.
Maybe you've never done this. Then today is your day. "Now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2).
Maybe you did it years ago, but you've wandered far from your spiritual roots. Then "repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19). Even if you've already made Christ your way of life and have never stopped walking in fellowship with Him, the following Scriptures will be a grateful reminder of all He's done for you.
The Bible says we are sinful from birth, from the moment we arrive. "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5). "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment" (Isaiah 64:6). It's not as though God sends innocent people to hell.
We deserve it. We simply can't be good enough to live with a pure and holy God.
However, "God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him" (I John 4:9). "Although He existed in the form of god, [He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant…He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:6-8). "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed" (I Peter 2:24). By His death, He made invalid the very idea that you are unloved and devalued. If you ever feel that way, you're not looking at the cross. He proved His love for you there.
Love like this cannot be fully understood. "One will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:7-8).
Nor can love like this be earned. "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).
But it must be received. "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation" (Romans 10:9-10).
And when you have received this new life and love as your own, you are free to love in ways you've never been capable before.
"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers…This is His command; to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us" (I John 3:16, 23 NIV). "The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (I John 4:8).
He was willing to love you even though you didn't deserve it, even when you didn't love back. He was able to see all your flaws and imperfections and still choose to love you. His love made the greatest sacrifice to meet your greatest need. As a result, you are able (by His grace) to walk in the fullness and blessing of His love. Now and forever.
This means you now share this same love with your spouse. You can love even when you're not loved in return. You can see all their flaws and imperfections and still choose to love. And though you can't meet their needs the way God can, you can become His instrument to meet the needs of your spouse. As result, he or she can walk in the fullness and blessing of your love. Now and till death.
True love is found in Christ alone. And after you have received His gift of new life by accepting His death in your place and His forgiveness for your sins, you are finally ready to live the dare.
Today's Dare
Dare to take God at His Word. Dare to trust Jesus Christ for salvation. Dare to pray "Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. But You have shown Your love for me by dying to forgive my sins, and You have proven Your power to save me from death by Your resurrection. Lord, change my heart, and save me by Your grace."
Write about what this experience has been like for you. Even if you are only renewing your commitment to receive and express His love, what has He shown you today?
In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them. (Isaiah 63:9)
Click here to buy a copy of the Love Dare book.
Material taken from The Love Dare by Stephen and Alex Kendrick, copyright © 2009 by B&H Publishing Group. Used by permission. Unauthorized reproduction in any format is strictly prohibited by law.
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The Hard Rock Hotel's infamous pool party Rehab Sundays welcomed celebrity host Aubrey O'Day with deejay sets by S.K.A.M. artist Eric D-Lux and resident DJ Shift on Sunday. The "Celebrity Apprentice" star was showing off her curves in a cut out black tiger one piece bathing suit while hanging out with a group of her friends.
She later joined DJ Shift and Eric D-Lux on stage trying her hand at spinning and taking pictures with the resident DJs, tweeting "Me and @ericdlux looking like Barbie and Ken ;)!".
O'Day made a splash at the weekly pool party after being seen walking the red carpet with her two dogs also dressed in bikinis.
Click on the photos below to enlarge.
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by John Hawkins | June 28, 2010 8:08 am
It's no surprise that a guy like David Frum would be defending Dave Weigel, who resigned from the WAPO after his private comments mocking conservatives went public and proved exactly what conservatives have been saying all along: –: that he: is hostile to the right and had no business writing a blog called: : "Inside the conservative movement and Republican Party." In other words, we have a guy who doesn't like the conservative movement or the Republican Party, being billed as a real Republican[1], and writing an: "Inside the conservative movement and Republican Party" column from the outside.
That's a big pet peeve of mine about the mainstream media — but, more on that in: a: moment. For now, let's circle back to Frum's comments near the end of his piece,
4) Weigel's private comments confirm what is obvious from his writing: he is not a member and supporter of the conservative movement. He's a critical but knowledgeable outsider. Some see that as a disqualification for his job as a writer. Some even suggest that the only way to cover conservatism "fairly" would be to hire a committed conservative. Thus blogger John Hawkins:
Here we have a leftward leaning Libertarian writing a column called "Inside the conservative movement and Republican Party with Dave Weigel." Except Weigel isn't a conservative, he isn't a Republican, and he relentlessly runs down Republicans and the conservative movement.
