From slashdot.org:

The software that runs voting machines is typically distributed in a kind of black box -- like a car with its hood sealed shut. Because the election industry in the U.S. is dominated by three companies -- Dominion, Election Systems & Software and Hart InterCivic -- the software that runs their machines is private. The companies consider it their intellectual property and that has given rise to a roster of unfounded conspiracy theories about elections and their fairness. New Hampshire's experiment with open-source software is meant to address exactly that. The software by its very design allows you to pop the hood, modify the code, make suggestions for how to make it better, and work with other people to make it run more smoothly. The thinking is, if voting machines run on software anyone can audit and run, it is less likely to give rise to allegations of vote rigging. 

The effort to make voting machines more transparent is the work of a group called VotingWorks. [...] On November 8, VotingWorks machines will be used in a real election in real time. New Hampshire is the second state to use the open-source machines after Mississippi first did so in 2019. Some 3,000 voters will run their paper ballots through the new machines, and then, to ensure nothing went awry, those same votes will be hand counted in a public session in Concord, N.H. Anyone who cares to will be able to see if the new machines recorded the votes correctly. The idea is to make clear there is nothing to hide. If someone is worried that a voting machine is programmed to flip a vote to their opponent, they can simply hire a computer expert to examine it and see, in real time.

Comment by Dick Eastman:

I am a big fan of Open Source software. I have lots of Open Source software installed on my computers (including the software I am using to post this message). The big advantage of Open Source software is that it is easily auditable and verifiiable by anyone who cares to do so. Use of Open Source software should resolve all the problems caused by "the big lie" in the 2020 U.S. election.

Discover thousands of new additions stemming back to the 16th century.

It's time to dive into your Scottish roots this week, with new and exclusive additions across two collections. Plus, discover three brand-new newspaper titles from England, Scotland and Wales. 

Read more here for a rundown of everything that's new.

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

From an article by Karen Longwell published in the insauga.com web site:

The Canadian Heritage Photography Foundation (CHPF) has more than 150,000 historic images in its archives but the organization is a risk of closing.

Founded in 2001 in Mississauga by Canadian photographer George Hunter, the foundation has a large collection of his historic images with subjects ranging from early highway photos to anglers trying their luck along the Credit River.

Hunter died in 2013 and bequeathed more than 100,000 prints, negatives, slides and to the foundation establishing the largest collection of George Hunter’s work in the world.

“The Hunter collection is an invaluable resource of rich Canadian historical photographs, including his ground breaking aerial photography from the 1950s, and his iconic images of Canadian industry, First Nations communities and Canadian life and times,” the foundation says on their website.

But in recent months the foundation has struggled, like many charities, in the current economic climate, Nicole Plaskett, executive director of the foundation tells insauga.com.

“CHPF is at risk of closing without help from the public,” Plaskett says.

They have launched a GoFundMe to sustain the foundation.

You can read more at: https://tinyurl.com/yc7zpmpr

The Canadian Heritage Photography Foundation web site may be found at: https://www.thechpf.com/ while the The George Hunter Collection may be accessed directly at: https://www.thechpf.com/the-george-hunter-collection.

A woman whose unwed mother was sent to Australia and then gave her up as a baby has told of her joy at finding her long-lost British family after 60 years apart.

Suzy Fraser, 64, was given up for adoption after her pregnant mother was packed off from Portsmouth, Hants, Down Under to give birth to her in 1958.

Her mother Janet Hall had asked not to be contacted but determined Suzy broke the rules to track her down and found out she had two half-sisters and a half-brother through her father in the UK.

And she used a DNA search through MyHeritage.com to trace a cousin in Gibraltar who then put him in touch with her unknown two half-sisters and brother.

And Suzy has now been met sisters Sharon Day, 57, and Eileen Bond, 54, and brother Steve Bond, 61.

They had a recent emotional meeting after they all flew into Bangkok, Thailand, to meet each other.

You can read more and view numerous photographs of the reunion at: https://tinyurl.com/3kz5kw36.

