I watch all these shows with a passion as a total genealogy nut. I actually recently attended a panel of researchers at a conference that do all the real work. All the research is presented to the guest, whether Finding Your Roots or Who Do You Think You Are?, since a lot of it doesn’t appear on screen. So there’s a…

In my state, a government record is a government record no matter where it's stored. Basically the law as written many years ago didn't specify a format, which turned out probably for the better. When some legislators realized even text messages concerning government business would be included some freaked out and…

The part of the film that choked me up the most (I saw it at the Sundance Film Festival) was one young woman relating what it was like telling her family what had happened. Yes, there are various statistics and an overall narrative, but the most powerful parts of the film are people telling their stories. Just…

I saw the film at Sundance. The angle I seem to remember being presented was that expulsion may be sought so that the victims don't have to keep seeing their rapists around campus. It's hard enough to recover without seeing the person responsible when you go to the library to study.

State laws will vary (Freedom of Information Act applies specifically to Federal offices), but in general even records created or received by a public official may also be private or protected in some way. Constituent correspondence seems to be generally private because of the nature of the personal information,…

Me too. Never chewed nails, but cuticles and inevitable hangnails are fair game. The compulsion and the state of my nails comes and goes depending on various cycles and stresses. Tried every imaginable oil, cream, or ointment for cuticles and nails. Only remedy is when it starts being painful or tearing skin I bandage…

Thanks for giving a name for what I think I've been experiencing. I do have thyroid disease so that's probably the main cause, but the amount of hair that ending up in my brush and on the bathroom floor during normal and fairly gentle hairstyling has been a growing worry. It's fine to begin with, I don't have much…

double post

This is basically the point of Religious Literacy by Stephen Prothero, with a dash of "try learning about other worlds religions too." He also stresses that teaching religious literacy in school does not mean teaching belief. Any time spent in most of the [western] world's literature and cultural arts will pretty much…

This is awful but I wonder if it's related to (I think?) psychology studies that point to people always picking the middle choice. I know I've noticed when I've done it absent either enough information or not caring. Without a middle choice, something may have short-circuited.

Get to your local library for access to news databases covering about early 1990's to the present. There are various national and regional sets of newspapers and magazines.

There's a pretty friendly community at this online dating forum. I worked up the nerve to copy in one of my profiles and they helped me tighten the writing and ensure I remained focused on positive aspects of my life. I didn't agree with all their advice (one went off on a rant about the fact I included my religion),…

From my experience, this is pretty normal. It takes awhile to learn how to work a particular site. Some workarounds include, if you're a woman, to send the first message. This is just about the only way I've had any dates and the one boyfriend from online sites. Sometimes is also helps to have other people like…

I'm an adult picky eater with a couple mild allergies and food intolerances (there's a definite difference). I do not claim fake allergies even if I'm in a socially uncomfortable spot. The pickiness is a total pain for me too, but I would be mortified to expect more than a simple accommodation (hold a particular…

Yes, it's true. More of a culture thing than true doctrine (I'm Mormon myself). It's basically an interpretation of the scripture related to no alcohol etc. that actually says strong and hot drinks. The whole coffee and tea being included only happened early-20th century or so. I was speechless when a childhood…

Thank you for sharing. I'm a Mormon and find your explanation spot on.

Perhaps I should have written "may fall out of favor" since I don't know what will happen in 75 years. My point is that how we view history is subject to change. I can only hope that prevailing thought becomes even more open, progressive, or any number of positive directions naturally.

I read, nay devoured, the book like five times around age twelve. When I viewed the movie the first time I thought it was too neat and tidy given the ugly, gritty details that are actually in the book. Even at that age I considered it "historical fiction" (my favorite genre) and never factual. Did it color my…

Anything you've burned yourself is vulnerable. The dye layers are unpredictably susceptible to their environment, so they could last fine for 10+ years or be unreadable in less than 2. Check out http://www.digitalpreservation.gov for basic information from the Library of Congress.

Might want to copy those older CDs to at least one newer format. The problem with them is you won't see any physical signs of deterioration, the data is just gone or otherwise no longer readable. Though commercially-produced CDs do sometimes get small "pinholes" you can check for that may affect playback.

And that's of…