Hi all
The next meeting of the GCG will take place at the Family History Centre of
the Church of LDS at 19a Street and 17th Avenue S.W on Saturday 8th
November.
9.30 am Beginners Question and Answer Session.
10.30 am. Carol Lee will bring us up to speed on the "Pedigree Resource
File"
Hope to see you there.
Beginners can send their questions in advance to ar109@...
Alan Cassley
Chairman, GCG.
http://www.afhs.ab.ca
Earlier this summer I was trying to find the link to Hugh Armstrong's Canadian Divorce site which had been on the National Archives site. Reading in the Calgary Herald this morning I see that Parliament has decided divorces past and ongoing fall under the Privacy Act and have frozen those records. This was done this spring without any notification so likely why that site is no longer available.
"Although divorce records will remain public in the locations they were filed, it will be difficult to determine whether someone has ever been divorced without checking with every courthouse in the country" to quote the Herald.
So it sounds like another avenue of research is closed to genealogists and family historians.
Well I'm astounded. These divorces were published in the Canada Gazette,
so hardly private. Try the Calgary Court House library on the 7th floor.
Lois Sparling
Carol Lylyk wrote:
Earlier this summer I was trying to find the link to Hugh Armstrong's
Canadian Divorce site which had been on the National Archives site. Reading
in the Calgary Herald this morning I see that Parliament has decided divorces
past and ongoing fall under the Privacy Act and have frozen those records.
This was done this spring without any notification so likely why that site
is no longer available.
"Although divorce records will remain public in the locations they
were filed, it will be difficult to determine whether someone has ever been
divorced without checking with every courthouse in the country" to quote
the Herald.
So it sounds like another avenue of research is closed to genealogists
and family historians.
http://web.archive.org/web/20011223165659/members.shaw.ca/hughlarmstrong/divlist.htm Marg McFarlane from Olds just sent me this address which is the one I was looking for this summer. It appears to be okay and I am pretty sure he gets his information from the gazette so I guess the information is still available, at least up to 1946 which is the date he shows.
I checked the National Archives site - Government Records and checked Divorce Records.
>> Divorce Act [textual record]
1956-1969.
0.1 m of textual records. . SCOPE AND CONTENT: Series consists of material relating to various divorce cases. Volume 10 is closed. >>
I am not sure what they mean Volume 10 is closed never having looked at that page before I don't know if that phrase is new or if it means something else altogether.
Maybe they are just sealing the records of 'important people' as apparently it was reporters trying to find information of Mike Harris' lady friend that brought this to light.
Hopefully the Herald got it wrong otherwise that is another avenue closed to researchers.
Well I'm astounded. These divorces were published in the Canada Gazette, so hardly private. Try the Calgary Court House library on the 7th floor.
Lois Sparling
Carol Lylyk wrote:
Earlier this summer I was trying to find the link to Hugh Armstrong's Canadian Divorce site which had been on the National Archives site. Reading in the Calgary Herald this morning I see that Parliament has decided divorces past and ongoing fall under the Privacy Act and have frozen those records. This was done this spring without any notification so likely why that site is no longer available.
"Although divorce records will remain public in the locations they were filed, it will be difficult to determine whether someone has ever been divorced without checking with every courthouse in the country" to quote the Herald.
So it sounds like another avenue of research is closed to genealogists and family historians.
I just read the Herald article as well - and suspect that it's essentially correct. It would be a great surprise if divorce details - filled with emotional and embarrassing potential would be subject to public access to a greater extent than marriage details (which are considered private/restricted).
Whenever records are donated, loaned, or transferred to an archives, the person or body that puts it there can place restrictions on the conditions under which the materals may be viewed and/or there may be legislation that restricts access to certain conditions.
The conditions might be the amount of years that must pass before anyone can access the documents, it could be time elapsed since the event identified in the record, or could even indicate that only the archivist can view the records. I read a book not long ago about some literary communication that had a condition of 100 years placed on the donation such that even the archivist was not allowed to read the items for 100 years - any inventorying had to be done based on the file folder labels - and not by viewing the contents!
Conditions can also be placed on who may be able to view the documents - such as direct descendants or those parties identified in the documents.
The archivist's premier mandates is to *preserve* records so as to preserve knowledge about the body that created them. The second mandate is to provide *access* to the records. Most archiviests would actively counsel depositors to make the records unrestricted (meets the second mandate and makes their lives much easier administratively if they don't have to monitor restriction requirements). Some archives may even refuse to receive records if any viewing conditions are placed on them. But - you can see that the preservationist mandate might get the best of them.
Once an archival accession is inventoried and housed in archival safe conditions, archival description which has many required fields ("Rules for Archival Description, aka "RAD") must be prepared. A really simple example can be found at: http://www.mennonites.ca/mhsa/archives/coaldale_cheese_factory.html for the wee holdings we have at the MHSA of the Coaldale Cheese Factory. The red headings are all standardized fields that are understood to be part of RAD. (One of the fields that must be completed is "Access Restrictions".) I believe "closed would suggest that the records do become open at some point in time.