You may say: Well who cares what John Hawkins think? Reasonable point — except that Hawkins is the person entrusted by Google to determine who may join the conservative blogads cloud. (Disclosure: He decided that FrumForum could not participate. We no longer qualified as conservatives because we had criticized other conservatives, particularly Rush Limbaugh.)
Ah, I've been waiting for this.
You see, I don't work for Blogads (or Google. Not sure where that came from), but I do indeed run the Blogads Conservative Hive[2] (It's : a great place to buy conservative ads).
In May, someone representing Frum's blog wrote me (I don't see the point of dragging his name into it), noted that FrumForum had joined Blogads, and asked to be included in the Hive.
Now, as a general rule, I try to be very open minded about who gets into the Blogads Conservative Hive[2]. If they're generally friendly to conservatives and seem to have a mostly conservative audience, I don't mind having them on board. So, aside from conservative blogs, there are Libertarian blogs in the Hive and there are blogs I'd call center-right. It goes without saying that there are plenty of issues where members of the Hive, myself included, don't see eye-to-eye.
Still, to the best of my recollection, there have only been two bloggers ever denied a spot in the Blogads Conservative Hive[2] for ideological reasons. One of them was Charles Johnson from Little Green Footballs[3] whom,: ironically, I sponsored at Blogads and invited to the Hive, and then later booted from the Hive after his blog went completely off the rails to the Left. In that case, I didn't even get to discuss it with Charles because my emails bounced (I assumed he blocked them — yes, I've been told he does that sometimes)…although I really tend to doubt that he cared since I'm undoubtedly just conservative creep #8,642 to him at this point[4].
The other blog denied entry into the Blogads Conservative Hive[2] for ideological reasons was FrumForum.
I did at least try to be nice about it. Here's the initial response I sent:
I'm afraid that I don't consider FrumForum to be a conservative website, so I'm going to have to decline to add you to the conservative hive. Still, there are other hives and if you check around, you'll probably find one that FrumForum fits in better with.
Nice enough, right? A couple of days later, I got this response back with David Frum cc'd on the email,
I shared your e-mail refusal to add FrumForum.com to the Blogads advertising hive because you don't consider it conservative to David and he said, ".. You may tell him from me that I consider this decision a fascinating news story in its own right."
I ask that you please reconsider the add. I have copied David on this message should you like to explain your decision directly.
As regular readers of RWN have probably guessed, I didn't like the pretentious tone there or the implied threat[5]. You see, David Frum has played this little game before. When AEI sacked him from his $100,000 year gig that he never showed up for, he went boo-hooing to the Politico,
David Frum told us last night that he believes his axing from his $100,000-a-year "resident scholar" gig at the conservative American Enterprise Institute was related to DONOR PRESSURE following his viral blog post arguing Republicans had suffered a devastating, generational "Waterloo" in their loss to President Obama on health reform. "There's a lot about the story I don't really understand," Frum said from his iPhone. "But the core of the story is the kind of economic pressure that intellectual conservatives are under. AEI represents the best of the conservative world. [AEI President] Arthur Brooks is a brilliant man, and his books are fantastic. But the elite isn't leading anymore. It's trapped. Partly because of the desperate economic situation in the country, what were once the leading institutions of conservatism are constrained. I think Arthur took no pleasure in this. I think he was embarrassed. I think he would have avoided it if he possibly could, but he couldn't."
We talked at length afterward with an AEI official in an effort to get a specific response to Frum's charge. …Frum, who will be 50 in June, had been on the payroll since leaving the Bush White House in 2003. He acknowledges he was very seldom at the office. But he maintains he developed and spread conservative ideas — AEI's stated goal — with the 300,000 words a year that he writes for his blog, FrumForum.com; his weekly columns for CNN.com, The Week, and the National Post of Canada; his biweekly offerings for TIME and American Public Media's "Marketplace"; and his three TV and three radio appearances in a typical week. He also landed Canadian Finance Minister James Flaherty for an AEI retreat last month that included donors. Frum tells us that regardless of his dismay with the party, he'll stay registered GOP.
Here was my response to that at the time and the sentiment still stands,
Let's be honest: there are probably a hundred people just as qualified as Frum for that cushy gig at AEI and with the rest of them, you're not going to have to wonder if they'll "stay registered GOP."
