Jan Murphy

@packrat74.bsky.social

1971 Followers 1996 Following

Enthusiastic family historian since 2006; moderator pro tempore at Genealogy & Family History Stack Exchange. http://genealogy.stackexchange.com Fan of F&SF, figure skating, baseball, equestrian sports, cycling. Former bookseller; book junkie.

Close-up of part of the Aura control panel showing the search target buttons, and which items can be easily copied from the Ancestry Record Page using the clipboard features.
New drop-down menu from the Ancestry record page, hidden behind three dots unless you open it up, with the following items Add or update information Print Comments Report a Problem
Screenshot from record page of Connecticut, U.S., Marriage and Civil Union Index, 1897-2017 on Ancestry with expanded drop-down menu which is hidden behind three dots the menu choices are Add or update information Print comments
screenshot showing source information on a record Source Source Citation Connecticut Department of Public Health; Hartford, Connecticut, USA Source Information Ancestry.com. Connecticut, U.S., Marriage and Civil Union Index, 1897-2017 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2024. Original data: Connecticut, USA: Connecticut State Department of Public Health. https://archive.org/search?query=reclaim%2Bthe%2Brecords%2Bconnecticut Accessed: July 2024. Description This collection contains marriage and civil union records from Connecticut, USA, between the years 1897 and 2017. Most records are in English. Learn more... (blue link)
screenshot of a blank space that used to hold information in the older version of this page
Screenshot showing collapsed sectiosn for Undecided hints, Ignored hints, and Accepted hints, with numbers showing how many of each kind. Down arrrows allow the user to open up each section.
Sergey Brin, Google co-founder, has poured $82mn of his $270bn fortune into a new campaign group, Building a Better California, to fight the tax and led a billionaire whiparound that topped up its coffers to more than $199mn. Building a Better California successfully raised signatures to get two spoiler proposalss on the ballot, either of which would nullify the wealth tax if it got more votes on November 3.
An aunt imparts wisdom to her teenage niece, inspired by the works of Jane Austen, in this novel from the Man Booker Prize–nominated author. Alice is an aspiring novelist with green hair and zero interest in reading Jane Austen for her college English class. However, her Aunt Fay, a novelist herself, isn't about to let Alice stick her nose up at Austen or other enduring authors. "You find her boring, petty and irrelevant, and, that as the world is in crisis, and the future catastrophic, you cannot imagine what purpose there can be in reading her," Fay writes her. "My dear pretty little Alice, now with black and green hair . . . How can I hope to explain Literature to you, with its capital 'L'?" Alternating between passages from Jane Austen's novels and accounts of her own career, Aunt Fay pays tribute to a great author, explores the craft of fiction, and charts her niece's development as a writer in this unique book that reveals how Austen—and great literature—is truly, wonderfully timeless.
close-up from the VHS tape cover of the 1980 BBC TV adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth Garvie (playing Elizabeth Bennett) is in a cream day dress with a rust-colored spencer jacket and a straw bonnet tripped with a coordinating ribbon. She is carrying a fringed parasol. David Rintoul (playing Fitzwilliam Darcy) is in a dark cutaway coat over natural-colored breeches and a white shirt with lace jabot. He is carrying a top hat. Elizabeth, whose eyes are downcast, has a hand on Darcy's arm and he is attentively looking in her direction.
WASHINGTON DC - The office of US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) released the following statement. "On the evening of Saturday, July 11, US Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness. Senator Graham's family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this difficult period." ###
Veteran Bounty Land Records Project - EXTENDED! The Veteran Bounty Land Records Campaign is raising $2.5 million over four years to support the preservation and digitization of records of early American veterans. These bounty land warrant application files, which include over 360,000 at-risk files at the National Archives, contain important information about those who served in the US Military before 1850, including Native and Black soldiers. These soldiers were eligible to receive 160 acres of land in lieu of pay. The records contain family names, birth, marriage, and death data, historical documents such as pages from family Bibles, hand-written testimonies, affidavits, regimental history, and more. The campaign's goals are to preserve, index, and digitize all Veteran Bounty Land records and make them available to all via the Internet. It is sponsored by the National Genealogical Society with support from FamilySearch, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and donors like you. UGA will match up to $5000 in member donations. Thank you to all who have donated! Donations will continue to be accepted through July 15th. Please consider a donation towards this valuable digitization project.
newspaper clipping from The North Adams Transcript, November 12 1885, published in North Adams, Berkshire County, Massachusetts Thomas Jones, colored, residing near Gainesville Florida has a family of fifty-four children, thirty-three of tehm being now at home with their father. He has had three wives, and the there were all living at one time. Only one of them is now living, and she claims nineteen of the children.