All the above based on my amateur status as an archivist and reading whatever literature I've been able to get my hands on in the past 18 months of being the archivst for Mennonites in Alberta.
And, now some premature news, since Hugh's name has been mentioned.
Hugh Armstrong managed to do a lot of important indexing and transcribing work, but about 6 months ago his website went offline and e-mails to him fail as well. I've been doing some work to uncover his files and now have succeeded in uncoverring most of the files that I was aware of. These are in the process of being placed on the AFHS website to be known as the "Hugh Armstrong Collection" - with a wee logo to be associated with all those files.. The files pertain to divorces, early Quebec censuses, and PEI cemetery records and will be released and announced here over the next two months.
In Kinship, Judith Rempel, Webster note new personal e-mail address: judith@...
-----Original Message----- From: owner-dist-gen@... [mailto:owner-dist-gen@...]On Behalf Of Carol Lylyk Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2003 12:43 PM To: Lois Sparling; dist-gen@... Subject: Re: Canadian Divorce records
http://web.archive.org/web/20011223165659/members.shaw.ca/hughlarmstrong/divlist.htm Marg McFarlane from Olds just sent me this address which is the one I was looking for this summer. It appears to be okay and I am pretty sure he gets his information from the gazette so I guess the information is still available, at least up to 1946 which is the date he shows.
I checked the National Archives site - Government Records and checked Divorce Records.
>> Divorce Act [textual record]
1956-1969.
0.1 m of textual records. . SCOPE AND CONTENT: Series consists of material relating to various divorce cases. Volume 10 is closed. >>
I am not sure what they mean Volume 10 is closed never having looked at that page before I don't know if that phrase is new or if it means something else altogether.
Maybe they are just sealing the records of 'important people' as apparently it was reporters trying to find information of Mike Harris' lady friend that brought this to light.
Hopefully the Herald got it wrong otherwise that is another avenue closed to researchers.
Well I'm astounded. These divorces were published in the Canada Gazette, so hardly private. Try the Calgary Court House library on the 7th floor.
Lois Sparling
Carol Lylyk wrote:
Earlier this summer I was trying to find the link to Hugh Armstrong's Canadian Divorce site which had been on the National Archives site. Reading in the Calgary Herald this morning I see that Parliament has decided divorces past and ongoing fall under the Privacy Act and have frozen those records. This was done this spring without any notification so likely why that site is no longer available.
"Although divorce records will remain public in the locations they were filed, it will be difficult to determine whether someone has ever been divorced without checking with every courthouse in the country" to quote the Herald.
So it sounds like another avenue of research is closed to genealogists and family historians.
Donations have flooded in even faster in the last two weeks than for
Beatty et al v Chief Statistician et al in early 2002. If your cheque
is not already in the mail - hold off.
Funds should arrive any day now from the Moose Jaw branch of the SGS
which should put us over the top. If we are still short on our
fund-raising goal of $7,500 in 2 weeks' time, I will let you know.
Also, we will need more funds if there is an appeal to the Federal
Court of Appeal.
Lois Sparling
http://www.afhs.ab.ca
I have a Brother HL-1230 Laser printer. Lately my printed material has a
very dirty appearance to it. The background is just terrible. However the
actual printed characters are very black in color, not faded at all.
Firstly the Brother Service Center suggested I clean the corona wire which I
did with no appreciable improvement in my printed output. Now they are
saying since I have put through the normal number of printed pages for this
cartridge, I should change it out. I don't doubt I need a new cartridge.
Does anyone know how replacing a toner cartridge can clean up the
background? Maybe I should get my printer cleaned before I get the new
cartridge. Comments.
Bob Crowle crowleb@...
http://www.afhs.ab.ca
> I have a Brother HL-1230 Laser printer. Lately my printed material has a
> very dirty appearance to it. The background is just terrible. However
the
> actual printed characters are very black in color, not faded at all.
> Does anyone know how replacing a toner cartridge can clean up the
> background? Maybe I should get my printer cleaned before I get the new
> cartridge. Comments.
I believe the Brother has a separate drum. These usually need replacing
about every fourth or fifth toner cartridge. Some printers (HP, Samsung)
combine the drum with the toner which supposedly keeps the background clean
but it raises the toner cartridge price considerably. I'd suggest you ask
Brother about the drum.
Bill
http://www.afhs.ab.ca
These tools on the AFHS site are indeed very useful and should help demystify the prairie land system (we are very fortunate that the system is so regular. Finding farms in other systems is usually a bit of a pain in the neck!
In particular note the Post Office database at the National Archives - a surprising place to find a reasonably simple approach to determining the legal land description of an area.
Go to: http://www.archives.ca/02/02010902_e.html Then, enter a community name and province where you think your family lived (i.e. the post office nearest to them) and scroll to the bottom to find the Sec/Twp/Rge/Mer coordinates.
If you mean the paper looks dirty, try a cleaner sheet. "Removes toner, dirt
and dust from the paper path to improve print quality."
www.fellowes.com/
I've still got a few sheets in a package opened Aug 1996. Switched to full
time color ink jet printers in 1997.