Furthermore, the whole idea that conservatives aren't supposed to get down on people like Frum, Meghan McCain, Kathleen Parker, David Brooks, etc., etc., is insulting. At least liberals have the chops to let everyone know that they despise conservatives. These people pretend to be on our side, undercut us at every opportunity because they think it's good for their career, and then whine if they get any blowback for it. If these people want to make a career out of cutting off conservatives at the knees for the amusement of the Left, I don't see any reason why conservatives should go along with it or worse yet, hand them cherry $100,000 jobs on a silver platter for the privilege of being insulted.
So, after reading that, you know how I feel about people like Frum. You also know that I didn't like his little implied threat. Now, let me repost the email followed by my response to Frum's representative — and, : yes, Frum was cc'd on my response:
From Frum's representative:
I shared your e-mail refusal to add FrumForum.com to the Blogads advertising hive because you don't consider it conservative to David and he said, ".. You may tell him from me that I consider this decision a fascinating news story in its own right."
I ask that you please reconsider the add. I have copied David on this message should you like to explain your decision directly.
From me:
I used to like and respect David Frum. Then, I guess he decided being a small fish in a big conservative pond wasn't good enough for him. That's when it appears to me that he made a business decision to trash conservatives for the amusement of the Left. Whatever his motives may be, that's his decision.
But, if that's what he wants to be known for, I'm certainly not going to do anything to help him stick a shiv deeper in the back of people who believe the things that I do. Maybe some people are willing to turn a blind eye because they know and like David personally, but I'm not his friend, I genuinely don't consider him to be a conservative or even someone who's friendly to the conservative movement, and I'm not willing to give him a pass for the way he behaves.
So, if you or David think it's a "fascinating news story in its own right," knock yourself out. Maybe David can write about it the next time he sneers at conservatives for Newsweek.
You may tell David that from me.
Guys like Frum want to have it both ways. Being a "Republican / conservative" who tells liberals what they want to hear about the Right is a career niche — and it can pay big dividends. Note all the places that Frum said he appears in that AEI related article,
His weekly columns for CNN.com, The Week, and the National Post of Canada; his biweekly offerings for TIME and American Public Media's "Marketplace"; and his three TV and three radio appearances in a typical week.
Yet, according to Alexa, even I have not just one, but TWO websites that get more traffic than Frumforum.
Right Wing News:[6] Alexa Traffic Rank: 48,922
Linkiest:[7] Alexa Traffic Rank: 57,054
FrumForum:[8] Alexa Traffic Rank: 69,535
So despite all the tongue baths from the mainstream media, Frum still can't attract and hold an audience even as big as mine — and honestly, I'm small potatoes compared to some of the bigger bloggers out there.
That begs a question: why is David Frum getting a column at CNN? How is it that Time has a guy like this writing for them? What's the purpose of putting a guy like Frum on TV as opposed to all the genuine conservatives who dwarf his traffic and can obviously draw a bigger crowd?
Let's say you don't like my material — well, I'm a peon compared to Ed Morrissey & Allah at Hot Air[9]. Ace from Ace of Spades HQ[10] has proven he can draw and hold a big audience. Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit[11] does phenomenal work and probably draws and holds 4 readers a day for every one Frum has. How come those guys aren't writing for CNN? Where's their column at Time? Where's their blog on the Washington Post explaining the conservative movement?
There's an easy answer to that question: the mainstream media loves "conservatives" and "Republicans" who will trash whomever the Left hates most. So, if you're willing to talk about how Sarah Palin is a hick, Glenn Beck is a crank, Rush Limbaugh is bad for the country, and the Tea Party is bad for democracy, the mainstream media will reward you: –: and because conservatives pride themselves on being open minded, they'll all too often give you a pass for your atrocious behavior — especially since the MSM doesn't insist you play their game all the time. As long as you're willing to say what they want about the people they hate the most, they'll reward you with a cover story at Newsweek and then in your off time, you can churn out a few articles to point gullible conservatives towards while you're trying to guilt them into taking you seriously by crying "epistemic closure!"
This is what David Frum does for a living — and don't think he doesn't know it. Even the people who write for him know it. I ran into someone who writes for his blog at an event once. He was extremely defensive about writing for them. I must have heard him tell at least three people, myself included, something akin to, "I write for FrumForum, but please don't hold that against me."
Long story short, everybody has to make a living. But, I'm not interested in helping people like Frum play this little game where they try to cripple conservatives publicly while coming around on the back end to milk us for money. If Frum wants to be a dancing monkey for the Left, let them come up with the money to pay for the tune.
Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/conservatives/why-i-denied-david-frums-website-a-spot-in-the-blogads-conservative-hive/
Copyright ©2023 John Hawkins' Right Wing News unless otherwise noted.


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Today Up On Christmachine Audio Reference Music Server :
Time for another Doc Photo Post! I want to welcome my new followers from Twitter and the interwebs. As I said before we have so much amazing history to show in photos. This post is only another sampling of the 1000′s of amazing and rare photos I have from the Doctor which he has bestowed upon us! If you see a photo you know already, the doctor had his hands involved in it or at least through his friendship with the great Ross Halfin and other of our generations greatest music photographers. It's going to take me years to post the best and I'm honored to do it here. One day Doc will be known more for his art than his real job, lead rigger for "The Monster". So here we will publicly post and archive his Art of Photography.
I fixed all the videos on the night page (except 2, for Copyrght Issues) , there are more playlists to come soon, as well as more Articles!
AGAIN ALMOST ALL VIDEOS HAVE BEEN FIXED: NEW UPDATED & SYNCHED ~ LANA, FOOS, CLASH, MAIDEN, ELECTRONIC, SRV, PARAMORE, etc. etc.
Here in the links below:
Also as I posted before, Coming In September the new "BASTARD SAINT" [SERIES] ~
Also the first REVIEW in September is going to be the biggest and most comprehensive review We have ever attempted. Yes Bigger then Pepper's! It's going to be of my personal favorite album of all time. This will be another Audio Reference Music Server Exclusive, there is nothing else like it on the web. Some of you may be able to guess what it is…but I hope it will be a welcome surprise to many. It will drop in the first or second week in September!
To Finish and get to the post…In the next few months I will be working on a big surprise for all our friends here…it is so big that it makes my head spin…"Travel" is a hint as is "Global", coming in 2015! Everyone will be along for the ride! wink wink nudge nudge! 😉
Stay Tuned….
You're welcome to join me on Twitter if you want and I'll follow you back as well.
Thanks For Reading and as always for you're support…Now we can get down to business!
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- Click On Small Photos to Enlarge!
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You ain't seen nuthin yet!
Thanks Doc your the bestest.
Thanks, as always, for your support.
Cheers and Bless Bless!
Please do not reproduce this article either all or in part without the expressed written permission of the author who can be reached via the "Contact" section in the header menu. You may link to the article if you wish, all that we ask is that you give credit to the respective author…"Christmachine" wherever you post a link. Thank you.
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Earlier this decade, most of the people Dr. Ali Bayrakdar treated were seeking cosmetic surgery to recover from traumatic injuries. But, if he's like most other plastic surgeons in Baghdad, his patients are seeking something more superficial these days.
Cosmetic surgeons are seeing more and more patients — particularly women — seeking surgery to improve their looks by getting increasingly popular nose jobs or alleviate back pain by reducing their breasts. Surgeons are noticing the difference.
"Definitely we are performing more plastic surgery than before, mainly because the security situation of the country has improved," said Rida Ali, a plastic surgeon who estimates that half her patients are seeking cosmetic surgery, compared with less than a quarter a few years ago.
They include men as well as women, and most of them want nose jobs, which cost $600 to $1,000 each.
While it's good that the security situation is improving for Iraqis, I'm not sure that an uptick in plastic surgery is necessarily a development to be celebrating.
Some people think that plastic surgery is increasing in popularity because more Iraqis have access to pop culture and images of supposed physical perfection that are themselves surgically created.
The trend has been fueled largely by the arrival of satellite television, which since 2003 has beamed into Iraqi living rooms the glamorous Egyptian and Lebanese celebrities who are reputed to keep regular appointments with their cosmetic surgeons.
The results aren't always what the patient expected.
"Our patients get all their ideas from TV, then they come to us and request the operation," said Mahdi Hameed Abood, a senior surgeon at the Wasiti Center for Reconstructive Surgery.
Iraqis: they're just like us!
Many women say that they get plastic surgery to get a husband — or, in one case, to get her daughter a husband.
Marriage prospects are a major reason cited by Iraqi women for choosing to go under the knife. During the worst years of the sectarian war, matches were put on hold, and now many women feel they have to make up for lost time.
Mulook Abuid Wihhab, 49, believes she found a husband because of the nose job she had 23 years ago, and she dreamed of a similar operation for her daughter Noor, 21, a business student at Baghdad University.
