Latest News Articles

Everyone can read the (free) Standard Edition articles. However,  the Plus Edition articles are accessible only to (paid) Plus Edition subscribers. 

Read the (+) Plus Edition articles (a Plus Edition username and password is required).

Please limit your comments about the information in the article. If you would like to start a new message, perhaps about a different topic, you are invited to use the Discussion Forum for that purpose.

Do you have comments, questions, corrections or additional information to any of these articles? Before posting your words, you must first sign up for a (FREE) Standard Edition subscription or a (paid) Plus Edition subscription at: https://eogn.com/page-18077.

If you do not see a Plus Sign that is labeled "Add comment," you will need to upgrade to either a (FREE) Standard Edition or a (paid) Plus Edition subscription at: https://eogn.com/page-18077.

Click here to upgrade to a Plus Edition subscription.

Click here to find the Latest Plus Edition articles(A Plus Edition user name and password is required to view these Plus Edition articles.)

Complete Newsletters (including all Plus Edition and Free Edition articles published within a week) may be found if you click here. (A Plus Edition user name and password is required to view these complete newsletters.)

Do you have an RSS newsreader? You may prefer to use this newsletter's RSS feed at: https://www.eogn.com/page-18080/rss and then you will need to copy-and-paste that address into your favorite RSS newsreader.



Latest Standard Edition Articles

  • 21 Oct 2022 8:54 PM | Anonymous

    The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman. 

    Cloud-based file storage services provide convenience and security. Having a second (or more) copy of a file stored elsewhere provides a lot of safety in case of hard drive crashes or accidental deletions. Such cloud-based file storage services include Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, OneDrive, Amazon S3, Amazon Glacier, iDrive, SugarSync, Box, SpiderOak, and probably a dozen or more others. However, all of these services have one thing in common: they store your files on other companies' servers. Many individuals and almost all corporations are reluctant to do that for security reasons.  Many individuals and almost all corporations and non-profits do not want to keep their secrets stored on someone else's servers.


    Luckily, there is an easy answer: store your files on your own servers or on rented servers that are TOTALLY under your control, not accessible to anyone else.

    Instead of trusting someone else to keep your files safe and secure, you can create a privately-owned equivalent of Dropbox and the other commercial file storage services. You can have any of these private file storage products installed in a computer in your own home, in your employer's data center, in a data center where you have a server installed, or you can rent space from a web hosting service, space that is encrypted by you and not visible to anyone else unless you give them the encryption key. Thanks to encryption, even the data you host on someone else's servers will be invisible to the system administrators of that service.

    Anyone who does manage to access your data, which is doubtful, will only see something that looks like this: 

    hknafd6MYT04#$njiem&*nnds!ikrnmf'po

    However, when you log in with your encryption key, you will see everything in exactly the same manner as it was when you stored it on the cloud-based file storage server(s).

    The data you keep on your own file storage service will be safer than the data you keep in your own desktop or laptop computer. Also, you may keep all your data secret to yourself or you may share bits and pieces of it with others, as you wish. You can also create your own multi-user service and assign separate (and private) file storage areas to other family members or to your company's employees. Each person may have his or her own private and secure space and yet be able to (optionally) share selected files, pictures, videos, music, and more with others, if desired.

    Still another option is to have some or all of the items stored in your file storage service automatically copied to your other computers and also be available to iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. You can save documents, pictures, videos, music, and more on your desktop computer or take pictures with your smartphone and have them automatically copied to your private file storage server plus to your desktop computer, office computer, and other devices as you wish. 

    In other words, the file storage service you create can operate just like Dropbox or Google drive with only one significant difference: YOU control everything; you are not dependent on the whims of the folks at Dropbox or at Google.

    I created my own cloud-based file storage service this week and have now moved almost all the items I previously had stored in Dropbox, Google Drive, SpiderOak, iCloud, and elsewhere to my new file storage server in the cloud. All my files, pictures, videos, music, and more are now available in my own private cloud and are automatically being copied (or replicated) to my two desktop computers.

    The remainder of this article is reserved for Plus Edition subscribers only. If you have a Plus Edition subscription, you may read the full article at: https://eogn.com/(*)-Plus-Edition-News-Articles/12963056.

    If you are not yet a Plus Edition subscriber, you can learn more about such subscriptions and even upgrade to a Plus Edition subscription immediately at https://eogn.com/page-18077.

  • 21 Oct 2022 3:49 PM | Anonymous

    Stepping inside Romania’s Fabric Synagogue in real life would be a dangerous proposition: Closed since 1986, the ornate 1899 structure in the heart of the city of Timisoara is crumbling inside.