screenshot from an article "This country was based on faith, and we believe God has his hand on this nation," Jacylin Stursnan, 46, a tax accountant from Iowa, said as a Mennoninte vocal group performed behind her on a huge stage. highlighted sentence begins "In the Constitution it says 'under God,'" her daughter Abigail, 20, who is studying to become a teacher, said — incorrectly. highlighted sentence ends The Pledge of Allegiance includes the phrase "Under God." The Constitution's text makes no mention of a deity.
screenshot image of rainbow flag Happy Pride! 45% off all ebooks June 27-30 Only at JMS-Books.com
Among the 15,921 people to file into the Candlestick Park stands on that chilly Tuesday night was a 28-year-old lifelong Braves fan named Bud Selig. It was his first visit to San Francisco in the summer, and he was woefully underdressed. “I mean, I felt like I was in Milwaukee in January,” Selig recalled.
Oise, France, Census, 1806-1921 (in French) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., Confederate States of America Quartermaster Department, 1861-1864 Nièvre, France, Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1622-1922 (in French) Haute Savoie, France, Census, 1861-1911 (in French) England and Wales, Tithe Maps and Apportionments, 1775-1936 U.S., Descendants of Signers of the Declaration of Independence, 1706-1900 New Zealand, New Zealand Gazette, 1859-1922
The Liberal BoJack ‪@thelibbojack.bsky.social‬ Follow Israel will never honor a ceasefire. War is simply too profitable for the Jews. That’s why they’re still cashing in on WWII today. 5:30 AM · Jun 23, 2026 Everybody can reply 8 reposts 49 quotes 49 likes
screenshot of question 16, description of registrant color of eyes (handwritten, might be blue) color of hair (handwritten, might be brown) complexion Med Height approx. 6 ft 1 in weight approx 160 race W Other obvious physical characteristics that will aid in identification: (not shown)
??zgen 1 A Nop 1 A'hearn 1 A. 1 Aadland 3
Rubber stamp of Local Board of jurisdiction for Korean War era draft Local Board No. 12 Hampden County Basement, City Hall Holyoke, Mass.
screenshot of a message stamped on a Korean War era draft card
Post by user johnbelliv I clean actual swimming pools for a living. This will not work. The reflection pool used to act much like natural body of water with natural filtration. It would (leak) drain through the granite and new water was added. Now it's been "sealed" with polyurethane and will no longer drain itself and the standing water will grow even MORE algae. With circulation and filtration added, it wil no longer be a reflecting pool. Only still water perfectly reflects. It's ruined.
Wednesday, 6/17/26 2:33 PM Shipment information sent to FedEx 8:31 PM Arrived at FedEx location Thursday, 6/18/26 10:26 AM Left FedEx origin facility
For those interested in the original discussion, be sure to read Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings post asking AI what a “Thinking AI” model can do for genealogy researchers. It is an excellent reminder that the future of AI in genealogy may be less about finding records and more about helping us reason through what those records mean.
VERIFY EVERYTHING AI tools can invent plausible-looking citations, URLs, regiments, and dates. Treat every AI answer as a lead to confirm, not a fact to record. If a prompt tells the AI “do not invent” and it does anyway, throw the answer out.
Graphic from the National Weather Service in Atlanta Georgia with a map of expected heavy rain over the northern parts of Georgia and Atlanta in green. Updated June 16, 2026. Flood watch Thursday 8 AM through 2 AM Saturday What's going on Multiple rounds of heavy rainfall expected Thursday morning through Friday evening from the remnants of a tropical disturbance. Widespread rainfall of 2 to 4 inches is likely with locally higher amounts of 5 inches plus possible. Exact timing remains uncertain however rainfall rates may locally exceed 3 inches per hour at times. Be prepared Do not attempt to drive through water-covered roadways Turn around and seek alternate routes Exercise caution if you have outdoor plans, especially near rivers, creeks or streams A slight to moderate risk of excessive rainfall is in the forecast as multiple rounds of heavy rainfall are expected over the area Thursday into Friday. Widespread rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches are forecast, with locally higher amounts possible.
San Francisco Giants giveaway soccer/football jersey. It has black sleeves, a cream body, and an orange and black neckline (the thin orange stripe is the one closest to the player's face). A badge on the player's left shoulder says "San Francisco Giants" with a stylized baseball field on a background of orange and black stripes. A shape running from home plate to centerfield in orange suggests the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge. The player's number 26 is centered on the chest in black numbers surrounded by a thin orange stripe.
screenshot from the new york times headline: Mamdani's Nosebleed Knicks Ticket and the Benefits of Being Mayor Mayor Zohran Mamdani paid roughtly $1000 for a standing-room-only ticket to Game 3 of the NBA finals, using access to house tickets not available to regular fans.
