Your own personal mysteries.

[DangerMouth]

It's also random because it's invariably traced through the male line, which considering the way our DNA gets passed down, really makes no sense to me. Yet the woman were the ones to change their names, so you'll never know if your marrying someone with your own DNA unless your family keeps really good records. (not that it matters in terms of double recessives, etc., I think after second cousins the risk is considered to be about the same as random, but still.. ) I just think this is really intersesting, but I seem to be alone in this.

I'm sorry to geek out on you here but what exactly do you mean by this?  Are you talking about mitochondrial DNA?

Yes, it was my understanding that mtDNA is passed intact from mother to child, so tracing back through the maternal line is entirely possible, daughter to mother and so on. Of course, we don't have DNA records from populations hundreds of years ago, so possible != at all likely, though studies have been done where they've taken the DNA of entire isolated towns.

I'm not a science geek (you really don't want to know what a 'science' class is like in an art school ), you probably know more about this than I do.

[Carnation]

Blue2000 and Shea - the LDS Church maintains a genealogical website at www.familysearch.org that contains all if not most of the LDS genealogy records as well as a great many from Europe, many d@ting to the 17th century. You may be able to find things relating to your families there. We found DH's maternal ancestors in Germany back to 1666.

I just rechecked. That is the one that has my family so messed up. However, we non of them are LDS, if that makes a difference.

I'm not saying your information is wrong at all; just be cautious.

They have our family being descendants of my great, great, great, great grandfather's fourth wife, when in fact, we are descended from his third.

[mamakinz]

Where is the power cord for my laptop???  We moved in March 2009 -- when I was packing up the living room, I remember that my laptop was plugged in to the wall -- I'm sure I put the charger in the laptop case with the laptop.  But now it is gone -- I have searched every box in the attic and throughout the house -- no power cord.  It is $95 to buy a new one, which  will have to pay since all my genealogy records are on that laptop.

[vorbau]

Blue2000 and Shea - the LDS Church maintains a genealogical website at www.familysearch.org that contains all if not most of the LDS genealogy records as well as a great many from Europe, many d@ting to the 17th century. You may be able to find things relating to your families there. We found DH's maternal ancestors in Germany back to 1666.

I just rechecked. That is the one that has my family so messed up. However, we non of them are LDS, if that makes a difference.

I'm not saying your information is wrong at all; just be cautious.

They have our family being descendants of my great, great, great, great grandfather's fourth wife, when in fact, we are descended from his third.

I should have added, Take their records with a pinch of salt. Or your favorite salt substitute. My ex-MIL, whose hobby is genealogy, says many of their records were just entered wholesale, without regard for accuracy. Their site is useful for European records provided you have an idea what you're looking for - we knew we were looking for records for a particular family, with an unusual surname, in Germany, and another in Denmark, so it worked fairly well for us. That said, however, my work partner's family records were a mess and wildly inaccurate, especially those from the 19th century.

And I have another mystery to add. I wonder who first thought of eating cauliflower? DS asked me this tonight, as I was fixing dinner, which included a cauliflower I was trimming and cutting up. I asked him why he wanted to know. "Because it looks like brains," he said.

[SquishyMooMoo]

I should have added, Take their records with a pinch of salt. Or your favorite salt substitute. My ex-MIL, whose hobby is genealogy, says many of their records were just entered wholesale, without regard for accuracy. Their site is useful for European records provided you have an idea what you're looking for - we knew we were looking for records for a particular family, with an unusual surname, in Germany, and another in Denmark, so it worked fairly well for us. That said, however, my work partner's family records were a mess and wildly inaccurate, especially those from the 19th century.

And I have another mystery to add. I wonder who first thought of eating cauliflower? DS asked me this tonight, as I was fixing dinner, which included a cauliflower I was trimming and cutting up. I asked him why he wanted to know. "Because it looks like brains," he said.

Probably someone who had never seen brains, back before realistic anatomical depictions were widespread...

[MNdragonlady]

And I have another mystery to add. I wonder who first thought of eating cauliflower? DS asked me this tonight, as I was fixing dinner, which included a cauliflower I was trimming and cutting up. I asked him why he wanted to know. "Because it looks like brains," he said.

I want to know who was the first to try cow's milk (or goat's, or sheep's). Why did they decide to try it? It's what baby cows drink, why do humans drink it, too?

Don't know why, but this has been perplexing me for some time now.

[DangerMouth]

.....

And I have another mystery to add. I wonder who first thought of eating cauliflower? DS asked me this tonight, as I was fixing dinner, which included a cauliflower I was trimming and cutting up. I asked him why he wanted to know. "Because it looks like brains," he said.

Another mystery, though not so personal: Whoever had the idea that olives could be edible? They are horribly bitter in their raw state.

As to cauliflower, I've never come across it, but there was a (medievil?) theory that helpful things corresponded to the body. So a plant that looked like the female genitals was considered benificial to females, etc (I'm drawing a blank here -up too late- but there are many examples). Ginseng comes to mind, and mandrake root, but there are others. So maybe cauliflower was first eaten because it looked like BRAAAINS?

[DangerMouth]

And I have another mystery to add. I wonder who first thought of eating cauliflower? DS asked me this tonight, as I was fixing dinner, which included a cauliflower I was trimming and cutting up. I asked him why he wanted to know. "Because it looks like brains," he said.

I want to know who was the first to try cow's milk (or goat's, or sheep's). Why did they decide to try it? It's what baby cows drink, why do humans drink it, too?

Don't know why, but this has been perplexing me for some time now.

What's really interesting is that the enzyme for being able to digest milk used to be switched off in humans after infancy, and only remained 'switched on' when dairy animal husbandry became widespead in Europe some (hundreds? thousands?) of years ago (sorry, I have a great memory in some respects, but completely lose it when it comes to numbers )

As dairy husbandry never became widespread among certain populations (eg, asians, native americans) the ability to digest milk products is lower than in 'old world' and old world populated areas.

[dawnfire]

was my great great grandfather part maori? my grandfather only had a photo of him and many of his maori friends swore he was part maori. There is an unknown scandal with him but we don't know what it was.

who was mil's birthfather? he was out of her life before she was 2, when she was adopted by the man my hubby thought was his biological grandfather. (he married grandmother and adopted her daughter). Was she married to birthfather? I cannot say, this was just after /or in the last days of the war in the pacific in Brisbane. There was still alot of soldiers from all around the world there, so who can say.

What happened to my hubby's honda express moped? It disappeared off our patio one night. It was a daggy bike, a glorified bicycle really. It's top speed was 50km on the flat. It was really a bike with a weedeater engine. It was in showroom condition. When we got it it was about 20 years old and only had testing miles done. It had sat in the back corner of motocycle shop for those 20 years.  I can't see why anyone would want it, it wasn't flash or racy. (here's a link to a piccie of one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Express   imagine it in orangy read, that was ours)

[bigozzy]

Why are my twin boys so hard to get out of bed on school days but up at the crack of dawn weekends and holidays? Please tell me, please.

[hot_shaker]

It's also random because it's invariably traced through the male line, which considering the way our DNA gets passed down, really makes no sense to me. Yet the woman were the ones to change their names, so you'll never know if your marrying someone with your own DNA unless your family keeps really good records. (not that it matters in terms of double recessives, etc., I think after second cousins the risk is considered to be about the same as random, but still.. ) I just think this is really intersesting, but I seem to be alone in this.

I'm sorry to geek out on you here but what exactly do you mean by this?  Are you talking about mitochondrial DNA?

Yes, it was my understanding that mtDNA is passed intact from mother to child, so tracing back through the maternal line is entirely possible, daughter to mother and so on. Of course, we don't have DNA records from populations hundreds of years ago, so possible != at all likely, though studies have been done where they've taken the DNA of entire isolated towns.

I'm not a science geek (you really don't want to know what a 'science' class is like in an art school ), you probably know more about this than I do.

Yes, you are correct about the mtDNA; that's how they came up with mitochondrial Eve.  For some reason, I thought you were suggesting that it would be impossible to trace any lineage through the males.  However, you could trace lineage through males using just the Y chromosome.

[hot_shaker]

Another mystery, though not so personal: Whoever had the idea that olives could be edible? They are horribly bitter in their raw state.

I wonder this about any food that has to be processed.  Like cheese.  Who thought it was a good idea to leave fermenting milk around for a while and then eat it.  I'm no cheese expert but I imagine that it gets very bad before it gets to the yummy stage.

As to cauliflower, I've never come across it, but there was a (medievil?) theory that helpful things corresponded to the body. So a plant that looked like the female genitals was considered benificial to females, etc (I'm drawing a blank here -up too late- but there are many examples). Ginseng comes to mind, and mandrake root, but there are others. So maybe cauliflower was first eaten because it looked like BRAAAINS?

*snerk* Has anyone here ever seen horseradish root?   

[blue2000]

Blue2000 and Shea - the LDS Church maintains a genealogical website at www.familysearch.org that contains all if not most of the LDS genealogy records as well as a great many from Europe, many d@ting to the 17th century. You may be able to find things relating to your families there. We found DH's maternal ancestors in Germany back to 1666.

Thanks, vorbau!

I searched there for a bit, and couldn't find anything from Dad's family. They are the easiest to search for, and they aren't there. I wonder why?

I tried one of Mother's ancestors and it  hit me - he lived in at least three countries, married in one and had kids in another - no idea which one, and may have changed the spelling of his name several times depending on who was asking. I think I need Mother's records first!

[Fliss]

And I have another mystery to add. I wonder who first thought of eating cauliflower? DS asked me this tonight, as I was fixing dinner, which included a cauliflower I was trimming and cutting up. I asked him why he wanted to know. "Because it looks like brains," he said.

They didn't start like that.

The cauliflower is a cabbage that's been selectively bred for that appearance. Rather like a bull terrier and a dobermann. Both are dogs, but they have different looks.

The brassica family is much larger than most people think.

And I've obviously spent far too much time recently organising the winter veggie patch than is good for me.

[Enigmatism]

Just want to mention that family history is a obsession hobby of mine.

If anyone would like me to try and help with any UK stuff PM me.


We'll now go back to your scheduled thread.