    Online is a different story. There, visitors to the Fabric Synagogue can look up at the domed cupola, its stained glass still intact even as holes dot the ceiling, and approach the ark, its closed doors leaving the illusion that a Torah might be contained inside. They can climb to the balcony and look out over the Hebrew letters still affixed to walls, then turn their gaze to the massive graffiti tag that occupies one whole wall of the second floor. They can even check out the synagogue’s dust-laden organ before walking into the Timisoara sunshine and strolling to the municipal parks along the Bega River just a block away.

    The virtual tour is one of eight launched recently to give Jews — and non-Jews — the chance to immerse themselves in a world that is no more: that of the non-Orthodox Jewish communities that developed under the Habsburg Empire in the western part of today’s Romania.

    Launched by Romanian NGO Pantograf in collaboration with Jewish local communities and activists, the website Povestile Sinagogilor, or Stories of the Synagogues at https://bit.ly/3F4T7sA (published in Romanian... use Google Translate at https://translate.google.com to convert to your favorite language), invites visitors to a virtual tour of eight historic sites in Romania, including Timisoara’s main synagogue, which has been recently renovated.

    The website includes interviews with current Jewish leaders of each community, as well as the English and Romanian transcriptions of oral testimonies collected throughout the decades. In them, Jews who were born in the area recount the prewar era of interethnic coexistence, the years of fascist persecution, and the mass emigration, mostly to Israel, during and after communism.

    You can read more in an article by Marcel Gascón Barberá  published in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency web site at: https://bit.ly/3gsZ8Fd.

    You can view the synagogues at: https://www.povestilesinagogilor.com/en/home.

  • 21 Oct 2022 11:29 AM | Anonymous

    Making Black America: Through the Grapevine is a four-part series from executive producer, host and writer Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., which premiered on October 4th on PBS stations nationwide. Professor Gates, with directors Stacey L. Holman and Shayla Harris, chronicle the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people beyond the reach of the “White gaze.” 

    The series recounts the establishment of the Prince Hall Masons in 1775 through the formation of all-Black towns and business districts, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, destinations for leisure and the social media phenomenon of Black Twitter. 

    Professor Gates sits with noted scholars, politicians, cultural leaders and old friends to discuss this world behind the color line and what it looks like today. Making Black America takes viewers into an extraordinary world that showcased Black people’s ability to collectively prosper, defy white supremacy and define Blackness in ways that transformed America itself.

    Struggle and resistance are hallmarks of the African American experience, but they are not the only story. Beyond the reach of the “White gaze,” Black people worked and played, laughed and loved, hoped and dreamed, started families, built schools and businesses, formed communities, and created vast social networks that, borrowing from the motto of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, lifted as they climbed. In this new four-hour documentary series, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. takes us “behind the Veil” of racial segregation in Jim Crow America to tell their story.

    Making Black America: Through the Grapevine is currently playing on PBS stations in the U.S. Even though some episodes have already aired, PBS stations usually re-broadcast major series again and again. Check your local TV listings to see where past and future episodes are being broadcast near you. You can learn more at: https://www.pbs.org/show/making-black-america/ .

    You can also watch a promotional video on YouTube at https://youtu.be/DVrm1vMCENM. Some past episodes, in their entirety, are available at https://www.pbs.org/show/making-black-america/.


  • 21 Oct 2022 9:44 AM | Anonymous

    From the MyHeritage Blog:

    Our accelerated publication pace continues! We are delighted to announce the publication of 30 new historical record collections and the addition of 31 million records in September 2022. The records are from the U.S., Australia, Belgium, Belarus, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the U.K, and Ukraine. They include birth, marriage, death, obituary, census, military, naturalization, immigration, voter, property, and will records. 

    You can read all the details, including a lengthy list of all the new additions, at: https://blog.myheritage.com.


  • 21 Oct 2022 9:03 AM | Anonymous

    This could be very useful for improving old family photographs! From an article by Andrew Liszewski published in the GizModo web site:

    "Project All of Me promises to easily fix poor framing after a photo's been snapped.

    "Have you ever prepped a photo for printing but regretted not being more generous with your framing when snapping the image? Extending the borders of a photo before digital editing was all but impossible, and it still represents a time-consuming challenge for even Photoshop masters, but a new tool teased by Adobe on Wednesday could make it impossibly easy to “uncrop” a photograph.