Seems to me that turning pages to print on the back was a problem along with
heat that curled the pages. No experience with recent laser printers. --
Elizabeth
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Crowle"
> I have a Brother HL-1230 Laser printer. Lately my printed material has a
> very dirty appearance to it. The background is just terrible. However
the
> actual printed characters are very black in color, not faded at all.
http://www.afhs.ab.ca
An older Jewish gentleman was on the operating
table awaiting surgery and he
insisted that his son, a renowned surgeon, perform
the operation. As he was
about to get the anaesthesia he asked to speak to
his son. "Yes Dad, what is
it?" "Don't be nervous, son; do your best and just
remember, if it doesn't
go well, if something happens to me ... your
mother is going to come and
live with you and your wife...."
-----------------------------------------
Aging: Eventually you will reach a point when you
stop lying about your age
and start bragging about it.
------------------------------------------
The older we get, the fewer things seem worth
waiting in line for.
------------------------------------------
Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not
me, I want people to know
"why" I look this way. I've travelled a long way
and some of the roads
weren't paved.
--------------------------------------------
How old would you be if you didn't know how old
you are?
----------------------------------------------
When you are dissatisfied and would like to go
back to youth, think of
Algebra.
---------------------------------------------
You know you are getting old when everything
either dries up or leaks.
----------------------------------------------
I don't know how I got over the hill without
getting to the top.
----------------------------------------------
One of the many things no one tells you about
aging is that it is such a
nice change from being young.
----------------------------------------------
Ah, being young is beautiful, but being old is
comfortable.
-----------------------------------------------
Old age is when former classmates are so grey and
wrinkled and bald, they
don't recognize you.
----------------------------------------------
If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't
have anything to laugh at
when you are old.
--------------------------------------
First you forget names, then you forget faces.
Then you forget to pull up
your zipper. It's worse when you forget to pull it
down.
-------------------------------------------
Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with
sticks, it was called
witchcraft... Today, it's called golf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
A WELL PLANNED LIFE????
Two women met for the first time since graduating
from high school. One
asked the other, "You were always so organized in
school, Did you manage to
live a well planned life? " " Yes," said her
friend. "My first marriage was
to a millionaire; my second marriage was to an
actor; my third marriage was
to a preacher; and now I'm married to an
undertaker." Her friend asked,
"What do those marriages have to do with a well
planned life?" "One for the
money, two for the show, three to get ready, and
four to go."
http://www.afhs.ab.cahttp://www.afhs.ab.ca
Hi Gordon,
When I went into the site, it was a different cartoon. I clicked on 5
November but got a blank screen. I'm intrigued by the title and your hint
at the contents. What did the cartoon show?
Thanks,
Ronna
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gordon Lane" <gordonplane@...>
To: <dist-gen@...>
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 8:48 PM
Subject: Original Genelogists
> I picked this up from another list
>
> Regards
>
> Gordon Lane
> Vice Chair - Facilities
> Editor Chinook
>
> Alberta Family Histories Society
> http://www.afhs.ab.ca
>
> Family website
> http://www.rumbolt.com
>
>
>
>
> The comic in today's Washington Post was meant for those of us who search
> for our origins. Take a look at
> http://featurepage.creators.com/washpost.html?name=bmp,
> if this isn't about Adam and Eve then select the entry for Nov 5, 2003.
Hope
> you enjoy.
>
>
> http://www.afhs.ab.cahttp://www.afhs.ab.ca
Try this link: http://www.creators.com/comics_show.cfm?comicname=bmp
It was in the globe and mail too.
On Thursday, Nov 6, 2003, at 22:31 Canada/Mountain, Ronna L. Byam wrote:
> Hi Gordon,
> When I went into the site, it was a different cartoon. I clicked on 5
> November but got a blank screen. I'm intrigued by the title and your
> hint
> at the contents. What did the cartoon show?
> Thanks,
> Ronna
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gordon Lane" <gordonplane@...>
> To: <dist-gen@...>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 8:48 PM
> Subject: Original Genelogists
>
>
>> I picked this up from another list
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Gordon Lane
>> Vice Chair - Facilities
>> Editor Chinook
>>
>> Alberta Family Histories Society
>> http://www.afhs.ab.ca
>>
>> Family website
>> http://www.rumbolt.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> The comic in today's Washington Post was meant for those of us who
>> search
>> for our origins. Take a look at
>> http://featurepage.creators.com/washpost.html?name=bmp,
>> if this isn't about Adam and Eve then select the entry for Nov 5,
>> 2003.
> Hope
>> you enjoy.
>>
>>
>> http://www.afhs.ab.ca
>
>
> http://www.afhs.ab.ca
>
http://www.afhs.ab.ca
(Jeff is Senator Milne's assistant)
Cheer up, Jeff. Their goal is to get rid of the opt in/opt out clause.
As you know all too well, that is going to take alot more work. We can
probably pry loose the 1911 census through the Federal Court. Surely we
won't have to sue again for the 1916 census. We have time and energy
(and many folks willing to provide funds almost instantly whenever we
ask) to pursue reasonable legislation over the next year or two (or three).
Besides, soon the Canadian Alliance may not exist anymore.