She was finally able to get her daughter the nose job she always wanted to her to have recently, as doctors were less busy treating victims of violence. Who knew it would be so easy to come up with a downside to a reduction in violence in Iraq?
The New Face Of Plastic Surgery In Iraq [LA Times]


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Canon's New EOS Digital Rebel XTi SLR Raises Resolution, Increases Ease, Lowers Cost and Leaves Other Digital SLRs in the Dust
Canon's EOS Digital Rebel XT model – the camera that set all time sales records for digital SLRs of any persuasion (supplanting the original Digital Rebel's claim to that title) – now takes its place alongside of the newest member of the irrepressible Rebel clan: the 10.1 megapixel EOS Digital Rebel XTi SLR camera. For 16 years, the Rebel brand has stood for advanced, sophisticated and easy-to-use. The new Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera continues that legacy, taking discriminating photo hobbyists, enthusiasts, advanced amateurs and SLR aficionados to places digital dreams are made of…and more economically than ever before.
"The EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera continues to lead the way with impressive innovations and an array of advancements simply not found on other digital SLRs in the sub-$1,000 price-range," stated Yukiaki Hashimoto, senior vice president and general manager of the consumer imaging group at Canon USA, Inc. "Canon technology is born of inspiration, imagination and our passion to help photographers make the best pictures possible. Nowhere is the combination of undeniable quality and value more evident than on this new EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera."
In stores mid-September, the EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera is offered in both sleek brushed silver patina and "pro" matte black finishes. It is available in two kit configurations: with and without Canon's high quality EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens. The EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera will be available for an estimated selling price $899* with the zoom lens kit, while the body only kit will carry and estimated selling price of $799*. In order to maintain an appropriate pricing structure, the Digital Rebel XT model will carry an adjusted estimated selling price of $799* with the zoom lens kit and $699* for the body only kit.
No mere intermediate upgrade, this new EOS Digital Rebel XTi SLR continues Canon's combination of imaging excellence, intuitive ease of use and affordability. Indeed the EOS XTi Digital SLR camera now leads the Digital Rebel revolution with such marquee features as its higher 10.1 megapixel resolution; refined and redesigned Canon CMOS sensor; larger, easier to read 2.5 inch display screen (along with simplified and streamlined menu navigation), and the remarkable EOS Integrated Cleaning System, a self-cleaning image sensor unit/dust removal system that is available on no other camera of any make, at any price.
Despite the addition of these and other imaging improvements – including Canon's fast, high-precision 9-point autofocus system and a new maximum burst rate in large/fine and raw quality modes that – at three frames per second – is double the capability of the Digital Rebel XT SLR, The EOS Digital Rebel XTi SLR makes its debut at a price point that is $100 less than its top-selling sibling was at its introduction and hundreds of dollars less than other SLR cameras and camera kits in its class.
CMOS Sensor-tivity
At the heart of the Rebel XTi SLR's high-resolution image capability is its large, single plate, CMOS color image sensor. Designed and manufactured by Canon specifically for the Rebel XTi SLR, this highly responsive sensor's 10.1 million pixels are fractionally smaller than the pixels in the 8 megapixel Rebel XT model, yet deliver markedly improved resolution, enabling the sensor to capture more image information. This results not simply in the ability to generate larger images, but also permits details from cropped images to be rendered with higher image quality than cropped images from lower resolution sensors. At 22.2 x 14.8 mm in size, this new CMOS sensor maintains the 1.6x conversion ratio found on many other members of the EOS Digital SLR line including the Rebel XT and the EOS 30D models.
Inherently more efficient than CCD type image sensors, Canon CMOS sensors significantly reduce image noise levels by converting light values to electrical signals on the chip rather than having them converted elsewhere in the camera. The Rebel XTi SLR's CMOS sensor goes further still, maintaining an exceptional dynamic range while reducing the noise level that one might typically expect for a pixel size delivering such high resolution. Canon engineers and designers achieved this breakthrough in sensor design by reducing the space between the chip's microlenses while at the same time increasing the sensitivity of each photodiode. As a result, the camera achieves 20 percent greater resolution than an eight-megapixel sensor with comparable noise reduction and dynamic range.
The Digital Rebel XTi SLR also continues the long-standing tradition of featuring a wide range of ISO settings (100 -1600) with the ability to "float" to any intermediate step along that range in fully automatic modes while allowing the user to set the ISO manually at full step intervals in the camera's creative modes.