    "Adobe Max, the company’s annual 'creativity conference' where it brings artists together to talk about how they use Adobe’s tools, is wrapping up today. The company also uses the conference as an opportunity to reveal new features coming to its various apps, like Photoshop’s ability to now delete an ex from a photo with just a single click, and provide sneak peeks of even more advanced tools that could one day end up a part of the Creative Cloud collection.

    "The Adobe Max ‘Sneaks’ event showcases some of the innovative research the company’s developers have been working on over the past year, while a big-name celebrity oohs and aahs at the various on-stage demonstrations for an hour and a half. This year Qing Liu revealed a new tool in development called Project All of Me that heavily relies on AI to automatically rebuild missing parts of a photo, allowing an image to be uncropped, and extended on any side, with next to no effort from a user."

    You can read more at: https://bit.ly/3TnbOvO.

  • 21 Oct 2022 8:46 AM | Anonymous

    The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

    Even more records for those researching Caribbean ancestry have been added this Findmypast Friday  

    Caribbean Association Oath Rolls, 1696 

    New this week, these transcriptions include names of White colonial settlers who swore allegiance to William III in 1696. You’ll find records from Barbados and the Leeward Islands, including Antigua, Montserrat, St Kitts, Nevis and Bermuda. Details may include a name, their island of residence, and their organization.  

    Barbados Births & Baptisms 1637-1891 

    More records have been added into this existing collection for the years 1678-1679. You should find an ancestor’s name, birth or baptism date, a birthplace, and usually the names of both parents. Some even include witnesses.   

    Montserrat, Methodist Marriages 1820-1841 

    This brand new and exclusive collection includes some of the earliest-known Methodist marriages from Montserrat, and include those of enslaved and freed people. You’ll normally find a residence and occupations within these records, and all couples in this index are either Black or mixed-race.  

    Newspapers 

    This week, the newspaper archive has been expanded by one new title and updates to many more.  

    New titles: 

    ·         Eastern Argus and Borough of Hackney Times, 1877-1912 

    Updated titles: 

    ·         Abergele & Pensarn Visitor, 1994 

    ·         Bebington News, 1994 

    ·         Belper Express, 1994, 1996 

    ·         Bootle Times, 1994-1995 

    ·         Bristol Evening Post, 1952-1957, 1960-1961, 1966-1967, 1975 

    ·         Burntwood Mercury, 1995 

    ·         Cheltenham News, 1991 

    ·         Dumfries and Galloway Standard, 1952, 1996 

    ·         Ealing & Southall Informer, 1994 

    ·         East Kent Gazette, 1995 

    ·         Haltemprice & East Yorkshire Advertiser, 1994 

    ·         Harlow Star, 1995 

    ·         Harrow Informer, 1995 

    ·         Hinckley Times, 1916, 1933, 1962, 1981, 1983 

    ·         Holderness Advertiser, 1993 

    ·         Horley & Gatwick Mirror, 1995 

    ·         Leicester Chronicle, 1864 

    ·         Leicester Daily Mercury, 1996 

    ·         Nantwich Chronicle, 1984 

    ·         Neath Guardian, 1994 

    ·         Northampton Herald & Post, 1994 

    ·         Oldham Advertiser, 1995 

    ·         Reveille, 1951 

    ·         Salford Advertiser, 1995 

    ·         Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph, 1942 

    ·         Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser, 1995 

    ·         Southport Visiter, 1994 

    ·         St Neots Town Crier, 1987 

    ·         Stanmore Observer, 1994 

    ·         Sunbury & Shepperton Herald, 1995 

    ·         Sunday Sun (Newcastle), 1928, 1960-1961, 1963, 1965, 1968-1969, 1971, 1977, 1983 

    ·         Surrey Herald, 1995 

    ·         Surrey Mirror, 1994 

    ·         Surrey-Hants Star, 1994-1995 

    ·         Uxbridge Leader, 1991 

  • 20 Oct 2022 11:33 AM | Anonymous

    This isn't a brand-new service. It has been available for some time but I just "re-discovered" it. I was looking for information about an ancestor and I found it in www.newspapers.com, a service I had not used for a long time.  Maybe you have forgotten about it also.

    The web site proclaims:

    "Search Historical Newspapers from the 1700s–2000s"

    and

    "Search for obituaries, marriage announcements, birth announcements, social pages, local sports action, advertisements, news articles, and more in the largest online newspaper archive."

    Other online statements include:

    "Clip Articles, Obituaries, and Photos From Over 23,400+ Papers

    "Clippings are an easy way to keep track of interesting things you find on Newspapers.com. You can clip an article, a page, a newspaper, a search, or another member's profile. Once it's clipped, you can easily find it again, share it with friends, and receive notifications when it's updated."

