tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46493450233641999182011-07-08T10:14:11.058+01:00Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-14710854381676452022011-01-21T10:08:00.000Z2011-01-21T10:08:32.067Z

Relationships, eh? Time was, relationships for family historians were all so simple: Ancestor A met Ancestor B, they married and begat Ancestor C and probably C.2 to C.5 as well. Nice and easy on the family tree. (Unless we’re talking of my great-grandfather Edward Parsons who hadtwo families on the go at the same time) But it’s not so easy now, is it? Relative F may be living with Person Q, and

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-37825176153772347682010-07-20T10:21:00.003+01:002010-07-20T12:03:00.966+01:00

And so the World Cup is now a fading memory and, let’s face it, it was a bit disappointing wasn’t it? For a number of reasons, it really didn’t sparkle, and not just because the English and French let us down.FIFA spoilt the competition with the ball. Why on earth did they introduce such a different ball in their flagship competition? While I’m sure that every player there would have go the hang

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-24101510062909890212010-05-19T08:00:00.001+01:002010-05-19T08:02:47.897+01:00

Yay, it's nearly World Cup time! I love the World Cup. I love that there are games every evening and I love the way the country seems to remember that it is a country. I love the way we're proud to be English rather than British and that we can be smug (but in a very repressed, English way) that we're there and the others aren't. And we'll fly the cross and wear our t-shirts and dream that this

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-8053436204829134152010-04-16T09:23:00.001+01:002010-04-16T09:25:50.262+01:00

Writing this, sat in my office, I’m pretty sure that I’m not being watched by ‘them’. Yeah, I realise that Google records every search I make, that all my e-mails are scanned and stored and that my ISP logs every site I visit, but I meant actually watched, you know video and stuff. But, if I venture out of my front door, things are very different. As many people like to say, we are the world’s

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-31155158414227892462010-04-06T10:03:00.002+01:002010-04-06T10:07:24.184+01:00

And so, as of today, the nation is officially on an election footing as Brown admits the worst-kept secret ever and announces the date of the election.Now, I have no political affiliations - I belong to no party and I would never dream of supporting or endorsing a party, so I thought it would be fun to blog day-to-day on how the local candidates are doing in my estimation. Who will I vote for,

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-16259517154393904482010-03-15T09:26:00.003Z2010-03-16T18:52:15.351Z

I’ve said before that I like to do my own thing. That doesn’t mean that I’m anti-establishment, but I cherish my own views and opinions and don’t feel any need to impose them on anyone else. I’m not religious, don’t belong to any political movement and don’t even support a particular football team. In short, I’m not a follower and have no desire to be followed.Maybe that’s why I don’t get Twitter

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-28423376631545050812010-03-02T16:18:00.004Z2010-03-03T18:54:53.539Z

I suppose it’s the done thing for every writer or blogger to do their own “Desert Island” list of tracks, so I’ve been giving it some thought…The easiest thing would be to write down your ten favourite tracks and be done with it but, actually, if this really were a desert island, and if you really only could ever listen to ten tracks, you’d want to choose tracks to cover every mood and every

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-12623090792901624162010-02-17T15:46:00.004Z2010-02-17T15:55:29.048Z

Having spent some twenty years researching my family history, I obviously want to make sure that the fruits of my work are accessible to the generations that follow, so how do I ensure that it is all readable in a hundred years? When I started my research, in the days before PCs, Macs etc, a colleague invested in a Philips Videowriter - basically a huge CRT-based box with built-in thermal printer

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-89979039580228412252010-02-15T08:19:00.004Z2010-02-15T11:55:34.122Z

There was an interesting article in some of yesterday’s papers which suggested that next year’s national census will be the last. There seemed to be three reasons given:Firstly, Britain’s population is now highly dynamic, with economic migration perhaps likely to become more prevalent. Secondly, there seemed to be concern that, whether due to paranoia, deception or the great British sense of

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-81569831589013822272010-02-10T14:18:00.002Z2010-02-10T14:18:58.344Z

So what exactly have Toyota done to upset the mighty BBC? I can’t help wondering whether one of the Trustees or Governors has had a falling out with their local service centre, because the Beeb are pulling no punches, are they?Ok, Ok, there have been some issues with the sticking accelerator pedals which has caused “around 20” incidents in the US over the last few years. Alright, Toyota could

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-80546547567696648622010-02-01T16:57:00.001Z2010-02-01T16:59:44.015Z

Now I don’t like to be part of a crowd. I don’t follow any trends, run with any packs or, I’d like to think, don’t fall for the hype.And yet, I couldn’t ignore the Ipad completely, could I?So, the first surprise is that it is a super-sized Ipod Touch or Iphone, depending on which you choose.That’s it really.It runs the same apps, it looks the same but bigger, and it runs the same operating

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-70241375993339373632010-01-14T14:46:00.001Z2010-01-14T14:49:00.845Z

I’ve been reading a lot of books, papers and blogs recently about online marketing. It’s probably true that many sites have really nailed the whole user experience thing. Sites such as Amazon are great at getting us to them – their reputation, our loyalty, high search rankings. And when we are on-site and we find what we want, there is plenty of reassurance that it is the right product – photos,

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-58367757945209374382010-01-05T18:44:00.000Z2010-01-05T18:46:22.397Z

Dear Steve JobsI’d like to say thank-you for my Iphone. No, it wasn’t a Christmas present, I’ve had it since January 2009 and I LOVE IT. I just haven’t gotten around to thanking you yet.However, the thought occurs that my contract with O2 expires in July, so that would be the perfect time for you to bring out a new model, wouldn’t it?I was wondering though, if you could see your way clear to

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-81833847060539511152009-12-29T12:36:00.002Z2009-12-29T12:39:53.884Z

Don’t get me wrong, I love “Who Do You Think You Are?”. It has done a huge amount to promote genealogy as a hobby which, in turn, has generated the market for sites such as Ancestry and FindMyPast to make a wealth of historical records online. It has shown millions that genealogy doesn’t have to be about lines of lineage stretching back hundreds of years but can be about what our fathers or

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-15484378136366697242009-12-23T09:23:00.002Z2009-12-23T15:36:34.001Z

So what should we call the first decade of the new century? The “naughties”, the “zeros”? Nope, neither. To me, “naughties” sounds frivolous, somehow nostalgic and I doubt many of us will look back with any fondness. The “zeros” suggests nothing happened and that, my friends, is just not true. I think we’ll look back at the decade as the decade when everything changed.On September 11th, 2001, I

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-19247081261240415782009-12-09T20:54:00.003Z2009-12-23T15:21:00.044Z

What was the name of that movie? You know, the one with Tom Cruise? “Minority Something”. Report, yes - “Minority Report”. He stood in front of this huge transparent screen and sort of dragged photos and video around like this (waves hand) and then he pulled the corners to make them bigger and then he…..Spielberg apparently based that iconic sequence on conversations with Microsoft, so perhaps it

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-36772297511871424982009-12-08T17:43:00.001Z2009-12-08T17:49:17.454Z

Now that I’m no longer constrained in my corporate straitjacket, I think I can safely publish my “Koi Carp Theory of Management”No, really. Bear with me.It came to me in a fish restaurant in Abu Dhabi.You see, at the time, I had a boss that I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand why he was my boss, why those above him thought he was so great and why, frankly, he even had a job. Nice bloke, don’

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-40552565096517332212009-12-03T17:32:00.002Z2009-12-03T17:36:10.979Z

Ok, the vexed question of what to do next needs an answer.I DON'T want to: - Commute - Work for anyone that annoys meI Do want to: - work on the internet again (I miss it) - write - work at homeSo, nothing for it then... freelance web copy, blogg, e-commerce adviser

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4649345023364199918.post-2408295978209969792009-11-26T09:49:00.000Z2009-11-26T10:10:28.499Z

So this is it, or it soon will be.After 24 years, 4 months and 18 days working for the same company, I've just learnt that my application for "voluntary" redudancy has been accepted. Technically, the voluntary bit is stretching the point a little - I was presented with a fait accompli, so volunteering is my way of retaining control, but the result is, or will be in January, the same.How do I feel

Peter Parsonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397506157978923556noreply@blogger.com1