Breaking down the source of where print and e-books are bought, the survey found that just 19% of books in text format (that is, print and e-book) read in the prior month were bought new, while 6% were obtained through a paid subscription, which usually entail much lower royalties for authors, the Guild noted. The most popular way readers obtained their most recent book was at the library, with 29% of readers choosing that option, while 10% were bought used. Another 16% were borrowed for free from other sources, and 19% were from personal collections.
Screenshot from today's episode of The Rachel Maddow show reporter Jacob Soboroff stands in the middle of a Los Angeles vote counting center. He is in a walkway in between two rooms which are separated by a wall of tall glass windows. The chyron reads: AP: Raman advances to November runoff for L.A. Mayor Live > 9:20 PM ET The Rachel Maddow Show MS NOW
screenshot of film notes from the FamilySearch catalog Notes Includes index. Some passports from 1817 to 1834 were found among the emergency and special passports applications. These passports have been included in chronological order with this record. Microfilm of original records at the National Archives in Suitland, Maryland. clickable links: United States, Passport Applications are available online, click here View this catalog record in WorldCat for other possible copy locations at the bottom a blue-pop up box has an icon of a party popper and the text New Feature. Show me.
screenshot from FamilySearch catalog for National Archives Microfilm publication M1371, 3507 microfilm reels: 16 and 35 mm collection title given is Passport applications, 1795-1925 ; Indexes, 1830-1831, 1850-1852, 1860-1923 Authors given in the catalog are United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service (Author) United States. National Archives and Records Administration (Added Author) References (Digital Collection) United States passport applications, 1795-1925
photo of Bruce Willis from the film The Fifth Element he is wearing an orange ribbed sleeveless shirt his arms are over his head and his hands are behind the back of his head
screenshot of a Google search for a book title "general view of agriculture" and the resulting AI Overview The "General View of Agriculture" for Buckinghamshire refers to a series of historic county surveys publshed by the Wikipedia General View of Agriculture county surveys initiative in the 1790s and 1810s.
reviews of the book from the U Chicago Press website “Lively and provocative.”—Carol Tavris, New York Times Book Review “A valuable primer . . . misses no significant twists in sexual politics.”—Gary Indiana, Village Voice Literary Supplement “One of the most important—if not outright subversive—works to emerge from gay and lesbian studies in years.”—Mark Thompson, The Advocate
five arrows in a wheel shape showing the steps of doing genealogy research 1 Identify what you know about your family 2 Decide what you want to learn about your family 3 Select records to search 4 Obtain and search the record 5 Use the information
photo of a generic bundle of I voted stickers. the stickers are oval, white with blue text I voted On the left a graphic shows a blue field with 2 stars and red and white strips, suggesting the American flag
Picture taken by Marcus Cyron - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10998567 The picture shows the interior of the Brygos cup of Würzburg, an Attic red-figure kylix - a drinking cup - from about 480 BC. The kylix is a shallow dish-shaped cup with handles on both sides, and a small foot on the bottom. Inside the bowl is a circular border. Inside the circle, two figures are shown. A young person at a party is vomiting due to overindulgence. A blonde female companion (likely to be a hetaira, a trained companion) is holding his head.
Colorful graphic in blue and manila-folder light brown against a cream background with images of file folders and a document and the keywords preservation metadata records cataloging archiving archive storage documents organization
screenshot of an entry from the 1890 Census, special schedule for Union veterans and widows of veterans Ellen E. Pratt former widow Upham, John Private
screenshot showing new features in Evidentia Cloud storage sync — connect Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive to keep your research in sync across machines, or stay fully local. Your choice. FamilySearch integration — browse FamilySearch records from within Evidentia and link them directly to your sources Record Library — a central library of all your source attachments, with audit tools to find and repair broken links
A color strip from the Sunday newspaper in six panels. Panel 1: Rat sees Pig, carrying a grey box. They are walking through a green space with bushes and trees. Rat: Where are you going, Pig? Pig: To a politician's rally. I'm taking my magic translation box. Panel 2: same background of green space but slighly changed because Rat and Pig have been walking along. Rat: He doesn't speak English? Pig: He speaks Politicianish. This translates it to the truth. Come see. Panel 3: at the rally. The politician is at a lecturn adn mike in fromt of a crowd which includes Pig. Politician: In conclusion, if you send me to Washington, I'll clean up this corrupt system and fight for you everyday, hard-working Americans. God bless you. God bbless the troops. And God bless America. Panel 4: Pig presses a button on his box. A sound effect: click Panel 5: the box gives the translation I am given millions of dollars by the rich and the powerful to keep this rigged system exactly as it is. Until you change that, none of this will ever change. And we'll keep hoping that you're too distracted to notice. Panel 6: Rat and Pig are standing in between two agents in sunglasses, suits and blue ties. Agent 2, on the far right, is silent. Agent 1: We're gonna need a word with you. Pig's box translates: This is too much truth for one comic strip. Prepare to be disappeared. Rat: I don't know him.