    "Easily View, Print, Save, and Share Your Findings

    "The Newspapers.com viewer is a powerful tool that lets you explore a newspaper page in detail, clip a page or article and print, save or share what you find. When you find something on Newspapers.com that you would like to have a copy of you can print the image directly from the viewer or you can download the image and save a digital copy."

    Newspapers.com may or may not help you in your search for genealogy information. You will never know until you try.

    Newspapers.com is a service of Ancestry.com and is available at: https://go.newspapers.com.

    The Terms and Conditions of the web site specify:

    When accessing Ancestry Content, you agree:

    To use Ancestry Content only in connection with your personal use of the Services or professional family history research;

    To download Ancestry Content only in connection with your family history research or where expressly permitted by Ancestry;

    Not to remove any copyright or other proprietary notices on any Ancestry Content;

    Not to use significant portions of Ancestry Content outside the Services, or in a manner inconsistent with your subscription; and

    To contact us to obtain written permission to use more than a small number of photos and documents that are Public Domain Content

  • 20 Oct 2022 11:08 AM | Anonymous

    The following press release was written by the organizers of the Really Useful Family History Show:

    Practical Saturday

    at the Really Useful Family History Show

    on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th November

    It is almost here! The online Really Useful Family History Show is living up to its really usefultheme with thirty interactive workshops on Practical Saturday.

    With workshop topics from dealing with “tricky” handwriting to exploring “pesky” manorial documents, and from family heirlooms to oral history, there is something to tempt every family historian.

    All ticket holders are able to participate in the interactive workshops by booking a place at: https://www.fhf-reallyuseful.com/workshops

    When the show is live online, there are also Expert Connect sessions where help can be sought from specialists, along with the Exhibition Hall where there will be many local family history societies and others where specialist help and advice can be found.

    PLUS there is a raft of expert talks which can be accessed for two weeks by ticket holders.

    Full details and all-inclusive tickets available at: https://www.fhf-reallyuseful.com/

  • 19 Oct 2022 7:19 PM | Anonymous

    Proton introduced a new feature to the company's VPN (Virtual Private Network) this week. Best of all, it is even available free of charge (although the free version is missing a few things that are included in paid versions).

    Also, Proton's free VPN is the only free VPN I would ever trust to not spy on its users, to not collect private information from its users, and to not contain malware (malevolent software). Free VPNs have a poor reputation for spying on their users; Proton is different. You can trust Proton.

    I started with Proton's free VPN service, found I liked it so I paid for an upgrade, and have been using Proton's (paid) VPN for a some time and switched to the new version as soon as it became available this week. I have been impressed with it so far.

    According to Proton's web site: "We created Proton VPN to protect the journalists and activists who use Proton Mail. Proton VPN breaks down the barriers of Internet censorship, allowing you to access any website or content." However, it was proven to be so useful for journalists and activists, the company soon expanded its use to include everyone on the internet who is concerned about maintaining their privacy.

    Again quoting the Proton web site at: https://protonvpn.com/: "We believe privacy and security are fundamental human rights, so we also provide a free version of Proton VPN to the public. Unlike other free VPNs, there are no catches. We don't serve ads or secretly sell your browsing history. Proton VPN Free is subsidized by Proton VPN paid users. If you would like to support online privacy, please consider upgrading to a paid plan for faster speeds and more features.

    "We believe that everyone has the right to online privacy, therefore we provide free VPN access to those who can't afford a paid plan.

    "The Proton VPN free plan does not have a duration limit (you can use it as long as you want), and we do not sell your data unlike some other free VPN services."

    Proton VPN has Free servers in 3 countries, available for Free users. The Free VPN servers offer medium speed.

    Indeed, the primary need for any VPN is privacy. As a Swiss VPN provider, Proton cannot legally log user activity or share data with third parties. The company's anonymous VPN service enables Internet without surveillance.

    Note: Switzerland has long been hailed as a bastion of security. Data security is held sacred in Switzerland, and Swiss privacy laws are just plain better than anywhere else in the world. In fact, security-minded companies — like pCloud and ProtonVPN - are also based in Switzerland. 

    I will write about pCloud some other time. It is another online service based in Switzerland that I use and am pleased with it.

    There are three major laws regulating data protection and information privacy in Switzerland: Article 13 of the Swiss Constitution, the Federal Act on Data Protection (DPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These laws force businesses to ask permission from their users whenever they need to store and process their personal data. Swiss companies in general are more secure than their U.S.-based counterparts, thanks to Switzerland’s strict laws governing the processing of personal data. 