The Dust Free Zone
Beautiful, high-res images marred by the presence of ugly high-res dust spots can be cause for painstaking, time consuming photo retouching (with varying degrees of success). Canon takes the quest for imaging excellence and easier camera maintenance a unified giant step forward with its new, two-tiered dust removal technology called the EOS Integrated Cleaning System, available only on the EOS Rebel XTi camera.
While real world shooting rarely achieves "clean-room" standards, Canon has gone out of its way to design the XTi model to first create or attract no dust. Canon begins by minimizing the dust and particles created by the camera itself, by reformulating the materials used in the body cap and shutter to materials more resistant to particle "fall out" due to normal use and wear. Canon also treats the camera's low pass filter with an anti-static charge to prevent static-charged dust from adhering to it.
Still, recognizing that humidity and a variety of real world conditions can cause dust to enter and adhere to the sensor or low pass filter despite the most scrupulous of efforts, Canon created the Self Cleaning Sensor Unit. The low pass filter on the front of the CMOS sensor is attached to an ultrasonic vibrating unit that literally shakes the loose dust particles off of the surface. The newly liberated dust is then captured by an adhesive material that keeps the particles from becoming airborne again once the camera moves.
The self cleaning sensor unit's ultrasonic anti-dust shake activates automatically for one second whenever the camera is powered on or off, ensuring that the camera will be as relatively dust free as possible and can be activated at other times through a simple menu selection.
Despite the ingenuity behind the Self Cleaning Sensor Unit there are occasions when dust particles of a stickier nature are not vibrated free of the low pass filter. In these situations, the Dust Delete Data function can be engaged. Simply put, by aiming the camera at a white wall or even a white piece of paper (or, in a pinch, removing the lens from the camera) the Dust Delete Data function will map the size and position of the dust particles remaining on the low pass filter. Once the dust is "mapped", that information is attached as metadata to all subsequently shot images regardless of recording format, RAW or JPEG. When the images and appended dust data map are transferred to a computer using the Rebel XTi's new Digital Photo Professional software, the dust information can be subtracted from the images simply by selecting the "apply dust delete data" option. Users can update the Dust Delete Data at any time via controls found in the Rebel XTi's LCD menu.
Bigger and Brighter: XTi Model's Brilliant LCD Monitor
Among the decidedly user-friendly enhancements built in to the new Digital Rebel XTi is the 2.5 inch, 230,000 pixel color TFT LCD monitor with its wide, 160 degree viewing angle. The envy of the EOS digital SLR line, this new screen features a viewing area that is nearly twice as large as the Rebel XT model's 1.8 -inch monitor, and offers six brightness settings for easy viewing of images and menu options in a wide range of lighting conditions. Indeed, this brilliant monitor is approximately 40% brighter at its maximum setting than screens found on the top-tier EOS-1D Mark II N, EOS 5D and EOS 30D digital SLRs. The monitor is also the new home for all camera settings information. This was previously housed on a separate LCD. This new configuration allows for more information and larger font & icons in one easy-to-view area.
The monitor is even intuitive enough to automatically (and temporarily) turn the display off when the camera is raised up to the user's eye. This feature not only saves valuable battery life but also avoid subjecting the user to distracting screen brightness when looking through the viewfinder. For maximum battery life, the LCD display can be shut off manually as well.
Picture Style Optimizes Images
In keeping with this new, bigger, brighter monitor is the Rebel XTi SLR's redesigned menu, made bolder, easier to read and easier to navigate. Notable among the expanded info screen menu features offered for the first time on a Digital Rebel camera are the RGB histogram and the Picture Style functions first introduced on the Canon EOS-1D Mark II N, EOS 5D cameras and most recently added to the EOS 30D's imaging arsenal. With Picture Style, users can more easily select presets for sharpening, contrast, saturation, and color tone that most closely reflect their needs and intent for a particular picture. Similar to selecting the film type in order to achieve a desired result, the Picture Style feature offers six setting choices–Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful and Monochrome–with an additional three user defined settings available.
Fast Focus
Also migrating to the Rebel XTi camera from the upper reaches of the EOS Digital SLR line is Canon's flexible folder management system with capability to store 9,999 images in a folder as well as manual creation of new folders and perhaps most importantly, the same high precision 9-point Autofocus sensor and AF unit found on the EOS 30D SLR.
Like its Digital Rebel predecessors, the EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera is equipped with Canon's standard EOS EF lens mount making it compatible with Canon's complete line of EF lenses as well as the EF-S line of lenses created specifically for the EOS 20D, and EOS 30D prosumer digital SLRs, and the EOS Digital Rebel models.
