#project-showcase

I’ve just finished a three‑month deep‑dive project that merges high‑density SNP data from the Illumina Infinium Global Screening Array v3.0 with a custom GEDCOM export of my 12‑generation family tree. The goal was to produce a Bayesian phylogenetic model that can resolve branch points down to the 17th‑century parish level.

What I did

• Ran the DNA samples on the GSA v3.0 platform (≈720k markers) and filtered for autosomal SNPs with call rate > 99 %.
• Exported the pedigree from FamilySearch using the API (v2.0) into a GEDCOM 5.5 file, then cleaned it with GEDCOM‑Cleaner 2.1 to remove duplicate X‑ref IDs.
• Mapped each individual’s sample ID to the GEDCOM @I‑record using a lookup table generated in Python (pandas 1.5.3).
• Built a haplogroup assignment for Y‑DNA (using Y‑Full haplogroup predictor) and mtDNA (Phylotree Build 17) and added them as custom tags ("_YHG" and "_MTDNA") in the GEDCOM.
• Ran BEAST 2.6.5 with a strict clock model and a coalescent Bayesian Skyline prior to infer the time‑scaled tree. Calibration points were set using documented birth dates from the 1881 England Census.

Results

• The posterior distribution converged after ~10 M generations (ESS > 200 for all parameters).
• Visualised the tree in FigTree 1.4.4, highlighting branches where the autosomal ancestry proportion exceeds 0.85 for a single lineage – those correspond to the documented “founder” families in the parish registers.
• Exported the final tree back into GEDCOM as a set of "_TIME" tags, which can be read by CousinTree 3.0 for interactive browsing.

Why it matters

• Most hobbyist genealogists stop at a simple DNA match list. This workflow shows you can actually place those matches into a calibrated temporal framework.
• The approach is reproducible: I’ve uploaded the full pipeline (scripts, config files, and a sample dataset) to a public GitHub repo (https://github.com/ComfortableParrotfish302/gedcom‑dna‑pipeline).

Open questions / feedback wanted

• Anyone tried integrating the newer Illumina OmniExpress‑24 v1.2 data with a similar pipeline? I’m curious about marker overlap issues.
• Thoughts on using a relaxed clock model instead of a strict clock for families with known migration events?

Feel free to clone the repo, run the pipeline on your own data, and let me know if you hit any snags.

i just wrapped up a 3d cable knit shawl using 4mm needles and 30% worsted wool from michaels #1

tbh the tension was a nightmare, especially around the cable turns

i tried using a 5mm stitch gauge but still got unevenness

any tips on how to keep the cable consistent when working in a 3D shape

also, i used a 12‑inch cable twist pattern but the edges frayed

any tricks to prevent that

i'd love feedback or any similar projects to share

thanks rn