From an article written by Robert L. Santos, Director of the U.S. Census Bureau and published the the Bureau's Blog:

According to an article in the TCB web site written by Dan Niepow:

The idea came to fruition in the form of HouseNovel.com, a website that Zielike describes as one part Zillow and one part Ancestry.com. It essentially operates as a social media platform where users upload historical photos, personal anecdotes, construction dates, and other details about residential properties. It’s designed to show how properties have changed over the years. The site is free to use, but the two aim to generate revenue through a subscription-based advertising model. Advertisers pay a monthly fee starting at $349.

“We’re going after real estate professionals who care about home history, whether that’s real estate agents, architects, general contractors, or any other people in the real estate trade that focus on older homes,” Decker says. “We feel there’s a huge market for that and for those sorts of services.”

The couple worked with Square 1 Group, a California-based web developer focused on real estate websites. In addition to crowdsourced material, HouseNovel is sharing its platform with any interested local historical groups to supplement property information and partner on special projects; the company has already landed a partnership with Edina’s Heritage Preservation Commission and St. Paul-based historic preservation nonprofit Rethos.

As of August, Zielike says there have been more than 18,000 home profile records uploaded to the site, about 10,000 of those in Minnesota. For now, HouseNovel is focusing on residential properties, but eventually it aims to open it up more broadly to commercial real estate.

You can read more at: https://tinyurl.com/28k8r58z..

HouseNovel may be found at: https://housenovel.com/.

The following announcement was written by OCLC:

The newly redesigned WorldCat.org offers an abundance of genealogy resources from libraries around the world for curious minds looking to dive deep into history.

DUBLIN, OHIO - NOVEMBER 03, 2022

For genealogy enthusiasts, educators, and historians, the new WorldCat.org offers an improved experience to uncover family lineages and investigate historical events. By exploring the billions of library resources from more than 10,000 libraries worldwide represented on WorldCat.org, users can find an unparalleled pool of genealogical information.

“Genealogy research provides powerful and meaningful points of access into self-awareness and discovery of the world around us,” said Skip Prichard, President and CEO of OCLC, a global library nonprofit that’s been an innovator in library technology and research for more than 50 years. “WorldCat.org makes visible one of the most important research tools—the world’s libraries—making it a go-to source for detailed genealogical research.”

As more and more hobbyists and professionals alike seek to learn about the stories that precede and interweave with their own, WorldCat.org has a breadth and depth of information that can’t be found anywhere else online. Through WorldCat.org, people can identify a variety of source materials in libraries around the world, including:

• • Newspapers
  • Photographs
  • Family Bibles, church histories, and records
  • Cemetery and burial records
  • Military records
  • Town histories and probate records
  • General genealogical resources, such as directories, handbooks, and magazines
  • Slavery and antislavery materials, including slave records
  • Indexes of births, marriages, deaths, wills, and obituaries
  • Microfilmed genealogy and local history collections

FamilySearch has been working with OCLC to not only expand access to FamilySearch’s vast catalog of genealogically rich records from all over the globe, but to introduce FamilySearch patrons to WorldCat.org’s vast offerings online.

“FamilySearch.org users taking full advantage of all the resources of WorldCat.org may find many additional resources to enlighten their understanding of their ancestors. Many of these records tell the story of their lives between their birth and death. This is a valued, ongoing relationship with OCLC, and we will certainly encourage everyone from novices to experienced researchers to explore the depths of WorldCat.org’s resources,” said David E. Rencher, chief genealogy officer, FamilySearch International.

WorldCat.org is a unique tool for users to research heritage and complements genealogy tools such as FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, and other genealogy research tools.

“Libraries are often the only source for local information about births, deaths, marriages, businesses, and other family histories.

WorldCat.org can be the bridge to uncovering this valuable genealogy information,” concluded Prichard.

To start exploring and to sign up for a WorldCat.org account, visit the site at http://www.worldcat.org.

About WorldCat.org
Since 2006, WorldCat.org has been the window to the collections and resources of more than 10,000 libraries in more than 100 countries around the world. WorldCat.org is a unique destination, representing the world’s largest library community on the web. WorldCat.org is an innovation of OCLC, a nonprofit global library organization that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs to member libraries and the library community at large. OCLC, member libraries, publishers, and other partner organizations collaboratively maintain WorldCat.org. Explore WorldCat.org on the web.

