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Dear listmembers,
The extract of the following article makes me wonder if DNA can be
extracted from artifacts such as family bibles, letters or other
personal objects held by their owners.
Gary
__________________________________
DNA Extractable from Fingerprints
By Charles Choi UPI Science News Published 7/31/2003 9:30 AM
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030730-040600-4102r
"NEW YORK, July 31 (UPI) -- Even if the only evidence forensic analysts
can pull from a crime scene is a fingerprint smudged beyond recognition,
a new technique developed by Canadian scientists soon could harvest
enough DNA from the print to produce a genetic identity."
"The novel system can extract DNA in only 15 minutes, even if a print
has been stored for a year. Scientists expect the invention to help
crime-fighters solve mysteries, and already are in talks with the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police. In addition, researchers predict the technology
could be at least twice as cheap as existing DNA collection methods."
"We can now have DNA reliably and simply with our method."
"Viaznikova said her team's method consistently yields 10 billionths of
a gram of DNA, on average, from a single fingerprint. The findings were
revealed at the American Society for Microbiology's nanotechnology
conference in New York earlier this month. Although 10 "nanograms" might
not sound like much, for DNA analysis, even 0.1 nanogram is enough,
Viaznikova said. "Scientists try not to use less than 5 to 10 nanograms,
so this is fine.""
"She said forensic scientists have known for about five years that
fingerprints contain DNA. However, commonly used extraction techniques
need several hours or even days of lab work. "We can do it in 15
minutes," she added."
"The new extraction technique is under patent. When compared with
existing methods, "it is at least as twice less expensive, maybe more,"
Viaznikova said."
"Because the method is so simple and CHEAP, experts say this could help
make DNA gathering a commonplace activity -- thereby also raising
privacy issues."
There is a surname "Childerton"...if that is an evolutionary name
originally being "Childer Town"... a place name, a town, in the UK..it
may have spawned several DNA Haplotypes...ie. several unrelated-by-DNA
families using the towns name as part of their surname.
Gary
Dear Listmembers:
I'm back. I just got a new computer today. My old computer locked up and
it won't open in any program. I think is it related to a software
program "DirectX" that has a history of doing just what I am
experiencing, locking the computer in limbo between MS-DOS and Windows.
I have lost, for the time being, all data I had on my old hard drive
though I am trying to retrieve it. I have lost, for the time being, my
address file, several thousand e-mails in my files, and all sorts of
useful bookmarks, and organization of records...and all sorts of
contacts...everything gone.... hopefully I'll get the most important
data and records back, even if I have to take the old hard drive out of
the old computer. But there doesn't appear to be an easy way to make a
smooth transition between the old computer and the new one.... [Can I
merge old Outlook Express e-mails with new Outlook (not Express)
e-mails?]. I'll miss most of all the small things, the trivial fragments
of the old computer. The old shoe was a faithful recorder of the
genealogical trail I have been on for the past few years, with e-mails
and bookmarks to oddities I found in the remote corners of England.
But the old computer buckled under the weight from too many conflicting
software programs like McAfee Virus software (I won't get McAfee again,
the anti-virus is worse than a virus if you ever want to get rid of it).
I had also, I suspect, too many of those free Windows "updates" and too
many programs running in the background.... among the computer's last
words were "too many parameters". I defragmented repeatedly over
several weeks with one defragmentation lasting 30 hours. I increased the
RAM to 192 MB... I was uninstalling programs, including some of the 25
or so programs running in the background if I didn't know what they were
or where they came from...some were "spyware" programs that attach
themselves without notice to the computer.
I was moving cautiously trying to learn as I went. I suspected one
culprit was a program called "DirectX" which has a history of locking up
computers... I wasn't sure if I had incorrectly uninstalled it in the
past...so I decided to load it again and uninstall it again...when the
computer crashed for the last time. No rebooting, no "start up" disks,
no reinstalling Windows, not even Norton start up software could reboot
the computer.... none of my simple commands in MS-DOS to get back to
Windows were able to help. The computer was stuck in limbo between
MS-DOS and Windows.
Now I start over.....(but with 2000 MB of RAM).
My thanks to Jack Childers of Maryland for his help sending me some
software in my last ditch effort and to Dr. Jay Childress for passing my
e-mail messages along the internet.
All my best to you
Gary
-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Childress [mailto:tndrjay@earthlink.net]
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2003 12:48 PM
To: CHILDRESS-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: [Childress-L] Gary's Computer Has Passed on.
I regret to inform you that I have been notified that the computer owned
by list-owner Gary Childress has gone to its final reward. It is my
understanding that the passing of the machine was slow and difficult but
I understand Gary is taken the loss quite well. Fortunately he has
agreed to receive counseling by the good people at Dell to help his
through this unfortunate period in his life. He is even adopting a
super powerful system from Dell and his brother Mark tells me that its
due date is around the 24th of this month. This new toy should help Gary
shorten the grieving period from the loss of his previous machine. Many
of us have gone through and understand what our leader is going through
and we can only send our regrets.
Based on reliable information from CA (Mark), we will be able to
"subscribe, unsubscribe, respond to post, questions and e-mails" around
the end of July. We can just hope the "labor pains" of setting up this
new off spring will not be too difficult.
Regards
J. Childress
BlankI regret to inform you that I have been notified that the computer owned by list-owner Gary Childress has gone to its final reward. It is my understanding that the passing of the machine was slow and difficult but I understand Gary is taken the loss quite well. Fortunately he has agreed to receive counseling by the good people at Dell to help his through this unfortunate period in his life. He is even adopting a super powerful system from Dell and his brother Mark tells me that its due date is around the 24th of this month. This new toy should help Gary shorten the grieving period from the loss of his previous machine. Many of us have gone through and understand what our leader is going through and we can only send our regrets.
Based on reliable information from CA (Mark), we will be able to "subscribe, unsubscribe, respond to post, questions and e-mails" around the end of July. We can just hope the "labor pains" of setting up this new off spring will not be too difficult.
Regards
J. Childress
This was forwarded to me, and I thought I would share it with the mail list,
I know its long and doesn't pertain to our surname but it night save us a
pretty penny...
Verna
Scams in genealogy...
Date: 7/10/2003 1:39:37 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Were You Victimized by This Genealogy Scam Artist?
I have written a number of times about GenSeekers. This site is owned and
operated by Mr. Elias Abodeely of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Mr. Abodeely is a
21-year-old who has operated a number of Web sites, using various business
names, including genealogydevelopments.com, familydiscovery.com,
genealogyfinders.net, genlocator.com, genseeker.com, genseekers.com,
genealogy-express.com, and probably many others. Most of these are Web sites
that remain online for a few weeks while the owner collects money from
would-be customers. The sites then get shut down as the complaints mount,
but new ones appear with similar wording.
Elias Abodeely has advertised his Web sites with thousands of spam e-mails.
These messages claim to offer access to millions of online genealogy records
for about $60.00 a year. (The price varies a bit from one ad to another.)
Once signed up for this "service," the hapless victim is given access to a
few pages of menus that point to other Web sites, all of which are free of
charge for everyone. The links on Abodeely's sites point to
FamilySearch.org, RootsWeb, and lots of other sites that you can access
right now at no charge.
Your sixty dollars buys access to a list of links, nothing else. And those
links are not nearly as complete as those on Cyndi's List, a free site.
Elias Abodeely has accepted credit cards and checks by various means. For a
while, he used a PayPal account. However, clicking on the link in an old
spam mail from GenSeekers now displays a PayPal page that says, "This
recipient is currently unable to receive money." PayPal apparently shut down
that account.
In the spam mail ads, GenSeekers and the other names being used all offer a
five-day, money-back guarantee. GenSeekers' online check acceptance form at
https://fs6.formsite.com/genseekers/form093061282/secure_index.html says,
"The 5 Day Trial is 100 % Free for the First 5 Days Cancel Before End of
Trial and Nothing will ever be billed." (That is an exact quote with the
original grammar errors left intact.) A customer service e-mail address to
be used for cancellations is supplied when you subscribe. However, e-mails
sent to that address bounce back as "addressee unknown" Or "mailbox full."
Once charged, there is no method for the victim to cancel or obtain a
refund.
