‘San Francisco in the Year 2000’ photo project — twenty years Later
Category: Site notes
Updates on site development
Visualizing my family’s migration
Genealogy applications and software have gotten a little boring lately. With all the fascinating technologies surrounding data visualization, machine learning, and otherwise, most people choose the path of least resistance and hand their data over to Ancestry.com. And while Ancestry has some interesting visualizations for family trees and relationships, the closed-platform nature of… Read more“Visualizing my family’s migration”
Welcome visitors (who aren’t trying to hack this site)
Reviewing the traffic stats for this site is like taking a trip around the world. From Iran to Russia, and all over Asia, visitors flow in from around the globe. What are they looking for? A review of security logs indicates roughly 99% are looking for holes to hack and take control of… Read more“Welcome visitors (who aren’t trying to hack this site)”
Was my gr-gr-grandfather George Austin legitimate?
Every family has secrets. Lots of them. Entire lifetimes can be colored by efforts to keep criminal records a secret, hide out of wedlock births, or bury marriages that ended unhappily. And in some cases, those secrets are maintained by subsequent generations, with only the occasional whisper between those in the know, until… Read more“Was my gr-gr-grandfather George Austin legitimate?”
A photograph of my ancestors (and me)
I’ve been spending more time with a camera this past year, and less time doing genealogy research and website additions. This wasn’t a conscious decision, more a byproduct my professional time in 2013 and 2014 being consumed by development of a new website and CMS for my firm, GreenBiz, making ByrneFamily site additions… Read more“A photograph of my ancestors (and me)”
A Valentine’s Day card to my mother-in-law
Sally Byrne had been my mother-in-law for less than three years when she died suddenly and too soon on April 18, 2006 at age 68. But in the seven years we’d known each other, we spent many pleasant hours chatting in her Palo Alto living room over cookies and coffee. We’d shared a… Read more“A Valentine’s Day card to my mother-in-law”
Ryland Drennan photos lost no more, and a found cousin
One of the pleasures of hosting a website filled with genealogical records is connecting with family members I might not otherwise know. Neither of my parents were diligent about maintaining family connections, save for periodic trips to Santa Cruz or Los Angeles to visit my grandparents. On very rare occasions, we would go… Read more“Ryland Drennan photos lost no more, and a found cousin”
Choosing a new CMS
One of the main barriers to revamping this website was the challenge of integrating my genealogy data, which is powered by The Next Generation (TNG), with a proper content management system (CMS). TNG is the most robust platform for presenting genealogical data, and is well supported by both its author, Darrin Lythgoe, and… Read more“Choosing a new CMS”
Site overhaul in process
Things are in motion right now with the site design & layout. Looking for Byrne, Trapnell, Garland, or Asimov genealogy data? Just click on the ‘Genealogy’ tab.