About OCLC
OCLC is a nonprofit global library organization that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs so that libraries can better fuel learning, research, and innovation. Through OCLC, member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the most comprehensive global network of data about library collections and services. Libraries gain efficiencies through OCLC’s WorldShare, a complete set of library management applications and services built on an open, cloud-based platform. It is through collaboration and sharing of the world’s collected knowledge that libraries can help people find answers they need to solve problems. Together as OCLC, member libraries, staff, and partners make breakthroughs possible.

This article is not about any of the "normal" topics of this newsletter: genealogy, history, current affairs, DNA, and related topics. However, it is a major item I am considering right now and I think maybe others are having similar thoughts.

If you have any experience with modern Satellite Internet connections (primarily with Starlink), I would love to hear about your experiences.

Satellite internet has never been anyone’s first choice regarding internet connectivity. Traditionally, these services have offered a small amount of bandwidth and a large amount of latency. Some years ago when I was living and traveling in a recreational vehicle, (often called an RV) I investigated satellite internet connections. I soon gave up on it because of all the reports I read about slow connections, high latency (read more about latency at https://www.satelliteinternet.com/resources/what-is-internet-latency/), no signals at all in many RV campgrounds, and high expenses. It seems to appeal mostly to extremely rural clients. It’s no wonder that satellite internet has not really been on the average person’s radar.

I soon rejected the idea.

In addition, while internet connectivity in my new home is fast when it works, the local hard-wired service in my area is plagued with frequent outages.

However, a new satellite provider is now available in many areas and reportedly may solve some of these issues. The new provider is Starlink (https://www.starlink.com/), a company invented by and owned by, Elon Musk.

I am again considering satellite internet here at home. The recent internet outage during and after Hurricane Ian simply added to my wondering about the feasibility of satellite internet service.

Unlike traditional satellite connections, Starlink uses satellites only about 340 miles above the Earth, and rather than a single satellite, it uses a constellation of thousands that can all speak to each other. This means (in theory) that you can have bandwidth and latency similar to a terrestrial broadband connection, and it comes with comparable installation and subscription costs too.

The key phrase in that previous paragraph is "in theory." After spending hundreds or perhaps even thousands of dollars in hardware, a satellite dish on the roof, and the labor of installation, will Starlink really deliver on its theoretical advantages?

Depending on my budget, it could make sense to purchase Starlink (or similar) satellite hardware could be installed as a backup solution or, should a service like Starlink prove good enough, I could skip all those earthly concerns entirely and use the technology as my primary internet connection.

High-speed, low-latency broadband Starlink internet is now available in many areas (see https://www.starlink.com/map to see it it is available in your area). The quoted price is $110 U.S./month with a one-time hardware cost of $599. Starlink offers unlimited high-speed data through an array of small satellites that deliver up to 150 Megabits per second (Mbps) of internet speed. The company plans to double this rate in the coming months.

People on the road in RVs or on board boats and yachts can now get access to the Starlink RV service for $135 per month plus $599 for the hardware.

Note: While described as "high-speed data," 150 Megabits per second is slower than what I presently have with a local wired Internet provider, when it is working.

You can read more about Starlink's service in an article by Kinza Yasar at: https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/Starlink.

So, here are my questions:

1. Is Starlink reliable?
2. Is Starlink worth the money?
3. Are you happy with Starlink as a provider of internet service?
4. If you had to do it all over agin, would you still sign up with Starlink?
5. If you do not presently use Starlink, are you considering using it in the near future?

Please post your comments at the end of this article.

Update: Here are a few additional words I added a few hours after posting the above article: I really do not care much about television coverage. I rarely turn the TV on. However, I do tend to spend several hours online on the internet most every day.

Update #2: November 8, 2022: See my latest thoughts in an article at https://eogn.com/page-18080/12982179 

Note: This article is not about any of the "normal" topics of this newsletter: genealogy, history, current affairs, DNA, and related topics. However, thousands of genealogists are also frequent users of Amazon Drive for photo storage and for making backup copies of all sorts of files so I am posting this brief article to inform them of a recent announcement:

The following is an excerpt of an announcement from Amazon: