Back to a Favorite topic: Germany

This coming week is special. Most of Europe adjusted DST clocks this morning, the US is next week.

German Consulates around the world add new appointments at midnight *in Germany*. Polling right before midnight has the best chance of grabbing one, and midnight in Germany is at a different time from the US this week.

If you've idly wondered whether there is a path to Europe for your family, this is a good week to look into it.

In November 2024 we decided to renew our US passports, and also ordered Passport Cards for the first time. The cards arrived 18 days later, without paying for expedited service nor even for express mail.

The Passport Card is slightly thicker than our driver's licenses. It is not valid for international air travel, though it can be used to board a domestic flight and is Real-ID compliant.

The card is considerably cheaper at $30 versus $130 for a Passport Book.

https://codingrelic.geekhold.com/2025/01/passport-cards.html

For those looking for alternatives to WhatsApp, because reasons, we started using Signal Messenger for our family chat about six weeks ago. We are a mix of very technical, somewhat technical, and non-technical users.

Signal has been fine, we use it for all of the important conversations now.

The AuthaGraph map projection projects the Earth's surface onto a triangular pyramid which is then unfolded and transformed into a rectangular map. The size and position of the continents and oceans are much more accurate while preserving a rectangular shape for ease of use — and our comfort, that maps are usually rectangular.

Inovative map projections which do not exaggerate the land area of Canada and Greenland seem especially relevant right now.

https://codingrelic.geekhold.com/2025/01/authagraph-map-projection.html

Returning to an unbelievably niche topic: a few months ago the city of Hannover in Germany put the digitized indexes of their older birth, marriage, and death records online.

I knew that great aunt Klara Koch was born between 1909 and 1925, and that she married someone named Holz. I think this is their marriage. I've ordered the Heiratsurkunde from the Hannover Stadtarchiv.

https://codingrelic.geekhold.com/2025/01/hannover-stadtarchiv-success.html

I am so excited! Earlier this year the Hannover Stadtarchiv put their indexes online, and I think I found a relative I've been researching for a year.

I knew that Klara Koch was born between 1909 and 1920, and that she married someone named Holz.

I think this is it: Theodor Holz married Klara Koch in 1933. Record number 1614 in 1933 at Hannover Standesamt I.