Lord of the Rings: A family tree
Image Source: http://free-extras.com/
Traditionally, most people research their own family, or one that that they have some connection to - but college student Emil Johansson is different.
Johansson has chosen a more peculiar family tree. He recently received international attention when he published his gigantic tree focusing on most of the characters in “Lord of the Rings”.
In his own words, Johansson is “overly enthusiastic about Tolkien's Lord of the Rings,” leading him to create a project where he has attempted to collect all Middle Earth’s characters and creatures in one giant family tree.
Emil's "Lord of the Rings" Family Tree
Eighteen months ago, he began studying chemical engineering at Chalmers University of Technology, but it wasn’t an easy choice:
Photos: Awkward family festivities
When families gather for the holidays, there are certain inevitabilities - the board games, over-indulgence and, for many, watching distinguished family members snoozing away in the middle of the day.
And then there are the photos.
Getting the whole family into the same frame is often a source of hilarity. Occasionally, we manage to get that special photo but, more often than not, it's a compromise.
Below are some great awkward festive family photos from - you guessed it - awkwardfamilyphotos.com.
Continue reading "Photos: Awkward family festivities" »
Santa Claus: How does he do it?
Ever wonder how Santa Claus (or Kris Kringle or St. Nicholas) manages to deliver all those gifts to children around the world in just one night?
Well, a new science and technology research study from North Carolina State University provides some hints.
Mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Dr. Larry Silverberg explains the principles that allow that red-suited white-bearded fellow to manage this amazing feat every year.
Where did Silverberg learn these secrets?
He was team leader on the first-of-its kind visiting scholars program at Santa’s Workshop/North Pole Labs (NPL) last year:
Children shouldn’t put too much credence in the opinions of those who say it’s not possible to deliver presents all over the world in one night,” Silverberg says.
Continue reading "Santa Claus: How does he do it?" »
One Word: Describe family history
Calling all word lovers - or those who love their thesaurus (or is that thesauri?).
Somebody once said that using five words - when one will suffice - is the mark of a verbose character. There is an inherent difficulty in selecting one word to reflect a range of emotions and, as I'm sure you'll know, genealogy elicits many such emotions.
In that vein: What's one word that tells the MyHeritage team how you feel about family history or genealogy?
Describe the emotion - in one word - for when you discover an elusive new fact about an ancestor. Continue reading "One Word: Describe family history" »
Halloween: Family photo winners
We love running competitions at MyHeritage, and Halloween provided an excellent opportunity to see what our community created.
It's a chance for us to see how creative our community can be and - in the case of this week's competition - be privy to some hilarious family Halloween photos. Ghoulish, disturbing, confusing and downright terrifying - you name it, we've seen them all! See the slide show here:
We know everyone wanted to be one of the lucky three - who will now enjoy excellent features including enhanced Smart Matches™ and Timeline features.
Continue reading "Halloween: Family photo winners" »
The MyHeritage Halloween Family Photo Competition
MyHeritage is looking for the most creative and original Halloween Family photos. Take part and win one of three one-year Premium subscriptions at MyHeritage.com.
Everyone has, we are sure, seen those piles of pumpkins in every supermarket heralding the news that Halloween is just around the corner.
We haven’t had a competition for a while now so, of corpse (sorry), we decided to dust the cobwebs from three free premium subscriptions for one year and put them up for grabs in the MyHeritage Halloween Family Photo Competition!
Share your best Halloween family picture with us, or that old Halloween picture lurking in your photo album.
The rules are simple: upload your photo* to our Facebook Page or send them via Twitter using the hashtag #myheritagehalloweenpics (we recommend you use yfrog.com or twitgoo.com for this). If you do not have a Facebook or Twitter account you can send us your picture to marketing@myheritage.com.
We will be looking for the most ghoulish, wacky and creative photos our community has to offer. Remember, we’re all about family here at MyHeritage, so if your whole family is getting involved, we’d like to see some photo evidence of that!
Entries close at noon on the day after Halloween (1 November 2011), so you’d better get snapping now, if you’d like to get your hands on a one year free premium subscription!
Don’t get too spooked.
The MyHeritage Team.
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*We kindly request that all photos be of a reasonable resolution (96dpi at least) and that the submission is your own original work (and not infringing any copyright laws). Any images of under-18s must be cleared for usage with their parent(s) or guardian(s). Three winners will be chosen from all entries received, and will each receive a free premium subscription for 12 months. Winners will be notified using their original mode of entry and we will make every practical or best-faith effort to contact them. See the full terms and conditions here.
Genealogy News: North America – 10 October 2011
This week's edition focuses on new records at FamilySearch.org, a California conference deadline, the National Black Genealogy Summit, Who Do You Think You Are? new US season lineup, Canadian news and more.
Let us know which resources you like, which you have used, your experiences. We value your opinions and comments.
New Records
FamilySearch.org sends out a weekly update of new records added to its database. This week's collection includes an addition of seven million record images, covering Austria (1537-1888), Belgium (1795-1920), Canada (1800-1900), Czech Republic (land records, 1450-1850), Spain (1241-1950), various US states, as well as five million for the Philippines (1945-1980).
Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree Deadline
If you would like to speak at one of the best regional genealogy conferences in the US, the deadline for proposals is fast approaching - October 13.
Continue reading "Genealogy News: North America – 10 October 2011" »
Soppy Saturday: Writing your Family Legacy Video
As it's the weekend, we thought you may like to watch a short, but emotive video about writing your family history and autobiography, for the pleasure of generations to come.
Linda Weaver Clarke travels around the U.S, teaching people the importance of family legacy and leads free workshops on turning your family history into a variety of interesting stories. A volunteer, she has dedicated much of her life to motivating individuals to do just that.
Today's video, produced by this remarkable woman, has a few ideas from which we could all benefit.
A Witty Look at Naming Your Child [Video]
Choosing a name for your child is often a difficult task.
Some countries like Germany make the task easier by restricting the names you can give your child by law.
If you’re a celebrity the task may be a little harder than most as many feel compelled to come up with genuinely “unique” names.
In the video below – David Mitchell, a regular contributor to The Guardian - gets on his soapbox about children’s names. It’s a witty look at the process of naming your child with some unusual perspectives on the whole topic.
Enjoy!
And if you have any tips for naming your child I'd love to hear about them in the comments to this post.
The Royal Wedding of Monaco’s Prince Albert, Charlene Wittstock
Click to view the Royal Family Tree
On July 2 Prince Albert of Monaco and Charlene Wittstock will tie the knot – in the first marriage of a reigning prince since Albert's father, Prince Rainer III married American actress Grace Kelly in 1956.
Here is some fun data about the royal family – from the family's longest marriage (65 years!) to the average age of marriage. (Click on the image below to see the Royal Family Stats!)
Did you know? On your MyHeritage.com family site, you can find a number of interesting family stats, presented in colorful graphs. Visit your family site to see your family stats.
If you're not already a member of MyHeritage.com, sign up for free. Go to MyHeritage.com and start a new family tree, or import an existing tree by uploading a GEDCOM file.
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