Weekly Picks

Weekly Picks for October 11 - October 17

Genealogy/Family History

Getting ready for the gift-giving season early, Gtownma has some Family History Gift Ideas.

Jessica's GeneJournal has an entry on Trippstadt, Germany's civil death records

FamHist writes on how much the Find-a-grave website has changed in the past 9 years.

History

Shades of the Departed points to Time Magazine's Top 10 Doctored Photographs of all time.

A clause-by-clause comparison of the US Constitution and the Confederate Constitution (hat tip: Missouri SGA Messenger)

In the News

The Genealogue finds a news story of how Slovakia is requiring tombstones carved in 'minority languages' to be recarved.

Almost as if the news were written by William Faulkner, a Texas woman lived with the corpse of her dead boyfriend for a week. (Though no foul play is suspected.)

Holidays, Birthdays, and Anniversaries

footnoteMaven and Destination: Austin Family both have stories about surviving California's Loma Prieta Earthquake 10 years ago.

JewishGen and Tracing the Tribe both have entries on the latest findings concerning the origins of Christopher Columbus.

GenealogyBank celebrated its third birthday. I find they are an excellent resource for locating obituaries.

Little Bytes of Life observes the 119th birthday of the Daughters of the American Revolution

JewishGen has an entry on Rhode Island's Touro Synagogue, the oldest Jewish synagogue in America. (Approaching age 246) (George Washington wrote a letter to the congregation, and Longfellow wrote a poem about their cemetery.)

Internet Tips

The Google Blog has an entry on how to manage your online reputation/change your search results. This is information Jennifer Easevoli (who stands accused with her husband of defrauding Cisco out of $23 million) may need to take a look at, if it's not too late.

Miscellaneous

Science Fiction author, John Scalzi, writes about how his local library, due to budget cuts, is now closed three days out of the week, and is open less hours on the other four.

Genealogists often depend on the local library for research, and others may be facing similar cuts in their towns.