About

This is the weblog for Derek Jensen, AKA Zarban AKA Tysto. I started a personal blog at Tysto.com back in 2003 in HTML and converted it to WordPress in 2009. Security holes allowing hacking eventually took their toll (I got tired of paying GoDaddy to fix it), and I shut it down in 2023.

In 2008, I created a WordPress database of 10,000 fan-made commentary tracks for movies and TV at Zarban.com. It eventually got hacked and ruined, so I shut it down, but I kept Zarban.wordpress.com and, in 2023, made it the home of my new personal blog.

I chose to use Zarban.com instead of Tysto.com because people didn’t know how to pronounce Tysto. (It’s “TISS-toe”.) In Scandinavian languages it means “hush”, and that was a kind of theme for the blog for awhile.

I also created WhiteHouseMuseum.org in 2006 and documented the history and architecture of the White House. But that was built in HTML and kept getting hacked, so I shut it down in 2023 as well, altho I brought it back temporarily at Tysto.com.

I was a business consultant for 20 years (1995-2015), writing corporate software training material and eventually leading training programs. I then did some IT support work for a little while. After retiring early in 2018, I became a volunteer historian and genealogist and now serve on the boards of several non-profits:

• The local historical society
• The county historical society
• An arts collective I started that holds classes and rents studios to artists
• A music venue/theater where I also act as announcer for the radio and television show called the Wild Rose Moon Radio Hour