The image below was created using wordle.net.
Each of the Ellingsworth given names is sized according to its frequency in the 1860 United States census; there were 218 Ellingsworths enumerated in 1860.
Click the image for full size.
The image below was created using wordle.net.
Each of the Ellingsworth given names is sized according to its frequency in the 1930 United States census; there were 854 Ellingsworths enumerated in 1930.
Click the image for full size.
In this paper, I will suggest that the application of data mining to large data sets and repositories of genealogical information, along with the potential benefits of data mining to both researchers and organizations that support genealogical research efforts will enhance the ability of historians and genealogical researchers to conduct more efficient and effective research.
On May 4, 2007 I received the following ominous sounding email:
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Many of us who use Thumbs+ have found that the default 2GB limit of Microsoft Access to be a concern, if not an outright problem. There are several solutions to this – you can buy SQL Server 2000, which can be cost prohibitive, or install MySQL, which some users find more intimidating than others. A third option is available, now that Microsoft has made SQL Server 2005 Express (SSE) a free download.
To aid those interested in using SSE with Thumbs+, I have made the following brief tutorial available. I would appreciate any input into correcting errors, or of any bugs anyone finds in using SSE with Thumbs+.
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I needed a quick function in PHP that would generate HTML tables from database information. The issue was that the column names would not be known in advance for some of the more generic queries so I found the solution using the PEAR DB tableinfo() function. This function does exactly what I needed – it “gets info about columns in a table or a query result”. Perfect. So I created a function that takes a valid query for your database and formats the results into a nice HTML table, which I find useful for reporting pages (easily imported into Excel or Calc).
Here is the code:
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I cannot stress the importance of backing up your data, especially when there exist so many inexpensive ways to do it. Sure, you can spend a lot of money on software & hardware combos that will cost you lots of $$; but being a thrifty consumer, I opt for the inexpensive solution. Simply enough, get yourself an as-large-as-possible external hard drive (two if you can afford it) and download Robocopy, a free utility available from Microsoft (either as a stand alone or as part of the Resource kit). Continue reading »
So I wrote the following piece of code to display the random image above, mainly so I could show off my photos without having to create a photo gallery thingy. It is pretty straightforward and works fairly well. Here is an working example:
A common problem with posting to newsgroups is that unless you have a very good spam filter, or you use a disposable email address, you will get spam. Guaranteed.
One way to deal with this problem is to use procmail, a “mail processing and SmartList mailing list suite”. Continue reading »