    The driving force behind these privacy laws are required because of the Swiss Constitution. Switzerland is one of very few countries to have data processing regulations built into its constitution. Article 13 of the constitution provides several protections to Swiss citizens in regards to online communications, email and the processing of personal data. The article states, in part:

    1. Every person has the right to privacy in their private and family life and in their home, and in relation to their mail and telecommunications.
    2. Every person has the right to be protected against the misuse of their personal data.


    Don't you wish that ALL internet companies were based in Switzerland?

    The requirements of the Swiss Constitution are further explained in two sets of laws:

    1. The Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (DPA)
    2. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - a European data protection law


    Installation

    Installing Proton's VPN was simplicity itself: Go to https://protonvpn.com/, click on "Create Free Account,"" and then click on the option you want: free, or select from any of several paid options.

    Note: If you are new to Proton, I would suggest you first sign up for the free account. If, over the next few days, if you find that you like the service, I would suggest you read the various options for paid accounts and then choose one of those. Prices are modest: varying from $4.99/month (U.S.) to $9.99/month. The longer the length of your subscription, the cheaper the price. 

    If you select a paid service, Proton VPN operates over 1,000 servers in more than 60 countries around the world, so there will always be a VPN server nearby to provide you with a secure, fast connection. Users with a VPN Plus or Proton Unlimited plan can access the company's large and expanding network of high-speed (10 Gigabit per second) Plus servers.

    Proton VPN supports 3 different VPN protocols: (1.) the older OpenVPN protocol used by most VPN providers, (2.) the newer WireGuard protocol that is becoming popular (it's faster and more secure), and (3.) a brand-new Stealth protocol, that can avoid detection and let you bypass internet censorship and VPN blocks.

    Stealth is available only on Proton and is even available to free users. For now, you can use Stealth on Android, macOS, and iOS apps. (There is no Stealth capability yet on Windows or Linux, although Proton does plan to add those services soon.) I am using the Mac version on my desktop and laptop Macs, along with the Android version on my cell phone and on my tablet computers.)

    Stealth uses obfuscation to hide your VPN connection from censors. The general idea is to make VPN traffic look like “normal” traffic — or common HTTPS connections. Stealth does this by using obfuscated TLS tunneling over TCP. This is different from most popular VPN protocols that typically use UDP, making them easier to detect and block. Without going into too much detail, Stealth also establishes VPN connections in a specific and unique way that avoids alerting internet filters.

    In other words, not even your ISP (Internet Service Provider) will know you are using a VPN if you use Stealth. This is a major advantage for use in countries where local governments block VPNs, such as in China, Russia, many Arab countries, and quite a few others.

    Proton also supports Tor Network in the Proton VPN. See https://protonvpn.com/support/tor-vpn/ for the details

    Summation

    I have found the Proton VPN to be easy to use, has more than 1,800 servers in more than 64 countries, and the paid version supports high speeds (up to 10 gigabits per second). I signed up for the $4.99/month (U.S.) option and am pleased that I am now surfing the web securely.

    By the way, I am not paid by anyone to publish this article. I do not use affiliate links. I am simply a satisfied Proton VPN user and I wish to tell my online friends about it.

    This article only "scratches the surface" in describing all the functions of Proton VPN. You can read a lot more at https://protonvpn.com.

    While there, also take a look at Proton Mail, Proton Drive, and Proton Calendar. They are great products also. And highly secure.

  • 19 Oct 2022 1:37 PM | Anonymous

    Tech archivist Jason Scott has announced a new website called Discmaster that lets anyone search through 91.7 million vintage computer files pulled from CD-ROM releases and floppy disks. The files include images, text documents, music, games, shareware, videos, and much more.

    Discmaster opens a window into digital media culture around the turn of the millennium, turning anyone into a would-be digital archeologist. It's a rare look into a slice of cultural history that is often obscured by the challenges of obsolete media and file format incompatibilities.

    The files on Discmaster come from the Internet Archive, uploaded by thousands of people over the years. The new site pulls them together behind a search engine with the ability to perform detailed searches by file type, format, source, file size, file date, and many other options.

    "The value proposition is the value proposition of any freely accessible research database," according to Scott. "People are enabled to do deep dives into more history, reference their findings, and encourage others to look in the same place."

    Discmaster is available at: http://discmaster.textfiles.com/

    My thanks to newsletter reader D B Carre  for telling me about this new resource.

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter









































Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software