Bloggernacle Back Bench: Family Tree provides welcome changes in genealogy world

Power pick: “It was a bicultural and bilingual experience, Mormons and Catholics, Anglos and Hispanics gathered together as one, unified by the common anguish we all felt at a beautiful life extinguished too early," writes BYU professor George Handley. "Something there is about the early departed that brings us up short and causes an intensification of appreciation for one another and a determination to live life more deliberately, more lovingly, and more gratefully.” Oh, please read a masterful and raw personal essay on “The Tragic Death of a Young Boy” from Handley. It completely took my breath away.

Techie tip: LDS Tech, part of LDS.org, needs you. Yes you. As the title of its new post says, “Directory 2013 (is) Ready for Beta Testing.” So "we need your help to test out all the new and existing features to make sure the directory functions correctly across all the varieties of browsers, units, locations, languages, and computers. You can view the directory 2013 test site at lds.org/rcdirectory. The directory beta site contains a recent copy of real data. You're encouraged to explore, play around, test, and experiment in the beta site as much as possible. Any changes and photo uploads you make on the beta site will not be permanent and may be reset or removed at any time as new versions are pushed out.” Cool. Check it out for all the information and help the LDS online ward directory become more user friendly for everyone.

Emily Warburton Jensen loves searching through the LDS blog world for developments and testimonies that best capture the ever-evolving LDS online experience. Email: ejensen@desnews.com