Lois Sparling
Paul, Jeff: SEN wrote:
>Hey there everyone. I just thought that since I was in the house for the
debate on S-13 yesterday I should give you a bit more flavour to what happened
there yesterday.
>
>First of all, they did have a voice vote on the bill. It was clear that the
yeas had it and the majority of people in the house wanted to send the bill to
committee. This included ALL government members. The real disappointment was
the Canadian Alliance. They all voted AGAINST the bill in principle. When the
speaker declared that the government won the vote, 5 members of the Canadian
Alliance rose to their feet to force a recorded vote on the issue, instead of
immediately sending the bill to committee. This prevented Don Boudria from
doing what he wanted, which was to get the bill into committee.
>
>The rules of the House of Commons prevent votes on Friday, by and large, and so
Boudria moved that the vote take place on the first day that he could, which is
the first Monday after the break. He could not do anything else.
>
>The unfortunate thing is that the House of Commons will prorogue by Wednesday
of next week. There is no question about this fact in my mind. Everything that
is happening here points to that inevitable conclusion. This means that the
bill is dead for now, and that it was the Canadian Alliance that prevented it
from getting into committee where the bill either would be amended to improve
it, or passed without amendment giving us at least some access to historic
census records. It means that the Canadian Alliance has put all of the power
over the census back into the hands of Ivan Fellegi. The opposition debated out
this government bill to the point where it has failed.
>
>Now as Gordon will tell you, the government has the ability to re-instate bills
that were on the order paper at the time of prorogation. But with a new Prime
Minister taking the reins, who the heck knows what is going to happen. If we
are really lucky John Manley or Sheila Copps will be shuffled into the Industry
portfolio. Both of those ministers know the file inside out and backwards, and
could be persuaded to pursue the issue. It would also be good if Rock were back
at Industry because he would likely pick up the file where he left off.
>
>That's the view from the ground here folks. If you have any questions, I'll be
happy to answer them.
>
>Jeff Paul
>Policy Advisor
>Office of the Hon. Lorna Milne
>Ph: (613) 947-9744
>Cell: (613) 715-2965
>
>
>
>==== CANADA-CENSUS-CAMPAIGN Mailing List ====
>Keep up to date on Post 1901 Census Issues at
> http://globalgenealogy.com/Census/
>en français http://globalgenealogy.com/Census/Index_f.htm
>
>
>
>
http://www.afhs.ab.ca
I just sent a message to our Celtic SIG mailing list. If you don't get
it, you are not on my list, for whatever reason.
Lois Sparling
http://www.afhs.ab.ca
Hi everyone,
Sorry for the commercial but I noticed that Moorshead Magazine and Global
Genealogy have specials on the bound volumes at substantially reduced
prices. We will match the prices as long as supplies last - e.g. here is the
special by Global Genealogy.
FOUR BOOKS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!
Family Chronicle Magazine has assembled more than 1500 pages (4 years
worth) of some of the finest genealogy articles that have ever been
published into four books. Printed in full color on glossy coated paper. The
regular price of these books is 30.00 each for a total value of 120.00 Save
75% ... GLOBAL'S CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, GET ALL FOUR BOOKS FOR ONLY ......
30.00 C$ (24.00 US$).
Check the items listed as "Bound" under Magazines & Subscriptions at
http://www.knowmap.com/age/ for a list of what we have in stock.
If you pick them up, there will be no shipping charges. GST of 7% applies to
total before shipping. See order form at
http://www.knowmap.com/age/age_order_form.pdf
Also we have reduced the prices on our genealogy bags to $19.95 in time for
Christmas.
P.S. Sorry I have not been at the meetings this year. Plan to attend
December's if possible.
à bientôt,
Xenia Stanford (president@...)
A.G.E. Ancestree Genealogical Enterprises
Column: "Nos Racines Francaise" http://globalgenealogy.com/globalgazette
Local book and magazine sales: http://www.knowmap.com/age/
Celtic Stone Art: http://www/celticstoneart.com
Phone: (403) 295-3490; Fax: (403) 274-0564
http://www.afhs.ab.ca
This article from NYTimes.com
has been sent to you by ar109@....
An article about one of the groups that provide ISP's (Internet Service
Providers) with the lists that they use to block spam - just think - maybe it is
worse than what we get in our inboxes!
Mary Arthur
ar109@...
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Spammers Can Run but They Can’t Hide
November 9, 2003
By SAUL HANSELL
TAGGS ISLAND, England
AS Steve Linford walks his German shepherd, Zen, across the
gangway from his houseboat into his prim little garden on
this small island in the Thames, he hardly looks like a man
in a battle over the future of cyberspace. He has a
salt-and-pepper beard and a twinkle in his blue eyes, but
the effect is more former hippie than Sean Connery.
After Zen gives a good bark at the ducks, the two return to
the boat, and Mr. Linford climbs a spiral staircase into a
sunny home office with nine computer screens piled on a
black desk. This is the unlikely command center for the
Spamhaus Project, one of the leading groups that is trying
to make the world safe from junk e-mail.
As a cause, stopping spam may not be as urgent as, say,
curing AIDS. Yet thousands of activists, of whom Mr.
Linford may be the most visible, have mobilized to fight
it.
By some counts, spam is now as much as 80 percent of all
e-mail. It is a drag on human endeavor, in the sense that
people collectively spend billions of seconds each day
opening, puzzling over, complaining about and deleting
messages from charlatans and pornographers - and, yes,
legitimate if unloved marketers.
"E-mail is the most incredible communication vehicle
invented, and it is on the verge of being made useless,''
Mr. Linford said.
On the floor of Mr. Linford's houseboat office, near the
Hampton Court palace of Henry VIII, just south of London,
is a cube-shaped Apple computer that is the nerve center of
Spamhaus, controlling servers on five continents. In its
database are dossiers on the 200 most prolific spammers and
the addresses of the 8,000 computers they use to inundate
people with ads. Spamhaus makes the list available to
Internet service providers, which use the information to
weed spam from the e-mail boxes of 160 million users.
Those lists are compiled by Mr. Linford and 15 volunteers,
many of whom work for Internet service providers. Some
members of the group do detective work, tracking down the
spammers from telltale clues they leave in their e-mail.
Others assemble this evidence to try to persuade the
service providers to kick spammers off their networks. One
Spamhaus member, a Southern California woman who goes by
the online name "Shiksaa,'' chats online with the spammers,
pumping them for information and trying to pull them away
from the dark side.
"They are kind of like the X-men,'' said Matt Sergeant,
director of anti-spam technology at MessageLabs, an e-mail
security firm in Britain that works with Spamhaus. "Each
one has their specialist powers.''
Spamhaus plays up the comic-book theme a bit. The main
screen of its internal computer network is emblazoned with
Spider-Man's slogan: "With great power comes great
responsibility.''
Not everyone sees Mr. Linford as a hero. Most of the
marketers that are his targets say they don't send spam;
they call Mr. Linford a vigilante. And the Internet
companies he pressures to stop doing business with spammers
say he sometimes pushes too hard. He is known to have
blocked the e-mail of Internet service executives he thinks
aren't kicking off spammers fast enough - a method that
often wins results, if not friends.
Yet Mr. Linford, 46, has earned the respect of most
Internet service providers - even those with whom he has
had run-ins - as the best source of information about
spammers.
"Spamhaus is the only clearinghouse for information on the
spammers themselves, and for that it is invaluable," said
Laura Atkins, who runs Word to the Wise, an e-mail
consulting firm in San Carlos, Calif. "Any time one of my
clients has ended up on their list it is because someone
received mail they didn't ask for."
Mr. Linford has focused on making his list of spammers
reliable enough for big companies to trust. He publishes
his e-mail address and phone number and responds to
complaints that listings are incorrect.
That is in sharp contrast to other spam-blocking lists,
which are often run anonymously and, at times, recklessly.
Some block the mail of innocent Internet users to create
pressure on the Internet provider to kick off spammers.
For now, sending unsolicited e-mail isn't illegal in the
United States, but it has just been prohibited by the
European Union. Most Internet providers have policies that
ban spam from their networks; some providers have sued
spammers, contending that tactics used to avoid detection
are illegal.
Mr. Linford says he has intercepted chat-room conversations
between spammers and crackers, the name for malicious
hackers who write computer viruses and steal credit card
numbers. The spammers have been seeking ways to send their
messages to avoid the blocking systems created by Internet
providers.
"In the last six months, the cracker world has joined the
spammer world,'' Mr. Linford said.
Aided by crackers, the spammers have secretly infected and
taken control of thousands of computers around the world,
most of them owned by home users with high-speed Internet
connections.
These machines - called zombie drones - relay mail for
spammers and serve as hosts for the Web sites where people
are sent by spam, all without the computer owner's
knowledge.
Since last June, zombie drones have also been subjecting
Spamhaus to what is called a distributed denial-of-service
attack, perhaps the most virulent weapon in a hacker's
arsenal.
Tens of thousands of enemy machines have simultaneously
deluged Spamhaus's computers with so much meaningless data
that they can barely perform their intended missions.
Similar attacks have put several smaller anti-spam
organizations out of business.
This month, the crackers took the attack to a new level:
they released two computer viruses that have already spread
to hundreds of thousands of machines. The purpose was to
attack Spamhaus and two similar groups.
"For the spammers to actually manufacture and release a
worldwide virus specifically to attack you, you're probably
making quite some impact on them," Mr. Linford said.
HOW did Mr. Linford end up as an avenging angel of
cyberspace?
Discouraged by the economic stagnation of England in the
1950's, Mr. Linford's parents moved to Rome, where his
father ran a factory that made industrial platinum. Steve
Linford dropped out of a college photography program,
bought a motor home, parked it on beaches and played his
guitar in coffee shops for money. He eventually met Ennio
Morricone, the legendary Italian film composer. (Mr.
Linford can be heard singing on the soundtrack for
"Copkiller," a 1983 Italian film starring Harvey Keitel.)
Mr. Linford later became a road manager for acts like Pink
Floyd and Michael Jackson when they toured Italy. As he saw
technology embrace music production, Mr. Linford became
enamored with computers. In 1986, he drove the motor home
back to London and started a company devoted to putting
musical tours online. It flopped, but he did start a Web
page design and hosting business, called Ultradesign
Internet. It was there that he had his first run-ins with
spam.