Ronsebaum’s big whoopsie is certainly a warning, but not in the way he thinks. He himself is the warning; a cautionary tale about relying so heavily on a flawed technology that it completely undermines your legitimacy. The errors may not diminish some of the book’s larger questions, but they diminish the value of the book itself. If you can’t make the effort to verify the contents of your book, then why should anyone make an effort to read it?
“A lot of social media’s business model has been trying to monetize loneliness at scale,” says Gandhi. “AI companies helping write erotica and building companions or building systems that are willing to let you explore your fantasies is a good retention strategy—and you can collect a bunch of their preference data.”
screenshot of book cover and sales copy Without Consent by Sarah Weinman From Sarah Weinman, author of Scoundrel and The Real Lolita, comes an eye-opening story about the first major spousal rape trial in America and urgent questions it raised about women's rights that would reverberate for decades. $1.99 Originally: $14.99 Nonfiction Deal ends 5/25/26
photo of a bus shelter with a display on the end a red poster with white text in the space where you expect an ad, there is a poem in all capital letters no author is shown for the poem and there is no credit for the ad when you've got rid of all the mosques but the cots of life still rise and you've built your fortressed borders but the NHS stil dies and the muslims are all gone and your town's a wall of white but corporate vultures are still pillaging every facet of our lives who will you blame then? what will you have gained? a badge for barbarism against a backdrop of decay
screenshot of post from Nathaniel Rakich @baseballot ABC News has now taken all FiveThirtyEight articles completely offline. They now direct to abcnews dot com/politics. A needness erasure of thousands of pages of knowledge. posted 11:27 am May 15 2026 160.3K views the screenshot appears to be from Twitter (inferred from the icons at the bottom of the post)
List of suggested people in GenSmarts who are missing death records and 1881 Census records in England
Close-up of part of an 1900 Census page There is a white button with black text in the middle that says View image
It was as recently as 1974 that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act passed in the US, making it illegal for lenders to discriminate against credit applicants on the basis of protected characteristics like sex and marital status. Many of the single women taking out mortgages today were raised by women who couldn’t do the same.
But here's a catch with A.I. It's easy to tell when a reference, or comparison, or a sentence, doesn't belong to a writer. Erudition and style aren't forgeable for long; they still must be earned. As for A.I.'s sleek, space-efficient text, we've already grown accustomed to what that sounds like — the flat, consistent tone, the pert little summary bits, the repetitions, the impersonal and fluorescent-lit mood. Readit in, you feel you've been through the desert on a horse with no name.
Source Citation The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Series Title: Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels and Airplanes Arriving at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; NAI Number: 2915672; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85; Series: A4097; Roll: 10
Arrival Date 1955 Arrival Place Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Airline M.A.T.S.
header from MATS passenger manifest showing destination of McGuire Air Force Base
Browse this collection To browse this image set, select from the options below. Title Railway Mail Records, 4th Division, U·S· Post Office, Box: 4·305 Railway Mail Service, 4th Division, U·S· Post Office, Box: 2·52 Railway Mail Service, 4th Division, U·S· Post Office, Box: 3·49 Railway Mail Service, 4th Division, U·S· Post Office, Box: 3·5 Railway Mail Service, 4th Division, U·S· Post Office, Box: 3·51 Railway Mail Service, 4th Division, U·S· Post Office, Box: 3·54
About Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., Railroad Employment Cards, 1881-1906 General collection information This collection contains employment records for US Postal Service personnel who worked on the railway mail service in Atlanta, Georgia, between 1881 and 1965. The records are registers that list post office personnel who worked on a specific railroad route, and they have information about several employees on each page.
every time I or other professionals post about how we find carefully managed AI tools useful - whether journalists, historians, coders, whatever - , a bunch of people show up to insist that we must be wrong about our own workflow.
In all this work our eye has been upon the "unborn generations." We have thought, planned and worked chiefly for them. It has been our highest aim to gather up and preserve all we could that was worthy and good of the generations past and present for the pleasure and use of the generations to come after. If they shall appreciate our toil and sacrifice, our fondest hope will have been met.
Let us express the hope that these long-lost links now gathered up again may be hereafter cherished. Life is too short and communications to easy in these days for near kind thus to neglect and lose sight of each other.
No doubt humiliating errors and omissions will be found. It could not be otherwise.