Hurley's World

Verizon Communications' and BellSouth's DSL customers won't see a reduction in their broadband bills, even though a special fee that had been tacked on to bills to pay for a federal program has been eliminated.

This annoys the heck out of me. Basically, because they can't provide a competitive standalone broadband product, all DSL users must give them more money. I think it's time for me to switch.read more | digg

Leading astronomers approved historic new planet guidelines Thursday - downsizing Earth's neighborhood from nine principal heavenly bodies to eight by demoting distant Plutoread more | digg story

This is a great post on how to create a web API that your customers can really use and you can easily maintain.

The article lists 5 rules for providing web APIs.

1. Keep it clean and simple
2. Stick to standards
3. Make it about data
4. Keep it working
5. Design for updates

read more | digg story

These are the World War II draft registration cards for Carl August Fillmer.

The death certificate of John Paul Pecka jr.

Registered No 502
83 William St
Usual Residence of deceased:
State: New York
County: Orange
City: Newburgh
No. 83 William St

Full Name: John Paul Pecka
if Veteran Name War: WW I
Sex: Male
Color or Race: White
Status: Married
Husband of Hazel Bowen
Date of Birth: October 23, 1894
Age: 56 yrs, 1 mos, 13 days
Usual Occupation: Maintenance Man
Industry or Business: Tide Water Assn Oil Co
Birthplace: New Windsor, NY
Father's Name: John Pecka
Father's place of birth:
Mother's Name: Mary Solkia
Mother's place of birth:

Information provided by:

The death certificate of Paul Pecka.

July 26, 2002

This certifies: That the following is a true and correct transcript from the "Records of Deaths" of the City of Newburgh as kept by this Bureau.

Vol. 6
Registered No. 6152

Date of Death: February 2, 1905
Name: Paul Pecha
Age: 45 Yrs
Single, Married or Widowed: Married
Occupation: Laborer
Birthplace: Austria
Father's Name: Michael (Born Austria)
Mother's Name: Barbara Ausmald (born Austria)
Place of Death: 135 William St. Newburgh, NY
Cause of Death: Paralysis of Heart
Medical Attendant: Fred G Buss, Coroner
Place of Burial: Calvary

The death certificate of Angelina (San Giorgio) Cavo.

No. 41 Thompson 8 Ward
Registered No. 74

Full Name: Angelina Cavo
Residence No. 41 Thompson 8 Ward

Length of Residence in city or town where death occurred: 18 years
How long in US if of foreign birth? 18 years

Sex: Female
Color or Race: Italian
Single, Married, Widowed: Widow
Wife of Matthew Cavo
Date of Birth: May 16, 1860
Age: 69 yrs, 8 mos, 16 days
Occupation: Housewife

Birthplace: Naples, Italy
Name of Father: Joseph St George
Birthplace of Father: Naples, Italy
Name of Mother: Rose Della Stones
Birthplace of Mother: Naples, Italy

This is the death certificate of Matteo Cavo.

Registered No. 541
Address 200 South William St Ward 5
Full Name: Matthew Cavo
Residence: 200 South William St. 5 Ward

Length of residence: 35 years
How long in U.S. if of foreign birth: 35 years

Personal and Statistical Particulars:
Sex: Male
Color or Race: Italian
Married

Husband of Angelina St. George

Date of Birth: Sept 24, 1860
Age: 68 yrs 3 mos 7 ds

Occupation: Laborer
Employer: Louis Argenio

Birthplace: Modea, Italy

Name of Father: Frank Cavo
Birthplace of Father: Modea, Italy
Name of Mother: Philomenia Cavo

The marriage certificate of Louis Herzberger and Helene Rode.

25 Jan 1868
New York, NY

Groom: Louis Herzberg
Residence: 439 14 St
Age: 25
Occupation: Bookkeeper
Place of Birth: Germany
Father's Name: Saltherb? Herzberg
Mother's Maiden Name: Christiane Herzberg
No. of Groom's Marriage: 1
Name of Bride: Helene Rode
Residence: 439 14 St
Age: 23
Place of Birth: Germany
Father's Name: Johann H Rode
Mother's Maiden Name: Methe Rode

Witnesses:
H? Klemeyer
Anne Klemeyer

I've spent some time over the last week and a half updating the site. Since I needed to upgrade the version of the content management system anyway, I decided to give it a whole new look. Let me know what you think.

One really nice thing about the new version is that the search feature actually works. I'm still playing around with everything, but I will do my best not to break it.