Mr. Linford's initial reaction to spam was similar to that
of countless others. Outraged, he asked the senders to
remove him - and his clients - from their lists. Getting no
response, he turned to the Internet providers. After he
failed to get results there, an activist was born.
Mr. Linford found the central meeting place for the
anti-spam activists - an Internet newsgroup that is called
Nanae, for news.admin
.net-abuse.email. Like many other news groups, Nanae
(pronounced nah-NAY) is a boisterous place, where
information about fighting spam is interposed with rather
pointed insults of spammers and their allies.
"Nanae is a very angry crowd," Mr. Linford said. "They
shout a lot because they feel powerless."
Mr. Linford, however, felt anything but powerless. In 1997,
he created a series of sophisticated Web sites with tools
to help spam fighters, databases of people selling software
for use in sending spam, and assistance for people who
wanted to write to an Internet service provider to complain
about spam.
Because he owned an Internet company, Mr. Linford
encouraged activists to use far more moderate language,
without the typical threats and demands. In 1998, he
started what would become his main site: Spamhaus.org, a
clearinghouse for information on the organizations behind
most of the spam. Meanwhile, Paul Vixie, the pioneering
Internet software developer in Redwood City, Calif., had
formed the Mail Abuse Prevention Service, creator of the
Realtime Blackhole List. That was the first list to block
Internet addresses known as sources of spam. But that
effort became bogged down, both by lawsuits and internal
bickering.
So Mr. Linford created his own list, the Spamhaus Block
List, devoted to addresses used by spammers. He says it is
used by Internet providers that serve 160 million e-mail
users.
That count is impossible to verify. In the United States,
the list is not used by the biggest providers, like America
Online and Microsoft's Hotmail. But it is used by the next
tier of providers, including the Road Runner high-speed
service, from Time Warner, and the NetZero and Juno
services, from United Online. Smaller organizations that
cannot afford commercial anti-spam services also depend on
the list.
Spamhaus takes no money for its services, and the computers
it uses to host the service are donated. So far, Mr.
Linford has paid all of the direct costs, about $25,000 a
year, using money from Ultradesign, the company he still
owns and runs.
That will have to change, he acknowledged. He and some of
his volunteers have outstanding legal bills from defending
a lawsuit, now dismissed, brought by a group of Florida
e-mail marketers. He has asked the British government for a
grant, but has not received one. Whatever the source of
funds, he says he hopes that access to his services will
remain free.
JUST as people talk about their ailments when they meet
doctors, people can't wait to show Steve Linford their
spam.
A visitor shows him one for "superviagra.'' Mr. Linford
ignores the return address, which the spammer made up. But
he looks closely at the address of the Web site being
advertised. Fingers flying, he looks up the site in the
"whois," the database that links domain names to Internet
protocol numbers, the unique address of each computer on
the Internet.
Mr. Linford then looks up the number in Spamhaus's block
list.
Pay dirt. The site is operated by Chinanet Chongqing, one
of the regional state-owned Chinese Internet providers.
According to the block list, it is operated on behalf of
Alan Ralsky, an e-mail marketer in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.,
whom Spamhaus calls the world's No. 1 spammer.
Mr. Linford looks at a second e-mail message, this one for
mortgages. The same drill leads to an Internet site hosted
from Brazil. But again, the block list already knows about
it.
"Ah, Ralsky again,'' Mr. Linford said.
On its Register of Known Spam Operations, or Rokso,
Spamhaus describes Mr. Ralsky as "one of the bigger spam
houses on the Internet with a gang of fellow morally
challenged types working with him." The files include state
records of Ralsky's run-ins with the law, newspaper
articles about him, and long lists of aliases and Web sites
he supposedly has used.
Mr. Ralsky, in a telephone interview last week, said of Mr.
Linford: "He is so far off base on me he has no clue.'' Mr.
Ralsky said he sold travel and other products but did not
handle "super Viagra.''
I don't see where he's coming from,'' Mr. Ralsky added.
"All we are doing is selling products. I don't understand
why I don't have the right to make a living.''
Mr. Linford, of course, disputes this, saying that his
investigators have traced the Internet domains used in
these spam messages to companies controlled by Mr. Ralsky.
At its peak last year, the Spamhaus Block List was
catching as much as half of the spam at many of the
providers that used it, according to Mr. Linford and
Internet services. But its effectiveness has fallen sharply
as spammers use zombie drones and other techniques to hide
their tracks. Many Internet providers now say the list is
catching less than 10 percent of the spam. But there are
other block lists, focusing on identifying purloined
computers, that are now much more effective in keeping spam
out of inboxes.
Eliminating these zombie drones has become a major headache
for providers of high-speed Internet service. They must
call users, explain that their computers have been secretly
invaded and talk them through the extensive steps required
to remove the problem.
Even though Mr. Linford's block list is faltering, his
database of spammers remains a potent force in the fight
against spam. Many Internet service providers still check
regularly with Rokso to vet potential customers before they
open accounts. And they monitor the block list to see which
spammers have appeared on their networks.