To read my past articles about this scam, look at:
http://www.rootsforum.com/archives/news0310.htm,
http://www.rootsforum.com/archives/news0320.htm,
http://www.rootsforum.com/archives/news0237.htm and at
http://www.rootsforum.com/archives/news0129.htm.
The Better Business Bureau's report is particularly strong. The BBB is
usually rather conservative in its reports, but this time says, "It has come
to the bureau's attention that consumers are unable to unsubscribe through
web site and email correspondences are not returned by company. Credit card
users who have been unable to obtain a refund from the company may wish to
contact their credit card company."
You can find many more references on Google. You can also find quite a few
messages about this on the Discussion Board for this newsletter.
When I started writing this article, the Web page at
http://www.GenSeekers.com was in operation. However, before I finished the
article a few days later, that Web page seemed to have disappeared. An
attempt to go to that page now generates the common error message, "The page
you are looking for is currently unavailable." In the meantime, you can see
Google's cached copy. Copies of other now-defunct Web sites operated by
Elias Abodeely are also available at: http://www.archive.org.
Some months ago, the spam mail messages listed a telephone number, but later
e-mail ads do not. That number was disconnected and later re-assigned to
someone else (who reportedly is really angry at all the phone calls they
have received from unhappy people looking for GenSeekers.com!).
When looking at the domain registrations for Abodeely's Web sites, I found
several addresses and telephone numbers used. The registration for
FamilyDiscovery.com lists a Technical Contact of Elias Abodeely at 9843
Cambridge Drive, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404 and a different telephone number. I
called the number but was connected to an answering machine that gave no
clue as to the current owner's name.
I searched several online telephone directories for a current address and
telephone number. Most of the searches came up empty, except for AnyWho at
http://www.anywho.com. That online service does show a listing for a Mr.
Elias A Abodeely at still a different address in Cedar Rapids and with a
different phone number. There is no way to tell if this is the same person
or not. A search on USSearch.com turned up references to two men of the same
name in Cedar Rapids. One is listed as being 92 years old, obviously not the
same person.
By the way, you can see a five-year-old partially obscured picture of then
16-year-old Elias Abodeely. Look at the Cedar Rapids GazetteOnline at:
http://www.gazetteonline.com/special/neighbor/mmhp/mmhpp003.htm.
Have you been a victim of one of these scams? You may be able to get your
money back. Even better, you may be able to help stop this operation now
before others become victims.
If you have been victimized by GenSeekers or any of the other names being
used in this operation, please do several things:
If you paid by credit card, contact your credit card company now! Your
credit card is insured against online fraud. The phone number to call
probably is on the back of the credit card. Ask for a refund. Credit card
companies are very experienced at these scams and are quick to refund a
victim's money if they receive such a request promptly. The credit card
companies then go after the business owners for reimbursement. (Sadly, many
people paid by checks, at the suggestion of Mr. Abodeely's various spam
mails. Personal checks should never be used for online purchases as they do
not have fraud protection. Credit cards are fully insured against online
fraud, but personal checks carry no protection at all. If you paid by credit
card, you can get your money back! If you paid by check or money order, you
probably are out of luck.)
File a complaint with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the
National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). You can easily do this at
http://www1.ifccfbi.gov.
File a consumer complaint form with the Federal Trade Commission. Selling on
the Internet constitutes interstate commerce, so the FTC has jurisdiction.
You can do this easily at
https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_SUBMIT_FLAG=Y.
Download and fill out an Iowa Attorney General Consumer Complaint Form. You
can obtain this form at http://www.state.ia.us/government/ag/forminfo.htm.
You can also send e-mail complaints to consumer(a)ag.state.ia.us. However, I
suspect that a written complaint form sent via regular mail will be more
effective.
Contact the Cedar Rapids Police Department. The department's Web page at
http://www.cedar-rapids.org/police/ and the department's Financial Crimes
division page at http://www.cedar-rapids.org/police/financial_crimes.asp
lists Lieutenant Ken Washburn as the contact person for any financial
crimes. You can reach him at (319) 286-5413 or at
k.washburn(a)cedar-rapids.org.
The time to act is now. If victims do not take speedy action to shut down
this operation, how many more people will be victimized?