While the Digital Rebel XTi offers the same fast 3 frames per second as the Digital Rebel XT model, the burst rate in Large/Fine JPEG and Raw settings has nearly doubled, from 14 eight- megapixel JPEG images and five eight- megapixel RAW images on the Rebel XT model to 27 10.1 megapixel JPEGS and ten 10.1 megapixel RAW images on the new Rebel XTi camera.
CANON Software $avings: Bundled and In the Box
Purchasers of the EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera or any of Canon's digital SLRs are never faced with extra-cost software to make the camera perform to its full capabilities. Rather, Canon continues its long-standing tradition of including "in the box", a comprehensive software bundle that includes both the camera's utility programs and Canon's Digital Photo Professional software (presently in version 2.2). Compatible with both Mac OS X and Windows XP operating systems** formats, the Digital Photo Pro software assists users with everything from image transfer and viewing, image enhancement and editing, RGB image editing functions, image noise reduction, viewing, processing and editing of RAW images, Direct Print functions and Canon's groundbreaking new Dust Delete Data functions.
The EOS Technological Legacy
The EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera maintains the top-tier technologies that have helped power the EOS line of digital SLRs to the forefront of the industry and the marketplace. These include Canon's power efficient DIGIC II Image Processor and E-TTL II, Canon's evaluative-through the lens exposure control that ensures optimal exposure even in difficult lighting conditions.
All referenced product names, and other marks, are trademarks of their respective owners.
Specifications and availability are subject to change without notice.
*Pricing subject to change at any time. Actual prices are determined by individual dealers and may vary.
** System requirements are available at http://www.usa.canon.com.


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Wheatland and DuPage Township Residents OPPOSING the Boughton Materials Quarry Re-Zoning and Special Use Permit Request
We the undersigned, as residents of Wheatland or DuPage Townships who reside within two miles of Boughton Material's subject property (Pit #2 Quarry), which is located at the northwest corner of Plainfield-Naperville Road and 111th Street/Hassert Blvd., OPPOSE the Map Amendment (re-zoning) from Agricultural-1 to Industrial-2, and Special Use Permit sought by Boughton Materials to operate a concrete recycling plant, under application 6068-MS.
Heavy Industrial Activities Do Not Mix With 15,000 Residents
Please do not sign the petition, unless you are: A) at least 18 years old, AND, B) a resident within 2 miles of the BMI Quarry at 111th and Naper-Plainfield intersection. Neighborhoods within 2 miles of the BMI Quarry include, but are not limited to: Ashbury, Breckenridge, Brook Crossing, Brookwood Trace, Clow Creek, Crestview Knolls, Harmony Grove, Haverton, High Meadow, Kinloch, Knock Knolls, Prairie Crossing, River Run, Rose Farm Hill, Saddle Creek, South Pointe, Tamarack Fairways, Timber Creek, Whispering Lakes, Willow Ridge, and Winchester Trails. If you do not reside within these neighborhoods, but do reside within 2 miles of the quarry, you are welcome and encouraged to sign.
Thank you for your support on this critical issue!
Please note: The operators of this website may ask you for a voluntary financial contribution after you submit your petition. Any donations go to iPetition.com, and not the efforts of the Will County Coalition for Responsible Industrial Activity group. Just close the webpage when you see the message asking for a voluntary donation, as your vote has already been recorded.
Visit our Facebook group page! If not a member of the group yet, click on "request membership" and we will add you to the group in a few hours.
Want to be added to our Quarry Status email list? Send an email, with your home address (must be within 2 miles of the Boughton Materials Quarry) to:


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Nibelo.com domain for sale
Nibelo.com is a domain we found using our curation tools. It can be secured right now for under $15 at the registrar or your choice. Please let me know if you grab it, so I can mark it as registered for others :)
Category Available Domains


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Professional and casual photogs alike will be happy to know that Microsoft caved and finally supports raw, uncompressed images in Photo Gallery and Windows Explorer. They may be bigger, but they just look better. And Microsoft knows it.
The new codec pack includes support for more than 120 cameras, whose files can be viewed without having to be converted first. When you edit anything, Photo Gallery will make a copy of your RAW file, with any changes you make saved in JPEG or the newfangled JPEG-XR format. Well played, MS. [Windows Team Blog via Silicon Filter]
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