Mr. Linford said some of the big American service
providers, like Qwest and Sprint, now respond quickly to
cut off spammers named by Spamhaus. Others take more
persuading. For example, Spamhaus complained for months to
Cogent Communications that Eddy Marin, one of the perennial
top spammers in Rokso, was using its network. Cogent
finally cut off Mr. Marin's account late last month. A
spokesman for Mr. Marin said Cogent's action was not
justified.
As for Cogent, Michael Hammons, the company's senior
director for operations, said Spamhaus often pressed it to
cut off customers based on what he saw as flimsy evidence.
"I'm concerned that we should find customers guilty by
association or alleged association," he said. "They may
give us a warning to say you will have problems with this
customer, but we can't do anything until we actually do
have problems."
Mr. Hammons added that Cogent found the information from
Spamhaus to be more credible than that from any other
anti-spam group.
NOW, Spamhaus is trying to win over Internet providers
around the world, especially in China, which has become the
headquarters of choice for many spammers. Spamhaus has
blocked the corporate e-mail of Chinanet-Shanghai, one of
several state-owned Internet providers. In response, the
company created a department to look for spammers.
"We don't like to see that we are blacklisted," wrote Lin
Chen, an administrator at Chinanet-Shanghai, in an e-mail
interview. He called the blocking actions of anti-spam
groups "functional and effective." Spamhaus, he wrote,
promptly removed the block when the spammers were cut off.
Despite efforts by Spamhaus and others, the volume of spam
appears to be increasing. Spamhaus's campaign is futile,
said Scott Richter, president of OptinRealBig, an e-mail
marketing company in Westminster, Colo., which is on the
Rokso list.
"All they are doing is making the problem 10 times worse,''
said Mr. Richter, who says he sends e-mail messages that
are requested, not spam. "The spammers are learning to do
stuff that can't be caught. If they get kicked off a
Chinese I.S.P. they open the next day at a Korean one, who
never had a way to get that sort of customer before.''
Mr. Linford said he believed that spammers could be
contained, if not eliminated. A tough new anti-spam law in
Europe will help, he said. The proposed Can-Spam act in the
United States, he said, is not tough enough, but he figures
that when it fails to work, Congress will have to make a
stronger law. But Mr. Linford gloomily predicts that
spammers will simply move more of their operations to Asia
and Latin America.
As for Mr. Linford, he plans to move his home, business and
Spamhaus to a 70-foot yacht that will travel, cove to cove,
across the Adriatic.
But spammers had better not relax. With superfast satellite
connections, he plans to hunt them down from the high seas.
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i=1&en=15a9ebb63624f50f
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http://www.afhs.ab.ca
I have tried to send a short message to all members of the Celtic SIG
mailing list. The problem is transferring the email addresses into the
Celtic subgroup on my Address Book.
lois
http://www.afhs.ab.ca
I am trying to order some certificates from the General Register Office in Southport, England. The number I am using is 011 44 01704 550013. I keep getting a message saying the number can not be completed as dialled. Has anyone been successful at doing this and if so, what number did you use?
I would have liked to order online but their website says online ordering is only available from the UK. Anyone tried this anyway?
-----Original Message----- From: owner-dist-gen@... [mailto:owner-dist-gen@...] On Behalf Of Marg Randall McCready Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2003 5:22 PM To: dist.gen Subject: Faxing Southport
I am trying to order some certificates from the General Register Office in Southport, England. The number I am using is 011 44 01704 550013. I keep getting a message saying the number can not be completed as dialled. Has anyone been successful at doing this and if so, what number did you use?
I would have liked to order online but their website says online ordering is only available from the UK. Anyone tried this anyway?
Hi Marg:
You might try leaving the 0 off in front of the 1704. That may work. rm
On Sunday, November 9, 2003, at 04:22 PM, Marg Randall McCready wrote:
> I am trying to order some certificates from the General Register
> Office in Southport, England. The number I am using is 011 44 01704
> 550013. I keep getting a message saying the number can not be
> completed as dialled. Has anyone been successful at doing this and if
> so, what number did you use?
>
> I would have liked to order online but their website says online
> ordering is only available from the UK. Anyone tried this anyway?
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Marg McCready
>
Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold
weather becomes frozen: even so does inaction sap the vigors of the
mind.
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 - 1519).
RoseMarie McLean
Calgary/Kaslo
CANADA
Hello all,
Sorry to say that the English SIG meeting scheduled for November 11th
has had to be cancelled. At our last meeting we began a binder of
surnames and places being researched together with resources (filed by
county) held by our members. I have this binder at the moment but will
take it to the AFHS library next week where it will be kept and can be
consulted.
In the meantime I'd be happy to collect information for the binder and
answer questions on English research through my e-mail address:
"astridge@...".
Sincerely,
Ann Williams
http://www.afhs.ab.ca
Atlantic Canada Special Interest Group Announcement
The Atlantic Canada SIG will be meeting from 7 to 9 p. m. on Wednesday,
November 12, 2003 at the Genealogy Bureau, located at 712-16th Avenue NW,
Calgary, AB. Our topic for this evening's meeting will be on the Maritime
Acadians. This is great opportunity to come and share your Acadian
backgrounds. Next year, 200,000 people are expected to visit the Maritimes
because of the 400th Acadian Anniversary. Everyone welcome!
The Atlantic Canada Special Interest Group meets bi-monthly, on the second
Wednesday evening of the month at the Genealogy Bureau. Our group covers
family history specific to Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova
Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The first 90 minutes are typically spent on
the topic of the evening and the balance of the time is spent using the AFHS
Library. New members always welcome!
November 12, 2003 Maritime Acadians
January 14, 2004 - TBA
March 10, 2004 - TBA
May 12, 2004 TBA
For questions regarding this meeting or if you require a ride to our meetings,
please contact Inge Leavell at ileavell@... or at 403.948.0543.
http://www.afhs.ab.ca
Inge Regret I can't make it on Wed. Sounds like a great topic. John
----- Original Message -----
From: <ILEAVELL@...>
To: <dist-gen@...>
Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2003 6:45 PM
Subject: Atlantic Canada SIG Reminder
> Atlantic Canada Special Interest Group Announcement
>
> The Atlantic Canada SIG will be meeting from 7 to 9 p. m. on Wednesday,
> November 12, 2003 at the Genealogy Bureau, located at 712-16th Avenue NW,
> Calgary, AB. Our topic for this evening's meeting will be on the Maritime
> Acadians. This is great opportunity to come and share your Acadian
> backgrounds. Next year, 200,000 people are expected to visit the
Maritimes
> because of the 400th Acadian Anniversary. Everyone welcome!
>
> The Atlantic Canada Special Interest Group meets bi-monthly, on the second
> Wednesday evening of the month at the Genealogy Bureau. Our group covers
> family history specific to Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova
> Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The first 90 minutes are typically spent
on
> the topic of the evening and the balance of the time is spent using the
AFHS
> Library. New members always welcome!
>
> November 12, 2003 Maritime Acadians
> January 14, 2004 - TBA
> March 10, 2004 - TBA
> May 12, 2004 TBA
>
> For questions regarding this meeting or if you require a ride to our
meetings,
> please contact Inge Leavell at ileavell@... or at 403.948.0543.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.afhs.ab.cahttp://www.afhs.ab.ca
Hi Inge:
This is nit-picking but:
I would like to have AFHS project a single consistent image to the public
about all we do. I note your notice indicates the Atlantic Group meets in
the Genealogy Bureau - that is the bookstore upstairs.
It would help us project that AFHS image if future announcements refer to
it as the AFHS Library. We have our sign in the window and will soon erect
a sign on the exposed west wall of the building so people should be able to
find us by our own name.
Thanks for your cooperation.
Geo
At 06:45 PM 11/9/2003, you wrote:
>Atlantic Canada Special Interest Group Announcement
>
>The Atlantic Canada SIG will be meeting from 7 to 9 p. m. on Wednesday,
>November 12, 2003 at the Genealogy Bureau, located at 712-16th Avenue NW,
>Calgary, AB. Our topic for this evening's meeting will be on the Maritime
>Acadians. This is great opportunity to come and share your Acadian
>backgrounds. Next year, 200,000 people are expected to visit the Maritimes
>because of the 400th Acadian Anniversary. Everyone welcome!
George Lake
Chairman, Alberta Family Histories Society
Calgary Canada
email: chairman@...
AFHS Website: www.afhs.ab.ca
my website: www.glake.ca
http://www.afhs.ab.ca
Marg Randall McCready wrote:
> I am trying to order some certificates from the General Register
> Office in Southport, England. The number I am using is 011 44 01704
> 550013. I keep getting a message saying the number can not be
> completed as dialled. Has anyone been successful at doing this and if
> so, what number did you use? I would have liked to order online but
> their website says online ordering is only available from the UK.
> Anyone tried this anyway? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Marg
> McCready
Yes Gordon is right, I didn't notice that, so you drop the 0 and you
need the 1 after 44 i.e. 441
Marjorie Ramsay
http://www.afhs.ab.ca
I
am trying to order some certificates from the General Register Office in
Southport, England. The number I am using is 011 44 01704 550013.
I keep getting a message saying the number can not be completed as dialled.
Has anyone been successful at doing this and if so, what number did you
use? I would have liked
to order online but their website says online ordering is only available
from the UK. Anyone tried this anyway? Any
help would be appreciated. Thanks, Marg
McCready
You are missing one number: 011
441 Namely the 1 after the 44
Marjorie Ramsay
Pardon me, please for a somewhat off-topic subject
Research of the Family Herald & Weekly Star of Dec. 25, 1918 shows the
following
The Armistice of WW1 began at 11 o'clock on the 11th day of 1918. The
figures thus reading 11/11/11/18
When these figures are added together the answer is 51 the number of months
that the war lasted.
Just for your information
Larry & Doreen
Larry & Doreen McCool
Calgary, AB Canada
Our new address is
mccoollh@...
Our website is now at
http://www3.telus.net/public/mccoollh/index.htmlhttp://www.afhs.ab.ca
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